Now that I have my pre-op pics from the doctor I thought I'd start this thread. I have learned so much watching Julie and Puddin I wanted to follow their example and share my journey as well.

I am posting my surgical pre-op photos below but am leaving my before/current photos of my clothed self off this thread for now. Somehow that makes me feel just a little more exposed on this thread. Silly I know since my photos are already on several other threads.

Thank you so much for your honest and frank response Diane.

With work and personal conflicts the surgery isn't scheduled until October 9th (My mom's B-Day)

I wish I could go TODAY!

OK Julie is this crazy thinking or what? - I really would like to get down to 159 before the surgery which is only 6 pounds. I think I can do it if I really try hard, but then a little voice keeps whispering to me "why try?". After all even though some of the weight I lose might come off of other areas of my body looking at my current shape I believe a signifacant portion of each of those hard fought pounds I might lose between now and surgery would have just been cut off by him anyways. So why not just focus on maintaining my current weight until I see what I look like after surgery rather than busting my chops for no reason?

Diane: I will be watching this thread INTENTLY... especially because I'm in the KC area as well.

What ps are you using? and if you don't mind me asking.. how much is he charging you?

I am using Dr Dillow. He was at an informational meeting with Dr Hoehn/Hitchcock a few months back. I hear he has done PS for a lot of their patients but to be honest I don't know a single one of his patients. But his resume was good and on a strange side note - it turns out he is from my home town in Nebraska and I went to High School with his little sister. I also had a consult with Dr Cannova (sp?) as I do know several people first and second hand that have used and loved him. But his price for the extended Tummy Tuck were much higher.

My price with Dillow for the Extended Tummy Tuck with Lipo is going to be $8,500. Cannova wanted 12K+/- for the same procedure. Oddly if I'd had a full lower body lift which they both said I didn't actually need though I was tempted. Then their prices were nearly identical. These prices include anethesia and the facility fees as well as the doctors fees.

OK Julie is this crazy thinking or what? - I really would like to get down to 159 before the surgery which is only 6 pounds. I think I can do it if I really try hard, but then a little voice keeps whispering to me "why try?".

Again, I get it. What I can tell you is my Dad asked me to try to not lose weight for about a month pre-op. He wanted as much consistency as possible just before surgery and wanted me to keep my Protein high so as to not lose muscle mass just before surgery, since some would be lost afterwards. That said, I don't think 6 lbs is going to change much in terms of your final outcome. I'd just eat like I was eating, if I were you -- good bandster eating -- but not make that "extra" effort. I bet you lose 20 with the surgery and with next to no effort, between what he cuts off and what you lose from recovery.

I have been following your story JulieNYC and I almost accused TheGhost of taking my "naked" pictures. I have very similiar stats, I'm 5'3" and am currently 160 and sometimes feel like I still weight 242 due to the skin and other stuff. I had a consult and will be having a BL, FTT with mons lift, lipo to my waist, abs and side boobies for $14,000 (house equity will be paying for it) and can not wait. I am sick and tired to looking like this, cleaning under the "folds" is awful and hoisting up the boobies into a 36D is not my idea of cleavage. My PS said I will have excellent results since all I have is extra skin and my expectations are very realistic. Just to be smooth and proportioned is my ultimate dream.

My surgery won't be until next year and I'm currently pursuing my 2nd dream of obtaining my teaching credentials and I have to decide which one could wait. But hopefully in January if not it will be in June.

TheGhost you will look awesome and JulieNYC thank you for sharing your experience, the information has been invaluable.

Ana

Thank you so much for posting this! I'm very excited for you and can't wait to see your results!

Ana - I hope you start a thread as well. My husband would die if he found my thread but it really helped me to see the other PS threads like Julie's. I kept thinking being 5'2 with a ideal body weight of 110-125 that I needed to wait until I was closer to the 140's before having PS. But seeing everyone elses before & afters helped me realize I was ready for it now.

UPDATE - I have my FINANCING!!!! :whoo:

I worked it a bit backwards set up the surgery and all just assuming I'd find the money. But its ALL GOOD!

Discover Card sent me a 3.9% until Jan 2011 offer and I was able to get approved for $10K, well over what the surgery will cost. I'd been hoping to find a 2.9% for the life of the card but 3.9 is still better than any bank will offer and I should be able to set up a schedule to get it paid off by 2011.

And to boot I'll get another 8,000 frequent flyer miles for doing it. All I have to do is pay for it with my frequent flyer card then transfer the balance over to the Discover Card for their promo rate. I did the same thing with the initial Band surgery giving me over 23K in miles. Plenty enough for a free ticket to Vegas for the Bandster Bash coming in January. Now to convince my husband to go. Hmmm, maybe I don't need to mention their will be other bandsters around and just bill it as a 2nd honeymoon to Celebrate my newly recovered body. Then just do the "Oh by the way dear..." after its all booked and paid for:heh:. Somehow I don't think that would fly to well.

Ghost: I am so glad for you!!!! You have worked so hard, you must be so thrillllled. In a year, if I run fast enough I may catch up to you.

I can relate. My pics look similar to yours and now, six wks after my extended tt and lipo to the flanks, I am closer to normal than Ive been almost thirty years. I am not a hardbody by a longshot and I still have my stretchmarks but Im not carrying around all that skin and my back problems are almost gone completely. Best of luck to you.

TZTMama - Hadn't even thought of my back, and oh how it has been hurting lately. It would be nice if the tummy tuck helped with that. Though with my good old size F cups hanging around for now I'm afraid I'm not in for much relief yet. My insurance says they will cover the breast reduction but the doc won't do both surgeries at the same time.

Thank you all for being so open. Ghost thanks for sharing your photos, honey they look REAL familiar.

So it is called a MONS lift. Well count me in. I'm getting one.

I'll keep checking back.

Patty

I've been researching today with my local doc as well as online as to whether I should get an Unfill prior to my PS or not. I'm getting conflicting information. Anyone out there have any suggestions of their own? JulieNY are you out there? FaithMD, WasaBubble...??

Well, Diane, I think even my advice is going to be conflicting on this one, but I'll tell you where I came out on it.

First, I have a friend who slipped because she didn't get an unfill, had PS, had a lot of Fluid retention and wound up needing a new band on top of her new TT. So, that scared me. I will say though that (1) she was an early band patient (i.e. techniques have improved) and (2) she has EXTREME fluctuations with her monthly cycle, that indicate that she's more sensitive than most to retention issues.

So, I thought I'd probably get an unfill when I had my PS because I thought my doc would encourage me to, out of safety. I didn't want an unfill and I was scared of an unfill, having sat at the same fill level for over a year and knowing I was perfectly adjusted. As you know, once a fill is taken out, you never get back to exactly the same feeling. You can get close, but probably not exactly back, for better or for worse.

So, I went to my band doc thinking he'd advise an unfill for my PS and I was wrong! He actively discouraged it. He said it wasn't necessary, even though I have some fluctuation during my cycle (nothing severe, but I do have tight days) and that I could always have an unfill in the post-op days if I needed it. Given his advice and my own hesitation to mess with a good thing, I didn't have an unfill.

Post-op, I could always get down liquids and a TINY bit of solids, but my band was definitely tighter than norm -- even tighter than the tightest days of my cycle. There was a day or two where I toyed with an unfill, but after about a week, I could eat normally again, so I didn't ultimately get it.

Ironically, I got an unfill a month later because the results of my annual esophogram showed that my band wasn't emptying fast enough. In hindsight, now I'm not oh-so afraid of an unfill.

That said, I wouldn't do it differently if I had to do it over again, and I'm not planning an unfill for my scheduled PS in November (unless I'm at goal and still losing, which has nothing to do with PS, but with finding the right long term band fill for maintenance).

Confusing advice, but I hope it helps.