9 days out from abdominoplasty

[DianaCox]

My daughter made a side-by-side with “modesty” blobs of my not very good selfies.

There is a tiny pucker at the center of the horizontal incision which looks like where my old belly button was?? How could my old skin have stretched that far?? I got a little mons lift too.

The incisions go around my sides to the start of my back. There is still some kind of surgical tape on the incision line all the way around.

Considering I didn’t get any previews of this guy’s work (he said he’s still working on his website, and his former employer wouldn’t let him copy pix of his work when he left) and that he was the ONLY in-network surgeon who would agree to submit under insurance, and that I might still lose my navel, it looks pretty good to me. I’m still pretty swollen of course.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Lookin' good!

 

[Larra]

Remember, you're still healing. For so early out, this looks good.

 

[hilary1617]

Looks great DianaCox!

 

[JackieOnLine]

oh, yes, you do look good. I'm glad things went so well.

love the hearts!

 

[Munchkin]

I can't see the picture..... WAAAH!

 

[galaxygrrl]

Looks great. So, how are you feeling. Are you starting to feel back to normal?

 

[DianaCox]

Not back to normal - not close. But I got up and made spaghetti for dinner last night, and washed dishes afterwards - took several short spells to get it done. You'll love what I did in the process - a mind is a terrible thing to lose (Charles was not home during this adventure):

So, I needed to use my big pot for the spaghetti noodles. But I'm not supposed to lift anything over 5 lbs or something. So, I cleverly put the pot on the stove, and carried over several tranches of water from the sink in a 6 cup container. So, I'm browning the Italian sausage, adding the pre-cooked ground beef, pre-made spaghetti sauce (that's just the starting point) and all my doctoring ingredients (mushrooms, basil, black olives, salt, sugar, balsamic vinegar, dried onions, more garlic), and simmering it up. And towards the end, I get the water (and oil and salt) on a boil, and toss in the noodles.

And then as the noodles are finishing, I realize that I have done the equivalent of cleverly figuring out the most efficient way to paint a room, without paying attention to the fact that I will end up painted into a corner: I now have a full pot of noodles and water on the stove, which is several steps away and across the room from the sink. DOH!!!!

After I finished kicking myself, and coming up with some alternatives if necessary (using the spaghetti thingy to manually put at least most of the noodles into a light weight bowl and carry just the noodles to the sink), I tried to lift the pot myself (colander already in the sink of course) - and it wasn't that bad. But I cannot believe that I loaded up the pot carefully with the intention of avoiding lifting too much at once, without thinking of what would happen when the noodles were done in the full pot!

 

[JackieOnLine]

LOL, that could happen to anyone.

I can't see the picture..... WAAAH!

I couldn't see it at first then I fiddled around and eventually was able to download it. not even sure how.

 

[galaxygrrl]

Not back to normal - not close. But I got up and made spaghetti for dinner last night, and washed dishes afterwards - took several short spells to get it done. You'll love what I did in the process - a mind is a terrible thing to lose (Charles was not home during this adventure):

So, I needed to use my big pot for the spaghetti noodles. But I'm not supposed to lift anything over 5 lbs or something. So, I cleverly put the pot on the stove, and carried over several tranches of water from the sink in a 6 cup container. So, I'm browning the Italian sausage, adding the pre-cooked ground beef, pre-made spaghetti sauce (that's just the starting point) and all my doctoring ingredients (mushrooms, basil, black olives, salt, sugar, balsamic vinegar, dried onions, more garlic), and simmering it up. And towards the end, I get the water (and oil and salt) on a boil, and toss in the noodles.

And then as the noodles are finishing, I realize that I have done the equivalent of cleverly figuring out the most efficient way to paint a room, without paying attention to the fact that I will end up painted into a corner: I now have a full pot of noodles and water on the stove, which is several steps away and across the room from the sink. DOH!!!!

After I finished kicking myself, and coming up with some alternatives if necessary (using the spaghetti thingy to manually put at least most of the noodles into a light weight bowl and carry just the noodles to the sink), I tried to lift the pot myself (colander already in the sink of course) - and it wasn't that bad. But I cannot believe that I loaded up the pot carefully with the intention of avoiding lifting too much at once, without thinking of what would happen when the noodles were done in the full pot!

You look so good though. Hang in there.

 

[Marquis Mark]

Looks good! I knew you'd get through this just fine. The pucker will very likely go away even though it seems like it won't. If it were on cloth it wouldn't, but the skin is an amazing organ and you will be astonished how it smooths itself out with time.

Your swelling isn't bad at all. It normally takes several months, although the bulk of it will subside within about 6 weeks.

Mazel-tov.

 

[DianaCox]

The pubic pucker could be the only belly button I have! Or maybe I’ll get lucky and have two!

I’m thinking I might survive. I tried to climb in bed to see if I was ready to get back to something approaching normal, but not yet - not because I can’t get up - I can manage - but I can’t lay on my sliced side yet. At least not with the binder on, and I have to have the binder on essentially all the time.

 

[galaxygrrl]

You look so good and it will so be worth it. I looked at your photos and I was like, wow, wow, wow that is amazing in 9 days.

 

[DianaCox]

I was definitely expecting much worse. At this point after my lower face lift, blepharoplasty and brachioplasty, I was utterly miserable, constantly stoned on Percocet, and having panic attacks. I was imagining it would be at least twice as bad with the abdominoplasty. But I can’t imagine having done a circumferential body lift. Too much for me.

 

[hilary1617]

I hope the spaghetti was delicious after all that effort! So happy you are doing well. That said, be very careful not to overexert. No hernias for you!