57 Y.o. Mom of 4 Grown Children. I've Hated This Muffin Top for Years. Sooooo Excited for Tummy Tuck! - Charleston, WV

Alyssa's wedding was so beautiful and the mother of the bride (moi!) felt beautiful! There was a certain sense of uncertainty the day of the wedding that I kept dismissing as weather related (it was an outdoor wedding) among other things. Everything about the wedding day was perfect!! We couldn't have asked for anything more. I kept telling Alyssa before the big day that something always goes wrong and you must just smile and go on--we'll laugh about it someday. Well--Absolutely nothing went wrong!! My little uneasiness never left because I couldn't put my finger on what was bothering me. I had tearfully told Alyssa (the first of the grandchildren to get married) that she needed to realize how fortunate she was to have both NaNa and GrandPa there for her wedding because I didn't think they would both be there for any of the other kids (nobody has any wedding plans anytime soon). But what I didn't realize was that my 90 year old Daddy wasn't feeling well in the days before the wedding but didn't tell anyone because he was afraid it would somehow cause him to miss the wedding (which was NOT happening!). :-( Exactly 2 weeks after the wedding, on my other daughter's 24th birthday, Daddy passed away suddenly. He had been in the hospital for a few days but was getting better and felt very positive. And on this day my sister Michele and I were given a wonderful gift from God. We were at his side when he suddenly stopped breathing and we were privileged to be able to talk to him and sing in his ear in those last couple of minutes. I like to say we talked him into Heaven. My Daddy was a truly good, kind, gentle man and I know exactly where he is. I miss him terribly but he definitely is in a better place and is no longer in such a frail body. (he was frail physically but still as sharp as a tack! my Momma is very healthy physically but has Alzheimers) This just totally devastated me and I was numb for weeks. No sooner than I started functioning better one of my dogs became ill. I was literally running a doggy hospice. Roxie passed away the end of November and that was hard also. January was when I realized I needed to get a grip and take care of myself again. I have an area along the right side of the incision that is droopy (I guess dog-ear?) and bugs me to death, as well as the end of the incision on the left. Normally an office procedure, I've managed to talk him into doing a little more lipo on the upper abdomen, so will be having anesthesia. Heck, he owes me, seeing that he will not do flanks and upper back. I've asked repeatedly. Apparently he had a patient that had a bleeding problem after flank/back lipo and I guess he just doesn't take that risk anymore. It's his perogative and I understand. So for now will let that idea go. I gained 18 pounds over those rough 6 months and have been trying to get it all back off before March 6. Geez!! It does not want to leave! I'm down 11 but seem to be stuck. Not sure I can ditch the other 7 in the next 10 days but will sure try! Will post pics in the next couple of days if anyone out there is interested.

So in keeping with the "this is not what I signed up for" statement, I had my $3,800 revision last week. That left side continued to look as it it had never been worked on and there was a fat pad upper middle abdomen that I hated. The surgery was expected to take 90 minutes but ended up going about 45 minutes over. I went for post-op visit today and he told me he "cut out a big ole slice of that left side and suctioned the hell out of the area" And that would explain the soreness! He said, "yep, it ended up being much more involved than I had anticipated and I guess we beat you up pretty bad." Hmmmm. Worst part--waking up to find that I had a DRAIN of all the wicked things! Really no pain to speak of. My only real issue has been coming down with bronchitis and coughing a LOT, but even at that I have only had a sore feeling, not painful. Of course I didn't have a lot of pain with the original TT with muscle repair. I feel very fortunate. I had also requested lipo to mons (geez never realized how fat THAT area was!) and am pleased with the way everything is looking at the moment, even with some swelling. Dr. tells me that "once the dust settles you'll be so flat you won't know what to do with yourself". Lord I hope he's right because my OR days are done! (never say never, huh...) At any rate, I hopefully can recover well enough to look like a fab mother of the bride on June 18!! Wish me luck!! Will try to post pics soon. And p.s. THE DRAIN WAS REMOVED TODAY!!!!!! Amen

Overall--pleased. Still watching the jiggly and rump my scar on one side but know that we will fix in May. Went in for some CoolSculpting on thighs this week. So glad to be back to my walking!! I just wish it would quit snowing and warm up--come on spring!!