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.

Salsa, in case you didn't notice, your surgery is one week from today, lol! I'm starting to send the quick healing vibes your way.

Good luck on the marathon too, Becky

Gosh...I knew there was something I needed to do next week!:hurray: I know I am so excited. I still am not focusing on that though. I really don't think too much about it except when I play with my belly flab. I keep pushing and pulling it to see what it might look like, but really...I have no idea what I am going to look like when I come out of surgery. I am not going to recognize my own belly!!!

Less than 48 hours until the half marathon. My tendon has been giving me fits the last few days, but it seems to be on the mend for now. I am not doing much on it...just walked a few miles. I might run tonight if DH wants to go. Only for a mile though...he pansies out after that!:blushing: It is supposed to be 97 degrees the day of the half. Hopefully it will stay cool until 10:45, which is when I should finish. I will make sure to post everywhere about my results! There are 1137 people running in the half marathon:scared2:. Add on to that the 135 people running the marathon and there will be a lot of people on fairly narrow running paths. So I might end up finishing a little later due to crowding issues, but I don't really care about time...I just want to run the whole thing and finish!

There's a bunch of bandsters here that always run through my mind when I'm running, motivational, bright people and you're one of them.

Here's wishing you a smooth surgery and an even smoother body as a result!

Wow...that is one of the nicest things anyone has said to me. That is a true compliment coming from one of the originals! Thank you.

Have a good girls weekend. My birthday is Tuesday so we are waiting to do any celebrating until then!

Good luck with your surgery! will keep u in my prayers, u look great! your stomach looks great compared to mine, i've lost 63 pounds in 5 months

I excercise 4 times a week at the gym, my arms look like bat wings, excercise will not help them, is your insurance paying for it? i'm saving now because I don't think mine will:sad: unless I have rashes and is prone to infections.

Hey Salsa.

Good luck on tomorrow's half marathon and on next week's surgery. This will be Jabba the Hutt's last run, so be nice to him. Are you gonna miss him at all?

How exciting. Good luck with your surgery.

Hey Salsa.

Good luck on tomorrow's half marathon and on next week's surgery. This will be Jabba the Hutt's last run, so be nice to him. Are you gonna miss him at all?

I am going to miss Jabba the Hut as much as I miss my 105 lost pounds! I will be so excited the first time I get to run without the compression garments that I have to wear. They cause so much chaffing and are HOT! By this time tomorrow I should be icing my legs!

Salsa: I'm so excited for you. I hope you also purchased a toliet seat riser? You are going to need it. I wish my doctor had done the ancho incision. I still have fat on my upper abs and I don't like it at all! My ps is going to do some lipo on it when I get to goal. Thanks for sharing the pictures! You will have a good recovery because of the great shape you're in. I think you should be in the hospital over night too, but you'll probably rest better in your own bed. Good luck with the marathon!

Salsa: I'm so excited for you. I hope you also purchased a toliet seat riser? You are going to need it. I wish my doctor had done the ancho incision. I still have fat on my upper abs and I don't like it at all! My ps is going to do some lipo on it when I get to goal. Thanks for sharing the pictures! You will have a good recovery because of the great shape you're in. I think you should be in the hospital over night too, but you'll probably rest better in your own bed. Good luck with the marathon!

I know that most PS do not like to do the anchor incision because of the visible scarring, but I don't care about scarring. My doc thinks that I am going to have amazing results. She was much more cautious about how good it would turn out at the consultation, but I have lost more fat out of the belly since then and now she is confident that I am going to be very happy with the outcome. I seriously have NO idea what I will look like...so I don't really have any expectations. I don't think it will be possible to come out looking worse!

We did get the toilet seat riser. Actually I borrowed one from a lady at school. Her mom just had hip surgery so they bought one for her. I have been doing squats as well so hopefully coupled with running I will be okay.

So excited for the half-marathon tomorrow. I just ran one mile tonight and it felt so good! Can't wait for tomorrow. Who would have thought that I would be excited to RUN for almost 3 hours?!?!?

I know you'll do great on the marathon. I wouldn't have minded the extra scar either. You're going to look marvelous, darling, simply, marvelous!

good luck with your run and the surgery!!!

I finished it in an unofficial 2:41:11 according to my i-pod. Race results have not been posted yet. I will update as soon as I have.

The run did not go as I had planned. I was not able to run the entire thing due to a MAJOR injury at mile 8. My leg is quite swollen...but I pushed through the pain as much as I could and slow jogged as much as possible. The achilles tendon is very sore and yes...I shed tears on the course from the pain. I also ALMOST threw up from the pain. The couse was AWFUL. I don't know how you get a circular course to be almost all uphill... but they did. We also started late and the last 5 miles are in the open...no shade and it was 89 degrees by the time I finished. However, I am still thrilled with my results. My ultimate goal was to be under 2:30...but that was pretty farfetched. Had I not had an injury...I would have easily made it. For the first 8 miles I was averaging a 10:33 min/mile. I would have EASILY been in under the time. However, even with walking part and the injury...I still made it in under my reasonable goal of 2:45. As I said before...I don't have the official results yet and I forgot to turn off my ipod so the time should be more like 2:40 something.

I am VERY pleased with the run. I was afraid that I would be disappointed in myself...but I am not...This is an AMAZING accomplishment. I am so proud of myself. I have not only overcome 105 extra pounds, but if you could feel the pain that I experienced through most of this run...you would understand why I couldnt' run the entire thing. The pain in my leg was so severe that at one point the aid station people suggested that they call a medic. Since my leg was not discolored or bruised I figured that the tendon had not torn and I was going to finish. I walked/limped as fast as I could and did run the last mile. That takes determination and guts.

I did it...I did it...I did it!

YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!

so sorry about the injury, but YOU DID IT!! I AM SO INCREDIBLY PROUD OF YOU!

so so so so SO proud!

that's a great time too!!!

C

yay congrats on the marathon and good luck with surgery!!

Karri good job! You've completed a half marathon, now theres nothing you can't do!! Woo! So happy for you

YAY for you--------what an awesome accomplishment. You have overcome the weight and the fear of the upcoming PS--the pain in your leg was just one more thing to overcome, and you DID IT!! I am reallllllllly proud of you!!!!

My PS was done on an outpatient basis! I had no problems with it at all. I went home with the same pain pump, and went back and he pulled the 2 tubes. You might have more tubes if you have more incision. My PS used a longer overall incision, he did not make a smile incision on me, he went down from my hip bone to the corner of the pubic bone, kind of following the angle of your leg like this then across right below where the pubic hairline is _ then from the other corner of the pubic bone back up on the angle to the other hip bone / So my incision looks like _/.

My compression gets to come off on Tuesday, but he said when I am doing my workouts, or riding my horse, I would be better off wearing it, as it helps with swelling.....I was wanting it off FOR those things, it is so fricken' hot!! LOL Oh well, I am NOT complaining!!!

Loving....LOVING...the new flat belly-----so will you!! Will be watching for updates!!

Kat