My Tummy Tuck!
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I went in Wednesday, April 14, 2010 for my long-awaited abdominoplasty!
I was told to arrive at the hospital at 8:30am for surgery at 10:30am.
When I got to the hospital I checked in and went up to the surgery waiting room. From there I was taken back to start everything. I had my IV started, blood drawn, blood pressure, oxygen level and temperature taken and answered another ton of questions. After a while Doug and the kids were able to come back and sit with me for over an hour.
I was then taken back to pre-surgical holding, connected to the monitors, had a breathing treatment and was given a mild sedative. While I was there Jennifer came! I was so happy that she got there before I was wheeled into surgery. I visited with everyone and was taken back to the OR a little before noon.
When I got into the OR there were a ton of people running around preparing everything, they talked to me a bit and then said "11:58, have sweet dreams honey..."
Next thing I know I am waking up in the recovery room. I think that is always the absolute worst part of any surgery I have ever had. I despise waking up. When I first woke up I thought to myself: 'what the hell did I do! I made SUCH a mistake!!!' I only felt like this because 1) I was extremely groggy and 2) if someone were to ask me my pain level (1-10) I would have surely said "20!!!" at that point!!
After probably about another half an hour I was wheeled up to my room. Doug, the kids and Jennifer were awaiting me there. From what they said no one came to update them that I was even out of surgery let alone in recovery; so they were very concerned when so much time had passed. I can't even imagine the thoughts they were having. I know if it were either one of them I would have been a nervous wreck!!
A while after I got to my room I was able to order some liquid foods. Everything went down well and stayed down since surgery. I had to get up to potty within an hour of arriving in my room - luckily it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I walked the halls several times with the assitance of my nurses. By dinner time I was advanced to full-liquid diet - I really loved the pureed potato soup!
I visited with Jennifer, Doug and the kids until a little after 9pm. Once they left I tried really hard to get some rest but for the life of me I couldn't sleep more than 20 minute stetches all night.
I was up for good by 4:30am. It seemed to take forever for my surgeon to come by and talk to me about how everything went. He finally showed up a little after 10am. He said that everything went great. He originally said he was going to only put in one drain but because I was "weeping" so much he ended up using two. Before surgery I requested that he weigh and take a picture of my skin he removed; he said the only way he would be able to do it would be to take a picture on his cell phone and email it to me. He actually did! He took it anyway - he hasn't sent it yet. He did show it to me though; what a sight! It weighed a whopping 4 pounds and 13 ounces!!! He said that amount is pretty much average. He said my left side incision is "dusky" - I have no idea what that means, but he didn't seem overly concerned. He assured me that the way he cut me that I will for sure not have any 'dog ears'; which was a great concern of mine. I told him before surgery that muscle repair (MR) wasn't necessary since I wasn't 110% sure we're done having kids. I really didn't care to have the MR because I didn't want the additional pain and I never plan on getting a six-pack nor ever wearing a bikini. He said that he will decide once he got in there. He did up doing MR; he never said how extensive though.
I saw my family doctor while I was there as well. He stopped in to check on me, noticed I was wheezing so he ordered a chest x-ray to rule out pnemonia and a lot of blood work. The resident came in later and told me that my x-ray was fine and if the blood work came back okay I would be released that day!
Everything ended up coming back great and I was discharged and home by 4pm, 04/15/10!
I was given a prescription for Lortab 5/500 to take 1-2 every 6 hours. I have been trying to take as little as possible to just get by so I can still nurse Alex. Sometimes I take 1, sometimes 2, and sometimes I take one Lortab and one Tylenol PM if I want rest. I also had a pain pump put in; It was a continuous flow, non-bolus. I was told that when the bulb was empty to remove the tubes myself. I noticed around 5pm tonight that it was time. I got everything all ready to remove them and it hurt so bad!! It was like I could feel the tissues moving inside my tummy as I pulled! It took over 2 hours to finally get them out. What a relief it is to not have those tubes going in me anymore; now if I could just get the drains removed!
I have the two drains in, one on each hip. I have to squeeze them regularly to make sure they are clot-free and I have to empty and measure them whenever they have a good amount of output in them. Over the last couple of days the output is diminishing; as well the color is changing. It is no longer deep red blood, it's turning more pink/clear. Both are good signs that I should be able to get them out soon. But more than likely that won't be until my one-week follow-up surgeon appointment on Thursday 04/22.
I will have to wear my binder for quite some time - which I don't mind; I feel so secure in it. I won't be able to lift the babies or drive for quite a while either. I am incredibly nervous how I am going to manage after Doug goes back to work on Monday.
I have been sleeping in the recliner since I got home. I am going to attempt sleeping in the bed tonight with a ton of pillows.
I have been walking outside as much as possible to help keep things moving. It's a slow-go but I manage.
Coughing hurts SO dang bad!!! I can't imagine what it would be like to sneeze or throw up!!
I am up 6 pounds, so between that and the nearly 5 pounds of skin that was removed - I am retaining about 11 pounds of water at this point. I can't wait for some of the swelling to go down so I can see what things are going to look like!!
I was surprised that I am actually able to use the potty without assitance on and off the toilet. I was able to take a shower yesterday - that also went better than expected. I needed Doug's help to wash up but I wasn't exhausted and sore afterwards like I anticipated.
Doug has been so much help during this. He has taken over all of my duties; from changing all diapers, chasing the kids to feeding all of us. I wouldn't know what to do without the love of my life!!!
I am surprised by the lack of pain. I thought for sure that this surgery would be downright unbearable! At this point I think my gallbladder surgery was the worst of all of my surgeries for some reason. I have some incisional pain, it is somewhat hard to walk upright - but even that is not as bad as I had pictured. My back doesn't seem to be too tight from walking abnormally - so that is good. My thighs, in the front, from my knees up to my hips - are numb. I am not quite sure why this is, but from what I've read this is somewhat common. I have sharp, shooting pains in my left leg when I strain from time to time. I have read that this is probably the nerves regenerating. I have not really had any nausea - I am ever-so-thankful for that! I have a decent appetite and I am overall - happy. I have had no regrets so far (other than those first few moments waking up in the recovery room). I really think I did the right thing and that I will never regret doing this.
I have a long recovery road ahead of me and I will reserve judgement on what the end results will be- for quite some time. When I got my first look at the incisions I was freaked out to say the least. I had not only been cut from hip to hip, but also from about two inches below the bra line all the way down - meeting up with the first cut. I have staples and glue holding me together horizonally and stitches and glue on my vertical but. The doctor said that my new belly button is in the same place - but to me it looks terribly high; at least right now. There is a lot of puckering along the incisons, and two very strange long puckers close to my breasts. I am sure everything will even out in time.
I have pictures - if you would like to see my before and afters just let me know and I will send you the link to where they are posted online.
Thank you everyone for your kind words, thoughts and prayers during this and my other surgeries; it is so much appreciated!
A special thank you goes out to Jennifer for helping so much at the hospital. And another to my wonderful, loving, helpful, dear, sweet husband - Doug. I love you more than you will ever know!!!
I went in Wednesday, April 14, 2010 for my long-awaited abdominoplasty!
I was told to arrive at the hospital at 8:30am for surgery at 10:30am.
When I got to the hospital I checked in and went up to the surgery waiting room. From there I was taken back to start everything. I had my IV started, blood drawn, blood pressure, oxygen level and temperature taken and answered another ton of questions. After a while Doug and the kids were able to come back and sit with me for over an hour.
I was then taken back to pre-surgical holding, connected to the monitors, had a breathing treatment and was given a mild sedative. While I was there Jennifer came! I was so happy that she got there before I was wheeled into surgery. I visited with everyone and was taken back to the OR a little before noon.
When I got into the OR there were a ton of people running around preparing everything, they talked to me a bit and then said "11:58, have sweet dreams honey..."
Next thing I know I am waking up in the recovery room. I think that is always the absolute worst part of any surgery I have ever had. I despise waking up. When I first woke up I thought to myself: 'what the hell did I do! I made SUCH a mistake!!!' I only felt like this because 1) I was extremely groggy and 2) if someone were to ask me my pain level (1-10) I would have surely said "20!!!" at that point!!
After probably about another half an hour I was wheeled up to my room. Doug, the kids and Jennifer were awaiting me there. From what they said no one came to update them that I was even out of surgery let alone in recovery; so they were very concerned when so much time had passed. I can't even imagine the thoughts they were having. I know if it were either one of them I would have been a nervous wreck!!
A while after I got to my room I was able to order some liquid foods. Everything went down well and stayed down since surgery. I had to get up to potty within an hour of arriving in my room - luckily it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I walked the halls several times with the assitance of my nurses. By dinner time I was advanced to full-liquid diet - I really loved the pureed potato soup!
I visited with Jennifer, Doug and the kids until a little after 9pm. Once they left I tried really hard to get some rest but for the life of me I couldn't sleep more than 20 minute stetches all night.
I was up for good by 4:30am. It seemed to take forever for my surgeon to come by and talk to me about how everything went. He finally showed up a little after 10am. He said that everything went great. He originally said he was going to only put in one drain but because I was "weeping" so much he ended up using two. Before surgery I requested that he weigh and take a picture of my skin he removed; he said the only way he would be able to do it would be to take a picture on his cell phone and email it to me. He actually did! He took it anyway - he hasn't sent it yet. He did show it to me though; what a sight! It weighed a whopping 4 pounds and 13 ounces!!! He said that amount is pretty much average. He said my left side incision is "dusky" - I have no idea what that means, but he didn't seem overly concerned. He assured me that the way he cut me that I will for sure not have any 'dog ears'; which was a great concern of mine. I told him before surgery that muscle repair (MR) wasn't necessary since I wasn't 110% sure we're done having kids. I really didn't care to have the MR because I didn't want the additional pain and I never plan on getting a six-pack nor ever wearing a bikini. He said that he will decide once he got in there. He did up doing MR; he never said how extensive though.
I saw my family doctor while I was there as well. He stopped in to check on me, noticed I was wheezing so he ordered a chest x-ray to rule out pnemonia and a lot of blood work. The resident came in later and told me that my x-ray was fine and if the blood work came back okay I would be released that day!
Everything ended up coming back great and I was discharged and home by 4pm, 04/15/10!
I was given a prescription for Lortab 5/500 to take 1-2 every 6 hours. I have been trying to take as little as possible to just get by so I can still nurse Alex. Sometimes I take 1, sometimes 2, and sometimes I take one Lortab and one Tylenol PM if I want rest. I also had a pain pump put in; It was a continuous flow, non-bolus. I was told that when the bulb was empty to remove the tubes myself. I noticed around 5pm tonight that it was time. I got everything all ready to remove them and it hurt so bad!! It was like I could feel the tissues moving inside my tummy as I pulled! It took over 2 hours to finally get them out. What a relief it is to not have those tubes going in me anymore; now if I could just get the drains removed!
I have the two drains in, one on each hip. I have to squeeze them regularly to make sure they are clot-free and I have to empty and measure them whenever they have a good amount of output in them. Over the last couple of days the output is diminishing; as well the color is changing. It is no longer deep red blood, it's turning more pink/clear. Both are good signs that I should be able to get them out soon. But more than likely that won't be until my one-week follow-up surgeon appointment on Thursday 04/22.
I will have to wear my binder for quite some time - which I don't mind; I feel so secure in it. I won't be able to lift the babies or drive for quite a while either. I am incredibly nervous how I am going to manage after Doug goes back to work on Monday.
I have been sleeping in the recliner since I got home. I am going to attempt sleeping in the bed tonight with a ton of pillows.
I have been walking outside as much as possible to help keep things moving. It's a slow-go but I manage.
Coughing hurts SO dang bad!!! I can't imagine what it would be like to sneeze or throw up!!
I am up 6 pounds, so between that and the nearly 5 pounds of skin that was removed - I am retaining about 11 pounds of water at this point. I can't wait for some of the swelling to go down so I can see what things are going to look like!!
I was surprised that I am actually able to use the potty without assitance on and off the toilet. I was able to take a shower yesterday - that also went better than expected. I needed Doug's help to wash up but I wasn't exhausted and sore afterwards like I anticipated.
Doug has been so much help during this. He has taken over all of my duties; from changing all diapers, chasing the kids to feeding all of us. I wouldn't know what to do without the love of my life!!!
I am surprised by the lack of pain. I thought for sure that this surgery would be downright unbearable! At this point I think my gallbladder surgery was the worst of all of my surgeries for some reason. I have some incisional pain, it is somewhat hard to walk upright - but even that is not as bad as I had pictured. My back doesn't seem to be too tight from walking abnormally - so that is good. My thighs, in the front, from my knees up to my hips - are numb. I am not quite sure why this is, but from what I've read this is somewhat common. I have sharp, shooting pains in my left leg when I strain from time to time. I have read that this is probably the nerves regenerating. I have not really had any nausea - I am ever-so-thankful for that! I have a decent appetite and I am overall - happy. I have had no regrets so far (other than those first few moments waking up in the recovery room). I really think I did the right thing and that I will never regret doing this.
I have a long recovery road ahead of me and I will reserve judgement on what the end results will be- for quite some time. When I got my first look at the incisions I was freaked out to say the least. I had not only been cut from hip to hip, but also from about two inches below the bra line all the way down - meeting up with the first cut. I have staples and glue holding me together horizonally and stitches and glue on my vertical but. The doctor said that my new belly button is in the same place - but to me it looks terribly high; at least right now. There is a lot of puckering along the incisons, and two very strange long puckers close to my breasts. I am sure everything will even out in time.
I have pictures - if you would like to see my before and afters just let me know and I will send you the link to where they are posted online.
Thank you everyone for your kind words, thoughts and prayers during this and my other surgeries; it is so much appreciated!
A special thank you goes out to Jennifer for helping so much at the hospital. And another to my wonderful, loving, helpful, dear, sweet husband - Doug. I love you more than you will ever know!!!
April 23, 2013 at 2:40 PM
I can identify with you during that time, Mary. The sight of scalpel and other medical paraphernalia gives me hives! But anyway, it's always a must to prepare your body and mind before you take the journey, because what the mind speaks, the body responds.
Terry Bayer