Full Tummy Tuck Dec 15th, 2011 - Its Getting Easier - Ottawa, ON

Getting a tummy tuck is something I have wanted to do ever since I had my daughter 17 years ago. My skin was always loose no matter what I did even though I only weighted 125 lbs. About four years ago I was in a bad horse accident that broke my sternum and almost all my ribs and a lot of other damage. One of the other things I noticed after I healed (was laid up for 9 months and gained weight from that) was that losing weight was SO hard and I stored all my fat now in my belly. Finally after I got married in June of 2011 I decided that before my 41st birthday I was going to go for a Tummy Tuck.

On December 15th I finally did it. I went to a few doctors and finally settled on the one that made me feel the most confident and he was board certified. I went in for a full Tummy tuck with lipo of my belly, flanks and thighs. I had met with my doctor 4 different times discussing the TT and he even showed me pictures of other TT he had done. He said he always puts the scar low enough so it can be hidden behind a low bathing suit. He told me I would have two drains that I would need to wear for a few days until they both were below 25cc before they could be removed. He took my measurements so he would know what size of compression garments to order for me and said he would see me at the hospital next Thursday. I left his office so optimist and hopeful. I remember reading somewhere (wish I had found this board first) that you should take a bathing suit bottom in that you would like to be able to wear afterwards. Of course with it being winter here all my summer stuff was packed away and I could not find the bottoms I was looking for. He had not requested me to bring anything in either so I thought “well he says he always makes the scar low” so it should be ok.

When I arrived at the hospital I filled out all the forms, they got me to put on a paper gown and gave me a little pill to help me to relax. I was pretty relaxed when the doctor came in to mark me up and I never thought to ask him to see the markings or to remind him to keep it super low (if I had read this board first I would have been insisting and reminding him like crazy) but he was the expert and knew what he was doing right.

I think he did a great job on my cut. Love the job on my flanks, thighs and belly button. I am so disappointed in how high he cut me though. My scar is only 2” below my belly bottom and way above my hips and underwear/bathing suit bottoms. Looking at other pictures on the board I see that their doctors had gone into their pubis are when cutting them. My doctor cut me above it. He said he followed the natural contours of my belly but that just wasn’t low enough at all.

I will try and recount what I remember of my Tummy Tuck surgery. My daughter drove me to the hospital that morning (she thought she would be able to stay with me but of course she wasn’t allowed to). After they gave me a pill to relax me they showed me to a curtained off room to wait for my doctor to come by. I was feeling pretty good when he did (I’m a lightweight) so it never occurred to me to ask to see where he had marked me up or to remind him that he said the scar would be low and that this was still true. I laid back down afterwards until the nurse came and got me to walk into the operating room. I remember thinking “wow this is the first time I have ever walked into one of these on my own two feet” (usually I’m take in after arriving by ambulance ?) I remember them putting an IV in me and the mask over my face and asking me to count backwards. I got to 97. When I came to I was in a double room with another lady who had had a breast job with the same doctor. He came in to see me afterwards and told me how many cc’s in skin and tissue he removed but I can’t remember the amount.

The drugs hit me hard as I slept through lunch and supper. Woke up only when the doctor checked me, told me to keep my compression garment and pants on (that’s when I realized I had a thick binder around my waist and long high waist compression pants on. They were so tight I had to wonder how he got them on me while I was un-conscious. I didn’t come to until the next morning when they got me up to walk to the bathroom. Holy smokes did that hurt. I was so sore and tight. Later that day my daughter arrived to pick me up and drive me home. (my husband was working). I live an hour and a half away from the hospital and my daughter’s car is not smooth going over bumps. It was a long rough ride home.

I got home took the pain meds the doctor prescribed, arranged my pillows all around me and passed out. I took the pills for the first 3 days but I didn’t like the way they made me feel so went down to Tylenol 3’s. The first two weeks my daughter (who’s pretty strong) or my husband had to help me in and out of bed each time I needed to use the bathroom or wanted up to walk around. The first time I saw my cut and belly button I thought “OMG what have I done?” plus my thighs were SO badly bruised from the lipo I could barely move. Sometimes I think they hurt more than the cut. I KNOW my back muscles did. Boy did they ache a lot. Thank goodness for heating pads. This is not a surgery I would recommend to anyone with a bad back...its hell on the back. It’s now been 5 weeks as of today. . (I had miscounted in last few posts). The only pain I am still experiencing is a burning/stinging sensation around my scar on the right side. I also have a bulge over my ride side that is very hard (if was empty would probably be a dog ear). Last time I saw my doctor he mentioned trying to drain some fluid from it if it didn’t go down. We’ll see tomorrow if he attempts that. (have I mentioned I hate needles ?)

Funny thing is I can rest on my right side for short periods (it feels weird when I do – almost like jelly sliding sideways). but I can’t on my left. The left side of my scar is so neat as is the rest of the scar but my right is kind of puckered (like he had to pull the pieces together to stitch them up). My belly bottom gets these weird pings through it and my skin is slightly tender and achy above the belly button. I’m guessing the nerves are starting to come back online now. Wish I could feel that under my belly button as I hate the numb feeling there. My bruising is all gone on my legs I have one picture that shows the bruising almost glowing a bright yellow it was so bad)but for some reason my left thigh is still numb – anyone else experience this from having lipo done? I am almost standing up straight now (95%), scar is looking really good, so is my belly button. I am still swollen, waiting for the flat as a board in the morning but swollen at nighttime to happen that I have read about. I have yet to see flat as a board, really want to see flat as a board. Lol. I am still wearing my binder and black compression pants (so double the compression on my belly I guess) except at bedtime when I only wear the loosened binder so it’s a bit more comfortable to sleep. I can’t wait until I can sleep on my side again. My back is getting sore from constantly sleeping on it. I am mostly a side sleeper. A left side sleeper lol isn’t it always that way.

As anyone who has read any of my posts lately I am very un-happy with how high my scar has turned out. It goes higher then my underwear and my bikini bottoms. Reading the doctor's boards seems like its going to migrate upwards even more. Thats scares me. It makes me look cut in half I think. Thanks to Bella83 who’s review I have read and who also doesn’t like her high scar I found some undwear that do cover high scars. She had found some underwear that covers her scar and had shown them in her pictures. As soon as I saw her pictures I was out checking every store for them and found some YEAH :-). That made me happier and it was so nice to view my belly with the scar hidden.

Tuesday I have an appt with my PS and I will be asking him about scar revision and/or lipo of my mons pubis and the major swelling and or leftover fat deposits there. If my scar hasn’t dropped and if If the swelling hasn’t gone down in my pubis in 6 months to a year will he do follow-up on it as part of my on-going patient care. I am hoping that he is going to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep a happy patient. I don’t know that I could afford to pay for this again, even if it was half the cost. Plus all the pain and healing again. I would have to really consider it. It was really hard getting the time off work for this as well. So that’s my experience to the best I can remember it. Ask me anything about my recovery or pictures and if I experienced it I will share it with you. Just can’t remember how/when everything happened at this stage. I'll be sure to keep you updated on how it goes at my PS on Tuesday.

I should have started my first review off by saying hello and that I am a 5"3 & a half feet tall,40 year old women who has a 17 year old daughter. I have always weighed between 120-140 till my accident when I went up to 160 and mantained that weight for 4 years.(this was my weight when I went in for the TT)but my belly has always had a bulge in the middle and rolls. I have always wanted a tummy tuck but was scared of the pain and the finanical cost but finally this past summer I just decided to do it.
Saw my PS on Tuesday the 24th (what a way to spend my birthday :) and it didn’t go as well as I hoped but it wasn’t horrible either. He is such a nice doctor that greets you by name and seems happy to see you. He showed me into one of his rooms and said ok now let’s see this scar. He got me to stand in front of him while he pushed and prodded the skin below my belly button and then he got me to lay down on the table so he could check it out. He told me that underneath the skin it is still very tight and hard but coming along nicely. I asked about the high scar again and he insisted again that when the tissue softens the scar will drop but did add that maybe I shouldn’t try and wear such small under garments, that maybe I should buy high waist ones. I was like these are NOT small! He let out a bark of laughter. (not in a mean way).
He went on to explain that he wouldn’t have been able to give me a lower scar as my skin is tissue thin close to my pubis area so was unable to lower it the two inches I would have liked without having to give me a vertical scar from my belly button down. (this was all discovered in the operating room and I was of course asleep so couldn’t tell him would rather have had small vertical scar down from belly button as opposed to large high scar all around my belly). I asked him about removing the steri strips too soon (were removed day 10) and everything I read said it was better to keep the strips on as long as possible as it helps to take some of the tension off the healing scar. He shook his head and said no it was fine to remove them when he did and no the removal of them had nothing to do with the scar being high. ( lol guess he knew that was going to be my next question). We were both in agreement that my scar and belly button is healing nicely.

I had shown him a picture of a lady who I thought her stomach before surgery looked similar to mine before surgery too and what she looked like at week 6 (only a few days different from me now) she has a nice tight athletic looking belly now. He laughed and said I was never going to look like that! (again none of this is said in a mean tone so can’t get upset with him) but he didn’t answer why it will never look like that nor did he answer if that meant scar revision was impossible six months to a year from now. He took pictures from the front and both sides views. First with my underwear on my hips then with them pulled up and my scar showing above the top of them. Which made me think that maybe he’s not just trying to blow me off with the thin skin comment and really couldn’t go lower; or why else take a picture of it higher to add to his pictures? He stated he would like to see me again in two months and if I had any concerns before hand to just give him a call.
So I’m not sure what to think now. I was discussing it over with my sister and together we speculated that maybe even though he didn’t have to sew my stomach muscles back together I might have weak abdominal muscles that are protruding. I have NEVER had a strong core and that maybe the reason my stomach isn’t as flat as I would like is for that reason. Not even in the morning is my belly flat. Did everyone have strong ab muscles before their surgery? I know I wasn't as skinny as I should have been but I was at a maintained weight. I know it will go down more or I’m really praying it will as I'm not even 6 weeks yet. I read today that as long as the scar is still red or pink it is still healing so therefore swelling is still present. I took heart from that. Still need to work on my core strength regardless. Is there anything I could be doing at this point in my recovery that anyone can suggest? Think it could be this or regardless should I be flatter then I am showing in my pictures with the black underwear,(swelling aside).

So today is week 6 and I felt some changes in my belly, woke up this morning sort of hurting all over, I could feel these sensations all over my tummy like sore ribs, tingling around scar line, tingling around belly button and sides. It just felt different..more pliant. I was almost expecting/hoping to take my binder off and there would be my dream belly lol wishful thinking. I did notice that the skin under my belly button had loosened up – I could push in on it. On my right side the hard bump I had right over the incision is also softer and think I can see a little where on my sides my curves are starting to show slightly (when my bra isn’t pushing down on it – should have put my hands in the air – breast reduction is up next). you can of course see the tape that goes above my panty line which is my scar but still holding out hope it will drop another inch, at least in the front.

Another weird thing - ever since the surgery I have had no appetite at all. Well that all changed around 2am yesterday morning. I woke up and I was suddenly STARVING! I couldn’t eat enough, I didn’t stop eating all day (and it wasn’t all good because you just can’t make that many meals). It was starting to freak me out because no matter how much I ate or how much water I drank the hunger pains wouldn’t go away. It was good timing in one way as we were going out to the Keg Restaurant to celebrate my belated birthday dinner and boy oh boy did I enjoy my steak and twice baked potatoes, starters and bread they had on our table. Finally when I was done my husband had to practically roll me out to the car lol. Thank goodness I slept through the night and while I woke up hungry this morning I wasn’t starving. Darn, I think the days of no appetite are over and I am going to have to be really conscience of what I eat now.