3 Weeks Since Extended TT and Ventral Hernia Repair- Still feels like being punched in gut...

I can't say that it was as much pain as it was just a deep soreness and discomfort. I was able to stop pain meds within a couple of weeks. I just noticed the tightness for a very long time. Like laying back in bed had to be a slow and deliberate process. I still feel my tightness today when I'm at the gym and doing any type of ab exercises. It's not painful but it's hard and tight. I am thankful that I've remained so tight. I think a lot of your pain is probably due to the hernia repair.

I'm almost 4 week out from a TT and still sore. It's not too bad but I feel it if I'm doing too much.  I have been surprised at how long this soreness is lasting....but like you said it has all been so worth it and I love my new tummy!

Laura

Sounds like we're in the same boat!  I am still off from work and right now can't imagine going back to the 12 hour shifts.  I'm hoping the iron infusion to start soon, will give me back some energy.  This weekend I found a killer rummage sale and had so much fun.  Couldn't believe it - most stuff was new with tags and I was paying $1.50 for shirts, pants, and skirts.  So funny being at the other end of sizes - when I was a 28, it was hard to find clothing and now at size 4 it's still hard.  I did pretty well at the sale, though.  When I got home, I gave my 16 year old son a fashion show.  I never wore dresses or especially skirts, not only being as heavy as I was, I'm only 5"1 and being so short in a skirt only made me look heavier.

Even with the pain, I am so glad I had the TT.  It's made me feel more completed with the process - seeing my body minus the fat, but also not having all that abdominal skin removed that was hiding my body.  Seeing my mons and belly button for the 1st time right there, without wading through skin.  I'm at 191 lb. weightloss now, trying to maintain, and wish that these PS surgeries weren't thought of as "cosmetic" - it's a total reconstruction when youv'e lost massive amounts of weight.  I'd like to continue the process, (thighs would be next) but don't know how I could swing it financially, being divorced with kids, mortgage, etc.

First of all congrats to you on 191 pound weight loss!  That's amazing!  What an accomplishment.  I was just telling my sister yesterday that it's just as hard to find  tiny sizes as it  was to find large sizes.  I am 5'0" so I can relate to the challenges we face being so tiny.  But shopping is so much more fun now.  Love it! 

Good finds at the rummage sale!  Love finding deals like that!

 I can also so relate to wanting to have my thighs and BA done but as a mother of three I have no idea how I would ever be able to afford these : (  So true about these being reconstructive, and not "cosmetic."

Hope the iron infusions help you.  I woke up this morning and feel really sore still. Like I did 1000 sit ups. Think maybe I am just trying to do too much.  Time to rest I suppose.  I struggle with that.

Laura

Hey Laura,
Funny, you're just my height!  I have to ask - being your size, do you find it harder to maintain?  I had no period of time at a maintenence weight before the PS, as I couldn't wait any longer for the hernia repair and I was determined to have both done at the same time. I felt like I was done losing (though,not sure now), but understood that never having been at any kind of maintenence level, I didn't know what was my goal weight.  I went into surgery at 129 lbs., lost 3.5 lbs. of skin and after lost the water weight, seemed to settle in at 125 lbs.  Well, today I weighed 119 lbs. Just bought a new scale so don't know how reliable it is, as I was relying on the doc's scale.  I'll find out today at my hem appt.  I don't want to lose any more as I look so bony, but I don't have a good sense of how many calories I should be eating to maintain.  I eat almost no refined carbs and sugar with pretty low fat. I won't even buy regular salad dressing.  I do eat some good fats every day - a small mix of almonds, pumpkin seeds, soy nuts, edamane, along with a little bit of peanut butter are my  main sources of fat.  I just don't want to go back to where I was.  How many calories do you shoot for?

Thanks, Anne

I had a LBL/hernia repair and arm lift and I didn't have that onQ pump (my surgeon found they slip out of place so he doesn't use them now). I had a morphine pump the first day -I did follow their advice and took a pain med before leaving the hospital to go home but found I really didn't need it and I hated the side effects so after that second day I never took any pain medication, nor did I feel I needed it. I rarely had any pain from the LBL or brachioplasty, but I did have it from the large muscle repair - especially when I used those muscles (coughing etc.) but I never felt the pain was so bad I needed to take anything and it would settle down after a few minutes; I find it amazing to read everyone's different responses to their TT procedures. I'm wondering what role your low iron has in affecting your healing? I'm sure you'll feel much better when your levels are higher.

But I'm also wondering about something you posted "I have returned to  the pool for light workouts, though hurts alot to do, I know it's important to keep moving." Maybe you are pushing too hard? I don't believe you should be causing pain by doing workouts - listen to your body, if it hurts, slow down and maybe find something less strenuous, like walking until your further along? Give your body a chance to heal, in a few weeks you'll be back to doing your old routine.

I agree, it is wonderful to have a flat tummy - you must look fabulous in your new clothes.

Hi Skylark Orchid (Love the name!)  I know what you're saying about maybe pushing things, but I've lived with fibromyalgia for 25 years now.  If I don't move, I hurt more all over.  It was so hard for me to wait the 3 weeks to go back to my warm pool (I had a wound infection that had to be treated).  Move too much I hurt and if I don't move enough I hurt.  When I first returned to the pool, I was doing a water jogging  in the deep end, which seemed to really  pull on the stomach.  Yesterday, I did slow laps and that movement didn't seem to pull as much. I did some light jogging in their shallow warm pool - what freedom to have that skin gone and not slapping up and down as I jogged.  Trying to appreciate the little things.

I didn't know that Qpumps could fall out - glad mine didn't as it made such a difference pain wise.  I went home  with my Q pump and it wasn't removed until almost a week later when it was empty.  If I have any further PS, I would want those again in a heartbeat.  I think I've had more pain with the hernia repair, though, as I had to wait 8 months to have it repaired and it was huge and very painful.  My boss wouldn't grant me unpaid leave to have it repaired earlier, so I had to hang with it all that time hoping it wouldn't rupture.  Once I had the FMLA again (I had a hip replacement last year), she couldn't refuse me.

Yep,  I think everyone's pain experience is so different.  I live in a state of chronic pain - tried the gamut of meds and treatments over the years with little help. Pain relief from the surgeries along with recovering has also been issues for me.  Just trying to make the best of it and do what I can do.  My iron has been tanked since following surgery and it's taken me 3 weeks to get the appt. to see the hematologist.  Frustrating - I had them run the iron tests following surgery and it's clear I need infusions.  I was in this same position last year following my hip replacement so I know the drill.  I have always taken my vitamins, including extra iron, but no match to surgery, I guess.

Ah, a warm pool - sounds so wonderful.

BTW, I used to have fibromyalgia - it's completely in remission now thanks to my McDougall diet - I had no idea it would go away just by changing my diet. So I know that pain, in fact it was because of having fibromyalgia I didn't realize I had a hernia for many years - I thought that pain was from fibromyalgia LOL and it was only after shedding a lot of weight that my doctors noticed it and by then it was the only area I was having pain because the fibro-pain had disappeared LOL. I was scared of having the LBL/hernia repair surgery - I didn't have WLS because I was scared of surgery - but I realized the only way to get rid of that pain was to have it fixed. I'm sorry  you had to wait 8 months to get your repair - that's really annoying. Hopefully for both of us the repair holds and that's the end of hernia pain.

I hope you get your iron treatment soon - these reconstructive surgeries are really a huge assault on our bodies.