Revisiting Surgery Preparedness

A lot of people looking to have plastic surgery are desperate for information. What do you need? How will you feel? Whats gonna happen? Well, I’ve written a lot of posts about how I’ve prepared for my surgery (Tummy Tuck / Abdominoplasty with Placation and Arm Lift / Bracioplasty). Here, I’m consolidating and revisiting what I actually used and found helpful. If you want more detail of my journey, visit the “Plastic Surgery Journey” category to grab those posts.

First, lets start with what I haven’t mentioned on the blog specifically. Before the surgery, I packed a suitcase. This suitcase had everything I could wear in it. This way I could get my care givers to get me fresh pants or underwear or shirts without them having to dig around for them. Here’s what it had:

• Four pairs of BAGGY pants. I specifically ordered yoga and sweat pants that were one size too big for me. They were comically large — until I had surgery and swelled up like a balloon. I had read other people having to wear their boyfriends pants, well Mr C is skinny so I had to buy my own. YOU NEED BIG PANTS. You need loose clothes. LOOSE.
• Button up / zip up shirts. Your arms can’t function — how you gonna put a shirt on? How are you gonna access your stomach binder and drains. You’re gonna be wearing open front shirts – that’s how. I couldn’t even pretend to put on a tshirt until week 3.5 and I still don’t want to in week 4.
• Brief-style underwear. You might not wear underwear at first. The drains might, like mine, be coming from your mons pubic area. I, however, found that I prefer to wear underwear so that the drain tubes are held in place when I pull up my pants. You don’t want your care givers rifling through your underwear drawer and bringing you lacy bikini bottoms.
• Compression socks. These were required for my first two weeks.
• Compression pants. After my first week appointment, I was told to wear compression pants to help with the comical swelling of my thighs.
• Compression arm sleeves. Some people are fine with the ace bandages they were sent home in. I was not. Those things were tight and itchy and drove me NUTS. Order multiple types to see what you like. Then order and extra pair of the one you like. ‘Cause you can’t wear deodorant and your underarms get stinky so washing will be required at some point.
• Zip front bras. Yeah, same as the shirts. I’m a month post op and still cant put on a regular bra.

The next most handy thing I had was clutch. CLUTCH. I’ve mentioned it many times already — LIFT RECLINER. I rented a lift recliner. Having your stomach done, you can use your arms. Having your arms done too? Kinda fucked then. The proper way the nurses showed us to move me around was to bend over and let the patient hug you and then rise with them. It sounds so easy but it’s not. You don’t have to buy this thing — rent it! I paid $150 for the month and that included delivery and pickup. I just googled “medical supply store” near me and found three places that rented them out. It was required. I lived in it. It was my world for 2 weeks solid. And it got me up without fail and without my care givers freaking out about ripping my arms open.

Something no one mentions but appears in all their videos: Straws. I bought some long bended silicone straws. Your arms are so swollen and tight you can’t reach your mouth. You need a straw.

My well organized baskets from this post: “Surgery in T minus 4 days“. All three baskets were useful. It was great to be able to move them around to where I needed them. The hygiene basket mostly stayed in the bathroom. The medicine basket mostly stayed in the kitchen (but note how I had labeled all my medication in layman’s terms. That was a god send for my caretakers. Also visit that post for details like how you’re gonna NEED some stool softeners). The wound care basket was clutch though. Sometimes we did my wounds in the recliner. Or in my bedroom after my showers. Sometimes it was even in the kitchen. We didn’t have to grab a bunch of stuff or worry about forgetting something, we just grabbed the basket. So convenient. Here’s what it had repeated:

• Gloves
• Bandages
• Medical tape
• Brand new clean scissors
• Qtips
• Polysporin (the latter two for around the drainage sites)
• Antimicrobial soap
• Alcohol wipes (using one of these to strip your drains makes it a breeze — tip of the day).

I’m gonna mention stool softeners again. I’ve never had a problem with constipation. Even after surgeries. So I wasn’t too worried about this. However, I was instructed to start stool softeners 2 days before surgery and a laxative after. You gonna NEED THIS. I did as I was instructed and about three days post op, I felt like I was shitting shards of glass. That’s AFTER 5 days of stool softeners. Do what you are told for sure.

Rent a rollator or have chairs strategically placed. You’ll need a chair in the bathroom for brushing your teeth. You’ll need a chair in the shower. I also used it in the kitchen where I emptied my drains. But DON’T USE A WALKER! My doctor was very adamant — NO WALKERS. He said for 24 hours you can hunch. After that, your abdomen needs to be standing tall. You can walk loose and bend at the knees to relieve the pressure on the incision but you don’t want those newly repair ab muscles to heal in a hunchback position. No one needs that.

Pillows! Get all the pillows! Your arms need to be raised at all times. Or your hands will swell. It sucks. You also need a pillow under your knees — EVEN IN THE RECLINER. This reduces strain on the tummy tuck incision. You’ll need this when you move to the couch or bed too.

Binder. I already mentioned the arm sleeves. But you’ll have a tummy binder too. The one I was sent home in was difficult to put on. I had to have a friend come help Mr C put it back on me every time I took a shower because you have to have them so tight and well, your own arms are useless. At two weeks I switched to one I got on Amazon with three “belts” that velcro instead of one big piece. This means you can just stick one on there immediately to hold it around you. This allows you to line up your foam pads, move your drains, and make sure it’s centered. Then you can pick one of the other “belts” and strap it tight. Then pick another. Then another. Then keep doing them over and over in increments until you have it on tight enough. I bought this one from Amazon. I’ve got another being delivered this week that has more boning. We shall see if I like it better.

Lanyard or drain pouch. They sell pouches that hang around your neck to hold your drains in the shower. My doctor actually gave me a lanyard with their phone number on it so I could hook my drains to that in the shower. I also used it when I was sleeping in the recliner covered in pillows to attach my phone to. I had very limited reach and a lot of pillows all over me. Being able to retrieve my phone from around my neck was clutch for the first few days. And you gotta have something to hold your drains in the shower. Period.

Protein drinks. I drink Premier Protein but your body needs protein to heal. A LOT of protein. And you’re wearing a corset so you cant eat it all. Drink that shit.

This last thing — I hope you don’t need. 4 weeks in, I was doing great. I was undoing my drain dressings so I could hop in the shower and… I nicked a drain tube. It immediately lost suction. I freaked out. I called the doctor and they told me to go buy “medical foam tape” — it’s waterproof and stretchy. I sent Mr C out immediately to get some while I panicked about how I done fucked up. After a few attempts, though, I got it to hold suction again. So yeah, life saver. Be careful with those drains!

EDITED TO ADD: Toilet riser. I was in the best shape I’ve ever been in going into this surgery so strong legs were a key ingredient. Yeah squats! However, our house has “comfort height” toilets. If you have those regular short toilets, buy you a cheap toilet riser. It can be cheap — you don’t need it to last a year or two or three, just a few weeks. You’re only gonna have your legs to get you up off that toilet — don’t go down so low you can’t get back up!