omg, it bought tears to my eyes. I did cop a little bit of holier than thou judgement from several people, not least my usually lovely lapband surgeon, because i didnt have a big flappy tummy. The before pics i took were on my phone and dont really show clearly what a mess my belly was, but oh, my, has it been cleaned up!!! I feel like the evidence of my brush with cancer has been erased, gone are the hernias, the ileostomy scar, the misshapen almost hernia behind the ileostomy, the ruined bellybutton, the adsortment of at least a dozen scars and punctures, the weird curtain of skin on my upper belly. The flatness of my new tummy is a bonus, at present with swelling, im about the same measurement as i was before, so my midsection is going to be very slender, unfortunately my ass is still the same size, lol. But without going into detail why did nobody tell ne how much better my, ah, bits would look? DH's eyes nearly popped out of his head! And my inner thighs are so smooth! Wowzers.

So...... Gone are all signs of one of the darkest periods of my life and in their place, one lovely smile on my tummy to remind me how lucky I am to be here and to be healthy. I didnt quite realise I would feel tjis way about it, and Ive been off the drugs for days, lol

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I'm from CT and it cost me 12500

I was self pay.no insurance

Thanks so much for sharing this information.

Maddy1 I'm having a tt in May and it will be about $8000.

Remember insurance quotes and self pay quotes are two very different things. I'm self pay.

Ok, so a week out today. No pain, Ive needed nothing since Saturday. I really hav to take it easy, its frustrating as I have no pain, and am well and recovered fro the anaesthetic, but I m simply helpless. In bed I m like a turtle on its back, lol. Ive pottered this morning, put away wasing, supervised my daughter cleaning her toom, showered and don my hair, tried on a few things from my wardrobe and done some light tidying, I am now literally bent double fro swelling, and I was three quarters of the way upright this morning. Doing nothing and allowing others to wait on you hand and foot is extraordinarily hard!

Main problem is Im having a little trouble pooping, lol. Given I dont have a rectum, all my push comes from my abdomen. So I will have to rely on the laxatives for a while.

Im going to the surgeon tomorrow, hopefully, ill be cleared to take a real shower.

Well, visited my surgeon today, he's very happy with how things have gone. Like I was warned, my scar is quite high because I simply didnt have enough skin to work with, and that's why I didnt have a tummy tuck a few years ago. Its taken till now for the scar to be worth the trade off - but I am ECSTATIC at how smooth and ummarked my tummy now is.

He took off the dressings, and I got to ahve a look at it. the scar is going to heal OK, I do heal up quite well and I"m sure in a year or two it'll just look like a big stretch mark. But I did race home and try on all my bikinis. I have quite a collection, lol. My days of a string bikini are over, the scar is simply too high. Its time for a more mature style (and I hear my kids sigh with relief). That's fine by me, to be able to look decent in a bikini at all is more than I ever dreamed off, especially at 44 years old.

He couldnt quite meet my caesar scar, so I have a double line there, and I suspect there will be a little bit of poochiness between the two when I am not swollen, he said I can revise later, but I doubt I'd bother. I really am pleased with the rejuventation of certain bits of me, lol, and my upper thighs look great.

Flatness wise, well, you can look at my gallery, there's really not a huge difference in profile. But I've lost the teeny tiny waist and bigger lower tummy look that I had, the lumpy appearance is gone, my belly button is now round and there's at least a dozen scars (including one three inch long nasty one) gone. The pics just dont do it justice. I am extremely bloated and swollen, cannot even nearly button any pants or jeans and much bigger roumd the middle than I normally am. I normally have ribcage and muscle visibility on my tummy, and you cant see either at the moment, so I am certain that the end result of this is going be phenomenal in a few months. Its just hard to be patient.

I do have a belly button by the way, the dressing on it makes me look like I have none, lol. Its still a little big angry, so I have to wait a day or two for a proper shower.

In addition, my port was tilted and half unstitched, which explains why it was so freakishly prominent. It is now right beside my navel, without its back, stitched firmly and will be almost invisible.

Anyway, here's a few pics to keep you going, lol. I cant stand up straight yet, so they're a bit weird and I also cant really twist enough to take any side on ones.

and here's a few befores:

Jacqui - You look incredible! Congrats.

Absolutely fantastic!!! You deserve it!!

Wow thank you for this. Now when ever I look at my TT scar I will now look at it as a smile on my tummy!!!. Having my TT was the second best thing I have done purely for myself. The first was having my band done. The results are amazing. In my late 40's my figure and flat tummy are better than they were in my teens. I now love my body!!!

You look marvelous! Congrats!,

You look great now .. keep healing well

you look amazing!! )

You look fantastic! I must say at first I thought they forgot your belly button! Then I saw the steri strips. I am happy you are so pleased with the result.

I really really am. Dh dragged me out shopping and I bought pair of skinny jeans, as well as bikinis I have a serious True Religion habit, I mean who can resist a pair on sale for only $160???? No overhang at all, none!!!

I think its important that people truly realise this is a major trade off scar wise though. My scar will definitely not be below the panttyline for any underwear/lingerie that I own or would choose to wear, its higher than some of my jeans and it will require careful choice of bathing suits, although a bikini is still fairly easy, the low rise and string styles wont be possible, although all the scars i had were flat and colourless and one or two were pretty big so in a year when its all healed it really may not worry me. Might be a huge issue if you were only 25 though.

I was absolutely prepared for this by my PS who made it clear that becuse I didnt have. A lot of loose skin I couldnt have an ultra low scar. It mkes you think a lot of tjose caesarean birth/tummy tuck stories about stars such as Angelina are probably bogus.

Its really been remarkably pain free, but so frustrating! Other surgeries Ive had very morning I wake up ith huge improvement. This surgery is s-l-o-w, every days progress immeasureable until you think about where you were three or four days ago. Im scared i will turn into a blob from lack of exercise, lol.