Since starting my Botox journey 2 years ago with different doctors, this is the first time I haven't been able to arch my left brow. This is a signature 'look' of mine so I'm hoping that area wears off soon. My eyelids also feel pretty heavy- something I haven't encountered before as well as my tear trough deepening. I really like Dr. Weiss and have scheduled a large surgical procedure coming up. I just may stick with my Derm for Botox.
I have been through a lot of life to get me to this point. I am turning 40 in September, and I’ll be starting this decade of my life as a new woman! I had a pretty tumultuous childhood, ultimately moving out on my own when I was 16. Well, out on my own and in with my boyfriend. Well, duh, I became pregnant at 17 and then single just a few months later. My mother encouraged me to give up my child, but that just wasn’t something I could even comprehend doing. My life was harder for it, but my son is now grown and I am incredibly proud of him. But, that pregnancy is what started me on this journey. I didn’t gain much weight at all during my pregnancy. In fact, I was still wearing my own jeans until month 7. I would rub cocoa butter on my belly just to keep from getting a stretch mark. I literally went to bed one night and woke up in the morning looking like my tummy was ON FIRE. I had bright red stretch marks from my pubic bone to just below my breasts. I cried and cried. And yup, I gained all my pregnancy weight in the next couple of months. I believe that because of how fast my tummy stretched, that is what created the initial lop of belly flub that I would forever carry with me from that time. I have given birth to 4 children over the years, and have gained and lost weight over the years as well. It was a long road to get me here. Now, with surgery day scheduled for August 16, 2018 (child #3’s birthday), this is all about to change. I’m not expecting a bikini body at all, but I don’t remember life without all this belly flub. I can’t wait!!! Updated on 16 Aug 2018: I have managed to keep myself very busy so I haven’t had too much time to dwell on how nervous I am becoming. I am having more done than the average bear tomorrow. I am actually having 4 surgeries by 3 different surgeons. I had back surgery 8 months ago to repair a herniated disk in my lower back that fixed my sciatica pain but has still left me with low back pain. I’m sure hoping that the tummy tuck will help to improve that once my core muscles are tightened back up. The surgeries I will be having tomorrow are: 1. Tummy tuck 2. Lap band removal 3. Hysterectomy 4. Bladder sling My PS and I decided to just have it all done at once to keep my surgeries down to one time. I don’t know what it will do for my recovery time, but I am guessing around 6 weeks of real down time. I have a three year old daughter (our youngest of 7 children). We are a blended family. 3 are mine, 3 are his, 1 is ours. The rest are all teenagers and my oldest will be 22 this month - he’s married and a Marine. Regardless, we have a very busy household and I have a very supportive husband. I was working for a major university up until a week ago. I quit the job after working there for 5 years. I really think it was bad for my back. I was tied to a desk all day long. I have put on like 30 pounds in the past 5 years from it, and sitting there all day was NOT helping my back. So, I quit. I actually owned a house cleaning business prior to working at the university, so I started that back up a few months ago, and am now just taking time off until I’m good and ready to go back. I’m turning 40 next month. I’ve got a theme going in my mind - “Fabulous by 40”... ...to be continued... Updated on 17 Aug 2018: Well, I’m done. I had surgery done yesterday at 7:30am. Surgery took about 7 hours. I pretty much slept all day after. I still managed to sleep off and on all night too. I have been up walking around down the hallways in the hospital. I’m very surprised at how tall I’m standing free reading about so many people that are hunched over. I got to eat yesterday, although I didn’t eat much. I was really worried about my back hurting with all the laying down I’ve been doing, but surprisingly it doesn’t hurt much. I will be in the hospital for another couple of days. Updated on 19 Aug 2018: Hey, this isn’t so bad. And do you know what? My back doesn’t hurt at all. That was my biggest concern prior to surgery - my back would hurt SO much if I even sat own too long or after sleeping 7ish hours, it would take me a couple of minutes to be able to stand up to walk. So this is HUGE for me!!! I just got home yesterday evening. They kept me for a couple extra days because of everything I had done. I have still not had a BM, but I did start passing gas yesterday, so that is a bit of a relief. I did take some Milk of Magnesia and some colace that I still had left over from my back surgery. I have been pretty tired from the narcotic medicine. I have been sleeping in our recliner. Updated on 20 Aug 2018: So this is now day 4. I slept in my bed last night and slept great with lots of pillow support. I woke up once in the night to take my pain medication and my husband woke me up in the morning to empty my drain. He left for work and I went to use the bathroom - finally had a BM! It was glorious! The last time I had a BM was 5 days ago. I had been taking Milk of Magnesia and colace a couple times per day for the last couple of days, and it finally worked. What a load off! ???? I’m still swollen and think I overdid it some yesterday because I was feeling so good. My plan today is to just rest. We bought a nice new leather power recliner for this exact reason, and I’m going to use it today. This recliner has actually been so wonderful to have. I slept in it my first night home from the hospital and it was quite comfortable. Overall this morning, I feel pretty good. I feel like my fupa is pretty swollen but I’m sure that will resolve at some point. I just know that this will be a process and I don’t want to push it. Updated on 20 Aug 2018: On day 4 post op, my husband returned I work. When he returned at around 5:30pm, we went for a 1/4 mile walk, and when we returned he helped me get cleaned up and washed my hair. At this time, he changed my dressings and binder. I feel like a brand new person! He did say that the swelling has gone down some, but I know I’m still very swollen. Updated on 22 Aug 2018: Hello friends, Today is day 6 PO for me. I had my first PO visit with my PS today. He said everything was looking fantastic and had his nurse remove my drain. I was really reluctant to have it removed - I’ve just read so many posts about it hurting on here... Seriously folks. It didn’t hurt one bit. Not a sting. Not a pinch. Maybe I would equate it to like feeling a little butterfly in my mid-section. Not a big deal at all. I feel silly for even feeling nervous about it ???? Basically, he said keep the binder on. No lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk. Just relax. I’m gonna start taking my pain pills and cutting them in half. I’ve been taking 1/4 mike walks each day since I’ve Ben home from the hospital, so I’m just going to keep that up. I feel like this has been a breeze (so far) for me. I have been able to stand upright since the first time they got me out of bed after surgery. I do feel like I am pretty swollen, and my mons pubis (fupa) is pretty swollen too. Because of all the surgeries (bladder sling, hysterectomy, and tummy tuck) my ps said it will be swollen for a couple of months, but I will be very glad with the outcome. I’m so happy I did this! Updated on 25 Aug 2018: I’m feeling pretty good today. I’m starting to taper down the pain meds. I’ve been up doing some light housework. Feeling pretty good. I’m showering daily with the binder on. That is what my PS instructed me to do. I keep it on all the time except for after a shower. I dry off, and then my husband helps me to put a clean dry binder on. Otherwise, I’m still getting lots of rest, but each day does get a bit better. I’m still pretty swollen, but my incision is looking pretty good. It’s pretty lumpy in spots, but I’m told that will flatten out in time. My fupa is still swollen, but it’s starting to feel better. Updated on 30 Aug 2018: I had my 2 week post-op appointment. I am doing fantastic, probably too fantastic. My doctor put me in “jail” today. I feel so great, he said I’m doing too much and need to slow down. I am still in my hospital binder and he said I need to keep it on 24x7 for at least another 2 weeks before switching to a more “spanxy” kind of garment. So, today I am confined to the recliner, watching a marathon of 30 Rock. I have not been sleeping well at night. Actually, I can now sleep on my sides and everything, but I have been having bouts of horrible restless leg syndrome. I’m not sure why. We took the suture tape off yesterday. I will never have a nice looking tummy. I will never wear a bikini. But I’m still so happy that all that excess skin is gone. I don’t regret this one bit. Updated on 10 Sep 2018: I’m feeling really great, other than I have had a bit of an upset tummy for the past few days. I can see that the swelling is going down some too. My incision is mostly all healed up, with just a few dissolvable sutures still poking thru. My belly button is pretty much healed. I’m sure the scarring will lighten o over time. I have had some fun trying on some clothing that I had saved if I had ever lost weight :) Clothing looks so much better now! And it’s a new problem that I have - i have to get a belt because I no longer have a pile of stomach flub to hold my pants up anymore :)
