So you’ve grown out of shape and you finally decide on a tummy tuck. You’re disenchanted that you can no longer put on your form fitting tops and pants owing to the bulging pool of skin hanging down around your waist. You begin feeling embarrassed because you feel chubby. This prompts you to yearn to get back your once incredible body shape. You are worried that the duration to heal will be lengthy and you will also need to be away from work, school and from the gym for quite some time.
This will require you to disrupt your obligations and daily normal routine which are of a huge concern and demand your involvement, but fortunate enough, the torment of the whole recovery process is only a miniature sacrifice you have to pay for a fine result of an oblate and tight tummy.
Disruptions to Normal Activities
Once you engage yourself to have surgery, it will have severe repercussions to your normal activities. You will need to requisite a week, at a minimum, from work or school. The maiden night will, without a doubt, be spent in the hospital where your tummy-tuck surgery will be monitored and the healing progress expedited. You can soon after be discharged and go home where you can rest comfortably and take the recovery process easy.
The impediments to this are that you cannot pick up your kids from school, reach for things on high shelves in your house or keep the room neat. The house rest, intrinsically, limits your movements for the first week but does not entirely put you on complete bed-rest. The reason for the house rest is to facilitate an abdominal drain, prevent pulling stitches and reduces aggravation of swelling. If this is observed, the stitches will come out between the 5th and 7th day.
Recovery Progress after First Week
If you feel in a robust position to go back to work after the first week, you can make the move but again you will need to limit your number of engagements. If your job description demands strenuous efforts and has a lot of physical involvement, you should discern that take another week off is rational. Alternatively, you could request for some desk work for a short stint. As you approach your second week after the surgery, you can subject your body to light exercises and assignments that require little physical efforts.
On the second week, you’re not yet ready to hit the gym and start lifting weights. The best exercise to embroil the now frail body is walking. This is to ensure that your blood is circulating properly and you can move around with ease. You could also consult your surgeon at this point on the numerous exercise plans you could take up.
Getting Back to a Normal Routine
After a months’ long gradual recovery and moderate exercising, you can now intensify your activity level. At this point, things will be back to normal at school, work and you can get back to your normal activity routines. Of course, everyone undergoes healing differently and this is just an average guideline. The more exceptional a person’s health is, the faster their healing rate. However, if everything doesn’t feel right during the recovery process, you should immediately consult your surgeon.
Don’t have lots plans post recovery because you could ruin the stitches and end up back in the hospital. It is important to follow the post- operative instructions of the tummy tuck surgeon for a swift healing process.
Dr. Gregory H. Croll is the owner of his own practice, and the leading doctor for tummy tucks in Columbia, MO.