CBT

Haha! WTG on the compliment

Hi Vogue. Congratulations on your up coming surgery! I'm not sure about the panni binder question. Because there is no muscle involvement, I'm inclined to think just a binder will work. I really believe your surgeon needs to give you more direction and I'm concerned that it's not a good sign for post op care if S/he is not. Like you, pre-op I was size 4 and small. My compression garments, however are a large. They are the ones that snap in the crotch. There has certainly been times I thought I was going to swell right out of it! Now that the swelling is reducing, the top slides down but it's still giving good compression to my abdomen. Back to needing more direction from your surgeon. My garments were included in my surgery so they fit me into it. No doubt some panni people will have clearer information on compression garments. Good luck!

I hope you feel better soon. Thank you for the encouragement. It lifts my spirits to read your replies. Fever broke last night and I am almost human again :0 skiddles I did see that tree allergy season has started in the PNW. Do you treat your allergies? Sweetpea, I added Doc Martin to my Amazon watch list. I just watched House of Cards and Scandal. Holy smokes! I had questions and now I can't remember them. Oh here's one, did you stay on antibiotics while you had drains in? I have to stay on them as long as I have drains. My drains could come out today but I won't go to doctor until Monday so that means being on high does of antibiotics for four days I don't need them. (grumpy face) I've been on probiotic that I started a week before surgery.

Post op day 8 Low energy from over doing it day 7. Drains running more red. Stayed down. Watching stuff on the iPad. Had visit from a close friend. She brought groceries Post op day 9 Don't get the stomach flu early post op. If you do, keep your binder on cause that holds your surgery together while you wretch for 5 hours. Between the entire abdominal wall contracting and the intense flank and thigh pain from the flu, it was probably the worst pain I've ever had. Of course I couldn't take any pain meds and keep them down. My DH stayed up with me all night and kept me packed in ice. He stayed with me all day today. I've been asleep all day. Fever comes down with Advil but shoots right back up as it wears off. Back in pain meds so I am comfortable. I'm drinking ginger tea, Water, and white grape juice for some calories. My poor immune system. I was to get drains out tomorrow. Now I will wait until Monday because I am contagious with high fever. From talking to nurse on the phone, doesn't appear that I hurt my surgery. They will check me out on Monday. Yuck.

Let's do it anyway!!!

I initially felt sad reading about their plans. Then I realized for so many people it's a part of the change process. Then I was wondering how it has changed over the months and years for the majority of vets. I wondered how people who had funeral or binges leading up to surgery *struggle* with food post op over time. Or if like some of you said, I eat to live; not live to eat. My relationship with food is so different now. I used to use it to relax at night. Like, my kids are in bed now I can finally eat. Now I don't care about it, think about it, unless I'm trying to meet Protein goals for working out. I don't even go out to dinner or lunch very often. I prefer to meet friends and walk. I still feel overwhelmed and sometimes sickened with the portion sizes at restaurants. Sometimes I have to leave the family dinner table.... I have more thoughts but I'll save them for tomorrow. I'm pretty tired tonight. Thanks for responding.

Fiddle some people do guilt better than they do grief. You mentioned both. I think you have made a hard decision after much thought and gathering of evidence to support your decision. You haven't acted impulsively. You finished CF. Still you continue to feel mixed about it. This is the duality of two things being right at the same time. Westerners aren't very good with duality. "Give me this or give me that." "Only one is true." Anyway, I think you just recommitted to your self. I agree with so much of what's been said above. I offer you this: all feelings have a function. Just like behavior serves a function. The function of guilt is to keep you in line with your personal values. If you attempt to breach a value, you will feel guilt. Okay, so if you believe it's wrong to lie and you think about lying (thought) you will feel guilt (feeling). That corrects behavior. In your current situation you want to ask your self what value of yours it is that you are breaching. Also, whose rights have you violated? If you can not answer these questions then what you are feeling is not guilt but inappropriate guilt. You're taking on responsibility for something that isn't yours...I do not know what that is. You have a tremendous amount of support on this board. I'm so glad you put it out here.

Isn't that site helpful?! As for very painful. I always hesitate because pain is so personal as well as the coping skills you bring to manage the mental part. So far, all my pain and discomfort has been highly manageable. I did what they told me which was to stay on pain meds and muscle relaxers at the top dose for 72 hours. I also use a lot of ice. I think my early post op pain is from swelling. I had myself packed in ice for the 48 hours. So, no I haven't had unmanageable or uncontrollable pain. Also, you're pretty numb. The first hour post op is when I have the most pain because they are trying to stabilize me and figure out my pain. After that nothing uncontrollable. But even that first hour you're so out of it, the reality of the pain is diminished/altered. (This is true for all of the surgeries I've had except for the sleeve. I was painful every two hours after the sleeve until the concerns about bleeding passed and they gave me a shot of ibuprofen.)

I am interested! Thank you for posting the link. I am 99% using the app which is soooooo limited; although, I hear the app is improving Spring 2014. I think that's what stalls me out on progress pics as well. They are hard to get. I don't have long arms so I take terrible "selfies". I have to edit the photos to be appropriate to this site. But I just realized I have bikinis! Duh.

That's a pretty routine amount of work at one time. From what I've read, that's not at all too much. Have you been on Realself.com? You can post concerns there for plastic surgeons to comment on. You also can review hundreds of procedures. Pretty complete site. Similar to bariatric pal. It's totally normal to have fears and nerves before surgery. I think you can let go of the anxiety and allow yourself to be excited Some of those Brazilian butt lifts are crazy!!! Is that what you're getting? Doesn't sound like it. I would be curious to know how does someone get comfortable after a BBL and TT? I bet they don't combine those two cause you can't sit on your butt...rambling. I'll go ramble somewhere else.

Jane! You look happy and joyful in that cocktail dress!!! Not to mention you rock that dress. I think your scars look great for 4.5 months. Thanks for posting an update with pics. Funny thing about posting progress photos. When have you progressed to the point you want to post photos? KWIM?

I was concerned about the risk. I learned the warning signs and symptoms and that helped me. Also I have no history of clots. It's helpful to be in good cardiovascular health. Let the doctor know you're worried s/he will talk you through it.

Hi deedadble. Having recently gone through consultation, ITA with previous poster. All doctors are different. They don't vary widely but they will tell you want they need to give you the outcome you want. So it's a good time to go for consult. My plastic surgeon said I could not lose one more pound. It's not just about what you weigh but the condition of your skin and skin versus fat, etc. I think you'll find consult helpful. Let us know! Excited for you

Post op Days 6 & 7 Yesterday, day 6 was shaping up to be pretty uneventful. I put a whole rusted chicken in the crockpot so my family would have dinner and then spent the rest of the day eating and laying in bed. For most of the day my apatite was insatiable. Drains had really slowed down as had swelling. I got myself showered and out/in my binder all by myself!!! Around 6pm my DD said she had a sore throat. Gave her Advil. she woke up at 10 vomiting and didn't stop until 1am. Bless her. She's much better today. Laying on the other couch watching movies. Low grade fever. So that brings me to Post op Day 7 I'm terrified to eat. I put myself on a liquid diet. I can't think about how much it will hurt to vomit like she did. Now, DH intuitively cleaned her and everything up so I'm probably being some what irrational :-0 My BFF took me to my post op nurse appointment. I'm having some nerve pain in my back incision. It's manageable but annoying to get comfortable. Ice is helping. Anyway, appointment went fine. Tape came off sutures, stitches came out of belly button. Two of my 3 drains will come out by Friday. The central drain probably will be in until next week. I think having the left and right drains out will help my back pain. That's only instinct talking. Nurse said suture lines are closed and look great. Belly swelling will become puffiness and hang around until about 12 weeks when the lymphatic channels have healed. I'm freakin small, y'all. I can't visualize what I will look like once the Fluid is gone. I will be completely flat! But not my boobs. OMG. they're swollen and high. They will drop into place around 5 weeks. The sutures are tight and holding them high. Long night and morning. The sun was out so my BFF took me for a 10m walk outside. Now I'm hangin out opposite my DD watching fairy movies. #lifeisgood #hungrybutafraidtoeat

Sassy makes a valid point about fat. There is the fat that we see in our skin and then there's the fat that is packed like insulation in and around body cavity space, in organs (fatty liver) and marbled in our muscles. It's not just the weight they can "see".

Her comment falls squarely within the context of our conversation. She told me I could not lose another pound before surgery. She asked what caloric intake was. She needed to know how much I was working out and what type. She explained the metabolic needs to recover with my goals. She was trying to reassure me that I would not gain weight by eating and being inactive. Her experience is that WLS patients emotionally struggle to eat enough postop to promote wound healing. She also was asking me to trust her so I did not lose too much weight in recovery. It was a long and involved consultation. So I don't think it's a typical conversation for a general surgeon or cardiac surgeon or a orthopedic surgeon to have unless you ask. They will tell you to eat and the demand for calories and Protein is high but they tend to say vague things like "you need it heal" "you need your strength" etc. Probably won't get into metabolic rate. Only us WLS patients get hyper about it :-P I will say the night nurse was a bit freaked when I asked for yogurt at 7pm and then a turkey sandwich at 3am. Lol.

Rock that 2 piece!

I didn't hear surgery speeds metabolism. That sounds way too generalized and is not my intended message. My plastic surgeon told me my metabolism will triple post op in order to heal. I had circumferential lower body lift, mastopexy and breast augmentation. It takes a lot of nutrition and rest to heal these procedures. But the Circumferential LBL is the big deal because it involves large sections of the lymphatic system, separation of facia from muscle, tissue trauma, etc.