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.

Go to my blog...they are posted there. The address is in my signature. If you ask your surgeon they probably will.

I hope so I think it would be neat

Go to my blog...they are posted there. The address is in my signature. If you ask your surgeon they probably will.

actually, my PS looked at me like i was nuts... and didnt take pics ... oh well.

they removed a lot - you look great!!

I'm gonna ask they better do it! lol and your results are amazing.

Go to my blog...they are posted there. The address is in my signature. If you ask your surgeon they probably will.

that's great! I'm glad your PS was cool enough to take those photos! Hopefully mine will as well and the photo on your blog of you in the tank- you look amazing!!!

hope you continue to feel better!!!

:thumbdown:

Forgot to post this here yesterday:

So when I sat down to eat my breakfast this morning...this is the sight that greeted me on my t-shirt. At first I thought I had spilled something on me when I was making breakfast but after further investigation I realized that I was leaking out of my incision.

Off to the doctor we go. On the way there I leaked through three gauze pads, my underwear, and another t-shirt. *Sigh*

PS said it was alright and not all that uncommon. She said even though the drains were low when she took them out that I may have needed them longer. She said she would rather have the liquid coming out than staying in. So in order to protect my clothes I am wearing a feminine pad across my belly. Talk about sexy!

She also didn't like the way my binder was fitting so she is ordering me a new one. All part of the cost! So I should be getting a binder that is a little longer so that it can cover the entire belly. She is having it sent fed ex to us so we should get it tomorrow.

Other than that all is well. I went back to lower carb today because when I woke up this morning my face was all swollen. I realized that I was eating a lot of carbs lately because they are easy. However, they are causing some issues and I think contributing to my swelling. So for the next few days I am going to eat high protein and low carb. Yes I ran it by the doc and she said she doesn't care as long as I get my calories and my protein. Well I think low carb qualifies!

Hey Karri :thumbup:

Glad to hear your PS is pleased and is taking good care of you. The new binder sounds like a good plan and she's righ..... way better out than it! Thank goodness for kotex, eh?

Take care and keep on taking it easy!

Karri

Hun I am so sorry you are so leaky! I leaked a tiny bit but nothing like that!

Keep away from the carbs, they are not what you really need right now!

Hugs and keep on healing baby!

Karri:

No postings on this thread for ten days. Are you healing well?

Please keep us posted so we don't worry about you. Crazy, I don't know you, but I almost feel like I do. We're bandmates, and in about a year I'll be having ps too.

Hope all is well.

Sue

Sorry things have been hectic. We went out of town so that I could get a fill. I have been starving and not staying full for very long at all so I decided after three months of being unfilled that perhaps I should go in. I had gained some weight but I am not sure what is swelling and what is actually weight gain. But I wanted to nip it in the bud quickly.

Healing is going alright. I am really REALLY swollen right now. I am also still leaking at the incision site. I have an appt with my PS tomorrow and will report back in then.

Are you feeling better after the fill? It's so hard to decide what to do. We should be pros, but it seems that these decisions can be agonizing.

Hi Salsa,

I've been following along on your PS journey. Congratulations and I hope you're feeling better after your last fill!

I'm having the same type of tummytuck you had in November so I'm definately interested in your experience. I've got to say, you're 4 days post op pictures look great! How are you doing now that you are almost a full month out. Any updated pics?

Again - congratulations! You look amazing and are an inspiration!

~Lori

Are you feeling better after the fill? It's so hard to decide what to do. We should be pros, but it seems that these decisions can be agonizing.

Yes I am feeling much better that I got the fill. It was getting to the point that I was starving all the time, I wasn't staying full, and I could eat WAY too much food. I figured that even though I am at goal I should use the tool that I paid for! Plus with the absence of exercise the pounds were starting to creep back on! It was a pretty agonizing decision and one that took three doctors...my PS, my PCP and my lap-band doc. I got a pretty conservative fill and have another scheduled for August 11 in case we need tweeks either way.

Hi Salsa,

I've been following along on your PS journey. Congratulations and I hope you're feeling better after your last fill!

I'm having the same type of tummytuck you had in November so I'm definately interested in your experience. I've got to say, you're 4 days post op pictures look great! How are you doing now that you are almost a full month out. Any updated pics?

Again - congratulations! You look amazing and are an inspiration!

~Lori

Thank you for the nice comments. You will LOVE the TT. Now that I am almost a full month out I am still doing great. I have some swelling but not too bad. I will post pictures this weekend. We have been out of town and I have not been as good with the pictures as I had hoped to be. But we don't have anything planned this weekend so I should be able to get DH to take some!

On the exercise front...I get to start running on August 7...HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Hi Karri :teeth_smile:

Glad to hear the fill went well and that you are feeling good. That continual starving feeling is awful and I'm happy to hear you don;t have to endure that any longer.

My youngest son (Tim, 13) starts football soon and I have been running with him each day to encourage and help him get ready for football camp. Every time I run (OK, I need to clarify. I use that term loosely. Very loosely. I don't really run. I jog. Barely) I think of you and I wish like hell that I liked it as much as you do. Or even that I didn't hate it quite so much. But I do. Hate it that is. And I am so, so thankful for my beloved bicycle and the fact that this running is a short term thing

I hope you continue to heal well and that you feel wonderful!

Here they are. I have some comparison shots between 1 month (today) and before, as well as 1 month and 5 days after.