9 days out from abdominoplasty

[Munchkin]

You look DAMN good!

 

[DianaCox]

Spaghetti was ok. My last few batches have been missing “something,” and I can’t figure out what. I sure add a lot to it, but I’m missing something. Maybe I’m just putting in too much ground beef and it’s too bland for the overall sauce.

I’m really astonished at how well the belly healing is going - I’m able to get up and down from the recliner and chairs, blow my nose (sorta), cough (a little), and sneeze (if suppressed). The binder is a good deal for the most part. Feels good for the support and security it provides, but it keeps rolling up and pinching me. I’m dealing.

 

[galaxygrrl]

I know you still are carrying some extra water, but I'm curious how much weight you have lost. Did the Dr. say the weight of the skin was?

Hope you are feeling better

 

[GrammyLuLu]

I know you still are carrying some extra water, but I'm curious how much weight you have lost. Did the Dr. say the weight of the skin was?

Hope you are feeling better

Ohhhh DianaCox you look amazing! I am wishing you a continued speedy recovery! And yes that would be interesting to know.

 

[DianaCox]

Skin weighed 3.2 lbs (plus maybe 0.3 for the lipoma?).

I’d been bouncing around 175-178 for a few months. 172 today. Probably lost a lot of muscle in the last two weeks.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I was definitely expecting much worse

I'm glad it's gone so well.

 

[DianaCox]

Second checkup today. Went with the expectation of having minor in-office surgery to remove my belly button, as it was black last week, but still soft, so he put a medicated dressing on it and covered it with Tegaderm (?) to see if it might be able to heal.

He took off the dressing, and it was still black. Then he poked at it (it’s numb, so no problem except the sqidgy feeling of looking at it) and the black scab came off and it was moist and PINK (and a little yellow pus-y), and round, shallow and with a flat surface. It’s alive! My belly button healed! And it’s kinda cute, compared to what my belly button looked like before my DS, and afterwards, as my DS included repairing an umbilical hernia, which left me with basically a flat belly button (see before pic).

My current incisional hernia repair also required addressing a further umbilical hernia, as the incision above and to the left of my belly button had torn down into the old umbilical hernia repair, making this repair - including transposition of the belly button as part of the panniculectomy - considerably more difficult, and I was not surprised that the survival of my belly button could be an issue. I had even told him I was OK with having it removed during the procedure if he felt it was better.

He removed the surgical tape from the incision line and it’s remarkably healed. There is still a stitch sticking out of the top of my pubes holding the mons lift in place - that will come out next week. He said the pucker just above it - the top of where my belly button USED to be (!!) - should flatten out after the support stitch is removed.

He had warned me that I might develop a dog-ear at the back, at either of both ends of the incision, and there is one on the right. He said he could fix it later in his office with a local and a few stitches. I’ll worry about that later, if it doesn’t go away by itself.

https://www.realself.com/question/dog-ears-when-referring-result-surgery

 

[Munchkin]

Wonderful! So the BB survived! I can't remember ever having a flat stomach but I bet it will make your clothes fit a lot better!

 

[galaxygrrl]

Glad you are doing better.

 

[DianaCox]

Did my own cropping of selfies today ( southernlady - can you make them smaller??). My belly button still looks a little gross, but it's not black, and I just filled it up with bacitracin and covered it with a pad. I assume the little black spot at dead center of the incision, where my old belly button was, is healing underneath. The stitch just below it comes out next week. The sides actually look a little better in real life than they do in the pics. The incision lines are closed, and fairly smooth. They are also coated with bacitracin and a long piece of gauze, just to keep the ointment off my clothes. I'm still somewhat swollen, I guess, but I also still weigh 172, and I'm almost 65, so it looks fine to me.

My silicone scar strips arrive tomorrow. There are very slight dog-ears at then end of each incision, but if this is as bad as they get, I doubt I'll get them cut out later on. I'm supposed to massage the scar lines, but I'm not sure exactly with what lotion or potion (I bought some Mederma but haven't used it yet) or how exactly to do that. I should send another email to to surgeon and ask ...

 

[hilary1617]

Looks like you are healing well! And such a lovely figure!

 

[DianaCox]

Thanks Hilary. The front that I showed is not bad - I got a bit of my waist back! - but it doesn’t show the deflated yet still mongo sharpei thighs, nor what used to be a magnificently steatopygian butt, which is now flat and the skin melted down the back of my thighs. And which has no meat to protect my tailbone.

I’m actually appealing the insurance denial of the butt and thigh lift, on general principles, but I doubt I would do the surgeries even if approved. Too much pain, and far less excuse than the abdominoplasty - I had to have the hernia surgery anyway, and didn’t want mesh.

I’m finding it interesting though (and a relief!) that this experience was so much less distressing and painful than the brachioplasty and lower face lift 9 years ago.

 

[galaxygrrl]

I know, such a lovely figure.

 

[southernlady]

Looking good.

Now if you truly want them smaller, I will but they aren’t huge on my iPhone.

 

[DianaCox]

Yeah - they’re not so bad on the phone - on my lap