T-3 Days to Tummy Tuck

Let me start by saying that I did not make the choice to have a tummy tuck on the spur of the moment. I have been thinking about this for four years, seven months and nine days. Give or take.

I have had two children. My first daughter, now nine, was delivered via unplanned c-section and apart from the post c-section pouch that I developed, I eventually managed to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Then I was a surrogate for another family and although the experience of having given birth to a baby girl for that other family was and will always be an phenomenal experience for me, the physical fallout from that pregnancy has haunted me.

After the second pregnancy, my tummy gained the texture of cottage cheese and although the baby weight had gone, my stomach became wrinkly. When I suck my stomach in, it basically looks like an elephant's ear and when I don't suck it in, I pretty much look like I'm five months pregnant.

I exercise. And not sporadically. I walk between 5 and 10 km each day and have been since my first daughter was born. I do yoga and strength training and recently become a convert to the Wii Fit. I try to eat mindfully and most of the time succeed. (Unless it's around my period and then the call of the chocolate pretzels is hard to ignore.) I even hired a personal trainer for four months who told me that as strong as she might be able to make the rest of my body, the only way to get rid of the extra skin would be through surgery. It also turned out that I suffered from diastasis recti or separation of the abdominal muscles - I can fit the width of two fingers in between the left and right sides of my muscles now. So I started researching tummy tucks (abdominoplasty for those of you who like technical terms) online. I looked at before and after pics, I read about the procedure, I watched videos and frankly I got a little freaked out on several levels.

My areas of concern in no particular order:

1. Huge honking scar from hip to hip.
2. Drains that you might have to have in for several weeks, in which your bodily fluid is collected.
3. Being unable to stand up straight for possibly MANY days.
4. LOTS of pain.
5. Dying on the operating table.
6. Not being able to sleep.
7. People thinking I am a vain, self-involved woman with no sense of financial responsibility.

So the scar can be hidden by bikini panties. Check. Drains, well drains are pretty much gross and will always be gross, but are needed and can possibly help my daughter understand the concept of suction. Not being able to stand up straight - this is a given as your skin is stretched to your hip line; perhaps I can pretend that I'm Igor from Young Frankenstein. The pain can be helped with medication. Fear of dying on the operating table is being countered with my mantra "My recovery is swift and pain free." Not being able to sleep can be combated with the pain medication that will probably knock me out and wedge-shaped pillows that I have been practice sleeping with for the last two weeks. What people think of me I have no control over and as to whether or not I have financial responsibility... I'm using money that my Gran left me when she died.

My husband pretty much forbade me to use any of this inheritance to pave the driveway, put up a new fence or refinish the floors. He wanted me to do something just for me with this money and I cannot think of many other actions/purchases that would fit the bill more than a tummy tuck. Besides, I know that my Gran would be laughing (and probably shaking her head in disbelief) over this. And once I've healed? I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror and say "Thanks Gran!"  (note - 5 years gone past the surgery - I still say "Thanks Gran!)

I went to see three separate surgeons. I specifically wanted to see female surgeons as I felt they might have more of a notion as to what I might be going through. Two of the surgeons were great, the third facility scared the crap out of me when the "nurse" who spoke to me met me wearing black satin combat pants with 4-inch heels and had the face elasticity of a blow-up doll. The surgeon that I decided upon is the Chief of Cosmetic Surgery at a well-known Toronto hospital and has been friendly and knowledgeable on our consults. Her rate for the surgery also happened to be the least expensive, but at $6,600 Cdn - that's still a good chunk of change. But frankly, I'd been thinking it would have been at least $10,000, so I figure that I'm getting a bargain.

Tomorrow I will discuss how I've been preparing for the surgery and my expectations for the outcome.

Cheers!
Heather