How I'm Doing

I want to thank all of you for your good thoughts and prayers that you've been sending my way. Keep them coming!! The surgery Thursday went well. I went into the OR around noon and was on my way home about 4:30. I had a really hard time sleeping Thursday night as the binder they put on me was sitting in just the right spot and it was pushing on the pinched nerve that I have in my back. I slept about maybe 4 hours that night. About 2 a.m. Friday I called my surgeon as above my binder (below my breast bone) I had a very large bump forming and it concerned me. My surgeon told me to be in the office first thing in the morning. So bright and early Friday morning I was on my way to his office. Apparently what happened was the binder was put on too low after surgery and it was acting like a tourniquet on my abdomen and not allowing any of the blood to go down into the groin area like it was supposed to, so I - in essence - had a huge bruise/blood clot above the binder. She changed my dressings and said there was no real problem; I just have to keep warm compresses on it and keep my binder up high like it is supposed to be and it will go away. She did say, though, that everything looked really good for being less than 24-hours out. Friday night and last night I slept very well, so I'm glad. Many of you have asked (and I forgot to ask the surgeon) how much skin was removed, but I will find out when I go to my post-op appointment which will be sometime this week. When they did the surgery, they put in a "pain pump" that constantly infused anesthesia for the first two days. This morning I pulled it out (didn't feel a thing) and was able to take a shower. There really is no better feeling in the world than the first shower after a surgery!! I changed my dressings again and everything looks really bizarre! Right now my abdomen is all misshapen, swollen, and just strange looking. I'm promised it will look better soon, LOL! Anyway, the pain level is pretty manageable, I was told to take my medication every 4 hours (whether or not I feel the need) for the first 6-7 days as it is easier to keep pain away than to get rid of it once it's there. So I'm being pretty faithful with that and I've only had a few times that have been truly "painful" and they've usually been first thing in the morning after having slept all night and being 8 hours or so without any meds. My mom is being great - although somewhat frustrated because I'm trying to do too much. I don't like not being able to do something so I'm trying to do as much as I can myself and she keeps reminding me that she's here to help me and to let her! So, I'm trying. Anyway, that's how I'm doing right now. Just having a hard time as I've not had a BM since Wednesday and am not passing gas very well, so I'm taking lots of Gas-X and a few stool softeners to try to get things moving - literally! Michelle

Michelle, Glad to hear how well you are doing. I hope the constipation issue has resolved itself. I will say this was one of the worst things with my tt. I had taken pre-emptive measures, lol, extra fiber and stool softeners daily, from day one, but to no avail. The vicodin just seemed to totally shut down my lower intestines. I had to resort to Dulcolax suppositories, for the first time in my life. It was miserable. So, I am advising to you to really keep on top of this, and not let it go to long before you have a bm. There is the psychological fear of having to push too hard and pop open the incision. I became so desperate, I didn't care what happened, as long as the constipation went away. It was such a struggle, I really needed the pain medicine to get by, but the side effect was awful. Make sure you keep your doctor informed about this one. I am surprised with the hematoma you developed with your binder. Again, glad to hear it is getting better. If your binder is too high on your abdomen, you can get increased swelling in the groin area. In your case, it being too low, you developed the upper hematoma. Why can't all of this be easy? lol. Let your mom do as much as she can the next few days. It will be good for you, and for her. Remember how much moms want to help. Hugs, Debra M.

Jeez leweeze! I finally ended up using a child's enema that I got when my son was having some poopy issues. It got things started and then I just continued on after that. (Warning - really graphic discussion! ) I was when I started going because I was wanting things to just happen with no pushing, or very minimal pushing, on my part. But that was not the case. When I did the enema, I sat on the toity and waited a few minutes until I couldn't hold it anymore and things started. Then I was begging things to just GO, but it required some pushing. I pushed a little bit and it just wasn't happening so I had to push harder and it started to hurt, so I started taking deep breaths and it seemed like it would NEVER end! After much sweating, straining, breathing, cries of , up and down on the toilet, cursing, crying, , it FINALLY stopped. I looked at it (yeah, gross, I know) and that sucker was JINORMOUS!!!!!! I've never worked so hard or sweated so much for a bowel movement in my entire life! I was for a few minutes and then the cramping of muscles in my abdomen started. YOWCH!!!!!!! I felt like I'd done a million sit-ups. It hurt soooo bad, but I don't feel like I pulled any sutures loose or anything. All of my sutures are inside, I just have steri-strips on the outside of my bikini suture and nothing outside of my belly-button. I have a question for you - how long did it take for your swelling to go away? I have what looks like a canyon from about my breastbone to either side of my belly button, almost like a big "V". My belly button is a huge cavern right now and I'm wondering how long it will take for things to actually get flat! Michelle

I would be laughing at your poopy post, except I have too much empathy for you. Been there, done that, waaaaaaay too often recently. Again, just make sure you don't go too long between bm's without some necessary intervention. The swelling-good question. I felt so crummy for the first four weeks, I don't think I could really tell you when the swelling went down. I kept at least one drain in for four weeks, and then after that, had to have fluid aspirated several times from my lower abdomen. What had the worst swelling was my mons area. I really looked deformed with the swelling there. In fact, I could probably use some revision there, or at least some liposuction. It looks so much better than pre-tt, but in knit pants, I could probably pass for a guy I went shopping for new pants at about five weeks, and could really see a difference then. The last pants I had bought a couple of months pre-tt were a size 16. After tt, I could fit into a size 8. My waist never did go down as much as I thought it would. I have a very rectangular silhouette. It's so hard to be patient at this point, but I think you won't know anything about the results for at least six weeks. Get some rest, Debra M.

Sorry to hear about your bathroom issues, Michelle. Thanks for your candor. I appreciate knowing what I'm in for when I eventually get the $$$ pulled together for plastics. Try to take things easy and let everyone fuss over you! You and your family remainin my prayers. Hugs, Tracy