Tummy Tuck (and bra line back lift) After Lipo

I weigh 145-150 and am 5’4”. I have had 3 children, and have never had a c-section. My youngest is 12 now, so no little ones to try to deal with during recovery. I work from home and have a somewhat flexible schedule. Three years ago, I had lipo of upper, mid, and lower abs, and hips and waist, including those ugly back rolls below your bra strap. My lipo doctor (not Dr. Salemy) said I would see better results with a tummy tuck, but I didn’t want the scar, so I opted to go with the lipo. From the beginning, it seemed like my upper abdomen was missed, but my doctor said it was probably just skin/ swelling. It never went away, and has in fact gotten worse over the years since the lipo. My back rolls came back pretty quickly, but I figured there wasn’t anything that could be done for those. I hate the ugly fat above my belly button, and how it bulges over the top of any pants I wear.
Last year, I started thinking very seriously about getting the tummy tuck. I was thinking I’d probably go back to the same doctor who did my lipo, to have the TT done and have her fix my upper abdomen at the same time. When I called her office, I was told she was focusing on lipo and wasn’t doing tummy tucks at this time. So I set about trying to find the perfect TT doctor. I found several I was interested in, but it seems like Dr. Salemy does a really good job on belly buttons and a nice low even scar, so I went to see him for a consult.
I was able to get in pretty quickly for the consultation (Mar. 1st), and I liked Dr. Salemy and his staff. The receptionist is super sweet, funny, down to earth, and makes you feel very comfortable. Rebecca, the patient care coordinator, has been amazing also. Dr. Salemy is funny and approachable, listened to my concerns, and answered all of my questions (yes, I had a list!).
I wasn’t sure what all I might need, surgery-wise. Dr. Salemy suggested a bra line back lift to go along with the TT. YES, PLEASE! I didn’t even know that was an option! I couldn’t even find a category for it on RS! But I found plenty of info on google. (I actually wrote RS and asked them if they could add it as a category). As I understand it, they make an incision on your back where your bra strap crosses, and pull the skin up. Bye-bye ugly back rolls!! I think I’m just as excited about this as I am about the TT part lol.
The only disappointment from my consultation visit was that they couldn’t get me onto the surgery calendar when I needed. I really needed a date at the end of March, but they didn’t have anything (for the amount of time I needed) available until end of April. My super sweet husband said he would make our schedule work so that I could go ahead and book for the end of April. Rebecca (the patient care coordinator) said she would try her best to make something happen earlier, but I figured I was probably going to be stuck with the end of April.
I was procrastinating on starting my RS review, figuring I could do it around the time I had my pre-op visit mid-April. But yesterday, I received a phone call from Rebecca, letting me know that she was working on moving me to March 26 if that date was ok with me. Yes!! I have my pre-op on Mon 3/25, and my surgery is scheduled for Tues 3/26. So excited!
I feel like I’m only half ready on my house stuff though. I have a walker, bedside tray table, female urinal, toilet seat riser, wedge, lots of pillows, Palmer’s Vitamin E oil, Hibaclense, baby wipes, dry shampoo… I’ve started taking my Arnica today and have my Bromelian and pineapple juice for afterwards. I moved my coffee creamer and stuff to a lower shelf in the fridge so I can reach it without standing up straight. Today, I’m picking up groceries and some button front tops/ gowns. I feel like I’ve probably missed about a hundred things, but hopefully nothing too important!

Had my TT and bra line back lift this morning. Got to Dr Salemy's at 7:45 am, excited and a bit nervous. The nurses took me back and did my weight (143), temperature, and blood pressure. My nurse Carly was so amazing!
She is incredibly sweet! Dr. Salemy came in and marked me for the procedures. He has asked me to bring a bikini top as well as my bra, so he could get the scar in the best place for the bra line back lift. I'll post a pic of the back markings later but I don't have one of the front. Dr. Salemy is absolutely incredible! He has the best bedside manner and excellent communication. He is professional and so very caring. I felt that I was in expert, compassionate hands and all of my nerves went away. The anesthesiologist came in to chat and she was very warm and very competent. I was very at ease with her. Dr Salemy is amazing and he has a fantastic team!

They took me in the operating room, put me in a nice heated bed next to the operating table (they transfer you over after your anesthesia kicks in), hooked me up to monitors, IV, etc, gave me my relax/ happy drugs, and I drifted off. When I woke up I was all done and in the recovery room! My wonderfully sweet nurse Carly was with me. I was already in my garment but she waited to get me dressed until I woke up a bit. Dr Salemy came in once I was all dressed and chatted with me to make sure I was feeling ok. I couldn't feel much of my stomach but my back hurt like a super bad sunburn up around my incision.

They gave me some leg compression things to take home to help prevent those dreaded blood clots. Pulmonary embolism or whatever it's called. They made sure the leg thingies were charged. They do an automatic compression (like a blood pressure machine) like every 30 seconds or so. I haven't actually timed it though. They told me to make sure to wear them whenever I'm sleeping/ napping.

The drive home (I think about an hour and a half) wasn't too bad. I think a lot of my pain meds from surgery were still helping. And the Exparel. I'm SO happy I got the Exparel! I can't even imagine how much worse the pain would be without it, for any of you lovely RS ladies who don't get it. I think I only have it in my stomach though, and not my back.

We left Dr Salemy's around 3:00 or so and got home around 5. I've been staying on top of my pain meds and my muscle relaxers but I'm definitely starting to feel the pain more and more as it gets later in the day. I used the bathroom as soon as we got home- thank goodness I got a female urinal! It makes it sooooo much easier. Then I laid down for awhile.

Went to the bathroom again after several more hours, and the walk was horrible! My husband helped me the entire time, but I was exhausted by the time I got to the bathroom. I used my urinal, but after that I couldn't stand anymore and had him help me sit on the toilet lid. I broke out in a sweat and got light-headed and dizzy. He got me a cold washcloth and I think that helped. So the next time I needed to pee, he was sweet enough to bring my urinal to me in the bedroom. That was definitely a lifesaver! My abs feel so much more sore now!! I can barely stand, let alone walk.

My garment is bunched in places and it might be making it squeeze on me in tight band- like sections. I have my first post-op tomorrow at 11:00 so I'll ask Dr. Salemy and see about getting it fixed/ evened out. It might be my imagination but it seems to hurt worse in the spots where the garment is bunched.

My back hurts too lol. I'm the biggest baby when it comes to pain!

I'm posting some before pics. I don't have any after pics yet!

It didn't post my before pics with my last post (?) So I'm trying again... I had lipo 3 years ago with a different doctor (not Dr. Salemy) and paid for 5 areas: upper, middle, an lower abdomen, and waist and hips. But it's always looked like she missed the entire upper abdomen :(