Am I ready?

Hello everyone! 
A little history: RNY 5/18/05, lost from 240 to 145.  Had 2 postop babies and am now hovering areound 163-165.  The baby is 6 months old, but I am still trying to lose that last darn 15 pounds of baby weight! 
I am going to have a tt and breast lift/augmentation.  I had scheduled for 12/14 but decided to postpone a couple of months and try to drop a few pounds.  A long list of questions:

1)  How bad is the tummy tuck, really.  I have 3 kids ages 5, 3, and 6mo.  Can I feasably do this with hubby and mom's help?
2)How bad is the breast lift/implants?
3)Should I do them at the same time?
4)Do any of you have a price range for tt/bla in the states?  The fee I was quoted is 16k
5)Tell me about this Mexico thing I am reading about!

I am sorry to ask so much, and any advice you can give will help.  I just want to make sure that I am ready to take the plunge.

Ginnie

Hi Ginnie, I am going to answer in My Humble Opinion on the TT and the kids...I had my TT with Muscle repair and hernia repair Thursday.  I have a 1 year old who is not walking yet, 5YO, 7 YO and 9 YO.  My MIL lives with us and we mostly care for her.  She can cook and stuff, but cant clean or go up and down stairs or drive or take care of he kids.  So My Mom and Dad flew out.  It is seriously taking My Mom, Dad and Husband to do about 3/4th of what I normally do.  You will not be able to pick up the baby for over a month (I am told).  It has been very hard on my little one to see me and for me to not hold her.  I tried having her sit next to me on the couch and she moved and jabbed her adorable chubby arm into the drain area..AOUCH!! I know I am glad I did this and for me it was  a now or never kinda thing.  But I wish Icould have waited until the baby was older.  I am very emotional now, the pain is controled with the pain rx, but you seriously cannot do ANYTHING for your family for at least the first 4 days.  I mean, not even give guidance.  I could barely put sentences together to voicee MY needs the first 2 days.  I need help getting up off the couch and sometimes going to the bathroom.  Make sure your family understands they will have to pull up the slack for a while so you can get better.  My husband is very helpful and supportive, and this morning I was so aggrivated with him and verbally abused the poor guy!! (See the post "I just need to vent")
Again, I am excited to see my final results and so glad I had this done, but the recovery is MUCH harder than either of my c-sections or the RNY. 
Blessings to you. -JenQ.

Wow!  Right after I posted I read your vent post.  Scary.  What's funny is that I am concerned about the exact things you write about.  My mom keeps the kids in the daytime for me, so I know that she can "be" me, but I will need her help for myself.  What my mom and I can do alone for the kids it would take 2 or 3 others together to do.  Does that make sense?  And, I completely understand where you are coming from.  The basic needs of the family that just come naturally to us do not occur to hubbies, or inlaws for that matter.  What to do, what to do...
Hope you feel better!

I totally understand and you do make sense.  I think if your mom is used to handling the kids, you will probably be ok.  My mom would help me for a few minutes in the bathroom, and the little ones would hover outside the door. lol I couldnt empty my own drains the first few days, so she would do that.  And just help me walk because I was soooo dizzy and weak.  She would bring my meds and write everything down for me.  But once I was on the couch I was passed out.  So she did laundry and cleaned up. Granted my 3 older kids are in school so there was some down time.  Talk it out with your mom and Hubby.  He will have to pull night duty with the baby.  And like I told mine, I will not do this surgery if he at anytime makes me feel like he is bitter or resentful for any reason...whether it be the $$ or the responsibilities.  He agreed and we moved forward.  I think that is the best thing is if you can all realistically agree ahead of time what everyone will be doing and responsible for.  Of course there is some flexibility because kids are kids, and mom is mom, but overall things really are working out for my recovery.  I am just so emotional and a little b****hy, so I may have been less than patient this morning.  All in all, I am glad with everything and I wish you the best in your journey.  Oh, I dont think my weightloss journey would be complete with out this step and I think it could have been a stumbling block to head me back toward weight re-gain if I had not done this.  I hope that makes sense.  - Jen Q.

I agree completely with the stumbling block to regain.  Sometimes I want to eat and I rationalize it by thinking that I look yucky anyway.  If I could look better in clothes it would be very motivating.

1)  How bad is the tummy tuck, really.  I have 3 kids ages 5, 3, and 6mo.  Can I feasably do this with hubby and mom's help?

I have 4 kids 13, 12, 4 and 3. My hubby was an awesome help and my MIL lives across the street. I did fine with all the help. Then again, I do have older kids that helped out with the little ones. I also heal pretty quickly. It did hurt a lot the first week or so.


2)How bad is the breast lift/implants? 

I'm having my lift Wednesday without implants so can't help you there.

3)Should I do them at the same time?

I wanted to, but my dr wouldn't do them together. He doesn't like to have anyone under more than 6 hours. It took about 4 hrs for my tt and will take 3-4 for the lift.

4)Do any of you have a price range for tt/bla in the states?  The fee I was quoted is 16k

I paid with cash and my TT was $7900 and the BL is $7500 so a total of $15,400.

5)Tell me about this Mexico thing I am reading about!

I had mine here in the states, so can't help ya there either.

Thanks!  I think its going to be rough, but I really want it.  Or, I guess I want the results and you can't get there without the pain.  I think that if I can lose back to my goal weight, I owe it to myself to go thru with it.  

Yes, it is sooo worth the initial pain.  I must say today I am WAYYYY better.  I washed my hair on my own and TMI had a bowel movement. I havent taken any pain meds.  I feel completely different from yesterday.  So...if this is the upswing...I was really only BAD from surgery day to day 4! SOOOO worth it.

So glad to hear this!  My five year old is staying with my aunt for a few days after, my 3 year old at my moms, my 6 mo. old with my MIL, and hubby will be taking care of me.  I think that we can make it. I can't tell ya how much I appreciate your input!  Hope you are getting better by the minute!
G

Yes, I think that is a great plan.  I just sneezed for the first time!! You DON T want the kids to be around for that! LOL I had to stiffle several choice words that wanted to come flying out of my mouth!! Best wishes!!