Robynne Hazebroek-Buzanko

Greetings everyone.
 
As you can tell, I’m new here. Looking for somewhere to share my story and experiences with as I begin the second stage of my journey.
 
Let me start at the beginning. I’m a Canadian living in the Netherlands. I’m 34 (approaching 35 soon). I’m married (for 11 wonderful years) and I have been blessed with a beautiful daughter who will be soon turning 9 (later this month). About 2 years ago (september 2012) I underwent Gastric Sleeve surgery in Bruges, Belgium. I was sent home after 2 short days in the hospital (operated on Wednesday, home on Friday) and had a quick and painless recovery. The most trauma I had was the nausea from the anesthetic. I am still discovering the new ways my body reacts to certain foods, but it’s a process I enjoy. I also enjoy having control over what I eat and how much – which is why I chose the Sleeve surgery instead of a Bypass.
 
Now – 2 years later and I’ve lost nearly 65 kilos. I’ve been “steady” around this weight for a while and late last year was referred to a plastic surgeon to see if I qualified for surgery via my insurance. On the 24th of December I received a letter saying my insurance had approved my case. So here we are and in about 2 weeks’ time I’ll be having a Fleur de Lis tummy tuck. I’ve been doing everything I can to prepare my body for the surgery (high-impact cardio + Core/cardio training on top of my usual 7.5 km bike ride each day). I’ve done research on how I can help my body after the operation (lots of protein). I’m not sure what else I can do, really. I’m also not quite sure what to expect and I know it’s different for everyone. Sometimes I read stories that give me hope my expectations and hopes should come true (slowly resuming my quiet and easy-going job after about a month) and then I read horror stories which give me nightmares of losing my job (homebound for 3 months – as a temp this is a worst-case-scenario).
 
I must be honest – this will be only the second time I’ve EVER been in hospital (not counting the birth of my daughter). I’ve NEVER broken a bone or needed stitches or whatever so this has all been quite daunting. On the other hand, I’m super excited and impatient to have the surgery done and see the beautiful results of all the hard work. I’m hoping later this year to get approval to have my breasts corrected as well, but we’ll see how that all works out in the end.
If anyone has any questions or tip – please don’t hesitate to write.
:)
Thanks for reading.
Robynne