Tummy Tuck: Stories

I am 46 years old and I have been wanting to do this for about 18 years now. I had to have surgery twice when I was in my early 20's to have ovarian cyst removed. I started noticing after that surgery that a little pouch had formed across my low belly above the incision. I figured in time it would go away, it didn't. In fact, over the years it has gotten bigger.

Six years ago I went through a tough divorce and I picked up a lot of weight. On January 8, that all changed. I finally made up my mind to get the weight off. I promised myself when I got within 10 pounds of my goal, I was going to get a tummy tuck to get rid of that roll that I hated.

I have lost 40 pounds and I feel great, except I still can't stand that jelly roll. Well, now it's time for my prize. I met with my PS and I think I'm ready to go for it.

I've been reading a lot about tummy tucks because I wanted to educate myself as much as possible. I stumbled across this site and I'm so glad I did. It has been extremely helpful. It has made me scared and nervous and has also given me hope, strength and encouragement.

I do have a question for you other tummy tuckers. I was not able to have children so I never had a baby. Do you think this procedure might be a little easier on me since I've never had kids. I'm getting a full tummy tuck with some lipo to belly (aka - my jelly roll) and flanks and probably some minimal repairs to my abdominal wall.

I would love to hear from someone who had a tummy tuck with lipo and never had kids.

Great, I went to my family doctor today to have a physical to clear me for surgery. I picked up "Shape" magazine to read while I was waiting and what was the first article I see when I open the magazine? An article on liposuction and you better "think twice about going under the knife." OMG, my mind started going crazy on me. I started wondering if this was a message from God telling me not to do this. It was just too weird. I really started second guessing myself.

Needless to say, when I got home I called somebody I know who had a TT and Lipo done 3 years ago and talked this out with her. Feeling much better now. Uggg, this process is mentally draining.

Will post pictures soon.

I have had allergy problems with pain meds in the past, especially morphine. PS wants me to try taking a percocet (before surgery) so we will know if I'm going to have an allergic reaction to it. I just took it and I am praying that I'm okay with it. Please don't let me be allergic to it. Eleven days and counting.

Woo Hoo...I did good with the Percocet I took last night. Had a little bit of itching but it was minimal. Didn't seem to upset my stomach at all. I had such a bad experience with morphine years ago. It made me itch soooo bad that it was worse then the surgery. When the nurse told me I was having an allergic reaction to it, they started giving me shots of Benadryl. Percocet has bothered me in the past (years ago) but last night it was okay. I am so relieved and feeling much better about things. Monday I have my last pre-op appt with my PS. Counting down the days.....

One week from tomorrow, at this time, I will be in my hospital bed (hopefully not in too much pain)and the recovery phase will have begun. I can't believe how excited I am.

Today I had my last pre-op appointment. I really like my PS and feel so comfortable with him and his staff. I was told that the hospital I am having my surgery at is top notch and very nice. I will be in a private room and my nurse will only be taking care of me and maybe one other person. I will only be there for one night.

I am going to have two drains and they showed me today how to "milk" them. I also got a chart I need to fill in every time I empty them. This part of the recovery is going to be interesting. Got my binder too.

Let the countdown begin!!

So today I was standing in line at the pot-belly sandwich shop (oh my, LOL, that name just took on a whole new meaning)thinking about one week from today, at that time, I would be in my hospital bed starting my recovery. All of the sudden the floor felt like it was moving. I'm looking around thinking I've lost my mind. I wasn't losing my mind, it was an earthquake. Then the place really started shaking and I fell into the counter. I live in Virginia, we don't get earthquakes here. If I had had my surgery today, I would have thought I was hallucinating. And Ouch, that would have probably hurt. What a day.

Wow, I can't believe I only have 5 more days, and I am so calm. I know the reason I'm calm is because of all the wonderful people on this site. I feel so ready for my TT because of all the great advise given. Thank You!

I got the nicest letter from my PS's office today. They have been fantastic. They sent me something to give to my "caretaker." It talks about what they should expect and how they can help me. It also provides information on how they can get in touch with the doctor 24 hours a day. This is really helpful and good information. I just keep feeling better and better about my upcoming procedure.

Uggg, I only have three more days and I have been feeling so relaxed and excited and now I'm stressed and need to vent. Mother Nature is the cause. First there was the earthquake and now Hurrican Irene. I am a police officer and live in the path of Hurricane Irene. I was supposed to be off today and tomorrow, working Monday, then surgery Tuesday. I was going to spend this weekend getting ready. I have a lot to do. Now I have been called back to work. I have to head to work this evening, they are putting us up at a hotel and be ready to hit the street at 0600 hours tomorrow morning. I will work a 12 hour shift, come home to get some sleep to just turn around and head back to work the next morning (Monday). This stinks. I would love to take off on Monday but I just don't see how I can. I have a couple really serious cases right now at work that I'm trying to get wrapped up before my surgery, and we are moving into a new building the day after I get back so I have had to pack my office. I'm 90% packed but still need to finish the last minute things I need up until I leave Monday afternoon.

Right now I'm doing laundry so that will be done. I have brought all the outdoor deck furniture in so the wind doesn't blow it away. I am going to pack up everything I need for the night tonight at work. Then I'm going to get everything packed that I need to take to my Mom and Dads which is where I'm staying the week after surgery. On my way to work tonight, I will drop my dog off at their house along with everything I'll need next week (my clothes, meds, etc). When I get off work tomorrow evening I will go back to their house and pick up my dog (who is my baby by the way), come home and get all my bills paid for September. My sister and niece will be taking care of my dog while I'm recovering because I can't take a chance of her jumping up on me because she weighs 50 lbs. Packing up the stuff the dog will need shouldn't take me too long.

I am soooooo stressed but trying to look at the bright side. Next week while I'm recovering, the weather is supposed to be wonderful. My parents have a beautiful backyard so maybe I can spend a little time outside getting some fresh air and even though I will be very sore and uncomfortable, I will be able to relax, I hope.

Hurricane Irene, this is very bad timing on your part.

Getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow is my big day. I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 am. Can't wait to be on "the other side." I won't be able to send updates until I get back home. My parents don't have internet. I'll be back in a week, hopefully.

I can't believe I'm 5 days post-op. Have been at my parents since getting out of the hospital on Wednesday. They don't have internet so was going through a little computer withdrawals. Mom woke up this morning and sounded like she was coming down with a cold so I had my dad bring me home. My parents have been an absolute blessing. I have to say, I'm doing GREAT!! Surgery went very well on Tuesday, Aug 30th. I couldn't be more pleased with my progress. I must say though, staying in the hospital one night helped me tremendously. The nursing staff was fabulous. Was discharged early Wednesday and went straight to my parents. Slept a lot the first two days. Had my first BM at 3:00 AM on Saturday and it went much better then expected. I just sat there for about 20 minutes and let my body work. Wasn't painful at all. I have been able to get by with mostly Tylenol. The worst thing for me so far is the back pain. I also hate the drains. Dr. told me on Friday he would take them out when I see him this Tuesday. I am so afraid that is going to hurt. I'm going to take two pain killers before I go in.

I hope everyone else is doing well. I will post more later. Feeling tired so going to take a little nap.

Had my one week appointment today and every thing is looking good. I got my drains out and what a difference. It feels so good to have those things out. I took two pain killers before I went to the PS and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised on how quick and easy it was. Didn't really feel a thing. I also got my stitches out of my BB. It is still very numb so didn't feel that either.

I am now sporting the next phase of garment wear and I must say on a scale of 1-10, 10 being very sexy, it's a one, LOL.

I continue to do well and I'm very pleased with my progress. I have been very lucky and have not experienced much pain with this at all. This has not been nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Hang in there my fellow tummy tuckers!

Will post new pictures soon.

I have a question for everyone. I noticed while reading some posts today that it seemed like a lot of ladies didn't get their stitches out of their BB until around the 2 week mark. My BB stitches were taken out after one week. Anyone else get their BB stitches out after one week?

I just posted pictures I took 8 days post-op. Had a little bit of swelling going on but I know that's normal. My compression garment gets tighter and tighter as the day goes on because of the swelling.

I had my two week follow-up appt today with my PS. He and I both are very pleased with my progress. Things are looking good. Having some swelling of course but that's just part of the process. Even with the swelling, I still love my new tummy.

PS has cleared me to go back to work but because of my job, I will have to be on light duty. I'm okay with it because I honestly can't imagine getting into a foot pursuit and chasing a bad guy right now.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

I am all smiles this morning. I feel like a little kid. My 20 year old niece called me this morning and asked if she could stop by. She has a key to my house so she just let herself in. I come walking down the stairs and she says, "oh wow, you look so skinny. You are smaller then me." Thank you my sweet beautiful niece (smiles).

I am 3 weeks and 2 days post-op today. This is my first week back to work since surgery (took 3 weeks off) and it has been a rough one.

My first couple of weeks went pleasantly well and I didn't have any problems. The pain was minimal and after the 3rd day, I was able to control it with Tylenol (most of the time).

This week I have been really uncomfortable. I hope I didn't screw something up. On Sunday (19 days post-op), I was feeling good and my grass needed cut. I live alone and really didn't want to bother anyone so I decided to try and do it myself. I was very careful starting the lawn mower and was mostly able to do it with arm strength. I stopped the lawn mower to empty the bag and then had trouble starting the mower again. After trying a few times, I finally called my neighbor who came over and finished the yard for me. I was really hurting that night and was so mad at myself for doing what I did.

I'm trying to figure out if the pain I'm experiencing now is because of the lawn mower or if it's because I may have entered a new phase of recovery/healing. I think if I had really damaged something I would have felt some kind of instant pull or pain when starting the mower/cutting grass/emptying bag, but I didn't. The pain got worse as the day went on.

I've had some burning going on in my flank area (had lipo done there) and the internal area behind my BB has really been hurting. The swelling is not fun either. As the day goes on, the swelling gets worse. My tummy also feels really hard. I hate these little jabs of pain that get you when your least expecting it.

Is it possible that as the numbness starts to decrease a little, you just start to feel more aches and pains? I hope it wasn't the lawn mower, Ugggg!

I decided to take off from work today because I've had a little bit of painful week. I am so happy I did. I stayed off my feet today and rested in my recliner and what a big difference. I was actually comfortable and mostly pain free today. I am going to take it easy this weekend.

I had my 4 week follow-up with my PS today and I'm doing great. I can't believe how good my incision looks. He usually has his patients start putting something on their incisions at this point but mine is looking so good he wants me to leave it alone. I have the normal swelling, twinges, etc. going on but otherwise I'm doing great. PS said it was okay if I wanted to start working out my arms with light weights. Two more weeks and I can start using my eliptical and treadmill. I will try and update my pictures this weekend, if swelling is down.

I'm going on a cruise in two weeks. I really didn't think I'd be ready and was prepared to cancel it (I got travel insurance) but it looks like we are going. I can only wear a one piece bathing suit (and still have to cover my tummy with sunscreen) per my PS. Otherwise he told me to have a great time. Woo Hoo!!

I just posted 4 week post-op pictures I took this morning. I don't like the swelling in my BB right now but my PS said that will go away. I was also thinking my BB was off center a little but started laughing when I looked at my before picture because it's off center there too. I'm fine with that, it's my own little trade mark.

My new body and I are leaving on a 7-night cruise tomorrow. For the first time since I can remember, I had so much fun packing. It's so much fun wearing cute clothes now. I am so excited. My PS wants me to stick with a one-piece bathing suit since I'm only 5 1/2 weeks post-op. He also wants me to keep sunscreen all over my tummy. He want's me to protect my incision from the sun's rays. He said use a sunscreen for babies that has zinc in it. Good Luck to all of you who will be having your surgery this coming up week. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.