The pain continues to be minimal, though I did take the Vicodin at night. I think the swelling is starting to go down, but there is a lot of bruising around my eyes right now. More than anything I can't wait to take a shower tomorrow!!! My hair was slicked back with some sort of heavy duty gel, so I feel like I'm wearing a helmet (and it adds to the weird look I am sporting around my eyes). Too bad it isn't Halloween- I'd be all set!

Definitely request wheelchair assistance. MTY isn't too big, but Houston, DFW, LAX... Just bring $$ for the assistant who pushes you through the terminal. My last trip was UBL only, and I didn't wait for wheelchair in MTY, luggage rolled. Used it in Houston and let them go after dropping me off. BIG MISTAKE. They changed my gate 3x. By the last time, I was more than tired. If they would have moved it again, I'd have had to ask for help.

1st time with the works, no way I could have managed any of the trip home w/o wheelchair. It was also a 3 pain pill trip for me almost 14 hours home.

I was in the clinic for 7 days, but the food was better back then and I had protein bars and they brought bottled water when asked. You should be able to walk to the HEB and get stuff after surgery. Ask one of the baggers to bring your purchases back to the hotel and tip them. There is hot food in the back of the HEB and the food court upstairs in the little mall by the theaters.

I'm pretty easy to please as long as I can get protein for my DS. With the compression garments and the swelling, it was like I'd just had my DS, very tiny tummy. A grande shrimp ****tail from Mr Fish was 3 meals for me. Boneless chicken wings from Applebees was 2+ meals.

You can get extra water from the maids if you ask and tip.

Pack as light as you can. I took a little netbook, which wasn't as heavy as my laptop. The flight attendants and other passengers helped lift my stuff and brought it down on all my flights. I did have my hat/sunglasses/chinstrap on with my 2 black eyes from my FL!

Make sure that when they pat you down, they don't pull out your drain (it's happened)! I had mine in a fanny pack and just unzipped and said I could pull it out for everyone to see.

PS done - can't see enough to read now, so will catch up when I can. Not nearly as bad as facelift. Not hungry today but did just have a cup of coffee which tasted great!

I took 4 weeks off from my office job and wished I had taken 5 weeks! I still came back a little uncomfortable. I made sure my job had restrictions, like lifting and running errands. I usually recovery very rapidly from surgery, but this was a hard recovery. I absolutely LOVE my results and it was worth every pain!!!!

I took six weeks off of my desk job and I could have used one more (I always seem to go back one week too soon). I found sitting upright quite uncomfortable, especially while wearing anything that constricted/pressed on my belly button. I couldn't have sat without my legs elevated that early out, either. I had a lot of lower body swelling I needed to manage.

It's a large surgery and you owe it to yourself to take as much time to fully recover as possible.