I'm 20 days out from having a full abdominoplasty and brachioplasty done. I'm super nervous and my anxiety is through the roof. For those of you who have gone through this, do you have any tips that you wish you knew prior to having plastic surgery done?

I am a little over a month away from my brachioplasty and thigh lift, and I am VERY nervous about it- particularly the arm part. I had my BA/lift, abdominoplasty, and lipo in August, and I was super nervous then too. It ended up being awesome. I had no idea that plastic surgery could do such fantastic things. I don't know about the brachioplasty, but you will love your new stomach! I am constantly amused by how flat, tight, and hard it is, and mine is still a little squishy, since it's not completely healed yet.

Have you gone back and forth at all on getting your arms done? I am excited about my thigh lift procedure because it's only the groin incision and everything else I had done is hidden by a bathing suit, but I am nervous about the arm scar since it's something that is so visible. I really haven't decide yet if my batwings or the scar is worse, which is contributing to my stress about the next procedure. Also, is your doctor placing it in the bicep/tricep groove or the back of your arm?

As for tips, make sure everything is handled before surgery so you only have to worry about getting better. I think the best thing I found was to use one of those push LED night lamps on my night stand. Waking up in the middle of the night when you're high on Percocet and you can't move around much is awful, but if you can just reach over and slap that light on, it made things much easier. Oh, and a lanyard for around your neck to clip the drains onto while you take a shower- that was handy. Don't forget to take pictures before surgery- I still go back and look at my pre-op pics which is helpful the first few days after surgery when you feel like garbage and you're all puffy and swollen. You can see an immediate difference which makes you feel less crummy. Oh and instead of the abdominal binder, I used a compression garment, which is a bit more of a hassle, but it helps keep your lower stomach compressed without the bunching up that the binder tends to do.

I'm not worried much about the scars because what I've read they aren't very big or can't be seen.

As for the placement I'm not sure I have my pre-op appt on 11/3 and I'm nervous as hell. One, because this is costing me an arm and a leg; two, I'm constantly worrying about the pain; three I don't know what I'm going to look like afterwards. The gastric bypass was painful because they disturb the abdominal muscles (and I can't believe I'm willingly wanting that pain again). I just want it to be everything I hope it to be.

Was the pain manageable? And I have heard about compression garments. What brand did you get?

Honestly, the pain was almost nonexistant. I took my prescribed Percocet, every 4 hours for the first 3 days and once again the 4th night and that was all I needed it. I really didn't feel much pain right after surgery, but I had no interest in letting the drugs wear off long enough to find out how much it might end up hurting! With the abdominoplasty they stitch your abs together, which I thought was going to be horrible, but the only thing I noticed was that it took me about a month to be able to sit up in bed without pulling on my knees. I'm 2 months post-op now and I'm back to doing situps without any pain. I had a far harder time the week after my sleeve surgery, probably because you can't eat anything and I was super nauseated the first few days. This time I knew anesthesia would make me sick so I had the doctor mix some phenergan in with his other anesthesia drugs and I wasn't nauseous at all after surgery. I read all the reviews on line and I was ready to feel like someone had cut all my skin off, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pain was more just a tightness in my stomach and a weakness from not being able to twist at all. You'd be surprised how hard it is to use the vaccuum when you can't use your abs, or in my case my abs or my pecs, lol.

This is the compression garment I got and it has been awesome. I bought two, which was a surprisingly good idea, because then you don't have to wait to wash one to put it back on. I actually just bought this exact same one again the other day for my thigh surgery, in a smaller size, since my legs will be smaller and I lost a bit of weight during recovery. I ended up with a seroma after surgery so I got stuck wearing the compression garment for almost 7 weeks. I hated it at first because it is a beast to get into when you're swollen and high on drugs and taking it off to go to the bathroom is SO annoying. I learned to love it though because it helped keep my stomach compressed so much better than the binder. It took me about a week to be comfortable without wearing it because my stomach felt so...free. Haha. Also, I washed each one every other day, so they took a bit of a beating in the laundry and they are still in very good condition.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017SQF3U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's really relieving to hear about the pain. See I'm going to be having lipo on the upper section of my abdomen and then removing the lower portion. Just curious, how much weight did they remove in the procedure? I've heard it can range from 5-12 lbs. it's hard for me to imagine what it's going to turn out like because there's just so much skin haha. I just can't imagine me feeling/looking like a normal person.

I am not sure how much weight the procedure took....my best guess is 3 pounds. The morning of surgery I was 153, immediately after surgery I was 161, and then later that week I balanced out at 148. I also gained 2 pounds in sillicone implants, lol, so if I take the 5 I dropped and add back the two, it is probably somewhere around 3. I ended up losing a total of 16 pounds after surgery because the compression garment made it kind of hard to eat and without being able to workout I lost some muscle. Believe me, I wasn't complaining though!

I am happy I strengthen my core and leg muscle, because it is not a good idea to use the arms when getting up from the bed. Also strong legs are a great help for standing up without using the arms.

Edited October 27, 201411 yr by Sweet Pee