sgc

I had gout prior to surgery. After surgery it would flare up something fierce. Whenever I felt an attack coming on, I would just take my medication. The key is to get out in front of it. My doctor gave me a little supply of indomathecin. If I waited too long to take it, it would be too late. At the first hint of a flare up I took it. Now 1.5 years out I never get any gout attacks.

The surgery went well. Still have some swelling. It looks more like a little pouch in my stomach. Doctor seems confident it will go away. No pain really. Didn't use all my pain meds. Worst thing were these plastic strips around the incision. The caused skin irritation and some itching. My fluid drains were slow to come out. Took 30 days before the last one was removed.

I'm starting to begin the process of looking into plastic surgery. I started at a high weight of 470 pounds and am down to 248. I really haven't set a goal weight. My surgeon says 210 so I guess that's as good as any. I imagine I got close to 20 pounds in loose skin so with that removed I'm pretty close to goal. I have no idea how to get the process started and when I should? Under my arms is pretty bad. I would also like to do my chest, stomach and thighs/butt. I have a lot of bulges in my thighs from veins. Could those be removed? What is the recovery time and how bad was it? Do they do everything at once? What about insurance coverage? I know it's mostly women in this forum but hopefully some guys can chip in too.

The surgeon recommended I gain a little weight. I went from 170 to 172 but then today dropped to 168. I haven't noticed much reduction in swelling but perhaps I am losing fluid I was retaining post surgery.

6 weeks and there still seems to be some swelling. It's almost like a little pouch. Its bee nearly two weeks since the last drain was taken out. I was averaging over 150cc of fluid when it was taken out and so far no seroma.

5 weeks out and still some swelling. Last drain was out Monday and I was still putting out 150cc of fluid. No seroma yet.

I ended up ordering some sleeves for covering up tattoos. I'm not sure what size for these I would need? Looks like they go around the shoulders so I'm not sure if I would need to go one size up since they are for women?

Turns out it's 19 shirts and 8 pants. A few of the shirts were cheap T shirts with clever slogans on them. Always wanted to wear graphic Tees. Problem is my arms show a lot in short sleeves. I wear a long sleev underneath and have sort of a Sheldon Cooper look. Trying to maybe find some flesh tone arm sleeves to come down to my elbows or even use an ace bandage. Doesn't really matter I guess if the sleeves are for women.

My doctor said I can wear a compression shirt instead of the binder. With no drains and no binder, I'm finally able to wear normal clothes. I did go a little nuts accumulating clothes. I bought about 13 shirts and 9 pair of pants along with 3 belts, 2 pair of shoes, new socks, and even a new wristband for my watch. Once I bought one color I needed another matching color and of course shoes and a belt to go with it. I'm still going to wear the binder when I'm not going out. It's only day two since the drain has been out and no seroma yet.

I went for the waist and mid section first. Now I can find nice fitting clothes that show off my new slender shape. I could never find pants that fit and would always be pulling them up. As a guy I chose not to do a breast lift or implants as I thought that wouldn't be a good look. Next would definitely be arms. I'm down to wearing long sleeve or 3/4 sleeve shirts to hide the arm skin. With the thighs I can wear shorts that cover much of it.

I feel like I can do everything. Last drain was removed today. Still putting out way too much fluid so doctor seems to think a seroma is guaranteed. The stomach swelling is down. Nothing really wrong with it other than a have a bigger belly when it was nearly flat after surgery.

The swelling seems worse than right after surgery. I figured four weeks out it would be going down not up. It is down some from a couple days ago.

On the antibiotic and the fluid output is down but still a lot. It's also back to being red. The odor is gone from the fluid and the swelling from the stomach is down. It almost seems like I'm starting the recovery process all over again.

I found my waist moved up. My stomach hung over so I always wore my pants low. Now I can actually pull them up to may waist so I need pants with a longer inseam.

I didn't need to provide anything. My doctor just submitted it. This is just for the panniculectomy which was about $3,500. I still had to pay the rest.

It is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The process was pretty seamless. Doctor submitted the request after the procedure and BCBSM approved it right away. Within a matter of about 2-3 weeks.

The way the doctor was talking, it almost seems a given I will have a seroma. Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Not much happened today. The drain needs to be within 30 days which is Sunday. I go back Monday morning to get it out. Leaving it in since I'm going through so much fluid. Hopefully the antibiotics will slow it down. I do not have a seroma and I'm just extremely swollen for some reason. Apparently it will go away.

I did call back. The surgeon is only in Monday's and Thursday's. I was also running a little fever. Since it isn't an emergency, we're going for tomorrow morning.

This seroma is getting huge. I hope it didn't ruin my progress.

I am certain I have a seroma. My stomach from the belly button down has gotten huge. I'm hoping the doctor can drain it tomorrow. This last drain has to come out no matter what apparently and I'm still putting out a lot of fluid plus a possible seroma. Not sure how this is going to work.

I called the doctor and I go in Thursday. I spoke to the assistant or nurse practitioner and she said the drain needs to be removed regardless because I can't have it in for more than a month. In the meantime she gave me an antibiotic prescription.

Now I noticed an odor from the fluid I never noticed before. Definitely going to call.

I am still churning out a lot of fluid. More than ever before. I'm wondering if I should ask my doctor about this? Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Had gastric sleeve surgery in June of 2016. Was 389 at the time of surgery. All time high weight was 470 pounds in February of 2015. Now down to 170 and hoping to maintain at this weight. Included some before and after pics. Still have the pants from the before pic and can literally fit my entire body into one pant leg.