Day 5 Post-Op (Pictures Finally Included)

Day 5 Post-op started with me awakened to complete agony. I woke up around 9 am. The night before, I took one demerol and two tylenol at 11 pm and went to sleep. So when I woke up, I had no pain meds at all in my system and it was horrible. I had an appointment at 11 am, and had no idea how I was going to possibly get dressed and get in the car and make it into the office.

I took one vicodin, a valium, got dressed, and left. I went into the doctor and told the nurse what was going on and she told me I should be able to walk about a half a mile by now, and should be in no discomfort whatsoever. I should be taking the full dose of my pain meds! That is one valium every six hours and two Vicodin every four hours. She gave me two more refills (part of the reason I was not taking them is that I was worried I would run out) and told me to go home, take the full doses, and then go to the pharmacy and have them filled, and to walk for thirty minutes while I was there.

The doctor came in and was amazed at how fantastic my abdomen looks. He said it was some of his best work - and he's a really popular surgeon. My swelling is minimal, and my surgical drains can start coming out next week.

Here are my pictures at 5 days post-op:

First, I'm sorry for the fuzziness and the spots on the mirror. a) I want this to be anonymous so you can't see my face AT ALL and b) I'm not cleaning my mirror, I just had a body lift. ;)

So, what you're seeing in the pictures is what feels like packing tape wrapped tightly around my body. In my case, since there was no lipo, this is the only binding I require, but most body lifts and tummy tucks will require a binding garment for several months. The tubes hanging from the groin area are the surgical drains I described in earlier posts. The liquid you see inside is reddish/yellowish and I think that's why I'm not swollen. That and I'm on a STRICT low sodium diet and I haven't cheated at all. Heck, I haven't eaten much, either. My stomach feels so tight that I don't have much room in there so I'm not eating much.

Back to the story of Day 5.

I did go to the pharmacy with my husband and three children. I was walking very slow and hunched over. I had the drains tucked into my pants and I was so worried they were going to ask to search me because it looked like I had stuffed merchandise into my pants. It hurt a little, but I got through the whole trip and felt great by the end! The pain meds had kicked in.

We came home and I was able to help get dinner on the table, eat with the family, play games with the kids, and clean out my own drains (my husband was happy about this).

This was such a dramatic change in how I felt in just one day!

The moral of the story of Day 5 is: TAKE YOUR PAIN MEDS!!