34 Year-old Mother of 3, 5'4" Tall 145 Pounds... Massive Weight Loss - Shreveport, LA

I will be having a full tummy tuck with muscle repair (my Dr. says it will probably be more like an extended tummy because of the length of the incision) and SAFElipo all the way around my midsection/lovehandles and including my back.

Well, my surgery is tomorrow and I am slightly freaked out. I feel like I am nesting before having babies, trying to get everything in order and chores out of the way before I am down for awhile. I am however, very excited to get to the other side and see the results. Just nervous about the first few weeks of recovery.

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. After my third child (who is now 8), I lost the weight pretty easily, but I knew all the diet and exercise wasn't going to get rid of the excess skin and my muscles would never firm up the same again. Somewhere along the way I put the weight back on and then some to get to my heaviest (heavier than any of my pregnancies) of 230 pounds. I've spent the last 18 months losing the weight the right way. I've lost 85 pounds and now weigh 145 which gives me a healthy BMI on my 5'4" frame.

Everyone compliments me on my weightloss and tells me how skinny I am, but they don't know what I see in the mirror everyday when my clothes aren't on.

I will post before pictures soon... and update after the surgery. I am encouraged by looking at other people's stories and photos and I want to do the same.

I wasn't as nervous when I got to the surgical facility as I thought I would be. The Dr.'s surgical suites are in the same building as his Dr.'s office. I got checked in, did some paperwork and was taken back to a room to prep for surgery. I got changed, gave a urine sample and they started my I.V. My husband got to come back with me and the Dr. came in and talked to us, then marked me up for surgery. The anastesiologist gave me some medicine to make me sleepy and I don't remember anything until I woke up in recovery.

In recovery I remember asking for some pain meds and she gave me a shot. I had experell injected during the surgery and it makes my stomach and backside numb. But I was having some pain in my rib cage just below my breasts. My husband got to come back and see me. After an hour or so they moved me to an overnight suite. I settled in to a recliner and there was a queen size bed for my husband. We didn't sleep much that night. I had to get up and walk the hallway at least twice per Dr.'s orders and pee at least twice or they would have to put a catheter back in.

The next morning the nurse came in to check on me and pull my foam away from skin so I wouldn't blister. Later the Dr. came in and checked on the incision and my drains. I had one drain that wasn't really doing anything. He said that was okay and it should pick up in the next twelve hours.

We left for our hour and a half drive home. Getting in the car was not easy. I felt something pull in my stomach and started crying, which made it way way worse!!! Then I had a hard time calming down and every time I took a deep breath when I cried it hurt even worse. I finally calmed down and dozed most of the way home.

After getting home I got settled on the recliner end of our couch. Overall I would say it is at least as bad as I thought it would be. The Dr. said it would suck for a few days and he wasn't lying. The rest of the night wasn't too bad. I took a pain pill about 5:30 and then the rest of my regular night time meds around 8:00. I was dozing off and on, but I took my sleeping pill around 10 because I did not sleep well the first night and I wanted to get some rest.

Today is Thursday and I'm 2 days post op. Overall it wasn't too bad of a day. My worst complaint is my tail bone and bottom getting sore from lack of different ways to sit. My husband still has to help me get in and out of the recliner, but we borrowed a walker and I'm able to use that to walk to the restroom. I took a shower for the first time. My husband tried to help me lay sideways on the bed in the fetal position, but I used my stomach muscles on accident and that hurt sooooo bad!!! So, after sitting hunched over on the side of the bed for a little while we decided to take the girdle and the foam off after I was sitting on a stool in the shower. That worked fine. The shower felt so good and it feels good to be clean. I took a pain pill after the whole ordeal (my first one since last night). Now I'm resting in the recliner again.

Much better day today. I had to go to the doctor's office to have my drains looked at. I have one drain that had collected less than 25 cc's since my surgery on Tuesday. They said it was working fine, just slowly. I didn't look like I had any pockets of fluid and everything else looked great for 3 days post-op. Going to attempt another shower later.