MOM OF 6!! INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!!

I had my drains in for 3 weeks, and still ended up with a seroma after getting them out haha. I just want to reassure you all that the healing process is two steps forward, one step back, 3 steps sideways, a few more diagonal haha...but after 6 months to a year it is pretty smooth sailing! I am currently around 7 weeks and lots of weird things happening! I get “dents” in my swollen tummy lol. Like, normally if you sit a certain way your underwear band will leave a little indent- well my stomach makes major indents from things pressing on it!! It’s so strange! It goes away but it’s weird to be so swollen! I had a seroma that finally resulted in getting a small drainage tube put in and that helped soooo much! Now it’s out and we shall see what happens! Despite the swell he’ll (it’s a real thing ladies lol) I’m still fitting into clothes two sizes smaller than pre surgery. HANG IN THERE! It’s a loooong recovery process! We put our bodies through the ringer, so please don’t rush into exercise or into depression over the swelling and slow recovery. You’re all beautiful so embrace the healing and the positive changes! Pls message me if you have questions or need any kind of support!!

As you can see from my first review, I had the most amazing results right out of the gate!! I looked amazing until about 5 weeks or so when I developed a seroma. That began a 10 week journey with the constant reappearance of that stubborn seroma! I did everything right- sometimes they just happen. I had it aspirated many many times, we put drains back in for 2 weeks, but it kept coming back. So then my surgeon opted for a penrose drain- which is an incision made along the scar and a long latex thingy is inserted all the way up the inside of the abdomen. The point of the latex thingy is to keep the body from closing the opening- so that fluid can free drain out of the body. It’s annoying to have to constantly keep gauze over it (because it literally just lets

fluid flow out all the time). After my penrose drain was put in, I drained it all out. Then after we took it out and the incision closed, the seroma came right back! I had 2 more penrose drains put in haha!!! I had several rounds of antibiotics because it kept getting infected. It was a long long journey but I’m finally out the other end. My body has closed the area that the seroma kept filling up.  Now, the reason I talk about all this is to encourage all of you! The swelling and constant filling up and draining made my beautiful new flat stomach look deformed. Scar tissue built up, and the penrose drain leaves a large dent in the incision. My surgeon is AMAZING and handled the seroma issue with utmost safety and really saw me through the whole thing. He also assured me over and over that my stomach would not only return to it’s beautiful flatness, but would look even better! I had difficult time believing him at certain points. When you see your stomach look deformed you begin to wonder if you made a mistake. I got depressed because I felt like the seromas permanently ruined my results. BUT BUT BUT...I am here as proof that if you’ve chosen your surgeon wisely (as I did!) then you can rest assured that they will do what it takes to give you what you paid for. I look so great right now- and I haven’t even had my revision yet!!! Everything went down just as he said it would! He will be doing a revision in a couple months to tidy up any little imperfection- true to his word, I will look better than I did right after surgery. So KEEP THE FAITH LADIES!! Seromas, necrosis, infections...trust your surgeon and worry about HEALING FIRST, and the aesthetics will follow. Let my journey encourage you! I will post pics again after my “tidying up” revision!  *Just another plug for my surgeon- Dr Lynch in Albany is nothing short of AMAZING. Even when he was out of town he had me see Dr Hargrave who was equally as attentive and caring. Dr Lynch kept every promise he made me he saw me through some physical and emotional ups and downs. He is talented beyond belief (my belly button is literally perfect!!). Choose your surgeon wisely!!

See me last update for the whole seroma story lol. But here’s some pics to remind you all to TRUST your surgeon and TRUST the healing process. And as my amazing surgeon always says- when the healing is done I’m gonna go in there and fix anything we don’t like!