30* 5 Children Later - Greenville, SC

I am 30. I have had MULTIPLE pregnancies. My heaviest weight was 254. I currently weigh 158. My body is covered in stretch marks, but my abdomen was awful. No part of my abdomen was left untouched by large, thick, and deep scars. I also had a large amount of hanging skin over the umbilical area and vaginal areas. I am currently not even two weeks out from surgery, but I am already pleased with Dr. McFadden. Regardless of what the final product may look like, when you look down and see the condition your body is in immediately after surgery (bruising, drains, pain, grossness lol), it tends to be overwhelming. I called Dr McFadden on a Saturday crying and quite upset. I am a registered nurse, but nurses, as patients, always seem to know too much but not enough. So, I knew I was ok, but that "what if..." kept creeping back into my thoughts. Anyhow, I called and left a message. He IMMEDIATELY called me back and VERY PATIENTLY calmed me down. If he didn't have my trust before, he definitely has it now. I will eventually post my full story with photos! Just thought I would put that out there! I am VERY hard to please, so take this for what it's worth!

So, I woke up this morning soaked in drainage, freezing, and sick on my stomach. The patentcy of my drains has been compromised for the past couple days. Mornings seem to be the worst part of the day for me, normally filled with minor mealt downs to my husband, a run to the medicine cabinet, and tears. This morning the muscle spasms were causing me to vomit repeatedly. Right after one of these vomiting episodes, my phone rang! Guess who it was?!?!? MY SURGEON, Dr. McFadden. He asked how everything was going. I explained I was in drainage and muscle spasm hell. He reiterated the fact that drainage is good news and called me in some Valium and phenergan suppositories. Several hours later, I am feeling better than I have felt in two weeks! I ended up taking a large syringe and pulled a large blood clot from both of my drains. They are now working properly, THANK GOD! Maybe, things will start looking up from here! I honestly am sooo impressed with my surgeon! Without him being so understanding and supportive, I am sure I would be a bubbling puddle of tears for the remainder of my recovery. Dr McFadden and my husband have become my HEROS!

So, my drains were removed on day 14. The rest of the sutures were removed around my navel as well. I was informed that there was necrotic tissue on my naval and that tissue was removed, so I ended up with a thumb print size hole that needed to heal from the inside out. I was asked to keep a marble in the opening to allow the scar tissue to heal with a concaved appearance, giving the illusion of a belly button. This is going well. The drainage, up until yesterday, was massive. I was literally using 3-4 maxi pads over my naval to soak it up. It has now all but stopped. My abdomen has increased greatly in size, but I am expecting that to shrink as my body continues to absorb fluid and heal. I will start to wear my contouring garment tomorrow. My biggest problem at the moment is NAUSEA. I have it constantly. It is even worse when I start having muscle spasms. I plan to discuss with my awesome surgeon tomorrow. Starting to feel like I am on the mend now...just wish this sickness would go away. More pictures to come after a few more weeks of healing.