Well, folks, this is the last book of the trilogy. Tomorrow, I'm headed home to Alabama for what I hope is my last round of plastic surgery. It's at least the last major round.

In case you're new to the forum, my history is that I lost 200 + lbs in 18 months of being banded. I had a TT with BL in March 2007. After that time, much to my amazement, I lost 60 more lbs. I then had a lateral thigh lift (outer thighs) and brachioplasty just 6 weeks ago, in Novmber 2007.

Tomorrow, I'm headed home for surgery on Thursday. We're doing the inner thighs (medial thigh lift), small breast implants (when I lost the extra 60, I really lost a lot of volume -- went from a mid-D to a small :confused:, and a mons lift with a port replacement to give me a low profile port.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as I get home from the hospital. Unclear whether that will be Thursday late or sometime Friday -- depends on how I tolerate the anesthesia this time. In any even, I'll post more from the other side!

Hi Julie,

I have been reading about your journey over the past couple of months and you have been a great inspiration to me. You have touched my heart although I have never met you in person. I am also on the short side, (5'2" 3/4) and beginning weight was 305 ,so seeing someone else who began with as much to loose as me succeed has been really encouraging.

i am so sorry you are having this complication on your last leg of the journey. I know you have touched the heart of many as you have touched mine and I trully hope this resolves soon without too much more suffering.

Although it is hard to keep the spirits up when life seems to beat you down, spoil yourself a little. If well wishes could heal you will be better by tomorrow.:rolleyes2:

Sherri

Well Julie sometimes life sucks! Sorry you are having a difficult time. GRRR! Have you tried lympathetic massage? I'm sure you know all the tricks, but I've been told that this is especially helpful. I hope that you and the betadine get along. Would the drains be as bad as the seromas? Maybe it would be worth it to deal with them instead of all this other stuff. You'll be in my prayers!

Oh julie I am so sorry that you are still having to deal with this, you arec normally so upbeat, it is awful to hear you down ((((((hug))))))

Does your dad have any idea why it isnt clearing up?

I hope that this lot of treatment does the trick hon and that you can start to see the end of the road soon.

Love and a HUGE (((((hug))))

Nina x

Julie, I'm so sorry you may have to have the drains put back in, ouch!

My doctor said if I didn't wear a tight garment on my tummy I could build up Fluid and he would have to put them back in, needless to say, I got the tightest thing I could pull up.

Wishing you the best.

Hugs

I'm sorry I've been out of touch. Work has been INSANE and my seromas are no better, so I really don't have much to report. I'm fighting a bit of depression but I'll try to do better at checking in.

We're trying a new technique with the needle draining this weekend -- something to do with betadine (sp?) that I expect I'll be injecting into myself. Glory be. I don't know the details yet -- it just arrived at my office and Dad hasn't called be to tell me what to do with it yet. Ugh. If this fails, apparently I have to go back to Mobile and have actual drains put back in my legs until the seromas go away. I don't know if I'd try to work during that or if I'd take a leave of absence. We'll see.

Julie,

Sorry to hear about your problems with the seromas. Hopefully this new technique will do the trick. I sure hope you don't need to have the drains back in, but I know you'll do whatever is needed to get through this. You definitely aren't a quitter. I'll keep you in my prayers. Take care!

Julie: popping in to give a some cyber morale support! Don't think you have to cheer us all up all the time.... Its our turn to give you a little boost.

Look at how far you've come, look at the volumes of soulful advice you givin on this forum! I for one am more knowledgable about the ENTIRE band/ps process for "knowing"/"reading" you! Thank you so much and now that you've developed seromas while it totally sucks.. it also is helping us to learn about them........ so THANK YOU for being here, and THANK YOU for writing about this part of your life!

JulieNYC - I just wanted to let you know that I had my first consultation for a tummy tuck this past week, in large part because of the education I have gotten from you . . . Thank you again for sharing your journey.

I am in Houston and am so excited about the possibility of actually doing this! I am worried about the 'down time' (and the DRAINS! yuk) :cursing: because of my kid's very active lives, but really want to do this for ME . . .

Julie - how long were you 'down' after your TT? I will be doing an extended TT with lipo and the doctor said I wouldn't be able to drive for about 10 days, does that sound about right? How long did you have someone with you around the clock following surgery?

I will probably have the surgery on a Friday, spend the night in the hospital and then be home on Saturday. I am looking at doing it in early May so that I will be fully-functional by the time school gets out. My son plays baseball year-round and will be starting the All-Star and select season toward the end of May. It is very important that I am back to myself by then, but I can't do it any sooner because of my daughter's club volleyball and track schedule . . .

I am afraid I am going to bug you to death in the next couple of months Julie, so if I start to get on your nerves, please just let me know . . .

hey wrote to you before Xmas - Dr Fielding did me too (so to speak )

also went to family in Alabama - Hope Hull- remember ?? Well anyhow - is there such a thing as surgery to correct fat calves and ankles?

thanks aura114@aol.com

Julie -

Hang in there - life is full of ups and downs. The downs just make the ups feel so much sweeter. Eventually, these seromas will resolve and you will be able to look back on this journey and you will feel so good.

Here's to hoping the seromas clear up fast!

Anna

Well, I MIGHT MIGHT MIGHT be turning the corner on the seromas. My right leg is dramatically improved. If it stays this way, I might not have to drain it again -- it might resolve completely on its own. Last time I drained it was 2 days ago and I only got out 4 cc's (that's very, very little) and though there's still a little knot there, that's normal post seroma and should resolve itself. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, God.

The left leg is better too -- not as much better, but I am seeing some improvement. It's not filling up as quickly or quite as much. Still about 15 cc's at a time, which means I have to keep draining it, but it was at about 40cc's, so there IS some progress. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And I haven't even done the betadine treatments yet, so there's still one thing to try if the left leg doesn't resolve.

Lynn and Aura, I will answer you both, I'm just fighting heavy depression right now and this update is all I've got right now. I promise I'll come back to address the rest as soon as I can.

Hey - I have been looking inline and asking questions I am sure you will be just fine -the body can take just so much trauma and then it needs time to heal - be strong and maybe a touch of antideprressents - no kidding - firm believer in them - Lillian aka aura114@aol.com

Julie: My prayers are with you!

Julie: {{{{hugs}}}} sorry to hear you are depressed but glad to hear your legs are doing better.

Dalia

Chin up Julie - I am sure you just need time to recover from all you have been through.

You have done more in the last year than most folks do in a lifetime, so don't push yourself too hard - give your body time to heal and take good care of yourself.

We are all here, rootin' for you - come back and talk when you feel ready.

Well, I MIGHT MIGHT MIGHT be turning the corner on the seromas. My right leg is dramatically improved. If it stays this way, I might not have to drain it again -- it might resolve completely on its own. Last time I drained it was 2 days ago and I only got out 4 cc's (that's very, very little) and though there's still a little knot there, that's normal post seroma and should resolve itself. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, God.

The left leg is better too -- not as much better, but I am seeing some improvement. It's not filling up as quickly or quite as much. Still about 15 cc's at a time, which means I have to keep draining it, but it was at about 40cc's, so there IS some progress. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And I haven't even done the betadine treatments yet, so there's still one thing to try if the left leg doesn't resolve.

Lynn and Aura, I will answer you both, I'm just fighting heavy depression right now and this update is all I've got right now. I promise I'll come back to address the rest as soon as I can.

Julie - I haven't stopped by your thread to say hi in a while. So sorry to hear you are having a rough time. Nobody deserves smooth sailing more than you! Let me know if there is anything I can do - if you need to meet up for a coffee and a cheer up sometime!