Buh-bye Buddah Belly! - Minneapolis, MN

Hey Everyone,
Tomorrow will make 3 months PO. Here are some updates.

1. My surgeon was out of town and I couldn't make it in to have his colleague pull the drain so...my nurse friend visiting from out of state said she'd pull it. After brunch, on Christmas day, in the restroom of a fancy hotel! I was totally game. Unfortunately we forgot to release the suction on the bulb so the drain wouldn't come out. I realized it once I got home and pulled the drain myself. I was a little nervous and it felt a little weird, but once I started I just kept going! It didn't hurt at all (neither did the first one).

2. It took about 4 weeks to regain my energy fully. But I was back on the squash courts doing easy drills at 5 weeks and going full tilt at 6 weeks. PS removed all restrictions. Unbelievable! I consider myself very blessed and lucky to have such a quick recovery. But I was extremely fit going into it and I'm confident that played a big role. I've been competing better than ever now for a month. You'd never know I had a TT with muscle repair.

3. Everytime I look at my body now I feel happy with it. I like how it looks and feels even though it's not perfect. Good thing too, because it never will be perfect! I like the way I look in clothes, and I love it that the sagging skin no longer gets in my way during squash, yoga or cycling! Before the TT, I constantly despised my body, even though I tried to accept the sagging belly as my battle scar from obesity.

4. I wish the scar didn't have to be so long and so obvious, but it's a price I'm happy to pay for removing the excess skin. The trade off is well worth it. I choose to embrace my scar as another sign of my struggle and victory over obesity!

5. The only residual I notice is that I can't do a certain yoga move fully (some kind of abdominal crunchie, hands behind head, bring knees & head together and then extend them out, repeat). But I always hated that move anyway, haha! I have to modify it some, otherwise it feels like too strong of a tug on my muscle repair and the permanent stiches.

Anyway, thanks for reading about my experience. I would be happy if it can help another person. Cheers!

PO Day 5: Feeling fantastic. It's my second day without any pain medication. I've been up walking around the house, took photos, took a shower and feel great. Day 2 was tough because the percocet (2 tabs every 4 hours) really made me queazy. I managed the nausea by keeping my eyes closed and napping. I only wanted saltines and powerade...they tasted glorious! By Day 3 I didn't need the pain meds anymore so stopped them entirely (I did take 1 percocet to get me to sleep the past 2 nights though). After stopping the pain meds my appetite improved...have been eating wonderful bites of good, healthy foods...brothy soups, grapes and of course...saltines and powerade! Today is Day 5 and you'd never know I just had surgery. I'm bright, energetic and quite mobile. I've had to tell myself that my job for at least 7-10 days should be just REST. And so that's what I'll do now. Thanks for checking in.

Hey Fellow Tuckers,
I posted a note on the Forum on Friday when I got home from surgery. PS was very pleased with how I did. He was surprised that he had to do MR but I guess there was quite a separation near the umbilicus.

I was elated and felt so empowered by the surgery (I guess I was a little high from the meds too)! The pain has been remarkably tolerable, I think because it doesn't linger. I took 2 Percocet every 4 hours for the first day. On day 2 I cut back to 1 Percocet every 4 hours and now on day 3 I will take 1 Vicodin only if I feel I need it.

Glad to hear my fellow tuckers are doing well. And just to let you know, I hadn't had surgery since my 3rd grade tonsillectomy but I wasn't scared in the least. This was such the right decision and the right time in my life to take this very healing step. Good luck to those to follow!