Surgery 12/18 for Panniculectomy and Nervous

I am having a Panniculectomy on the December 18th.  And I am so nervous!!  I've seen pictures and it looks painful. 

Please anyone that has had this done let me know how was the pain?  I had RNY in 2012, Gall Bladder 10 years ago, 2 C-Sections in the 70's  (the old fashion way not the bikini cut), so I'm not a stranger to surgeries.  I am going to have the Anchor Cut.  Please anyone that has had the panni, let me know about the pain, your recovery and anything else you may have experienced.    Thanks - debbie

I had the anchor cut panni done back in June 2013.  Not going to lie, but I found the pain with this surgery versus the RNY no contest.  The panni was worse.  Not so much the incision, but more so the muscle tightening.  If you cough or sneeze...ouch!  I learned to just not do it and if I had to, I plugged my nose.  I found that taking a stool softener or a gentle laxative a big help.  You want to keep regular but you sure don't want to do any pushing.  Again the pain...omg.  I took pain meds for about 3-4 days after the surgery. I was hunched over for a month.  I couldn't straighten out.  Thus I had a constant backache.  I slept in a reclining chair in the living room for 6 weeks.  I could not lie flat.  I had staples closing my incision.  150+ staples.  I was always scared about tearning open my incisions.  More so after they were removed.  I had a love/hate relationship with my abdominal binder.  It gave me support yes, but it always seemed to roll up at the bottom and it would get sore.  Wear a t-shirt under your binder.  It's more comfortable. I didn't bother with a bra for about  3 weeks.  The bottom of it was very near to my top incision.  I didn't want anything pressing or rubbing on my incisions for a long time.  You will start out flat as a board, and love it.  Then the swelling begins.  Some swell more than others.  It can last a long, long time.  Even now, by the end of the day, I am a bit more swollen than the beginning of the day.  I wore a binder for about 6 weeks 24/7.  Then only at night.  Then I started wearing supportive shapewear and now nothing.  I am loving the flatness.  My surgeon removed about 3 lbs.  I would have thought it was more.  What a difference.  It's quite the scar but I'd rather it over the soft, floppy belly.

Some people say load up on more protein before surgery.  That you will recover faster.  Maybe. Make sure to walk a lot and try to straighten out when doing so.  Don't be a hero with the pain.  Take pain meds when you need them. DO NOT LIFT!  Nothing more than 5lbs the first 4-6 weeks.  Keep hydrated.  Do not put anything on your incision like creams et****il completely healed.  After 9 weeks, I started to rub on bio-oil or vitamin E to try to reduce the redness.  Don't submerge (bath/swim) for the first 2-3 weeks.

You will do great!

if you had muscle tightening, you did not have a Panni removal.  YOU had a tummy tuck.  A panni will not tighten the muscles.

p.s. Debbie, I have a picture showing, if you want to friend me.

I had panni and although I had complications with wound healing (dehiscence and slough to gangrene in two different areas;phrase to google to know but not experience!) I was,and still am,amazed at my flat tummy (3 Kilo removed!) vs jelly belly with rashes under the folds.
Tips: tshirt under the binder to avoid chafing. Learn to "like" the binder as it will help you even if annoying and bothersome. Up your protein but also drink more fluids just to help everything move through the digestive system. Narcotics (pain killers) can cause constipation. Some people take laxative, I just drank more herbal teas or protein drinks but each person is individual.
I had read that our hormones go haywire from plastic surgery (my panni was 8/08/11) and once I knew about emotional ups and downs I tried to make jokes of my situation. Granted living in Israel and having my surgery via public hospital and not privately, the system here is similar to in the uk and I was in hospital way longer than the average person with no regular visitors and three and a half hours away from home by buses. After the dehiscence, tiny slough and gangrene and debridement I was treated with a WoundVac for seven weeks in hospital as a concern for my living alone in a hi-rise building. I had posted to a city English-speaking email my situation and loneliness. A woman whom I don't know called me to "comfort" me but compared my situation of plastics to cosmetic and that of a mutual friend after a stroke. I told this woman to never ring me again and I ended up crying and heaving uncontrollably. I went to speak to the ps (and was walking the hallway at the time) who had done my debridement while I was crying and freaking. He calmed me down explaining that what I had experienced is something that can happen, debridement being necessary and that the actual panni also having been necessary!
May you have smooth sailing on your surgery and its recovery!
If you need someone to verbally talk to, message me and I will be glad to call you if you want. I live alone and the time zone difference from Israel sometimes naked it more possible than a person nearby.
Mikimi in Israel

I just had a full tummy tuck anchor cut done on 2 Dec 13. I was one of the fortunate ones that did not need any muscle work done. The pain for me is and has been minimal. I went onto to extra strength tylenol on day 3 after surgery and only every 6 hours within a week I am on extra strenght tylenol when I go to bed so that I get a good sleep. I also had an arm lift done at the same time.