My third day post tummy tuck - pic & question!

Wow, I'm feeling pretty good for what I was expecting.  My surgery was Wednesday evening, was scheduled for 12:50, but there was a complex case in front of me that was scheduled for four hours and ended up taking until 4:00 PM.  I was taken back at 5:30 PM and back in recovery waking up at 8:30.  Docs told my mom and hubby that they did the best they could considering all my stretch marks, so I'm not entirely sure what the end result will be once the swelling goes down.  I've posted a couple before pics and a pic from last night after showering and taking off the dressing and putting new dressing on the drain sites.

Yeah, I got to take a shower at 48 hours (my mom & I watched the clock like hawks until 8:30 PM last night) and just that made me feel 100% better!!  Especially since I was having a lot of pain in the crease where your leg bends.  Come to find out it was the tape they used!  Super strong and it must have been taped on when my legs were bent, because straightening them to stand up felt like my skin was being burned off.  But I stood in the shower and soaked those pieces of tape until they practically fell off.  And the pain was gone! 

I'm kind of surprised that I can stand up pretty much straight.  I'm stooped a little when I first stand up, but after a few minutes I'll notice I'm like 90% upright.  Should I not be trying to do that yet?  Should I be worried that my drains aren't putting out much?  The one on the left side hasn't had even 10ccs in it since the first morning after my surgery and the fluid is sometimes red, sometimes like a champagne color.  The right-side one had 60 ccs in it when we checked it the morning after surgery (Thursday), then Thursday evening there was 30 ccs, then Friday morning and Friday night was 20 ccs both times.  We haven't measured them yet this morning, but the lft one has about a Tablespoon of fluid in the drain and the right one has maybe 20 ccs again.

I have my post-op appt next Wednesday afternoon, so am hoping to get at least the one drain out.  Not sure what the possibility is on the second one - am hoping it can go away, too.

Okay, I've rattled on long enough.  Had breakfast and was pacing around the house until I decided to post.  Going to go lay down and read for a while.

I really appreciate all the advice and support on this board. It made things a whole lot less scary going into it having all the info others have shared.  THANK YOU!

Looking good. Hope you are able to get most of your drains out at your post-op appt. Then you will feel so much more free.

Sonya

Congrats!! Sounds like you re faring quite well. I am impressed that you are standing so tall so soon. I remember watching the old show Extreme Makeover (human edition) and the TT gals always stooped for a long while afterwards.

I hope I am as lucky. I am having alot more done than just a tt but plan on taking my happy drugs if I have to so I am not in pain. I dont do pain well. LOL (Nurses are bad patient's anyway, arent they??

Good luck with the rest of your recovery. Now I am going to check out your pics. Thanks in advance for sharing your pictures and story.

Soapy

I think you have a superb result, especially considering that you had a lot of skin above the belly button, and a lot of skin in the groin region.  Those are tough cases to keep the incision that low !  Keep us posted !

Thank you sooo much for sharing your journey with us.  You look terrific!  I'm scheduled for Nov 18th at 12:30 so its not that far off.  I'm so glad your not experiencing alot of pain, I was concerned about that. Question, did you have a mons lift? I'm also wondering about that too.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks everyone!!  I'm really happy so far.  My only actual pain I've had today is my lower back, but mom thinks that could be because I'm just not used to laying and sitting so much.  I'm really surprised at how little it hurts  I keep waiting for the pain to kick in and surprise me, though.

About the mons lift, I kind of remember when the docs were doing their "one more look" after drawing more lines, that they said something about "we could get rid of this puffy mons area just by having the incision line at 5 cm insted of 7 cm."  But I had just been given the shot in my IV to put me in happyland, so not really sure, but looks like they did.  I do know the first time I sat down to pee I completely missed the toilet and went right down the front of my bottoms, so now I make sure I'm scooted as far back on the seat as possible, so that adjustment messed with my aim.

My mom just came in and I got talked to for being up wandering around and doing things so much - so am getting sent to bed to either read or sleep, but stay down.  Geez, mom!!

It's always good to obey your Mom.  I have heard that from several - that the mons lift totally changes the position of things and you can almost pee like a boy!  That will come in handy when I'm out camping!
I'm so glad you're having little to no pain!  That's wonderful.
Take it easy!

You look absolutely awesome! Congrats.

You look terrific!  Congratulations!

Jessica

Your tummy looks AWESOME