Today I’m about 6.5 weeks post op (closer to 7 but hey, who’s counting?) and I’ve flown from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, attended a 4 day convention in Phoenix, AZ and drove from Phoenix up to WA state in almost 2 weeks. It also wouldn’t be a trip to the United States if I didn’t do a little hiking. So far I’ve done about 8 miles but with an altitude gain of almost 3,000 feet (914 meter). Not bad for almost 7 weeks post op.
So, how are things really going? Well, I only look about 4 months pregnant if I wear a tight girl tshirt now. My stomach is still swollen and really hard in spots, and kind of painful (not so painful I couldn’t take the roller coaster at New York New York in Las Vegas last week!). The pain is a sensory pain, it doesn’t hurt when I’m walking or what not.
The bruising is all gone and the skin is getting wrinkly and shrinking. Every week it gets more and more obvious that I’ll need a tummy tuck to get rid of the loose skin.
And speaking of loose skin, I found out on the 6 mile hike that the loose skin (even under my compression) is starting to rub and create pain and sores when exercising. So it really will be something I have to take care of sooner rather than later since I lead a very active life.
I’m no longer having the shooting pains as often as I did in weeks 2-4. They still occur sometimes, maybe 1x or 2x a week, but they still occur in my thighs, arms and butt sometimes too (haven’t noticed it in my calves for a very long time, which was my first surgery in February of 2016).
My walking gait has changed once again, which I probably shouldn’t be surprised about, but it’s been pretty annoying. Especially since the pain in my knees started at about week 4 post op and I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to get any hiking in. However, I’ve found that if I’m taking sufficient recovery in between hiking trips while I’m here in the states, it’s doing ok. I also notice the muscle pain in my lower back has changed a bit since I’m no longer in an anterior pelvic tilt, which is nice. Now I just need to work that out (probably will need some dry needling when I get back to the Netherlands).
I’m still in compression during the day since my surgeon ordered it for 8 weeks and I’m almost 7 post op. I don’t have to wear it at night (at about 3.5 weeks he told me I could sleep without it), just during the day when I’m out and about. I got a size too small pair of spanx to use while out hiking, so I don’t have to struggle with the compression suit, which has worked brilliantly. Honestly I don’t think I’ll be doing any activity anytime soon without some sort of spandex or spanx to offer a little compression to hold things in.
Overall, everything is going really well and now I need to look towards operation #7. I’ll be seeing my surgeon again next month (May 2017) so he can see the current results and we can decide the next course of action. More liposuction before the tummy tuck or try for the tummy tuck (under insurance) first.
PetraAnn
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