Hey guys! Just a quick update on me. I've been super busy lately. My husband and I are now proud, first time, home owners. We are loving it. The previous owners neglected the yard a little, so I have been busy tackling the dandelion and moss issues. It's a great strength training workout though removing that moss. I am having to rake it all out with a dethatching rake and it's alot of work! I do need to get back to my running again, but I'm trying to get my iron levels up first. I just went in for a bunch of blood work and I am borderline anemic again. I'm not sure why this keeps happening but my doctor (and I) suspect food intolerances to either dairy, gluten, or both. I am NOT allergic though (so that's good), we have done tests for that. Right now I'm back to eliminating those foods from my diet and hoping it helps the tummy problems and acne. Otherwise, I am doing great. I go in on Monday to have a dog ear from my tummy tuck removed on my left side. It is a quick, in office procedure. Hopefully after that this whole surgery thing will be put behind me. I do find that even though I'm over 7 months out of surgery, my tummy still seizes up from time to time for no apparent reason. I guess what they say is true, it does take a year to fully recover. I'm still very happy with my results and I'd do it again in a heart beat.

Well, it's been a long, hard recovery and I'm still not there! I am now 12 weeks post op, but I'm not "healed" completely. I mean, I handled the pain of the surgery well, and I was up and moving right away and living life as normal 2 days after surgery, but the exercise is another story. I was cleared to be active again after 6 weeks, but I found that I actually wasn't ready at that time. I tried ditching my compression garment and after a few days I had to start wearing it again. I also tried walking and running on my treadmill, that didn't go over well either. I would swell up so bad that I would feel like I would pop at any moment! That muscle repair is the worst part of the whole surgery. It feels so tight, like there's a two by four in your stomache. Even without exercising, sometimes (like right now), I'll just be sitting here and BOOM, instant swell for no reason at all. WTH? Apparently, this is normal and can go on for 6-12 months. It really throw your mind for a loop when you will wake up with a nice, flat tummy and by dinner time you look 5 months pregnant. Anyways, as of 2 weeks ago, I am back in my groove. I have been running on my treadmill daily and yesterday was a nice, sunny day so I even took it to the streets. It felt SO good to run outdoors. The only downside is that afterwards my whole tummy feels like pins and needles. I'm not sure why, maybe all the blood flow to my already numb tummy? Very, very odd sensation, but it doesn't hurt, so I'll keep at it. I did gain 5 lbs during my surgery recovery and Christmas holidays, but I've already lost 2 of it in the last 2 weeks, the other 3 will drop off no problem now that I'm running again. I'm not worried. I always journal my food intake, but it really seems like when I'm not being active, I gain weight! I think that I naturally have a slow metabolism and I will forever have to work out if I want to control my weight.

Tomorrow, I have to meet with my plastic surgeon. I am not looking forward to it. Overall, I am happy with my results, but I did have a phone conversation with her at the start of January about my dissatisfaction with the loose skin remaining on my sides. The original plan was to extend my tummy tuck incision to address this issue and at the last moment (literally as they were marking me before surgery) they informed me that they were only doing the incision at the front and not around my hips going towards my back. It is obvious to me that I needed an extended tummy tuck, but what am I going to do now? The surgeon insists that this was the best option for me and there's no way that I want to go under anaesthetic again, so I guess that I'll just have to live with it. It is definitely a huge improvement overall and there's no denying that it was worth every penny. I just wish that they would have completed the job as planned. They say that you should wait until 6 months or longer before you see the full results from this surgery, so I will wait until then before I post a full review about my surgeons and how I went about getting a great price at a top knotch surgical facility.