46 Year-old; Petite and One Large Baby! TT Needed for Years. Fayetteville, NY

I have always hated my baby belly (altho love my baby :) 20-years later and many years of stating I was going to do it, I did. I got tired of doing push ups and my belly touching the ground before my boobs; I won't even go into the sagging of it OR trying to wear a form fitting dress and looking 3 months pregnant. Soooo...I did it :)

I had a partial TT, including lipo. I did this on my own, as I live alone. My daughter lives in another state and relied on my friends for rides. The Surgery Center is located almost 2 hours from where I live, so I was dropped off that morning. I met with my surgeon and the anesthesiologists and the nursing staff. I remember being rolled out of the room and nothing again until I woke up in my room. I had extreme dry mouth and had difficulty swallowing. I remember them giving me Percoset, which didn't seem to work. My nurse would get me up to go to the bathroom, which became a problem that evening when I was getting up almost every hour and my bladder not fully emptying, plus I was extremely nauseous. I recall eating one saltine and 3 bites of chocolate ice cream. The following day I was to be picked up and taken home. At that point they had inserted a Foley catheter, I was only able to stand/sit upright for a brief period of time and the pain still wasn't managed. That evening I was admitted to the local hospital. My pain eventually became manageable with morphine shots. We took the Foley out for a day, however I was up and down every 90+ minutes and still not fully emptying my bladder. I was discharged home 2 days later with the Foley. I got in touch with my urologist and the Foley was removed 3 days after and I haven't had a problem since. I had set up my house so I would live downstairs..and had food on the counters and everything within reach. I was able to climb stairs when I got home, so I did go upstairs to bed. Sleeping (or lack thereof) was awful. I'd be awake every 3 hours..and stay awake for at least 2 hours. At this point I was on Gabopentine (sp?) for pain. I weaned myself off that within a week. I returned to work 16 days later. I would've returned sooner however I wound up with an awful cold (and we know how painful it is to cough!)...so that held me back from going back to work sooner. I tripped over this community while doing a google search yesterday; so I'm behind the ball on my posts...as I'm already 31 days PO. So I apologize for kind of updating in a backward fashion :S :) I wish I had found this sooner..as I'm reading sooo much of what I've gone through and it's important to have people who understand from experience. Friends and family are amazing..however only those who have truly WALKED in the shoes...know exactly how you feel. :)

These photos were taken only 4 days after I came home from the hospital and was the first time I saw how HUGE I was. I still look at these pictures side by side to my "pre TT" picts and I really don't notice too much of a difference. My "sundowning" began a few days after this and lasted almost a week. I was extremely weepy as I laid on the couch doing nothing. I'm an extremely active person (working out 45 minutes every am...lifting weights etc). So putting me on the couch and forcing me to rest is torture. I began to start reminding myself each day what I did more of...that it was easier to go up the stairs..and that I'm not on pain meds..and that I'm starting to sleep through the night..or I started to sleep on my side. Every time I got down...I trigged myself to think of something positive. That got me through those moments. Go back to work was difficult. I drive an hour to work...so that was also a challenge...and being exhausted. I had my dog placed in a doggie daycare for a month because I knew I couldn't take care of him living alone. My 3 cats I had placed at the vets for a week because I couldn't afford them jumping on me. God bless the women who have children they have to take care of during all of this I sure as heck couldn't do it!