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If you've already had your tummy tuck please advise...



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Okay my tuck is scheduled for December 13th. My PS has a LOT of experience with ports and he will be moving and repositioning mine. He said I can get it unfilled before surgery or leave it, it's up to me.

Now if I leave it filled will anything from the surgery cause it to swell?

Also, I've been reading on the net and I found that most PS's recommend arnica tablets and bromelain to help with healing. I can't swallow anything bigger than a birth control pill most days. I can't even swallow a Tylenol unless it's a round shaped easy tab.

Did you take the Arnica or Bromelain?

Should I get a minor unfill just in case?

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I don't have any answers for you but I wanted to congratulate you on your weight loss. :)

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I didn't get unfilled for mine. My doctor said it wasn't necessary.

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I find post op any surgery that if I am at a really good/a little over filled post op I can barely take in liquids for 2 days and then I am fine.

So if you are a little worried or dont want to be in that situation, then I would get a slight unfill even .2cc makes a huge difference.

My doc was supposed to do an unfill after he knocked me out when I got my boobs done and he forgot so I just had to do 2 days hot liquids and Soups and now I am ok.

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I had to unfill my band for my bowel resection and given that I went on to have three bowel obstructions (which could easily have necessitated a nasogastric tube) whilst having cheme, this wasnt a bad thing. But I then refilled and my surgeon was absolutely fine with me leaving it filled for the closure of my ileostomy. Like others mention, I was tight for a day or two post op and then back to normal.

But if you cant even swallow a pill, hmmmm, that's pretty darn tight. I've never been that tight, so I knew I had room for some swelling without running into trouble.

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i didn't get an unfill or take any pills prior to my Tummy Tuck. i was eating fine that afternoon.

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I had a complete unfill because I get nauseous with anesthesia. Thank goodness I did get unfilled because it was hurl city from the anesthesia and pain meds.

Best wishes to you.

Sue

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I had my TT w/MR and port relocation 6 weeks ago today. I did not have any type of adjustment and I did just fine. Congratulations on your weight loss and upcoming procedure. My results are fabulous & I couldn't be happier.

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I had a complete unfill because I get nauseous with anesthesia. Thank goodness I did get unfilled because it was hurl city from the anesthesia and pain meds.

Best wishes to you.

Sue

I normally have the same problem but now before surgery they apply a Scopolamine patch behind my ear. That gets rid of all the nausea from anesthesia and then I take Phenergan 30 minutes before pain meds. That stops the nausea from the meds. The two work awesome for me.

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My port was moved during my TT and I was not unfilled and had no swelling issues

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I had my TT over a year ago. My PS asked me to have a defill because she was concerned about being able to take meds. I was on antibiotics for 7 days after surgery as well as pain meds for the first few days. Before the surgery I knew that I could have issues with taking pills and felt it was safer to just get the defill and not worry about it. I got a refill 9 days post-op and never had any issues with any of my pills :)

My PS also had my take arnica....she had a 'kit' of pills. I took 2 the day before surgery, and 2 more for 3 days post-op. It helps with swelling.

Good luck

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Okay my tuck is scheduled for December 13th. My PS has a LOT of experience with ports and he will be moving and repositioning mine. He said I can get it unfilled before surgery or leave it, it's up to me.

Now if I leave it filled will anything from the surgery cause it to swell?

Also, I've been reading on the net and I found that most PS's recommend arnica tablets and bromelain to help with healing. I can't swallow anything bigger than a birth control pill most days. I can't even swallow a Tylenol unless it's a round shaped easy tab.

Did you take the Arnica or Bromelain?

Should I get a minor unfill just in case?

I did not have my band unfilled and I have not experienced any swelling or tightness around my band. I am only 9 days post-op so I could be talking to soon. I bought Bromelain, but I try to avoid swallowing pills if possible. I took the Bromelain one day, but the pineapple juice seemed to work just as well to help the swelling. Bromelain is in pineapple. Just make sure you get the 'not from concentrate' pineapple juice or eat fresh pineapples to get more of the nutrients.

Good Luck with your upcoming surgery!

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Hi I am 10 days out from a body lift. I had some issues last spring with being too tight so had my bad unfilled and have had some restriction put back. I think I have about 4 or 5 cc in the band. So it is not really that tight. If you are not really tight and have no real issues than you might be Ok. If you think you are a bit tight than you may want to get some taken out. You should not take a chance with possibly getting anything stuck after this surgery. The first few days after you will not have much of an appetite and will be eating softer foods, Soup, Yogurt, etc. Understand that your stomach muscles will be really tight and you can't really use them. The recovery is hard and I did not start to really even feel like myself until a few days ago. Just returned from the Dr and they took another drain out. They told me that I am actually far ahead of most people that have had this surgery. Now understand I had a full lower body lift and chest work done. So this is a Tummy Tuck plus the back lifted and some chest work. I had a total of 6 drains which is a lot. If you are having a tummy tuck than you may have 2 drains. I had 2 for the front, 2 for the back and one on each side under my armpit.

If you have had any issues being tight than get some taken out before surgery.

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I had my TT and breast lift over a yr ago. My LB doc insisted on an unfill.....PS didn't see the need. I had all my post op meds written in liquid form. My port was moved about 4 inches from the original placement. I found my restriction was exacerbated by swelling. I didn't complain, I lost 12 pounds. My surgery and recovery was a breeze. I would let your experienced PS be the judge. You can always get an unfill if you need during you recovery. That's my 2 cents!

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Did not have an unfill, nausea patch worked great...

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

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