Let's Talk about Binders

Part of the recovery process is to wear a binder.  The binder holds the muscles that were stitched together... well together.  It supports the whole area so that internal stitches have a chance to scar over and become strong.  The sutures Dr. Buchanan uses on the muscle wall dissolve very slowly over 6 months time.  The point would be that the sutures hold the muscle together until the scars have formed and become super strong so that you don't bust open again!  He assured me that it would take lots of blunt force trauma to the stomach such as a car accident to cause any real damage at this point.  But I'm not gonna lie... I was paranoid about it!

But the binders are horrible!  They are sweaty and tight and restrict your movement and rub your skin.  I was especially whiny about it but I wore them everyday for 6 weeks.  The one I came home in the hospital with was REALLY horrific!

It is meant for hernia surgery or something and not at all comfortable.  And it required an extra person to strap me into it!  I seriously traumatized my 10 year old daughter when I asked her to help me one day when Tim was at work!  Poor girl was so worried she would hurt me!  She didn't but it totally pushed her out of her comfort zone!  Poor kid!

After a few days of that torture Dr. Buchanan told me that I could wear a "spanx" type of girdle.  So off to Walmart I went to find something.  I decided against spanx but did find some other girdles.  They were not sexy, attractive or anything.... but functional.  And they got the job done.  I bought a few of them so I could wear one and wash the other few.  They are basically underwear so you can't really wear them more than once.  Here is the most hideous of the ones I own!

They also help compress your abdomin to help your body NOT collect fluids.  It pushes the fluid down to hopefully get cleaned out by your lymphatic system.  The incisions severe those lymph tunnels though so your body has to build new connections (as I understand it anyway).  So the binder helps with keeping the fluid off your tummy.  As you can see in the bottom picture... I have significant swelling still.  Holy Pooch!

And yes I wore it everyday, all day except for showering and taking pictures for 6 weeks!