Djmohr

I went home the same day. Surgery lasted longer than expected, it was supposed to go 3 hours and ended up going nearly 6 hours from start to finish. My surgeon is a perfectionist and definately took her time.

She used a rather new technique where she does a type of Lipo to remove any fat first and then removes the skin second. This ensures no drains needed however it is more painful than the other appoach because of the lipo. I am black and blue from inside my armpit all the way to my elbow. The scars are more toward the back and my arms look very small even in their most swollen state. I couldn't be happier with the result and it can only get better from here.

I did have a rough afternoon and evening last night. Both arms swelled so bad that my fingers looked like fat little sausages and I spiked a fever of 101. If my fever went any higher I would have had to go in but thankfully it came down through the night as did a lot of the swelling in my hands. I also had bad pain control last night and the pain meds gave me a migraine. That tends to happen to me fairly regularly. The arms however Are still very swollen and black, blue and yellow. They look gnarly.

I feel much better today and the pain is much better too. I said a few prayers last night that my pain would reduce by a little to make it more manageable.

Would I do it again? Absolutely, no doubt about it! The pain is the worth it completely!

Oh and they got 1 liter of fat off each arm and 1/2lb of skin. So doc believes the total will be somewhere around 3.5 to 4.0 lbs removed. Of course I jumped on the scale but I gained 6 pounds of fluid from surgery which is expected. That should come off over the next week or so.

Thank you for the details, Djmohr. It has been very interesting and informative. I want to go for a consultation soon. My bcbs will pay for the stomach work, but not arms, yet my arms are the thing I am most self-conscious about.....guess because it's summer and sleeves are short. Again, you have been a wealth of information and I appreciate your sharing.