Preparing for Abdominoplasty

I am having abdominoplasty and panniculectomy in 23 days. I'm really looking forward to having this "skin apron" removed! Is there anything that I should be prepared for and/or make sure I have on hand before surgery? Also, what should I expect as far as recovery time? Thanks for your input!

If you don't have one - get an electric recliner that helps you stand up.  They are about $700, but I got one on craigslist for $40 and steamed cleaned it twice. 

I slept in my bed with lots of pillows. Raised toilet seat was a godsend. Getting up and down is hard. Wear your binder

Good luck with your surgery!! Hope you will get well soon. Also don't forget to update your status. 

I had and extended abdominoplasty. they went a little bit further with me. Getting up was the hardest thing for me. Well, that and the drains. Remember to keep that binder on. Any assistance you can get will help.

I am having surgery for the same in December.  Keep me posted :)

I had a wedge pillow for my bed to raise my upper body and lots of pillows under my legs.  I slept better that way than in a recliner.  I had a shower seat and it was great if you can swing it, it was helpful.  Lots of garments that zipped in the front.  I wore a zip front robe home from the hosp.  I wore a lot of sweatshirt, robe type things cause getting dressed was a lot for me.  One of the best things I got was a blow up ring, my tail bone hurt from all the sitting around I did.

I had a anchor tummy tuck with a breast augmentation in March.  The first week was not the greatest but got much better after that.  Just make sure you rest and don't push yourself take the time to heal you are worth the time!  This was the best decision I have made to have this surgery. 

I am here to answer any questions if you have any!

Karen

Everything everyone said above plus do not do more lifting than recommended by your doctor, even if you feel great.  Especially if you're having muscle repair.  I hurt my new belly button at 1 month out because I thought I knew more than the doctor and lifted some bags of kitty litter.  

Also, coughing and sneezing will be painful so hold a pillow against your abdomen.  Wear your binder religiously, and, I highly suggest a muscle shirt or t-shirt 24/7 worn underneath it and thick gauze pads against your incisions & drain openings as the binder can chafe you.  The first 2-3 days are rough but improve thereafter.  And the binder is your friend.

Make sure you take Colace and/or Senekot in conjunction with your pain meds starting day 1 until you have as least 2-3 poops that first week but better as long as you're on Rx pain meds.  Post surgical constipation is a real problem.  I ended up in urgent care at 1 week post op needing 2 enemas and experiencing worse pain than any surgical pain - I was impacted/blocked up bad from the meds.  Miralax did not work for me with the meds and no one at the hospital thought to give it to me anything the 2 nights I was in post-op.  I cannot stress this enough.  

Take help where you can get it, don't push too hard to get back to 'normal' super fast.  It's a huge surgery and requires appropriate recovery time.  Get lots of rest, walk, do the blood thinner injections (they really aren't that bad) and don't fret when you see all the swelling.  It'll be there for several weeks and you won't feel much smaller but it does go away and the changes are amazing.

Good luck! You're going to love the results.  

I did best when I had a few different places in the house where I could be comfortable - elec recliner in the liv room, pillows and wedges in bed, and a reg recliner at a friends house - she would pull the lever for me and make it go back.  It was a solid 2 months recovery for me. 

Also, my dr wanted 100 gms of protein for a month before and 2 months after surgery .  I have tried to stay there.

Well I had a full lower body lift (LBL) along with a breast lift in my first plastic surgery, and this is what I posted after that...hope it helps!

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Now, there are people *****nt reclining chairs and shop for 100 new things for after surgery, but for me it really was not necessary. Here is my comprehensive list.

Things I needed:

• A wedge pillow (I don't have a recliner, the wedge pillow was perfect).  I slept on my back for at least a week. I got this one online http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HHLBKK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• A stepstool next to my bed to put a water bottle on, my cell phone, my OxyCodone for the middle of the night (plus some snacks since I can't take it on an empty stomach), a magazine, chapstick, etc. since I couldn't twist or reach enough to get things from my nightstand.
• Someone to stay with me for a week, to help fetch me food and drinks and pills, to empty my drains, to just sit next to me while I felt crappy
• Pantiliners, to put over your incisions before you put a tank top on and then a binder over that
• A crappy tank top or t-shirt that can get bloody to wear under the binder and unsexy bra
• The abdominal binder that the doc sent me home from the hospital with
• The weird front closure non-underwire bra that Dr. Michaels sent me home from the hospital with
• All of my prescriptions filled and ready BEFORE surgery (I had zofran for nausea, OxyCodone for pain, Valium for muscle spasms, an antibiotic to fend off infection, Lovanox to thin my blood)
• Non-prescription meds like Tylenol (I had a few headaches), Colace (stool softener), Senno (laxative)
• Neosporin or bacatracin for your belly button and any random skin rubs you have
• Gentle lotion like Eucerin because your skin (the skin without incisions) gets itchy being all wrapped up tightly.
• A lanyard to wear around your neck and hook your drains to while you are in the shower.
• A clean apartment and clean sheets on the bed and clean towels.  You don't want to have to worry about that after surgery, and you don't want to get infections either!
• Protein, protein, protein.  Some bars, some chicken, some fish...whatever your favorite protein is...protein helps you heal so have your fridge and freezer stocked.

Things I wish I had known:

• I felt like I couldn't breathe the first few nights.  The binder is tight but also if your doc tightens your abdominal muscles, it literally leaves you breathless.
• The importance of butt augmentation.  Some docs do it, some don't.  Mine does and thank god.  Rather than have that flat "I have been pulled up and pulled down and then sewn together" look, I could be a distant Kardashian cousin.  I am still LOVING it.
• The LBL helps the outer thigh sag, but not the inner thigh sag.  I sort of knew this, but now I really know this.
• I was swollen.  I was also up 10 lbs.  As WLS patients, we are trained to have a good day when the scale is down and a bad day when the scale is up.  Well my scale was up 10 lbs right after surgery.  Kind of demoralizing.  But I knew it was swelling and water weight so I forced myself to not obsess over this.  Don't be shocked!
• There is definitely an emotional component to this.  Night 2 I was hyperventilating from the pain and super regretful.  I got into a thought pattern of "why am I here?  Why did I get so fat that I needed surgery to get normal, and then now I am not even normal, I had to have another surgery to cut skin off my body, I can't believe I did this to myself, I'm such an asshole".  Luckily this was short-lived.  But I definitely had some self-hating moments!

Would I do this again? Twice today, and twice tomorrow.  Even despite the pain and regret on the second night after the LBL, the pain greatly diminished within the first week and I managed well with painkillers.  Almost two years after my LBL, my body looks amazing.