Tummy Tuck, BL, BR and Some Lipo Done in - Turkey

Took me 5 years to research and 5 minutes to decide when I met my PS! 49 year old mother of 3 here. I have been researching about a mommy makeover for a long time. After a hysterectomy 8 years ago and subsequent early menopause dumped close to 50 lbs on me within a year and have been battling with the weight ever since.

Long story short, I had decided to have a mommy makeover with my husband's full blessing as well as my children's support. I decided to have the surgery in my native land, Turkey, instead of USA for several reasons. The Hospital I used is accredited by Joint Comission International so I knew they were and are more than equipped to handle anything. I have lots of friends and relatives here and also, I knew deep inside that I wasn't going to get the rest I needed if I was home. I believe the price was also more reasonable than it would have been in the US. I consulted quite a few doctors in the US and prices were no less than 10K with no hospital stay. I honestly thought anyone who goes through a surgery of this magnitude should be sent home only hours after surgery and with hospital stays, the cost almost doubles so hence my decision to have the procedure in Turkey. My price includes all the procedures and 2 nights of hospital stay in a private room. I would like to thank all of you ladies who posted their experience here. I feel like, as my kids would say a "creeper" for reading all the posts without introducing myself all those weeks but my months and days leading up to the surgery has been very hectic for many reasons so please forgive me for the delay. I chose to start posting about my experience after my procedure. I will try to post pictures every chance I get. Some basic pre-op stats...Age: 49, Height: 5'3", Weight:179, Bra size: 38 D-sometimes DD I don't tolerate pain well so thinking I will be in excruciating pain for weeks and months in end was a scary thought for me but I thinks pain has been the easier part of this journey for me. I will write about the surgery in my later updates. As of today, I am 16 days PO and doing well. Take care ladies....

Hello Ladies,
I am back home, in USA. Came back few days ago and trying to get back in to the swing of things as well as deal with the jet lag of 7 hour time difference. So long story short, I came back 1 day short of my 3 week mark. Overall, I feel good and much better than I originally anticipated. I will be taking new pics wither tonight or tomorrow morning with the help of my husband and post them. I know how important pictures are to monitor the process and progress of one another. I know for a fact looking at your pictures, what kept me inspired and on track up until my surgery so I hope to do the same for others who are in the same boat.

In retrospect, few things that were surprising to me when I compared my experience with most of you ladies.
1-Pain was much much more managable than I anticipated. More and more I thought about this, I think I may have an idea because believe me, my pain threshold is next to nothing. If there is any pain to be felt, I WILL feel it :). My abdominal muscles were much better than many other patients (my PS says) thus he had to only touch it up in few places, nothing major. If many of you had to have your muscles repaired, I think this has a lot to do with the pain many of you ladies feel. He sent me home after the 2 day Hospital stay with what I consider to be very low key pain killers and I only used them for 3 days. Being a migraine sufferer since the age of 12, I know my pain killers!
2-The dreaded drainage tubes. I only had 1 tube when I woke up from the surgery..was draining a moderate amount (will guess about 40 cc/day) and he removed it the 2nd day before he sent me home from the hospital. I had asked him about how long they would stay before the surgery and hes reply was "they will not" which was puzzling to me. So, yes..he was right. He pulled it and I had no fluid build-up. I will elaborate on this a bit more later on. For now, this is it.

OK, I just updated with some new pictures and wanted to write a little more about the progress.
The only thing that is bugging me is this open area under both my nipples. My PS said sometime, it does happen. It is not a popped stitch but more like a scraped wound. I am cleaning it, putting antibiotic lotion on and changing the dressing everyday. I am also getting this burning sensation and pain in both my breasts. I checked online and most people who have these symptoms have had implants but I did not. Only the breast lift along with reduction. My current size is a B cup and when the doctor first told me he thinks a B would be fine for me I thought he was crazy (was a ful D, sometimes a DD) but as you can see from the pictures, it is just perfect for my body type. My boobies weren’t this perky even when I was 18.
As for the unsightly crease or should we say two creases under both breasts, PS said they will get smaller and smaller and finally merge in to a single crease by the 3rd month and not to worry about how they look now. Honestly, they do look a little better than they did 2 weeks ago when he first opened up the bandages for me to shower.
During the surgery, he took 5lbs of skin from my tummy and 4 lbs of fat with lipo from my flanks, love handles and just a little from inner and outer thighs. He warned me that when I come out, I will weigh no less than when I went in to surgery and he was right. The “swell hell” is real! I am still barely fitting in to the pants that I wore going to the hospital. But my tops immediately felt and looked looser. I am told by my PS that I should be approx. 2 sizes smaller by the end of my 3rd which is mid July so I am very curious to see if this is going to happen ?
Good night ladies…