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3 month assessment
I had my 3 month (actually 15 weeks) assessment at Mrs Kat's clinic yesterday and wrote a review on the train on the way home but lost it all by posting just as we went in to a tunnel!
When I walked into her room I was immediately confronted by my 'before' photos on her computer screen. My goodness, what a difference! I am so glad that I had this done. The diastasis recti made me look permanently about six months pregnant and what I hadn't appreciated at the time was how much my spine was curving to compensate - no wonder I had back ache and felt generally rather rubbish about myself. Whatever minor issues are yet to resolve, having a functioning core - probably for the first time in my life - is wonderful! One day I'll be brave enough to post pictures...
Mrs Kat examined me and took more photos. She peeled off the micropore tape to look at the scar and said that I no longer need to use it and also that i can stop wearing compression garments (hooray!). I'm very fair-skinned, which is apparently why my scar remains quite red, but she showed me that when it's pressed it disappears and that this is how it will heal. I was advised to use a particular vitamin A cream (which I bought at the clinic for £40), massaging it firmly along the long scar and around my belly button.
I was also given the all-clear for exercise, which came as a nice surprise. Swimming and running are possible now, but she advised a gentle start. Perfect timing, as we're on holiday next week and I'll be able to use the pool!
I asked, out of interest, what type of stitch she uses to join the muscles: she told me that she does two sets of continuous stitches using a barbed thread, which makes it unlikely that they can slip.
I raised my concern about lingering swelling around the central section of the scar and a possible lack of tension in the skin below my navel. She said that the area has more healing to do, advised I continue massaging and booked an appointment for me to return in January. She will then assess whether I need some minor revision work (which I would not need to finance, thankfully). I now appreciate what others have said about Mrs Kat's professionalism and perfectionism: there's no way she would leave you with a result that didn't meet her own high expectations.
Those early, uncomfortable, obsessive weeks feel distant now. Progress has slowed but there are still improvements and I'm more relaxed about things continuing to head in the right direction. With this op you really do just have to hang in there, follow your surgeon's advice and trust their skill: you're in it for the long haul!
When I walked into her room I was immediately confronted by my 'before' photos on her computer screen. My goodness, what a difference! I am so glad that I had this done. The diastasis recti made me look permanently about six months pregnant and what I hadn't appreciated at the time was how much my spine was curving to compensate - no wonder I had back ache and felt generally rather rubbish about myself. Whatever minor issues are yet to resolve, having a functioning core - probably for the first time in my life - is wonderful! One day I'll be brave enough to post pictures...
Mrs Kat examined me and took more photos. She peeled off the micropore tape to look at the scar and said that I no longer need to use it and also that i can stop wearing compression garments (hooray!). I'm very fair-skinned, which is apparently why my scar remains quite red, but she showed me that when it's pressed it disappears and that this is how it will heal. I was advised to use a particular vitamin A cream (which I bought at the clinic for £40), massaging it firmly along the long scar and around my belly button.
I was also given the all-clear for exercise, which came as a nice surprise. Swimming and running are possible now, but she advised a gentle start. Perfect timing, as we're on holiday next week and I'll be able to use the pool!
I asked, out of interest, what type of stitch she uses to join the muscles: she told me that she does two sets of continuous stitches using a barbed thread, which makes it unlikely that they can slip.
I raised my concern about lingering swelling around the central section of the scar and a possible lack of tension in the skin below my navel. She said that the area has more healing to do, advised I continue massaging and booked an appointment for me to return in January. She will then assess whether I need some minor revision work (which I would not need to finance, thankfully). I now appreciate what others have said about Mrs Kat's professionalism and perfectionism: there's no way she would leave you with a result that didn't meet her own high expectations.
Those early, uncomfortable, obsessive weeks feel distant now. Progress has slowed but there are still improvements and I'm more relaxed about things continuing to head in the right direction. With this op you really do just have to hang in there, follow your surgeon's advice and trust their skill: you're in it for the long haul!
Seven weeks post
I had my 6 week physio appointment last Monday at the Birmingham clinic. It's great to have some exercises to do as I'm desperate to get moving. It's a simple, pilates-based routine which I'm trying to fit in every morning before work. The therapist also gave instructions on how to massage the area in various ways to help free up the skin. There are some more exercises to do at 12 weeks and a few advanced ones to begin once the 12 week ones have become easy. I'm having to be disciplined to stop myself from moving on to the harder exercises. I was advised not to do any heavy lifting or to lie on my stomach and of course running is out although 'walking at pace' was strongly recommended. I find I can do most things that I need to now - including sleeping on my side!
Apparently I've spent two weeks wearing the wrong type of compression garment having misinterpreted 'panty-girdle' to mean big knickers! The physiotherapist said I should be wearing something that goes higher than the waist and recommended M&S. I spent over an hour in there trying on every permutation of shape-wear and couldn't imagine being comfortable in any of it for long so I'm back to the Spanks that I rejected earlier. I'm less swollen generally so they're OK to get on and off. Having thigh compression is great as I was finding walking with slightly swollen, tender thighs uncomfortable. In fact the physio recommended wearing cycling shorts for support, but the Spanks do both jobs (you don't want to be layering shape-wear in warm weather!).
I still have my vertical crease (below the BB) and my lower abdomen is remains stubbornly swollen. The physiotherapist said I have a haematoma - I think this is basically another word for a bruise. I raced from the clinic to the hospital for a brief appointment with my PS who says the swelling is reducing. The next time I see her will be at the three month review.
Having done a little research, I've begun to accept that the body can take months to re-absorb the blood from a haematoma. There is a risk it could become infected and the worst-case scenario is that it turns into 'granular tissue' that won't go... At the moment, if I put on a swim-suit, my silhouette is, er... somewhat 'male' so I'm really hoping that I AM busily reabsorbing! I'm aware of the swelling but since the whole area is numb, it's not causing me too much discomfort - though it tends to feel tighter as the day progresses. I really want to believe it's shrinking, but I just can't tell for certain. I began measuring my girth every few days - it seemed to go down, but then up again. I think it's probably impossible to be accurate as I've put on a bit of the weight I lost during those early days. There doesn't appear to be anything you can do to speed up the process apart from massaging the area: you just have to wait and hope.
I have to confess that I felt a bit despondent about all this and began to wonder if seeking a drain-free procedure had been wise. Would drains have prevented the problem? This site reassured me as there are plenty of surgeons advocating drain-free TT's and a friend who had (different) surgery recently with drains still ended up with a seroma, so I guess I'm just unlucky.
Apparently I've spent two weeks wearing the wrong type of compression garment having misinterpreted 'panty-girdle' to mean big knickers! The physiotherapist said I should be wearing something that goes higher than the waist and recommended M&S. I spent over an hour in there trying on every permutation of shape-wear and couldn't imagine being comfortable in any of it for long so I'm back to the Spanks that I rejected earlier. I'm less swollen generally so they're OK to get on and off. Having thigh compression is great as I was finding walking with slightly swollen, tender thighs uncomfortable. In fact the physio recommended wearing cycling shorts for support, but the Spanks do both jobs (you don't want to be layering shape-wear in warm weather!).
I still have my vertical crease (below the BB) and my lower abdomen is remains stubbornly swollen. The physiotherapist said I have a haematoma - I think this is basically another word for a bruise. I raced from the clinic to the hospital for a brief appointment with my PS who says the swelling is reducing. The next time I see her will be at the three month review.
Having done a little research, I've begun to accept that the body can take months to re-absorb the blood from a haematoma. There is a risk it could become infected and the worst-case scenario is that it turns into 'granular tissue' that won't go... At the moment, if I put on a swim-suit, my silhouette is, er... somewhat 'male' so I'm really hoping that I AM busily reabsorbing! I'm aware of the swelling but since the whole area is numb, it's not causing me too much discomfort - though it tends to feel tighter as the day progresses. I really want to believe it's shrinking, but I just can't tell for certain. I began measuring my girth every few days - it seemed to go down, but then up again. I think it's probably impossible to be accurate as I've put on a bit of the weight I lost during those early days. There doesn't appear to be anything you can do to speed up the process apart from massaging the area: you just have to wait and hope.
I have to confess that I felt a bit despondent about all this and began to wonder if seeking a drain-free procedure had been wise. Would drains have prevented the problem? This site reassured me as there are plenty of surgeons advocating drain-free TT's and a friend who had (different) surgery recently with drains still ended up with a seroma, so I guess I'm just unlucky.
4 week anniversary!!
I went back to work on Monday (just over 3 weeks post) and felt shattered by the end of the day but surprisingly got stronger quickly and was fine the rest of the week. My commute in London involves two trains and quite a bit of walking, but it was do-able (with the help of a taxi at one end). In fact I found it was great to get out of the flat and having a purpose made me push myself a bit which I think has really helped things begin to loosen up. However if you're able to get 3 weeks off work then I'd highly recommend not going back earlier - I don't think I'd really have been up to it.
I hung on not showering until the end of week 3 (felt glorious when I finally did!) as I wanted to leave things un-disrupted for as long as possible. I also only ditched the binder after week 3, partly because of trouble finding suitable control pants: there are plenty out there but I always find the waist bands are too tight & become really uncomfortable as the day wears on. Yesterday I took drastic action and made a couple of vertical cuts through the elastic which has helped a lot! It feels really odd at first without the binder, but you get used to it in a couple of days & then definitely wouldn't want to go back to wearing one.
Although my partner's been very supportive, he wasn't keen on me putting myself (us?) through an elective operation & wasn't bothered by my post pregnancy belly. I'd been pretty private about my post op appearance as I didn't want to freak him out by revealing a bruised and swollen torso, but that's reduced so much that I recently let him have a look and he was astonished, in a good way! I think he thought he was going to get some sort of 'Bride of Frankenstein'. Instead things are now really beginning to take shape: I have a neat new belly button and nice muscle definition. I'm still a little crinkly below the belly button - I was concerned about a vertical crease - but this has improved a bit recently, so I have hope. The other creases and pleats are slowly flattening too. I'm still swollen in my lower abdomen, particularly towards the centre of the scar, which really bulges: I want to believe this is diminishing but can't really tell. It's certainly less uncomfortable than it was. I noticed that one surgeon on this site advised only looking for changes weekly rather than daily, which is sensible as it's easy to obsess.
Just as my surgeon advised, the tightness around my sternum has eased up: I can now stand 100% upright & my walking is picking up pace. I still have have to take it slowly when standing up after sitting for a while as the muscles feel tight and crampy, but I'm sure this will ease too. I've been doing the couple of physio floor exercises that are allowed at this stage (pelvic tilts / twisting the torso) and looking forward to getting more exercises at my next physio appointment in a couple of weeks: my muscles feel desperate to move and when I wake up I find they're sort of 'spasming'
My belly was such a saggy mess before this operation and I was getting so much back pain that the transformation feels nothing short of miraculous. I'm delighted with my new torso and encouraged by the improvements I'm seeing below my belly button.
I hung on not showering until the end of week 3 (felt glorious when I finally did!) as I wanted to leave things un-disrupted for as long as possible. I also only ditched the binder after week 3, partly because of trouble finding suitable control pants: there are plenty out there but I always find the waist bands are too tight & become really uncomfortable as the day wears on. Yesterday I took drastic action and made a couple of vertical cuts through the elastic which has helped a lot! It feels really odd at first without the binder, but you get used to it in a couple of days & then definitely wouldn't want to go back to wearing one.
Although my partner's been very supportive, he wasn't keen on me putting myself (us?) through an elective operation & wasn't bothered by my post pregnancy belly. I'd been pretty private about my post op appearance as I didn't want to freak him out by revealing a bruised and swollen torso, but that's reduced so much that I recently let him have a look and he was astonished, in a good way! I think he thought he was going to get some sort of 'Bride of Frankenstein'. Instead things are now really beginning to take shape: I have a neat new belly button and nice muscle definition. I'm still a little crinkly below the belly button - I was concerned about a vertical crease - but this has improved a bit recently, so I have hope. The other creases and pleats are slowly flattening too. I'm still swollen in my lower abdomen, particularly towards the centre of the scar, which really bulges: I want to believe this is diminishing but can't really tell. It's certainly less uncomfortable than it was. I noticed that one surgeon on this site advised only looking for changes weekly rather than daily, which is sensible as it's easy to obsess.
Just as my surgeon advised, the tightness around my sternum has eased up: I can now stand 100% upright & my walking is picking up pace. I still have have to take it slowly when standing up after sitting for a while as the muscles feel tight and crampy, but I'm sure this will ease too. I've been doing the couple of physio floor exercises that are allowed at this stage (pelvic tilts / twisting the torso) and looking forward to getting more exercises at my next physio appointment in a couple of weeks: my muscles feel desperate to move and when I wake up I find they're sort of 'spasming'
My belly was such a saggy mess before this operation and I was getting so much back pain that the transformation feels nothing short of miraculous. I'm delighted with my new torso and encouraged by the improvements I'm seeing below my belly button.
Provider Review
Inspires confidence: very clear, concise, precise and professional