I have tough decisions. I will try to make this as short as possible. I have been talking to plastic surgeons offices (over the phone) about getting a tummy tuck. My stomach is busted!! For some reason, I thought the tummy tuck would cost less than a breast aug, a lot of my friends have them, so I know actually how much they are. Silly me, tummy tucks are WAY more. So after talking to a couple nurses, describing me belly to them, they pretty much convinced me that I have a hernia. Before I go to the tummy tuck consult, I wanted to make an appointment with my primary care doc to see if I had a hernia. My friend got me all freaked out and said her friend died from a hernia. YIKES! So, I go to the doc and I do have an umbilical hernia.
My doctor was really nonchalant about it, he said he wouldnt wait 10 years to get it fixed, but I would probably be ok if I didnt get it fixed this year. His next sentence was, "If you experience any pain or protruding, go to the hospital right away. Nice. I also read online, once you start having pain, to go to the hospital right away and you have about 2 hours to get it fixed before you die. Awesome. So I basically have a ticking time bomb in my stomach.
Now, the tough decision....When I found out how much it costs to have a tummy tuck, I was still going to go to the consult, but was pretty sure I would never spend that much money on it. Of course I want to get my stomach fixed, but that is soooo much money, and then I start thinking about my 3 kids I will put through college someday and the two weddings I will be paying for some day. Not to mention all the other things we could spend the money on.
But, I have to get surgery reguardless on my stomach. If I get the tummy tuck, they will fix my hernia while they are there. Insurance will pay for some of the surgery due to the hernia. So that will make it a little cheaper.
If I dont get the tummy tuck, I am still going to have a busted stomach AND two more scars on top of the scar I already have. YAY!! But, it is not a major surgery like the tummy tuck, recovery time will be much better, insurance will cover it, and there are way less risks involved with the hernia surgery.
So I guess I need to decide pretty soon what Im going to do. I will do whats best for everyone, but Im just not sure what that is yet.
What would you do?
Im sorry if I wasnt making sense!
If I just had the hernia surgery, our insurance would cover the whole surgery. If I have a tummy tuck, and hernia repair, insurance will only cover about 1/4 of the really expensive procedure.
I just cant decide whether I shoulld just do the hernia surgery, and still have my stomach all messed up, or have the tummy tuck while getting the hernia fixed and all would be fixed. Hope that makes more sense??
Umbilical hernias are dangerous, chance of it becoming incarcerated is somewhat high. I would take the advise of your doc. It is something you want to get fixed sooner, rather than later.
Molly, I am at high risk for hernia's...and worse... and I'm getting a tummy tuck. My plastic surgeon told me it's MORE expensive to get the ab surgery without the tuck, AND insurance companies would rather pay to have it corrected AFTER something bad happens, rather than pay for the preventative measures. They cut vertically to do the ab surgery, where as the horizontal cut they make for a tummy tuck (just like a c-section scar, only hip to hip)...
I'm getting a tummy tuck done for mostly medical reasons; my abs are so split, it's very serious. I'd go ahead with the tuck!! PM me if you need more info, I've done my homework!! :)
I wonder if i have one too. How did you find out? My stomach is so meesed up after 3 kids. I was huge! My belly is really hard 5months after baby and rather big above my belly button. All the fat under my belly button is just squishy flab.
Anyways i'd vote for the TT and hernia surgery together. Get all done at once. College is sooooo far away and most parents dont ay for kids college anyways.
good luck.
ADDED: ew just google imaged it. Get that thing taken care of. lol I don't have one of those.
Something doesn't make sense here - I'd get another opinion from a surgeon. If you are great risk and have a ticking time bomb, you'd think that insurance would pay for the surgery. If it's nothing and the surgery is elective, then insurance wouldn't cover much. Be careful about on line research - you will hear all the scare stories, which doctors also emphasize to cover them in terms of liability. I'm not saying to ignore it, but consider the sources.
Try not to stress about college - no one can pay for it anymore (!) so everyone needs financial aid. And weddings don't have to be ridiculous - I know they are expensive but there is so much competition to see who can spend the most, it's kind of obscene for people to be bankrupting themselves. I just went to an over-the-top wedding and the couple themselves put a lot of their own money into it, by choice. When the couple has been working for a number of years, they have some good savings to put toward it. But a lot of needless expenses (brought on by the wedding industry) can be eliminated.
My SIL herniated hers 2x, and had it repaired 2x. 2yrs post tummy tuck and hernia repair, she would tell you that it still hurts her sometimes.
In both cases, she walked around "like that" for about 6mos before surgeries. Clearly, she didn't die. For her, her repair was covered, and the tummy tuck portion was out of pocket ($7K).
I don't have a hernia, but I'm having a TT done in a few weeks. Mine will be totally out of pocket (about $9-10K once all is said and done). The center where I'm having mine done (not a hospital, but a medi-surgery spa/center) offers 2 options for financing that we're doing. In both cases, it's up to 24mos of payments that are finance free. Comes about to roughly $500/month. Not cheap, certainly, but more palatable than a lump sum on the credit card all at once. My options are Care Credit and Chase HealthAdvance.
My suggestion would be to just fix the whole thing all at once, as long as you're going to have to go through a recovery anyway. But of course, you have to make the decision that's right for your family.
Good luck!
