Hi everyone,

I thought that I would start this thread mainly because I have found reading other peoples so helpful, it is so much better to read actual experiances than listen to a surgeon give you their veiws!

I actually looked into having a FTT done before I decided to get the band, I have had 6 kids and have a fairly horrific scar from and apppendectomy that got badly infected when I was a child.

Just before I had my initial appointment I decided to get the band fitted too, as much as anything to break the yo-yo pattern of dieting that I had fallen into for years now. One of my biggest worries was that I would have the TT and lipo and then 2 years later I would have put all the weight back on!

I discussed at length with my surgeon whether or not to leave the plastics until I had reached goal, but I am going to the maldives for 3 weeks for my 40th in September with my DH and I wanted to be looking good for that

I am very lucky in so far as in my surgeons words I have 'strong skin' but my tummy is a bit of a mess with the scar and the baby pouch left from the kids.I have NEVER had a flat tummy, even when I got down to 105lbs in my 20's so this will be a whole new experiances for me.

I am a bit gutted that I havent lost more weight, but I am going to get back into the zone now that Christmas is over and I am hoping to lose more in the next 5/6 weeks.

I have got my final consult and pre op on the 16th of Jan, and then the op is booked for the 11th of feb.

I am having major lipo (he thinks about 7/8 litres) and a FTT this time round, and then 6 months after that I want to have the puppies lifted back to their rightful place and refilled ( breast feeding 6 munchkins has not made the puppies happy) I asked him about doing it all at once but he said that 7 hours in theatre would be needed just for the FTT and lipo and he couldn't do a BL/Aug at the same time.So its just the bottom half of me that is going to get revampped this time. Does anyone know what is the minimum time that I can leave between the 2 ops?

I searched all over the net to find my surgeon, and I am having to go to France to see him, but I was so taken with his methods and te fact that he pioneered some of them ( he uses High Tension Stitching in a kind of quilting pattern under the skin so that you dont need drains, and he never cuts through the lymph system) and the fact that he trains others in this method that I figured I would rather travel.

The other thing that swung me towards him is that he keeps you in his private hospital for a week afterwards,with full access to morphine if you need it!! ;:speechles)

So thats me I will try to get my before pictures out of him when I go over this time so that you can see what he is up against!

Here is his website if anyone is interested, I think he is pretty amazing!

Docteur PASCAL - LYON - FRANCE

Nina x

Congrats to you Nina!! I am planning a tummy tuck and breast lift when I get closer to goal. I was certain that I wanted it; then I say Spyder's pictures and changed my mind completely!! Then I've followed JulieNYC and Ghost's journeys and I am much more at ease with this. I know that I need both so I'm really looking forward to getting to goal!!!

Can't wait to see your pics - bless you for sharing your journey

Nina: Wow. This will be an interesting journey. I will check out the doc's website. I guess he speaks good English or do you speak French? Are the costs comparable with having it done in the states? Can't wait to hear more! Wish you the best!

Nina: Is there a way to get the website in English?

Thanks Wombat :mad: I have seen some pretty awful pictures on the net which is what prompted my frantic search to find a good surgeon. The first thing that I did was ask him about 'ken dolls' , 'dog ears', and my pet fear - necrosis! He showed me loads of pictures that he used for his lectures on how NOT to do it and really set my mind ease.

Karey - He speaks excellent English albeit with an Inspector Cluseau accent, he is slightly nutty, but then, hey I see that as an admirable quality. If you go onto the site an look at techniques then look for silhouettes you will be able to look at the before and after piccies heres a link

Docteur PASCAL - LYON - FRANCE

I dont know how to translate the pages I just like looking at the piccies :confused: He is an industry leader in lower body lifts and has an arse lifting technique named after him! LOL

I just cant wait now. I am going to get back into weight training soon at the moment I am having to make do with the power plate and weights I have at home, hopefully that will give him less to work with!

The cost for the high lateral tension TT and mega lipo is 12000 euros, that includes all the meds and a week in hospital.

Nina x

Hi Nina. Your PS journey is bound to be life changing and absolutely wonderful. Congratulations and the best of luck to you!

I'm curious, what do "Ken dolls" and "dog ears" mean?

Nina- I was getting excited that he was in france! I'm in Germany and Paris is only 3 hrs. from me. So I could travel easily. But then the price tag of 12000 euro! Too much for me! sadly. I'm sure it will be worth every penny though. I would pay it in a heartbeat if I could afford it.

Trixie - A 'ken doll' is what can happen if they dont pay attention to the 'mons' or the muff as my surgeon called it - you have to imagine him saying it with a french accent then picture me ROLF - the whole area can swell leaving you looking like a Ken Doll. Dog Ears are when there is a bit of skin in a traingle shape at the sides . If you look on here www.makemeheal.com and search under those terms you will find pictures.

Sweetheart - I know that it isnt cheap, but he is one of the best, and he doesnt do a standard TT. Dont forget I am having a huge amount of lipo as well, I will be in theatre for nearly 7 hours, I am sure if you didnt need that much work it wouldnt be as much.

Nina x

Nina xx

Good luck, and be sure to post pics of everything!

Nina: Your doc's pictures look good, especially impressed with the lipo pictures. Do you know what kind of lipo he uses? I don't think the price is that expense given that they care for you for a week in their hospital. My overnight stay will be $1,050. I'm just blown away by how you came to find a surgeon in France!? Did you just surf the internet and then fly over and meet him or what? This is fascinating stuff.

Hi Karey,

That is basically what happened, I stumbled across a link to his website through a another website about weightloss. I then rang the NHS coordinator for weightloss in our county (who also organises lapband ops in France) and asked her what she thought of his work, she described him as 'the dogs danglies'

I then rang his clinic and spoke to his secratary Geraldine who speaks excellent english and arranged to go over there for an initial consultation.

In the meantime 2 of my friends had been listening to me rave on about it and decided that they wanted to go too!

2 of us flew to Lyon and spent 3 days there, we both came away very happy with the choice that we had made, we had 2 A4 sized sheets of questions and he answered every single one of them.

Unfortunatly one of them has been really ill and in hospital over Christmas with gall stones, so she won't be able to go ahead with the surgery I would go ahead on my own, as that was my initial intention, but it will be more fun with my remaining friend :eek:

One of my favorite things that he said to me was ( when I was describing what I wanted the end result to be) to acheive the results he needed me to have 3 things, courage, time and money! Cant get more honest than that can you!

He absolutely refused to do all that I wanted in one op, and when he explained why I agreed with him, I am just looking forwards to the first stage now.

Its weird it has become an emotional thing for me now, almost a rite of passage that i am going through to get the old me back, I had my first baby at 20 and have spent the last 19 years always putting everyone elses needs first, I am now (even if I say so myself) a very successful business woman, and I would like the chance to claim back some of the youth that I gladly sacrificed for the kids - does that make sense or does it sound like a selfish thing?

Its not that I want to go gallavanting around ( though it would be nice!LOL) I just want to look in the mirror and like what I see, I want to feel sexy again, my mind has stayed young but unfortunatety the childbirth/kids leftovers ravaged bod hasnt!

I made the decision a while back that by the time I was 40 I wanted to get it all sorted out,but life kept on getting in the way - you know how it is- for the first time in a long time I feel like I am back in control of me IYKWIM!

How about all of you? What are your emotional motivations?

Nina x

Nina: I know exactly what you are saying. I think that your doc is right. It does take courage, time and money! I like that. I am very scared about it and I don't know why exactly. I feel very confident of my doc. I'm not that afraid of the pain. I wake up every morning about 4:00 am and I start worrying. I'm going to be exhausted before I get the surgery! I think it's a control issue. I have to give up control of the outcome and it scares the hell out of me. I have worked so hard to be in control of my body, to eat right, to exercise, etc. I guess I feel motivated on many fronts. I have 5 children and I love them dearly, but they grow up and then they are off living their own lives and even though you know that they love you, somehow I've felt a little discarded, tired and used up. I have a 31, 28, 26, 22 and 8 year old. My little daughter of course still needs me and is worried about the surgery. The others are "proud" of me. You know I don't really care what they think about this. I've given them everything and like you, I realize that I need to live more for myself. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't of ended up needed the band and PS in the first place. I don't like getting older and feeling dismissed by people because of my age. Since I have lost weight I look a lot younger, but I think its more than that. I don't assume that people won't like me. I probably am friendlier. I know that I am happier. I think, maybe it's not too late for me and I can still look good for a while anyway. I want to look in the mirror and not just see sagging breasts and sagging stomach. I don't think that's being selfish. I do think it takes courage and determination. It's exciting to think of the possiblities. I don't want to get too carried away, because at some point you have to make peace with who you are and just love yourself, but I think that for now part of loving myself is doing this for me. I hope that makes sense. I'm sorry if I went on for too long, it was a good question.

You didnt go on too long at all!! It is such a complex thing once you start thinking about it.

I also have a large family 18,17,13,9,7 and 5 and sometimes I feel like the real me is in here somewhere but she kind of got submerged along the way. Which to be fair wasnt a bad thing, I was a hell raiser when I was young and I am glad for the patience and love of life that the kids have taught me.

I understand what you say about the control issue, the way that I have rationalised it to myself is that out of all the surgeons in the world I chose mine, and I chose him because I have absolute faith in his work.In that sense I have some control over the outcome as I have seen dozens of examples of his work and I liked what I saw. I chose to have this surgery, it will be soley for my benefit and it will (hopefully) mean that I will have regained control of my shape, in fact if I am honest it will mean that I can have the kind of body I have always yearned for!

On the 'not too late to look good', again I am totally with you I think that we live in an era where age, to a degree, is irrelevant, you are very much judged on how good you look irrespective of age.I too am sick of seeing saggy flesh and lumps and bumps that have no business being where they are!!

The way that I am looking at it is it will ultimately benefit all my family, if you look good then you feel good and that will impact on every area of your life.

My dad is not too happy about it, he doesnt agree with the risks involved and feels that I am being irresponsible, when in his words I look 'fine' for someone who has had 6 kids.

My hubby is fully behind me, he knows how much it hacks me off, and while he has repeatedly told me how gorgeous he thinks I am, he understands why I want to do it.

What does your DH think?

Nina x

It does help to have confidence in your surgeon. My husband is an orthopediac veterinary surgeon. He does totally hips, backs, knees, etc. He is wonderful at what he does, but I see that sometimes things go wrong with anesthesia, etc. He has lots of doctors that work for him and someone of them can talk the talk but not the walk. So, I'm suspicious and a worrier. I really like my doc though, or I would never do it. My husband is great. He has loved me through thick and thin (literally!). He thinks I look fine, but he supports me. He wants me to be happy and he agrees that it will improve my looks. We've been married for 33 years, so he doesn't reallly look at the outside of me anymore. He sees more the essence of who I am. This can be good and bad, but it's mostly good. I'm very blessed to be married to my husband. He is a good man. I think I'm feeling a little sentimental today. When you think about this journey of the band, it is really marvelous. So glad that I did it.

nina

im so excited for you!! id love to go to france for my plastics

not sure if Dr. Pascal and my PS use the same type of sutures, the progressive tension sutures, but my doc invented them ...

the whole 'no drain' thing sounds amazing, but its kind of scary, everyone else uses drains, why not him ???

i am going with Dr. Harlan Pollock in Dallas (North Dallas Plastic Surgery: Cosmetic Surgery in Dallas and Plano, TX). 54 more days. you are right before me .. my pre-op consult is on valentine's day and surgery is the 29th of February ... DH jokingly said my next plastics can happen on next Feb 29...

karey,

i, too, have been nervous... getting up early, etc... i just use that time to go work out.. get my ticker in the best shape!!

Hi LJM!!

I am so pleased that there are three of us going through this together I know how lucky I am going to France for my surgery, I really liked Lyon while I was there, but I felt like such a hick, the people are soooo chic, and they make iit look effortless! The town itself is beautiful and split in 2 halves over the river so you cross on beautiful Iron suspension bridges, more a place for romance than plastics really!

My surgeon doesnt use drains because he has developed a technique that doesnt involve cutting through the lymphatic system, apparantly a combination of that and the fact that he uses a quilting tecnique to re-attach the skin that has been loosened to the fascia means that there are no gaps for Fluid to gather in, or so he told me, he drew a lot of pictures and it all made perfect sense at the time!

Wow I forgot it was a leap year! I bet you look so fantastic after this one that DH will go along with anything you say afterwards!

Nina x