Beth's TT Journal

Tummy Tuck Surgery:  5/8/03
Full Tummy Tuck w/belly button re-position, no MR
33 y/o @ time of abdominoplasty surgery

I'm writing retroactively as keeping a journal pre-op hadn't occurred to me.  How I wish I'd found YTF earlier!  I'm a little over 11 weeks post-op, full tummy tuck (TT) no MR on 5/8/03 and have been amazed by the wealth of knowledge here on all of the boards.

As a mother of 3 I experienced lots of stretch marks and my skin had had it, leaving me with skin that refused to snap back even though I'd successfully lost about 40lbs over the past 2 years.  It was depressing to see that the more weight I lost the worse I would look.  Getting dressed every day was a nightmare.

I had thought for many years that liposuction was what I needed.  I said as much to my husband one day and he said he thought a TT because it's mostly skin, not fat.  God bless him, he wasn't suggesting I have surgery or being cruel, just commenting.  In fact, he repeatedly told me that he thinks I look fine and that I worry too much about "that stuff".  He really isn't keen on surgery for cosmetic reasons.

The next day I looked at pictures I could find on plastic surgeons' websites and sure enough, all of the befores looked just like me.  I scheduled a consult then broke the appointment saying that I wanted to work on diet and exercise first (I still didn't really get it).

One day my husband found me in tears while getting dressed for work because the skin flopped over my pants and I was so uncomfortable.  I guess he really knew then how much it bothered me.  I'm not one to cry easily.  That was the turning point for me because I refused to be upset over something so common and easily fixed (relatively speaking).  I felt like somewhat of a freak, embarrassed and ashamed of my body and what I let happen to it.  Yes, I was beating myself up pretty badly, and I had no idea at the time how many other women suffer from the same problem.  Remember, I hadn't yet found YTF!

My timeline:

3/11/03 +/- :  First Consult.(I was so ashamed and secretive I scribbled the date off of my calendar.)

Traveled 2 1/2 hours to PS's office.  (I wasn't comfortable with the 1 local PS).  Great office, very clean, professional, friendly staff.  Filled out questionnaire then met with assistant who talked about procedures.  I wanted lipo on thighs, TT, and BL/BA originally.  Figured I may as well get it all done at once like one stop shopping!  LOL  Then, it was into exam room to change and meet the doc.

I was impressed with his knowledge.  He talked with me first then looked at my belly with me in the mirror while I was standing.  He agreed with TT but said no thigh lipo or BA/BL one thing at a time.  Looking back I think I should have pushed but I didn't at the time.  I asked him where the scar would be, he pointed to my hips and said, "You see where the skin folds over, right there."  Okay, sigh... hip to hip...

He uses what I now know as twilight anesthesia, sedation with local.  This worried me and I made everyone I talked with through to my surgery date reassure me that I wouldn't feel anything.  My only previous experience with anesthesia had been general for tubal and root canal.

The traditional TT involves completely separating the skin from underlying tissue then stretching the skin.  My PS only partially separates, stretches, then tightens the skin.  He feels it lessens bruising and he's had much success with it.  He is able to relocate the bellybutton with this technique.

Out to assistant's office after exam to discuss the financial issues.  Bottom line is $5,000 for full TT (no MR) and slight lipo to ab & hip areas.  Roughly what I'd expected.  Payment due 2 weeks prior to surgery & a deposit required to schedule surgery date.  I paid 1/2 cash and financed the rest.

4/17/03 9:00am - Pre-op Appointment

Full physical was required.  My PS wanted physical to be done by the doctor he works with in a nearby office.  No problem I think.  Better to have someone who knows about cosmetic surgery right?  Then I would go to my pre-op appointment with PS for the last visit before surgery day.  I won't get into details, but I was kept waiting for over 2 hours at the general practitioners office was not at all happy.  My PS was very unhappy with them too & spoke with them afterwards.

Due to my age (33) no EKG was required.  I had blood work, urine sample and blood pressure done and all came back okay.  I was in perfect health.  Yippee!  That's always nice to hear. 

Now up to PS office where we went over all instructions.  I was given them in writing and verbally.  No eating or drinking after midnight and specifics on post-op care were explained.  Once again, I discussed my concerns w/the anesthesia and received reassurance that I would not feel anything!  Then it's down to the pharmacy to fill my pain med prescriptions and emla cream.  Emla was to be used to numb the skin just prior to surgery.

5/8/03 8:00am Surgery Day!

Yeah!!!  It's finally here!  Hubby and I stayed in a hotel recommended by the PS last night and would stay there tonight too because I have to go in for post-op visit the morning after surgery.  The hotel gave us a room right next to the elevator, per PS instructions, so no schlepping through the hotel in bandages for me!  Just before going to bed last night I looked one last time at my belly and thought, this is it.  This time tomorrow all of that yucky, stretched and scarred skin will be gone.

We arrived just before 7:30am, before the office was even open...I was a little over anxious!  The nurse took me in and I changed.  She gave me a pill to dissolve under my tongue and a pill to swallow.  I don't remember the one that dissolved but the other was Valium.  All hail Valium!!!!  Works great for me.  This all of course after I told her how afraid I was that I'd be too awake or feel something... 

PS came in and marked on me with what looked like a permanent pen all of the areas he'd be working on.  I was pretty happy by that time & almost fell off the bed when he helped me to stand.  Good thing he had a hold of me but I guess he's used to that!  I remember him being very kind and comforting.

Before I knew it I was in the OR and the anesthesiologist was right at my head.  I'd of course told HIM at some point of my fear and he reassured me that he'd be watching my face the whole time and if I felt anything to blink or make a noise & he'd give me more immediately.  I have a hazy recollection of the OR but no pain.

I remember them saying, All Done and being surprised because I felt like it had only been a little while.  I was very coherent afterwards very unlike when I'd had general.  The nausea was the worst art of it but that went away after eating some crackers.  They got me dressed after a little while & we went back to the hotel.  I really felt much better than I'd expected and wasn't in much pain at all.

5/9/03 10:00am - 1^st post-op appointment

PS said all looked well.  He removed about 3lbs or so with the lipo (which didn't sound like enough to me, but from what I hear everyone thinks that no matter what the amount!), and excess skin roughly the size of a sheet of copy paper.  I have a new bellybutton and the scar from the old one is located about 3 inches below it.  My scar is hip to hip and very low, just above where my upper thigh meets my hip.  I wonder if it will show under a bathing suit bottom or if I'll have to be careful about the height of leg openings?  My PS removed two of my drains and left the other two in.  I had what seemed like foam stuck all across my stomach, then padding at the incision site & had to wear what looked like an adult diaper.  Not very attractive.  My pants were bulging out all over the place!  We left for home after the appt.  Surgery was on a Thursday and I'd taken the following Friday and next week off from work so I was home to recuperate.

I didn't find the post-op to be difficult except that I would have more swelling if I did too much so had to remind myself to STOP.  LOL  I'm a bit of an overachiever so this was difficult.  I had my hubby pick up some chick flicks for me & had a marathon of movie watching.  Pain meds weren't needed after day two except for the ibuprofen.  I was also on an antibiotic for I believe a week or two maybe.  I made the mistake of thinking that I'd been told to wear a support garment right away and I think that is what started one of my drains falling out.  The one on my right side hung much lower and fell a bit more each day.  I only wore the support garment for a day then called the PS office to ask about the drain.  They said no, I shouldn't be wearing it yet, and that I shouldn't worry about the drain.  If it falls out it's fine but don't pull on it.  A couple of days later I noticed it had fallen all the way out when I was laying in bed.

At my one week follow-up he removed the other one (not painful at all) and also removed the foam padding.  We looked at my before pic and I guess I'd forgotten already how bad it had been because even with all the swelling at 1 week post I'd take it.  This was my first look at my belly & I almost passed out.  I didn't expect it to be pretty and didn't consciously think anything really, but my head started spinning & I got really hot.  It was yellowish from the swelling and numb.  Maybe it was the numb part that got to me.  After about 15 minutes and several drinks of water later I was fine and drove myself home.  The told me this was common.  The drive to the PS office was the first time I'd driven since surgery.  Be aware of the seatbelt & bring padding to place between it and your tummy.  Not painful, just uncomfortable.

The next visit was one month post.  Much swelling had gone down and the incisions were healing nicely but there was a disproportionate amount of swelling over my hips.  I didn't think much of it and assumed it was just swelling.  I remember my PS commenting about..."... maybe lipo there" to himself at my last visit but I hadn't asked about it.  Everything looks good so my next visit wouldn't be until 3 mos post.

Revision for Dog Ears??

I found YTF shortly after my surgery and had been talking with the wonderful women on the TT board.  People were talking about dog ears & I was talking about the areas on my hips.  Next thing I know I'm looking at a pic of someone with "confirmed dog ears"  LOL and it is the same as me.  Looks like I'm in for a revision of some type to fix this.

I started back at the gym when cleared to do so, I think that was at 8 weeks.  That has helped me a lot overall, but those darn areas on my hips will not go away.  I was really bummed out when I realized what I'd need but now feel okay about it thanks to the support I've received here.

I don't have any before pics except for what my PS has but the pics below are at 11 weeks and you can see the areas I'm talking about.  There still is A LOT of swelling and you can see that big time in the profile shot.  I'm pretty happy overall except for those spots.  I hope that when he does the revision it will tighten up the skin a bit more because when I bend forward there's a slight vertical creasing in the skin at my bellybutton because it's loose.  Not all of my stretch marks are below my BB either and I of course wish they were so I could wear hip hugger pants and not be self conscious if my shirt comes up a bit.  It's a HUGE improvement compared to before though so I'll take it and wait until my appt on 8/27/03 to find out what PS will do for revision.  I'm getting Restylane injections for my lips at the same time & will put up a journal w/pics.
I'm scheduled for a BA/BL on 11/25/03 also so look for my journal on that soon!

click photos for larger image*

11 weeks post - dog ears visible	11 weeks post  - side