8 Months Post-Op and Happier than Ever.

I derped above and said I was almost 10 months. This is one of those moments that counting on your fingers fails miserably. I am nearly EIGHT months post op.

I put up a picture to show where I have sensation, where I don't, and where sensation has changed. It's pretty self explanatory. The grey area is where I can't feel anything - no touch, scratch, temperature, anything. Only at muscle depth can I tell I'm being touched in the grey areas.

The yellow highlighted areas are spots where my sensation has changed or 'relocated.' Where there is a number, that spot has some sensation but it's abnormal, and the actual 'feeling' response to the touch occurs at another site (where there is a corresponding number with a star *)

For number 1, by my bellybutton, all touch feels kind of nerve twingy. It's not painful, but is not normal 'touch.' It feels like someone is lightly scraping with a nail no matter how soft the touch is. At number 2, I can pick up both light touch and (when I am actually doing it) light nail scraping sensations. Just below my bellybutton I can only feel feather light touch, but no pain and no scraping sensations. If you compare the boundaries of sensitive areas with what they were early on you can see how much the sensation has returned and improved. It's a relatively small area now that is affected.

Hey everyone!

I decided it was probably time to do a little updates on my tummy tuck. It's been quite a while now and there have been changes not only to the scar, but areas with/without sensation, muscle tone, etc.

I outlined in my newly uploaded photos how much my areas of numbness have shrunk in the past few months. There are some funny spots (the inch above my bellybutton, and on the left side of my vertical scar that was my old bellybutton) where sensation is returning, but in a confused sort of way. When I touch some spots above my BB, it feels like I'm touching an inch or so to the left and slightly down from where I'm really touching. When I touch the lower spot, to the left of my vertical scar, it feels like I am almost touching the crease between my pelvis and left hip. Funny, hey? I'm very happy to be getting sensation back, though. I had noticed that whenever I ran, I'd get a tingly belly and sometimes a 'heat' feeling in the skin that was numb. And it was weird at first learning to accept that I wouldn't feel my pants rub at my skin there anymore. I was worried about nipping my skin buttoning up my pants or squeezing it by accident through some wardrobe malfunction (or standing too close to the stove and not noticing the heat!) Nothing like that has happened.

One definitely worthwhile update is that I had a diluted kenalog injection done to my vertical scar, because it was becoming quite thick and ropey, and was staying very red compared to the other maturing areas of the scar. Dr. Ward was completely awesome about it, talked about the risks and the 'one hand vs the other' of kenalog vs just letting it be. I still had a hypertrophic scar on my chest from about 2 years ago that hadn't flattened, so I chose the kenalog to get things moving, and Dr. Ward was even kind enough to use some of it to flatten the scar on my chest.

Immediately, the swelling in the scars went down in a few days. Over time, the fat or tissue under the scars has thinned a fair bit and the skin is rather papery there, but this was one of the explained side effects and I've been fine with it. Right now, there is a mild inward sloping between the side of my tummy at my vertical scar, with the skin in the middle quite thin and without fat to fill it in. I expect this to get better over the next few months, but I've also noticed what a difference diet and exercise makes in the overall contour of my belly near my scar.

I had lots of work to do in the summer, final exams in August, changed universities for September and then had to move from my apartment into a new place with my son, so there was a lot to do and not much time, and I fell off the exercise wagon. I didn't gain any weight, but my muscle deteriorated and I plumped up fat-wise a bit. I have since been exercising again and have already noticed that that fitter I am (lower body fat %) and the more I focus on my core, the better that area of my belly is. It also helps to stay hydrated and avoid crappy processed food (which is also giving me adult acne woes right now so I'm being a lot more careful anyway.)

Aesthetics aside, using my core has been easier. I was always worrying about the hernia before and it would get sore and tender. I don't have to worry about that now!

A weird thing I've found is that while I'm trying to tone my core it doesn't hurt unusually (more than just a post-workout ache), but if I'm letting myself go a little, or if I just do one workout in a month or something, my upper abs ache along the vertical line they pulled back together. That said, the entire area of my abdomen that was worked on is always peripherally tender. It never hurts, and it's not sore or achey at all normally, but any minor impact to the belly is sort of terrifying. It's more tender there and any little bump hurts more than it would pre-op. This isn't a problem but it makes certain aspects of regular life a little more intimidating.

My friend's son ran off at a store once and didn't want to come with me when I tracked him down. When I nabbed him by the arm, kiddo threw himself to the ground and gave me a swift boot to the abdomen. This was somewhere around 2 or 3 months post-op, I think, and holy flying sheißweasels, did it hurt. I had to sit down for a bit and let her kid run off into a little penned-in arcade area. It subsided quickly and didn't cause any issues, but I'm careful with kids now. My own son has a habit of jumping on me on the couch, and barrelling down hills straight into me, so it's taken some doing just to get him to be careful around my tummy. I've heard myself say "remember dude, mommy has the sore belly" more times than I care to count. He's good with it now (he's 4) but sometimes he just forgets and nudges uncomfortably while cuddling or something.

My boyfriend has been really good about it, and was there for me through the whole recovery (he did give me a hard time now and then just to get a rise out of me. Twit.) But, he was really helpful during my recovery and has been really gentle and careful with me since. Before surgery, he used to pick me up a lot, throw me over his shoulder, run around being a doofus and doing little swing dance type grabs. Obviously that all stopped post-op, and it's only just lately that he's started trying to pick me up again, but he's been pretty good about being delicate. The reality is that even being picked up in a front hug where he's leaning back can pull at my abdominal muscles enough to be uncomfortable, so we're careful about it now. I do try to stretch out my front after every workout by doing some basic yoga poses I know, but I think it may always be a bit tighter there than before.

My boyfriend also finally admitted that he's quite happy I had this done. Hah! I like how they're all cautiously-supportive at first and say that you're beautiful no matter what (and I truly do believe he thought so, and that it would never have been an issue to him if I had not done this), but it's also kind of nice to hear that he appreciates the improvements like I do. Not as much as I do, but still. I went with my son, boyfriend and some friends out to a cabin this past summer, and I wore a bikini for the first time in five years. THAT was amazing. I actually felt attractive. I was proud of my body and that it showed how much work I had put into it at the gym. I didn't feel like the inferior specimen, which is usually how it goes for me at a pool or the beach. I felt sexy! This summer I wore some semi high-waisted boy shorts to cover things up, so just my bellybutton scar showed, but nobody even noticed. My scar has already faded a lot, so it's possible that by next year I won't even care to cover it up. I'm not very self-conscious about scars and lots of people have already seen it when I've been tippy-toeing for whatever reason with hands up to reach something or stretch. Nobody cares. I don't care. It probably looks a little startling to people who haven't been around surgery before but I guess rules of etiquette prevent people from mentioning it. That's ok with me, because even if they did mention it I wouldn't feel self conscious about it. It's a million times better looking than what was going on before!

Well, that's my whole update for now! I'm still very happy I did this. I haven't looked at my before photos for a long time and seeing them here was a nice validation for me. I hated being trapped in that body. There are still things I don't like about my body now (my boobs), but it's easier for me to accept them somehow.

Good luck to everyone with achieving their goals!