So as if the whole world did not already know, my surgery is set for July 3 at 7:30AM. I will have to be to the surgery center at 6:30. To the dismay of many around here, this will be an outpatient surgery and is scheduled to last 6 hours. Here is what the doc said yesterday.

1. I will have 2, (possibly 3) incisions. One that runs hip to hip (about 3/4 of the way back on the hip), 1 that runs vertically from groin to breast bone, and then possibly one that is horizontal just underneath the bra line. She won't know until she sees how much puckering there will be at the top. I really don't give a CRAP about scarring. I just want to see my belly button!:sneaky:

2. She has no idea how much muscle repair I will need. She said she wouldn't know until she gets in there.

3. She may or may not move my port. It depends on how much of a fat pad there is between my port and the muscle. If there is not a lot, she will leave it. If there is a fair amount, then she will unstitch the port, remove the fat, and resecure the port to my muscle. Lovely...port pain again! :thumbup: She will not be changing the location of the port and has the complete support of my lap-band surgeon.

4. She will lipo the mons area and lift as well. This is being thrown in as a bonus. She said she is not going to charge me for the lipoing of the mons area because she didn't originally think I would need it, but now she thinks it would be better. She said it is not enough to justify recalculating the fees.

5. I will be receiving a pain pump that will last for 48 hours. She gave me the option of showing me how to remove it myself (WTH!):rolleyes2: or to move up my post-op and come in on Monday and have her remove it. I opted for the second! I am not a biologist/doctor...that is what I pay them the big bucks for!

6. She is so excited that I am running the half-marathon before surgery because it will cause great circulation and put me in the best shape of my life. She was not concerned about the weightloss because of my muscle tone. She didn't want to see me losing a lot of weight just due to low calories and poor nutrition which can be a problem for healing. But after seeing the muscle tone in my arms and legs she is EXTREMELY confident in my ability to heal quickly.

They took a bunch of pictures and I got my prescriptions for surgery. They are all liquid as this was the only thing that my lap-band surgeon suggested. I did not want to get a pill stuck and be throwing up! So I will just gag from the flavor instead.:tongue2: Liquid pain meds and liquid antibiotics. Sounds like a party. I can sit in my recliner like chair with a straw and party umbrella in my medical cocktail and feel like I am sitting on the beach...with my new "bikini body"!:rolleyes2:

And now...what everyone has been waiting for... the pictures...as hideous as they may be! I know a lot of people like to see before and after pictures and I will be posting a lot. There are not a lot of people that have the vertical incision and it has been very difficult for me to find before and afters so I am going to do the best I can to provide this information for other's searching.

Uggghhh... Almost biffed it this morning getting out of bed. Holy crap I got so lightheaded. My legs were shaking, I almost threw up (that would hurt), and my vision was going in and out. So now I can't walk my mile today. I am pissed off BIG TIME! I do get to walk to the library, but that is about 3 blocks from here.

awwww, Salsa... im sorry... PLEASE take it easy. you are still recently post op. especially in the heat.

I know I need to take it easy it si just that I feel so damn good from the neck down. I have VERY little pain...a little discomfort if I move the wrong way. But otherwise I feel 98% of my normal self. So I think that I should be able to do whatever I want. Then there is this whole dizziness/lightheaded issue. My PS is more convinced today that it is a drug reaction to my Cymbalta. We and she looked up the side effects possible and I have almost 75% of them. I have been on this med for about 1 month but I read a few journal studies that show that surgery/anesthesia with cymbalta is not recommended. None of us new that before apparently as it is not in the general literature of the meds. I spent several hours reading medical journals this morning. One of the side effects is syncope (or passing out) and lightheadedness. PS thinks that with the hormonal changes caused me the removal of fat and the fact that she took me off my birth control for a month to reduce blood clot risks may be another part. Also there could have been an interaction with the anesthesia. Problem is that I can't just stop taking the Cymbalta. You have to be weened off of it. We are going to call my PCP as early as possible tomorrow to see what she says. I think I am going to demand to be taken off of it. She said when she first put me on it that she could switch me to prozac (never taken that one) if I couldn't take the Cymbalta. Hopefully she can do that tomorrow.

Salsa, I'm sorry you are still having troubles. Hopefully you can get your meds adjusted tomorrow and will start feeling like yourself again. Of course you are only 10 days post op so you have to keep taking it easy. Just because you feel pretty good doesn't mean you are able to return to your regular routine. Practice patience. Its good for you.

Thanks for posting your pictures. What a remarkable difference! You should put a before and after side by side so everyone can see the incredible transformation. It keeps getting better and better too!

You all are right. I am just not one that can do nothing. I am too dizzy to work on school curriculum so I have been reading, reading, reading. IN fact I have read 4 books in the last 3 days! That is why I was hoping I was going to get to go to the library today. But maybe tomorrow.

I am going to try and work on some school work but I don't know if I have it in me mentally right now. I have a lot to do so I have to get it done sometime!

Hope you are feeling better! I can only imagine how hard it is to just do nothing, after being so active the last year! Your new pics are GREAT!

Salsa: Hope you feel better soon. I don't want to get too personal, but maybe you could do without any antidepressant? Of course, only you know how your feeling but almost all antidepressants have negative side effects. I know because I have used them and tried many in my past life. I'm just wondering if the new you and exercise could help your depression?

I have been on and off of antidepressants for many years. I have just been on Cymbalta for a month because I was hyperventilating so bad that it was interfereing with everything. The anxiety about maintaining my weight was so great that it was throwing me into panic attacks. We tried a lot of things because I didn't want to go back on meds but when it was getting to the point that I couldn't hardly work because of the hyperventilating I figured I didn't have much of a choice.

The meds have helped me not freak out over calories. I was to the point that if I was told to eat 1800 calories in an attempt to maintain that I would eat no more than 1805. I would weigh my food obsessively, count calories obsessively, and pretty much was making my life and everyone around me miserable. Since I started taking the meds I have calmed down a lot. I still worry about calories (though in the last 3 days have consumed several thousand thanks to docs orders) but not to the point that I am shaking and panicking about it.

I would love to never take them again but I also don't want to feel like I did before I started taking them. Hopefully we will figure something out.

Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I greatly appreciate it!

YEAH.... DRAINS OUT! Sorry Frangi but I beat you on this one. I only drained 10cc's in 40 hours.

Let the swell hell start! I have been much more swollen on the right side (the first drain gone) than I have on the other side and I am assuming that is because of the lack of drain. So I guess now I will have equal opportunity swelling!

Oh yeah and we got me into my PCP tomorrow in hopes of doing something about the Cymbalta. Talked to a friend of mine today who said that she experienced the same thing when she was on it.

YEAH.... DRAINS OUT! Sorry Frangi but I beat you on this one. I only drained 10cc's in 40 hours.

Gee Salsa, I didn't realize that you and Frangi were in a drain removal competition. I think she'll beat us all on the reduced swelling thanks to keeping her drain in so long.

wooo hooo!!!

Hi Karri. Glad you figured out what was (most likely) causing the syncope. I KNOW how hard it is to stay down, because I am the same way. I don't even watch TV any more, mainly because I can't stand to do one thing at a time (Ok, and because commercials make me nuts).

BUT, you HAVE to stay down and take it easy in order to heal. Rent (borrow) movies, organize paper (if you scrapbook), work on knitting or crocheting projects, watch entire seasons of tv shows on discs, something, ANYTHING so you can get the down time you need. Of course, reading is always good too, but I find if I read too many hours in a row my lower back and neck get sore.

Please, please cut yourself from slack and let your body take the time it needs to heal.

Best wishes for good results at the docs tomorrow.

wooo hooo!!!

Congratulations LJM on gaining a baby!! I just noticed your post!!

WARNING! The last picture on here is of the skin that was removed. It may be unsuitable for all people to look at if you have a squeamish stomach. Blood, tissue and fat are shown. The first two pictures are of me in surgery.

Skin pictures.doc

Edited July 17, 200818 yr by salsa1877

I tried to view the skin pics but i dont have microsoft word can you show me them somehow?

I want to have my doc while im in surgery for lapband take pics of it around my tummy is that odd? lol