Lower Body Lift w/ Fleur de Lis

Just nearing the 6 week mark. I had a few spots that opened up that weren't that major and are almost healed. I went back to work a few weeks ago. This week I feel much better moving around. Still dealing with a lot of swelling mainly in my lower abdomen. I've noticed some areas are doing better than others. I continue to wear my compression garments 24hrs a day and will have to continue to wear them for another 6 weeks per my surgeon. I have another follow up next month.

Still have tons of swelling and can't wait to get rid of this tight feeling. I feel so much better with my compression garments compared to when it's off for showers and incision care.
Incisions look good and I just have a small amount of drainage in an area on the right side of my back incision. The area still appears well closed and there isn't any burning or pain there. Most of my discomfort is still in my groin area and it still a bit puffy around there. Trying to stay in bed most of the time and only getting up for potty breaks and short walks in my room about every 2-3 hours.
I'm of my pain pump as of this morning. I think it stopped at nighttime. Pain is well managed. My biggest fear which was constipation related to the narcotics I was taking with the pain pump haven't been a factor. The Senokot- S has greatly helped and is keeping me regular. I was really dreading having to deal with that and this surgery, so happy it's not an issue :)
I did manage to snap some pictures of all my incision sites.

This picture is only 2 days after my surgery. My swelling has gone down a bit, but I still have a lot going on. It's gone down about 5 inches on my waist and 3 inches on my hips. Keeping my compression on 24hrs a day. The nurses here at the Recovery place have been doing my wound care daily, pretty much doing new belly button care and spraying my incisions with an antiseptic spray and drying them down and placing new clean gauze bandages.

I am experiencing increased swelling around my groin area. I think that can be due to my moving around, so I'm trying to not spend too much one sitting up today. I was sitting up for about 1-2 hours twice yesterday. I'm staying in bed with my feet elevated and see if that helps.

My biggest fear is constipation. It's something I have struggled with most of my life and I have been on a Morphine pain pump, so I'm a tad worried. I've been taking my Miralax twice daily along with some Senokot- S, I just bumped that one to 2 tabs twice daily today and hoping it works. I haven't had a bowel movement since the night before surgery, but I know that surgery can slow that down.

I am taking some surgical supplements and after researching and reading ingredients and reviews I settled on the VitaMedica brand. I'm a nurse and I don't believe all supplements are created equally. There are some things that are great as generic brands, but I feel vitamins- you basically get what you pay for. Some are just excreted in our urine too quickly and aren't absorbed by our bodies like they should. I found the best pricing through Dr. David Reath. I'll post a link to his website here. He was even less expensive than the actual manufacturer and his shipping was free and fast. I think I got my vitamins like in 3 days. I ordered the Clinical Support Vitamins, which include a Morning and evening formula. It's suggested you start these 2 weeks prior to surgery and continue for two weeks post op. They don't contain any of the items that are contraindicated for surgery like Vitamin E which can cause bleeding. I also ordered their Arnica Montana for bruising, it's in a 30x strength and I believe they were $17 for 120 tabs. I also ordered the Bromelain with Quercetin for swelling. Both the Arnica and Bromelin I started 3 days prior to surgery and it's recommended to continue at least a week post op- I'm just going to finish my bottles.

I also ordered their Probiotics because of the Antibiotics I'm taking and my issues with constipation. My husband who's also a nurse told me not to forget Probiotics because Antibiotics can do a lot of not so fun stuff to your gut, like C. diff and nobody wants that.

And last but not least, I am taking my BCAA supplement to aid in muscle recovery. That one was recommended by my surgical coordinator because of the muscle plication I was getting done and it helps with soreness. And I already had it at home in my workout supplements shelve, so in my suitcase it went :).

Here's the link to the store for the vitamins. There's also a lot of good information available on his site. I'm going to buy the silicone strips for scar therapy, I think the pricing is good and I like that they are reusable after washing, so I'll be buying two sets so I can have a back up in between washing them. The silicone strips and vitamins where a good price, I would price check the other things like girdles and ice packs- those I found cheaper on Amazon.

Here's the link to the store:
http://store.dbreath.com/plastic-surgery-recovery/

Here's a link to an article on supplements you should avoid prior to surgery:
https://www.dbreath.com/patient-resources/tools-for-patients/vitamins-for-plastic-surgery/

I'll try to snap some better pictures of all my incisions to show you all. I always forget when they are in here doing my wound care.