Tummy Tuck with Lipo - Tucson, AZ

Holy [RS bleep]. Today was my 11 week visit. I walked in feeling pretty okay. I had a friend with me because she is thinking of doing a TT next year. I wanted to ask if the swelling on my left side was going to go down because it is so much bigger than my right side. I also needed to get more information on the hard spots that are on top of my hips and lower abdomen. I talked to someone about them recently who'd had a tummy tuck and she said that she had similar lumps and had developed fat necrosis and had to have lumps surgically removed. So I was a little worried and needed some reassurance. I did not get that.

To give a little more history my surgeon had surgery herself a few weeks ago, she got a facelift. So I wasn't sure if she'd be in or if I'd see the physician's assistant which was fine. I have already trusted these people with my life, literally, so I was pretty sure that anyone of the nurses would be able to help me out.

The physician's assistant listened to my questions and then had me take some "after" pictures. I took a picture of that picture so it didn't come out all that great but you get the gist. Anyhoo, after waiting a while the PA and the doctor came in to see me and all hell broke loose. The doctor immediately said "So I hear you're unhappy with the results." And it was all downhill from there. I won't repeat what was said but in a nutshell she said that she can't lipo my puffy left side so don't worry about it. I have other things to worry about like my thighs. Yes. She basically told me I have fat thighs. Here I am thinking that she'll tell me we can schedule some more lipo after a while, in and out or that it will settle down to where it isn't as noticeable, something, ANYTHING that was reassuring. But no. She basically just called me fat. A lot.

I was shocked. I literally couldn't do anything but cry. I haven't felt so low in a very long time. It was so unexpected as this woman normally is the nicest, sweetest thing in the world. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, WTF just happened?? She was pretty much disgusted with me and pushed my next appointment out 4 months. She won't see me again until October. Hopefully by then she is off her pain meds or whatever the hell made her such a psycho hosebeast today.

I couldn't leave well enough alone so when I got home today I sent her an email that just kind of outlines my thoughts on today's visit. I doubt I'll get an answer but it made me feel better to at least give a response since I was utterly dumbstruck while at her office.

So I will keep this updated and we'll see if my left side is any smaller by October.

As promised here are pictures of my scars 7 weeks post op. I have been using SkinMedica scar recovery gel and for the last 3 days I have been using rejuveness on a couple of the spots. I have a spot up front that my doctor was initially slightly concerned with but it looks like it is closing up and coloring in. I was very worried about my scars because there doesn't seem to be anything that is specifically for Black skin but so far so good. It seems to be healing up. It is a hell of a routine. I clean it up, rub on the scar gel then tape it up using NextCare gentle surgical tape. Day and night.

I'm still a bit swollen. Did a great workout today so it is expected. Yesterday I went to get a lymphatic massage because google told me that it might help and it may have. I should have done more research because it turns out I did not actually get a lymphatic massage. I have no idea what I got but it was totally different than the youtube videos that I looked up afterwards. Lesson learned, do your research beforehand! I will be trying out the lymphatic self massage techniques that I looked up on youtube tonight.

I hope that the pictures help other people gauge where they are because I know that looking at some of the pictures on here has helped me not freak out thinking that I'm not healing.

Everyone has really good unclothed pics and I'll get some of those up too but I wanted to show everyone what really led me to do a tummy tuck. I pretty much had my mind made up and surgeon chosen but I hadn't scheduled it or anything like that. Until I went on vacation. I went on the most amazing trip and couldn't share a lot of the pictures because I looked so bad. When I went through my pictures and saw that I was more worried about covering up my gut than being eaten by a tiger I knew that it was time to take action.