46YO & 11 Years Overdue! *Finally* GOT a TT! (w/ MR & Lipo) - San Diego, CA

Does everybody on the site start out by lurking for months before finally starting a journal? :)
Hi to everyone from Southern California. I am 46 years old, 5'7.5", weighed in today at 207 and I wear a size 14 in pretty much every brand. I'm married and I have two kids (19 & 14). I live in a suburb north of San Diego and I'm scheduled to have my surgery on August 31!
My story is a little bit crazy...back in 2004 (when I was still married to my first husband), I was selected to be on a local tv show (like "Extreme. Makeover"). I had recently lost 60lbs (I was working out 2 hrs a day and eating about 1000 calories/day). I actually looked worse naked then in my opinion but I looked great in clothes! I only wanted a TT but they were also going to do a BL, BA & Lipo, too. And since it was FREE I agreed to get the rest done. I think 12 people total were selected to be on the show. We had to do extensive physicals and psych screenings and run around and meet different doctors, dermatologists and dentists (we were offered skin procedures, LASIK and teeth whitening, too). Pretty great, right? Well, they assigned me a surgeon and I had a surgery date and I even filled my narcotics prescriptions. Then two days before the surgery they postponed - we were told they were having insurance issues. My PS pulled out and I had to go meet another one and then, as you probably have guessed by now, the whole thing fell apart.
UGH
So I have been waiting 11 YEARS to finally have my TT! Crazy, I know. But I am so practical I said I would do it when I wouldn't have to go into debt for it. So now I can finally pay for it and I'm all set!
About 6 weeks ago when I decided to finally schedule my surgery I first went back to have a consult with my original PS from 2004. Back then he didn't give me the warm & fuzzies but he is so prestigious I wasn't going to be picky. This time around I got the same cold vibe from him. I am sure he is a fabulous PS but his website is the SAME as it was back then and his before & after photos are also the same. One thing I did like - he does make his TT patients spend the night in the hospital.
Next I went to see a PS who worked on a former coworker and she had AMAZING results. One interesting thing about him, the pictures of himself on his website are probably 10 years old. When he walked in the exam room he had completely white hair and was about 40 pounds heavier than his photos online of when he was skinny with dark hair. I thought that was kind of funny. I did love his bedside manner and thought he was going to be in my surgeon. In fact I almost canceled my third consult but since it was scheduled for the next day I figured I might as well go.
My third consult was with Dr. Glenn Bolitho. He completely blew the other two out of the water. I really clicked the best with him. And he is board certified in PS in four countries so that's pretty impressive! One of the reasons I chose him is because he sends a nurse home with you for the night post op.
My husband is being a little prickly about the whole procedure. He is 36 and recently took a medical retirement from the USMC. He has some major PTSD issues so he is prickly in general! But I'm sure part of his issue is that his ex sister in law had gastric bypass 10 years ago and lost about 100lbs. She promptly divorced his brother and it was all very messy. But even before we got married I explained to my husband I was going to spend this money on my TT (some came from my father when he passed away). We have been married for 8 years so he has known for a long time it was coming - some day.
And now that day is almost here!! I had my blood drawn yesterday and I go visit my PS tomorrow for my last appointment before THE day.
My husband isn't working right now so he will be home while I recover. I hope he will be helpful but we'll see! LOL Luckily my son and daughter will also both be able to help out. And my two little doggies will be here to help keep my stress down and keep my company while I recover.
I took two full weeks off work and I normally work from home 3 days/week so I can just work from home 5 days after my vacation is up if I need to. My coworkers are mostly RN's (my company is owned by an ER Doctor) so it's really hard to keep any kind of medical secret at our office. One of my coworkers knows I'm having a TT (which probably means everyone knows!) and my boss lives out of state but knows I'm having outpatient work done.
So that's my deal. I took some 'before' photos tonight. I hope they upload correctly. Some look sideways in the preview screen but they don't in my photo album and I don't see how to correct them on this site, so I apologize if they come out wrong.
What's funny is that in the first few I was holding in my damn stomach. I mean, REALLY? Talk about force of habit. If I hold it in, I look ok (in the pink top) but I will be so happy to be on the flat side as I now know it's called. Yay!
So thanks for all your stories and the photos. They have been so inspiring. I will be keeping mine updated as we move along. Here's to our combined quick healing (I'd love to toast but of course no alcohol this week!).
Talk to you all tomorrow after my appointment!

My labs are good, my exam was fine, I got my prescriptions, my instructions and all I can do now is wait until Monday. We also took the official 'before' photos.
Once again it took a conscious effort not to suck it in when someone put a camera in front of me! I think I've been doing that since birth.

To keep myself entertained I made a list.
10 things I won't miss about my tummy:

10. Lifting it up in the shower to wash under it/dry it after
9. That I would rather have a root canal than try on a bathing suit
8. My underwear rolling down over and over, all day, everyday
7. Pulling my shirt down all day, everyday
6. The roll around the bottom of my stomach that shows thru everything I wear
5. Looking pregnant in anything with an empire waist
4. That my friends with bigger boobs than mine (38D) can grab a Medium shirt and it fits. WTF is that about?!
3. How it gets in the way when I'm in yoga class and trying to bend forward in most poses
2. The way I think I am looking good one day until I see a photo from that day and realize how awful it looks
1. Flinching every time I am laying in bed with my husband and his hand grazes my stomach
Feel free to add to the list!

Today was my last day of work before surgery. I had 1 million loose ends to tie up before taking two weeks off. I work from home on Fridays and even though my kids are in school my husband was home. Of course today my dog Bear decided to get sick suddenly so I had to deal with that. We had to find him a vet that could take him today and maybe figure out what is wrong with him. They just gave him some pain pills and sent him home. We still don't know if it is his neck or his stomach. But he is moving very slow and can't jump up on the couch. He just wants to curl up somewhere away from all of us. He really is my baby so I'm very worried about him. He's six or seven (a rescue pup) and has never been sick.
As for me I haven't been nervous or worried about the surgery at all. I'm just ready to have it behind me so I can start healing. I'm not expecting to end up a size 6 when it's all over. In fact if I stay my same size and just have clothes that fit correctly, I will be fine with that. But now that it's just the weekend between me in the operating room I can't help but think about best possible outcomes and worst possible outcomes. I wish I could go to sleep tonight and wake up 2 weeks post op!