nina874

These are the befores! Nina x

Hi all, i just got back home and it is pretty late now but I have been promising for ages that I will post some pictures so here goes. http://www.makemeheal.com/pictures/viewAlbum.php?albumid=4951. the password is tummytuck I am still really swollen so I am hoping that the best is yet to come! Nina xxx

OMG HON!!!!! You look great!! Right, dont worry about the swelling, especially the lipo I actually got bigger then pre-op before it started going down!! My PS said that about 2 weeks in its starts to go down and at 4 weeks 80% of the swelling is gone but it can take anither 3-6 months for the last 20%. As for the swelling on your tummy - totally normal hon, your tissues are having a freak at tthe moment, again ittook about 2 weeks to start going down, and the skin has to re-adhere to the muscle even with the stitching that our PS's use. watch the blood pressure, mine was still dipping when I came out after a week! The blood thinners are ouchy for sure - I have to take them for 2 weeks post op cos my platlet count is sky high, but I was used to them from when I did IVF! I am so glad that you sound so chipper hon, just dont push too far too fast! Love and hugs Nina x

Thank god hon!!! I have only just been able to get online but I have been thinking about you all day!! See I told you you would be fine!! I am so happy for you hon I knwo how much you wanted this, I cant wait to see the photos ( says she who hasnt put any up yet!!LOL) Keep taking the drugs, and happy healing hon Love and gentle hugs Nina x

Oh and gargle with TCP or asprin, only dont swallow!!!! Hug hug hug Nina x

OMG HON!!!! Only 2 days to go!!!!! I am so excited for you chick and I just know that you are going to LOVE being in the flatlands, try to stay sane (HAH) make sure that you have got all the bits and peices that you need and then just start day dreaming about all the clothes that you will be able to buy!!! I will be thinking about you, I am travelling back on the first leg of the journey tomorrow, back to my sisters but hopefully I will be able to get online and give a HUGE good luck hug to ya tomorrow. Big hugs Nina xx

The final one and the reason that I had the tummy tuck!

Here are the pictures that my plastic surgeon took of me before I had my band fitted in Sept 07 and at my final pre-op in Jan 08, the weightloss was about 33lbs. I have just had a FTT and lipo but I dont know how to get the pictures off my camera! As soon as I get back to the UK I will post some more.

Karey please dont be worried! I am 2 weeks out and I feel fantastic, I went out and about for more than 4 hours yesterday, and the night before we turned the apartment into a disco and danced for 2 hours! I have got a consult today for my new boobs and I cannot wait to get them done, i have been window shopping on MMH looking at peoples pics and have picked the ones that I want!! I must admit I have been a E cup most of my life and I want to stay that size I just want em back where they should be!! As for the TT, I can honestly say write off the day of sx, you will feel like a train wreck, but the day after you are just stiff and sore , you do a bit of 2 steps forwards 1 step back but it is soooo worth it I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new body and I am still really swollen! Nina x

Hi guys I havent had any drains and looooord am I glad about that, my surgeon uses a similar technique where he closes the dead spaces internally so there is nowhere for the Fluid to build up.I have to say that I dont seem to be any more swollen than the people who have the drains so it must work what ever it is that he does!! I had a lovely day today, we went for a walk around Lyon and found a restraunt where I had a fillet staek so rare it was still mooing and so tender that you could cut it with a spoon - mmmmmmmmmm - and then we walked to the park and wandered around for a couple of hours, we found the zoo there and had a good look at all the critters and then walked back to the hotel,all in all we were out for about 4 hours. Then I had to go to see my PS cos this morning after my shower I noticed that the stitch at the very end of teh scar on my hip was a bit red looking on the skin around it and when I squeezed it (what can I say I am a sqeezer!!) some pus came out. He had a good look and decided that although they are dissolvable sutures my skin was reacting to them so he took the 2 hip ones out, it feels better already.Tomorrow I am going to ask him to take the rest out I think, just in case I react again. The lipo pain is easing off and I measured myself today, I have lost 2" off each thigh, 3" off my butt and 3" off my waist and I am still really swollen so I am verrrrrry happy! I am having a consult tomorrow for my boob lift and I have already chosen the ones that I want!!!LOL I am definatly coming back in May to get everything else done finances permitting. Sorry for the me me me How is everyone else feeling today? Nina x

Hi everyone, I am in my hotel in France now so I can get online! Losing!!!! What is going on??? I have PM'd you hon, but I dont have the password for your blog! I have got loads to catch up on, I just wanted to let you all know that I am fine, the lipo still aches like I dont know what, and I am black and blue but I am getting better all the time. We had to do the big transfer from the hospital to the hotel, with 2 weeks worth of stuff (you would not believe the amount of stuff we needed!!!), then we did a big shop at the supermarket while we had Paddys DH here with is car so that we wouldnt have to lug the heavy stuff, after which we swelled up like ballloons and spent the whole evening moaning about it!LOL Hows everyone doing?? NIna x

Hi everyone, I thought that I would start this thread mainly because I have found reading other peoples so helpful, it is so much better to read actual experiances than listen to a surgeon give you their veiws! I actually looked into having a FTT done before I decided to get the band, I have had 6 kids and have a fairly horrific scar from and apppendectomy that got badly infected when I was a child. Just before I had my initial appointment I decided to get the band fitted too, as much as anything to break the yo-yo pattern of dieting that I had fallen into for years now. One of my biggest worries was that I would have the TT and lipo and then 2 years later I would have put all the weight back on! I discussed at length with my surgeon whether or not to leave the plastics until I had reached goal, but I am going to the maldives for 3 weeks for my 40th in September with my DH and I wanted to be looking good for that I am very lucky in so far as in my surgeons words I have 'strong skin' but my tummy is a bit of a mess with the scar and the baby pouch left from the kids.I have NEVER had a flat tummy, even when I got down to 105lbs in my 20's so this will be a whole new experiances for me. I am a bit gutted that I havent lost more weight, but I am going to get back into the zone now that Christmas is over and I am hoping to lose more in the next 5/6 weeks. I have got my final consult and pre op on the 16th of Jan, and then the op is booked for the 11th of feb. I am having major lipo (he thinks about 7/8 litres) and a FTT this time round, and then 6 months after that I want to have the puppies lifted back to their rightful place and refilled ( breast feeding 6 munchkins has not made the puppies happy) I asked him about doing it all at once but he said that 7 hours in theatre would be needed just for the FTT and lipo and he couldn't do a BL/Aug at the same time.So its just the bottom half of me that is going to get revampped this time. Does anyone know what is the minimum time that I can leave between the 2 ops? I searched all over the net to find my surgeon, and I am having to go to France to see him, but I was so taken with his methods and te fact that he pioneered some of them ( he uses High Tension Stitching in a kind of quilting pattern under the skin so that you dont need drains, and he never cuts through the lymph system) and the fact that he trains others in this method that I figured I would rather travel. The other thing that swung me towards him is that he keeps you in his private hospital for a week afterwards,with full access to morphine if you need it!! ;:speechles) So thats me I will try to get my before pictures out of him when I go over this time so that you can see what he is up against! Here is his website if anyone is interested, I think he is pretty amazing! Docteur PASCAL - LYON - FRANCE Nina x

hi this is nina874,s husband, just posting to let you know how the op went. dr pascal took 7kilos of fat out and 26cm of skin. she is very happy:thumbup: with every thing and asked me to tell everybody that the lipo :blink:hurts more than the tuck . if i have only sent this post to one person could you please repost it to all the girls on the february/march 08 plastics thread,thanks

hi this is nina874,s husband, just posting to let you know how the op went. dr pascal took 7kilos of fat out and 26cm of skin. she is very happy:thumbup: with every thing and asked me to tell everybody that the lipo :blink:hurts more than the tuck . if i have only sent this post to one person could you please repost it to all the girls on the february/march 08 plastics thread,thanks

Tami - that 'friend' sounds very like one of my 'friends' who suggested that I embrace being overweight as I loved food, and maybe just try to cut back. With friends like that....... I think that she is putting her issues onto you! Just becuase she is resigned to her fate she thinks that you should be too, and the 'slimmer than everyone' comment spoke volumes, a touch of the green eyed monster there I think. What is with the 'all about me' comment? sounds like she is upset that it is never all about her, did she used to be slimmer than you? People hate change,they like what they are comfortable with , and the people around you are obviously struggling just to deal with your weight loss, maybe they are worried that if you have this surgery you will chnage, but you know what, that is THIER problem not yours! One of my teens actually said to me the other day 'when you are all slim you wont turn into one of those nasty popular girls will you mum?' I PMSL and assured him that I wouldnt, but I think that you are dealing with a bit of that from your support network. You know yourself that you will never be 'perfect' -none of us will- but you will see a massive improvement! Oh Tami I am soooooo glad that I am all booked and ready to go, I dont envy you my love ((hug)) Karey - Thanks for the positive energy :eek: I will make sure that DH lets everyone know how I am doing! Nina x

I just wanted to get some feedback on this really and get my thought down on paper as it were. Ok....... my family has unfortunatly a very strong history of breast cancer, but in order to be tested for the cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 you have to have a LIVING family member that has survived the disease....none of my family survived. Now I come from a very small gene pool, my ancestors werent big breeders(unlike me!!) , there are lots of only children,so it could be that the picture appears worse than it is, but none the less EVERY woman in the 3 generations preceeding me died from breast cancer, no exceptions ( well my mum died from cirrosis of the liver at 52 but she had a suspected tumour wouldnt get it looked at but she had all the signs) Which brings me to my dillema, when I told my dad about my planned BL/BA he freaked...big time....he is a firm believer that with my history I should cause as little trauma to the breast as possible. Then when we got talking he came up with the senario that if I were to REDUCE my risk by having this op he could understand. So here is what I am asking, if I were to have all the TISSUE removed, but leave the skin and nipple, then fill the space with an implant would I massivly reduce my risk of cancer? I know that it only takes one cell going rogue, but surely if I were to remove 90% of the mammary tissue then I have reduced my risk by 90%. The only thing that I have been offered by the NHS is early entry into the breast screening program, which doesnt stop you GETTING it, it just means that you get treatment earlier. The UK survival rates for cancer are pitiful.With 6 kiddies it is a worry. Do you think I am mad? More importantly can it be done? I am NOT talking about a prophylactic masectomy, that is just too radical for me, just the tissue being removed. Your thoughts would be appreciated. NIna x

Hi people!! I have only got tomorrow, and then I am off to Manchester!! I get there Friday night and then Sunday morning I am on the flight to LYON!! Tami - You may be 48 hon, but you look a damn sight fitter and a whole lot more healthy than me!! If I can have this surgery then so can you! I know that you have been thrown a curve ball, and it has made you start doubting yourself, but the reasons that you went into this still stand. You know how you feel about the butt puddle, and no amount of exercise is going to correct that hon, if anything it will just get worse as your body fat goes down. You friggin DESERVE this surgery! Christ if I was starting with the frame that you have hon, a team of wild feckin horses wouldnt be able to keep me out of that theatre!!! As for will you keep the weight off this time....... will any of us? I believe so, I think that we have a wonderful tool inside us that provides the factor that has always been missing before, it puts the brakes on for us when we cant or wont do it ourselves. You have a fantastic support network here and all of us are in the same boat, we can and will keep each other on the straight and narrow. I will be gutted if you dont do this and I think ultimatly so will you, why should you accept what you have now? You have worked your friggin ass off to get where you are now, literally!! If you were the sort of person that just accepted things you would never have gotten the band fitted in the first place. This is not the end of your journey, you have to complete it, so that you can wear whatever you want whenever you want, so that you can look in the mirror and be feckin thrilled with what you see, because that is what you worked for hon!! End of lecture :biggrin: Karey - still not made your mind up hon? I know what you mean about the 2 procedures thing, but my PS always said that it had to be that way so it was never something that I thought about. Personally I have enough flaws that I cant do anything about, the boobies are the easiest thing for me to solve, and lord knows I love my puppies!! Nana - how are you doing hon? I bet Mr Nana isnt letying you out of his sight at the moment :smile: I cant believe it has been three weeks either! That has rocketed past!!! Ousooner - I am sat here at the moment vowing to myself that I am going to finish packing, but I just know that I wont do it until tomorrow!!LOL I have only got tomorrow at home and then I am flying to Manchester!! I have got one day with my sister then I fly to Lyon on sunday and have my pre-op when I get there, then 8.00am Monday I am in theatre. Has the anaethetist rung you yet? Losing - how ya doing, its getting close you know hon, it seems only a couple of days ago that I had 3 weeks left!! Luv and hugs Nina x

Thanks so much Dr J Lo , as much as anything for not telling me that I am mad - or a self mutilator as my GP tried to a few years back. I spoke to Breast Cancer UK and they said that with the history I have I would fall into the 'high risk' category, and that even if it wasnt BRCA1 or 2 they are now coming to the realisation that there are probably more breast cancer genes that they havent discovered yet, as they have found families like mine with terrible historys who test clear for the gene, yet still all go on to develop it. My sister is only 32, I am 39 there are just the 2 of us, and my mum died when she was 52, her nipple was sunk in and discharging, and she had a huge lump, unfortuntatly you can't make an alchoholic do anything they dont want to :confused: so she refused to let the doctors look at it. She died in awful circumstances so we never thought to ask the coroner. I dont want to wait to see if one of us develops it....thus confirming the risk...and I sure dont want either of us to die. If I were your wife or daughter what would you recommend? I know this is a worry for more people than just me, so I would really appreciate your honest reply. Thanks again Nina x

Yup that makes perfect sense hon. Hmmm I dont know what the best answer is, if you are financing could you save enough to know that you have got the first say 4 payments ,and then that would buy you breathing space if you were to have the sx in summer? I know that you are worried about being out of a job, but equally I know that you are bright enough to get one whenever you wanted one so I wouldnt worry about that. I would worry more about the healing, to me this surgery is a one time shot, I am doing NOTHING that might risk or compromise the results! You are the same BMI as I am now so I would start doing the rounds!!( ok to be fair I am really impatient and should have waited til I got to goal, but hell, you only live once!!) Nina xx

Nana - You might well blush,but I am thinking that you had better get used to the attention As for you being wimpy???? Talk about set the bar for a no-nonesense approach, if I do half as well as you i will be thrilled!! Bet Mr Nana is thrilled too Karey - have you still not made your mind up about the implants yet? I cant help it, even with all the horror stories I still want them!! Tami - how are you hunny? I hope that you have got everything sirted out, I cant believe what a total screw up the port thing has turned out to be. Ousooner - OMG In a week we will be on the brink of the flatlands!! To all the rest of the merry bunch hope it is all going well!! Nina xx

Hiya hunnybun, I leave next friday afternoon ( which I think is Thurday night for you lot) fly to Manchester (yes the home of Manchester United) go to my sis's old house where she will be in the middle of a move, then help her over Friday/Saturday to move into her new house - so not quite the relaxing weekend I had planned!!!LOL There is a chance that I wont be able to get online there depending on whether or not the phones etc are still on. Then Sunday afternoon I fly to Lyon, get there for about 16.00, straight to the hospital and have my pre-op bloods etc done with the anaethetist, go out with my sx buddy and her DH for a meal in Lyon and then I think I will get a sleeping tablet!! Monday morning at 7.30 Dr Pascal is coming to mark me up and then at 8.00 I am in theatre!! I CANT WAIT!!!!LOL I hope that you get all the trouble with your boobs sorted out hon, let me know how you are getting on. HUGS!! Nina x

I know I know!!!! This time next week I will be flying to Lyon!!! Laurend, I would bite the bullet and go and see a few PS's if I were you! Nina xx

I have a feeling that it depends on how long each procedure takes, I think that for an elective surgery the longest that they want you to be under is 4-6 hours, I know that is my PS's comfort zone. Then it would come down to how long each operation takes, which is very individual to each surgeon. I am having a FTT and a LOT of lipo (at least 5 litres) from a lot of places, he is lipoing the whole of the top half of my legs,fronts, back, inner thighs and outer, lovehandles and saddlebags hes even doing my knees!!( trust me that is a shed load of lard) then he is doing a high tension tummy tuck - lots of internal stitching- and he reckons that those 2 procedures will take anywhere from 4-6 hours. He told me that a good breast lift with under muscle implant takes 1.5-2.5 hours. I think though I cant be sure that when he does a LBL it takes at least 4 hours maybe 6 depending on what they come across. I dont know how long the arm lift would take, but I have to say that since I started pumping my weights again, doing a lot of low weight high rep sets on my arms they have improved massively!! Why dont you ask a few PS's what they will do all at once and then how long they think each procedure will take? Worst case senario you have got a LBL 4-6, BL/BA 1.5-2.5, arm lift I dunno say 2-4 hours??? So that is anywhere between 7.5 and 12.5 hours depending on how fast they operate. If I were you I would go for the LBL and the puppies if I had to choose!! I wanted TT, lipo and BL/BA, but becuase I am still a fat knacker there is too much lipo to do, so given the choice I went for sorting out the bottom half this time and in May going back to sort the top!! I didnt want a situation where he was rushing to get everything done cos he didnt want me under for too long and neither did he. Thats partly why I am concentrating on core muscles and upper body when I work out at the moment, I want to give him as good a shape as possible to drape the tummy over, and I didnt want too much disproportion between my top and bottom halves!! I havent really helped have I??!!! LOL Just think about which bit is most important to YOU, for me it was the chance to have a decent set of legs ( never ever liked my legs) and a flat tummy, but you may be focused in a diferent area! Love Nina x

Thankyou hon, Have you gone any further in your decision making process?

OMG Nana you are loooooking gooood!!! Check out that waist!!! You have got the cutest belly button as well and BOY are you healing well!! As for the girls ......... well perky springs to mind!!! You must be thrilled!!! You are so early in your recovery as well, hot damn girl you are going to look amazing!! Now I just want the next 9 days to go even quicker!! LOL