7 weeks post op body lift, 3 weeks post op abscess removal

Days have been getting better since my birthday... that night my daughter crawled officially for the first time.  She has been pulling up on things and attempting to crawl for almost 2 months but she finally figured it out and is non-stop now =)

The following day I decided to keep the kids home for the first time since the hospital where I would have them for a few hours by myself.  I'm still on the wound vac and limited to my mobility but I thought I could figure it out.  This was Thursday... neither one of them woke up until 10:00 a.m. (both had gone down at 9:00 p.m.) and they were both in great moods and low maintenance.  Anna took a 3 hour nap which helped, and by the time she woke up, Mark was on his way home.

Friday my mom came over to help with the kids and they were a little harder on me.  I try to get a little bit of light housework done each day but it was just impossible Friday.  Both kids were pretty needy and finally by 2:00 p.m., with the help of my mom, we got them both down for a much needed 3 hour nap.  Mark came home at 3:00 p.m. and was able to mow the grass by the time they were up and ready for some attention.  This is Anna, after her nap coming out to watch daddy put the tractor away:

She is just a doll baby! 

By 6:30 p.m. I was whooped yesterday.  I felt swollen and cramped =(  It seems that if I'm on my feet for any extended period of time, I start to get in pain.  I've also been keeping a really good check on my diet, trying to stay around 2,000 calories, eat lots of protein, vitamin C and drink tons of water.  I weigh right at 140-142, which is a decent weight but eventually (once I'm healed of course), I'd like to reach 125-130.

I think the worst part of this whole deal is constantly being connected to the wound vac.  It comes with me EVERYWHERE.  The first few days it wasn't bad because I only got up to potty.  But now that I'm trying to do a little bit of folding laundry, dishes and cooking, it seems that it's always in my way and getting the cord caught somewhere.  Annoying!  Several times I have forgotten about it, stood up and started to walk away and then YANK! snaps me back!

Beth came out yesterday to change the wound vac and assess the healing and she said that the center, lower abdomen wound is healing really well by itself and she doesn't think it will need to be surgically closed.  However, the hip wound is a little different.... the skin has attached itself to the fatty tissue and will stop closing even with the wound vac.  She said worst case scenario, I would have to get a skin graft but Dr. Camp may just separate the tissues and then stitch it shut.  Guess I'll find out Wednesday what she wants to do.

I have pretty much quit taking percocet and rely solely on ibuprofen.  The pain is pretty much still constant, just not as severe as in the past couple of weeks.  Maybe I'm just starting to get used to it =/

I'm so glad I started this blog long before my surgery so that I would have an account of this experience.  I never would have imagined this kind of outcome, but I hope that it will be beneficial to those facing surgery. 

In a normal summer scenario, I would be taking the kids to the zoo, to the parks, camping, to the beach, to feed the geese... I wanted to take my son to Union Station for a day of shopping and food because he loves trains... etc, etc. Soon I might get to enjoy some of these activities but I'm guessing it'll be the beginning of August before I feel that I can even stand up long enough to do any of these =/  At least I'm alive and staying in good health for the most part... can't wait until Wednesday to see what Dr. Camp wants to do!