A Long Wait, but Worth It - Bala Cynwyd, PA

After a 70+lb weight loss, from 226lbs to 155lbs, I had a lot of excess skin and I wanted to get rid of it. I finally was in a financial position to do it, so I made an appointment with a surgeon that I'd known for a few years that two of my friends had used previously for other surgeries. After a 2 month wait, I went into surgery where they prepped me by adding the markings and putting in my IV. I wasn't particularly nervous until they wheeled me into the room, but because of the anesthesia it felt like it was over in a blink.

When woke up, I had a lot more pain than I expected. Getting out of the bed and into the car was also pretty painful, and I had to walk as bent over as possible As soon as I got home, I got right in the bed and stayed there except for getting up to go to the bathroom for 2 days. I could feel that my abs had been tightened although we'd discussed that I didn't want any plication. I was disappointed, but I figured if she'd done it, there was probably a good reason.

At my 1 week post-op appointment she removed the drains and cut the stitches around my bellybutton. The scar looks really good, thankfully I scar pretty nicely. My stomach is flat, and I think in time with a bit more strict dieting and building my abs I'll have the 6-pack I wanted. I'm still swollen of course, but I'm really happy with the results.

A few tips:
* Depending on how tall you are, If you have a high bed, consider lowering it or taking it off of the frame while you heal. Extending your legs to get off the bed is kind of painful with the stitches from the drains getting pulled. If you don't want to lower it, put a small sturdy box that you can step on as an intermediate step before the floor.

* To get out of bed, slide up, not down. The first few days I kept trying to slide out of bed by trying to get my feet off first. That stretches your body out and ends up hurting. I figured out that if you push yourself up in to a vertical (or as far as possible) position, and then swing your legs out and to the floor.