TT and Flank Lipo - Cincinnati, OH

So hard to believe it has been 3 years. Looking back I can still honestly say I'm glad I had my tummy tuck. It has boosted my self-esteem and allowed me to fit into beautiful clothes in sizes I never thought I would be able to wear. I still get lots of compliments on 'how skinny' I am (no lie, it still feels good :) ) But to be clear, there have been downsides, as well... I didn't take a long enough time to consider what I was doing. This is a MAJOR surgery and you do feel miserable at times. I had a bit of a rough time with an infection on my suture line and I had to remain bound tightly in several layers for ~5 months. My healing was a slow process and, at times, was hard to deal with psychologically. I also should have spoken with more plastic surgeons. When undertaking such a procedure, you should be absolutely confident in your plastic surgeon. There are two things in particular which I wonder...would it have been different if I had gone to another doctor. I'm a bit quite asymetric on my hips at the end of my incision. There is quite a bulge on the right side. It bothers me so much that I will use my underwear to compress it so it won't show when I wear my clothes. I did ask the Dr about this when I went for a follow up. I was told that to get rid of that I'd have to have a full body lift. Not so sure I agree as certainly something could have been done to make both ends of the incision match. Another thing, which I did not ask about and should have, after my surgery, the top 1/4 outside of my right thigh was bruised and completely numb. The bruise went away, but not the numbness. What happened there?? Perhaps the worst sequelae I have is hypersensitivity across my scar. Any pressure on the scar where it crosses my hips many times is unbearable. Can't stand to have my husband's arm draped across my hip in bed. The tummy tuck by no means made me beautiful or perfect (I still have a bunch of stretch marks from pregnancies and my scar is a big ugly scar), BUT because of the self-confidence brought on by feeling good about myself and being able to wear stylish, flattering clothes, I would do definitely it again.
Oh... if your curious, I have kept my weight off over the past 3 years. I'm actually down about 10 lbs. I attribute that to feeling better about myself and wanting to continue to feel good about myself.

1/27/12 8 weeks post Op:Still gently flushing my wound, but it is becoming apparent that it is and will heal/close soon. I'm going to try to gently keep it open until I'm sure, but it really looks good.
Have really started back exercising. Have not found any limitations related directly to the surgery, but I am definitely very out of shape :( Struggling to find happiness again in exercising...it's coming slowly, but I'll get there and this time I'll have a kickin' body :D.
Really looking forward to going to Florida in a few weeks. Going to get the first bathing suit that I actually enjoy buying!

1/20/2012 - 7 weeks PO. For the past week, I have been in Reno, Nevada for a conference. My activity was pretty much sedentary as I was in meetings all day and pretty much in my room at night.
Am still on Cipro for my abscess. Got a call from the nurse that makes me think my antibiotic might need to be changed based on the culture. The unhealed sites along my incision are now scabbed as I opted to stop putting PSO on them and let them dry to heal. The drain is draining a small amount of yellowish drainage. No pain or sensitivity.
Went to the Dr. He removed the stitches and pulled the drain and probed the abscess showing me the big the abscess was. He put PSO inside the wound and put a gauze pad over top.
I'm suppose to keep the wound entrance from closing before the inside heals. The Dr. gave me a 12 cc syringe to flush the wound out when I take a shower. Flush first with warm salt water and then plain water. Put PSO inside the wound and place a gauze pad on top. It will likely take 3 weeks to fully heal. He also told me that he might change my antibiotic because the Cipro wasn't fully covering the culture. Instead he gave me another week of a little higher dose of Cipro.
My abdomen is a little swollen, but I'm trying to get used to less compression and lengthened times of not wearing a garment.
Overall I feel very good.
I expect to begin running next week. Taking it slow and introducing weights. I want to take it slow, but I'm planning on really training. I'm so looking forward to the mental cleanse :)
Back to the Doctor next Wednesday. Oh yeah.. weight is down 7 lbs since preOp. Nice steady weight loss.