38 Year Old Mother of 3, Long Awaited Surgery - Golden, CO

I've had a pretty easy recovery so I didn't have too much to write about. My biggest problem was really the lack of energy! It really took about 4-5 weeks for me to feel like I had adequate energy to enjoy life as it was before surgery. At my 4 week appointment my surgeon did say I was still swollen and would like me to continue to wear my compression garments all day until September 22nd ( next appt.). I also was told no sprinting only light jogging, no arm weights above 8 lbs, some leg exercises with no weight ( basically lunges and squats), so excercise for me is not the same yet. I also had some stitches in my belly button that were causing some discharge so he removed those. All in all I feel blessed to have had a complication free recovery so far. I'm a little worried because I return to work in a couple of days. I'm so glad I was able to have a nice long recovery time. However my swelling is bothersome, I still get exhausted after a busy day, and it's hard to conceal my compression garments under my clothing, (binder) not to mention going to the restroom in spanx is awful! You ladies who return to work even 2-3 weeks post are my heroes!
I am looking forward to the day I no longer have swelling but I'm still so happy I chose to do this!

I'm 16 days post op and each day my energy and feeling of normalcy rises. The pain is gone yet the discomfort from swelling as well as muscle spasms early morning and late at night continue. Emotionally I am a wreck though. I know this is supposed to happen but I thought by this stage my emotions would stabilize. My first 8-9 days I was so happy and felt so great and glad I went through with this. I even ordered a new bikini from VS and bought a few new outfits for some events coming up late next week. However lately I loath the fact that I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted before( 5'1 122lbs) before. I eat pretty clean and work out 4-6 days a week, but my last month and a half was crazy busy with me leaving my house by 6:00 am and not getting home until after 6:30 pm. I'm happiest at 117 lbs but I felt fine about my weight and bmi, Doc says I should range 112-126, and my PS said as long as I was in the 10-20 lb rage of my goal I should not have a problem. Well my problem is I'm so sad lately about the way I look!(wth?) not with my surgical results, Dr.Steinwald is amazing. But I thought these feeling would be gone after I went through this. I feel flabby and squishy and when I swell I just feel fat! I want to cry all the time. I am also worried about my belly button, which I had checked out Tuesday and they said no infection just keep it covered with bandage & bacitracin. I know I cannot work out like I was before yet but I did start yesterday with a brisk mile 1/2 walk plus some light weights and a few squats with permission. I cannot say I'm having these feelings to anyone especially my husband who said I never needed it to begin with. I just want to feel the way I did when I first had my procedure. Am I crazy or have others felt this way? I am attaching some before/ after pics to try to make myself feel a little better. I felt disgusted after taking the ones this morning!

I had my first post op appointment today. All is well. Still have significant swelling and bruises but I am slowly gaining my energy back! I'm ready to be 100% again yet I know it will be awhile. Got a great pic of the new belly button! I love my results even with all the swelling! Well worth all I've gone through this past week! I know all those done and recovering agree!