OUCH!
I have a friend who lives in LA who just had a tummy tuck and breast augmentation. She is on her first day after surgery. She is a tough cookie, and her words to me today were, “This really hurts!!”
One of the most common mommy makeover surgeries is breast augmentation and tummy tuck. These by themselves are the two most painful surgeries we do as plastic surgeons. These surgeries hurt because of the muscle. For tummy tucks, I like to put in a pain pump which drips numbing medication internally to help. In addition we give you pain medication and some of us use muscle relaxants as well. Even with all of this, it still hurts.
For planning how to deal with your family life (as you are a mom, hence the mommy makeover):
- the first 2-3 days you are OUT. You will be on medication round the clock. Someone else should care for your kids. And you.
- The first one to two weeks you will be very sore. No driving until you are off pain medication. As for when you will feel normal again and be doing your daily life things, people vary. Every person is different as to when they get over the “hump” and feel better.
- No heavy lifting (yes, this includes your adorable children) until much farther out. Exactly when you can lift something over 5-10 pounds is not a hard rule. Some of it depends on you and your tissue. Your doctor will know what that means. Here plastic surgeons differ on their recommendations for activity level, so defer to your doctor. Tensile strength of your wound (how strong your repair is) is weakest at three weeks out from surgery. Usually you can’t do any exercise until at least 6 weeks out. For core body exercise (pilates, crunches, that favorite daily method place in menlo park, etc) I extend that until 3 months.
Give yourself time. It took you 9 months (and for those of you with multiple kids, multiply that time) to get into this mess, it will take you a while until you feel normal again. This is normal.