TheFormerFatGirl

Hi all, I'm 28 months post-op VSG and have lost about 120 lbs from my highest weight. I've decided to move forward with plastics, and the whole process is a little intimidating and A LOT overwhelming for me. I was under the impression I would need a panniculectomy... and that was about it; that everything else would kind of be gravy. I had a consultation with a surgeon last week. Mind you, I'm in NYC and this guy is a top doctor at a top city hospital... qualities I would obviously prefer in a surgeon doing extremely invasive cutting on my body. Now, I'm realistically aware that cosmetic surgeons are bred to be salespeople, and this guy really sold it. I immediately felt at ease with him (still do) and everything he was telling me. He pitched at least two separate surgeries -- probably three. The first, a circumferential lift (no muscular work needed) with minor lipo on the thighs for a fat transfer to the buttocks. I thought that was excessive... I didn't have that much excess skin... most of it was fat. He nearly laughed at me when I told him I dreamed of losing an additional 20 lbs and told me there was very little losable fat left on my body (something my endless plateau should've told me a long time ago) -- the majority of it was skin that would have to be removed. Then he literally lifted the areas in question to show me what he was talking about... and he was right (I've never been 'thin' before; I have no idea what my body is supposed to look like). That would be followed up by a brachioplasty and a thigh lift... which my insurance would probably cover due to a pre-existing skin condition in the area that has been exacerbated by the excess skin. Anyway, the price tag for JUST surgery number one... a whopping $30,600. That's 8,600 for the hospital (outpatient! eek!) and anesthesia fees, and TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS for the surgeon to spend six hours in the OR. Half due at my pre-op appointment, half due within a week of discharge. LOL. I'm aware that I live in an expensive city and this is an expensive and extensive surgery... but I'm 25 and at the beginning of my career... $30k is about half my salary and nearly double my life's savings, and part of me doesn't want to make that one man's day rate purely on principle. But another part of me (the big part) really, really wants -- needs -- this surgery. So I ask any and all of you with experience -- is 30 grand really as outrageous as I think it is? (My estimate was falling closer to 20... on the high end), and does anyone have any recommendations for surgeons in and around the NYC area? Sorry for the diatribe. I'm half venting here. Thanks in advance.

You look INCREDIBLE! We have very similar 'before' bodies, so if you don't mind me asking, HOW did you get insurance to cover it? I just got a $30k quote from a surgeon for a circumferential lift, so I'm feeling a little discouraged.

I totally get it. I'm 23, and it seems that all my friends do is go out for drinks. I sit at the bar and have an iced tea. And yeah, I get a lot of weird looks and questions about it, but my not drinking is not their problem. Do I miss margarita nights? YEAH. Do I wish I could come home from work some days and have a glass of wine (or five?) YEAH. Absolutely. I enjoy a good drink every now and then. But I'm not going to make myself sick over it. Or worse, make my weight loss slow down because of it. My surgeon's program says no alcohol for a year. Which... HA. Seriously? It's difficult to take that seriously when other programs recommend six weeks. Right now, I'm seven weeks out, and I don't think my tiny stomach could put up with a drink, so I'm not going to bother chancing it. That, and the empty calories won't help me at all. I'm going to try to hold out for six months and reevaluate. For now, I'll just DD.

I packed books and magazines to help occupy my time -- didn't touch them once; I was almost too tired to keep my head up the entire time I was in the hospital. If you're going to be in for more than a day (I was there for three days, but I know a lot of processes are different), bring a change of pajamas and a robe. It will feel SO nice to get out of a hospital gown, into your own clothes, and covered up.

Did not have a drain. That didn't stop an abscess from forming under my largest incision and then draining on its own for a week. Kinda scary at first, and really gross, but all ended up well.

Betty Boop is looking SO much smaller in that second picture, girl! Good for you!

Had surgery on 1/15/16. Lost 17 lbs in the first two weeks. Like clockwork, the day after my two week post-op appointment, the scale went up 2 lbs and I've been trying to get that weight off for the past ten days. I haven't lost a single ounce since that point. It's super discouraging and frustrating, but reading that this three-week stall is common definitely helps! ALSO, measure yourself! I've lost four inches in my waist in the past 10 days while the scale hasn't budged!

I told my mother and a few very close friends. A lot of my co-workers knew I was having "surgery" but didn't know what kind of surgery I was having. It had nothing to do with embarrassment. I spent a very long time coming to terms with the fact that I needed the help that bariatric surgery would provide to me, and I cannot expect others, especially those who have never struggled with their weight or any sort of medical ramifications or causations of obesity, to understand that for me this surgery was a necessity. A lot of people term bariatric surgery as "taking the easy way out," but let me tell you, there has been nothing easy about spending thousands of dollars, having my abdomen stabbed five times, having half of a major organ removed, being at a Vitamin deficiency for the rest of my life, and still having to watch every single thing I put into my mouth until the end of time. I have so much to worry about, that the way I look at it, this is and and can only be MY business. No one else needs to be concerned with what I do.

I'm a day shy of one week post-op, and I'm shocked and awed by a whole lot of things. For instance: - The pain! Not necessarily bad pain, but pain nonetheless. I was totally in the dark to the gas pain I was going to have, and that has been the worst for me thus far. And that weird left shoulder gas pain? It's a thing and it's real. Now, a week out, I'm still kind of gassy (the surgical gas has all but drained, but protein shakes and I... icky combination). No real pain at my incisions, but kind of a pulling on the lower two. My doctor says thats what it feels like when it's healing. -On a similar train of thought, this was my first surgery of all time, and I was completely unaware of all of the bloating that I would endure in the hospital. Between the gas with which they blow your abdomen up, and the fluids they pump you full of, I pretty much bounced out of the hospital. My clothes didn't fit when I was discharged, which was both ironic and kind of hilarious. - Getting down my fluids and proteins is ROUGH. I needed to get 30 oz of fluid (protein shakes included) down before I could be discharged from the hospital. It took until post-op day 3 for them to let me go. Since then, I've been getting fluids down, but struggling to do it. My doc wants me at 80 oz per day before I move onto purees. I'm supposed to move onto purees tomorrow so today is D-day on the fluids. I'm a person who, prior to surgery, could guzzle down 200 fl oz of water in a day without batting an eye. I'm a fish. So the fact that I'm conscious of not even being able to sip down 80 is insane to me. -Water is the hardest thing for me to drink and that's inconvenient because water is my favorite thing to drink. It's not that I don't like the taste, or that it hurts, but it's the most uncomfortable thing to sip. I feel like I can feel the exact place where my esophagus meets my pouch (I'm probably imagining that, but whatever), and I feel as though the water I'm sipping likes to splash around a bit at that juncture before it settles in and flows. Warm liquids are my go-to, since my first day out of surgery. And I never thought I would consider chicken broth a treat! -The cravings are still there. And in the last six days, I've learned, already, something I've been trying to figure out for my entire life -- the difference between head hunger and real hunger. I'll watch commercials for restaurants and see others eating delicious-looking things, and want it, but know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I physically cannot consume this food right now. Plain and simple, I LOVE food; always have, always will. I spend a lot of my free time looking up recipes for bariatric eating on Pinterest, and it almost satisfies my head hunger to do so, instead of making me ravenously crave something that I cannot have. As a short anecdote, my Italian mother is in town this week taking care of me. And as a 'thank you' to my roommates for letting her invade their lives, she's making sauce and a giant pan of lasagna. I was convinced that as soon as I smelled my mom's sauce boiling, this liquid diet would be all but over, and I'd be on the ground writhing in pain over tomatoes lost, begging at her feet for a meatball. Instead, I can smell it, know it's there, and appreciate it. Kind of like a weird Yankee Candle. And in the back of my head, I know I'll be able to have that meatball someday, but that day is not today.

Finally, after a whole lot of waiting and insurance deliberating, and jumping through a ton of hoops, I'm scheduled for 1/15 -- NEXT FRIDAY!! I'm so very ready, but almost equally as terrified. I told myself through this whole process that the people who had second thoughts and freaked out close to surgery were probably insane. But now here I am, having second thoughts and freaking out. I guess I would be crazy if I didn't panic; this is a HUGE lifestyle change. But I won't back out. I swear it.

Officially approved by insurance today!!! It was a bit of a struggle to get to this point -- I thought I was going to be approved a month ago, but I had some trouble getting all of my doctors to get all of their ducks in a row. But it's official; I'm doing this!!! I'll be scheduled tomorrow, but we're looking at mid-November.

I'll turn 23 in about two weeks and should be getting sleeved in about six (pending insurance clearance). I've been overweight since I was 5. I don't want to spend my twenties feeling held back by my weight like I've spent the rest of my life. Way to go for making the decision!

Tentative for late October/early November pending insurance approval. I'm on a 90 day monitored diet with Cigna. I'll have nutritionist appointment 3/4 tomorrow, and I'll be submitted for approval on 9/29. I'm in Orlando, FL and ready to do this NOW!