Yesterday was a hard day for me emotionally and mentally. I think the REALITY of what I am embarking on hit me really hard! This is going to be a pretty big surgery... I will be in PAIN. I won't be able to pick up my 9 month old baby for a WHILE. It will be a few weeks before I can go hiking and workout.... I am a very active mom.... I LOVE to run, lift weights and I workout pretty much DAILY. So to be on the couch is going to be hard for me. I also love taking my kids hiking and to the beach and to the pool.... I know they will have fun at home because we live in a great neighborhood and they will have fun playing outside with their friends.... but it is just my own guilt that I am letting get to me.... and I can't think like that! Thinking about all the negatives is going to drive me crazy!
Also I have been freaking out about the COST of the surgery.... I live in a more expensive part of the country. That being said my surgery's are costing $13K total. That includes the browlift, FULL tummy tuck with muscle repair and a night in the hospital.
(Some doctors send their patients home the same day, but my Dr. likes to keep you in the hospital overnight- I think this is a good idea. I need to be away from my kids to really relax. If I was at home I would be stressing out and trying to help my husband.)
Originally it was only going to cost $11k .... my doctor was only going to do a MODIFIED tummy tuck... which was full muscle repair and then taking off only a little bit of skin and floating my belly button down a few cm. - So detaching the belly button and pulling my skin down and then re-attaching it. I started doing some research and most everything I read on the Internet made me think that this was something that I did not want. First of all your belly button is where it is at because that is where it belongs! To lower it could end up looking odd! And then my Dr. would be limited on how much skin he could tighter/take off because he could only lower my belly button a little bit before it would look very strange. And I want the most skin taken off possible. When I went back for my pre-op appointment a week from my surgery I told him my fears and let him know that I would rather have a slightly higher scar and maybe even a tiny vertical scar (the vertical scar would only happen if there was not enough skin to close the Full tuck, and would only be a few cm long) than think that not enough skin taken off. I know my Dr. was thinking of doing the "Umbilical Float" technique because I don't have a LOT of skin to remove like some woman maybe have.... and I would get good results with the float .... but I WANT the FLATTEST stomach possible. I don't want to be done with surgery and think .... oh, I wish he would have taken off . I am ONLY doing this ONCE.
So at my pre-op apt I told him my fears of the Modified Tuck not being enough. He again examined my stomach and said that 1) he may have underestimated the amount of loose skin that I had) and 2) he was glad that I brought this up because he suggested the Modified tuck because that was the least invasive of the two options and I would still get good results. BUT, it is really what the patient envisions... and he was glad that I told him that I would rather have the flattest possible than to be disappointed in the results that I get from the Modified tuck. And he agreed that a FULL tuck would give me a flatter stomach.... not to mention a NEW belly button (yeah!) In exchange for a flatter stomach, I am going to have to have a slightly higher scar, and I am fine with that.... I am a 32 year old mom of 4... I am NOT going to be wearing super skimpy bathing suits! (sorry husband). But SOME women would rather have less skin taken off and a lower scar... so it is important that you TALK to your surgeon and let him/her KNOW what YOU want and what is the most important to YOU!
I have made some extra money this year at my job and so that is why I am doing this surgery also.... I was able to pay $4,000 upfront. The rest ($9,000) we put on our credit card.... which DID have a ZERO balance. So now I have to deal with weight of having debt. I know it will get paid off... but as a mom I am used to putting myself LAST.... so to spend that much money on ME is hard. But I KNOW it will be worth it. Putting it on our credit card was the best option, because our interest rate is 9%, whereas a personal loan would have a 12% interest rate- because it would be an "unsecured loan". (unsecured because the bank cannot come and repo my tummy tuck, ha ha ha.)
