I want a TT

deyanne · April 4, 2005

absolutely amazing , you look great....thank you for sharing your pics.....i am yet to have a first visit with my dr's but every time i get on this site and read more about this lap band procedure i just cant wait.....

so many years of bad eating and bad food,it so hard to change practically overnight, but to me the key is to want to change and that is wot i am gonna do, and going by all on here even with the horrid puking you all talk about and possible complications from surgery etc.....still hasnt put me off, so bring it all on i say hahahaahahaha.....

thanks again for sharing your pics......

Mariposa Bella · April 4, 2005

Tangerine, Can you please give me more specific info, I have scheduled my tt for the second week in July (don't have exact date yet) and liposculpture, I am quite excited, but still have lots of questions, how lond did you stay in the hospital? Do they stitch you up or do staples? Is it very painful? I had a Csection back in 1991 and it was quite painful and the cut was much smaller than what a tt cut is (from hip to hip) please give me all the specific details, I work a desk job and can only take about three weeks off, do you think its realistic of me to think I can come back to work after three weeks, My mom is going to be taking care of me and my kids, so that will be wonderful, but I'm a big baby and even though I'm excited, I'm scared too. Well any info will be appreciated, and you look just awesome, wonderful, fantastic, well, you already now.

tangerine · April 5, 2005

Estela, congrats on your upcoming surgery! You too, deyanne, I hope the band works out to be an amazing tool for you.

I stayed one night in the hospital, my surgeon insisted on it since I had a 2 hour ride home. He didn't want me to have to endure that mere hours after my surgery. Most tummy tucks are done on an outpatient basis, though, so you would have to ask your doctor to be sure. You'll have to ask your doctor about the stitches/staples as well. My surgeon doesn't believe in staples for a cosmetic procedure, so I had thousands of dissolving stitches underneath the skin, and then steri-strips holding the external incision together. The only visible stitches that I had were the two holding the drains in. My scar is extremely thin and nearly perfect; in some places you can't even see it. Ask your doctor where your scar will be as well. Mine is just above my thighs, from hip to hip, so you can't see it even with the tiniest of tiny undies on.

Pain. That's so relative! I never had incision pain. Since so many nerves and vasculature is cut, you will be numb. I'm still kind of numb in some spots, and every once in a while, I get little twinges or tingles in the incision area. The incision burned a bit about a week or so after the surgery, but it wasn't really painful. Your abdominal muscles will hurt though, and if you have horrible swelling like I had (I sure wish you don't!), the pressure is painful. The doctor will give you good drugs though, so use them! You'll learn new ways to get up from a sitting position, and you won't be able to lay flat or walk upright for a couple of weeks. The most pain I had was in my back from walking bent over for so long! :cool: I'm a bartender, so I was out of work for about 6 weeks total...I tried to go back earlier, but I had to keep leaving early...but I could definitely have done a desk job at 3 weeks as long as it didn't require a whole lot of walking.

My lifesavers were kotex pads, believe it or not! One of my drains was leaking out of the hole instead of into the drain tube, and kotex pads are much more absorbent and cheaper than gauze pads. My incision drained for a long time too, from the seroma (Fluid collected under the skin), so the kotex saved my life. You may not need them, but I recommend that you buy a bag of the "overnights" and have them in the house just in case.

I don't know if you've ever had drains before, but it's really kinda funky when the doctor pulls them out. Not painful per se, but really, really weird. I wasn't quite prepared for how weird it would be. The drain holes were tender while the drains were in, but mine were only in for 4 days, so they never got too bad. Once the drains were out, the holes closed up in about 2 days.

I'm glad that you will have help! You will need it, and make sure you ask for help even if you don't think you really need it. And make your mom stay in the bathroom with you when you shower the first few times! Showering was very tough for me, because I felt so weird and unstable without the binder on. Now my abdominal muscles are stronger than ever, but those first 4 weeks or so it was SO hard to be without the binder. Don't push yourself, definitely use the pain medication, but don't be aftraid to let your body feel *some* pain so you know where your limits are.

I think I've covered most of it, if I haven't bored you to tears already. Just make sure you follow your surgeon's instructions and make sure you find out about follow-up care. I could call my surgeon's service at 2am and get a call back from him within 10 minutes if I were having a problem. Make sure your surgeon will be available to you for any problems that may arise.

Oh! I asked for a script for Roxicet in the hospital. It's the liquid form of percocet. It works almost immediately and I was able to swallow it with ease. I didn't get unfilled before my surgery and I was SO afraid of how my band was going to react, and I didn't want to try to swallow pills. Turned out that my band was fine and I could swallow pills, but I'd ask for Roxicet instead of percocet in a heartbeat again next time since it just made life easier. Percocet is not fun to try to eat crushed up in applesauce if you're having a cranky band day!

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask here, or PM me. I'll answer anything I can!

New Hope · April 5, 2005

Alexis, did you start documenting skin rashes with your plastic surgeon as soon as they started developing? And I guess they just keep reoccuring, don't they? You were banded 18 months when you got your TT, correct? And did you say that the insurance will cover a tt, depending on how the surgeon words it? A pannelectomy is just the very low abdominal area, correct? Is the TT done in one procedure? Did you have any Lipo. done during this surgery also? Sorry so many ?? But you're so good to explain everything. And it's so encouraging to see someone loose their weight and look so beautiful! Thank's so much for sharing with us "wanna-bes".

Mariposa Bella · April 5, 2005

Alexis, thank you so much for explaining in such detail your procedure, I feel better now. I know what you mean about the drain, when I had my C section I had a drain and the removal was quite a feeling, not painful, but stomach upsetting, at least for me it was, it gave me a quezy feeling, oh well. I am so looking forward to it. I was planning on late July, but now my boss thinks she is going out of town on my dates, so I probably have to move my dates to late June which is better, I guess. I'll have more time to recupperate before I have to do all the running around to get the kids started back to school and all that good stuff. Well I very much appreciate all your help, oh, one more question, After your tt, when you start excercising, can you further tighten your stomach muscles, or what you'll have is what you get, I'm thinking with this flab gone and with the ps help, if I work harder and do all my crunches, I can really get some nice looling abs, what do you think? Well talk to you later and again, YOu look fabulous my daling!!!