Got my Tummy Tuck!!!

I am scheduled for a tummy tuck with lipo on June 12th. I am 5'9 and currently a size 12-14. I didn't think I would be a good candidate for it yet because I am not skinny. I was told that I am the perfect candidate. I look at other's before and after pictures and hope I can get similar results. Time will tell. I was hoping to be down about 15-20 lbs by now. I have been working out regularly since December 2012. I feel fit, but I am far from skinny.

I am married and have two children. My son is 17 and my daughter is 9. I have spent so many hours looking at before and after photos that my husband thinks I am crazy. He is not in favor of plastic surgery but he knows I really want this. I have my pre-op on May 29th. I am 90% sure which doctor I am going with but I have another consult set up on the 9th of May just to be sure.

25 days til my pre-op and 39 days til my TT!!!

My mom and my 17 yr old son are starting to tell me that they are worried about me. I have never had any major surgeries. I don't know what to buy for recovery yet. I will be staying over night in their facility.

I am renting a recliner for home. What else do I need?

Finally took some pre op pictures. I know I would regret it if I didn't. I really want to be able to compare the before and after so I took some pictures in my pj's too :-)

My pre op is tomorrow afternoon and my husband is going with me. He has been amazingly supportive since he is usually anti plastic surgery. I decided to go with my original PS i consulted with. I went for other consults but never felt as comfortable or as welcomed as i do at the Bougainvillea Clinique in Winter Park Florida. My PS's wife has been doing my botox and fillers for several years now. They have always made me feel like family. I know I will be in good hands with Dr. Hartog and his staff. I am 5'9" and currently weighing about 197-202 depending on the day. It is depressing to get on the scale the day after being 197 and seeing over to 200 lb mark. I have been working out with a trainer since December and have lost about 20 lbs. I was hoping it would have been more like 40 lbs by now but I did my best. I am a teacher and I have to have the TT during my summer break, so I will continue on for the other 20lbs after recovery.

I hope I remember all the right questions at my pre op appointment tomorrow afternoon.

My hubby has been asking me when I was going to post pictures of my set up. Myfuturerockingbody helped me alot when she posted pics of hers! I am soooo nervous. I have never had a major surgery and I hope I handle it well

I scheduled my surgery back in February. I am a teacher and wanted to do the surgery as soon after school was out. Later in May I found out that my nine year old has her dance recital on Saturday the 15th (PO day 3). Tried to move my surgery date but hubby can't take time off any later in the month (end of quarter work stuff).

So then I schedule her in a theater camp thinking it was just a 9-3 daily activity. NO!....... She has performances on Friday and Saturday night. Friday's schedule will be crazy as she has an 11:00 play performance, then dress rehearsal for dance 30 minutes away an then play performance again at 5:30.

I feel horrible. My husband will be running around like a mad man and having to do her hair and makeup two different ways too. Saturday she has her dance recital at 4:00 pm and call time for her play at 5:30. Change of hair and makeup in between!!.I do have a 17 year old son who will be with me (PO day 2) on Friday while hubby is on the crazy itinerary ( and I did type up an itinerary!) I am a teacher, what can I say, we plan :) My mom will be there to help on that day. She has a typed up itinerary too. I will be home alone on for several hours on Saturday which will be PO day 3. I am beginning to think this is the worst day to be alone after reading several posts. I have given my daughter a little crash course in applying her own makeup and hubby feels confident that he can handle the braid for her dance outfit. I did one and sent him pictures to his phone for reference. I am serious micro-manager!!

I would love some feedback on if it will be a bad idea to be alone for awhile on PO day 3. I will be alone from 2:30 pm to 8:30 pm. 6 hours!!

I took my pre- op measurements:
under bust= 35"
waist= 33.5"
abdomen= 41"
hips= 45"

I had my surgery on Wednesday. I stayed the night in the surgical center. The nurses took good care of me. I got home about 7 am Thursday. My husband has been awesome through these last two days. He washed my hair for me today. The pain meds make it hard for me to think and I have felt so drowsy.

I was afraid to look but I must say I like what see.

I am feeling great today!
My drain got clogged Saturday night and I freaked out a little. My swelling increased a lot late that night. I didn't want to call late on a Saturday night so I waited and I called my poor doctor at 7am on Sunday (Father's Day). There was a clot near the entry site that I could not strip and I went from draining over 100 cc a day to like 25. He reassured me that the draining should be slowing anyway and he said to keep stripping the drain like I had been doing. I felt so much better about the drain, but so bad about the timing of my call. The drain is flowing again and my swelling is much better. I know drains are annoying but I will keep mine as long as needed to avoid the uncomfortable fluid pockets!
I am so happy I did this and so happy about my choice of surgeon. I can't wait to see my final results. I will take new pictures after my next shower.

Happy healing to all my fellow June Tummy Tuckers!!!

I forgot to mention that on post op day 5 I was getting up from my comfy recliner and not paying attention to my drain and....... pulled it all the way out!!! It didn't hurt. I was just in shock for a minute. My husband was saying "I told you so". He had been telling me to be more careful.
I called my ps this morning and they weren't worried they said they would just see me at my scheduled post op appt on Wednesday.

Rough day today. I have read many reviews and expected emotional ups and downs the first few days then it didn't happen. Yet.... I thought I sailed through the hard parts unscathed. Yes I had until my recovery seemed to flat line instead of continuing up. My husband took me for my one week post op visit and then went back to work that day. The next day I tried to quit the pain meds so that I could drive my kids where they need to go. It has been really hard. I was taking my meds like clockwork, charting the times and everything because I had been on antibiotics. So basically my pain meds had never worn off. So then I find myself more reliant on them than I knew and staring at a near empty bottle I got really scared. I called to ask for a refill and they do not write refills because they want me off pain meds as soon as possible.
Last night I tried to sleep in my bed instead of the recliner. I woke up in so much pain!
I had an appointment at the PS for lymphatic massage so I didn't take anything. It hurt to get on the massage table and I was scared for the therapist to touch my stomach. I broke down and cried.
The doctor's nurse came in and looked over my incision and said everything looked ok. She got the doctor's approval for a few more pain pills and called them in for me. I am so swollen and can not figure out what compression garment I should be wearing now. I have a really tight Veddette shapewear thing and I tried to wear it yesterday. It took almost all my steri-strips off and I was so uncomfortable!. Today I just put my binder back on.

Guess I just needed to vent today and maybe help someone else who might hit days like today. Or maybe someone could give me advice on getting through this......

I had a turning point on post op day 10. We went out to dinner. Dpo 11 I went to a neighbor's party. I am back to driving with no problems. I took the stairs yesterday (day 12) and had no pain. Today is dpo 13 and I feel great!! I am so happy I did this and I look forward to seeing the continued progress. I am dealing with some swelling. The pictures I am adding today. You can see more swelling today than I had on dpo 6. I have been a little more relaxed with making sure my diet is low sodium and pay the price sometimes!

I took some updated measurements. I have not yet stepped on the scale
under bust= 35" / 34" (-1")
waist= 33.5" / 33" (-.5")
abdomen= 41"/ 39" (-2")
hips= 45"/ 44" (-1)

So the biggest difference so far is where I had the pouch in my abdomen. I still have swelling in my flanks so that measurement will continue to change I believe.

I will be resuming my diet and exercise program soon. I figured as soon as sneezing doesn't kill any more I should be good to go :) My goal is to get my waist to 28" and my hips to about 39"- 41".