ellen

Hi Cadence Hey, you bit the bullet. That's reat news. 18th october is it? very best of luck with it! I hope this will be the start of an exciting new life for you. No need to be terrified at all! All the best Ellen

Where are you located Cadence? if you are in Ireland / Dublin you probably know fills are available in Dublin. On the money side, remember you will save on food quantities in the long term- you will eat little more than a mouse or a Frenchwoman! (only joking), you'll be able to find nice clothes more cheaply.... Seriously though, waking up and putting on the kind of clothes you like to wear (rather than the 2 things in the house that fit) is great, getting admiring glances on a regular basis is great, the house can wait if needs be! And why should you worry about friends thinking you vain for wanting to lose weight? Number one, you shouldn't tell them (it's private - I told only one person) and number two, its perfectly natural for young women to value their appearance and their health. I remember once starting to justify to an elderly aunt of mine spending money on something for me (cant remember was it clothes or some anti aging procedure or what) rather than investing is something else big for the house, and she interrupted me saying "Ellen, dont you realise your appearance is much more important than things for the house?". A n80 year old telling me it was right and proper to value my appearance - not even using the figleaf of health benefits!!!! I'd never quite looked at it that way before but of course she was absolutely correct. Not wanting to scare you or anything, but part of the reason I went ahead with the op when I reached 14 stone was because as you get older it becomes even harder to lose weight thatn at 20-30 (your metabolism slows way down) and I was afraid the 14 would gradually become 15 and 17 and ...... I went to the UK alone for the op, no bother at all, had it done on a saturday, flew home on Monday and back to work on Tuesday. No issues at all. Good luck!

Hi Cadence, Im Ellen from Galway Had the band 'installed' in the UK in Sept 2007 - 4 years ago. Am 5'5" weighed a little over 14 stone so about the same as yourself. Had done the dieting thing for years (I'm in my early forties) and just couldn't control my weight in any long term way. Felt slightly guilty but back then we all thought the money would keep growing on trees! Anyway I spent 8K stirling on the band in the UK back then - didnt know about C De B's existence at the time. Anyway to cut a long story short, it was the best thing Ive ever done and it would have been worth it at 80K!. lost the weight in less that 6 months and now hover around the 10 stone 7 mark. You are too young to waste years being overweight, my advice is Go for it. There will always be houses to buy, but your health and your appearance are to be nurtured. its possible Im sure to conquer the weight thing without intervention but in my experience most of us dont succeed without help in the long term because the habit of overeating is hard to break and its usually a well established pattern before we start feeling ready to accept the need for help.... and that's what the band is - a little bit of help. From what I have read about CdeB he seems very good. I have gone to him in Belgium for x rays etc when I was over there even tho he didnt do my surgery. He is very very experienced and that is good. Also at 14 stone you are not a high risk case. Very best of luck if you do go for it! Ellen

Yes I had mine in France but the flight home is only 2 hours so my surgeon did not see it as a problem. I stay in france for 10-11 days post op to check healing and if there had been a problem presumably he would not have allowed me to return at that point. Ellen

Hi Panda I'm getting nervous too. Am having brachio and inner thigh lift with vertical incision half way down thigh on Monday 6th in France. Had an LBL there last year which was tough enough for a day or too but not so bad afterwards. My brachio is a re-do. First time round no lipo was done so they are still bulky and the incisions were badly placed. I too will stay in hospital for 5 nights and then I'll be alone in France until I come home - 11 days post -op. I have to be back at work 3 weeks post -op so am hoiping for no complications. I'll be able to take it easy for a few weeks though. Hope all goes well for you. Ellen

Hi Dr Schulman, I had a diagnosis some years ago of mild lupus though I have had no symtoms for years apart from low white blood cells. in this case would you consider it to be risky for me to have a combination of srm lift any thigh lift? Are there any additional risks for me? Would there often be a need for blood transfusions with these surgeries? How about each of them individually? Many thanks for your advice. Ellen

Dr Schulman I am hoping to have a revision armlift this year involving liposuction and a repositioning of the scars. I would like to have a thigh lift performed at the same time, mainly because of the difficulty of taking time off work a second time. Is this combination regularly performed or something you would recommend against?

Hi Karey How is your de-hiss coming along? I think I have one too on the incision line (Lower body lift) a few inches to the right of centre - my back. I'm 9 weeks post op. This small area has not been healing. The scab fell off about 3 weeks ago (OK maybe I helped it fall off just a little because it seemed loose), but the area was still weepy beneath. Now there's a tiny hole or tunnell in it and my Doctor thinks its infected. She has given me antibiotics and if they dont work she is making sinister noises to the effect that I'll have to return to my surgeon in France. Apparently no surgeon in this country will touch me to sort out a problm if they didnt operate in the first instance!! How long did your take to improve? Ellen

I love this thread. Having reached goal after 30 years of being overweight, I had an LBL which I found really tough. Arrived home from hospital, was greeted by my well-meaning mother who exclaimed that I looked "too thin" (BMI of 25 or slightly less) and she would cook for me and "fatten me up" in the coming weeks. After all my efforts and all my explanations.................................

Hi Ailbhe Are Marks and Spencers and Debenhams stuff of any interest to you? Ive tons of size 18s and 16s (jeans, work stuff etc) and am very much hoping not to need them again. I'm in the West, I think you are too? We met once in Dublin. Ellen

Dr Oliver McAnena at the Galway Clinic does it. It costs about 15K private unless you can get it done thru the HSE. Thats all I know Im afraid as I had mine done elsewhere. Best of luck Ellen

sorry I meant 'port' not 'post' ..... on all 3 occasions!

Nina Thanks for the advice. I'm very relieved that you are happy with your experience. I kind of wondered as you vanished off the site some time after your op and I wondered if maybe you werent all that happy with the result. I'm due for slicing on 9th Oct. One more question for you. Did you ever discuss with Dr Pascal swapping a low profile post for the one you had? Since Ive lost weight and had lipo on my stomach the port area really sticks out now (didnt get lipoed around it). Am getting a bit nervous aboutt damage to my post as both Boo Boo Kitty and Kareyquilts have had slippage post - tummy tuck I think. Did you have any problems with your post after the op? I wonder how much experience Dr Pascal has had with lap bandees, any idea? Ellen