Fastest yet Slowest Three Weeks of All Time

I had my LBL three weeks ago tomorrow.

The first week was pretty terrible. Four drains, muscle tightening, swelling, blisters all over my backside from the dressings. Thank goodness for Oxy, the free recliner I found on Craigslist and having my mom & boyfriend here to help me with everything.

The second week was better, but still pretty frustrating. I ran out of narcotics, my last drain took a week and a half to slow enough to be removed. All I wanted was a shower. My back was in agony from all the hunching. I was extremely emotional and spent a lot of time crying -- plastics are not just physical.

The third week was better still. My back stopped hurting so much. I only need to take the occasional Tylenol to deal with discomfort from doing too much due to frustration from not being able to do much at all and then overdoing something. I'm totally bored but trying very hard to give myself the time to heal properly. It is hard. I'm not used to being so dependent on others. I am appreciative of the recliner still, but all I want is to sleep in my own bed again, but I can't quite roll over or get up out of it on my own yet, so recliner it is.

I'm also starting to think my surgeon didn't do enough to address the parts of my abdomen I really wanted addressed. I see him on Tuesday and will find out if it was a miscommunication on my part or a technical issue in the OR. Or maybe I just had unrealistic expectations for my results. I don't want to fixate on all the things I don't like and forget to appreciate the radical and exciting changes the surgery made, but it's hard. I will be glad to be out of this binder and wearing normal clothes. I feel like that's my next step to feeling normal and accepting my new body.

Anyhoo, that's the scoop with me. How've y'all been?

I appreciate you sharing this. I am scheduled for my LBL on Thursday. What did you wear home from the hospital?

I just wore a pull-over-my-head dress and cardigan. It was what I wore to the clinic except I don't think I bothered trying to put my underwear back on.

Best of luck with your surgery! While it isn't easy, it also isn't the worst thing. Just keep on top of your meds and don't try to do too much.

What are you dissatisfied with from your surgery?

First, there is a large pucker in my mons due to one of the deeper stitches being a little too tight. My surgeon suggested massaging it a little in hopes it will loosen up or he said he could do an in-office procedure to release it if it doesn't drop on its own.

Secondly, I still have a lot of laxity in the area between my breasts and navel. I talked to my surgeon today about how it was distressing me and he said he didn't do a vertical incision because 1) it's an ugly scar; and 2) because of the type and amount of loose skin involved, the incision would have had to continue up well into my cleavage area and that area typically heals quite poorly. He did suggest a fix we could consider in the future, but as I'm tapped out for plastics money, it appears I'm just going to have to learn to live with it.

I am overall very pleased and know it will only get better as healing progresses, swelling goes down and mobility returns. It's just hard to not get sucked into the dark spiral when you're already turned topsy-turvy by rearranging your entire outsides.

In a previous post you mentioned your waist not being as small as you would have liked. Is this why you are dissatisfied? Did your surgeon discuss the possibility of the fleur de lis before your surgery to give you more definition? Many of us have unrealistic expectations after plastic surgery. We can never be completely put back to "normal".

I thought about the fleur de lis for myself, but decided against the vertical scar. I was hoping for a 25 inch waist, which was what I had when I was the same weight in my 20's, but now have a 27 inch waist. Part of that may be due to years of obesity or just normal middle-aged spread. Whatever the reason, I am still happy with my results. I hope you will be happy with yours, too.

I'm sure I did have some degree of overly optimistic expectations for my results, but I am not displeased with my waist size overall. As I mentioned in my reply to Gwen above, my biggest issue is that the loose skin on my upper stomach is still there and I had fully expected that it would be gone. My surgeon didn't think I was a candidate for a fleur de lis because of my specific situation, so he didn't do it.

I am a mostly practical person and I'm certain I'll learn to accept it. It was just a bit of a let-down to realize right when I was already going through the post-op blues.

Heather, Don't judge your surgery until all your swelling goes down and you are healing. I wasn't happy at first either, but once all my swelling went down and my belly button was healed, I LOVED my new stomach. It took me 3 months until I was able to wear jeans. I wore alot of leggings to work. I'm 1 year post op from my surgery and honestly, I don't remember the pain. Hang-in-there and take it slow. I'm sure you're going to look amazing and you'll also love your new stomach.

Thank you! That's pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. I have to be patient and let my body recover and settle into it's new shape. I've heard it can take several months, so I'm trying to be patient.

Good tip about the leggings, though! I should definitely stock up on some.

I can't echo this sentiment enough. I (and my surgeon) both thought I would have to have a small in-office revision done at the 3 month mark because one side of my belly was protruding a bit more than the other. We thought it may have to be tucked a bit more. It completely fixed itself at about 2 months out. Give it some time and things will start to take shape!

Also, I totally hear you about post-op depression. I had it really bad around the 2 week mark: regret, hating what I looked like, just crying for no reason. This will also go away. I'm super thrilled with my results now and those two weeks are becoming more of a distant memory.

You got this!!!