3rd Dr appointment

As we start week 3 it isn't as smooth. Oh the itching! On my right side it gets red and itch above the incision site. then it starts to spread. Driving me crazy. I had what I thought was a low fever Sun night. And an oozing from under the steri strips in the very front center. Paranoid I was sure it was infected. Chris was gone all day Monday so I couldn't get to the Dr and I had an appointment Tuesday morning so I just waited.

Get to the appointment and he says it is healing perfectly. Not an infection, it is a rash. I need to air it out more leaving the binder off as much as i can and can use powder when I have the binder on to help keep the area dry. This does help immensely. The bumps have faded but still gets red when I have had the binder on all day in that area. There was no ever when I woke up the next morning so I don't know if it really was a fever or not. The oozing the Dr said was normal. That area is under the most pressure. Keep the binder on and the swelling down will help that. See the catch 22 between the rash and oozing? But the oozing had pretty much stopped at this point.

The best part about this appointment was I loose my last drain! I was on the bubble on output and didn't take any drugs before the appointment but didn't think it would be an issue since it was so easy last time. But I could feel it coming out this time. He did it in small bits rather than trying to have me sit there pulling that whole tube all at once. Should have taken a valium. LOL He would have put the other one back in and I wouldn't have cared with one of those. Then they took out the rest of those staples.

Now the recommendations the Dr gave me. Now giving full disclosure here if you are reading this blog to plan for your own tummy tuck these recommendations don't seem to line up with what other women were told. I don't know if it is because I had muscles that required "extreme reconstructions" as my Dr keeps stressing, or that it was more of an extended tummy tuck going farther around the side and a little onto the back, or because I have other heath issues. I have several back and spinal issues and fibromyalgia. But one or many of these things seem to have prompted my Dr to give me a longer timeline for recovery than what others online have said. So don't plan by this.

But the Dr said I was recovering on schedule for what was done. The more internal work done the more painful the recovery. He was actually impressed at how the incision was healing and I was a little ahead of schedule. He stressed to not try and push myself to do things to fast. Just stand up a little straighter every day and let the skin stretch. But it has been proven my skin doesn't have great elasticity so don't push it. He has had patients that it has taken a year to get perfectly straight. Way to scare me dude. But just to walk a little more every day (know it is my back causing problems with walking being hunched over) and not to lift anything over 10lbs for 6 months. Oh and no tanning this year. Ok those last two through me for a loop.

I am not the type that goes and lays out in the sun. But I do like to swim with the kids and even with a high sunblock I get a tan. So I guess I need to clarify is it no tanning at all or no tanning in the incision area. I am assuming it is the later.