PO Day 16 Calgary TT, MR but No LIPO -Calgary, AB

I am 34, 5'6 and 140 lbs. I am a mother of 2(10 and 12 year olds) and I have been sorta wanting this for a long time. However, since I am very active and looked okay in clothes plus the wait time to get a consultation is like three to four months so I have never gotten very far. My husband never thought I needed it and never was against it either. Anyway... everything changed when I met Dr. Yau.

I went and had my first consult in Feb 2013 with Dr. Yau and I was not prepared . I didn't really know what to ask and just asked some basic questions... Plus I just wanted to see if I am a good candidate of TT. I showed her my belly and oh yes I am a good candidate. LOL. I asked to see some of her work. She said she had to get consent from her patients and would show me if I book another consult. I did and came back two weeks later with lots of questions! I was concerned about the length of the scar, the shape of the scar, the location of the scar and the pain I was going to be in. I put all the pics of tummy tuck scars I like and don't like in a folder and brought my computer with me. I also emailed her a load of questions before I went in for my second consult. Dr. Yau addressed every single question. Dr. Yau said that she can control everything she does but how I am going to heal is something she can't control. I looked at her work and very pleased with the belly buttons. The scars looked fine too. But I was still uncertain so I said I will think about it and let her know... She said no problem. And then... a week later I went for the third consult and booked my surgery, which was yesterday April 5th. I was stressed over the surgery for the whole time and looked online everyday for the same info and strangely relieved from it a bout two weeks before surgery. I had dreams about the surgery for quite some time then strangely felt great just about a week before. I kept myself busy and really didn't think much about it. And then the day is here!

I had my surgery at the Peter Lougheed hospital. I had to call and find out my surgery time the day before and I was told I had to get admitted by 6:30 in the morning and surgery time at 8:40. I was happy that I was the first one in first one out. I went to the grocery store and bought tons of food I like and spent the rest of the night watching Grey's then went to bed and slept like a baby. No stress , no anxiety.

Got to the hospital on time, got admitted on time and went up to day surgery unit right away. Changed into a gown pretty much my butt and waited on the day surgery bed. Then my nurse Jasmine came and put the IV in and we went though my medical history and other paper work. It was about7:30 when I was done with paperwork and stuff then just was waiting for Dr. Yau to arrive to mark me pre op. Dr. Yau came at around 8:15. I didn't quite recognize her. She always had her hair down and in a white gown at the office but she was in Dr's scrub and wearing a surgical cap hiding all of her hair. Anyway, she looked pretty. Dr. Yau spent quite a bit of time marking me and measuring me. She drew the incision as low and short as she possible. Gosh my tummy looked ugly. Again I was glad I was getting it done. After Dr. Yau marked me the anesthesiologist came and talked to me. I told him that I threw up many times last time I had general anesthetic and I asked him if he can mix the drugs with something to prevent it. He explained and basically told me no there is not preventable. He was a very nice looking Dr. I think his last name is Preddy. too! Anyway, I went to the bathroom before I got wheeled off to the OR. There were four nurses in the OR plus the two Drs. Dr. Yau asked me if I was nervous. I gave her a big smile and said " I am excited!" Then I fell asleep.

I woke up in the recovery room and feeling great. I didn't feel any pain yet so I was expecting it to hit me sooner or later. I felt a little sore getting up and move around but no pain at all. I was really drowsy though. I looked at the time and it was 2 when I woke up. I was falling in and out of my sleep and the nurse came twice asked me about my pain level and both times I said 2 on the scale of 1-10. Then I went to the bathroom and the nurse told me that I can go home if I'd like. I said no I have to wait for Dr. Yau to talk to me before I go home. So they just let me wait there. It was very comfy at the hospital so I was in no rush. Dr. Yau came to see me at around 4:30. She opened the binder up and I saw my all stitched up BB and it looked just fine to me regardless of the looks... I think it will turn out lovely. I didn't get to see my incision though as it was all covered up. But I could tell it was very low. I was not concerned. Dr. Yau gave me her cell phone number and told me to go see her next Wednesday for post op check up then she left. I was still not in pain when my sis in law picked me up at 6:30.

So I got home and mom cooked me some soup and I couldn't eat it. I threw up at the hospital once and I threw up again at home. Just couldn't eat anything. I was afraid that it would be very painful when I threw up but it wasn't. I threw up couple more times before midnight then it stopped. I set my alarm to wake myself up every 2, 4, 6 hrs. Every 2 hrs to empty my drain, every 4 to take antibiotics and every 6 to take pain killers. I am on T3 only as I was told the percocet or the Oxycodone would give me nausea and I really don't want to throw up anymore. Plus my pain level was always a 2 and I moved around fine. Hunched over only because I was told not to put tension on my incision, not because of pain. I was still a little worried about PO day 2 though as the pain might kick in then.

Woke up at 9 this morning and feeling fine! No pain just sore. I wasn't planning on writing on realself but all the sudden I think I should. Not a lot of people from Calgary there and I thought I should share my experience! So far so good but still don't know how my scar looks. So far so good, not overly concerned. Will post pics when I find out on Wednesday!!

Good luck ladies!!