“Finally flat in Syracuse, NY”

This site has been a huge help to me. I am a 42 year old woman, 5'10" and 155 lbs. I weighed about 175 in high school, and gained more weight in college, eventually getting up to 198 at my highest. I was one of those people who really didn't know how big they were. At about age 23, I woke up and realized that I needed to do something about my weight. I got down into the 150s, but my belly was stubborn, and no amount of exercise or diet affected it.

I had lipo to my lower abs (at the PS's recommendation). I thought that I needed all of my abdominal area done. It looked better than before, but my upper abs now looked big. I continued to diet and exercise, but nothing really touched my upper abs. I had lipo to my upper abs in 2009. While it looked better, I now had some excess skin that really bothered me. This year, I decided that I needed to finally do something about it.

I did a lot of research online (RealSelf was very helpful). I had a consultation with a PS at the end of January, and decided it was something I wanted to do, and probably should have done in 2009, rather than just lipo. I was able to get the opening that they had in February, otherwise I would have had to wait until the end of March. I had a TT with lipo of the abs and flanks yesterday. The surgery part took about 2 1/2 hours. I woke up very groggy and in some moderate pain, with a little nausea. They said that I couldn't leave until I urinated. I tried and tried, but eventually ended up having to be catheritized, which wasn't as unpleasant as I had expected.

My bf has been wonderful with helping me during the recovery. I have some tightness in my abs, and have to walk bent over to keep the stitches intact. I have been taking the Oxycodone every 4-5 hours so that I prevent pain before it occurs. I'd rather not get to the point where it hurts terribly. I also have a pain pump, which my PS said is for the muscular pain, and that it would run for 4 days, at which point I just pull it out. Haven't had much of an appetite. I was a little nauseous after eating some applesauce, so my bf brought me an anti-nausea pill, and then I threw up a very small amount. That hurt quite a bit.

I have a drain which we have been emptying every 4 hours. I haven't seen the surgical area yet, so I can't comment on the outcome of the surgery just yet. I will have to let you all know when I do. I will post pictures then as well. My PS was very calming, and explained the procedure once again, making sure that I didn't have any further questions. The nurses were great, and gave me time after the surgery to get to the point where I was comfortable to leave.