enterprise01

Here I am. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/enterprise01-s-brachioplasty-liposuction-44174/ I've been pleased with Dr. Heller. His staff is attentive and responsive, too. We won't be able to see the end result of my brachioplasty for possibly as much as 3 months, but so far, I'm happy. And do talk with Wanda. She had both a tummy tuck and breast lift and will most likely be glad to show you the scars.

nurseamy - Congrats on the weight loss and your upcoming plastic surgery! You must be really excited. Please keep us all posted, and we just love, love, love pictures. josiebies - Dr. Spivak has had Dr. Lior Heller and Dr. John Long speak at the support group meetings. Dr. Heller did my brachioplasty 2 weeks ago. I liked Dr. Long, too, and have heard good things about his work. In fact, I think there's a thread on here somewhere about Dr. Long.

Just found this thread, and so glad I did. LJM, the woman in those frightening pics also had an 11 liter tumor removed along with the panni, so she had some added medical conditions that you won't be dealing with. I think removal of the pannus at this point is a good idea. As others mentioned, your mobility will be greatly improved and exercising will be substantially easier on you. Before I had my arms done, every time I looked in the mirror I still saw a fat person. After the arm lift, I see more possibilities. Now I think, yeah, if I lose 20 more, I'll really look good. But before it was, well, even after another 20 lbs, I'll still have these heavy, sagging arms and I'll never look proportionate. One procedure can really lift your spirits and improve your self-image, which in turn gives you impetus to get to goal. And the LBL you plan to have when at goal may be less traumatic for your body if you take care of the pannus now. I know money is always an issue, but is it the deciding factor in your case?

His assistant told me that the shooting pain is normal. And I remember having the same kind of pain when I had eyelid surgery several years ago. Now I've got another problem. The compression garment is putting too much compression on my forearms and it's resulting in some significant pain. In fact, now the forearms hurt more than the upper arms. They feel like they are badly bruised, and extending my arms fully or turning my hands palm side up is excruciating. I spoke with Dr. Heller's assistant yesterday and she told me to go back to wearing the ace bandages for a few days. That's a bit of a bummer because they are bulky and don't sit well under clothes. The pain has lessened since I took the compression garment off, but it's still there. Even resting my forearm on my desk while I use the mouse is painful. Argh. It's always something, isn't it?

I don't think I know Patricia. Leslie is usually the one who tortures me with all the needle sticks and still never finds my port. She's as nice as can be, but she just doesn't have a knack for doing fills.

Lynn, I have the same sort of thoughts swirling around in my head. Sometimes I think I should only be able to eat 3-4 bites and get full, but when I look at that more rationally, I realize we'd all be malnourished and underweight in no time if we only ate 9-12 bites of food per day. I ate 1 cup of chicken salad last night with some garlic sesame sticks and then panicked because I felt like I had way too much. But in reality, a 400-500 calorie dinner is a normal amount of food. And when I can eat normally like that, then I fear that I don't have any restriction and that the band isn't working. I doubt I'll ever be at peace my food issues.

Your clothes will hide the compression garment as long as you wear shirts with 3/4 or full length sleeves. The pain has kind of changed during the healing process. When I woke up from surgery, I was only feeling pain in my armpits. It was a constant soreness with sort of a burning sensation that was aggravated every time I moved. There was generalized pain my arms like a bad bruise. Then a week after the surgery, the pain started increasing in my arms. I'm getting shooting pains that are probably from the nerves regenerating. All the pain is focused around the incisions. I also have some surface numbness, which tends to happen with any kind of surgery, and it's rather uncomfortable. The pain in the arms does not seem to increase with movement unless I stretch too far. There is no muscle soreness or pain. The armpit pain is gradually decreasing. I have not tried to wash any of the incision sites. The slightest touch is incredibly painful and even makes me a little light-headed. Keep in mind that my experience is different than yours will be. JulieNYC is having a much easier time with her brachioplasty. I really think the removal of the underarm fat has caused the most pain, so you may not suffer as much as I have. Despite the pain, I'd do this again.

Modern Beauty, I think.

Hey, everyone. Yesterday was my first day back at work and I was miserable. That was also my first day without pain pills. I'm still taking the darvocet at night, but nothing other than Motrin or Aleve during the day -- and that's really not sufficient. The armpits continue to look gnarly, but the arms themselves are healing nicely. The scars on the arms are very straight. I got the compression garment last Thursday afternoon, and it's impossible to get into by myself. They are basically sleeves that connect in the back across my shoulder blades by a row of 5 eyes and hooks, just like a bra. At this point, I cannot raise my arms above my head, but even if I could, I still don't think I could hook or unhook this thing by myself. My mom went back home to Atlanta yesterday and my boyfriend is not here Wednesday through Friday, so I'm on my own for those 3 mornings. I think I'll have to leave the garment on and just wash my hair in the sink on those days. Ugh. I'll try to post some more pics in a few days. The tentative date for the TV show is Dec. 29th, but they haven't confirmed that yet. They also have not done the follow-up with me, so I suspect it will not be airing as early as Dec. 29th.

I vote for the mid-calf body shaper. It will give you the compression you need for the abdomen and smooth out the entire body. And you can wear it while the girdle is being washed. (I'm thinking of getting the vest to help the recovery from my brachioplasty.) And go make that appointment with your GP, internist, or OB/GYN. It's very uncomfortable to be bloated. I suspect your plastic surgeon doesn't want to prescribe diuretics because they can cause an imbalance in electrolytes. Your GP would have better knowledge of your overall health and would probably feel more comfortable prescribing them.

Julie - Make sure you don't over do it. My plastic surgeon specifically told me not to diet for the 6 weeks following my brachioplasty. It's more important that you get the nutrients and fuel that your body needs to repair itself than to get to that arbitrary number on a scale. Take care of yourself. By the way, you have spectacular muscle definition in your arms and I'm terribly jealous of your collar bone.

Sherilynn - I'm so sorry to hear about your boyfriend's father. How awful to lose him so suddenly, especially near the holidays like this. Things will be rough for a while, but I'm sure you'll help him through this. Juno - Let us know how the metaformin works for you. My doctor almost put me on that about 2 years ago, but he never could get a definite diagnosis of PCOS. We did determine that my testosterone is really high, which is now being treating with spironolactone. It's helped tremendously. I haven't checked in for a week or so because I'm recovering from my brachioplasty. Sunshine, I'm glad you found my thread on the brachioplasty. I'm having some god awful shooting pains tonight and don't want to take my darvocet until I'm finished working for the night. (I'm waiting for a program to finish running so I'm goofing off here in the meantime.) Audree - Do you have new pics? If so, where are they? I'd love to see your progress. You're always such a positive influence around here.

Diane -- Did you make an appointment to see the doc about the swelling? Are you on diuretics? If not, do you think that would help? Even with the swelling, your results are amazing. Keep us posted.

Julie, how long do you have to wear your compression garments? I hope you'll post some more pics soon. I can't wait to see how well you're healing.

I still don't have the compression garment, so I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be like. I think it's compression sleeves that go up to the underarm and connect in the back with a bra-like band. And I'm not sure how I'm going to get that on by myself. The compression socks are a good idea. I'll try that if the sleeves are not do-able by myself. Most of the swelling is near my elbows, so the socks would probably work well for me. Right now I'm still using the ace bandages, and that's getting old. I'm also using large band-aids (2.5" x 4") to protect the drain wounds and stitches from being irritated by my bra. I'm finally feeling some pain in the arms themselves. At first, I had very generalized pain in the arms -- like I was run over by a truck -- but now I'm having twinges of pain along the incisions. I'm taking that as a sign that the nerves are healing. The armpits hurt like hell and have since I woke up from surgery. The Darvocet is working well, though. I haven't gone back to the office yet because I get weak easily and often, but I'm trying to work from home as much as possible. With the Darvocet, I'm having to double and triple check my work -- let's hope I'm not screwing up. My mom is staying until Monday, so I'll go back to work then. I am incredibly grateful that she's here.

The drains came out this afternoon and I did not feel it at all. I was worried about removing them, but it was a total non-event. No pain whatsoever. I don't have the compression garment yet, so we'll keep using the ace bandages for a few more days. I've asked my mom to stay a little longer because I cannot dress myself. Getting my bra on is particularly difficult. It's funny how Julie seemed to have such an easier time than me. I suspect it's because I had a lot of fat removed in addition to skin and I think that may have caused more swelling. I cannot raise my arms much above shoulder level, and Julie was raising hers all the way up a couple days after surgery. Just goes to show we are all different, much to my dismay. I'll post more pics in a few days. Thanks to everyone for all your support.

YES!!! Let's hope I'm healed enough by this summer to wear it.

Here's the right arm:

OK, here are some pics of my unwrapped arms. Be warned - it's graphic. The left arm has a lot more swelling then the right. And there's a pocket of fluid on the inside of each elbow, with the left being worse. Here's the left arm:

I'm so sick of these drains. They are very annoying. I saw the doc on Friday and he wanted to leave the drains in over the weekend - better safe than sorry. He took all the gauze off and wrapped me in a plain ace bandage, so I've had better use of my arms since then. I cannot lift my arms all the way up or put them all the way down, though. My appt on Monday is at 2:30 and the drains will come out out then. Yay! They will also put me in the compression garment then. The worst part of all of this is not being able to shower. Julie, I'm sure you can relate. My mom washed my hair in the kitchen sink for me this morning and I felt a lot better after that. The other problem is that because of the location of the drains, I cannot wear my bra up as high as I normally do. The breasts are sitting down low and that's getting uncomfortable. The pain has not been bad. Darvocet every 4 hours is quite sufficient. I'm also taking 10mg of Ambien to help me sleep at night. Buffie - I did feel well enough to come home the day of surgery, but I needed a lot of help. Thank god for my mom. When you have your brachioplasty and breast augmentation, make sure you have someone there to help you. I really don't think I could have managed without my mom. Here are a couple more pics. Lynn, don't let the picture of the drain deter you. For some reason, it looks much more gnarly in the photo than it does in real life. You can tell from that picture that Dr. Heller removed all the fat I had in my underarms. That fat would push up and hang out over my bra, so good riddance.

Thanks, Lynn. Forgot to mention that the pain isn't that bad. I'm taking 100 mg Darvocet every 4 hours and that's keeping it under control. There's more discomfort than pain.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for all the positive thoughts. It's been a bit rough. I'm bandaged from my shoulders to my wrists and cannot bend my arms. My poor mother has had to do everything for me. I can't even take a drink of water without her help. I go back to the doctor tomorrow at 12:30 and I'm hoping he'll take the bandages off and put me in a more comfortable compression garment. I've gained 5 pounds from fluid retention. Ugh. My fingers looked like sausages this morning, but the swelling is slowly improving. The surgical procedure itself wasn't that bad. We got to the hospital at 6:00 a.m. yesterday and I was fully dressed with makeup on for the TV show. The camera crew was late, so they didn't actually film me until around 9:00 or so. They did a brief interview with me and asked me about my weight loss, the lap-band, and why I wanted plastic surgery and what other procedures I might have done in the future. Then they filmed me in the hospital gown with Dr. Heller explaining what he was going to do and marking my arms with a magic marker for the procedure. Then the camera crew went to wait in the hallway and filmed me as they were taking me to the OR. I believe they filmed part of the actual surgery, too. The anesthesiologist I had was the absolute best. Anesthesia is usually very hard on me, so I told him about the problems I've had in the past. Well, this time I woke up as if I had been taking a nap. I was fully awake and alert, without nausea, within 30 minutes after the procedure. In the past, it has taken me as long as 8 hours to come out of anesthesia. This was definitely a much better experience. The surgery ended up taking 3 hours, which is an hour longer than expected. At first Dr. Heller was going to keep me in the hospital overnight, but I told him I was feeling well enough to go home, so he let me go. I think he knew I would need a lot of help and thought I'd be better off in the hospital. Thank god my mom is here. I have a drain coming out of each underarm. We're emptying the receptacles twice a day. Each time they've only had about 10 ccs of bloody fluid in them. Let's hope those drains come out tomorrow. They are a bit of a nuisance, but otherwise not a big deal at all. Here are the latest pictures of me. I haven't bathed in 2 days, my hair is greasy, and I had a cyst removed from my face today, so I'm completely gross. And I look like I'm auditioning for a zombie movie.

It's only 8 hours until my brachioplasty. I'm absolutely panicked trying to get caught up on work. I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. and I usually go to bed around 2 or 3 a.m., so that's going to be rough for me. At least I can go back to sleep really soon after that. I'll try to post on Thursday to give you all an update and hopefully some pictures, too. Thanks to everyone for the support. I feel very lucky to have so many friends wishing me well.

I've heard that, too. I still have most of my clothes from high school, so I'm using those as the yardstick for how much I really have to lose. When I fit into those shorts from 1983, I know I'll be at the right weight. FYI, my brachioplasty is in 8 hours. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, Sunshine, I'm so sorry you went through that. Thank god you're all right now. I've been contemplating another fill, but after hearing your story, I think I'm going to wait until after New Year's. Try to enjoy rest of your weekend. Take care of yourself.