Tummy Tuck: Stories

I am a 49 year old married mom of 3 grown children (no c-sections) & grandmom of 5 little ones. I have always been in pretty good shape. I never worked out when I was younger because my jobs provided the workout. When I decided to go back to school in my 40's, I left my job. I have to tell you . . it is quite shocking how quickly you get out of shape & certain parts of your body turns to mush when you reach a certain age. It happened so fast, I never saw it coming. So after changing the foods I eat & trying to exercise more (even started doing P90X with my husband), I started to get back in shape; BUT, the one thing I couldn't seem to lose was my belly. I felt pretty defeated & started losing my motivation to work out at all. So . . after many discussions with myself & my wonderful husband, I decided to do some research on Liposuction. The thought of somebody slicing me from hip to hip just for a flat belly scared the crap out of me so I talked myself into Lipo. After talking to a couple of great PS's, I realized I would never be happy with the results (too much loose skin & too many stretch marks from babies in lower abdominal area).

Soooo . . . more research into the TT & I found this wonderfully helpful website. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have found this site & all of the incredibly generous people on here so willing to open themselves up (no pun intended . . haha) about their experiences. I am still very nervous about it, but I am super excited at the same time. So far, my husband is the only person who knows I am doing it (with the obvious exception of the PS & her staff) & now you guys on here. I don't know who I will tell or even IF I will tell. Maybe I will just tell people that the P90X works miracles . . . haha (It IS a very good workout by the way) I still have 2 1/2 weeks to go before my surgery. I'm still reading a bunch of stuff to try to prepare myself. Most of the people on here talk about getting special vitamins from their PS a couple of weeks before surgery. I'm curious to know what that is all about b/c my PS didn't give me anything except a prescription for demerol. Maybe I already take enough vitamins . . . who knows. Anyway, here we go . . . wish me luck!! Pictures to come

Only 5 more days & I'm getting excited. My husband, on the other hand, told me he's more nervous than excited . . . awww, he's so sweet.

I noticed some people had problems with swelling after surgery, so I made sure to ask what I could do & what I shouldn't do to help that. I was told to drink lots & lots of water first & foremost. WATER, WATER, WATER . . . They also told me to eat lots of fresh fruits & vegetables & stay away from pasta & bread (unless it was whole wheat) for at least 2 weeks post op. They told me it wouldn't hurt to use a probiotic every day too. Luckily, I was already putting a powder probiotic in my greek yogurt every day anyway. They said that was perfect b/c apparently greek yogurt is very good for you too (Chobani is the best . . yum!!). I guess I was ahead of the curve & didn't even know it. Go me . . hahahaha

I was also told that fresh pineapple would help a lot with the bruising. That's good news for me because I LOVE pineapple!! =)) Oh . . and the Chobani pineapple greek yogurt . . . heaven!!

okay . . going to try to upload my before pictures now. I'll be back after my surgery . . . woooo hoooo!!

Sooooo . . . I decided to add a couple more pictures of me leaning over to show where my biggest problem is. It is very uncomfortable when I try to wear a pair of jeans and have to sit down . . . I hate it!!!

BE GONE ROLLS OF BELLY FAT !!!!!! hehe . . =))

3 MORE DAYS!!

Today is March 20 (first official day of Spring!!!) and I am 4 days post-op. That's all?? ugghh . . I want it to go by faster. Oh well . . I know it won't, so I'll just have to deal with it. It's all good. :-)

So . . the first thing I want to point out is that I cannot BELIEVE that some people actually go through this surgery & go home on the same day. I didn't realize what difference that would make until I actually went through the surgery. I personally think it's a little nuts NOT to stay in the hopital overnight. With that said, I actually ended up having to stay a second night because I had a HORRIBLE reaction to the demerol they gave me in the hospital on the day I was supposed to go home. It was the worst drug encounter I have ever had in my entire life (and I have had quite a few . . . hahaha). I slept it off, ate ice chips & saltines all night & felt much better the next day . . . thank goodness. The staff at the hospital took such good care of me. They were phenomenol . . . Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk, VA

I don't have any pictures to post yet. I have some swelling obviously & 2 of those uncomfortable drain tubes hanging out either side. I haven't had to take hardly any drugs b/c the pain is nowhere near what I thought it would be. The most painful things so far have been pinching skin where the stitches & drain tubes come out and my lower back from walking around crouched over. In my opinion, the back pain is by far the most painful part of this whole experience . . . . weird, huh?? I have also discovered that the binder is quite annoying. That thing is really getting on my nerves already.

Okay . . . enough complaining . . ;- ) I got a helpful hint from the nurse at the PS's office for dealing with my dirty hair (because I can't shower yet) . . . . Dove Dry Shampoo. This product is a miracle. I've had a nice sponge bath already & used that dry shampoo in my hair & it felt SO good . . didn't look too bad either =)). If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.

That's it for now . . . I'll update again in a few days with some pics. Happy healing everyone & thanks for your continued support!!

HOLA!!

Seven days post op . . . Today was a good day. I had my first "real" shower last night . . washed my hair twice. OMG!! That was one of the best showers of my life. I'm ready for another one =))

Each day gets a little better. It was shaky the first few but now I can move around pretty good & stand up straight pretty good. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much because I know that it's possible that I could feel bad again tomorrow . . . hope not. I actually got a few things done today . . kind of cleaned up the kitchen, cut up some veges for a big salad, stuff like that. Now I'm exhuasted, so off to bed I go after this update. I posted a couple of post op pictures finally . . . still swollen of course but it's all good =))

Happy Healing everybody & good luck with your surgeries & recoveries.