Tummy Tuck: Stories

Finally picked my PS and scheduled my date for December 20, 2012. We usually close the office in December so I thought this would be the perfect time to recovery at home. I had done a Rhinoplasty in January and went back to work in 3 days. Then in August I got upper eyelid surgery and went back to work in 3 days as well. This time I want to recover for at least 10 days. As you can see from my belly it is ugly ugly ugly. I hate it so much. I work out so hard (5 days a week). 3 days a week I do boot camp and 2 days I do spinning. BTW I'm 55 years young, I'm 5' and I weight 138 lbs. I'm trying to lose at least 10 lbs before surgery. I'm trying to eat less than 1,000 calories a day. Now that I finally scheduled the surgery, I'm excited. The doctor told me not to have unrealistic expectations. I'm very wide (thick). Repairing the muscles will help some but I will never have that skinny little waist some people have after surgery. He said there's no fat so no lipo is necessary but I do have almost a 4" gap (muscle separation). Thank you for this site. RealSelf ladies are REAL. I love it here. I'm addicted to this site and it has helped me so much to make this decision. I will keep you posted and God Bless all the wonderful ladies on this site.

Just went for my pre-op and I' m getting scared. Excited and scared. I have to go back to work on January 2nd so I really have to make sure I'm feeling good by then. I haven't bought anything yet. For those of you who already had the surgery other than the pain meds what is a must have? 15 more days!

Please tell me it gets better.

PO 1 (Dec 20) OMG Ladies, what a difference a few days make. Let me tell you 1st day PO was the worse ever. I had so much anxiety, I couldn't sit still. I went to lay on the couch, nope the bed was better, no back to the couch, never mind bed was better after all. It was pure hell. Then the nauseous set in. Started throwing up, imagine how that must have felt after a muscle repair. Hope the 2nd day will be better..... Wrong

PO 2 (Dec 21) started getting the worse heartburn ever. Pure hell. Dr changed my medication to Vicodin. Only took pain meds first 2 days because I couldn't swallow the pills. They would get stuck and I couldn't swallow them. So I tried crushing them up and putting them in a smoothie. I could taste the awful bitter taste, so I stopped taking them all together. Days 3, 4, 5, & 6 were just as bad. Couldn't get comfortable, started an annoying cough and still was not able to swallow water without choking. Now here I am day 7. So So much better. I can drink water without chocking, my coughing has subsided and I finally went to the bathroom. Ladies please take your stool softener. I finally had the sensation to go so I went to the toilet and nothing. It took me sitting in the toilet for 1 hr and then finally yelling at my husband to go buy me some something to make it easier to go. And then relief. Took a great warm shower and now I am finally relaxing. Thank God for my wonderful husband. He deserves a medal! Hope everyone's recovery has been better than mine and Merry Christmas to all. More pictures later.

Hi everyone. I'm 1 month PO and feeling so so much better. Started exercise again. Word of advise, please be patient. It is a rough recovery but it does get better with time. I still swell but only after exercising. I have added some more pictures. Thank you ladies for being there for me during this process. Love ya guys and love this site!