49, 2 C-sections, 155 Lbs, 5'6" and Feel Like I Can't Tell Anyone. Omaha, NE

Rough day. Every time I stand up I fight off nausea. The surgeon told me by the middle of the day the affects of the GA should be out of my system, but I'm still struggling at 8 pm. I haven't been able to eat except for about a half cup of some hibachi soup. I also haven't done very well staying hydrated because even water tastes terrible.
OT is basically getting up and walking around every 3-4 hours and blowing up a balloon. When I try to update here, my eyes cross with exhaustion.Yesterday we were instructed to empty the drains every four hours but I was given the go-ahead ahead to empty them only twice a day. The drain tubes have been inserted into my mons pubis. It resembles a Borg down there.The liposuction areas are by far the most painful. I can't feel anything on the exterior of my tummy tuck, but I sure do with every cough, every shift in my chair.I'm wearing a binder, which I'm suppose to remove and shift around every 4 hours or so. Under that I'm wearing compression pantyhose, which stay on all the time. The crotch has been cut out for toilet visits.The scar runs from hip bone to hip bone. My belly button has been moved and while not bleeding, it is full of blood. There's a tremendous amount of bruising on my thighs from the liposuction.

The morning of surgery, we arrived at the clinic at 9:00 am to prep for 11:00 am surgery. After changing into a gown, I went into pre-op where I was given a final physical eval. I had been suffering from a cold for over three weeks, but had just recently started feeling better. I mentioned I was still stuffy on one side of my sinuses. This was enough for the anesthesiologist to question whether to proceed. Since I had already had to cancel surgery in December due to a family emergency, I was really scared we would have to reschedule again. Since my lungs sounded clear, he gave the go ahead and started an IV.

The surgeon came in shortly and quickly marked my hips and thighs for the lipo. From there, things moved very quickly. I walked to the surgery suite, lay on the table, and no sooner did they have my feet strapped into boots to help with circulation, I was out.

According to my husband, I was gone for about 90 minutes. I don't remember much of that or how I managed to walk not only to our car, but the drive to the hotel next door, and another walk into the hotel, up an elevator and to our room.

Taking pain medication was really hard because I was suppose to eat something first. Everything tasted awful, even the water and Saltines. I was prescribed antibiotics and pain meds. I also had the comprehension hose, binder, and two drains to deal with. The clinic cut the crotch out of the hose so going to the bathroom "simply" entailed sitting on the toilet and going. Liposuction on the back on the thighs made the whole activity incredibly painful. I was glad my husband was the one helping me. There was a recliner in the hotel room for me to sleep on.

He would help get me out of the recliner, support me to the bathroom, brace me as I sat on the seat, and then support me back up again. We also had to empty the drains every four hours. I think I had to go to the bathroom about every 90 minutes. I don't know why since I hadn't had anything to drink or eat except what I washed down my pills with. I was exhausted by morning. We headed back to the clinic for a 24 hr post-op.

My surgeon took a quick look at my incision site; advised me that I was pretty "beat up" on the back side from the lipo; and then let me take my first look at the incision. My tummy was flat.

Lastly, we made the drive back home. That was all a haze to me. Everything still tasted terrible, and the pain meds put everything into a blur. All I remember is that they wanted me to get out of the car a couple times on my two-hour trip home and walk just a little bit. I was out of it the rest of the day.

After waiting years, and making all kinds of back-bending to get my surgery and care scheduled, my husband's mother became critically ill days before my surgery. I ended up cancelling my surgery. Here I thought I'd be 10 days post-surgery, but instead I'm wasting the last couple of days of my two-weeks winter breaks by sleeping in and eating Christmas candy.

I've tentatively rescheduled my surgery for late February. I'm trying to look on the bright side and look at this as time I needed to get over a chest cold and make sure I'm well enough (I had already had a script for antibiotics and steroids to try to hurry things along). FWIW, my mother-in-law is miraculously recovering. I can breathe better and I'm not coughing as much. I will have to go back to the clinic for another pre-op exam, which is just another day I'll need to take off from work.

I'm also updating with some current photos, which I took the beginning of December.