26 Years Old, 5 Kids, Extended Tummy Tuck with Lipo to the Back - Chicago, IL

I have been dreaming of a getting a Tummy Tuck ever since I had my first child. I started having children very young and my stomach was never the same after my first pregnancy.

I have 5 children, my last pregnancy was a twin pregnancy. I was over weight during all of my pregnancies. From July 2013 to July 2024, I lost 85lbs, which bright me down to 145lbs.

Even though I lost the weight and my family was complete, I was still very self conscious about my stomach. It was big and saggy. I couldn't wear tight dresses, pants with cropped tops, a bikini, basically nothing that would show my stomach.

There was so much skin that my doctor recommended an extended tummy tuck which also removed my flanks. I'm glad he did. Dr. Placik is truly an amazing doctor.

I had my surgery on July 31st. Everything went well. I had it at the Gold Coast Surgical Center in the Water Tower Place Chicago. The doctor and the surgical center were just amazing. The doctor spent about an hour drawing, measuring, and talking to me before surgery. Then he spoke to me after surgery. He even showed me a picture of how much he removed!
The nurses were very kind and attentive. They managed my pain very well.

After surgery I was able to manage my pain with the Norco that was prescribed. I spent the first 3 days post op mostly laying in bed, walking to the bathroom, and walking around my bed just to get a little "exercise". I had 3 drains and a pain pump that followed me everywhere, but they weren't as annoying as I thought they were going to be. The nurses will remove the drains after they drain less than 25cc for two days. I have to empty the drains 3 times a day- morning, noon, and evening. My husband took care of the kids, house, and me.

I felt much better after the first week. At my post op visit, the nurse, Mariah, removed my three drains, changed the tape on my incision, and cleaned my belly button. She is very knowledgable and answered all of my questions.

Now, 1 week and 5 days post op I am feeling great! I can almost stand up completely straight, I am sleeping in my bed, and I'm back to running errands and taking care of my family. I'm still not 100% of course, but recovery is going very well.

I am very happy with my results!! The before and after pictures are like night and day. I will post better pictures with better lighting next time. My stomach looks amazing! The incision is low and healing very well. I have mild swelling in the front and more swelling in the back. My incision goes all the way around as you can see in the pictures. I have more swelling in my back because I had liposuction there. There is more swelling and numbness in the liposuctioned areas.

I'm getting my belly button stiches removed tomorrow so it won't look like a spider is crawling out of there :-) Overall, I am very very happy with my decision.

Everything has been healing well so far and I continue to be happy with the results. The swelling in my stomach has gone down a little bit but my back is still swollen. My incision is very thin and healing nicely.

I started lifting last week. I'm started out with 5 pounds and I will move up to 10 pounds at 4 weeks post op. I also started walking on the treadmill at 2.0mph. I'm only walking about 0.25 miles at a time. I have also been eating very healthy organic foods. I ate healthy foods before the surgery but I have really been keeping an eye on what I eat now. No junk food at all! I am down 10 pounds since the surgery.

My nerves are definitely waking up now. Sometimes I feel burning and tingling when I lay down and stretch my legs out in front of me. I massage my incision when this happens and it seems to help. I have been off of the pain meds for a week now. So far so good!