21, Mommy of One Ready 2 Get my Body Back - Dominican Republic

Oh wow well swelling can continue for awhile i watched a video of a women that had a tummy tuck and at 6 months she started swelling again and started getting sagging skin so she got another tummy tuck with scar revision and now its 3 years and she still has swelling from time to time but she came a long way because she had a lot of extra skin and her tummy was split in half from having two kids so she looks amazing compared to her before I'm sure the final results will pay off once its over with aside from the complications I love the way I look compared to my before just wish this buldge would go away did you have a muscle repair with the tummy tuck as well?

Woman*

Patience is a virtue as what they they, isn't! You are looking good Ms Van that's for sure:)

They say! Onk! I typed too fast!

Yes, I had muscle repair also. The swelling can be very uncomfortable and I so worry about stretching my skin for a prolonged period of time and whether it would eventually stay stretched. So I wear some type of compression to keep me from swelling pretty much all the time. I don't wear a faja or garment anymore, but I do wear something wrapped around my stomach or at the very least Spanx. I think a huge part of my problem is also that I don't drink nearly enough water to help keep the swelling down. I was already at my ideal weight prior to surgery, so I'm glad I don't at least have to worry about whether I'll have sagging skin if I lose weight. I just want to stay toned and not lose anything. I'm hopin your bulge goes away soon. I can tell your results will be amazing once it goes down and you can see your final results.

I sleep on my back with pillows under my knees and I was sleeping with a pillow under my butt but I'm not anymore since most of my swelling has gone down the bbl recovery time is much shorter than the tummy tuck so I can definitely see why they don't recommend getting all that done together since your recovery from 2 surgeries

I'm doing tt and bbl at same time but that's when he said lipo of the upper belly

van101 you mean immediately after your tummy tuck and bbl you were sleeping on your back with a pillow? I am not allowed to sleep on my back for 6 weeks post surgery. Also were you allowed to sit down and if not for how long? I cant sit down for 1 month so would be interesting to here about you

Yeah you can't sleep on your stomach with a tummy tuck you have to sleep propped up on your back and since I also had a bbl I had to have a pillow on my butt so I wouldn't be putting pressure on it same thing with sitting you have to sit on a boppy booty pillow or donut your going to lose some fat regardless once swelling goes down but want to conserve as much as you can and with the tummy tuck I had a muscle repair so I can't use my stomach muscles at all it was hard getting up my husband has to help but you put pillows under your knees to help blood circulation and swelling I've started sleeping on my sides its more comfortable but they say you lose you hips that way I still have them though lol

I can get up fine and on my own now but that first week was horrible

I know I said some surgeons will do it it depends that's good you were able to find a doctor in the states good luck on your journey love I wish you the best :)

Thanks van and some reason is to which you were not fat either to be ten to 20 pound of your weight that's y I don't understand y he didn't lipo you cause your small did you try a wasit trainer to hold it in wasit trainer it goes tight put your faja on n wasit trainer on as tight as you can take it

Put the wasit trainer I just saw you don't want to wear faja your body looks great just put wasit trainer on girl I think that should work

I can't have too much on because you can cut off circulation I either need to wear a faja or a waist trainer but the waist has to cover the whole stomach not just the bottom that's was the doctors order and nothing to tight you still should have a little space in there but honestly I think he should have drained me now this stupid seroma capsuled and it will probably have to be surgically removed I'm so scared I don't want to go through surgery again but I'm not just going to accept a asymetrical stomach the other side is pefercting fine its just my left side has a lump and I know its from the seroma because the doctor told me I had seroma sorry to rant on

So go for a X-ray girl to me it looks like fluid but u still look good don't make it go to long go with your gut go to hosptial and a ultrasound this way they can see if it's fluid

O i know I see him on Friday I'm definitely gonna have it checked out I know its the fluid because everything else is coming together he just kept telling its going to go away on its own I don't think he wants to operate on me and I don't want to either but I'm not going to be left like this especially when this could have been taken care of if he would drained me in the beginning but for some reason here they don't believe in draining seromas because of the risk of infection where as Dr.mallol was telling me to drain it

Hun you look amazing you need to be drained see if you would'v went to emergency room they would'v looked on untlrasound to see were it is drain n put you on antibiotics just incase don't get sad van u look great it's a bump you know it will be taken care of and you will be happy you are aware of wats going on so you will fix it xoxo n ur booty looks great n hips love your shape

The emergency took too long like I waited over 5 hours I wasnt considered a priority I got tired of waiting so I left but your right they would have did a ct scan and saw where the fluid exactly was but thank you for the support and boost it will get better soon

It will get better van don't worry it's just a little bump girl I know it's annoying but all will go well and keep us updated I will be thinking of you btw how is bey haven't heard from her?

I'm not sure haven't heard from her either I'm worried I hope she updates I remember her saying she left with her sister because she got sick

I hope she ok I'm worried also it's not her not to post up here

Exactly she said she was gong to finish her part 2 so its concerning I'll pray for her tonight

I'm gonna pray also and I'll be thinking of her miss her also just hope she healthy and recovering if you hear anything van plz let me know girl and keep us updated on your situation also xoxo

Yes, I do work out. I go to the gym at LEAST three days a week. I wasn't able to go back for quite some time though because of having to have the second surgery. I'm back in there now, but I haven't really done any ab work. Just cardio and strength on other parts of my body. I guess I'm still scared of tearing something even though the doctor says it's okay. I'll slowly start doing it though. Yes, having to wear compression for this long sucks, but I'm just dealing with it the best I can since I definitely don't want to stretch my skin out.

If you don't mind me asking how was the second surgery how long was your recovery from it what did they do?

The second surgery wasn't nearly as bad as the first. I woke up a bit sore, but not like I had been run over by a truck like the first time. I was completely coherent when they woke me this time also. Maybe because I hadn't been under anesthesia as long. Again, I was his very first patient for the morning. I think this time I may have only been in surgery 2 hours. He reopened my tt incision, drained all the fluid out, and scraped the tissue out (the pocket) that bad been surrounding the fluid. He also went ahead and fixed some picketing that I had at the end of my incision. It had gotten better over time and was flattening, but he just went ahead and fixed it since he already had to cut me anyway. He then placed one drain (I had two the first time) in me and closed me back up. Recovery wasn't near as bad as the first time. I had swelling and some soreness, but I was able to move around and I think I only took prescribed meds a day or two and then I just took Tylenol. My surgery was at 6 am and was back home by 10 am. I had to start all over with not lifting anything heavy and waiting to exercise, but really other than being very careful to try not to rip anything open, a few pains here and there, I was pretty much back to normal within a couple of days and no one even knew I had surgery. I hid the drain when I went out because he wouldn't take it out this time until I was at 5 cc (which took about 10 days) and no one could tell anything was different or that I was recovering from surgery. I moved a bit slow so I would put too much stress on my incision, but I didn't have to walk bent over or anything.

Puckering, not picketing.

Let's hope and pray you don't have to be surgically drained. I know you're scared. I was too. I was s crying mess. Some women have surgery over and over like its a game, but being put to sleep is serious business. It terrifies me and I don't care how many times it's been done to me and I come out okay, I'll never take it lightly. So I can't tell you not to be scared, but just know that with no complications, the second surgery really isn't as bad as you or even I thought it would be. It was quick and almost painless. I felt better afterwards because I no longer felt like I had a bag of bricks hanging from my pubic area.

I also forgot to add that I did have some soreness at first in the area where the seroma/hematoma was afterwards and I think that was because of the scraping of the tissue, which is to be expected. But again, I would call it soreness. Not excrutiating pain or anything.

Thank you so much I hate the thought of having to be reopened up but I honestly think that's what's going to have to happen me and the Dr. And i Crossed our fingers hoping this would be the end but unfortunately him not treating the seroma was not the way to go for me Now if have a hard lump at the bottom I don't blame the general surgeon he's not a plastic surgeon so he doesn't really deal with these type of procedures but he has a general understanding and he has assisted post op tummy tuck patients so he was doing what felt right he did warn that this could happen but kept reassuring it shouldn't but it did so now well have to have a plan of action for this well see what he suggest on Friday but I truly appreciate you sharing this because I feel alone on it my family was unsupportive of the surgery in the beginning so they don't know what's going on and my husband is trying to be there for me but he's kinda frustrated with me and feels like I got myself into it so I gotta take the repercussions

I completely understand. I didn't tell anyone about about my original surgery or my second one to drain me. I didn't want to deal with a bunch of questions that were no one's business or comments about how I didn't need to have surgery. I hope everything gets better for you soon.

Thank you that's exactly how it is for me no ones knows I had the surgery and I rather keep it that way but I hope this is all over with too

Hes not the one that did my surgery I had it done it done in the Dominican republic he's a general surgeon and no he just looked at my back because he wanted to to see how that was since it was leaking but now that it stopped and it healing I have that buldge. This was my first attempting to drain it, my needles didn't come until yesterday so this morning since I had everything I tried to drain it and nothing came out it bleed a little but no fluid came through so I figured I would leave it alone but once I took my faja off I pressed down it doesn't make that wave anymore like it did when I first found out I had it he still see me if I want to but I'll have to pay out of pocket because the insurance won't cover it

It doesn't hurt its just unappealing and most of my swelling is going down so I shouldn't have one side sticking out like that

He also didn't want to drain it when I went to him saying it will go away on its own but now I'm afraid I waited to long and its encapsulated

Oh okay, now I understand. My bulge didn't hurt either. It was just very heavy. I know you already know how to drain it, but did you face the hole of the needle up? I only ask because I watched a video of a lady draining her own seroma and she said nothing would come out until she faced it up. But if it's encapsulated, doing that won't even help. Like I said, my doctor could even figure out exactly where mine was without the X-ray and it will still hard and painful to get it out. We'll just hope it's swelling. Lipo pads seemed to help me a lot with compressing. Much better than just my compression garments alone. If you have any foam, line it up all the way to the back and tighten your garment as much as you can. It makes a huge difference.

Yeah the needle was facing up but no fluid came out and wow yeah he was telling me that if the fluid got bad they would do an ultrasound to see where and how much fluid and then surgical put a sponge like drain to get it out its really small compared to how much fluid I had in the beginning but you can definitely see the bludge when I take the faja off the other side doesn't stick out that far and since he told me it was seroma it more than likely harden a little bit its not rock hard but its not bouncy and waterbed like it was before and I was using lipofoam but it wasn't really helping it wasn't shaping out right it kept getting creased in the middle I felt like it was cutting off circulation so I stopped using it and when I messaged dr.mallol about it he said if I feel like its not helping to stop using it

How big was your seroma?

Honestly it looked about the same size as yours except it was big like that all the way down through my pubic mound. I guess that's why I thought it was just swelling a first. I don't recall mine ever having a wave, although it may have at first, but I just never touched it because I thought it was swelling. And I had read a lot of doctors say it swells a lot under the incision, so that's what I thought it was until fluid started coming out of my drain holes and then I guess as the drain holes started healing and the fluid couldn't get out anymore, it was causing so much pressure that flesh/tissue started bulging through the holes. The bulge itself didn't hurt, but that part did.

Thank you I hope so too

Thank you

Did you see wat hapoen to the other girl that still there I feel so horriable for her

No girl I have not what's her name

Wait I'll copy n put it here

Tlundquist thats her name she can't leave

Oh no I saw it its terrible thank goodness that caught it early sending prayers her way

They got to go in clean everything get all infection out but not that how her stomach open like that I feel hirrable n God was with her to still be there so the doctor can deal with it

I haven't been getting massage but I will try it

You got to keep up with message it keep fluid from building up

No its a Special Massages called Endermologie the use a machine called LPG and it does lympathic drainage

Omg well thank god it's helping did you see the other girl that still out there I feel so bad her breast infected n stomach opend

Who girl @angelique what poor girl

No they didn't do a culture he said its not infected if it has pus coming the wound or the fluid was creamy out they would be concerned but they do want the hole to close because of the risk of infection but the fluid I'm leaking is serous fluid well see on Friday I think since the fluid is draining out my back is smoothing out hopefully the fluid won't build back up but if it does he will have to drain it and my stomach isnt its my back thats leaking fluid I still have that wave when I press down and it doesn't hurt but I do feel uncomfortable because my upper abs are tight and swelling down

Oh wow. My fluid was clear, but I did have pus that would build up around the hole. Okay, hopefully all is well and it will correct itself soon. Having to deal with all the draining is a headache. Heal quickly doll!

Thank you love it is a headache I feel like its my fault because I left early I couldn't stay the recommended ten days and now I'm having issues :(

Yes from the drain being tooken out to early but seroma can still happen its a common complication after a tummy tuck its just fluid build up