Week 6

 

Heaps less pleating!

Pants on  hips! I love how you can't see any of the scar or pleating!

 

So its week 6 and this week I've stopped wearing my binder except for when I'm running and I feel as though my muscles are supporting me well. I've started doing some ab workouts! I just downloaded an app and have used it a couple of times. At the moment I'm just doing a 5 minute ab workout but already I can feel a six pack starting!!! How exciting to think that at some stage I might have a six pack!

One thing I've definitely noticed to have improved right from week 1, is that I am not having the lower back pain that I used to have. My lower back used to crack almost everytime I layed down but it has not cracked or had pain since the operation! Awesome!

I can really see a difference in the pleating, in particular the large pleat running down below my belly button! Its all definitely smoothing out and I'm really liking the results!

Week 5

 Close-up of the scar with skin pulled flat

 

 Close-up of scar

 



 Front view with knickers at normal position

 

Side view with knickers at normal position

 

 

Towards the end of this week I noticed some of the swelling has gone down. Also the pleating seems to be getting smoother. The scar has healed up well and I've started massaging it daily with Vitamin E cream in a circular motion, paying particular attention to the areas of scar that are wider or reddened. Exercising was much easier this week- I didnt have as much difficulty breathing this week and am not having to take things as easy as last week. Also, as of this week, I am clear to go back to work.

Week 4

 

Close-up of right side of scar 

Close-up of left side of scar

Knickers in normal position

Knickers in normal position

This week I've noticed a fair amount of swelling in my butt and thighs. This is normal and common as the lymphatic system has been interupted by a large cut and needs to 're-wire' itself, so there is a backlog of fluid. This should start to sort itself out over the next few weeks.

I started exercising again this week- just easing myself back into things. I did a bit of running, some cross trainer, some rowing and some weights. The hardest part was trying to breathe deeply when doing the workout. I feel as though my stomach cant expand enough to allow me to breathe deeply. Im not sure whether this is something that will resolve with time or if I need to work on a different breathing technique. I found that the rowing was the only thing that seemed to put strain on my stomach muscles but this resolved by adjusting my speed.

There was a small amount of bleeding from the left side of the scar at one point this week. I think that my clothes rubbed a part of the scar that had not fully closed yet. After applying pressure for a small amount of time, the bleeding stopped and I just re-applied tape to the two parts of the scar that had not yet closed properly to allow them the chance to heal without interuption.

All in all this week has been good- very little pain or discomfort and I feel for the most part back to normal.

Sorry- I did have another video but it wont upload for some reason!

Week 3



Week 3



Nice New bellybutton

What it looks like with my pants at normal position

Hey everyone! Its week three and some of the swelling is going down and I can now wear my button up and zip up pants instead of elastic waisted pants! I no longer need to wear tape over the scar and it is healing up really well! On Monday I had a bit of a coughing fit and started having some severe pain on the left side of my bellybutton. There was some swelling too! This continued on Tuesday too and my surgeon believes I've popped an internal stitch, so he advised me to take anti-inflammatories and pain relief for a few days. Next week I will have to start weaning myself off of wearing my binder and I can start working myself into exercise again.! Im so excited! When I was at the doctors he showed me the before pictures that were taken and I was surprised again as to the huge difference! I know there is alot of pleating still but when Im wearing clothes you cant see it and it looks lovely and flat! Its a massive improvement and Im very happy with the result so far! See you next week!