54? So what? Doing me! D.R. with Dr. Derby Sang Caputo

Hey hey hey RealSelf fam! That year went faster then i thought. April 25th 2018! Do I regret it? Nope! I only gained 3-4 lbs. I’m so glad I made the decision to do it. Man yeah I had some bumps! I work at a hospital and have had a few surgeries myself. There’s always going to be pain before the gain. It’s a great feeling to put on whatever I want and not worry about the bulges and hanging skin on my belly. So after all I’ve been through here’s the pros and cons. Pros- Body shape! What? Huh! It’s an incredible feeling to touch yourself and feel curves and ribs! Lol! Trying on clothes is fun and you can find a bigger variety of them. Compliments! Love them! I’m always hearing how nice i look. If you have a humble spirit you’ll look even better. Being stuck on yourself ruins the whole thing. No more pain! Glad that’s over with. Standing up straight and feeling great! Lol! Oh and i love my belly button now. My back is fine! Looks flat and has no pain. Ok Cons-my back needs support because of a deep curve. I sleep with a pillow to fill the space. If i don’t it feels uncomfortable. My belly is still numb just above and around my belly button, down to my incision line over my pubis. Don’t know if that will ever have feeling or not? If you read my journey you know about the tough time i had with my belly button. I thought that thing would never heal. I still get a tiny (level 2) pain in my right side of the incision line where my stitches ended. It feels like my skin is very tight at times. Weird! Remember to be careful not to have your skin folded under a tight faha. It may cause your skin to tear like mine did and leave an ugly scar. I don’t keloid but the tear was so deep it left one. Be careful to take all tapes and bandages off carefully, as one ripped my skin off and left a scar. And remember what the Doc says. If you get lipoed the fat will go somewhere else. My upper arms and thighs yall! Sheesh! My fat is spilling out under my arms with a bra on, and my thighs never had cellulite before. I now concentrate on those areas when i work out. That’s about it! Oh! I almost forgot! I’m engaged to be married in Oct to my high school sweetheart of seven yrs ( I was 12yrs and he was 16) and being apart more than 30yrs. What’s great is he used to love me before my surgery. Just for who I am. He treats me so good! He is awesome! Won’t God do it? Don’t hesitate to ask a question. I’ll do my best to answer. This app helped me through my surgery. This surgery will definitely try our patience, but it’s all worth i in the end. I hope i was a help to a least one person out there? Take care Realself fam! Peace out, and God bless. ;-)

Hey RealSelf Fam! So here’s an update of how it feels to be 9months in. Everything’s almost back to normal. Almost. So you will still have numbness around the belly button all the way down toward the top of the pubis. It still feels weird to turn and sit up from a flat position. Nothing hurts anymore. The “pulling” feeling from the TT incision is still there. Some days it feels like it’s as tight as the 1st day. Maybe because I’m older and by body may be healing slower. Who the heck knows? Lol! All I know is God is good! He brought be through it all and I’m very thankful. I’m so happy i made the decision to have this done. It truly is a life changing experience. Is there haters out there? Uh? Yeah! It’s very strange how people act about YOUR body, but be strong and do you! I work at a hospital, and i get a lot of compliments, questions, and some dumb looks as well. One of our female docs has now decided to get a TT after talking to me. You my not believe it but a lot of women and men want TT’s but just can’t afford it. And also it’s a trip trying to get time off work because of it being an elective surgery. All i can say is if you really want it, save up, apply for credit, or wait till tax time. I paid with my tax money because i didn’t want any future dept. Anyway I’m doing great! Life is good and I have more confidence in showing my body. That’s a great feeling that only a person with flab can appreciate. Am i perfect? Nope! But I’m loving life a lil more. Shout out to my surgery buddy Keesha from Florida. She reached out to me on this RealSelf app. Crazy how we ended up meeting up in the airport, and had surgery with the same doc on the same day. We keep in touch to this very day. RealSelf is what’s up!

Hey RealSelf family! I’m officially 6mos post TT/BBL/Lipo today! Woohooo! I feel blessed having gotten this far. Lumps and bumps? Yep! But the results will have you amazed. I touch my sides and still can’t get over how slim and snatched I am. So amazing! So at this point in my journey, remember I’m 55yrs old now, this is where I am. The back burning is gone! No more getting up in the morning feeling that burning, stinging feeling in my lower back. The back no longer numb over my butt. No more (catching the Holy Ghost lol) sudden pain hitting me all over at any given time. I’m walking completely straight up, but the pulling in my TT is still there. I am still experiencing swelling right over my pubic incision area and right above my belly button. I stopped wearing my faha after 5 mos. I just got tired of it showing in my clothes and it was hot. I’m wearing a spanx instead. My hips and the tops of my butt still are sore to the touch. Because of this I’m still sleeping in my recliner. My bed is too firm and it’s just too uncomfortable! I tried it two times and I ended up back in the chair with my Boppy pillow. I even tried using pillows, but they keep sliding out from under me. Oh well? I’m single so no rush for the bed. Lol! If you’ve read my reviews you read where my tummy split from my faha, and my skin tore from tape that was placed over my belly button after I returned home. That was my bump in my journey. I stayed on antibiotics because the scares looked a mess! You could see the white under my skin. Yuk! I had to follow up with my family physician numerous times because of this, and I had stitches in my belly button removed twice that I thought would dissolve. This caused an infection. It took a few months but I healed. Take care once you get home to make sure your belly button stays clean and dry. Any moisture can cause infection. My surgery buddy told me she used a hairdryer on cool after each cleaning. After I started this technique, I started healing nicely. Also be aware that if your skin is folded in your faha, you can get a compression fold burn/tear. I had help closing my faha and my belly skin was folded in front and caused my skin under my belly button to my pubis incision to rip straight down. Mind you i don’t keloid, but my scars were so deep it left a keloid over my belly button (tape removal spot) and under it. Thinking about getting them removed? Aaaah? Maybe not? Lol! I’m taking prenatal vitamins instead of all those required for surgery. They’re cheap and do what’s needed for my body. It’s still a journey at 6 mos, but I’m loving my results. I constantly get compliments. I’m all set to wear my fitting bridesmaids dress for my sisters wedding. To all who are just starting out? Hang in there. You’ll be at 6 mos in time. Listen to you body and take care of yourself.