So Far..So Excellent... 3 Days Post-Op -San Antonio, TX

I had my first child when I was 19 years old and at that time I went from 124 to 199. My tummy was left stretched more that quite a bit. After getting my weight down to about 145 pounds, I was left with a stomach that looked as if belonged to someone who was four times my age. Ten years later I had my daughter where I went from 155 pounds to 220 when I came home. I worked out after I recovered from my c-section and loss about 60 pounds. I then decided that I had to do something for myself because the skin and fat was just too much for me.

Consultation
My husband and I went to a few consultations but when we went to Dr. Koneru's office we knew that we made the right decision. When we first walked in the office, we were greeted by Mrs. Linda who is the sweetest thing ever. She is also very on top of the billing and will give you plenty of information if you need it. We did not have to wait too long before we were taken into another room to wait for the doctor. Dr. Koneru came in and explained the tummy tuck procedure to us in great detail. After that, he left the room so that I could undress. He came back in and told me that I was a candidate for the procedure after looking at me feeling for my abdominal muscles. He also made me fully aware of how much time I was going to need for recovery and really cared about when I was going to have return to school so I would have plenty of time to recuperate. My husband, who is very picky, was also impressed with the amount of time he spent with us and his knowledge about the procedure. We had some quotes that were a little less expensive but we decided on Dr. Koneru because you have to really think about the quality of what you are getting and cannot let cost influence your whole decision. For the quality of work that I had done, I feel that I received the best deal ever..lol.

Surgery Day
The evening before Dr. Koneru called to make sure I did not have any questions. I told him I was all set. I showed up to the surgery center about a half hour early because I was so excited. Once I was prepared by the nurses, Dr. Koneru came in and spoke to us and then put some markings on by stomach. After that I was given a "cocktail" by the nurse and the next thing I know I was being woken up and the surgery was complete.

Day One-Day 3
When I got home and was a little more lucid I looked at my body and even though I am swollen and bandaged up I could see a tremendous difference. This is the first time in my adult life that I had a normal looking stomach and I am in love. I am still really swollen and have the drains, pain pump and bandages but I can still see what the outcome is going to be like. My scar is pretty low and looking pretty good. My husband has been clearing my drains and I have been keeping up with my pain medication. I also have a pain pump and have been walking every couple of hours to prevent blood clots. I expected to have way more pain than what I have experienced. Today is day three and I was able to take a little sponge bath, put on some make-up, do my hair, put on a dress, and walk around a little more. I also have to remember to bend over when I walk because I feel like I can walk straighter but I don't want to mess anything up. I am already taking tylenol in the day and using the vicodin for the evenings.

I am still in the beginning stages but I would do this surgery again in a heart beat. I feel so good and cannot wait to see what the outcome is going to be. I would recommend Dr. Koneru a million times over and if you are on the fence about getting this surgery I would recommend that you do it because you will not regret it. I will upload some before and after pictures soon.

Today is Day 4 and I am feeling really good. My pain pump is going to come out this evening so I am happy to have one less thing attached to me but also hope that I don't start feeling pain that I wasn't aware of before because of the pump. I am also allowed to take a quick shower today and change my bandages so I can see what my tummy looks like today. Nervous about the shower for some reason though. I have not went number 2 since the day before my surgery but I have been taking a stool softener so hopefully that experience will not be too traumatic. I have been keeping my diet to small meals with lean proteins and green salads. I also have been eating a little more fiber. When I eat, I feel full right away. I think that is due to the tightness of my tummy. I feel better when I am walking than when I am sitting down for some weird reason. Today my back has been aching a little but not too bad. I guess I do not think the pain is that bad because I expected it to be way worst. My tummy feels as if I did a really hard ab workout but not at all too bad unless I laugh, which is torture. Coughing is not too bad and I haven't sneezed yet. I am still really swollen but not as bad as the first day. I have been walking around the house and taking it pretty easy. I want to make sure that everything heals correctly and I am enjoying the break from taking care of everything. I am going to upload some pictures. I still am looking for a front picture of my stomach. I had so many but for some reason it seems like they just disappeared. One of the pictures is when I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter so you can see how big my tummy got. I will keep posting pics along the way. On another note, my 8 month old started walking yesterday. I am so proud.

I am really kicking myself for not being able to find a front view picture of my tummy before the surgery. I know that I have one somewhere and I will post it as soon as I can.
Anyway...I took my shower and it was not the great experience I hear some people speak of but it was not horrible. Before that I called my doctor because I saw my belly button for the first time and I was little worried about how deep it was and that it was still bleeding. I was not sure if I wanted to get it wet as of yet. He assured me that it was normal and that I would okay and let me know that they had also did a hernia repair. (I forgot to mention that he also removed a horrible tattoo that had on my upper leg right next to my lady..so that was a great bonus!!) He also told me to make sure I walk around but also take it easy. That is hard for me sometimes but I am going to take that advise because I want everything to heal correctly.
I took off my dressings and put some triple antibiotic on my belly button area and my drainage area before the shower. I left the steri-strips alone like I was told. I wore one of my old breastfeeding bras in the shower and pinned the drains to it. I got in and washed up with my back towards the water.
After I got out of the shower, I put some more ointment on and placed new gauze on my bandages. I made sure that my husband took a picture first though..lol.
Since today is New Year's Eve, I decided that I wanted to get a little dressed up. Usually I have been wearing my husband's long shirts and no undies because of where my tubes are located. Since I wanted to dress up a little today I decided to wear a dress and learned that if I cut a hole in the front of my underwear i am able to wear some. That is good because I was wondering what exactly I was going to do when I went to the Doc on Thursday.
After that my husband I milked my tubes. The tubes are starting to look a little dry because I washed my hand and then put hand sanitizer on my hands while I was milking the tubes. Not a good thing to do. Now i use a little vaseline on my fingertips and it works better. i am not draining too much but enough that I glad that it is exciting my body.
Here is another picture of me today. Before I had stretch marks that went all the way up to just below my breast. (Which I always thought was crazy because I never saw anyone else with marks that high) I also had loose skin from about an inch to an inch and a half ABOVE my belly button and everywhere below my belly button. I also had fat pockets that hung down sat on my pubic area. When I stood up I could not even see my pubic area which was more than a little depressing. (I really need to find those before pictures for you guys. I put them in a Keep Safe App but when I switched phones they did not transfer but I know I have some more some where because I have been documenting the changes for years)