Frangipani

Hi Julie, Thanks!!! Great to hear from you!!! :thumbup::smile::frown: How are you doing and feeling?

Candle, thank you so much -- you made my day!!!! I think lingerie shopping will be fun, but was really fun was tossing all those "granny panties" right out into the garbage, which I did with great relish the other day :tt2::tongue::thumbup:!!! How's everything with you? I'm looking forward to your journey. Do you have any consults scheduled yet?

Hi Salsa, I was like Becky -- almost no appetite those first few days. My plastic surgeon is also really big on getting the proper nutrients and ordered regular meals, but you might recall that I had two Dr.'s and the GYN wanted me to be on "clears," so it was pretty hilarious the way my menu plan kept getting changed back and forth for three days. However, for one meal when I was on the plastic surgeon's plan, they brought me chocolate cake and it was Yummy!!!! My band was so tight (I opted not to be unfilled) that I was only able to have a few bites, but it was a heavenly few bites -- it made my day! My advice is to try to eat some foods you enjoy to entice yourself to eat a bit. During that first week after surgery I ate all kinds of things that I love but have been avoiding since being banded such as pizza, reuben sandwich, and potato Soup, among other things. I was only able to eat very small portions, so it was absolutely fine, and this way I managed to get some badly needed calories in my body. My Dr. thought it was a great idea too. The other thing I had and enjoyed was Jello Brand, sugar-free rice pudding (thank you Karey :thumbup:), crème brulee flavor. It's very, very tasty and only 70 calories -- it's very easy for us bandsters to eat too!!! When you first see your incision, remember that it will look very rough, but that it will go through many, many changes as you heal. When I first saw my incisions, I would have probably freaked out had I not been on morphine at the time (LOL :tt2:), because it looked absolutely awful. I cannot even describe it, it was just so puckery and gross. If I hadn't been 1000% confident that I had a wonderful Dr. who did beautiful work, I would have been very concerned that something was seriously wrong. Now at three weeks post-op things seem to be settling down and I can see that eventually my incision will heal quite nicely, as will yours. You're doing great, Salsa! Have a wonderful and restful day :smile::cool2:!

Hey Sweety, Your date is coming up quick! How are you doing? Try not to be too nervous -- as you can see from those of us who have gone through this lately, it's been pretty smooth sailing, and I'm sure it will be the same for you :thumbup::thumbup::eek:! Talk to you soon !

Hey Foofy! Sounds beautiful!!! "Loose more????" This is your brain on drugs LOL :thumbup::biggrin:!

Hey Foofy! Of course some people will loose more quickly than others, but IMHO, exercise is truly the key. I know the weather is beautiful in MT right now -- so get yourself out on those trails girl!!!! Thanks Cori! Your sweet messages always make me smile :thumbup::smile:! Becky, congrats on being three weeks post-op, tomorrow I will be too. Can you believe that it's been three weeks already? My head is spinning!!!! I agree regarding exercise. I can't say that it makes a difference with the fluid levels, but it sure does help with the energy levels. You're doing wonderfully!!! Thanks for sharing about what you're doing with compression garments. Have a great night everyone!!!

Good job Girl :thumbup::thumbup:! I knew you would sail right through this!!! Get some rest and take good care of yourself and we look forward to hearing from you soon!!!! Congratulations and welcome to the Flat Lands!!!!

Hi Everyone! I'm back and I'm in!!! Like Becky (hey girlfriend -- great to have you joining us :thumbup::smile:), I'm recovering from surgery and my Dr. doesn't want me doing too much too soon, so I'm setting a very modest goal for myself this month, but look forward to rocking with the rest of you in the coming months! I got a twenty minute walk in yesterday, today I'm shooting for 30 minutes. Have a great day everyone!!! July Exercise Challenge 1/15 Sessions

BBK, What a fabulous photo!!! I love everything about it and I'd say you are well on your way to a successful modeling career!!! Daddy, love your new avatar -- and WOW :thumbup::tt1::thumbup:! What a handsome hottie you are Sir!!! Musical Momma is one lucky woman!!! :smile::ohmy:

Thanks Jody! Well, I just got back from my first walk -- 20 minutes only, and you're right Becky, it feels like starting from square one again! When I started down my normal path my two favorite canine friends were right there -- Carmine the yappy, Bad A$$, Jack Russel Terrier and Hercules, the gentle giant Great Dane. It was sooooooo cute the way they were right there waiting -- almost as if they were expecting me. They walked along with me for about 10 minutes or so, with Carmine yapping at me the whole way. It was great to see them both!!! It also felt very good to be out there exercising again. I hope as time goes on, it helps us with the swell hell as your Dr. says it should, Becky. Foofy thanks ! To answer your question, I attribute most of my success to exercise and lots of it. I did cardio for a minimum of one hour most days and on the weekends I would go often out for 2-3 hour hikes. I also watch what I eat pretty carefully and try to keep my calorie intake at between 1000 - 1500 calories per day. I try to limit my carb intake, but I do believe in having some carbs each day, mostly in the AM or early afternoon.

Hi Ladies, Just checking in to say Good Luck!!! I look forward to following your progress and I know that you will all rock this challenge :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:!!! Karey, your diet sounds very interesting -- thanks for being our "guinea pig"!!!! Even though I'm not quite at goal yet, I share all of your concerns about maintenance. I'm sure there will definitely be some additional learning experiences ahead with this band as time goes on........

Salsa, Best of luck to you tomorrow. You'll sail right through this surgery and will be looking hot and loving your new body in no time at all :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:!!! Will be looking forward to the post from LJM regarding your progress!!!

Becky, I'm glad to hear that you are turning that corner! I still can't sleep on my side, but am SO looking forward to the day that I can. I had planned to start walking yesterday myself, but my errands ended up taking me longer than I thought they would and I didn't return home until after dark. I will be going out on that walk later on this afternoon though! Karey, thanks as always for the excellent advice and ideas. I needed that too, as Frangi is definitely feeling it this week!!! I feel like someone disassembled my spine, rib-cage, and hips, and put them all back together in the wrong place! Last night I had some pain in my lower hip and back that was killer -- so bad that I almost went running back to my Percocet. However, I decided to first try toughing it out with Tylenol and the pain went away after an hour or so. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I hope it doesn't happen again :thumbup::thumbdown::thumbup:! This might be a good problem and it is most certainly a first for me, but I am dropping weight like crazy. Up until this point, every pound I've lost has been extremely hard won, but the weight loss since my PS has been absolutely astonishing!!! I have lost another 6 pounds since returning home. I'm happy about this because I haven't quite reached goal yet, but once I do reach goal I think I'll need to add some calories to my diet. I still have a 10 pound "cushion" between goal and my absolute ideal weight, but I want to be really healthy and ready for my next surgery. I assume that the next surgery will take some additional pounds off as well, so I want to try to stay as close to my current goal as possible once I reach it. Anyhow, that's my update for today, but you'll probably hear from me later too :tongue::cool2:!

Salsa, you'll do just fine, you're young and healthy and in excellent shape -- No worries :thumbup:!!! Thanks for the feedback from your Dr. regarding exercise. That sounds like a very reasonable plan, and I think I'll do just that. Thanks again :thumbup::smile::smile2:!

BBK, You look wonderful -- and So adorable in your golf outfit!!! :smile:

Hey Karey! I'd be happy to join the thread and cheer you guys on!!! Good luck -- I know you'll do it!!! Okay for once I will keep a post short, as you all must surely be getting sick of the long essays that I've been writing for the past several days...... Have a great night everyone :smile:!!!

Steph! So glad to hear from you and to know that you're doing so well!!! I agree with you and Becky, "swell hell" is the worst part of this whole thing. I still have my drain in and even though it annoys me to no end to be still wearing my XL clothing, I'm not in any huge hurry to get the drain out until the time is right because the swelling is bad enough now. Steph and Foofy LOL :lol:! I had my breasts done too and it's so true that newly lifted breasts take on a whole new life of their own!!!! Plastic surgery can make the breasts perkier than they have ever been (or even could be) -- I can totally understand why your Dr. told you that you might never need to wear a bra again! Foofy, :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: -- your breasts simply can't be as bad as mine were. As you can see from my before photos, my breasts looked like a couple of empty shoe bags :smile2:. So glad that's history now!!!

Oops! Sorry Brandottie -- I somehow transposed your figures, so now I've corrected it..... Name: Frangipani Weight loss from day of surgery: 114 lbs Total weight loss: 120 lbs Name: Candle Weight loss from day of surgery: 109.5 lbs Total weight loss: 123.5 lbs Name: Salsa Weight loss from day of surgery: 105 lbs Total weight loss: 105 lbs Name: Pammycakes Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 lbs Total weight loss: 104 lbs Name: Ceradad Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 Total weight loss: 122 Name: KarenG. Weight loss from day of surgery: 85 Total weight loss: 85 Name: NanaRenan Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 Total weight loss: 72 Name: TexasBecky Weight loss from day of surgery: 111 Total weight loss: 121 Name: SPEBSQSAlady Weight loss from day of surgery: 57.8 Total weight loss: 57.8 Name: Brandottie01 Weight loss from day of surgery: 32 lbs Total weight loss: 32 Name: Bergdorfblonde Weight loss from day of surgery: 32 lbs Total weight loss: 32 lbs Name: Gometros Weight loss from day of surgery: 52.9 lbs Total weight loss: 74.9 Name: Pizzicato66 Weight loss from day of surgery: 75.5 Total weight loss: 87.5 Name: Valstar Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 lbs Total weight loss: 57 lbs Name:Gweniper weight loss from day of surgery: 57 total weight loss: 91 Name: purplegirl1818 weightloss from day of surgery: 73.5 lbs total weight loss: 90.5lbs Name: LessNLess weightloss from day of surgery: 63 lbs total weight loss: 69 lbs Name: JudiM weightloss from day of surgery: 73 lbs total weight loss: ?? Name: hf2havefun Weight loss from day of surgery: 41 lbs Total weight loss: 56 lbs Name: Nikki S Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 Total weight loss: 102

Wow! Amazing job everyone. If this keeps up, the Crazy Ates will have a record setting Bandiversary!!! Somewhere along the way, someone mistakenly copied an older post when updating so our numbers got a bit jumbled up. I'm going to try to straighten this out a bit........ There! I hope I did this right, but feel free to do any additional editing. Name: Frangipani Weight loss from day of surgery: 113 lbs Total weight loss: 119 lbs Name: Candle Weight loss from day of surgery: 109.5 lbs Total weight loss: 123.5 lbs Name: Salsa Weight loss from day of surgery: 105 lbs Total weight loss: 105 lbs Name: Pammycakes Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 lbs Total weight loss: 104 lbs Name: Ceradad Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 Total weight loss: 122 Name: KarenG. Weight loss from day of surgery: 85 Total weight loss: 85 Name: NanaRenan Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 Total weight loss: 72 Name: TexasBecky Weight loss from day of surgery: 111 Total weight loss: 121 Name: SPEBSQSAlady Weight loss from day of surgery: 57.8 Total weight loss: 57.8 Name: Brandottie01 Weight loss from day of surgery: 23 lbs Total weight loss: Name: Bergdorfblonde Weight loss from day of surgery: 32 lbs Total weight loss: 32 lbs Name: Gometros Weight loss from day of surgery: 52.9 lbs Total weight loss: 74.9 Name: Pizzicato66 Weight loss from day of surgery: 75.5 Total weight loss: 87.5 Name: Valstar Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 lbs Total weight loss: 57 lbs Name:Gweniper weight loss from day of surgery: 57 total weight loss: 91 Name: purplegirl1818 weightloss from day of surgery: 73.5 lbs total weight loss: 90.5lbs Name: LessNLess weightloss from day of surgery: 63 lbs total weight loss: 69 lbs Name: JudiM weightloss from day of surgery: 73 lbs total weight loss: ?? Name: hf2havefun Weight loss from day of surgery: 41 lbs Total weight loss: 56 lbs Name: Nikki S Weight loss from day of surgery: 102 Total weight loss: 102

LOL Foofy and Becky -- you two have my number down, for sure :tt2::lol:!!! BUT being the avid hiker that I am, all you need to do is get me out on the trails and into that majestic landscape and I forget about shopping, and everything else. I absolutely love the west and the southwest and getting out into the mountains and the canyons -- nothing makes me happier. Foofy, you are a very lucky woman (even though you can keep your winters :frown::tongue:)!!!! And I hope you do come to the VI -- you're welcome anytime. It's gorgeous here too with a totally different kind of beauty and offbeat charm, but quite stunning just the same. Becky, thanks for posting all the great info you got from your Dr. -- very good to know all of this. I actually wanted to do a short, easy walk today, but fatigue hit me like a ton of bricks today and by the time I woke up it was too late to go out for a walk. I believe I slept more today than I have since my surgery. I'm not sure what that's all about, but I napped for almost the entire afternoon. Are you feeling fatigued like this Becky? I'm definitely going out for a walk tomorrow, I have to get my energy levels back up. I mean, sleeping for hours on end can't be a good thing either -- right? Jody, I agree with Becky. If you are able to get away for a few days it might do you a world of good. I need to confirm when I can make an appointment to see my Dr., but I'm thinking of traveling up to Miami from like, July 30 or 31 through August 3 or 4, but I am somewhat flexible.

Oh Jody....... I am so sorry to hear this news about your brother. There are some amazing doctors out there who can do things that defy all odds, so I'm sending my very best hopes and wishes that your brother will find an excellent physician who will be able to treat the kidney cancer successfully. Lots and lots of big hugs to you Jody. If there is anything at all that I can do to help, please let me know. You and your brother are very much in my thoughts.

Wow! How lovely to wake up to all of these wonderful compliments!! Foofy, thank you very much, I can't wait for you to have your makeover either -- it is such an awesome thing. I am simply amazed at what plastic surgeons can do!!! I honestly never believed I would come out of surgery with a flat belly and I kept asking my Dr. over and over if this was really going to happen. When I asked him about this for the umpteenth time just before surgery, he said to me very emphatically "Yes! You will have a flat belly, what do you think you're paying me for?!!!" (which made me LOL :thumbup:) BTW -- where are you in Montana? Are you anywhere near Glacier National Park? Love Montana -- what stunningly gorgeous country!!!! Cori, Thanks as always for your incredibly sweet comments. I am LOL however, at the idea of my husband drooling and panting and eyeballing. He's a wonderful man, but he's very reserved and low key (total opposite of me :crying:), and I don't see him drooling or panting anytime soon (LOL :laugh:) Salsa, thank you sweetie :smile:! You will have excellent results!!!! In fact, you'll be blown away at what your surgeon is able to do!!! Oh Becky, big hugs to you lady. I wish I could be in Dallas to make you feel better!!! But it will get better, and you look INCREDIBLE so just keep reminding yourself that the aches and pains will go away soon and that it's all so very worth it. OMG That would be so much fun if you could make it to Miami. I will come up with some dates and let you know. Hi Karey, Thank you for the wonderful compliments!!! Thanks also for the advice!!! Your feedback makes me feel so much better. I really do need to slow down. I think the first few weeks I was really numb -- now I'm becoming less so, and I'm really starting to feel everything. LuLu, thanks!!!! I've never ever been told that my "girls look great," that's a first -- Woo Hoo!!!! That would be so awesome if we could meet up in Florida, I will PM you with my dates and hopefully we can figure out a way to meet up!!! In fact, I would love to meet all of you wonderful ladies -- maybe we should have a great big get together in Miami!!!

Salsa, Congratulations!!!! WOW!!!! It sounds like you had an epic day today. AWESOME job lady :thumbup:. Next step is to have a very Happy Birthday -- right?!!!! I hope it's a good one :smile:!!!! Then get ready to get excited about your surgery -- with every passing day I am more and more happy that I had this done, and I just know you will feel the very same way -- I'm excited for you!!!

Thank you so much Becky!!! Honestly, it did take a lot for me to post that before photo :redface:! I'm not even sure how long I'll be able to keep it up there -- it makes me totally cringe every time I see it!!! However now you can see why I was so very anxious to get started on PS as soon as I possibly could!!! I have always had a pooch of skin in my lower belly, but this time around, it was horrendous, and I knew it wasn't going anywhere without the help of a good surgeon. Thank you Jody!!!! A talented plastic surgeon can create beautiful breasts on almost any body type, and Dr. Masri I must say, does amazing breasts, I just so impressed with his before and after photos during my initial consult. I pretty much gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted as far as choosing the shape and size of the implant, etc. (not an easy thing for me, being the micro-manager that I am ), and I was not disappointed. I've never been that crazy about the overall shape of my breasts either but as you might recall, I wasn't initially that keen on having the breasts done. However, when I started consulting with surgeons and looking at before and after photos, breasts moved way high up on the priority list . I guess up until that point I had simply forgotten what nice breasts looked liked !!! BTW -- because of the breast band I've been wearing (which is a compression garment that you wear across the breasts when you have implants so that the implant doesn't settle too high on the chest) the swelling has gone down quite a bit and when I bought my bras just before I left Miami, I was a "C" cup -- which is exactly what I wanted to be ! Well, today was laundry and cleaning day. I am by no means done with everything yet, but I'm getting there. It's a good thing I did all of my own laundry at the hotel before I left to return home, otherwise I'd probably never see the bottom of the hamper again! I notice that I am rather achy at times and it sort of comes and goes -- one minute I'll be feeling fine and the next I feel achy, and sore, and somewhat hunched over. What do you think ladies, is this normal? I'm still a bit concerned that I strained my muscles from lifting too much yesterday......... Thank you so much again for the nice compliments Becky and Jody!!!!

Awww Jody, thank you so much!!! I'll be back on the mainland next month to see my Dr. and plan out phase 2 and I think you and Becky (and any of you lovely ladies who want to) should come to Miami for a few days. We can go shopping and have a riot!!!! What do you think? Okay, nervously I am posting some photos. The first one was taken 4 days pre-op and the second one is two weeks (and one day) post-op. I'm still pretty swollen and the drain is still in, but I rerouted it through the back of my panties for the photos. DH did not want me putting topless (or bottomless) post-op photos up on the Internet because we live on a small island where the core culture is rather modest and traditional -- so I have to respect that (he was okay with the topless "before" photo because that body doesn't exist anymore). I therefore, tried to show as much as I possibly could, and hopefully this will give you the idea. I didn't show my TT scar, but I can if anyone is interested in seeing it (it's still rather angry red and yuck and not very pretty right now). I had to use my bathing suit cover up for the before photos because all I ever owned pre-op were "granny panties" which my husband always loathed. I'm proud to say that one of my projects today is to throw all the granny panties right out in the garbage :thumbup:!!!! No more granny panties ever again -- Woo Hoo!!!! Anyhow, here are some pics (Bra and panties from Stein Mart of course :tt2:):