I came to Dr. Freed looking to increase my breast size. I am 5'9 and weigh 130lbs, and did not have much breast fat to work with. I wanted full C/small Ds that looked natural and didn't give me a huge gap in between my breasts. He did an amazing job of giving me the full, natural look that fits my frame perfectly. Everyone in his office is amazing and friendly. My check ups went smoothly and I had zero complications. Freed is great! I am so happy with my new breasts!
I have always been small chested between an A and small B cup. I had two children pretty young and after breastfeeding both of them for a year and a half each my boobs felt like empty loose skin. I felt very self conscious about them and I didn't even want my husband to look at them or touch them without a bra. After a year of seriously considering and saving for surgery I decided to make a consultation appointment with Dr. Freed. I chose this ps because my sister went to him for both of her BAs and her results are amazing. The office at freed plastic surgery had such a welcoming feeling and dr freed and his staff were so nice and personable. Dr Freed made me feel very comfortable and took the extra time to get to know my reasons behind wanting a BA and what my desired outcomes were. After my consultation I could not stop thinking about how bad I wanted the surgery and I ended up calling back a week later and scheduling my surgery for August 9th! At my pre op appointment I told my ps that I wanted to be a D cup, I tried on a few sizes and he helped me pick the look that would be best for my body. He gave me a range between 375- 500cc. We decided to go with Mentor 450cc smooth round hp silicone. Updated on 3 Sep 2016: My right side is finally starting to drop and fill out more! They're getting softer and I'm starting to love them! The first couple weeks I was feeling pretty sad and wishing I had gone bigger but now that my muscles are stretching and the implants are coming out further I am liking them so much more!
Hi Tummy Tuck Sistas!! I am 34 years old, 5'2" tall, and weigh between 211 and 213 lbs depending on the day. I have always been over weight ever since I was a small child, and I've never had a flat stomach without rolls. I had one child via c-section 12 years ago and it did a number on my body. Bad genetics I suppose, I have stretch marks galore. Ive also had my gallbladder and appendix removed in the last 12 years. I'm a full time working mom. I've been seriously considering a tummy tuck for about 5 years. In May 2015, my husband and I made a deal that if I exercised and ate right for an entire year, making a genuine attempt to lose weight, he would allow me to use our tax return on a tummy tuck. So, for an entire year I went to hot yoga and hot venassa flow classes 4 to 5 days a week and I was lifting weights and jogging at the gym 1 to 2 days a week. During that time I also cut dairy, refined sugar, and gluten out of my diet and restricted calories to 1600 calories per day. I lost about 14 lbs between May 2015 and May 2016 (went from 223 to 209). We went on vacation for two weeks in August 2016, during which time I fell of the healthy food bandwagon. When we came back from vacation, I found it hard to motivate myself to get back to working out 6 to 7 days a week and was only making it to my yoga classes 3 days per week. I gained all 14 lbs back within 2 months. Frustrated, my husband and I joined crossfit in November 2016 and switched to a strict paleo diet. I've dropped 10 lbs since November, but I've hit a wall. I'm getting stronger, gaining muscle, but I'm not dropping anymore weight. My husband, of course has easily lost 30 lbs and continues to lose weight. As of now my current workout regimen is 3 to 4 days of crossfit per week, and 2 to 3 days of hot/flow yoga per week, with one day of rest from both. Since I workout so much I feel great. I'm strong, I have decent endurance, and besides my weight I'm entirely healthy. I have great blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels, etc. In fact, I feel like a skinny girl. Except when I look in the mirror, I'm like who the @$%# is that? I just really want to look how I feel and meet my full physical potential. At this point my husband agrees I've made an honest effort to obtain the body of my dreams and he's given me the green light to proceed with my tummy tuck. So 2017 is the year for me!!!! Eeeeekkkk!!!! I can hardly believe it. It's finally happening. I'm going for a tummy tuck with lipo and muscle repair. I originally wanted to also get a breast lift with augmentation (the full mommy makeover package), but decided we couldn't afford to do everything at once. I'm going to see how the tummy tuck goes and then maybe go for the other stuff in a few years (the girls are still in decent enough shape anyway haha). In December 2016 I had three separate consultations with three different doctors within a one hour driving distance of our house. The last thing I can imagine doing is suffering through a long bumpy car ride home after a major surgery. I ended up choosing the doctor with the best bedside manner since he made me feel the most comfortable with my choice to have plastic surgery (I had some hang ups about vanity, concerns over safety, etc.). As a bonus, it turns out, this doctor happens to be located only three miles from our house and he quoted me $7200 which was $3000 less than the other two doctors I visited. I am both excited and nervous, but mostly excited. I'm taking a full month off for recovery and have an aunt coming to stay with me for the first week or two while I get back on my feet. My surgery is scheduled for 3/23/2017. T-minus 5 & 1/2 weeks until I hit the flat side!! I can't wait!!!! Let me know if you have any advice or need to know tips for the easiest recovery possible!! Updated on 22 Feb 2017: Tomorrow will officially be 4 weeks until my tummy tuck. Very excited, but I get really nervous when I see the bad reviews with necrosis and infection. I also get nervous when I read profiles saying "tummy tuck tomorrow!" And then they never posted again. What happened to them!?! ????. I have a daughter and husband. I can't imagine how heartbroken they would be if something happened to me. Just trying to stay positive so I don't get cold feet. I'm trying to convince myself I'm not being overly vain. I deserve to love myself and I'm worth it. I will be fine. Words that are easier said than believed some times haha! On a lighter note, I'm interested in hearing from anyone out there that is into or got into doing crossfit after their tummy tuck. I'm looking for before and after tips to keep my strength and stamina up. I know the tummy tuck will set me back quite a bit in my workouts, but I'm hopeful there's something I can do while I'm recovering to maintain and help things along. Did anyone do arm workouts with hand weights while sitting on the couch recovering? I have 2, 5, and 8 lb hand weights. I was thinking I could maybe use those to tone my arms while my stomach heals. I thought maybe the arm workouts might also help stave off boredom. I'm taking a month off and I have no idea how I'm going to keep my sanity just sitting around all day. Tips for keeping my mind occupied would be helpful too!! Updated on 27 Feb 2017: It kind of bums me out that I can't change my status on this website. For some reason my tummy tuck status is stuck on "not worth it." Since I haven't had the procedure yet it seems like it should say "not sure" or something. I feel like no one is reading my posts because it says "not worth it." I would love to hear from anyone out there that's a few weeks pre-op. My surgery is a little over three weeks out. I'm still working on mentally preparing myself for the surgery and the overall affect it's going to have on my life afterwards. I am very excited to fully love my body again. At the same time, I'm nervous and hesitant to tell people about my surgery. I'm worried they will be judgmental and think I am shallow and vain. Anyone out there nervous about telling people? Are you guys being fully open with all your friends/family members/work? Or are you just telling select people, or keeping it a total secret, etc? So far I've only told my husband, my aunt that's taking care of me, and my two best friends. I don't know how I'm going to tell my parents and my in laws, and I'm not sure I want to tell anyone at work. Anyone's surgery date set to 3/23/2017?? Updated on 6 Mar 2017: Super excited! I have my first pre-op appointment on Wednesday the 8th. I'm really looking forward to paying off my balance and getting the low down on pre-op and post-op care. I finally bit the bullet and told my in-laws I'm having a tummy tuck. I could tell they didn't really like the idea, but outwardly they were supportive. I guess that's as much as I can hope for haha. The last people I need to tell are my own parents. I'm going to wait another week or so because my parents are in the middle of a messy divorce and working on closing on the sale of my childhood home. Last thing they need right now is for me to say "Oh hey! BTW, I'm going to be having a potentially risky surgery that people have died from because I need to look better!" Haha Yeah, they're going to love hearing that one lol Anyone else out there have conservative family members that didn't approve of your surgery?? Any tips for dealing with them? I don't see them often, so part of me wants to keep it a secret, but then I keep thinking what if something bad happens? I feel like I owe it to them to give them a heads up. Updated on 11 Mar 2017: In a little over a week and a half I'll be on the flat side! So very excited. Feeling less nervous. I still haven't told my parents. I'm considering not telling them until the surgery is done. I had my 2 week pre-op appointment a few days ago. My surgeon pretty much provides everything I need which is nice. I just need to pick-up some extra bandages and a shower chair if I want one. They discouraged the walker because they said people will utilize it too much and it tends to make recovery longer. I didn't need one for my c-section, I don't think I'll need one now. Pic is of me sitting on the bed with my belly rolls in all their disgusting glory. Can't wait for them to be gone! Updated on 16 Mar 2017: By this time next week I will have already been on the flat side for at least 8 hours and will probably be deep into a pain killer induced sleep haha! I. Can't. Flippin. Wait. I had my pre-op appointment this afternoon and it went really, really well. I was nervous because I was supposed to have my appointment yesterday, but I missed it (who does that!?!?) because I wrote it down on my calendar wrong. The rescheduled me for this afternoon and all night I stressed that my PS would intentionally do a bad job because he was offended I missed my appointment. Ridiculous, I know. He didn't even mention it today, and now that I really think about it, I doubt he even knew which patient didn't show. Im really excited because my PS indicated that almost all of my belly bulge is subcutaneous fat and that I have very little visceral fat. This is such great news because it means I will likely have really great, really flat results. I've been worried for months that I would have too much visceral fat to make a significant difference with a tummy tuck and lipo. My PS also indicated that in addition to muscle repair, he was going to lipo all of the areas I have been most concerned about which included bra rolls, upper abdomen, and hips. He estimated he will be removing about 12 to 15 lbs of skin and fat. I am beyond thrilled. I'm so excited to get on with my surgery and see the new me, I can hardly stand it. The last hurdle I need to get over is my hemo levels. I didn't make it to the lab before closing time today, so I wasn't able to get my blood drawn. I'll have to do it tomorrow. Fingers crossed that my hemo levels are good so my PS can do the max amount of lipo as we planned today. He gave me my prescriptions today too. Percocet, a stool softener, and an antibiotic. He also said they do iv antibiotics during surgery and the oral is just taken afterwards until my drain comes out (hopefully after the first week). I glad they take antibiotics so seriously. Now I don't need to worry about infection quite so much. I'm nervous about taking Percocet. I've never taken it and I've read some horror stories about it. I'm sure it will be fine, but it's hard not to worry about every little detail at this point. ONLY 7 MORE SLEEPS UNTIL THE FLAT SIDE!!!! EEEK!!!! Updated on 19 Mar 2017: Today I'm food prepping. My aunt is coming to be my caregiver for a week and I don't want her to have to worry about anything. I made a crockpot of homemade chicken soup and froze it in individual portions. I made applesauce and chocolate pudding and peanut butter protein bars as well. I also bought a bunch of frozen fruit, protein powder, and cashew milk for smoothies. I doubt I'll have much of an appetite from reading every one else's experience, but I'll need to have food available at minimum for when I take my pain meds. Apparently they cause nausea. I see on this website that people have a ton of supplies, but I don't really have much. I have my meds, I bought "pee pads" to line the recliner with in case my drain or incisions leak, I bought an herbal stool softener which I will take daily starting Monday, and I bought pads to go between my incisions and my compression garment that they will give me, I have a shower chair, and I bought flushable wipes for sponge bathing if I'm not up for a shower right away. My PS encourages showers as soon as 24 hours after surgery, but I'm not sure how good I'll feel at that point. So that's all I have. I feel prepared, but it doesn't seem like much when I look at other people's lists of supplies. Maybe it's just because I'm having surgery locally and not traveling out of the country. Or maybe I'm just delusional and severely under prepared haha. The only thing I think I'll need later is a stage 2 compression garment and then scar treatment, but don't need those right away. I've been thinking a lot about how my PS intends to remove 12+ lbs of skin and fat. That's like a heavy bowling ball. I've been carrying a bowling ball around with me for almost 13 years. It's no wonder I find running and burpees to be so difficult. I hope that i find it easier to move during cardio activities once all the extra flab is gone. Who knows, maybe if it's easier to move, I might actually enjoy running?? 4 MORE SLEEPS UNTIL THE BOWLING BALL IS GONE FOR GOOD!! Updated on 22 Mar 2017: My surgery is in 9 hours and I am mentally completely freaking out. I'm worried about having a surgery with such a long down time. I really hope I don't regret this decision.... Updated on 23 Mar 2017: I'm getting ready to go. Surgery is in about an hour. Had a cry fest this morning and then a nervous poop. Glad both happened because now my mind and my body feel settled. I started stool softeners a few days ago, so I'm hoping things keep moving easily. Sent sweet text messages to all those I care about just in case something bad happens. I know it will be fine, but I just like to cover my bases. I finally told my dad about my surgery last night. He didn't say much. Probably best for both of us. I didn't tell my mom yet because we don't talk or see each other much. If she notices the next time I see her then I'll tell her. Haven't had any food or drinks since about 9 last night. I'm dying of thirst right now. Can't wait to be back home so I can drink something. Updated on 23 Mar 2017: Made it through to the flat side! First and foremost I am ecstatic to be alive :) It went so smoothly. Considering the scope of the surgery it was extremely straightforward and the staff made it as easy and pleasant as possible. I can't say enough good things about Dr. Freed and his staff. I've been home since noon. Was out of surgery at 9:30-ish. I was pretty much up and moving voluntarily as soon as the anesthesia wore off. I really needed to pee haha. They gave me iv fluids while in recovery and made sure I wasn't nauseous. They also gave me apple juice, ginger ale, and bottled water to sip on. I was in recovery a little longer than I was supposed to be because the nurse accidentally called the wrong number for my husband to pick me up (we only live 3 miles from the surgery center haha). But after the second phone call, they figured it out and they got me heading home. Im set up in my recliner with all my supplies. Working on my third dose of pain meds. Slightly sleepy, but not bad. My daughter and aunt are waiting on me hand and foot which is so nice. I'm sure I will really need the help tomorrow once all the internal lidocaine wears off. So far peeing hasn't been bad. Just focus on using my leg muscles and arm muscles to get up and down. No BM yet obviously, but will be taking a stool softener before bed tonight with a glass of water. Hard to take pics. Haven't really seen anything yet, but I'm posting some awkward recliner pics. My aunt said my waist is tiny. Can't wait to see tomorrow. I have to shower and change the dressing so I'll get a little peek :) My PS initially said he would remove about 12 pounds of skin and fat. He ended up doing a way better job than he initially anticipated. He took a full 5 pounds of fat and skin AND he did 14 pounds of lipo. He removed a total of 19 pounds from my mid section. 19 pounds!!!!!!!! I just can't even believe it. I already want to send him a thank you card. I am just completely floored he made the effort to go above and beyond what he said he would do when he didn't have to. I wouldn't have known he was able to do more and didn't. Soooooo happy!!!!! I'm am sure I will love it in 6 months when all the swelling is gone. Updated on 23 Mar 2017: Updated on 24 Mar 2017: Post-op day one. So far so good. My body is tired, but overall I feel good. I'm staying on-top of my pain meds so I haven't had too much pain or discomfort. My compression garment seems a little short on my torso, so my hips aren't covered well. This has caused MASSIVE swelling in my butt and hip region. I pretty much have a shelf butt. It makes me giggle when I look in the mirror. Definitely hope the butt swelling goes away by the time I go back to work in a month haha. I was up every few hours last night taking pain meds (alternating Percocet and Ibprophen). Every time I'd get up to take my meds I would make myself walk to the bathroom to pee and to empty my drain. I'm making a point to be up walking every 2 to 4 hours even at night because I'm paranoid about blood clots. I'm draining about 40 to 50 mls every 4 hours. That seems kinda low to me, but I feel fine, so I'm rolling with it. No BM yet, which to be honest, I'm relieved. This is TMI, but I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to be able to wipe after. The nurse that gave me instructions said no twisting. I have short arms and a giant swollen butt, so it will be an interesting experience when it does happen haha. My PS wants me to shower and change my dressing today. I'm freaked out because I don't want to take off my binder. In fact I don't even have the desire to look at my waist or incision right now because I know I'm going to go through so much change in the next few weeks, I kinda feel like it's pointless right now. I'm also wondering how I'm going to get my binder back on tight enough. Anyone have any tips for putting your binder back on post shower?? Updated on 24 Mar 2017: Made it through my shower. Wasn't terrible, but wouldn't have made it without a shower chair. Tummy is just too tight to stand up straight for long. It almost took my breath away. Got to see my tummy for the first time. I am amazed considering how swollen I am. I have high hopes for the final result. Feeling good over all. Trying to get up and move as much as possible. The more I sit the worse I feel. So far, it's totally 100% worth it. Updated on 25 Mar 2017: Holy moly. It's 3am on PO day 2. I'm up for Percocet and a pee break. My butt is so insanely swollen it hurts. I'm gonna ask if I can get some compression shorts or something to help. All this sitting around is not helping. I had a big booty to begin with and it literally looks like I had a Brazilian Butt fat transfer. My butt is a shelf and it feels 3 feet wide. Tummy is doing well. Tight and stiff, but doing well. I'm trying to tough it out, but I might need to up my pain meds from one Percocet to one and a half. Doc said I can take up to two at a time. I hate to take extra though. I'm not sure if he will refill the prescription and I'd like to save a few emergency pills for the potential rough days down the road. One thing I know for sure is that this badunka dunk better disappear before I have to go back to work in a month. I don't have a single pair of jeans that will fit over this thing hahaha Updated on 26 Mar 2017: I. Am. Exhausted. Literally all I did yesterday was sleep. And I still don't feel rested. I'm not sure if this is just drug induced sleep from my pain meds, or if my body just needs extra energy to heal. For every hour I'm up, I sleep three. Regardless, I'm going to honor my body's request and take it easy. I admire all of you tummy tuckers out there that are going through this while taking care of small children. Updated on 26 Mar 2017: Had my first BM today since surgery. I'm definitely constipated, but it wasn't terrible. Just super slow. I just held a rolled up towel over my mid section to provide additional pressure/support on my stomach muscles. Other than that, I just tried to relax and breath through it and let my body do it's thing. You definitely don't want to bare down and strain to speed things up. The herbal stool softeners my PS gave me were pretty much useless, so I'm going to switch back to the ones I was using pre-op. I might also grab some milk of magnesia. I've read a ton of reviews that said they had good success with MOM. I'm starting to stress about pain meds. My doc only gave me enough to get half way through Tuesday, which will be 5 days post op. I'm not sure I'm ready to be completely off them yet. I might start cutting my current pills in half to try to stretch them further. I never discussed with my PS whether additional pain pills would be given, so now I'm worried. Updated on 27 Mar 2017: So I'm wrapping up Post op day 4. I'm still tired, stiff, swollen, and sore, but I think/hope I'm through the worst of it. I successfully cut my pain meds back from 1 pill every 4 hrs to 1/2 a pill every 4 hours. I might try cutting back even further to 1/2 a pill every 6 hours tomorrow. The swelling in my hips/butt has gone down slightly and was less painful today. I showered again today, which is still a chore, but was easier than my shower on Post op day 1. I was also more mobile today and I took less naps, which felt good. I'm trying to find that balance between staying active to promote circulation and healing and not overdoing it. I'm looking forward to my first post op visit with my PS this Thursday. I hope everything looks good and is healing correctly. I'll try to post some more photos towards the end of week 1. As strange as it might sound, I'm trying not to look at myself a ton I the mirror or take a ton of pictures since I know my body will be going through constant swelling, healing, and changing over the next few months. I don't want to get upset or discouraged with a necessary process that I don't have much control over. Updated on 28 Mar 2017: So I mostly felt pretty good today. I managed to only take one nap all day haha. I had my second BM today which was really really rough. I was taking 2 different herbal laxatives that pretty much weren't working at all, so I quit using them today and started on Milk of Magnesia. Hopefully MOM helps, I've read on RS that other TT patients have had lots of success with MOM. To help the BM side of things along, I also decreased my pain meds further. I went from 1/2 a Percocet every 4 hours to 1/2 a Percocet every 8 hours. I tried to stop my Percocet completely today, but I just got too tight in my back and sides towards the end of the day to completely give it up cold turkey. I'm close though. I'll probably be completely off Percocet and just using Ibprophen in another day or two. I'm pretty sure I will not be ready to have my drain removed on Thursday. Bummed. I would LOVE to have it out. I haven't experienced any of the pain or discomfort other TTer's have talked about, but it's just another thing for me to worry about and keep track of. My drainage keeps fluctuating quite a bit. It's ranging from 35 mls in 4 hours to 100 mls an hour depending on how much I move around the house. I called my PS office today and they said as long as it's not thick dark blood, it's nothing to worry about. So far the drainage is still red, but it's sort of translucent. I guess I'd rather keep the drain as long as needed and avoid a Seroma than remove it too soon and have to deal with other complications. I also noticed that during the times I drain more, my swelling decreases and I feel better, so that's a plus I guess. Updated on 30 Mar 2017: Post Op Day 6 flew by. I can't believe how fast time is flying even though I'm just sitting around not doing anything. I've been binge watching the heck out of Netflix to pass the time and it's working well. I felt a little down yesterday. The swelling in my hips is still there, but going down, and I still have a ton of swelling around my mid section. I know I look better, but don't feel that flat or contoured. I don't feel like the change is as dramatic as it appeared to be the day of my surgery. I hope it's just swelling and all in my head and that in a few months I'll look great. I'm standing and moving around well, but I'm not standing up fully straight yet. Today is the start of Post Op day 7. I'm excited to see my PS for my first post op appt this afternoon. It will be the first time I've left the house since surgery. I'm hoping a visit with my PS will lift my spirits. I'm still draining quite a bit, so I'm confident my drain will not be coming out today. I know I've had an easy recovery so far, I think it's just my turn to go through the moody blues. Still no regrets, and every day is a little better/easier. I just hope this next week brings greater changes and faster healing :) Updated on 30 Mar 2017: Had a great day today. Got out of the house for the first time since my surgery. Had lunch with my aunt, had my first post op visit with my PS, and ran a few small errands after. Went to the health food store and got a good liquid multivitamin to start on and also bought a collagen based amino repair to help speed the healing process. My PS said I'm healing great so far and to just keep doing what I'm doing. My drain will come out next week. They gave me another stage one binder that I can use while my other one is in the wash. The new one is tighter and wider for a longer torso. I like it better because it covers the part of my hips and butt that are swelling and the compression feels good. Took pics after my shower today. My PS confirmed I'm still super swollen, so I'm feeling better about my results today. He said I will contour more in the coming weeks/months as the swelling goes down. Overall I'm moving better, definitely less sore, and I have more energy. I'll finish out my pain meds on Saturday and my PS said I can start driving Sunday/Monday as long as I take it easy. Excited for the changes to come :) Updated on 30 Mar 2017: A couple pics didn't upload from my last post. Updated on 31 Mar 2017: I'm feeling moody again today Not being in the Updated on 2 Apr 2017: Every day I feel a little better and I reach a new milestone. Today I took my first shower standing up. Up until now I've been using a shower chair. The shower wore me out so I took a 2 hour nap after, but it was still an accomplishment haha. I also had my first post op sneeze. Thank god it happened on post op day 10 and not on day 1. It was only slightly uncomfortable. I'm completely off Percocet now so my BMs are easy and regular, and my mood has leveled off. Each time I decreased my pain meds I went through a small mood swing where I felt sad/depressed really for no reason. I'm still taking 600mg of Ibprophen every 6 hours and I'm still on an antibiotic until my drain comes out. My drainage has decreased substantially. Im down to about 40 mls every 12 hours, so I should hopefully make the 30 mls every 12 hours mark by my next doc appointment on Thursday. On the down side my drainage incision is really starting to pull and become uncomfortable. It started hurting last night. I'm trying to keep ointment on it to keep it soft, but it's not helping much. I think I'm just going to have to deal with it until Thursday. Over all everything is on the up and up. Since I'm moving around so well and I'm clear to drive, I think my aunt who's been here helping me is going to leave tomorrow. Happy healing Tummy Tucker's :) Updated on 4 Apr 2017: So today I had to run some errands in town. I decided to be brave and put on a pair of my jeans. They fit exactly the way they did the day before surgery. It was such a bummer. I look better in my t-shirt because the muffin top rolls are gone, and I no longer have a bulge in the front of my jeans from my pannis hanging over, but I was really hoping my jeans would be looser. My PS said he took 19 pounds off me, but I've only seen a 6 pound decrease on the scale. Fingers crossed it's all swelling and I will start to see more changes in the coming weeks. My hips are definitely still visibly swollen, so I went to the health food store today and bought some B6 and some Bellis Perennis (similar to Arnica) to help with water retention. The liquid vitamin I'm taking already has enough B vitamins, but adding extra B6 and Bellis is supposed really help reduce water retention due to soft tissue damage. We shall see. Ultimately I need to remember I did this surgery to physically look better, not necessarily to drop clothing sizes or pounds on the scale. I need to keep that as my focus. Updated on 7 Apr 2017: So I got my drain out yesterday (yay me!). Completely painless. I could feel it slide across my abdomen as my PS pulled it out, and it tickled a little bit, but that was it. It took 10 seconds max. I bought a faja to wear since I'm on to a stage 2 garment now. Unfortunately that didn't go well. It took me 45 minutes just to get the first hook clipped (1 of like 50). I quit after that and decided to wait for my husband to get home for help. Based on the size chart and my measurements, I'm a 2x. There's no way I'm fitting into that faja. I MIGHT be able to fit in a 4x if they even make a size that big. After some thought, I decided to just return the faja. It was making me feel terribly fat and was damaging my psyche. I ended up just going to target and buying a $25 spanx body suit that fit beautifully. It was also a 2x. I threw on my stage 1 garment over the suit for good measure and I had amazing seamless compression all night last night. This morning I had my first lymphatic drainage massage. It was an hour long and it was heavenly. If I was rich and didn't work, I would start my day off with a lymphatic drainage massage at least 3 times a week haha. I highly recommend getting a few post surgery. I felt amazing after and my swelling seemed visibly reduced around my torso. I have another appointment with my PS next week to make sure there's no fluid collecting now that my drain is removed. Other than that, all is well and everyday I'm a little more mobile and a little less tired :) Updated on 9 Apr 2017: So today I was feeling pretty good so I decided to shop through my closet and try on my jeans again. I went through every pair of jeans that I own. 6 pairs are now so big I have to get rid of them, including the pair I tried on last week that fit they same way they did pre-op. I have about 5 pairs of jeans that fit tightly before, and I can still maybe wear them with a belt, so I'm going to keep them for now. I can wear them to work or something. I had 7 pairs of "skinny" jeans, some new with tags, some I've never fit in to, some I "grew" out of, that I saved for the day when I finally lost some weight. 6 of the 7 pairs fit me perfectly now, so that was really encouraging. 1 pair is too small to fit over my hips still. I will continue to save them in case I lose weight in my hips/butt down the road. I'll probably lose a little more weight once I get back into crossfit and yoga and can move better. I think the arnica, bellis, and extra B6 I've been taking are really helping reduce swelling/water retention. I wish I had been taking them since day 1. I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down a full 14 pounds from the day of surgery. It's been a few days since I weighed myself and I thought it was a mistake. I stepped on the scale 3 different times before I believed what I was seeing. I'm pretty mobile now and pretty much only taking Ibprophen in the morning when I get up and right before I go to bed at night. That seems to be when I'm the most sore. I'm thinking about going over to the local high school and walking the track today. I'm not sure if it's too ambitious, but I'd like to try and walk a mile today. We'll see if I make it off the couch ;) Updated on 14 Apr 2017: I had my 3 week checkup yesterday. It went mostly pretty well. My PS aspirated about 1 cup of fluid from my incision line. I didn't feel it at all, but it creeped me out haha I hate needles. My next checkup is in a month. Most of my major swelling had subsided. I still swell a bit in the evening, but keeping my compression garment and binders tight helps a lot. I'm going to start going to yoga next week. I'm really looking forward to it. I still have some swelling in my hips/butt, so I'm hoping the heat and movement from yoga might help. I go back to work in 10 days. I'm not looking forward to that haha. I'm down 16 pounds since the day of surgery. Mostly from water retention/swelling from surgery. I've posted a few pics.