36 Years Old, Midi Tummy Tuck umbilical float with full muscle repair and lipo on flanks.

10 weeks? where did the time go???
well.. since a few days I stopped wearing any binder or anything. I just wanted to sleep without it at night and the next day I said... wth! some people dont wear it at all so I should start breaking that habit and teaching my body to live without it. in the biginning it was not so comfortable. my flanks was hurting from the lipo. and my bed is very soft, so it was not the bed! when I layed down it was ok but when I wanted to move it was a horrible pain on the flanks that I was about to take the binder again. but no! I refused!.
and here I am... without binder any kind. today was my 3rd night without it and I woke up without any swelling... this is getting better and better. now I see some changes too. my body is getting some curves again (in the lower back for example) is not much.. but I saw the pictures again and though.. ohmy I definitely look better.
Im eating good.. taking care of my calories intake and hope to drop some weight in the next months... slowly! no hurries. I started cardio last friday. my tummy gets hard but its ok. the first night after I started cardio I had pain in my repaired muscles... but it is ok now.
for the rest I feel preety back to normal.. some swelling during the day.. some days worst than others but feeling preety great.
happy healing everyone!

Yup! 6 weeks now! And I'm getting fat. Yes. The combination of not working out and still eating like a cow isn't helping at all. I do eat very healthy but I just eat too much. But well. I will not get sleepless nights because of that anyway. Once I can start with cardio I will get those pounds off again. And once I can start with weight lifting I will be back on track. So. Girls. Just enjoy the time off. Because in some weeks you all will start with your training routines for the rest of your life.
As of my surgery. Well things are pretty much ok. I do get swelling everyday and sometimes I feel a little pain in my abs. Specially when I overdo it. I have full feeling on the flanks again. Only around my belly button is numb. The lipo on the flanks still hurts though. Yeez! I never imagine the pain of a lipo will last so long!
Remember the pants on the picture? Sometimes I wear it and it really look as if they were backwards lol. There is some space where the belly used to be... Funny to watch.
Yesterday I tried to sleep without my binder. Guess that was not a good idea. Duh!
Body is still the same. Wish the swelling stops soon. It is so annoying.
Happy healing everyone!

well... where should I start.
I had my first! PO appointment on monday (1 month PO, I know, ... very late) but my surgeon is almost 200 miles away and is not so easy going to another country for one day and come back the same day just for a doctors appointment. Since I didnt have any major complications I decided it was ok so.
He told me that my muscles were 3 cm apart. Im very glad I chose the umbilical float so he was able to repair the muscle up to the rib cage. I was just afraid that if he didnt fix it above the BB, I was going to get a bulge after the tummy tuck and my stomach would try to come out everytime I ate something (just like it did before, but this time above the BB and not below.. which was going to looks very weird)
he also told me the skin stripe he cut was 9cm (3,5 inches) on the wider side (in the middle) so I was very surprised about this.. perhaps its not much compared to full tummy tucks, but I didnt realize before that I had so much extra skin. I though it was going to be the half of it.
And that was my problem .. I had not enough skin for a full... and my muscle had a diastasis all the way up to the rib cage. so what to do?
if any of you are in the same situation... you can either...
1. get a full tummy tuck with a high scar (because it is not going to be enough skin to pull all the way down to the bikini line). if you can live with that... and you want a new belly button. Perfect. I didnt want to because not all belly buttons turns out beautiful and I didnt wanted to give it a "try" either because this is someting everybody will see. Ive seen some surgeons out there who works masterpieces with new belly buttons.. but others looks just... hmm... how should I say? .. .different!
and.... thank you, but no! thank you... I was happy with my original belly button so I wanted to keep it that way.
2. get a mini TT with muscle repair only below the BB.--- which I would not reccomend because if you need muscle repair above the BB then you should get it too (see info above) unless you dont care having a "preggo look" above the belly button everytime you eat.
3. get a combi/Midi/floating tummy tuck. This is a mini TT where the surgeon detach the belly button so he can go and fix the muscle all way up to the rib cage. if your surgeon is a good surgeon, he can put the belly button exactly back in its original place (this MUST be fixed with the surgeon before, be sure to tell him that and talk about how much he would move it) Mine is a few milimeters down because I had a little bit of skin above the BB and he wanted me to have as less extra skin as possible... but this few milimeters are so less that not even I can tell. I had to take musch care with this because I have a short torso and I didnt want to look like an alien.
I still have a little bit (really a little bit) of extra skin above the belly button but this doesnt botter me AT ALL. I am more happy to have a scar that I can easily hide, that everything else is not so important. compared to the amount of skin I had before.. this is nothing... besides that the incision looks very flat and beautiful since the beginnig, it was a big relief for me. .. knowing that you chose a good surgeon and not someone who took your skin and sew it like my daugher did in 2nd grade its very comforting.
Ive been working full time since beginning of week 3 PO. at the beginning it was horrible dealing with the swelling which always hit in the afternoon. Now at 5 weeks swelling is not so bad but it always depend which compression garment Im using. If I wear the original garment (the white one) the swelling is not so much and the skin dont hurt so much either. If I wear the Faja (which is better to wear clothes) then the swelling get worse and my skin feels very tight, very swollen and I feel some "pulling" too. so I decided to change, one day this, one day that because not all the clothes fit with the white faja and that is a pain if you need to go work everyday. I ordered a new faja in amazon.. hope it fits and more important, it does it job right and the compression on the belly is tight enough to avoid so much swelling while been able to wear normal clothes.
will keep updating and hopefuly next week I can find the time to take more pictures for you all.
happy healing everyone!