TT without having muscles cut

If you have had a TT without your muscles being cut I'd like to hear from you.  Can you tell me how bad the pain was?  Were you able to be mobile and coherent within 5 days?  I want to be able to work on the 5th day...I work from home in sales and can take breaks and naps as needed.  There will be no lipo in the abdomen, but I am having outer thigh lipo at the same time.
My Dr has told me that since I'm just having skin removed that the recovery is not bad at all.  He said a lot of his patients who just have skin removed tell him they didn't take pain meds after a few days because they didn't need it.  He told me I will be OK to drive to my 1st week post op appointment also.  How does this jive with your experience?

I am looking for reassurance and your experience with this procedure. 

Thank you,

Susan

I don't know if I'm wrong...I may be giving wrong info, maybe someone else will chime in here.  I don't think they "cut" the muscles, I think they tighten them down the middle. 
Everyone is different, but my TT was by far the easiest surgery I have had.   My arms hurt like, welllll, bad!  But I wet to youtube and watched a tt surgery done and on there all I saw was them tightening the muscles down the middle of the abs.  I wanted to see what was going to be done to me and how it was going to be done.  It almost scared me out of having the surgery.  So if you think it might scare you...don't look! 
Good Luck!
Kim J!

Thanks Kim-

He's not tightening my muscles... I'm just having flab removed.  And I have no intention of watching the surgery...I don't need to pass out if you know what I mean.    I figure if I can make it through all of the other surgeries I have had I can make it through this one.  I am just worried about recovery time since I don't want to disclose to my employer what I am doing. 

Have a great day!  And your photos look awesome!  You really look super.

All the best-

Susan

I'm 2 wks post op from my TT with muscle tightening..I honestly don't think it was that bad. Yes it hurt when I first woke up and I walked hunched over for the first week but all in all it hasn't been bad.  I was off all pain meds about 8 days out. 

Andrea-
Thanks for your reply.  You give me hope. 

It shouldn't be too bad. My tt didn't hurt as much as the lipo. I only toke two weeks off work and I had muscle tighting with extened tt and lipo. So with that said you aren't getting half of what I got and I am fine. Now the swelling is another thing. This is my first week back to work and I didn't swell any while I was at home but now I have had constant swelling since Monday. Everybody is different and I think you will be ok since you will be able to go and lay down if you start to feel uncomfortable.

Anjail-

Thank you for your note.  What part of your body was lipoed if you don't mind me asking?  I think I am very lucky to work from home and be able to lay down as needed.  I will do that and work later into the night if needed, all the while still resting as necessary. 

I hope all goes well with your recovery and that you have wonderful results.  It's encouraging to know that you didn't swell the first week, but as we do more I know that swelling is something to watch.

Have a great day.

All the best-

Susan

I had muscle tightening and believe me nothing is as great as paying someone to cut off that excess skin and give you rock hard abs without one sit-up.  I wouldn't have had it any other way, but as to your question, I had an extended tt with muscle tightening and I only took pain meds for a few days, I could have easily worked from home.  I went back to work full time 50 hrs a week on day 12 so I am sure you will be fine if you opt for no tightening, but I would really rethink that, most MO people have stretched out beyond capacity muscles in their abs.

Good Luck
Hugs Heidi

Pics on my profile if you add me as a friend.

HI Heidi-

Thanks for your post.  The issue I have with my stomach and my decision to have a TT was less to do with stretched out muscles and more to do with the appearance of my stomach.  I have a lot of stretch marks from pregnancy and since the weight loss I have a sagging, yet tollerable stomach, but I dislike the look of it.  My stomach muscles are quite taught and the Dr agreed that I don't need the muscles tightened.  So, I'm going that route. 

I am sure I'll be able to work from home come Thursday of next week.  Thanks again for your post.

All the best-

Susan

Hi Susan,
I used to be really active on this board, but have not been out here for a while...basically, because I have not had any more plastic surgery!  The only thing left to have done would be my inner thighs and I am still uncertain about it, which is why I lurk once in a while to see what others are experiencing.

I am one of those unusual people who have had both - abdominoplasty with muscle tightening and LBL w/anchor cut abdominoplasty without muscle tightening.  I had the one with the muscle tightening 10 years ago and still recall the recovery.  I have had a lot of procedures and that was the most difficult to recover from.

The abdominoplasty without muscle tightening was, by far, the easier recovery, and that was with an anchor incision.

I also work out of my house and was back to work on day #8, and that was with a circumferential (all the way around) cut.   Everyone's experience is different, but I found the constipation that came with the pain meds to be worse than any pain I experienced. 

Best wishes,
Sharon