Surgery Update

Almost two weeks ago, on May 5th, I had my surgery. Mark, the boys, and I went down to Wilmington the night before and stayed in a hotel because I had to be at the surgeon's office by 7:30-7:45 AM, and there was NO WAY we would have been able to make it there by that time had we stayed home. I had a difficult time falling asleep because I was so anxious and excited! I turned the sound off on my phone, but left the alarm sound on, and kept telling myself Put your phone under your pillow, leave it alone, and the only time you will look at it is when you hear it in the morning when the alarm goes off. That did not happen though. I kept looking at my phone, checking Facebook, texting and BBMing family and friends, checking Twitter, etc. Eventually, I did fall asleep - but I kept waking up throughout the night!! Ugh. It was horrible. Not even my body and mind would let me sleep because I was that excited!

I woke up about 5:30-6:00 AM the day of my surgery. I didn't really need to wake up then, but I just wanted to wake up earlier than I had to so that I knew everyone and everything was ready to go before we left the hotel. I got to the surgeon's office with some time to spare, so Mark, the boys, and I just sat around in the waiting room and talked. After about 10-15 minutes, a nurse came over, asked if I was Stephanie, then she went over some stuff with Mark and me before I gave Mark and the boys hugs and kisses. Off to the back I went.

When I got to the back, I had to take a pregnancy test just as a precaution. They don't want to be performing surgery on a pregnant lady! Next, I went to the room where the nurse went over some more detailed stuff with me, I got undressed, put on the gown and other stuff I was required to wear, the anesthesiologist came in and did his job, the surgeon came in and talked me through everything, asked if I had any questions or concerns [which I didn't because I did all of my research, read the paperwork a million times, and I was ready for the surgery], and then a few minutes later, the anesthesiologist walked me back to the operating room. When I got there, there were a couple of nurses waiting for me. I got up on the operating table, laid down, and everyone was finishing getting me ready to for surgery. The nurses were having fun looking at all of my tattoos and reading them. They were surprised that someone of my age is so in love with stuff that's about twice as old as I am. The anesthesiologist then put the "mask" on me and told me that I'd soon be asleep. I kind of fought it for a minute or two because the nurses were talking to me, and I didn't want to end the conversation [I felt it would be rude, even though they knew it was going to happen LOL]. Then I was out.

Next thing I know, I'm barely awake, can hardly see anything because my eyes were still very heavy, I can hardly hear anything...but I heard a nurse telling me she's giving me a suppository. Immediately, my mind's racing, thinking What's a suppository? You've heard of it before. What is it? It's - OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! Let me tell you, that way of waking up goes in the Top Three Worst Ways to Wake Up!! LMAO. It was not fun at all! After that, I was taken to a little recovery room. The surgery only took less than four hours! I stayed in the recovery room for a little bit so that I could wake up and not be completely delirious. Mark came back after a couple minutes of me being in there, and then hilarity ensued. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, I told Mark, "I want Taco Bell and a margarita." HA! I don't eat Taco Bell and I have never had a margarita in my life! I was so out of it! More crazy things kept coming from me, and Mark was laughing. One of the nurses brought Michael back because he was crying, so I saw him and told him that everything's okay and he doesn't need to cry anymore. After about 2-3 minutes, the nurse took Michael back out to the waiting room to watch him and Brayden while Mark was back with me. While in the recovery room, the nurse said that pretty much skin was the only thing taken off, with some fat around certain spots, because of how well I take care of myself. They handed Mark the bag of the stuff the took off of me, and then to me. It felt heavy, but I wasn't really sure because I was still a bit out of it. [Mark later told me that it was a bit heavy.] But they didn't just remove skin and some fat. With an abdominoplasty, they tighten your abdominal muscles.

About two hours after getting out of surgery, everything was going well with me and there were no complications, so I got to go home. The nurse was surprised to see how well I was able to move and get myself in the car. Trust me, it wasn't easy, but I've had two C-sections, so I know how to work my way into an SUV after having my stomach and abdomen messed with.

The pain wasn't too bad, but I listened to my nurse and took the pain killers and muscle relaxers when I was supposed to for the first two or three days. I had tubes hanging out of my stomach, and I drained those twice a day. I took my antibiotics twice a day. About a week after the surgery, I got the tubes removed. I was so happy to see those things go because the last day or two, they were starting to hurt my hips a little bit because close to nothing was draining. I still can't stand up completely straight all the time, and I walk hunched over a little bit. My lower back and tailbone really suffer from not being able to stand up straight, too. But everything has just been very easy, overall. I have only had one or two moments where the pain was to a point where it really bothered me, but it only lasted a few minutes. To me, this whole process has been simple. I would do over again if I had to.

I haven't taken any after photographs yet because I'm still a little swollen and things aren't "in place" yet. However, I am already much happier with the way I look! Yeah, my boobs may be a bit bigger and perkier than they're going to be once I'm fully healed and recovered, but I'm okay with that. I don't need monstrous boobs that I can rest my chin on. My stomach is a bit swollen, bumpy, ugly looking, and I have to wear spanx or binding for a while, but I know that it'll be worth it in the end. I can move around quite a bit, but there are still some things I can't do on my own.

I do have some photographs that I took the day before my surgery. I haven't shown them to anyone, not even Mark. I took three photographs of myself in a swim suit so that you can really see just how bad things were. People never wanted to believe me when I would say how saggy the skin on my stomach was, how stretched out the skin was, etc. My skin has NEVER been forgiving when it comes to stretching out! My skin was always very firm and tight growing up, and my pregnancies just stretched my skin very badly. But here are the photographs that were taken the day before my surgery.