Hi All- had my panicectomy and belly button fix this morning and I'm resting comfortably at a hotel. I have an 8am check-in tomorrow before going home. I skipped the ab plication and am happy I did! I feel really good- much better than I expected. They removed the catheter before I woke up. My drains come out at each end of the incision. I was expecting them to be around the pubis and I'm happy they didn't make extra holes for them.

Dr. Carl Askren in Fresno is amazing!

Well congrats! Good to hear your comfortable!

good to hear all went great! I had a gf had a tummy tuck about 4 yrs ago she had her drains in for 6 wks are you? I would think so. or is this differant then a tummy tuck? rest easy..

Please tell us more or msg me. I'd like to know tests timeline and costs. Really looking into this. Thanks

I had a consult in late October. I met Dr Askren in the summer when I went with a friend for a mastectomy reconstruction consult. I really liked him. I contacted my sleeve surgeon for a plastics recommendation and Dr Askren was on the short list.

There was a big delay after the consult. I called a couple times and left messages. I finally called and said I was coming in and would like to talk to someone. It turned out the delay was having the Dr's recorded notes transcribed. That was a little frustrating but I got in to see the office manager who is AWESOME. I explained if I didn't get in with enough time to heal and help my friend after her masectomy in mid-February, I'd have to wait at least six months. She got me in on a cancellation. Otherwise, I would have been looking at late January or even later. I got totally lucky!

My next round of luck was getting insurance to cover the panniculectomy. I had to fill out a form on why I wanted to have a tummy tuck and I made it ALL about the rashes and problems I had from my flap and listed all the things I used to battle the rashes. Several were prescriptions I had from other things. I only talked to my WLS surgeon's people about it. I didn't bring it up with my PCP who I rarely see. So again, Dr Askren's office worked their magic with the insurance!

He would have preferred to do the ab plication as well but I didn't want it.

Oh, and it took me over two months just to get the consult. He's in high demand.

The without insurance quote was for $8200. With insurance the full quote was $4370. I believe it will come down about $1500 because I skipped the plication. I have to pay for the belly button fix as that is cosmetic.

The check-up this morning went great. Dr Askren was pleased with the surgery and I think it looks amazing. I got to see my belly button. Lots of stitches there but it looks good. I was trying to find a couple scars from my sleeve surgery to see how far things moved down. I still have a few stretch marks down low but they're way down. I'm totally thrilled so far!

I go back on Monday to have the stitches and hopefully the drains removed!

I really agonized about the ab stitching and I think I made the right decision for me. I'm happy I skipped that part of it.

Thanks for listening!