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Kathy This is my own fault as being 497 pounds I stretched my skin to its limit. The surgeon did say he would not go below the elbow but will try to pull what ever skin up from the forearm that he can. If I am not happy he will have to do an additional forearm surgery at a later date. My breast reduction was not exactly as I had hoped either thus I didn't post pictures anywhere. I have to keep in mind I am 62, have many other physical problems and probably will not see another romantic relationship in my life time, so I will not need to worry how I look naked. I will just deal with whatever PS results I have when all is said and done come 2020.

Even if I do manage to get well before the cut off date to cancel surgery the Surgeon will not do an extended brachioplasty to my wrist as it is too dangerous.

Thanks Kathy I so enjoy your positive postings especially today as it looks like my Brachioplasty on Feb 12th may not happen.

Surgeon will not do an extended brachioplasty to my wrist as it is too dangerous. He said the swelling moves downward and it would go to my hands and there is possible nerve damage with doing it down to my wrist in the same surgery. WIll have to have lower forearm surgery after Brachioplasty. However may not even being having this surgery on the 12th as planned. Went on the 26th to PCP for pre op testing. Over 20 poeple in the waiting room 4 of whom were coughing, sneezes and spewling germs everywhere. I had to wait over an hour to be seen for testing. I told Dr I now probably will become sick and less than 4 days later I was. I told her she better give me meds as I am not coming back there to get even sicker. She did but as of Feb 4th no better, so I doubt this surgery will happen. This is so unfair. Why don't they put those truly sick people in another room instead of making the others waiting become sick as well. Am so angry and upset.

Those pop ups are even worse when you are on the shopping side. I just ignore them as I know what I want.

Got a great Christmas gift. Am so happy! On the second attempt I got approved for the excess arm skin removal surgery. Need to have the surgery sometime between today and March 20th. Now I need to do some more reading on here about how long of a recovery time, recovery tips and find out what compression garments I will need. Feel free to provide me with anything you think will help me get through this at my age 62.

Had my presurgery consultation and a bit disapointed but know this is for my health. Was told the Dr WILL NOT go below my elbow for my excess skin arm surgery scheduled for Feb 12th. I was told that it was too dangerous for me to have the forearm done at the same time as the upper arm surgery due to my age and the amount of excess skin.. I have lost over 280 pounds and my upper arms measured 19 & 20 inches, forearms are 11 & 12, wrists are 7 & 8. Was told he would try to pull the skin tighter but not likely this will help the forearem skin. I asked if I paid for that surgery as insurance is covering upper arms surgery, would the Dr do it. Was told No it would be a health risk for me at my age, 62. None of the Doctors in this plastic surgery center have ever done forearm with upper arm surgery. Yet I need a vest with long sleeve support. Did anyone have such severe excess skin on their forearm? Did you have both surgeries at the same time? I just ordered the vest with long sleeves. It wasn't easy to find it. I also found a $30.00 coupon so I am very happy for the discount.

Other than my roommate who didn't stay very long on Wednesday I had no visitors and was glad I didn't. I needed the time to sleep and recover in the hospital. I got home on a Thursday and believe it was Monday when I had my first visitor who only stayed like 10 minutes. During the 4 weeks I was off work and healing a few more ladies from my community came around to see how I was doing. When I had my first PS in June more people came and brought my roommate and I protein meals we were able to eat. The PS took 6 weeks to heal so I was very happy to have company.

This was a life saver when I hit the 3 weeks stall. I do not know if Inner Surfer Girl is still on BP but her posting is worth reading. I am so glad she posted it and thought it was time to let the newbies know about it as I have been seeing a lot of posting about 3 week stalls.

I had my porcelain gallbladder removed, a hernia repaired and the sleeve surgery. I went into the hospital on a Tuesday and was release on a Thursday afternoon. My roommate left after the surgery and I was in my private room. He came back the next day to check on how I was doing as he thought I would be coming home on Wednesday according to the Dr. However the nurses saw I was not doing well and told the Dr I needed another day to get my pain under control and for them to get me up out of bed. Thursday morning I called my roommate as I was ready to get out of the hospital. He thought I would go right to my bed but I sat in my recliner for many hours watching Tv and drinking my first protein shake. Four weeks later I was back to work. I took an extra week as I wanted to be able to eat food when I started and not be on just liquids. I had a lot of shoulder gas pains but had no incision pains or complications.

The use of Benadryl lotion helped make my life easier after my WLS and Plastic surgery. But please be sure to check with your DR that this is ok for you to take.

Judy were you on a 3- 6 month supervised high protein diet set up by your surgeon? Because I was on the high protein low carb diet for 6 months I only had 1 day preop of liquid diet. After surgery I was on a 2 week post op liquid diet. Each Dr has diferent requirements but the reason for the liquid diet is to reduce the liver so it is easier to lift it and get under it to the stomach.

Thanks I got it and replied privately back to you.

Alex just thought your members might like to know there is a facebook page for this conference https://www.facebook.com/groups/330963657323599/ and for Robins SE WLS facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/southeastwlsgroup/. It is private and you have to ask to join. I am one of the moderator of the SE WLS group. So come on over and get to know some members before you go to the conference. There is a Meet & Greet being planned for Thursday Evening April 26th (I plan to be there) from 6p-8p at UNO's which is a 2 to 3-minute walk and directly across the street from the hotel. I should be receiving a stack of postcards from Robin in a few days about the conference. Alex do you have any for the BP hospital? If anyone wants any for any support groups, facebooks groups, exercise groups etc they are involved in, privately send me your address, how many postcards you want and I will send them out when I get them. Hope to see you at the conference.

VSGNEWGUY Thanks so much for your posting. Tonight I ordered the Tespo dispenser (spoken about in your post here) and the women's bariatric complete pods. It came to $147.00. I started to leave as I don't get paid until tomorrow but as I did a coupon for $50.00 off popped up and I couldn't resist. So I just got the dispenser for $49.99 instead of $99.00. My pods will be $48.00 a month and I pay a lot more than that for all the vitamins I have to take which will be covered with the three pods. If your interested in getting the system leave the site before you enter a credit card and you too might get a $50.00 coupon off too. If not there is a $30.00 off coupon that comes up when you first get to the site. However you can remove that coupon code and enter the $50.00 off one. I should get my items in 5 to 7 days. Hope my next labs due in Feb will be good.

That is wonderful. I am in Southeast Florida and hope you will be attending.

It will be so great to meet you and others from your team. You helped me out in Feb last year with my Bike challenge and everyone was so instrumental in helping me to become the thinner person I am today. It will be great to have a free consult with a PS as having lost of 280 pounds I have lots of excess skin and still have two more surgeries to go. Thanks Alex I will be happy to post here. Do you have any problems with me posting the conference FB group URL for now? I will be happy to post updates as they become available.

I am so glad to hear that BP will be there. Will you be the one there? I registered in Sept and have just volunteered to help Robin in whatever way she needs help. I will be arriving on Thursday and leaving on Sunday. I have a handicapped accessible room with another Gal from Robin's FB group and we could use another non smoking gal in our room. So if anyone is looking to attend let me know as if your a non smoker we would love to have you. Alex It would be great if you would let me keep this posting up to date and let folks know what is going on.

I didn't do anything, the surgeon did it all. When I asked why I was approved the second time I was told he wrote about the hygiene problems. I suffer from terrible rashes and irritations which causes the skin in my folded area to crack open. I guess mentioning that got them to approve of the surgery.

kakatlady612 Thanks so much for your kind words. I am looking forward to developing the friendships in this group. FluffyChix You have a great start with your weight loss so far. Continue doing what the Dr says and I know you will be successful. Making major changes pre surgery is what helps to make post surgery easier. At least it did for me.

I live in Florida. Now that I have lost over 277 pounds when it gets cold here I feel just as cold as I did when I lived in Michigan. I never thought I would say I am cold in South East Florida but I am. I have on an electric fireplace in my room, while my room mate has 2 fans on in his. When the house temp drops down to 72 I have the heat on. CRAZY! I would say you should invest in an electric blanket. Good luck with your pre-op diet and surgery.

Ordered 4 boxes of soup on the 29th. Order is still not filled but I am sure tomorrow when everyone is back working again it will be sent out. It is suppose to start getting colder down here in Florida. Now that I have lost 277 I get cold much quicker, so I know I will be drinking a lot of soup. Nothing better than getting protein in my soup. Thanks Alex for the New Years discount.

I'd like to join the group, if I may. I am going to be 62 this month. On Jan 26 2016 I had the sleeve surgery along with my gallbladder removed and a hernia repair. A bit about me and my pictures: I was obese all my life except for 2 years in the early 1970's when I was in my twenties and weighed 170 and was wearing a size 16. Twenty years later at 320 I became injuried by a complete stranger and less than 4 years later I was wheelchair bound due to the injuries and the doctors not wanting to treat an obese woman. Early 2000's when I had reached 497 I asked my husband to help me reduce my weight as my health was horrible. I was still in a wheelchair and in so much pain. I had 4 herniated discs, spinal stenosis, radicular neuropathy, half of a right hip bone, frozen left shoulder, Carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar nerve damage. He said no way would he help me as he was a Fat Admirer and loved me obese. We had a major fight about this and I started a weight loss program. Despite him doing everything in his power to tempt me with my favorite foods I managed to lose 90 pounds the first year. The next year I filed for divorce after I found out he cheated on me with women more obese than I was. That year I lost another 90 ponds on my own with a second weight loss program. For the next 10 years I bounced back and forth from 302 to 390 until June 2015 when I went to a surgeon about the hernia and gallbladder problems. Turns out he was also a WLS specialist and had taught other Doctors how to do the sleeve surgery. I saw him when I weighed 352 pounds. In Jan 2016 I went in for the 3 surgeries weighing 315 pounds. Today I weigh 220 pounds for a total loss of 277 from my highest weight. In June of 2017 I had a Breast Reduction and sometime within the next 3 months I will have excess skin removed from my arms. I have to get to my goal of 180 this year so my huge dropped tummy excess skin can also be removed. I need to get back to following all the rules and eating like I did when I first had the surgery. With many of you being in the beginning stages I am sure that will help me and I feel I might be able to offer a lot of help to you all.