Sick of my Saggy Stomach

My 1st 2 weeks of surgery:

Day of surgery:
The surgery went well. It took a little less then 3 hours for the entire procedure. When I woke up, I was in no pain. The worst part was having a dry irritated throat from the breathing tube. My PS said he removed about 3 pounds of fat/skin. I thought it would be more. :( I didn't have drains- my PS did the quilting method. So when I woke up, all I had was my binder. I got dressed back into my exercise pants and my t-shirt and headed home.
I don't remember much about the way home other then my extremely dry throat. Once I made it to my recliner, I slept most of the rest of that day and night.

Day 1 PO: The next day was painful. I itched extremely bad. I don't know if it was after effects from the anesthesia, or from the Percocet that I was prescribed. Either way- it kept me from getting a restful sleep. I was very hunched over, but it didn't hurt yet.

Day 2 was the most painful. I took a shower (with my husband's help) and felt terrible. The good thing was- when I took off the binder to take a shower, I couldn't believe my stomach. (Or lack of one)! Yes- I was bruised and the dressing over the incision seemed huge and intimidating, but my stomach was small! Even with the swelling, I loved it. The weirdest part was the numbness. Everything felt foreign. When I touched my belly button, I wanted to throw up. It's such a weird sensation feeling your stomach with your hands, but not feeling the touch of your hands on your stomach. BTW- I weighed myself and I was 5 pounds heavier then I had been before I went in. Yes I was clean but oh my was I in pain. Back to take a nap. As long as I was in my recliner, and didn't move, I was okay. But getting out of the recliner and walking around was miserable. The worst part for me was the incision site pain. It was like a burning pain. The muscle pain was manageable, unless I had to sneeze or cough. I didn't feel any pain in my lipo areas other then the pain from bruising. My back was starting to hurt.

Day 3 I felt a tiny bit better. It was minuscule, but enough to know that I was going in the right direction. I still could barely stand long enough for a shower.

Day 4 and 5 were my depressing days. I was so sick of being in my room, in a recliner, sitting, and not doing anything. I was in pain, (but only taking regular Tylenol and Motrin as the Percocet still seemed to make me itchy, and the Vicodin made me nauseous) and I was questioning why I did this to myself. The only good part was I was down 4 pounds- almost to my starting weight. My back was killing me now. I could start to stand up a little straighter, but it naturally felt better to remain hunched over.

Day 7 was a definite turning point. By then, I could go downstairs, sit on the couch (with a pillow supporting me) and enjoy watching my kids play. I was still taking a nap each day in the afternoon. I had my 1st follow up with my PS. He removed the rest of my dressings, and I saw my actual incision for the first time. My husband was with me and very impressed at how small and nice looking the scar was. It seemed huge to me, but that was because it was on me! He said everything looked great. My swelling was staying down in the morning, but in the afternoon, I was swollen and uncomfortable. My biggest problem was still my back, and the fact that I wanted to sleep in my own bed, on my side, which I couldn't do. Back to the recliner.

Day 10 I woke up, looked in the mirror and almost cried. It was happy tears. My stomach was small, and tight, and most of my stretch marks were gone and did I mention it was small? I couldn't believe it. I weighed myself and was 4 pounds lighter then my starting weight.

Day 11 & 12 I was feeling almost...normal. I was pain free- except for the muscle pain when I sneezed or coughed- and I felt great. My back still hurt from constantly being hunched over. Day 12 was the first day of my daughter's softball practice (which I was coaching) so I had to go. I didn't really do much, but just standing up straight for over an hour, killed me. But that night, I was painful, hugely swollen, and exhausted.

Day 13: I again felt normal so I cleaned my house a bit and even took my daughter to buy some clothes. That evening, something felt weird under my binder, but I didn't think anything of it. At bedtime, when I took off my binder and looked in the mirror, I noticed something different. My stomach was swollen but it wasn't tight. Instead, the swelling was moving- like I was wearing a hot water bottle on my stomach. I jumped on Real Self to confirm my suspicions- uggghhh- seroma!

Day 14: Two weeks Post Op! My PS is out of town so I had to go to his on-call doctor. She drained my seroma and then put a drain in. Now I get to experience what everyone on here was complaining about. It doesn't really hurt, but it feels foreign and it gets in the way. I'm still very fluidy- but its not as bad as last night. BTW- weighed myself and I'm 6.5 pounds lighter then when I started.

After 3 pregnancies (the last 2 close together) and a Gallbladder surgery, my stomach looks like an 90 year old Pillsbury Dough Boy. I am 32, my kids are 8, 4, & 2. I knew after my second pregnancy (when my stomach didn't bounce back like it did with my 1st) that I was getting a TT, I just didn't know when. After my 3rd child, I became so embarrassed by my stomach. It didn't matter how much I exercised, what I ate, my stomach was still hanging there. I became self conscious with EVERY shirt I put on. I was tired of having to "tuck" my stomach into my jeans.

I finally took the plunge last month when my 4 year old asked me why I was different from the rest of the family. I asked her what she meant and she said "You know- cuz you have a fat tummy." That was it. I made my consult the next week and scheduled my TT w/ lipo and MR for March 31st. I'm excited, nervous, and scared, but READY for the new me. I know that this TT will give me my confidence, and my smile back.