Diastasis Repair. Tummy Tuck. Abdominoplasty. Week 1 and 2 .

I had a full tummy tuck. There is some nasty stigma around it.  I was told by a lot of people as a knee jerk reaction that I did not need a tummy tuck. I appreciate the comment from the perspective that I am not overweight.  But...I didn't get the surgery to fix a weight problem. I had the surgery for two reasons.  One was that I wanted it.  I had a lot of excess skin from my twins that didn't matter how much I weighed, it was there. I wanted rid of that. The second reason was separation in my abdominals, called diastasis recti.  This separation and the way it impacted me was a huge part of the decision.   In February I started with Sciatica once again, and the pain would not let up. Despite PT work, my diastasis was getting bigger.  The PT work had kept it at by for about 8 years, but it was no longer working. So after 6 months of trying to fix it I decided I was ready for surgery. I had met with Dr. Donaldson in 2020 when I was looking into the surgery for the first time, so it was an easy process to find the right doctor, because I had already met him! 

During the first meeting we went over what they would do in a Abdominoplasty procedure, and talked about the various options and what would work best for me. I viewed a bunch of photos of others who had undergone a similar surgery to what was recommended for me, and I left excited for my surgery on August 30th!  

I went in and surgery took a couple of hours, and it went great. They sutured my abs together, removed about 1/2lb (197g) of tissue and put me back together. I woke up groggy but not in much pain.  Once I started moving and getting dressed I could feel quite a bit of pain and I accepted pain meds.  Ry came back to help me, and we were heading home before I knew it.   When I needed to use the restroom I wanted to take off my binder and see what we had!  So Ryan helped me! 

This is my excited face on pain meds. 

I was pretty stoked, my incision was smaller than I envisioned, and my stomach was flat!  Already excited.

With my surgery, I had 1 drain put in. They told me to empty it every 4 hours and record the output...here is where things got dicey.  I was having to empty it every 60-90 minutes because it was filling up.  We put a call into the Dr. and waited to hear back. I went to the restroom around 6:30 PM and told Ryan I needed to get to the bed now because I was going to pass out. My face went numb and grey speckles came in and  clouded my eyes. I laid there kinda scared, but I had just had a major surgery so...I wasn't surprised my body was asking me to keep it slow! We spoke to the office and they requested photos.  So I got up and took my binder off again.  The swelling was UNREAL, but I had heard the swelling could be a lot, so I didn't feel surprised by it.   I remember saying "I think we need to go to the ER" as I hurried to sit and passed out.  Well, it wasn't swelling. It was a hematoma with a bleeding vessel.  

The following morning Dr. Donaldson met us at the surgery center, where my brain on tramadol had decided he would take a look and surely tell me it was not a hematoma, just swelling and send me home.  When I got there they started prepping me right away. I was still confident it was no problem. Dr walked in and said, "yep, that is a hematoma, surgery will take about and hour".  We moved on to talking about our cats. I had my second surgery to clean out the hematoma.  They found the active bleed and they were able to cauterize it.   I was home by 3PM.  Now instead of surgical glue I had steri-strips and I was quite sore. 

Over the next couple of days I walked lightly, did my best to eat high protein, and stayed hunched over.  I wore my binder all day everyday aside from showers and I had the immense pleasure of taking care of 2 drains instead of one. But I was feeling ok, and things were looking good despite CRAZY levels of swelling. 

Lots of swelling (to be expected) and double drains. 

The swelling in my pubic area and hips was extreme. 

The first week felt like an eternity. I felt like I could never get comfortable enough to sleep. I had a recliner and a set of wedge pillows.  All day I waited for bedtime, and all night I waited for coffee. It was not fun. My back hurt from being hunched, my head hurt from sleeping sitting up, and I felt anxious about everything.  

FINALLY 8 days after my first surgery I had my appointment to get my drains out and the output was low enough they could be removed! I needed less than 25 cc's for two consecutive 24 hour periods. I was well under that for each drain.  I was stoked to be drain free. I had heard it was painless to get them removed, so that eased my mind.   I went in and they told me everything looked great.  It was time to take out the drains. I exhaled, the nurse pulled, and it was out!  One down, one to go!  Same thing on the other side...only the drain didn't come out.  The nurse tried a few times and went to get help. Another nurse also tried and could not get it. They told me the drain would have to be cut out. I immediately began to cry. I think I was so overwhelmed by the idea of starting over and I panicked. It was not NEARLY as bad as I envisioned. Once Dr. Donaldson arrived, it was just a local lidocaine and 10 minutes and I was on my way home. I am so thankful for the way this was handled, Donaldson plastic surgery was quick to take care of things when I was really worried. They could have easily told me to come back in a day or 2 but instead Dr. Donaldson came to the office as soon as he was done with a surgery, and took care of the situation.

Drain free! 

Many women told me that once the drains were out, I would feel significantly better. Man oh man were they right! I still had quite a bit of swelling, low levels of energy. I really didn’t do much for the first 10 days aside from rest, work on my computer, eat, and mill around wishing it was time to shower so I could check my stomach again. Haha! My back hurt a lot by the end of each day from walking hunched. Sleeping without laying down was more and more annoying. I used pain meds for  4 days post op. Once I was off my pain medication. I struggled to sleep a bit. 

Photo of 2 weeks post op.

Photo of 2 weeks post op.

Before Surgery/1 week post op. 

By week two, it was safe to say I was thrilled I had gone forward with the surgery. I was able to make dinner and clean up stuff around the house. My energy levels were very low. I only had about 10-15 mins of moving around in me before I needed to rest. But that was expected and ok. I listened to my body and rested as much as I felt I needed. I also did a lot less than I would have a few years ago, and said no to doing anything more than I felt comfortable with. I read a lot, I worked, and I slept. I also vowed to stay the course and not try to push walking/working out in any fashion for the 6 weeks following surgery. That is always a hard thing to commit to for people who are used to working out, but I promised myself I would see this through.