1 Day Post-op Circumferential Body Lift - Kirkland, WA

So I've had a LOT of ups and downs over the last few days! The nerve pain in my right groin was really starting to get me down, especially when I started having similar nerve pains pop up in a couple other incision sites as well. The pain was getting pretty unbearable and I definitely had a couple breakdown crying sessions, and I rarely cry! I was really starting to get worried about my recovery if I had to deal with this pain for weeks or even months, especially since I'm supposed to be back at work in just in a couple week and I have a very highly physically demanding job in the healthcare field where I'm having to constantly lift heavy things and move patients around multiple times throughout the day. But I'm ecstatic to report that the nerve pain in my right groin area is almost completely gone, and the other nerve pains I have usually only happen now when I've been walking or standing for long periods. I'm actually not really having a lot of pain at this point in time YAYYY!! It was starting to really get to me and worry me that this was going to be a long-term thing having to deal with this nerve pain, especially after I did some research about it online that said it could last anywhere from days to weeks to months to years and there was no way of telling how long it would take to go away. But I'm finally feeling like I'm on the mend now and feeling more and more like myself again every day!

I did have about 4 really rough days of having a VERY swollen and raw throat. It pretty much hurt to swallow anything and it burned to drink anything other than water. I thought maybe I was getting sick, but my Dr's office said it's more than likely from being intubated during the surgery. I remember having a little bit of a sore throat for about 2-3 days after surgery, but then it went away, so I thought it was pretty weird that it all of a sudden came back with a vengeance! I pretty much went on a liquid and very soft food diet for a few days though just to let my throat heal a little and it's finally feeling better thankfully so I guess it really was from the tube from surgery.

I was having a lot of concern about some of my incisions possibly turning into infections because of how red they were and I had a slightly elevated temperature one evening. I had another check-up with my Dr. yesterday and he agreed that there may be some concern for infection so I started an Antibiotic just to be safe last night. But other than that, he said the other redness around my front incisions looked normal and said everything else was healing up nicely. I was hoping to get at least 1 of my 3 drains out at my appointment yesterday, but unfortunately they're still all producing over 30cc. I had hope for one of them because it was at 20cc the day before my surgery but it decided to put out over 30cc in the morning just before my appointment on Friday, so that didn't happen. But honestly, I'd rather the drains stay in a little longer, than come out too soon and cause issues further down the line, or worse yet, have to be put back in!

I've started to get out of the house more and drove on my own for the first time on Tuesday, just 8 days post-op. I was getting really bad cabin fever and just needed to get out of the house, even if it was to just run to the drug store 1 mile down the road to get more supplies lol Definitely stock up on gauze, medical tape, alcohol wipes and Bacitracin or Neosporin before any kind of major surgery, you'll thank yourself for it later, because you go through a TON of it during recovery!

I started trying to sleep in my bed again instead of the recliner because I wanted to give my incisions on my backside a chance to heal, they were getting really red and possibly infected. Plus I usually like sleeping on my side so it's been a little difficult sleeping on my back in a recliner. The first night I transitioned over, I slept the first half of the night in the recliner and the second half in my bed. It was really rough that first night and I only slept about 4 hours in my bed, before saying screw it and just wake up because I was so uncomfortable. Plus I tend to toss and turn a lot throughout the night, and it was really hard for me to change from one side to the other because everything just ached and burned when I moved around. The second night sleeping in bed wasn't as bad though, and I slept about 8 hours, on and off, and made sure to set an alarm to take my pain meds every 4 hours so I wouldn't wake up miserable and not able to move in the morning. The 3rd night sleeping in my bed was last night and I slept 12 hours!! I got up once to go to the bathroom and got up a couple other times to take Acetaminophen. I've been slowly getting off of the pain meds the last couple days. I've only been taking them at night to initially fall asleep because they make me really tired, and then the rest of the night and during the day I've been taking 500mg of Acetaminophen about every 6 hours. My body has been really achy the last couple days though, and I've heard that can sometimes be a withdrawal symptom from the pain meds. I'm not sure if the achiness is from that, or if it's just because I'm not taking as strong of pain meds anymore so I may just be feeling more discomfort because of that. The achiness isn't unbearable most of the time, and thankfully it's getting better as the days go on.

I'm feeling hopefully that I'm really on the mend now with my recovery. I went for almost a mile long walk tonight before bed, which was a huge accomplishment! I was feeling a little achy and uncomfortable towards the end of the walk, but nothing too unbearable or painful. Every day is getting easier and easier to get up and down and I don't feel as stiff moving around. I'm able to bend over easier and further every day without feeling too much of a stretching sensation along my incisions. I feel like I'm finally starting to feel like myself again and can't wait to start getting back to normal activities and spending time with friends and family again. I'm not as tired as I was last week, and I think that has a lot to do with the pain meds, they were making me extremely tired when I was taking them. I don't really feel exhausted like most people say they do during recovery, although I've never been much of a napper so that may have something to do with it. After my Dr. appointment yesterday I actually ran errands for about 4 hours and didn't really feel that tired after I got home. I feel really lucky that I'm feeling this good this quickly after surgery, but I've also tried really hard to push myself from the beginning to get up and walk around the house multiple times throughout the day even the first day after surgery. I've been trying to get outside every day since about day 3 post-op and go for about a 5-10 minute walk outside, even when I was in a lot of pain. It's definitely paid off though because now, only 11 days after surgery, I've made it up to walking about 20 minutes at a time at a pretty brisk pace. I'm also trying my best to get in my 8 cups of water a day and eating a really healthy diet with lots of protein, fruits and veggies. Although I haven't really had much of an appetite over the last few days, I've been forcing myself to eat every 2-3 hours to stay well nourished. I think exercise, diet and keeping a positive attitude have really helped speed up my recovery a lot, and I'm very fortunate to be doing as well as I am :) Fingers crossed that everything just keeps getting better from here!

The pictures I've posted are from 8 Days Post-op on Wednesday, August 31st. I'll try to post some more updated ones soon!

So I've made a few very difficult revelations over these last couple days that I'd like to share with anyone going into this type of surgery:

#1 TAKE A STOOL SOFTENER BEFORE SURGERY!!!! This would be my greatest advice for anyone going into a plastic surgery procedure! I literally sat on the toilet for 2 hours yesterday straining to have a bowel movement. My body was starting to get to the point where it was uncomfortable and I was starting to have stomach cramps and my lower abdomen was feeling pretty hard from being constipated. Part of me thought to just let it go and try again later, but another part of me wanted to just get it out and feel relief. I probably made the mistake of straining too hard to have a bowel movement and part of me wishes I would have just tried again later that night or the next day. I finally had success, but not after a lot of patience, straining and discomfort. I don't ever remember being that constipated in my whole life! I was fully aware before this surgery that Vicodin and Anesthesia often cause really bad constipation after surgery, so I did everything I thought I could to set myself up for success. I took a fiber supplement gummy (which I usually take anyway) and even took a little extra after surgery, I made sure I had a ton of fresh fruit and veggies in the house that I've been eating since the day of surgery to get extra fiber, I've been eating extremely healthy since surgery and drinking at least 8 cups of water a day. You would think this would be more than enough to prevent constipation, but obviously it wasn't. If I could do it over again, I would have taken a stool softener from the start!! I was scared it would give me diarrhea, because I've never taken a stool softener, but I'd much rather have diarrhea than constipation. After sitting on the toilet for 2 hours and straining to push, my bottom, sutures and abdominal/oblique muscles were sooo sore. Don't recommend straining this much for a bowel movement!

#2 GET A PAIN MEDICATION REFILL PRESCRIPTION FROM YOUR SURGEON AT YOUR POST-OP APPT! Even if you think everything is going great and you won't need that extra pain medication, you never know what's going to happen or what new pains are going to pop up as the numbing goes away around your sutures. My surgeon offered to refill my pain medication at my post-op appt on Friday and even though I thought I wouldn't need it, I got it anyway. My advice is just take the prescription, the worst that could happen is that you don't end up needing it and just throw it away, no big deal. Last night I decided to start cutting back slowly on my pain meds, and just taking one 5mg Vicodin every 4 hours and supplementing with 250-500mg of Acetaminophen if I'm feeling uncomfortable. The main reasons for this were because I wanted to avoid being that constipated again and the main excruciating pain that I'm having now is the burning/stinging/acid-like sensation that I get around my groin sutures when walking. Unfortunately the pain meds don't seem to do anything for this type of pain, and the other discomfort I'm feeling (i.e. soreness around sutures and abdominal muscles) seems to be manageable with just 1 pain pill and acetaminophen.

#3 BE PREPARED THAT THE BINDER MAY SUCK FOR A WHILE! The surgeon gave me a binder for my abdomen at my post-op appt. The nurse explained that a lot of patients seem to like the binder because they feel like it gives them more support. Honestly I've hated every part of the Binder! I think it's extremely uncomfortable, especially since it sits right over your sutures and irritates the heck out of them. I'm definitely more uncomfortable now than I was before I started wearing the binder. Especially at night, it's hard to get comfortable with the binder at first because it sits about half way down your bottom. But I know it's a necessary evil for recovery and will get better as the sutures start healing over the next few weeks. On a positive note, my drains seems to be putting out less fluid since I started wearing the binder, so I'm hoping I can get them out within the next couple weeks.

#4 BE PREPARED THAT YOU MAY REGRESS BACKWARDS DURING YOUR RECOVERY! I thought everything was going great on Day 3 of recovery when I had my first post-op appt. I was feeling pretty good, getting around really well and overall just feeling really positive that this was going to be a speedy recovery. I think I got a little cocky and thought I was doing better than I was. Plus I've been getting a little bit of cabin fever being stuck inside all day, because I'm usually a very active person who's go-go most of the time, so this has been a really difficult adjustment. I decided that going to Home Depot with my roommate to walk around yesterday was a good idea...worst idea ever!!! I think I didn't realize how slowly I'm still moving around, as well as how much I'm still shuffling around instead of taking long normal strides while walking. This is mostly due to that sharp stinging pain I'm feeling in my groin suture area, that seems to not be as intense if I take short shuffling steps instead of longer strides. When I was walking around Home Depot yesterday, it felt like everything underneath my binder was rubbing/burning and literally felt like it was on fire. I think I may have also had the binder too tight, which didn't help the situation. My groin area was killing me and literally felt like someone put acid on it. I think this was because I had a combination of my binder and my pants rubbing against it all at once. This was probably the most pain I've ever felt in my life and won't be doing another trip to Home Depot anytime soon...lesson learned!!

I knew from my research before going into this surgery that recovery from any kind of surgery for someone that used to be overweight/obese is a huge emotional/physical roller coaster. I, like so many others, am so afraid of gaining the weight back, because I have in the past and I know just how quickly it all comes back, especially compared to how long it takes to lose it! Exercise along with diet have become my way of controlling not gaining the weight back. So when you take away my ability to do one of these essential things, it's definitely a little scary and I feel very out of control. I'm trying not to emotionally eat at this point, but have honestly found myself doing it a couple times over these last few days. I think I just need to remember to be kind to myself during this really difficult physical/emotional time. My body is going through a lot of changes right now, and I need to show it the gentle loving care it deserves.

After the straining from the constipation and the horrible experience walking around yesterday, my body was definitely very sore and very tired. Unfortunately I had a really hard time getting comfortable in the recliner last night so I tried sleeping in my bed, which was even worse. I just couldn't find a comfortable position and it seemed like there was so much uncomfortable pressure on my sutures no matter if I was on my side or back. I finally fell asleep for about an hour on my right side but woke up very uncomfortable and ended up going back out to the recliner to sleep.

I know I have a long road of recovery ahead of me, and I've finally realized I need to stop pushing my body so hard to recover quickly. It's been through a lot over the last few days and really just needs lots of rest and gentle care at this point.

Yesterday was the roughest day thus far during my recovery, but thankfully I got about 12 hours of sleep on and off last night, and feel a lot better today! Granted I woke up about every 3-5 hours feeling like I'd been hit by a truck again, but once the pain meds kicked in I was able to fall back asleep pretty quickly. I'm learning quickly that good rest, regulating pain meds and good nutrition is so imperative for a speedy recovery.

I had quite a bit more energy today and found myself getting up out of the recliner a lot more often, probably about once every 1-2 hours. Plus I didn't find myself having to sit as often to take a rest while up and about. Getting up out of the chair and standing upright is definitely getting easier and I'm not feel as tight and pulled as I did the first couple days. I also didn't feel as exhausted/fatigued after the times I was up and about today. I'm still having the really sharp, acid-type burning pain in my groin area, so that tends to paralyze me in pain at times. But I've found that if I sit down for a couple minutes, it goes away temporarily. It's happening almost every time I'm up walking around or standing and the pain meds unfortunately don't seem to touch that specific pain, but I'm pushing through it and taking it slow in hopes that it gets better soon.

I had my first post-op appt today and this was my first time getting out of the house since surgery. My suggestions would be to wear something comfy/loose fitting (I wore a dress and slip-on shoes so I didn't have to bend much) and try to work it where you can take some pain meds right before your appt. I'd also suggest giving yourself plenty of time to get dressed, go to the bathroom, empty your drains and take meds. It feels like everything is in slow motion when you're recovering and it took me about an hour just to do those "simple" things lol

My surgeon said my incisions looked really good and the nurse was surprised I was standing completely upright and doing as well as I was just 3 days after surgery. The surgeon and the nurse took all of my remaining bandages off surrounding my belly button and my drains. The Dr. did notice that my belly button was pretty scabbed over so they put some bacitracin antibiotic in that area and sent me home with some extra. The surgeon also wrote me another full prescription for Vicodin but I'm hoping I won't need it because it makes me feel pretty fuzzy and sleepy. My surgeon also put a binder around my abdomen today that I'm supposed to wear 24/7 for the next few weeks. I was thinking it was going to be painful because it sits right over my incisions, but most of my incisions are still pretty numb so it's really not too bad thankfully. I definitely feel the binder there, but it feels more like pressure than pain.

I have a couple areas along my incision that look very lumpy and uneven. These were concerning because they don't look smooth like what I was expecting the incision to look like all the way around. The surgeon says this is normal and will look smoother once the skin relaxes and the swelling goes down. He said the binder is really helpful in assisting these things to smooth out over the next few weeks as well.

When I initially told the Nurse about the acid-like burning pain, she looked at me kind of weird and said she hadn't really heard anyone describe post-op pain like that before. It made me feel a little worried that maybe what I was feeling wasn't normal. But when I talked to the Surgeon about it he said that there's a large Nerve channel in the groin area that probably got irritated from the surgery and he said it'll get better over time.

Overall I was very pleased with how I was feeling today being only 3 days out from a major surgery. It definitely hasn't been an easy process, but I feel like my independence and stubbornness have helped me recover a lot quicker than some people.

One point that I want to bring up again is how easily irritable I've been throughout this process. It usually takes a lot to get under my skin, but I've found myself having a low tolerance for many things over the last couple days. I'm not sure if the irritability is due to just not feeling like myself completely, or it may be due to being in pain or possibly a side-effect from the Vicodin. Or it could be a combination on those 3 things, I'm not really sure. My advice though to anyone considering a major surgery is to make sure you're going to be in a quiet, relaxing environment with people who are compassionate and personalities you can tolerate easily. I'm currently dealing with listening to my roommates dogs bark all throughout the day at anything that passes the window. Their barking rarely used to bother me before this surgery, but now that I'm trying to rest throughout the day, every little bark and other loud noise seems like nails on a chalkboard. Kind of wish I would have thought to buy earplugs or a good set of headphones before this process.

It's so easy for me to have so many doubts at this point about whether or not the surgery was worth it. Even though I want nothing more than instant gratification regarding this surgery, I have to accept that the results I'm seeing right now are not an accurate representation of the final results. Plus I plan to have a breast lift/augmentation, brachioplasty and possibly a thigh lift within the next couple years to complete my weight loss transformation. Part of me doesn't want to do more surgery in the future because it's so exhausting, painful and expensive, but the other part of me feels like I deserve to have a somewhat "normal" body after all the hard work I've done over the last few years. I just feel thankful that I have my health right now and need to remember to take life one day at a time!