Thank God I Made It! - North Carolina

Thank You Lord!!!. I made it through my surgery. I am 6days post-op today....WOW! I still can't believe the surgery is behind me. I was so super nervous going into this. I did my research and chose a doctor I felt very comfortable with.

I am still very swollen but can tell that once the swelling goes down it will look amazing! I can already tell a big difference. I had the belly flap and also loose skin and fat on my stomach. I will be posting some pics once my swelling goes down some to show the after. I am still kind of sore, but not really in pain though. Mostly tightness and a burning sensation at the drain sites. I will be having one removed in a couple days and the other in another week. I hope that isn't painful!

I have been getting up walking quite frequently ( every 1-2 hrs. for about 15-20 min.), I hope that is enough or not too much. Any advice for the recovery? Thanks!

Post-op day 7

Feeling really sore today. More than I have been, and also really tired. Not sure if I have been moving around too much or what is going on. Don't want any blood clots though, so I'm gonna keep walking. I am also starting to feel like I'm having muscles spasms in my abdomen,is this normal? Have my first post-op appointment tomorrow and will be having one drain removed. Yay!!! They are so bothersome and in the way. I have also cut down to 1 pain pill every 12 hrs because I am running out. I guess that could be the cause of my discomfort as well. I will see what my PS says tomorrow.

OK...to catch everyone up. I ended up being able to have both drains removed at my one week post-op appointment. My PS said I didn't have much drainage. I did not end up with a seroma which I was nervous about being he removed both drains. Day 8 I ended up with a temp of 102.2 and he put me on keflex. After being on keflex a couple of days I was in the recliner watching tv with my husband when I got this really warm feeling in my chest and tightness. My heart was pounding and I just knew I had a PE. My husband called 911 and when the ambulance got there my heart rate was in the 130's to mid 150's. I went to the ER where I had a chest x-ray EKG and CT scan to check for an embolism. The CT scan was inconclusive because the dye didn't reach everywhere in my lungs, but the ER doc thought with my other clinical symptoms I was fine and sent me home. I continued to have the shortness of breath off and on for another week and also palpitations which felt like a heart drop feeling like when you get nervous or go down a roller coaster. After a week I thought about that I didn't start feeling this way until after taking the keflex, so I googled it. I saw where other people taking keflex had experienced the same symptoms. I called the pharmacy which told me I could be having those symptoms as a result of an allergic reaction. I called my PS who instructed me to stop taking them. Well after about a week I was still having the palpitations minus the shortness of breath. So, I went to my Primary care doc who told me that he doubted it was from the keflex and that I needed to immediately go the ER because I may have a PE that the results from the first visit were inconclusive. Needless to say I was freaking out again. So I stayed at the ER almost all night again but this time all tests ruled out PE. Thank you Jesus!!!! So I went back to my doc who decided to put me on a Holter monitor for 24 hrs. which did show some PVC's and where my heart was skipping beats. Even with these he said that they didn't occur enough to be abnormal. So he told me that he wanted to prescribe me some medication for anxiety because the initial event probably caused me to be anxious, worrying about if and when it would happen again. So in turn anxiety causes more palpitations which causes more anxiety, a vicious cycle. I did not want to start on meds for anxiety, so in the waiting room as I was waiting on my prescription I prayed and told God that if it was anxiety, that He and I could handle that and asked for peace. My mind was consumed all day, every day with me having the palpitations if something was going to happen to me. It was miserable. I so regretted having the surgery. After that prayer I didn't experience the palpitations for about 4 days, and not as many times a day as before and less severe. The days in between kept getting more. I still have them occasionally, but I notice that when I have them, I am thinking about if I am gonna have them again. I returned back to work after four weeks. I am a nurse so I think I should have taken 6 weeks. All the walking hurt so bad. By 11 am I was so sore, and I had not experienced any pain in weeks. So I feel like if you have a desk job 4 weeks is enough, but not if you are up on your feet and walking all day. I am now 7 weeks post-op and am feeling much better, more like myself, except the occasional palpitations. I can't say just yet if it was worth it although I am very pleased with the results. I still get very swollen at the end of the day, I hope that wont happen forever. How long does that usually take to resolve? Well that's my story. Has anyone else had an experience like this?