40 Year Old Mom: Hernia and Muscle Repair/tummy Tuck

I am a 40-year-old mother of two children who works-out 6 days a week alternating between cardio and weight training. I have a clean diet and live a healthy lifestyle. Despite all of this I could not get rid of my belly. Actually, it would never go away without surgery. I had an umbilical hernia which was very obvious and severe muscle separation after my second child. The only way to fix it was with surgery. Many people looked at me like I was crazy because I am not overweight nor am I unhealthy. For me this wasn't about the scale but more about helping my body catch up to all the hard work I put in on a weekly basis.

Surgery is coming soon. My nerves have been crazy. I go from second-guessing to the point of wanting to cancel to being super excited about the outcome. I worry like crazy and really have had to pray to God for peace. Thank goodness for my faith during this process! I will talk more about that later.

Ironically, the night before surgery I was pretty calm and although I was typically nervous going into the hospital, it wasn't taking over my body and I didn't run! Lol

My preop at the plastic surgeons office was uneventful. They give you a book of what not to do and what to do before surgery. I read that thing from front to back making sure I wasn't missing anything. The biggest issue I was having was they said no shaving in the surgical area. Well, that's a problem because I shave every day. It certainly wouldn't be pretty if I missed a week or two. I called and they said as long as there is no razor burn I should be fine but not to shave a day or two ahead of time just to be safe. Also, no ibuprofen for two weeks leading up to the surgery. This is my go to for headaches so that was a conscious decision not to take it for those two weeks. Other than that, I borrowed a recliner from my neighbor and took a trip to CVS to grab anything I thought I may need. I also filled up my three prescriptions which were a painkiller, muscle relaxer, and an antibiotic to prevent infection.

After doing everything I was supposed to, surgery day was finally here! The nurses were great and the anesthesiologist was very kind however after telling him I get motion sickness he put a patch behind my ear to help and he told me to leave it on until Friday. Surgery itself was uneventful and I barely remember rolling into the operating room. I woke up no problem and I was not sick or in pain. My biggest issue was peeing which I should have remembered from my second child (I need to be Catherized after having her) I peed enough to leave the hospital but as I will write later I had issues when I got home. Oh and I should mention, I had no drains. My doctor does not use them but said if he feels necessary he would put one in. I was happy to wake up without a drain attached to me.

I wish I took some pictures the day of surgery but let me tell you, I was so out of it and didn't even know where my phone was.

I can't stress enough how much you will need help after the surgery. Especially within the first week. I felt blessed that I was able to get up on my own and go to the bathroom as I have read many stories where people need help just for that small task. I have two kids, two dogs and a husband and thought it would be easier to recover at my mothers house for the first week. I'm a super organized person, so I did a ton of grocery shopping and wrote out 10 meals for my husband to make for the kids and himself while I wasn't able to. Don't get me wrong, they were very easy meals but at least I knew they would be fed. So, when I was picked up at the hospital, my husband brought me right to my mothers and I was able to relax there. She gave me her first floor master bedroom with attached master bath, fed me, and made sure I was taking my medications on time. That's a challenge in itself, I set timers on my phone for each medication and wrote out a spreadsheet. I couldn't wait to be done with those medications. I had to wake myself up in the middle the night to take them and it was a real pain when I was so tired but the plastic surgeon kept saying stay ahead of your medication. Looking back, I really should have assessed my own body to see if I actually needed the meds and I could've gotten off of them even sooner than I did. Days one through three were tough because I was peeing every 20 minutes or so. At first, I thought it was just from the surgery and all the fluids they gave me but by Friday I felt something was wrong. I called my plastic surgeon who told me to call the urologist. They took me right away on Friday which was day two postop. To make a long story short she put in a catheter because I was retaining a ton of fluid. She told me I had to wear it until Monday which I did not think was a huge deal. She showed me how to take it out myself on Monday and that was that. I was kind of excited to not have to get up every two seconds to use the bathroom but the bag prove to be just as much of an annoyance. She thought it was probably because of the patch that they put behind my ear, the anesthesia, and the meds I was on. She is convinced that they all retain urine as a side effect which if you're prone to that, is not good. As soon as she said that, I ripped off the patch behind my ear but but still took all the other meds not thinking that would be a huge deal still took all the other meds not thinking that would be a huge deal.
Once again, if I knew then what I know now I would've stopped the medication immediately. To be honest, I wasn't in a ton of pain just uncomfortable and sore.
Monday comes, and I have my sister-in-law come over who is a nurse. I was super nervous to remove the catheter myself. She takes it out and leaves but during that day, I am definitely still peeing often and don't feel much different. I call the urologist again, and they tell me to come back in. After being assessed with a bladder scan, she finds out I am still retaining water. She puts the catheter back in and tells me not to come back until next Monday. That is a full week! I cried right there in the office. She said my bladder needs time to rest because it was expanded so much. You are just so emotional and it's tough to swallow the fact that you need a catheter for that long.
But it is what it is. My family kept reminding me it's not forever but of course you go to worst-case and scenario and I'm questioning why I even did the surgery. I'm not even focusing on my flat stomach at this point because I am so upset. It really took a toll on me emotionally.
During the week, there were lots of tears, I felt totally depressed, and questioned my decision often. The only thing that got me through was my faith. It really was the only thing I could lean on. I read my Bible often and prayed that God would just give me a spirit of peace. It's really hard to explain unless you are in the situation but this surgery makes you very emotional. I am typically not an emotional person and I am pretty levelheaded but I can't explain what this does to you. It was just a very rough week.
Oh and on top of the catheter, I got my period and had to deal with that as well. Luckily, my period is not very heavy as I have an IUD but it was still a nuisance with the catheter.
I kept a journal during that week and I will try to post some of my entries below. I stayed at my mothers until Tuesday which was almost one week after my surgery. It felt good to come home.