summerset

Thank you. Things went fine (or so I guess). Still swollen. It's not easy to find a comfortable position at home. Dreading the first night home without a hospital bed.

Of course I'm excited! I'm so happy insurance approved for abdomen, mons and inner thighs! I'm half-self pay for the lower body lift so to say (IMO that's ok - if you want premium and not standard you should pay for the difference in price yourself). However, sick leave and anesthesia and hospital stay is covered by insurance and that's very important.

Breast and upper arms: there is still appeal going on but it doesn't really stress me out right now because it will be minimum 6-9 months before it would come to the third surgery anyway. Most important thing is that insurance will pay for the stuff that's bothering me the most. My inner thighs don't exactly chafe but the touch of the loose skin when walking when not wearing tight pants that provide a bit of compression is a really unpleasant feeling. It's very... weird. Hooray for running skirts when it gets hot again in summer!

It's a 6 h surgery and tbh - I'm pretty scared.

Useful video. Some patients seem to feel the need for "repentance for past sins" by suffering.

Should be a sticky. Same with Dr. Weiner's video on changing portion sizes after surgery. It's unbearable how so many teams don't seem to educate their patients that growing portion sizes are normal?!

Ok, so far. We're all vaccinated and boostered and all... people are getting really tired of this whole pandemic stuff.

Hopefully, yes.

However, even if not - the procedures that matter most to me (abdomen, mons and thighs) are covered. I'm partly self-pay because of wanting a lower body lift but since the surgery is partly covered I can get a normal sick leave for work (instead of using vacation days) which is a very important thing.

Appeal regarding breasts and arms will take time again. However, with two surgeries ahead, including the big lower body lift - it will take about a year before this becomes relevant again anyway, I guess. 😊

Hopefully you're fine with the pandemic and all?

Being easier for the bypass people I guess. I had my booster shot on Tuesday and no real adverse reaction.

Working at a hospital I'm now a contact person regularly again. Oh well...

Well, might come down for me to exactly this but my lawyer is still on it (luckily that insurance is paying!).

Ah yes, I'm literally going to do nothing this evening, lol.

Oh, this is not about any surgery whatsoever.

Don't know if it was the right decision. Several of my colleagues think this way. We might not be able to know until several years have gone by.

Well, if your insurance doesn't cover it first try, get a lawyer.

The move went ok. I'm now sitting on the bare minimum in my old flat, lol.

For board certification. Before they allow you to take your exam you have to prove that you're eligible for exam.

You have to hand in certain papers to do so, like e. g. for how long you've worked at the department of a hospital that holds the authority to educate you when it comes to a certain specialty or subspecialty. You also have need to have performed a certain amount of diagnostic imaging or surgical procedures etc., depending on what you're applying for.

Well, I have to keep this diary. Luckily everything still feels normal.

"Being a contact person" will most likely be our new normal I guess. Hopefully there'll be a vaccine soon but I doubt it.

Yes, PH department was just like "Well, no quarantine for you, go back to work!" - yeah, the hell I won't with an infection of the respiratory tract. I'm on sick leave until the end of the week per my GP (waiting for the paper to arrive with mail as they don't want you to come in in person if possible).

Hospital is a bit more cautious than PHD and didn't press me to come back tomorrow. They suspect recent unnoticed infection and wanted me to come in today for drawing blood for antibody testing. So now I'm stalking my labs for the results from home via VPN-client.

It looked very good when I took a look at it on Monday. Big kitchen, both a shower and a bath tub! Big balcony.

Me, too.

You simply go to the board and create a thread.

Nah, it's more the work overload.

Thank you! What my plastic surgeon offered to me is that either I can get combos because they're less pricy or - should insurance cover some procedures - to get a combo with half-self-pay so I can get e. g. brachioplasty or butt less expensive because I don't have to pay hospital stay and anesthesia then. That was one of my criteria for choosing the surgeon: does he offer combo?

There is no way insurance will cover either butt or arms because it's "not bad enough". Arms are almost never covered in Germany. In general it's getting better with WLS being covered but with plastics... forget it.

However, things are so much different in Germany when it comes to hospital stays and what post-op compression wear is available etc. - but thanks a lot for your offer. 😘

Thanks four your answer as well!

You're the second person stating that "the work was unfinished" before plastics. I guess I have (developed) a different view on this.

I certainly don't want to jump through some silly hoops again and delaying for months on end (either the pictures speak for themselves and I get approved or I'm going to self-pay and sue to try to get the money back; that's possible in Germany when you've been denied after appealing) - but it's not like this issue feels as... "urgent" like WLS did back then.

I don't feel like unfinished work (anymore?) and I don't think plastic surgery would somehow close a chapter in my life. There are chapters in life that will always continue somehow, "food issues" most likely being one of them.

Anyway, depending how insurance decides I will go for abdominal/mons lift and brachioplasty first, then breasts and thighs second. Butt, I'm not sure. Plastic surgeon claims that butt doesn't really need it. I guess I will wait and see how the butt looks in comparison to the rest when the other work is done. I don't have issues sitting or something so there is no way insurance will pay for this. Maybe lower body lift is an option after all for the first one. Not sure.

Thanks a lot for your answer.

Yes, the skin doesn't look pretty. However, I hold the opinion that my eyes have to look at lots of bodies I don't deem pretty as well. So if one doesn't like to look - look away (includes myself, lol).

Nah, seriously... I'm obviously a really big chicken when it comes plastics. I didn't hesitate when my first WLS was due. It was all crystal clear. It was a necessity and when I looked at my other surgeries the moment I deemed them as an absolute necessity I didn't hesitate as well. Though it admittedly took a while before I deemed them "a necessity".

I guess I'm just scaredy cat.

That sounds like a bargain - I expect to pay way more... Can't imagine feeling that different. Ok, walking will maybe really feel different with new inner thighs, I guess?

What did you attribute that feeling of "all new" to? Looks? An actual feeling when e. g. walking or sitting down? Sorry, if I'm too nosy.