All the questions

Before I had a tummy tuck, I couldn’t stop asking questions about when I would transition to the next phase. When would I be able to go out for dinner? When would I be able to start running again? When will I be able to drive? When will I be able to pick up my kids?

And then since I’ve gotten my tummy tuck, I’ve had a million questions for things I never knew I’d have to worry about. Like, When would I poop properly? When would I stop being in pain when I laugh or sneeze? When can I lay down in my bed flat? When can I lay on my side? When will I be able to stop wearing this awful, constricting corset? When will my stitches heal? When can I shower? and on and on.

I thought about what I feel would have been helpful for me during this journey, and I realized, it would be a play by play of the post tummy tuck journey of when I was able to actually do these things and what each post op visit entailed.  So, here goes!

Going home the day of surgery

Monday, June 24, 2019

At Dr Greenwald’s practice, he does the procedure in his private facility and you are sent home after the procedure. My surgery was scheduled for 10am, but I was told to arrive at 8:30am that morning for paperwork and preparation.

After the surgery, the nurses reviewed the medication schedule and all of the after care. This included:

• Compression Boots – Given that you should rest and lay flat for the week after the procedure, these boots ensure you are getting proper circulation after surgery. You just put on these soft velcro wrap boots on your legs as you lay down and they compress and massage your legs, keeping circulation going.
• Drain care – The drains are placed to reduce fluid accumulation at the surgical site. They also indicate the amount of bleeding that is occurring during early healing.  You will be instructed regarding appropriate drain care prior to discharge home the morning after tummy tuck.  It is recommended to empty the drains at roughly the same time every morning and evening to allow comparisons regarding 24 hour drain output. Once the fluid amount has been recorded, you’ll empty the drain and insert the stopper while the bulb is compressed.

The staff helped get me into a wheelchair and then transfer me to the car. My husband was drove home extremely slowly and carefully to avoid any bumps or jarring.

I was told I wouldn’t be hungry the day of surgery and to eat soft foods, but I was starving and very thirsty. I think this had something to do with the fact that I didn’t eat much the day before on top of my body needing fuel to heal. To learn more about the healing foods and supplements I took and am taking, check out my Tummy Tuck Preparation & Recovery Guide.

1st Post Op Visit – 5 days post surgery

1st post op visit with my mother

Friday, June 28, 2019

5 days had gone by without a shower and I felt GROSS! But aside from that, my spirits were high and I was feeling okay. I was still walking hunched over and scared to stand up straight. The idea of standing up straight made me nervous as I felt I would be putting pressure or pulling my stitches. Aside from that, I was feeling okay.

Around my midsection, I had what looked almost like a stomach splint if you will. There were foam like pads on my body, followed by two velcro body wraps. This is what it looked like.

1 week post tummy tuck

Weirdest Experience of my life

This visit was the most out of body experience I have ever had. I am going to try my best to find words to justify how weird the experience was for me, but I don’t kI now that the worst even exist!

I was sitting on the chair in the office and he took off the dressing. The moment it was off, I felt like I was going to faint, throw up and over heat all at the same time. I started sweating profusely and I felt like I wanted to throw up (and I am NOT the “throw up type” – like no matter how sick or hungover I have ever been, I actually can never throw up!), but the only thing stopping me from actually hurling, was the fact that I was petrified of how that would affect my stomach muscles, which were creeping and freaking me out.

I couldn’t speak. I felt it would hurt to speak. I think my eyes rolled back and then they leaned the chair further back for me. I felt weak. I felt like I wasn’t in my body. It was the most bizarre feeling. I felt like I was in some supernatural situation. Sorry, I’m truly at a loss for words with how to describe this feeling.

His staff brought me gatorade to drink and ice packs that they started putting on my head and back. As I drank and cooled down, I eventually felt a little better. I was still a bit in shock and traumatized, but was able to be coherant. Dr Greenwald shared that this happens to a small percentage of people.

I couldn’t look at my stomach. It was just too much for me to handle.

Getting the drains out

After I was revived, he pulled the drains out. It burned over there for a while for me. The pulling of the drains was a very uncomfortable, but quick experience.

He told me to stand up and stand up straight, which I was having trouble doing. He redressed me and told me I needed to continue resting, and I was cleared to take a shower. Yay! Baby steps.

Showering

I was scared to take a shower directly after, but my mother gave me a sponge bath and washed my hair in the sink later that day.

2 days after that, I took a shower, sitting in the shower. I then slowly increased the frequency and duration of my showers progressively over the next week. I’m now 2 weeks and 3 days following the surgery and have been showering daily for the past week -10 days.

Medications

At this point, I was pretty much done with all of the medications and was still on the pain killers, but taking them much less frequently.

Bowels

I hadn’t been super regular, but things could be better, so I was still consistently taking stool softeners daily to help keep things going.

2nd post op visit – 9 days post surgery

9 days post tummy tuck

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Until this visit, I had been sleeping reclined, but it was still more of an upright position than laying down. And I was tired. I asked him about whether I could now lay flat back. He said I shouldn’t, but that I could move further down and be more reclined and flatter than I was. That was great progress.

He gave us more dressings to swap out the one I was wearing and the compression boots were returned.

I still was not cleared to drive, do too much activity and was told very clearly to just rest.

Following this visit, I now moved from sleeping more upright, to sleeping like a corpse. The corset was truthfully the bane of my existence. My sleep wasn’t great during this time, but it definitely was way better than it could have been due to all of my natural sleep hacks and strategies.

Medications

I stopped taking them and completely forgot they existed. I was feeling painless and without discomfort.

Movement & getting out of the house

My mother took me to the grocery store and I went in one of those carts for handicapped people.  The sunshine and experience of getting out was nice, but I was exhausted afterwards.

Grocery shopping in a motorized cart

Visitors

I hadn’t had any visitors as yet as I really wanted to focus on resting, but was starting to feel a bit more perky and had my first visitor of one of my best friends the following day.

1st Proper Outing – 2 weeks post surgery

At the farm with my family

Sunday, July 7, 2019

While still tired, I was feeling like I needed to do something with my family. I missed connecting with them. We took the kids to a small farm where there was very minimal walking and then for ice cream where there was a sandbox for the kids to play and I just sat. The outing was a total of about 2 hours or so and when I came home I was very tired, but  my heart was full and it was great. I didn’t lift the kids or any bags or do anything strenuous, my husband did all of the labor.

In the sandbox with my kids

Constipation

As I said, I hadn’t thought I was experiencing any issues with this, as I had indeed been super regular before and now with the stool softeners, they were coming. Not as frequent or well, but coming, so I wasn’t concerned.

Until this day! I had the most incredibly crippling gas and pain in my abdomen it was insane. It was super intense and took over hours of my day. I suppose I was very backed up so I took a laxative. That cleared me out and I was back in business, but christ! Def keep those on hand!

I highly recommend keeping a laxative and stool softeners on hand. My Tummy Tuck Preparation & Recovery Guide, has the full low down on all of my recommended pre and post tummy tuck supportive strategies.

3rd Post Surgery Visit – 2 weeks & 2 days after surgery

Putting Spanx on woman

This was the best visit of them all, so far. I was able to take off the body splint and graduate to spanx!! I can’t tell you how much more comfortable this is for me!

Also, I was told I can sleep in other positions, instead of like a corpse! After being cleared to get out of that corset and sleep in other positions, I went home and got the most comfortable and amazing night’s sleep!

He also took the tape off of my stitches and then put some new tape on them, but nothing that hurt or was uncomfortable.

Here’s what the stitches look like at this stage.

Getting dressing off of stitches post surgery

He told me I still need to take it easy, but could drive short distances. He said in about 2 weeks I’ll be cleared for some aerobic activity.

I asked him if I’d be able to run a half marathon next September (2020) and he said “Yes, no problem!” I’m overjoyed and feeling great!

I’ve been more active each day, but staying mindful that I don’t over do it. I’ve been having visitors more frequently and spending more time with my kids and getting things done around the house.

Almost 3 weeks post surgery – 2 weeks and 5 days to be exact

Me 3 weeks post tummy tuck

A stressful 3rd week

This last week, week 3, has been super intense. My au pair ghosted our family just before the 2nd week was up and it caused a ton of stress. This past week, I was interviewing sitters and au pairs and training make shift help to help me get through. With the result, I was unable to rest and was helping the sitters and my kids and training, instead of being cared for and resting.

I cannot stress enough how taxing this was on my system. My body is trying to put whatever energy it has to heal and when I take that minimal energy and put it towards additional stressors, it can not only impact my healing, but it can greatly impact my health.

As you may or may not know, about 6 years ago, I had a health breakdown that was completely stemmed from stress. After not being able to walk, my brain shutting down and gaining a ton of weight, nothing was able to heal my issues, until I learned to manage my stress. Since then, I have become passionate about ensuring I manage my stress and protect my energy, to maintain optimal health. It has also led me to my mission in helping overwhelmed mamas feel their best without the stress.

Trying to reduce stress

I am doing all that I can to try my best to rest where I can, meditate, breathe and take it easy, but with 3 small kids and inconsistent childcare, it hasn’t been a cake walk.

The stress on my body from just helping my kids do basic things was so intense that it made me anxious, weepy and edgy, which was a clear sign that it was affecting my hormones. I know how critical it is to listen to your body, so I’m doing what I can to really dial things down, wherever I can.

How do I feel physically?

Honestly, physically I feel okay. Not in pain at all. Just taxed, drained and exhausted.

I am now in spanx versus the corset, so that has added more comfort and mobility which has been super helpful. Also, I am able to now sleep in more positions, which is amazing.

The gas though

But let’s talk about the gas. Holy Hell! So, apparently, whenever you have stomach surgery, a lot of air enters your stomach and it has to come out afterwards. Between that and the pain meds, you are up against some funky gas and bowel situations.

First was last week, after I went to the farm with the fam, I literally spent the entire afternoon doubled over in excrutiating pain with gas and then finally had a massive bowel movement and felt better. Yesterday, 3 weeks later, after going to a friends party, I spent a couple of hours in the evening with the same doubling over pain, akin to labor cramps!, and then eventually followed by a massive bowel movement and then diarrhea!

Turns out that when you get moving physically, is when things start to get moving out of you, causing the pains and bowel movements. This is why this happened both days I went out and was a bit more active.

Movement

My doc has been very serious about me taking it easy and not doing too much. He says my muscles are very thin, due to my small composition, so he really wants me to rest. I am trying my best to do so and am being as mindful as possible. I had great plans on spending this entire month in bed resting, catching up on blogging, good books and new TV series, but I’ll have to keep dreaming about that for now. 🙂

Intercourse

What’s the most ANNOYING thing ever, is that I never thought about the fact that aside from exercising, sex is the other most incredible stress reliever that you aren’t able to leverage during this period. I have been told no exercising or sex until at least 6 weeks. We’ll have to revisit then.

I am going to keep updating this each week with my updates on my doctors visits and post surgery recovery.

Do you have any questions about your upcoming surgery you’d like answered? Let me know below and I’ll be sure to answer them!

xoxo

Misha

Tummy Tuck Preparation & Recovery Guide

The stuff no one tells you about Tummy Tuck Recovery