Never Thought This Would Happen - Denver, CO

I'm 3 weeks post op and feeling pretty darn good. No more itchy-itchy problems. The nurse thinks I started having a reaction to the tape on my tummy that was covering my stitches. That had to be it because all I wanted to do was get it off NOW. But after the steroid pack and all the tape being off (earlier than it should be but there seems to be no issues from the lack of tape) I've been doing great. Sleeping in bed on my sides with no problems. Back no longer hurts because I'm standing totally upright. All my swelling is going down and I continue to lose about a pound or two a week (but I'm not dieting or anything) from the decrease in swelling. I did need to replace my garment twice now. They just stretch out too easily. I went to a medical supply store and a lady there told me I needed one that was a little shorter and she was right. They are only around $20 to replace, so its worth having a couple extra ones on hand. I'm about to start using my Scar Away strips and hope that will help with the healing process for the scar (I've heard they work great). I'll update with a picture again at the one month mark.

Update on the awful itches! Dr. Vath's nurse called in a steroid pack for me. I think I was starting to have a reaction to the tape or something, because where ever there was tape left behind I was real red. Within 24 hours I felt some real improvement. I'm so glad she did that because it's made a huge difference. My energy is picking up and I've been doing some errands here or there and definitely back to chasing after my kids.

On 3/29 and I went in for my one week post op appointment and met with Jen the nurse. She told me that everything looked good, that I was still quite swollen, but that would go down with time. The day I went in was kind of a rough day. I woke up that morning and had started my period. So now I was dealing with your typical period pain and TT pain, plus I had stopped taking my Percocet and Valium because I was constipated and nauseated - and just wanted it out of my system. Bad plan. Jen told me if I wanted to lay off the Percocet and could handle it then that was fine, but I should keep taking the Valium. She said the Percocet was were I was getting the hot/cold flashes and nausea from, not the Valium. The Valium was just a muscle relaxer, not a narcotic, and it would also help with my period cramps. Just sharing the info in case someone else is in my shoes later on. Also, the Percocet was what was keeping me constipated. And I mean really constipated. It took 4 doses of laxative after 4 days of no bowel movement to finally have one. You think your tummy is tight enough as it is post TT - but try being totally backed up! SO AWFUL!
On to last night. Oooooohhhhh the ichy, pinchy, stingy, yuck! I can't stop wanting to itch at my skin where my incision is! I mean bad, like poison oak bad. But at in sharp pain that makes you want to wack your belly and itch it at the same time. I finally passed out at 11pm only to wake up at 3am with that stabbing, itchy, stingy pain again. I was writhing, having no clue what to do. My husband started looking up onfo on the net trying to come up with a solution. We even tried ice, but that didn't help. Then hydrocortizone, but beign careful not to put it on the incision. Finally I got in the shower, but couldn't stop the itching. It seemed to be coming from everywhere I still had tape.....so I took it all off. Finally I got out, felt a little better, took two benadryl and a Xanax (I had those already on hand from a few months back) and passed out. I did not put the garment back on. My husband was convinced it was the garment. I had received a new garment at my appointment on Friday, so he thought maybe I was having a reaction to it. I don't think so, but I don't really know what the answer is. I woke up this morning, still no garment on, and felt fine. I opted to wear Spanx to church since I was worried about wearing the garment before I washed it. I was fine for about an hour, then the itching started again. It seems to be the worst when I'm wearing a garment, especially if I get hot. Once I get it off I feel less itchy. We'll see what tonight brings.
The pictures are from the one week mark. I'll try to take more on Thursday at the 2 weeks mark.