Short version - any questions I should be sure to ask prospective surgeons, and could you share any details about your recovery if you've had one?
Longer version - I have a bulgy lower stomach and some muscle separation from having four kids. I exercise hard everyday and eat well, but I don't think that area will improve without surgery. I'm not that concerned with how I look in a swimsuit - I just want to be able to wear a pair of jeans or real pants without being really uncomfortable. I figure I hope to live another 4+ decades (I'm 42) and don't want to have to think about this and be uncomfortable daily.
I met with one surgeon and have a consult with another on Friday. First surgeon didn't sugarcoat the extent of the surgery or recovery.
Recovery is my main concern - my youngest kid is 3 and I work full-time. I would schedule the surgery while my parents are in town to help us. My plan would be to stay at their condo for the first 3 nights and then have them help us with the kids for the first couple weeks post surgery. My sister had a tummy tuck last year (in part to repair saggy skin after 3 c-sections) and said she was able to move around OK after 3 days/nights of only being able to get up to go to the bathroom. My work and clients would be OK with me doing things virtually/working from bed for a couple weeks (I'm normally only in my office 2 days a week anyway). When will I feel comfortable driving? What about exercising?
Post by rupertpenny on Oct 16, 2023 15:59:05 GMT -5
I had abdominoplasty and mastopexy in September 2022. Recovery is really intense, probably more so for me because of the breast surgery as well. My kids were 9 and 4 at the time and my mom stayed with us for about 10 days. I am so glad she did, it would have been very difficult without her. I was out of the office for about 3 weeks, 1 week not working the others working from home. It took about 3 months before I really felt like I could go about my business as normal, but I was doing a lot besides heavy lifting earlier than that.
I'm so glad I did it. I know what you mean about clothes being uncomfortable and the impossibility of finding pants that really fit and that is all gone for me now. I also lost about 30 pounds post-surgery without really trying, I think I just ate less during recovery, and my appetite kind of stabilized. I also used to be insulin-resistant and no longer am which was an unexpected benefit, even though I can't 100% say that it is connected to the surgery.
I had a lesser surgery, and took a full 10 days off, so I definitely would not plan to work from home right away after surgery. You will be out of it and on pain meds. 1 week before driving and 4 weeks before short walks on the treadmill. Could you do 2 weeks totally off, and then 3 weeks work from home?
I felt comfortable with my surgeon because he works with a well known hospital and does everything in the hospital. I just didn't want a clinic setting for my type of surgery. He had lots of experience and could explain everything in detail.
I had lipo and a tummy tuck done in April of this year and it is 100% one of the best things I could have done for myself. Like you, in my 40s, two kids (c-section), eat well, workout regularly, gave up soda, etc. and still couldn't lose the tummy. ( I later saw it called the abdominal curtain and so true!)
I did not do the ab repair, which is part of what lessened by recovery. I had my procedure on a Friday and was back to work Monday/Tuesday half days and back full time Wednesday. If you have the option to do more, I would take it
What I will say is as soon as you feel up to it, walk, walk, walk and drink tons of water. Also, patience. Swelling is a bitch and will have you wondering if you made a mistake, but truly, trust the process and take care of yourself. It will all be worth it in the end.
I'm so excited for you! My life has been forever changed by doing this and I'm grateful I was able to do it.
waverly the less expensive surgeon I met with does surgeries in the outpatient surgery center near my house where DH and I have both had surgery before, while the more expensive surgeon has their own clinic. I think I feel more comfortable with the surgery center and anesthesiologists that we've used before (not to mention the convenience of it being less than a mile from my house).
I doubt I'd be able to take two full weeks off. My work is pretty relaxed for the most part though when I'm not traveling. I could even just be in meetings by phone while laying in bed. I'm hoping that if I have the surgery on a Thursday that hopefully I'd be done with the major pain meds by Monday and could be available from my bed/couch if necessary. I'm just not sure whether I'm being too optimistic about how long I'll need serious pain meds. I had bunion surgery and kept being told how painful that was. I never needed meds more than extra strength Tylenol, but I could have just gotten lucky. I've never had a c-section, and I've been told a tummy tuck is similar to that level of surgery/recovery.
Post by fortnightlily on Oct 16, 2023 16:44:41 GMT -5
Thank you for asking this because I would also love to hear about other people's experiences. I have diastasis recti and some extra skin and my abdomen protrudes a lot and I have been heavily considering abdominoplasty with muscle repair but have been nervous to commit to it. I have consulted with three plastic surgeons and found one I liked but the intensity of the recovery and potential risks or possibility of being unhappy with my results are what are holding me back. I've been told by several doctors based on physical exam that I don't have a hernia.
Here's what I asked:
What kind of experience do you have with specifically fixing diastasis recti? With patients whose abdomens look like mine?
What is your surgical technique - how do you repair the muscle, remove skin, etc.? What type of incision? What kind of sutures (permanent, dissolvable, how many layers)? Do you use mesh? Do you recommend liposuction?
Where is surgery performed? How long does surgery take? When does the patient go home?
Do you use drains? How do you tackle pain management? Do you use Exparel?
What does the recovery process look like? Do you recommend/require compression garments, and for how long? Any supplements, lymphatic massages, special equipment, etc? How many follow up appointments are there?
When after surgery can I return to work? Drive? Exercise? Travel?
What do you do if you open me up and find a hernia? Can you repair it?
What are the risks of surgery? What potentially unfavorable outcomes could occur and how are they dealt with?
Have you ever had a patient’s muscle repair fail? Have you ever had to do a revision? Would you charge for revisions or smaller corrections like scar revision, belly button revision, or dog ears?
What kind of results can I expect? Can you tell if I have visceral fat, rib flares, or anything else anatomically that would lead me to still have upper abdominal roundness even after surgery?
Do you have your patient do any pre-op imaging? What other pre-op prep is there (prevent constipation, stop medications, bloodwork, etc.)?
What other things do you recommend patients do to prepare for surgery?
If I want to book surgery, how far in advance do I need to get on the schedule?
What is the total cost of surgery? What is included? Is any of it covered by insurance?
ETA - I had a c-section and my recovery was extremely easy, as was my recovery from a laparoscopic gallbladder removal. I think this is just luck in how my body works and my pain tolerance. The vast majority of posts I've read in forums say that the muscle repair makes it a much worse recovery than a c-section, though there are some outliers that either had a bad c-section recovery or an easy tummy tuck recovery and called them comparable.
Thanks so much fortnightlily ! Most of this information was covered by the first surgeon I had the consultation with and his staff, but a couple of these questions are ones I should ask.
The intensity of recovery is also what gives me pause, given the ages of my kids and how nuts our life is right now.
My sister had relatively easy planned c-sections and she said she still preferred the tummy tuck recovery because there wasn't also a newborn to take care of at the same time
Post by EvieEthelGarland on Oct 16, 2023 17:45:35 GMT -5
I had a tummy tuck with muscle repair, lipo, and umbilical hernia repair a year ago and am so happy with the results. The recovery was long but not as painful as other surgeries. I was off pain meds within in a few days but it took about 5 weeks for me to not feel like my skin was going to tear apart. This led to some back pain that lingered a few months. I WFH and was back to work after one week. I did go into the office at week 3 and the walking and movement caused so much swelling and discomfort that I needed another day off. Lymphatic drainage massage was helpful with the swelling. My surgery was a hospital based clinic which I wanted given other health concerns I have, but everything went far better than even my surgeon expected. Having a three year old would give me pause. Bending or squatting to be on eye level and picking up a preschooler could be really hard.
I had a TT w muscle repair, lipo, implants and inner thigh lipo. I took 2.5 weeks off my mostly desk job and that was tough. I had a 4 year old and wasn’t able to lift him for months. I returned to running without about a month but could not weights lift for far longer. I could not get out of a chair for 3 days without help and could not sleep in a bed for 3 weeks. I drove very uncomfortably after 1 week only to and from daycare. Lifting and bending was hard. I was hunched over for 3-4 weeks.
Ask your surgeon about using exparel. Mine felt it was very important. I used pain meds for a few days but found the OTC meds worked just as well without the side effects. Recovery was rough but 100% worth it.
There is no way you'll be back working in a week or so. You may have drains in for up to 2 weeks. Drain pain is real. You'll be glad for the pain meds then. I had no choice but to drive myself to follow ups. I would not take a pain pill on those mornings.
Rather than spend time with your parents, I'd send the kids somewhere/to camp/Aunt Bertha's for 2 weeks or bring your parents to your house and you stay at the condo for 2 weeks recovering. This surgery was WAY more initial recovery (first two weeks) than my open heart surgery. You won't be doing much but laying around. Probably no light exercise for 4-6 weeks with no HIIT for 8 weeks or so. Depends on your doctor and your surgery.
I've had two TT's. The first one resulted in a "seroma" (like a hematoma but clear fluid filled). The side of the wall of my skin came unattached from the inner "wall" where they should have stayed together. I had to have a 2nd TT to repair it. The results have been great! I did not have to have muscle repair.
This might sound a little weird but there were a lot of videos about recovering from my surgery on you tube. You might check there and see if there are some recovering from tummy tuck vlogs.
I never had anything but my wisdom teeth out before and this was a whole other ball game.
sadlebred thanks for sharing your experience! I’m so sorry that the cosmetic surgery recovery was worse than open heart surgery!
Re: childcare for us, it’s easier for someone to take care of the kids at home - since we both work full time, we already have weekday care set up for them out of our house (school aftercare and full time preschool) from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. We don’t normally use all those hours, but can if we want. So it’s pretty easy for DH to take care of the kids for one hour in the morning and a few in the evening even if I’m out of commission, if my parents can help give rides to sports practices and stuff. Also no one we know has the infrastructure to care for four kids in their house, and the little ones are too young for camp So I think it would be easier for me to go elsewhere and other people to watch my kids at my house when I’m totally out of commission. Luckily my older kids are also pretty helpful with the younger ones (DD is 11 and almost as tall as I am).
Judging by the experiences in this thread though and my sister’s experience, it seems very hard to know how long that will be! It is really useful to see all these experiences especially since my sister had both a tummy tuck and breast lift and was out to dinner 3 days later with her family, wearing a sweatshirt over her drains 🤣 It’s good for me to hear that that’s not the norm so I’m not overly optimistic.
I had TT and abdominal repair in June 2020 (one of the first surgeries my surgeon did after the pandemic shut down). I am a teacher so was able to do it and recover during summer. My surgeon described my issues as “flaccid tissue.”
I had one drain for ten days after surgery. MIL and FIL came to visit and help care for me and the kids (MIL is a retired nurse). She did a lot of hands-on helping with my drain, showering, and medication administration.
I was pretty immobile and in discomfort for those ten days, but once the drain was out and I felt more steady on my feet my husband and I could do some short, slow walks through the neighborhood.
I mentally prepared for a good six weeks of recovery, like a c-section.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Oct 17, 2023 7:11:59 GMT -5
I just had a tummy tuck and hernia repair (upper abdominal hernia) in early Aug., so this is all fresh in my mind. The questions fortnightlily posted are great and I can't think of anything you would need to add other than just maybe where they do the surgery if you have many hospitals in your area and you are interested in that (mine was at an outpatient center at a local hospital).
My recovery was 6 weeks. The first week was rough with the first 2-3 nights being really rough. I did have 2 drains in, and I bought a recliner to sleep in overnight in our living room, and I needed help to get up out of the recliner for the first 2 days. So when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and take meds, I had to call my dh and wake him up (and he wasn't the happiest about that, even though he took a full week off to help with my recovery). And the recliner had my legs down below my heart, so my legs ended up swelling pretty badly, so after those first 2 nights, my dr. wanted me sleeping propped up on the couch but with my legs elevated, but that was really uncomfortable.
I wasn't able to drive until I was off the narcotic pain meds. I was ready to be off those before 1 week at first, but then we realized the percocet was acting as a cough suppressant (I didn't realize it also had that effect) and when I tried to switch to just Tylenol, my allergies kicked in pretty bad and I was coughing, which was SO painful I had to go back to taking the percocet, so I ended up getting more than my original refill after my 1st follow up appt. and taking it for almost the first full 2 weeks. After that driving was still pretty uncomfortable at first, but I had to pick up my kids from activities, so I did it and it was fine.
Basically until the drains were out (surgery was on monday, 2nd drain came out saturday), I needed my dh's help to shower and he also helped me strip my drains. I was really glad he was home that 1st week even though he didn't help with much else. The 2nd week, I still basically didn't leave the house and still wore comfy zip-front nightgowns and moved around pretty gingerly, but was up and about a lot more. After that, I was getting showered and dressed and leaving the house, but still sore and tired easily and walking slowly. (I'm mostly a SAHM, but I also substitute teach, and I subbed a 1/2 day week 4 and was fine with that but had to take the elevator to get from floor 1 to 4 between classes). I had to wear my compression garment 24/7 except when showering until my 6 week follow up. At that point I was cleared to start lifting heavy things, exercising, etc. I eased back into exercising, but I was still feeling a little sore at that point. I would say it's only recently I've been feeling 'normal.' But I definitely think it's totally worth it.
sdlaura, My take is that it is better to be prepared for it to be worse, and then if it happens to be better you are pleasantly surprised. I was still on narcotics at 3 days. I disposed of them before I finished the bottle, but I think it was day 4 or 5 maybe. We did go out to lunch at some point maybe around day 5 but that didn't mean that I was fine. It just meant that I could go out to an easy lunch with DH driving with the total time outside the house being 60 minutes, so it definitely wasn't an indicator of my recovery because those are kind of set goalposts (moving from narcotics to regular pain meds, follow up check ups, getting drains out, and then just overall healing, stitches coming out, skin pealing stuff like that. Full recovery of incisions is 6 months. I couldn't full appreciate what recovery would be like beforehand, but it is behind me now, and I am happy that I did it now. At the time, I was like I am never getting surgery again.
I’d also add that I dod not attempt any serious exercise besides walking for a solid 3 months after (and also didn’t really do any hardcore abdominal stuff until 6+ mos).
One other thing is make sure your surgeon is a BOARD CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON (caps on purpose). You can check here below. There are surgeons that will say they are "cosmetic" surgeons and are certified by this dubious "board of cosmetic surgery," but their training may be as a radiologist or a GYN. You only want a doctor that is BC by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. They have the education and training to be doing these surgeries.
Post by letsgetweird on Oct 19, 2023 0:53:48 GMT -5
For people that have had surgery, how many days do you need help after? I'm single and live alone so trying to figure out how long I would need someone to stay with me.
For people that have had surgery, how many days do you need help after? I'm single and live alone so trying to figure out how long I would need someone to stay with me.
My friend who was in this situation hired a nurse to stay at home with her for about 5 days. She has a dog and hired a dog walker for about 2 weeks I think.
For people that have had surgery, how many days do you need help after? I'm single and live alone so trying to figure out how long I would need someone to stay with me.
I lived with my ex-H at the time but might as well have been on my own. He was no help (truly, he hated blood and such.). I was ok on my own.
For people that have had surgery, how many days do you need help after? I'm single and live alone so trying to figure out how long I would need someone to stay with me.
my husband at the time went away for travel about 1.5 weeks after surgery and I took care of the kids alone for a week (correction I took them to school/daycare). I started driving at 1 week after surgery. If that helps
I wanted to update on this thread and thank the posters who gave me advice or their experiences.
I had a tummy tuck with muscle repair almost 6 weeks ago and recovery was easier than I expected and I am SO glad I did it. I’m the same weight as before but my clothes are way more comfortable and flattering and I’m just way more comfortable with my body overall. I’m happy to answer any questions for anyone else considering it!
I had a TT with muscle repair, flank lipo and breast reduction. Here is what I've told others about my recovery process:
1 week of absolute complete care. 2nd week you can start to care for yourself but not kids. 3rd week you be a contributing member of the house but still need to sit and rest A LOT 5th week - could stand fully straight and could watch the kids for like 2 hours at a time max and then I needed a good rest. 6th week - could resume housework
I had a 7yo, 5yo and 1yo at the time of surgery. We hired a nanny for a month since it was over the summer.
sdlaura I’m glad it went well! I see in the post you were trying to figure out the type and length of arrangements to make afterward. What did you end up doing?
My BBF had a tummy tuck, lipo, and her arms done about 10 years ago (She was @41). I was the one taking care of her - the first 4 days were very rough. She couldnt' get in/out of the recliner by herself, I had to shower her in the shower while she sat in a chair, help her on and off the toilet etc. The pain meds also made her very weepy by the end of the first week. The second week we could leave her alone for most of the day but I still went and helped around. Her daughter was college age and she lived in a split level home - so the stairs were hard for her as looking down was a challenge. I don't remember when she could drive but at least a week - it may have been two.
dexteroni I had the surgery at 7:30 am on a Monday. DH picked me up after and took me to my parents' condo. I stayed there for 3 nights and went back to my house Thursday morning. While at the condo I didn't need anything special beyond some extra pillows to make myself comfortable. I took the heavier pain meds for about 36 hours. I did work from my laptop from bed and did a meeting for a committee I'm on Wednesday night from bed.
That first weekend I tried to take it easy but was still able to take care of my kids while DH had one of our kids at sports, and throw in some laundry, go up and down stairs. Monday, a week after surgery, I went back to my office. I wasn't necessarily planning to go back to work that soon, but our house cleaner came that day and I wanted to get out of her way. My office isn't far away and I can be pretty sedentary at work. Two weeks and three days after surgery I flew for work - two one-hour flights up and back. I felt like I overdid it a little in terms of walking by the time I got back that night. 3 weeks post surgery we flew cross country on a family vacation and that was fine (I just tried not to lift the luggage). At four weeks I started doing some walking beyond just what is required in daily life (like for exercise) and some light/short pelotons. No lifting or jumping or bending too much. As of this coming Monday it will be 6 weeks and I'm cleared to get back to normal exercise.
I've been really diligent about wearing my compression garment pretty much 24/7. Ijust got the tummy tuck and muscle repair so I don't know if not having lipo/breast/other surgeries contributed to the relatively fast recovery. Also I think just sort of having to move a decent amount with my normal life may have helped the healing? In the initial days they tell you that you have to get up and move every hour or two even if you don't feel like it, so some amount of movement is a good thing.
ETA - I initially had two drains. I got the first one out 4 days after surgery and the other a week and a day after surgery. So I did still have one in when I went back to my office. It was pretty unobtrusive though - I just had it pinned to the inside of my shirt with a sweater over it and you really couldn’t tell.
Post by lemoncupcake on Apr 11, 2024 16:26:31 GMT -5
I’m glad that you have had a smooth recovery! I’ve thought of getting an a repair/tummy tuck but have put it off because I’m scared of the recovery. Your experience sounds totally doable though