OK, today is the day I officially come out of the closet. I've been telling everyone the truth, but not the whole truth. The truth is, I had a hernia and I got it fixed. The whole truth is that I went and had a tummy tuck. Yes, I had plastic surgery! I paid out-of-pocket! I'm so shallow!
Before I even had my second baby, I had a consultation with a general surgeon at Kaiser. He described the long vertical incision that I'd need to fix my umbilical hernia and diastasis recti (stomach muscle separation). So it came down to this--I could have the general surgeon do the surgery on my HMO's tab, but it would leave me with a vertical scar to go with the horizontal c-section scar, and it wouldn't fix the hanging fold-over tummy. Or I could fork over seven grand and have a plastic surgeon fix it all up and make it look aok. I went the latter route, but I still don't tell people. It's no wonder that I couldn't find anyone who admitted to having cosmetic surgery. For months, I'd been eye-balling likely ladies at Curves, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask, "Excuse me, but have you had work done? (wink, wink)"
If it makes me feel any better, I showed my wonderful Aunt Sylvia the 'problem area' last year. She told me that she's only seen that kind of stomach on women in their eighties. Then she sent an unsolicited check for $20 in the mail two days later for my 'surgery fund'.
So, plastic surgery! Time for it to come out of the closet. Gulp.
