I have lots of stretch marks on my stomach and the skin is very stretched from being pregnant. So I decided to have lipo first of all to my stomach so I could have a tummy tuck later and also went ahead and did my hips and thigs too. My Dr. advised me that in order to have the tummy tuck I wanted, that I would need to have lipo first and then 3 to 6 months later, I would have the tummy tuck. He told me this is the safe way of doing it. Instead of doing two things to the same area at the same time. That doing it at separate times, greatly decreases many risks. And that if I went to 10 drs. 4 of the ten would say they could do it at the same time. But this was the way he did it. Plus the ideal person to give a tummy tuck to, is a very thin person. And I had a little roll of fat at the top of my stomach and he said that if the lipo wasn't done first, my waist could be bigger, if I just had the tummy tuck without the lipo. And I sure didn't want a bigger waist!! It's been 2 weeks since my surgery and I'm starting to feel more normal. Showers are getting easier and I'm getting back into my routine. It's still a little hard to roll from side to side at night. But I just do it very slowly. I'm still sore, my stomach is still numb and I'm swollen. I had 6 drains, 4 I got out in 5 days and the other two in a week. I would say that the first 4 days are the roughest and then it starts to get better. The hardest part is getting in and out of bed, and basically once you are situated you are comforatble, it when you decide to move out of bed, or a chair etc. is when it hurts! You are just really tired and sore!!! I went back to work after about 8 days. I was very sore, and moved slowed. It was pretty hard. But the good thing is no ones knows that I had it done, because I'm swollen, and I still have to wear my garment and a piece of foam in my stomach. So I still appear to look the same. But once I'm undress, I really can tell the differnce. My dr. said that it would be about 3 weeks, until most of the swelling went down, and then from there it would be months and I would notice a differnce very day. I'm thrilled with my Dr. and the results so far. oh, yeah, I have a two year old and had to my mother take care of her for a week, becasue i wasn't able too. I just can't wait to see what I'm going to look like once the swelling goes down. If you have any questions please feel free to ask! I looked at this website before my surgery and decided that I wanted to write a review once I was finish. Becasue I really couldn't find much information on the internet from people who actually had it done. And I think that this is a great way to find out real information about plastic surgery other that just what you see on TV!