Have you ever had so many things that need to be done that you just get overwhelmed and do none of them? Well, that is what has happened to me lately. I am absolutely thrilled that I decided to have this surgery but the fact is that there is really not a good time to do it. That being said, we had a wonderful Christmas! Donald, Justin and Brittney took really good care of me. My two mothers (mine and Donald's) took care of all the food and preparation for events and let me rest. I was even able to go see my nieces the weekend after and felt pretty good doing it. So all in all, Christmas was a success! Even so, I was still down after a pretty major surgery so I was a little helpless and am still playing catch up.
This picture was taken the weekend after Christmas!
Now to the part everyone wants to hear about... The surgery went well. I am told that between the surgery and recovery, it was about 7 hours from the time they took me back to the time that my family saw me again. I don't remember much about most of the hospital stay. I remember being VERY thirsty and not being able to quench it. The food they gave me that night felt like saw dust in my mouth and Donald kept having to wake me up and tell me to chew! Whatever they had me on was some really good stuff.
I spent one night in the hospital and came home pretty early on Tuesday. I came home with lots of stitches and 2 drains from my abdomen. I also had special "garments" on both areas. The breast part of the surgery was really not a big problem. The tummy tuck, however, was a different story. Between the drains, the incision, and the binder, it was uncomfortable to say the least. The incision is very low, which I appreciate. That made the drains very low also. The binder pulled tight across both for support and it velcroed shut. Because my upper body was weak, I had a hard time getting it on, so Donald helped me. We were a sight! I also had to be careful how I wore my pajama pants because of where all of this was situated.
The drains are another story. They had to be emptied twice a day and a record kept to see whether I would be able to get them removed on my two week visit. Donald helped me the first couple of times but once I got to feeling better and I realized how bad it grossed him out, I pretty much handled those myself.
My first night home, in a sleep induced stupor, I had to go to the bathroom and sat up by myself. When I did, I felt something snap in my upper abdomen. I thought I had ruptured some stitches. That spot hurt until I went back to the doctor for my two weeks visit. More about that in a minute.
I was really only down for the first couple of days. I had some really good medicine that I took for that time and was well taken care of by my family, so I did really well. I took my last pain pill on that Friday morning and that is just because I had one left and I am very anti-pain and did not WANT to hurt. Later I wished I had saved that last pain pill. You will see why.
So, I sat around most of Christmas, letting everyone else do all the work and continued to heal and pray that my drains would come out at the two week visit.
That very important doctor's appointment came. That place in my side was still hurting and I worried all the way down there that they would decide that I needed to keep the drains. These were my two big concerns.
1. As soon as the nurse saw my record of the fluid output, she put my fears to rest. The drains would come out!
2. You evidently have to do some pretty big damage to tear one of the sutures that he puts inside, so there was no way that was what the pain was.
First, I have to say that I had no idea how long those drains were. The part that goes inside is a long, hard, flat plastic tub with holes in it to absorb the fluid. It is probably six inches long! When she pulled that first one out, it was instant relief! I think I had kinked it somehow when I sat up that first night. I felt so much better!
All the outside stitches came out. This is when I wished I had kept that last pain pill. It had been a week since I had had one so I didn't think I would need any more. After those stitches came out, I was very sore. Luckily that only lasted for that one day and I made it through.
Dr. O'Brien was very pleased with his work. The nurses kept telling me how well I was getting around. I guess I did really well. He said that because I had done so much work on my abs, he didn't have to do very much repair on the inside. This made for a much easier recovery.
I was able to go back to work when the kids came back instead of waiting until the next Monday. I have since been back for a four week check up and all is well. I am still very tired at the end of the day and have not gotten back in my routine. My house has suffered because of that but I will get it all back together.
I am very glad that I had it done! I still have swelling in both areas but I can tell that it is going to be well worth the effort. I am looking forward the final result. I am told that it could take up to 3 months for all the swelling to go down. I can start working out again in a couple of weeks. I am only wearing the binder during the day now. Life is getting back to normal! Well.... as normal as my life has ever been anyway!
I am still very thankful for my ACE business. Without it, I would not have been able to have these procedures done. If you would like information on ACE or are ready to take control of your weight, energy and life. Contact me today!
