August 4, 2016
Wow – it has been a long time since I’ve posted. Between getting back into-the-swing-of-things at school & 3 children recovering from hand-foot-and-mouth disease, I have been extremely busy to say the least. But things have finally calmed down in my crazy household and I have some free time to give y’all an update.
As of last Friday (July 29th) I am free!!
- I no longer have to wear the life-sucking binder (even though I grew a little fond of it towards the end).
- I am finally allowed to sleep laying on my sides (which means I can get back into my own bed and get out of the recliner chain – hubby is definitely happy about this).
- I can finally go swimming & sit in a bathtub (You know what this means – BIKINI SHOPPING!!)
- I can finally exercise again (with the exception of any chest exercises to avoid the implant shifting into the armpit).
- AND …. I can finally lift my children (but don’t tell Dr. Soto that I was actually lifting my 16 month old at 4 weeks post op …. Shhhhhh)
However, with all of my new freedoms, I still have to:
- Take 2 Vitamin E pills a day
- Do my breast massages 3x a day
- Wear surgical tape over my incisions until my scars become flat and light in color.
- And apply the super expensive wrinkle cream on my scars after every shower.
Speaking of my scars, I think they have improved drastically!!! What do y’all think? The first photo was my scar on day 12 (which was the first day that I had my surgical tape removed) & the second photo is my scar today. So far I am extremely pleased. Luckily, I scar quite nicely. In fact, after 3 years, I couldn’t even see my C-section scar; so I am confident that these scars will heal in the same way.
Also, take a look at the freckle I’m pointing to in the 2nd picture … Can you believe that my freckle was once near my original bellybutton? And now it’s way down there? I am simply amazed (and a little amused). And yes, my skin is as tight as it looks. My skin is so tight that you literally cannot pinch the skin on my stomach (many people have tried with zero success)!!! It is a strangely awesome tight feeling and I LOVE IT!!!
I also tried running for the first time on Monday and it wasn’t that bad. While running I could feel the tension & pull in my abs and on my tummy tuck incision, but it wasn’t painful at all. It just feels different & tight, and I’m sure it will just be something that I need to get used to. I seriously cannot wait to start getting some of my muscle tone back. Hopefully it will be easier to get back some of my muscle tone then it was to originally achieve it in the first place.
If you think the scars look great now, they are only going to get better. Dr. Soto has an amazing wrinkle cream that he likes to use for scar treatment! I know what you are thinking …. Why a wrinkle cream? Well, as the scar heals (and wrinkles-up) the wrinkle cream helps smooth-out the scars and the dark color that usually accompanies a new scar. Unfortunately, this wrinkle cream comes with a pretty price tag; but if it yields the scars that I’ve seen on his before/after photos, then I believe that it’s worth the money. And at this point, I’ve already invested in getting my pre-baby-body back, I might as well finish the final look with light-beautiful-scars.
