A New Look for Me

Back history, I went on steroids for a long period to treat an illness a few years ago. Because if that, I gained about 75 lbs over the course of the illness. Yeap, I blew up and not in a good way. LOL! I was able to lose some of it but not all. In early 2011 I had gastric bypass. I lost a lot of the weight and I don't regret it one bit.

Fast forward to the here and now: My problem now is regardless of how much I exercise, and believe me I exercise my tail off, my stomach will never be tight and right like it was before I was before the steroids. Which brought me to the decision to have a TT. I met with numerous surgeons and decided on Dr. Madda. Dr. Madda is just AWESOME and honest. He suggested a Fleur De Lis for the best results. My surgery is scheduled for May 20th.

My surgery is one week and 2 days away. I'm so excited to see the new me. These pictures are from my pre-op apt, which was 2 weeks pre-op. Please excuse the ashy buttock that my loving hubby was so kind to pointed out. Anyway, my main concerns:

1. I'm taking 11 days off to recover and I'm not sure if that will be enough time.
2. Complications after surgery...infections where the drains will be. I was hospitalized after my bypass because I had a horrible infection after that surgery.

Other than that, I'm ready to go. I'll try my best to update you guys on my progress.

So I'm having a REALLY hard day and regretting my decision to proceed w/my surgery. It may be contributed to 3 people calling me today wanting to hang out the first weekend of my recovery. Of course they have no idea what I'm doing but the secrecy, the feeling of letting them down, & fear of judgment is depressing me out. I'm normally Ms. Dependable! So it's hard avoiding people when i can't celebrate a siblings's birthday or take some one to the hospital for their surgery or visit w/ an old friend coming into town. Oh well, guess it's ok to be selfish this one time. It just doesn't feel ok to me.

Howdy my fellow realself'ers! I'm 5 days post-op and I have to say the surgery went pretty well. I was in mega pain the day after. I could barely walk, get out of bed, and was unable to urinate, let alone a #2. I ate a lot of ice in recover and had at least 3 cups of water. Then when I got home all I did was drink water and Vitamin Water. So by Saturday I thought I had a lot that needed to come out.

Sunday was a bit better because I was able to walk a little more. Now, the pain was still bad but the pain meds my PS prescribed took about 70% away. By that evening I was able to roll myself out of bed and walk to the bathroom by myself. Yes, there was pain but it was a necessary evil. Oh yeah, I also urinated for the first time in over 48 hours. Talk about relief!

Fast forward to today...I'm feeling good! Pain is still manageable, walking better and for a little distance, able to get out of bed with no pain (still rolling though, lol), and was able to brush my teeth without anyone watching me "just in case you fall or something" (I love my hubby!). Still haven't seen what I look like, swelling or not, because I'm fully bandaged. The doc will take them off on Friday so I'll have another update for you guys after that apt. So I'm happy to say I have NO REGRETS whatsoever!!!

P.S. I expected the itching due healing but NO ONE mentioned anything to me about shooting pain. What is that all about?? I could be sitting still watching TV & BOOM there's a shot of pain. Or trying to catch a quick nap and BOOM here's another shot of pain. WTH & WHY???

Had my 1st week post op apt. The drains and surgical wrapping were removed but replaced with gauze and the compression garment (which has to be worn daily still). Since I was on the table I wasn’t able to see the anything. The next time I would have a chance to see my latest look would be the next day when I can finally shower.

These pics were taken at my apt.

Was able to take a partial shower! Hoo-ray!!! I still have a lot of pain. I’m also having trouble getting out of bed. Staying in any position for too long is what causes the pain and stiffness. The morning is the worst. That’s when I’m the stiffest and in the greatest amount of pain.

As far as the results go, I love what I see even though I drastically swollen.

Well I just realized yesterday day that my doctor did a full tummy tuck and not the fleur de lis tt like he said I needed. Not sure when he made that decision because when he came to see me right before the surgery he marked on my stomach as if I was still getting the fleur de lis. Anyway, I'll have to inquire when I go back on Friday.

I've been in so much pain today. I'm not sure if I exerted myself too much yesterday by sleeping on my side or using my stomach to get out of bed. All I do know is I need to get it together because I go back to work tomorrow. Been off 12 days and this is the first day I've been in so much pain since about 4 days after surgery. Oh well, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do and off to work I go.

So I thought I did knew all there was to know about recovering from a tt. Guess what...I was WRONG! This thing people talk about "swelling" is not the normal bloating/swelling I'd envisioned. The best way to describe the "swelling" I'm experiencing is: a HARD, TIGHT, painful abdomen. When I sit I have this hard slab of steel in the middle of me preventing me from closing my legs. I feel like I should have some sort of bag to carry it around. I touch it and in the places I'm still numb it's as if I'm touching a vault at a bank. I know my description may seem dramatic but I want to make sure the person reading this understands "swelling" after a TT is not he same as your typical "swelling". ALSO, the swelling and tightness get worse as the day goes on. I wake up feeling like I'm finally healed. Then by 10-11 am I'm miserable. So image what I feel like when I leave work at 3 pm. UGH!

On another note, I have my 2 week check up my with PS today. Going to talk to him about my CS, the swelling, the decision behind the extended TT over the Fleur de lis TT. I'm hoping my stitches will come out today. I'll let you know.

My doc apt was this past Friday. My PS said everything looked well. He said I could go one night without the CG in order to wash it but I needed to put it back on in the morning. So I did just that. But I slept in spanx to try to keep everything in place. I put my CG back on later the next morning.

Around noon that Saturday I noticed a swelling on my right side. I took a nap and woke up around 2-2:30 and notices the swelling increased. I took off the CG and what I thought was swelling looked more like the "water bed effect"...seroma! Paranoia was setting in so I called the doctor. He told me to come in first thing on Monday.

In the meantime, I drifted off to sleep and thought the seroma was getting worse. I just knew I was the blueberry girl in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and I'd float away like balloon in a matter of hours. So I cried and cried and cried some more. My husband tried his best to talk some sense into me but I KNOW my body and I KNOW something is definitely WRONG!!!!

Sunday morning came and I was still ground. Hmmm, guess I won't float away BUT something is still wrong. Fast forward to Monday's doc apt. My PS looked at my stomach and said "This is just swelling. You have a large amount of swelling but that's all it is". He was so relieved...I was relieved as well, but embarrassed more than anything else!

Needless to say, I am 2 .5 weeks post-op and my swelling is out of control!!!

So tomorrow will be my 4 week anniversary. I have to say, it has been a very LONG 4 weeks. From pain, to swelling, & thinking I was addicted to the pain meds. Yeap, that's right...I thought I was addicted to the pain meds. Turns out I was taking too much tylenol. Long story short, I got a cold and there was tylenol in the cold meds and the pain meds.

Anywho, I need to take some updated pics to show the awesome progress I've made. SOOO very happy with how my clothes fit me, even though I'm still swollen. I can only imagine how slim I'll look once the swelling is gone completely.

Back when I was in so much pain and discomfort from the swelling I regretted having this procedure done. Today? I wished I'd done it sooner.

Today is my one month anniversary. I'm feeling good at 23 lbs lighter! This procedure is was well worth it. I still have painful swelling throughout the day but I know it's all part of the process.