The Final Chapter - Baltimore,

5 weeks post op! Thought the day would never come! Actually it is tomorrow but had to post after the weekend. I so rock the weekend! Felt so normal. Friday did some shopping met friend for lunch then drove to our lake house to meet friends for dinner . Got up organized house from winter to summer mode some what, did lunch w hubby watch a movie and napped. Meet other friends for drinks then dinner sat night, drank a bit ;-), woke up Sunday cleaned and left for home. Only 1 1/2 hrs away. Stopped for breakfast, for home and daughter has ants in pants lets go to Marshall's! I needed to go to food market for Easter dinner so okay. We where out for four hrs. I was shot!!
Came home put dinner on, put crap we bought away etc. passed out for 30 mins. Got up made dinner. After dinner went to my basement lounge chair and just thumbed through catalogs till 9:30!

Here's the drawback of thinking ur normal, and can so everything! My hips swelled, not my belly.. The sensitivity on my sides and back was insane! Tylenol first thing in morning to handle car ride and breakfast , held out till bed time. But crap the sensitivity was crazy. Still feeling it this morning, only my calves are twitching too! All that muscle I had in legs must be gone I feel like I ran a 10k!

I wear the jawbone up band it is fabulous! It measures sleep, activity and u can log food and see ur caloric intake. I am obsessed with it! It is slightly pathetic the number of steps in comparison to others I am taking ! I do about 2400 on a very busy day, all weekend I did between 2500-3300. 1/3 of the average person and I am bone sore in my legs! Ugh I know we loss muscle faster then we build it, but whaaa this stinks.
Also I have had the silicone strip in scar and Friday I felt like it was on fire cudnt wait to get it off, I took it off and my scar looks great ( see pic) belly button on other hand is still suck a slit thinking Chinese marble trick will be in my future. Sent pic off to doctor to see what they say, since I am so far away I don't go till next week.
Long winded no doubt.
In summary I am thrilled with my results and my recovery, just getting frustrated with trying to do more and feeling so tired. Doctor B says I must be more diligent this week as the healing is most significant this week. But what a week , Easter and my son comes home from college and 20 people for Easter dinner.. 1 mth till big trip to Australia for three weeks.. Healing be with us all!

Post op week 4!! Whoo hoo. Feeling really good almost normal! Yesterday I woke up early to go to manhattan for work, got my coffee and then I ran outside to warm up car. Okay maybe I didn't run but I skipped a bit and when I got back into house I realized damn that felt normal!! I wear a jawbone up band which tells u steps a day and sleep as well u can put in food u eat. I love it is shoes the progress I am making. Last four weeks did not hit more then 17% and that was one day last week and yesterday I hit 25%,I not only worked in manhattan but I came home and got a Mani pedi too! I will say by the time I got home I had a huge indent into sides from my pants waist band. It was so funny. I was able to massage it out a bit and this morning it is gone. I have been using the oleeva silicone strip on scar and I see a nice improvement from a week ago, pictures attached. This works grt but is very time consuming as u cannot shower with it and omg what a pain in the butt to get it flat it keeps rolling up on its self. I think I have a pic of it on me if not I will take one later and post it. I have it off as of this morning to clean it and take a shower. Today is a stay in your pajama day, but I plan to rip through the house and organize as I am so feeling that! No doubt been swollen but nothing I can't handle and my new flexees with built in bra works grt for support.. My left side back, flanks and hips are much more hard and swollen then the right. I still have the nerve sensitivity on both sides but with flexees on no problem w/o ugh a bit annoying.. Sleeping grt can sleep on my sides and I actually find myself turned around when I get up. My right side is tighter which is crazy since it is less swollen. Who knows why this is. If there is one thing I have learned is that there is no rules about recovery everyone is different and yet we all share many experiences. The very beginning of my journey started in July of last ur with the start of my diet and the one thing that keeps resonating in my mind is this one simple statement "nothing taste as good as skinny feels"! My self and my daughter have declared this out motto for life. I can say I have a bit if a concern about my shape i almost feel as if my middle is to small now which makes my legs feel bigger . I have always been solid and even when I was young and thin I always had strong legs. I feel a bit of anxiousness to get back to exercising to work on my Legs, as I have loss quite a bit of muscle mass and I have some sagging from weight loss to begin with, but ps said it was so minimal ( at least to him!) that to have the reduction would not really be worth recovery. So I am even more anxious to get to work on my legs! I bought a bikini and found one with the perfect little shirt btm which hides all sins.. Stretch marks. Ugh!!! Still have some on my belly but those I am wearing like a badge of honor, my children's forever gift to me.
It is so great to put all these hopes feeling and insecurities out there. Thank you to all my February gals before and after me, without you all this experience would feel very lonely.
Love to all my new sister friends! At one point someone said we shud all meet in Vegas next feb to celebrate our yr of rediscovery.. I like it!!
Be well and heal happy..

Three weeks post op. calling it over the hump week! 3 weeks till I can start doing again. I am healing just fine! Can't wait to turn over in sleep without it being an ordeal! Be as active as I can be and still have very lazy days. Looking forward to getting out there again in the tennis court and the golf course this spring. Swelling is not bad at this point but I am still very hard on my hips from lipo! Next trip to ps is six weeks. Since I am far away we talk every week but won't see him again til week six. Planned my journey to Australia to see my daughter at end of April , hoping for feeling back everywhere before then! Hope all are healing well and those going in excited for you to be at this point son I love my new body. Xoxo