waitingpatiently

Thanks everyone for all the prayers. prayer is what has kept me from falling apart. So keep them coming. Janiece- as for what caused it? Just the luck of the draw. For about the last 2 years I have had numbing in my right leg especially when I exercise ( I have back issues so it wasn't a stretch that it was nerve related) but my dad had a genetic flaw in his aorta right at the belly button and he had to have part of his aorta and femoral arteries replaced... So in prep for this surgery I went and was tested to see if I had the same condition and was cleared.... After this my GP thought there was a chance I had a under lying small vein disorder. But after extensive testing I have been cleared. So... The only thing the doctors can come up with is that either I swelled more than expected causing the bandages to become too tight and cut the blood supply to the breast or that maybe I fell asleep with my arm across my chest ( which my husband did see me do) and that cut the blood supply. Neither of these would normally cause this much damage, but if it happened at a crucial time in the healing process, It was possible.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to take a minute to advise everyone that when it comes to elective surgeries,be prepared for complications. I'm the lucky 1 in 100,000 patients that the routine breast lift goes terribly wrong. I have an excellent surgeon (voted number 1 plastic surgeon in our area),( I work in the medical field and researched him extensively) I'm in excellent shape and have never smoked a cigarette in my life and it happened to me....so it could happen to you. We get so excited to reach our weight goals and look so forward to making our bodies match our new self confidence, that we put little REAL thought into the risks. Let me clarify, even though I have spent the last 3 months watching pieces of my dead breast tissue be cut away, been hooked to a wound vac for 2 months, and now I'm preparing for a skin graft ..............I would probably still have done it, What I hoped to accomplish with the breast reduction was to eliminate my back pain.....that it did.---so I know when I have this behind me, I will be happy. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of having surgery, I just want everyone to make sure....that it means enough to you to accept the risks,,,,because they are definitely real and painful. I have traded huge saggy breasts for perky disfigured ones. I have traded 3 days a week at the gym for 3 days a week at the doctors office. Then there is the financial risks.i honestly don't think anyone can prepare for this.We sign 10 disclaimers telling us the risks and how those complications will be meet with additional charges, but we just assume that is for someone else.....surely not us. I spend over $125 a month on medications and dressing. My wound vac alone was $6,000!!!.My doctor has covered all the big stuff (doctor visits and would vac) for me so far. I will need additional surgery and will have to have an implant or tissue transplant.( i would guess that would be at least another $8000) I know at some point I may have to pay a part, but when I ask him about it he just tells me that he doesn't want me worrying about the money....That it will all work out. I have included a few pictures of what I'm dealing with....they are graphic. I wish I had the successful pictures that others have shown, Maybe in 6-8 months when this process is over, I can come back and have a different story to tell. June 2007 Bandster Calender.doc

I am near roanoke Virginia. The cost of my my complete abdominalplasty was 8,000. That was about 500-700 more than others in my area, but he had such a good reputation I decided it was worth it.

They didnt pay for mine. That would have been nice.

I had so much fun in those early months. Every time I did the laundry I had more clothes that were too big. I would stack them outside my closet door. It was fun to watch the pile get taller and taller as the months by. It wasn't long and the pile was almost as tall as i was and toppled over. It was a great visual reinforcer of the progress I was making when I was having a bad day.

I'm 15 months post op and still on occasion have port pain. I think for some it just comes with the territory. With the weight loss, my port now sits right where my pants wound sit. So that seems to irritate it sometimes. It will also bother me after a weight lifting workout or when I do other exercises. But on a scale of 1-10 it's more like a 3. More of an annoyance than anything else. But I would mention it to your surgeon. It never hurts to ask the experts.

I remember asking this same question right before I was banded--haha I feel pretty much the same. I can feel my port. Now that I have lost all the weight, it does stick out a little and because of where it is my pants shorts sometime fall right on top of it... Which on occasion will be uncomfortable. Internally I feel the same. Every once in a while I have a little pain or discomfort in the area I think my band is in, and i wonder if it is actually the band or something else. But it is very mild and doesn't alarm me at all. The biggest difference for me is that I can actually feel the food leave the upper band pouch as it enters the lower stomach. Not painful... I just have that awareness. Other than that it is not different than before. Good luck!

Same here. I remember thinking to my self "what have I done" . It seemed like everyone on the site did so well, some returned to work in less than a week. I guess because I had 2 hernias and some adhesions removed it was more painful....I don't know. But it took a good week before I felt like " ok I can do this" and probably another week before I was back on my feet and ready to make this work. So hang in there. It will get better. I'm 15 months post op lost 88 pounds and at my goal weight of 148 pounds. Best thing I ever did for myself.

I guess since the incision lines for the abdominalplasty were so clean and I had very little bruising and since it was considered the more serious of the two surgeries, we were just surprised how black and blue the girls were. They were so swollen and mis-shaped. Now (almost two weeks outs) they are much better. However I did have. Complication of escemea (sorry thats spelled incorrectly) meaning I had poor circulation to the incision and I have had some tissue loss to that breast. Because of that I won't have a neat scar. But he said when it heals, he will go back in and revise the scare. It won't be prefect, but he said it should be fine.

Keep up the great job! Woot woot!!

Great job! You can knock that last 25 off in no time!!!

My doctor did offer both the realize system and the lapband. He said both had their pros and cons from a surgeons perspective but both did the job when the patient did their job. I went with lapband just because it has been around longer and I thought any kinks in the design were probably worked out. I haven't had any problems with it and I was at my goal weight within one year. I've lost 88 pounds now and I am 148 pounds. wootwoot!!

My stomach is growling as we speak! But it only gets like this first thing in the morning since its been 12 hours since I ate and I've been up 2 hours already. It knows its time for food! But after breakfast, I eat because I'm supposed to. I sometimes flat out forget to.