Hi All, I had my lower body lift done on December 9th with Dr. Quiroz at the Cosmed Center in Tijuana, which included lipo on my arms and thighs. All I can say right now is OWWWWW. I was actually not feeling too bad the first few days after surgery, as the anesthesiologist had given me an epidural and it kept the incision pain at bay. The anesthesia is wearing off now in spots, and it hurts really badly when I do any action that pulls on the incisions where the anesthesia has worn off. I missed one of my pain pills last night so this morning was particularly painful ... seriously I almost started to cry. This is by far the worst surgery/pain I've ever experienced. I knew it would be, and I know that things will improve with time, but right now it just really hurts. I am seriously thinking of dipping into my stash of vicodin (that I brought with me, but haven't used yet) to help with some of the pain, as the Mexican meds I'm using (Sinergix) are not up to the task now that the anesthesia is wearing off. I'm going to ask Dr. Q today what to do, as obviously I don't want to combine pain meds without his advice.

Also, the drains are really irritating me ... they pinch so badly where the incision site is. I am expecting Dr. Q to remove one or hopefully both drains today. I discharge from the recovery hotel boutique tomorrow and really don't want to have to deal with any drains when I leave! I am going to be staying with my mom over Christmas (she lives about 2.5 hours' drive from San Diego, a major reason why I chose to have surgery in Tijuana) and then on the 28th I fly home. I took a month off work and hope it's enough (otherwise I'll just have to take more, and hopefully when the first month is up I'll be feeling fine to work at my desk job).

I've been staying in the recovery boutique hotel since my surgery, and the staff has been really lovely. I haven't been cleared to take a shower yet, but yesterday one of the staff washed my hair and gave me a sponge bath,and that made such a huge difference! I was feeling like a skank bomb with greasy hair, betadine smears, and bandage residue. I haven't been eating well, and my appetite is very low ... almost all cooked food repulses me, with the exception of Soup,so my diet lately has mostly been soup, crackers or toast with Peanut Butter, and fruit. I am really excited to be able to make my own green smoothies and Protein shakes starting tomorrow. I think part of why I've been feeling so yucky is the lack of good nutrition, and my aversion to most food.

I thought I'd show some pics of my abdomen before surgery and what my incisions look like, and the bruising from the lipo. I am still extremely swollen in arms and thighs where the lipo was done, but the soreness from the lipo is pretty manageable with the pain meds. On the plus side -- wow, my abdomen is SO much flatter than it was prior to surgery! And although I have a ton of swelling and bruising on my arms, they are definitely more toned looking than prior to the lipo, which is good. I was thinking getting an arm lift and a thigh lift at some point, but right now that's not remotely something I want to consider! I just have to make it through the next several weeks of healing, and hopefully I will feel much better. Also, by the way, I did have a fleur de lis abdominoplasty due to a lot of lax skin in my upper abdomen. That's why there is a vertical incision.

I'll post some more pictures in the coming weeks as my healing progresses.

Hi Kris,

I hope with each day, you feel less pain and continue on the road to happy healing.

Take it very slow!!!!!!!

Smile

Hi All,

Just an update, I am now just over 3 weeks post surgery. I feel like I am the poster child for things that can go wrong after this surgery! I discharged from the CosMed Clinic's recovery suite on December 17th and spent 10 days at my mom's house (finally flew home on Saturday the 28th). When I discharged, everything was going pretty well; I just had some awful nerve pain in my left upper thigh/butt cheek area that resolved within a week, and was having problems with a leaky drain (fluid was leaking out of the area where the drain was inserted.) With my PS's approval I removed my remaining drain on day 10 after surgery,. I was still draining some Fluid at that time, but my antibiotic prescription had run out (and thus there was an increased chance of me getting an infection at the drain insertion site) and I was thoroughly sick of the drain, which has been leaky and was pinching pretty horribly when the drain pulled (which was often). I was unfortunately still not eating well and overdid it a couple of days, and I started springing leaks out of my incisions as well as continued leaking out of the site where the drain had been. At first the leaking was primarily located in one area, but then multiple leaks sprang open on both sides. As of today, there are 4 areas that are actively draining ... the worst by far is a 2" area near my mons pubis that that has basically split open (you could insert the edge of a quarter into it). The leaking fluid has turned the scab into goo and it is completely gross to look at. It doesn't hurt, but it is very scary to look at and annoying to stuff maxi pads in my underpants to absorb the leaking.

I freaked out when the leaks started and contacted Dr Q and provided pictures of what was going on; he was very reassuring and said this sort of thing is fairly common with this surgery, and I need to keep the incisions clean and try to give the areas lots of air when possible. I've been really taking it easy, trying to eat more Protein, and keeping the incisions as clean and dry as possible. From what I've found doing research, it will probably take at least another 1-2 weeks before the incisions close up and the leaking is over. I will be SO thankful when the leaks are done!

I have a pretty large area of swelling around my butt incisions and hope that the swelling continues to decrease over time.

Other than the leaks, I find my recovery to be super slow. My energy level is still very low, and I spend most of my days resting,

Lessons I have learned (the very hard way):

1) I really did myself no favors by eating so little food/lacking nutrition my first 2 weeks after surgery. The folks at the CosMed Clinic provided lots of good food; I just had zero appetite and almost all food repulsed me, so most days I was getting less than 700 calories and almost no protein. From what I've read one of the main contributing factors to slow wound healing is inadequate nutrition following surgery (smoking is another major culprit, but I've never been a smoker so that had nothing to do with it). So, if you are going to have surgery, please do your best to get lots of protein and fresh fruits and veggies in the weeks following surgery --- your body really needs it!

2) Don't overdo it if you can at all help it. It can be a fine line between getting out and about and resuming normal activities and overdoing it. I crossed the line on a couple of days and I feel sure that overdoing contributed to the leaking incisions issues.

3) Be patient with the healing process (I am still really struggling with this). I knew before having the surgery it was going to be extensive and tough, but I really have been surprised at how slowly I am healing and how tired I still am most days. I won't lie, there are many days I have despairing thoughts of "why did I do this to myself?" and wishing I could turn back the clock and not have had the surgery. I believe in a few months, once I'm healed up more, I will be happy with the results, but for right now it is just very tough physically and emotionally. Even though I went through this following breast reduction surgery, this surgery is so much more extensive than that (and that was pretty major surgery actually), it has been a major challenge to get through the days.

That's it for now ... I feel kind of bad to be reporting healing problems, but possibly other people have experienced these issues too, and so hopefully it will be good for people to know things like leaks form incisions can happen.

Have a happy new year! I must admit, I am super super glad to say goodbye to 2013!

I was wondering about your progress.....ouch...sorry you are having such a hard recovery.....I will keep in mind the Protein aspect of this and hopefully when it is my turn I can be as brave as you are.....

I was glad to see 2012 gone and also glad to see 2013 gone too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Keep us updated please!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Kris for your update.

Continue to take it very slow!!!!!

Healing takes time.

You give some really great advice.

for people considering plastics, know that it is really tough on your body - and the bigger the procedure the bigger the impact. I think it is reasonable to think of it as an event you should prepare for nutritionally and even fitness wise. I really loaded up on the Protein for 30 days before and about 60 days after my surgery. Kris, thank you for the reminder about this. What people don't realize is that MANY people lose their appetites and love the idea that they can lose weight during recovery. That may not always pay off. Now, in my case, I never did lose that appetite... in fact it was a little scary how hungry I was post op, but it all worked out fine.

I did not have any wound problems, but I know they can happen after plastics. Do they think that your drains coming out so early contributed? Dr Sauceda allowed each drain to be removed based on the "output" but at some point the drains have to go if your body starts rejecting them. I think I had my last one almost 4 weeks which seemed like a lifetime (so inconvenient!) but I know it helped with swelling and stuff.

Kris, the whole over doing it/not doing enough balance has been very hard for me. I have had NO complications - just normal post plastics stuff and i have still found recovery to be tough - not painful, not scary, just tough, tiring and LONG. Much longer than I ever guessed it would be... honestly. My surgery was Oct 14th and I still have nerve tingling type stuff going on - I am told that can last up to a year!!!

I am thrilled with my results, don't get me wrong - but I think everyone should know that plastics are no joke, serious surgery. I am 50-50 on whether i would do it again and I say that as someone that got good results and no complications - to give readers an idea of how hard this is. My good friend always looks at me like I am crazy - like things have gone as well as i could have hoped and I have regrets? Well, it was just harder than I realized... not the surgery, not those first few weeks - I am talking about the really long haul here. I guess I had a dream that by 2-3 months out it would be just a distant memory... I have been too lazy to get updated photos to show my progress with you all... but I promise I will. Sorry to sound so negative especially since I have just finally turned the corner and resumed feeling mostly human again I should be a better cheerleader.

Anyway, thanks for sharing and let me know if i can be of any support to you.

Thanks ladies for the support! I appreciate it so much!!!! Cowgirl Jane, I really appreciate your words of wisdom, and I totally agree this is major, major surgery and not something you just bounce back from in a couple of weeks (as I am learning daily). I was actually pretty good about getting extra Protein prior to surgery, but definitely could have done better with overall fitness. I believe that at least some of the fatigue I've experienced since surgery has been due to the fact that I wasn't in the best shape possible when I went into surgery. I really do wish I had done much more to strengthen my core and arms prior to surgery. So that definitely is another great lesson learned.

Ironically, I woke up today and was thrilled to see the leaking had dramatically slowed since yesterday. Yesterday I did experience a big unexpected gusher of Fluid escape when I laid down to sleep, and while it was extremely unnerving at the time, it may very well have been that was just the last pocket of fluid that needed to drain out, and from now on thing swill dry up swiftly and the incisions can heal. I'll keep my fingers crossed that is the case.

In retrospect I do believe I removed the second drain at least several days earlier than I should have. Yes it was leaking at the insertion site, yes it pinched me constantly, yes it was a pain in the butt, yes the drainage had slowed down to an acceptable level, but I guess my body still had lots more draining to do, and once the drain was out, the most efficient way for the body to drain was through the weakest spots in the incisions. I have seen anecdotes of people developing leaks 3+ weeks after surgery after the drains are removed .... so leaks can happen even when you leave the drains in a long time. I don't know whether I would have had the leaks if I had left the drain in several more days or if I was just going to leak no matter what.

I hadn't weighed myself since having surgery but decided to do so for the first time today (being that it's a new year and I thought I would document it). I thought that I had lost weight, but since I still have some swelling I was not expecting to see much of a change on the scale. Boy was I wrong. I've lost over 15 lbs. since December 9th. Unbelievable! I never did ask Dr. Q how much skin/fat he removed but I'm guessing it was around 7 lbs., so the other weight has been through the unfortunate lack of eating/appetite (and trust me, I would gladly give those lbs. back in exchange for not having experienced the incision leaks!). I am not dumb enough to think the number on the scale today is what will be in 2-4 weeks or beyond, but it has been an eye opening weight loss. Ironically, the only clothes I feel comfortable wearing are my cozy Hanes sweatpants, t-shirts, and hoodies. So I have no idea what my regular wardrobe fits like!

Many people post their before and after pictures and all we notice are the amazing transformations. The stories we hear are lovely and we want our bodies to look the same way. Many are having plastics without considering the long term recovery that it entails. For some it is long and hard. Although I am 6 months out, and my surgery went very well, I am still recovering. Fortunately, all of this information was clearly explained to me by Dr Victor Gutierrez before I had my surgery, and later I received several reminders afterwards about recovery and how it takes the body a long time to heal, especially after something as extensive as the surgeries we have undergone. It takes lots and LOTS of time. I am still limited in a few activities I use to do, because I have not completely healed. My endurance level is slowly coming back, but It is taking a lot of work. I agree with CGJane, please know what you are getting into before you choose to have plastic surgery, because it is not a quick easy recovery. Even thought I am not 100% fully recovered, I am happy to say I would do it all over again. Here's to wonderful happy healing in 2014!!!!!!!

Edited January 2, 201412 yr by Sweetpee