Post Op Update

Monday at 7:30am I had my tummy tuck.  Today is Thursday, so I am 3 days post op.  I was allowed to have to my first shower yesterday.  It was difficult, I had to remain seated the entire time so I wouldn't get dizzy and fall down.  My husband was amazing and washed my hair and body for me.  Honestly, I am not certain how many men out there would do what he has done after their wife had elective surgery.  He has given up sleep, slept in the living room with me, wakes up with me in the middle of the night to make sure I take my pills, washes me, changes my bandages, gets my "workstation" ready for me before he leaves for work, and while he's gone he has someone come over to sit with me and make sure I am ok.  At no point in time have I ever felt like I was a burden to him.....although I do keep apologizing because I feel like a burden to myself, and I know I am asking quite a lot of him.

But his response?  "Baby, whatever discomfort or irritation I feel, you feel it 100 times worse.  I'm here to help take some of that away"

And I fucking love him for that so much.

So, how am I doing 3 days after the tummy tuck?
Well, I don't have an intense burning sensation every time I try to move, which is nice.  That just means my muscles and skin are fusing back together relatively quickly.  Walking is still extremely slow, and takes the breath out of me, but I no longer have to stop and rest so often between the chair and bathroom.  I am extremely swollen.  EXTREMELY swollen.  I believe this is what is called "swell hell".....I look like a pumpkin basically.  This is normal, and will pass.

I still have my tubes in, but the output is very small today, so I may actually have the clear to get them removed tomorrow at my first follow up appointment.  That would make my life easier, as the tubes are a pain. They just get in the way.  But, if not, I'm sure I'll only have them for another week, as the output is so limited.

I have decided that I want to take photos to show my progress in this.  I, unfortunately, do not have any naked "before" pics of me.....but suffice it to say I was a hot mess.  Lots of sag.

My first picture is from last night, after my shower, so I was more swollen than usual.  I have to lay on the bed (at an angle) to help my incision dry, and asked my husband to snap a few photos.

As you can see, my incision goes from hip to the other, right above my pubic area.  My drain tubes are in the middle.  You can see how I am swollen, the skin in that area was extremely tight , and I am at an incline here.  I will have a new bellybutton where the top of that vertical line in (and not sure why that line is there, but Doc said it's going to look all kinds of weird for the first few weeks while my body adjusts).  I am currently slightly bigger than I was when I went in to have the surgery, and that is because of the swelling.  In 4 weeks time the swelling will be down drastically, and by 8 weeks should be almost completely gone.

My next image is my lady parts, so if you don't want to look, just go ahead and scroll down.

My upper vaginal area (called the mons pubis in medical speak) was very flabby and saggy.  My doctor did some slight lipo onto the area, and then cut lower than usual so that it would be nice and tight again (to avoid having a tight stomach area and then a saggy mons pubis which would create a very awkward look in bathing suits.

I will do another set of photos next week, hopefully I will be able to do them standing.  At this time I still finding it difficult to stand fully erect.  Once I can stand I feel that the photos will look better, and show more progress.  Plus I can do side by sides of the first and last week.

Just to say here, my highest weight was 286lbs when I went into the hospital to have my oldest daughter in 2003.  Before I got pregnant with her, I weighed 165lbs.  After her birth, I was never able to get down past 200lbs.....and I had 2 more babies (all born my cesarean) that just added to the saggy skin issue.  In 2014 I started pole dancing, when I started pole dancing in February 2014, I weighed 231lbs.  By August 2014 I was down to 214lbs.  I joined an amazing studio, started really looking at what I was eating, and upped my sessions, and got down to 180lbs.

On the day I had my tummy tuck, I was 180.  This had always been my "goal" weight after years of never breaking 200 lbs.  Reaching that goal, my reward was this tummy tuck.  I am not sure how much extra skin they took off, but they showed my the picture and it looked like about 4 hands worth (maybe more, I was quite doped up).....so I feel that after my swelling time is over, by the end of this 8 weeks process, I will probably be in the 160s again.  And, honeslty, that makes me cry tears of joy.