More tummy tuck tips

The more the merrier

• Get a recliner. Thank you Erica, for writing about your 'recliner nest'. We bought a used leather (reduces the ick factor) LazyBoy from Craig's List the day before the surgery. Thank God! In a recliner, you can sit up a bit more if you feel queasy, or lay down a bit more to sleep. You can't do that with a bed full of pillows and a husband trying to sleep next to you. I'm not a back-sleeper and I normally can't fall asleep in a recliner. But add some narcotics and sleeping pills and I slept soundly from one potty break to the next. Now that I'm off the pills, the recliner makes a nice napping place when I'm tired of scrunching my incision as I sleep on my side. By the way, I met a woman in the waiting room who had her surgery the day before I had mine. She said that she could barely sleep, and sure enough, she had no recliner.

• Wear a tank top. My doc recommended that I wear a tank top under the abdominal binder. What a great tip (and I've never seen it online anywhere else). You won't be peeking under the binder for the first few days (for fear that your guts will fall out). Once you have your drains removed and start taking showers, the tank top will help you feel fresh and clean every time you change, and you won't have as much chafing.

• Cinch the binder at an angle. I can't believe it took me two weeks to figure this out, but the binder is much more comfortable if you make it a little smaller on the top and larger on the bottom (cone-shaped). This way, it doesn't move around and bunch up as much.

• Don't get the surgery over the summer if you can avoid it. I read this piece of advice, and like other people who teach, I thought it was silly to avoid summer. Now that I've had the surgery, I can see why. If you got itchy and sweaty under your binder (which you have to wear for two months), you would be a basket case. If you can crank up the AC and stay indoors, you might be okay.

• Give yourself a break. I cried so much the first few weeks. And I'm no wuss--I've traveled around the world alone, earned a Ph.D. in chemistry, had a c-section and a vaginal birth...but this experience knocked me flat. I'm so used to being the one who makes this house run. It was hard to ask for everything, and to have my little one want me to run with her. Now it's hard to walk with a hunchback and get those pitying looks. It sucks, it's hard, but it's going to be okay in a very short time. It's my surgery and I'll cry if I want to! You should cry too, if it happens to you.