My Tummy Tuck Story

Hey there. I wanted to start documenting my journey. I’ve got an a abdominoplasty w/Lipo and a lateral skin excision scheduled for December 17, 2018. But first, the backstory.

I’ve always been overweight and had been diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago. My highest recorded weight was 388lbs. It’s always been a struggle to lose and maintain weight loss. So I’m December of last year, I elected to have a gastric sleeve procedure. Best decision in my life. I’m off all of my diabetic meds, I’ve lost right at 175lbs. I feel great and feel that I have unlocked a quality of life I thought I never would have attained.

With that weight loss, comes the excess skin. At 6months after my sleeve, I started looking for a PS. I found a few and scheduled consults. At present time, I live in Alaska. One of the surgeons here wanted nearly 22k for my procedure. The surgeon was great but that price was far outside budget. I gave family living in San Antonio, so I scheduled a console down there. I found two, but ultimately selected Dr. Dechard. His demeanor is calm and approachable. He answered all of my questions and made me feel very confident and comfortable with him. Total for my procedure was quoted for 11k. I put down a deposit and scheduled my surgery.

I can’t wait. I did schedule a month off from work. I’ll post pictures once it gets closer to my surgery date.

This story starts December 2017. I've elected to have a gastric sleeve procedure done to help with my weigh and diabetes. I went though the bull crap with my insurance and was ultimately denied. I apealed it, my physician appealed it to the same outcome. So i started looking it at in from alternate sites or possibly out of the country. I finally set a date with Mexico Bariactric Center in Tijuana. 12/13/2017 was my surgery. Yet I wasn't worried at all. At my highest weight I was 388lbs. Start of surgery i was 250. Now at the start of my tummy tuck adventure, I'm 190lbs. Im off most of my meds for DM and hypertension. No insulin, nada.

I stated looking for a plastic surgeon. I live in Anchorage, Alaksa and a few surgeons wasnted on the order of $20,0000 for just the angioplasty. That was a bit out of my price range. I then started looking for a surgeon in San Antonio, Texas. I had an appointment with a few and ultimatly decided on Dr. Michael E. Decherd. His bedside manner was phenominal. He took his time to recommended me what would look best and to stage the surgeries to get the best outcome. He answered all of my questions. I felt so comfortable around him. I signed the paper and put down a deposit and set on date for December 17, 2018. By the time of this writing, it was yesterday. 

Day t-1. Travel day from Alaska. Nothing too exciting today. Got into San Antonio, met on old set of friends for dinner then midnight hit. Nothing to eat or drink. I excused myself and headed back to the hotel room. Lets say i get much sleep that night.

Day 0 - Surgery Day. We woke up and headed to the surgery center. Got dressed/or undressed depending on how you look at it. IV was started and i was finally to get relief from my thirst. The surgeron was running a little late, so we didnt go back until 9:15am. Kissed mother good by and i'll see her in a bit. Lights out then the thing i remmeber was waking up in recovery. Hes staff was amazing. Had a little nausea but they took cae of that right away. After discharge from the surgery center, we went straight back to the hotel. A poped a pain pill and went to sleep.

Day 2 - I finally mustered up the strength on how I look. I lifted up the binder and inspected the incision. I've got 2 drains and a scar from a little past hipbone to hipbone. A little dried blood there and there, nothing too bad. The pain hasn't been bad either. I've been taking the analgesic about every 6 hours, vs the 4 he wrote for. It is a little difficult to get out of up or anything that requires the use of your abdominal muscles. Here are a few pictures I took today. I'll try to get photos of my pre-op appointment. 

There are some male frontal nudity in these pictures, I have worned you

Day 4 post op. Today went well. Had my first followup appointment with Dr. D. I cannot express how impressed I am with him and his staff. Today we were evaluating my drains. The left one is almost ready to come out. The right one still has a few days to go. He did say that he removed a total of 2.7kg of skin and fat (almost 6lbs of stuff), and tightened my abdomen by 7ish cm. So in theory, I'll be a 28" waist once all the swelling and stuff goes down. Here are my observations for the first few days post-op.

The pain. The mornings are the absolute worst. The first couple nights, make sure you have 6-10 pillows to help support you. KEEP YOUR LEGS ELEVATED. Use a cane or walker to assist your back. You're going to be hunched over for a while. Wear your compression garment 24/7 until he tells you not to. Typically in 3 weeks.. I would say, purchase 3-4 6" ACE wraps to have on hand if you have a JP explosion, like I did while you wait for the compression garment to dry.

Sleeping. You're going to be doing the a bit the first day or two as you have residual anesthesia on board. The second third night after surgery are the worst. The local anesthesia has worn off, and i was being stubborn using my pain meds. DON'T DO THIS. Use them. Use the anti-anxiety medication to help you sleep. Sleep is healing.

Constipation. Ladies and gentlemen. The constipation is real. You're going to be on some pretty hefty opioids the first few days. Take a stool softener, or if necessary, use a suppository. This will change your life. Trying to strain this horrible. HORRIBLE! DON'T DO IT!!!

KEEP HYDRATED!!! I cannot stress this enough. Between the compression garment and the swelling, my body acted like i just had another sleeve. Take it easy. Sip Sip Sip. Use the nausea medication as needed.

Walking. Every hour while your awake, at minimum stand and rock back and forth. If you can, take a lap around the house. It doesn't have to be miles, just a few steps to keep your blood circulating in your lower extremities. While you are walking, do some deep breathing exercises. Slow breaths in through your nose and out through a pursed lip. Like blowing through a straw. This helps expand your lungs and mobilize secretions. Keep a pillow near by. If you feel a sneeze, or a couch, splint your abdomen with all your might. It's going to hurt regardless, but it will help tremendously.

The incisions. My incisions are doing great. They are starting to itch. RESIST THE URGE TO ITCH THEM!!!! Scratching will lead to infection, infection leads to scars. i took a benedryl and that seemed to help. There is one spot that has on open draining area, i just place a sterile 4x4 gauze under my garment to help catch the fluid.

Bruising. So mar my bruising has been incredibly minimal. Unfortunately, if you are a male, expect to get some pretty significant bruising to my man bits. It seriously looks like my scrotum is necrotic. I spoke to Dr. Decherd about this, he assures me everything is fine and recommends wearing an athletic supporter. I personally don't care, it will eventually fade.

The numbness. Yup. I didn't believe that you'd be numb.. But from my new belly button to my incision line and extending about 4 inches on either side. Completely numb. I can feel pressure, but no pain or other sensation besides that. It feel strange. I really am having a difficulty describing this.

WEIGHT LIFTING RESTRICTION!!!!! I saved this for last. The whole, 'Don't life anything over 5lbs' is there for a reason. You have internal sutures that are designed to bear weight. The sutures that close your skin are fine, almost hair like, so they minimize the scar. If you lift things that are heavy, you are putting strain on things that are not designed to take this type of weight. Rely on your significant other, friend, parent, blah, blah, blah. DO NOT PICK UP YOUR FURRY FRIENDS!!!

Overall, I have zero regrets. That's a lie, i wish i had done this sooner. I do have plans to return to Dr. Decherd next summer, possibly spring break to have part 2 of my 4 part body lift.

As me any Questions. I can't wait to post before and after pics.