Preps

I had the consult 8-9 weeks before surgery was scheduled, so I had more than enough time to prepare. I'm sure I've done more than necessary, but I'd rather be over prepared for this than under! Everyone in my house is used to my doing just about everything around here for them, so it'll be interesting having Hubby run things for a while.

Anyway, I found this thread to be very helpful for making a list of supplies to get: http://messageboards.makemeheal.com/tummy-tuck/tummy-tuck-recovery-guide-tips-supply-list-t55868.html

I bought multivitamins without Vitamin E (blood thinner, must avoid), started taking Iron 2 weeks before as well. A naturopath (mom of my Bestie on the Westie) told me some things to help my recovery be the best it can, so I'm going to follow that as much as possible. No starches post-op (well I'll listen to that except for the carrots I put in my chicken soup), drink apple cider vinegar and lemon juice daily (UGH, but not so bad when you put it in an Emergen C - oh and Emergen C instead of Airborne because Airborne has Vitamin E in it), lactobacillus can find by pharmacy (active cultures that replace what antibiotics kill off in your intestines), a green drink (she recommended Green Magma so I bought that), 4000-6000 mg Vitamin C a day which I'll get by 3 doses of Emergen C & one or two Vitamin C pills all spread throughout. Also said no caffeine before or after so I've cut back to 1/4 of what I've been taking in before & will cut it out completely tomorrow (one week before surgery). Seems I've avoided headaches by cutting it back instead of going cold turkey.

I made chicken veggie soup (8 servings), chicken enchilada soup (8 servings) and turkey sloppy joes (5 servings), homemade is the way to go to avoid processing & excessive sodium. I did that so I have lunches & dinners for a week and a half post-op. I figure hopefully Hubby can successfully cook me egg whites with ff cheese & toast for breakfast. The bread I have is low sodium Ezekiel (naturopath approved to eat post-op) so keeping my carbs mostly to that bread & fruits & veggies. Snacks will be greek yogurt, almonds, protein shakes & fruit. I'm not sayin' I won't cheat at all, I just want to minimize it & try to stay strong. It's always a battle for me to eat clean so my reward will be a weekly cheat meal ~ food reward, what I always say NOT to do, but I really won't be up to shopping or anything for a while so that's the plan for the first month at least.

I won't be allowed to workout for 6 weeks besides walking, so it'll be food nazi time (well, for the most part). I also figure I won't want to eat much so my planned foods are geared toward that with eggs taking so little space, shakes & yogurt & soups, yep yep. After my prepped foods are gone hopefully I'll be able to cook a little. If not In-laws can or Hubby can operate the grill for some chicken, it'll work out.

I've also been super cleaning my house too & more than keeping up with the regular stuff so that when Hubby is in charge & the standards slip I [hopefully] won't mind too much. I've also prepped a couple family meals & will stock the fridge up with perishables right before surgery so that they won't have to eat mac n cheese & pizzas for very long LOL!

2 days prior to surgery I'll be doing a liquid diet at the suggestion of the surgeon. The first day of that will be protein shakes & meal replacements, the 2nd day clear liquids, so it'll be no salt added chicken broth, juices & water. I even have my post-op prescriptions filled & in my closet with my other stuff, I'm ready!