Wow… So it’s been six weeks since the surgery.
In some ways, it feels like I healed up in no time at all.
I still remember the first two weeks, though… Those did not feel like no time. I felt EVERY ONE OF THOSE DAYS!
Still… in the grand scheme of things, I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
Do you know what I have never, ever, ever, ever owned at any point during the entire 35 years I have been in existence on this planet?
I’ll wait while you ponder that… I imagine there are, in fact, several more answers than the one I am considering now.
But anyway…
—
I have NEVER owned, worn, or contemplated a Two Piece swim suit.
As a kid, well, that’s something my mom just didn’t go in for.
Then, once I was past 12, I was already big enough that society’s message of “hey, fatty! no one wants to see you in a bikini, you are gross!” was already coming through loud and clear. (oh how I wish someone had taught me the true meaning of the words “Screw you” back then)
As an older teen, I was so horrified and shamed by my very existence that the idea of swimming in front of anyone at all, no matter what I was wearing (and I often wore a t-shirt over my suit) was unthinkable.
So here I am, 35 years old… never had a bikini.
Until yesterday.
When I went out on the internet and I ordered this:
and this:
And just for good measure, even though it’s a one-piece, but hey – it has SUSHI! – this:
I looked on a ton of sites and all the two piece suits I managed to find appeared to be designed for beach hookers. I am not interested in looking like a beach hooker. I am interested in finding something that looks athletic, and work-outy and like I would like to swim because I am looking for exercise, not a date. (but hey, at the same time, I DO want a two piece – I PAID for this belly, dammit! and I’m going to show it while I’ve got it! – yes! even the stretch marks!)
But then I found this site: http://www.swimoutlet.com/ that sells fitness and competition swimwear – like for people who want to actually swim, and who would maybe like the suit to cover at least some part of their butts! And who, just perhaps, might need more than a tiny triangle of material to cover the boobal area because hey, they might be small, but they are 35 years old now and need something to rein those puppies in.
So, I found what I wanted, I looked at the size charts and read the reviews of what people had to say about the fit. And I ordered them.
They’ve already shipped, so if they come in by Tuesday, I’ll take my six week tummy tuck photo in one of them – since I need to post that anyway. And if they don’t fit, well, I picked a site with a good return policy, and I can exchange them for a different size.
Yay!
So I got a GIANT package of information about my surgery in the mail.
I am exceedingly please with the amount and kind of information offered by the PS office. (By the way – yes – I will be naming the Dr and the practice… but I thought that I would do so only at the end of this process, so that I would have my opinion of the WHOLE thing to go on before naming any names).
In addition to the typical “what’s involved in your surgery” info that I would have expected (and frankly already knew, having been obsessively researching this for some time now), they also sent some very interesting info about what to expect emotionally after the event, which I WAS surprised by because other than the occasional “General Anesthesia can sometimes cause temporary depression” warning I found, I had not seen the expectations laid out nearly so clearly anywhere else.
It seems that cosmetic surgery has something akin to the “stages of grief” (only not really grief) that pretty much everyone experiences.
The first week I can expect to be on something of an emotional roller coaster… from the first couple of days of drug induced zombieism to later antsiness – wanting to get up, etc. to (I am hoping not) being a royal pain in the ass to the care-giver by the end of the week – all whiney and complaining like.
Also included in week 1 (around day 3, I believe) is the “oh my god, what have I done / why did I do this to myself!) I am going to assume that this is because the swelling peaks around day 2 / 3 and what with that, the bandages, the drains, and the “not able to shower yet”, I can imagine that a lot of people think (at that point) that it might not have been worth it.
Handily, that all gets packed into one wild and crazy fun filled week of at-home recuperation full of couch-sitting and TV watching.
Week 2 brings with it a lessening of the swelling, and, OH JOY! The nit-picky phase of recovery in which I will be all “well the scar is a millimeter higher over here than it is on this side – OMG! The whole thing is RUINED!! RUINED!!!”But on the up-side, physically I should be feeling much much better during week 2. I’ll be going back to work (Because, let’s face it, I have a cushy desk job and it’s not going to e that difficult to come sit in the office instead of sitting on the couch.) I think the hardest part for week 2 will be feeling better, but still be COMPLETELY BARRED from any and all aerobic activity.
Week 3 – Yay! Able to get back to physical activity, swelling pretty much gone, back to feeling like old self, only old self with an awesome flat tummy that I will want to show off to everyone. At this point, I WILL avoid pulling up my shirt to every random passer-by like a three year old with pretty new undies. I do have that much self control, at least.
I am very glad that they included this information in the packet along with more mundane information like the vitamins I have to take and the medicines to avoid and how long until I can exercise, etc. etc.
I feel like now forewarned is forearmed and I can head these crazy thoughts and feelings off at the pass if they start sneaking around in my head. At the very least, I can try to keep them in my head and not inflict them on the SB… for whom I will do everything in my power to make sure his “caretaker” role in this is a relatively easy and painless one and not an endless series of fetching me things and petting my head and reassuring me about whatever crazy OCD thing pops into my skull.
My Pre-op appointment is on Friday, when I will talk to the surgeon about the things I forgot to ask at my consultation, I will see some before and after pics of other surgeries, I will impress upon him the importance of an awesomely cute bully button, and all the other things that I really ought to write down on a sheet of paper as I go along this week so I don’t re-forget when I am in the office.
Only 3 weeks to go!!
|
