byebyedarkpassenger

Surgery with Dr. Sauceda in Monterrey, Mexico. Planned procedures today include lower body lift, inner thigh lift, breast lift and augmentation, brachioplasty. Facelift andd neck lift will happen on Friday. Today is the day! I woke up before the alarm went off and already was saying goodbye to feeling good for a few weeks. Those of you who have been through it know what it's like: Partly feeling like it's surreal, partly wondering what the outcome will look like. Will I be happy with the results? Will I be disappointed? Will I be crazy happy? And the pain/discomfort that is awaiting. Wondering what the 7 drains will be like (I know: uncomfortable as hell). Do I have enough to keep me entertained for the duration of my stay in the clinic? What clothes, if any, will I wear over the compression garment? I did some yoga this morning, the last time I'll be doing any form of activity for a long time. Surprised that I'm sad that I won't be able to exercise. That shows what a long way I've come since pre-bariatric surgery. It started to become real at the marking session last night. How's that for random thoughts in no particular order! Wish me luck, everyone, and thanks for reading my post! See you on the other side.

I'm about 24 hours past the final round of surgeries (breast lift and augmentation, neck lift, face lift with upper eyelid work. It went smoothly. The pain this morning was definitely there but nothing like the brutal first round of procedures. This evening I'm back at the hotel and had enough energy to go down and have a cup of tea with another patient staying in the hotel. Last night was very emotional in the clinic. I had finally finished all the surgeries I wanted and this marked the end of my long weight loss journey. There were lots of happy tears and just relief that this is now done. I'm giving myself some time to process all this while I heal, then will look for the next adventure to embark on. But what a roller coaster ride this journey has been! Another patient told me to expect a bit of depression after all this is done, so if I come across it I'll understand where it's coming from. What have you folks experienced at this stage of the journey?

Second phase of surgery begins in 7 hours! I’m so excited to see what these changes will look like. Have taken lots of selfies so I can compare before and afters once the swelling has gone down. Because of my difficulties with pain control in round 1, I’m of course dreading the next couple of days even though the PS has been very attentive to my pain management concerns. Chalk it up to pre-surgery jitters!

Thanks for the encouragement! The entire package when done in one go was a little over 21,000. This includes the cost of the procedures, stay in the surgical clinic, multi-day stay in a hotel afterwards with daily nursing visits to help with bathing and dressing. Surgery-relayed meds are also included. Frequent (daily so far) visits from the PS. Hope this helps and I wish you all the best as you continue your weight loss journey.

Thanks for the encouragement! The entire package when done in one go was a little over 21,000. This includes the cost of the procedures, stay in the surgical clinic, multi-day stay in a hotel afterwards with daily nursing visits to help with bathing and dressing. Surgery-relayed meds are also included. Frequent (daily so far) visits from the PS. Hope this helps and I wish you all the best as you continue your weight loss journey.

So here I am at day 2 postop. I’d love to say it’s been a breeze but it hasn’t been a nightmare either... mostly. The surgical prep process in the clinic ran like clockwork and literally everyone is incredibly friendly and kind. I was scheduled for a vertical thigh lift, fleur de lys abdominoplasty, lower body lift, breast lift and augmentation, and brachioplasty. Included was fat grafting to the butt to give my deflated booty more definition. The surgeon estimated it would be a 12-hour procedure but said that if there were any indications that surgery needed to be interrupted, they would not hesitate to do so. I wake up from surgery and am told that because of blood loss, they were able to perform all procedures but stopped at the boob job. I don’t know how you would react to this, but I’m so grateful that I was warned this might happen and they indeed showed they have my best interest at heart. I’m scheduled for face lift and neck lift on Friday and was told they’d do the boob job then. Recovery the next day (yesterday) was absolutely brutal. I felt that no amount of pain meds was managing the pain, had not a single position in which I was even moderately comfortable, and couldn’t sleep. They tried to have me walk in the evening but the pain was so intense I couldn’t make it out of bed. Tried for quite a while but nothing going. My inner thighs and pubis by late evening were on fire. I called the nurse who took my temp and it was elevated. For the rest of the night she brought fresh cool compresses to place on pubis and thighs every 3 hours and they added morphine to the pain regimen and gave me a sleeping pill. Finally slept in fits and starts. I was MISERABLE and in tears. Today has been just the opposite. I managed to get out of bed on my own and walked around with nursing assistance at first then just on my own. After lunch the nurse came in and I had my first shower. It felt so wonderful. It took a long time and redressing the wounds and putting me back in the compression garment also took time so by the end I was exhausted and slept like a baby until dinner time. Now I feel like a new woman. Astonishing to see such a difference in just 24 hours. Because it was so rough yesterday, I told my surgeon this morning that I wasn’t ready for round 2 tomorrow. He rescheduled it for the middle of next week. How amazing and flexible is that! He has also been in constant contact with me and the nurses so I feel exceedingly well monitored. More later! Thanks for following my progress and for the encouragement and good wishes. They really do help! Here I am right after my shower. 7 drains, 3 of which are hanging off of my pubis which is totally weird but kind of comical. I haven’t been able to stand up straight since then. Maybe tomorrow.

I had plastics in mind when I got my initial sleeve but waited 2 years post-op to start the process, check out plastic surgeons, get quotes and make a final determination of what I need. I waited a bit more than necessary - have been within a 10 lb range for well over a year - because I wanted to really be sure that I could live with the new lifestyle long term (and avoid regaining) before committing to plastics.

I don’t know much about the subject but have heard of surgical interventions for botched scars, collagen injections to soften hard scars, surgical treatment for keloids.

How disappointing for you! Hang in there and feel better soon. Sending hugs your way.

I’m having shoulder to elbow brachioplasty now. If surgeon feels I have excessive side boob he will extends the incision down past the armpit and along the side in what he calls an S cut. I too have flabby forearms. He said doing the entire arms at once is extremely risky due to massive arm swelling and high risk for nerve damage, and said he can do the lower arms at a later date. Hope this helps!

Nine days until plastics in Mexico! About me: 53 year old female, VSG in August, 2015, highest recorded weight 289.5, weight at time of VSG 256, currrent weight 166 (BMI 27.5). I certainly feel like I've done my research on plastic surgeons! I did a ton of research online (BariatricPal, ObesityHelp, RealSelf among other sites) and consulted with two plastic surgeons in the US and two in Mexico. I have decided to get plastics with Dr. Francisco Sauceda in Monterrey, MX. I met with him in person in November. He spent two hours with me talking about his approach, the process, what he felt was realistic for me and what was not. I stayed in the hotel where his patients stay once discharged from the clinic so I could get a feel of what it will be like to recover there. I was fortunate enough to meet three of his American patients who were each about one week post plastics. They all raved about him, the quality of care, the already visible cosmetic improvement. I marveled at how ambulatory they were just one week out. The approach that Dr. Sauceda uses is in many ways quite different from that of other surgeons. They don't use general anesthesia and instead use epidural nerve blocks, Versed type medication for sedation - I think it's called twilight sedation - and this allows them to perform longer surgeries. He and his partner work on the patient simultaneously so they can complete more procedures in less time. So where other plastic surgeons had said I'd need multiple surgeries spaced out over a few months, with this technique most of the procedures can be done at once. I'll have brachioplasty (arm lift), breast lift (haven't decided on implants yet; don't want big boobs anymore but want perky ones), lower body lift including abdominoplasty (not sure if regular or fleur de lys), pubic lift and inner thigh lift all in one day, and then 3-4 days later will have a neck lift and lower face lift. It's going to be BRUTAL but I'd rather get this over and done with and move on with my life! They keep you in the clinic for as long as you're on narcotic pain meds, typically 3-4 days, and then get transferred to the Hampton Inn for continued recovery where for another 10-14 days you get daily visits from the nurse who will help with bathing, cleaning incisions, helping take off/put on the compression garments. Dr. Sauceda apparently comes by and visits very frequently too, not sure if it's daily. Many of you will ask about the price for this. All inclusive, I was quoted $21,500. This includes all the procedures, the stay in the clinic, the stay in the hotel, surgeon and hospital fees, nursing care, compression garment, meds and bandages. A driver will meet me at the airport and bring me to the hotel, and up to $600 of my airfare will be reimbursed. I didn't bother going through insurance and will pay out of pocket. I am really fortunate: I do speak Spanish although you can apparently get by fine if you dont. Also, my work is computer based so I can work from anywhere. I've decided that I'll stay in Mexico a full six weeks (if I can stand the boredom). The reason I chose six weeks is that in my consultation with Dr. Sauceda, he said that I could resume normal activities and exercise after six weeks. He said the danger for his patients is between weeks 3 and 6 when they start to feel better and have more energy and then overdo it. His fear is that at this point, the resorbable sutures are at 50% of their strength and the incisions are still healing so the risk of complications when overdoing it is very high and incisions can open up. I also think that if the drains come out and I somehow develop a seroma, I'd rather still be under the care of my original PS team. So I'll be in Mexico til the end of March. I'll post some before pictures soon. I hope these posts will be helpful to all of you. I'll do my best to answer any of your questions! Lastly, one of the wonderful patients I met in Monterrey vlogged about her experience there: She also interviewed Dr. Sauceda:

I flew to Monterrey, Mexico in Novvember to have an in-person consultation with Dr. Francisco Sauceda and met Smilinsshrinking on her postop day 7. I was impressed with Dr. Sauceda and really valued spending the couple of hours with Smilinsshrinking and the other ladies in recovery. All were so positive about their experience that I have zero hesitation in getting plastics with Dr. Sauceda (my surgery is scheduled for next month, Feb. 13). And to second Strivingforbetter's post above, I really recommend you view smilinsshrinking video diary. One even has an interview with Dr. Sauceda and will give you a good sense of his approach. I selected him after having email consultations with plastic surgeons stateside and in Mexico, and a face-to-face consult stateside.

Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing your plastics journey. I'm about 3 weeks out from plastics myself. You and I started off at just about the same the same weight, both had the sleeve, both ended up in the 160s pre plastics. I carry most of my weight now in my thighs and worry that I won't be happy with my legs post surgery but after seeing your pics I feel so reassured and so much better!

How are you doing now, a few months out? I do hope there were no more complications!

Would love to see people's profile include a plastic surgery section so we can see which plastic surgeon/s the members have used, in the same way that we can see the name of the WLS surgeon.

I'm 90% sure I'm going with Dr. Cardenas too. Will have the plastics in different stages because I'm an older WLS patient (52 now) with lots of excess skin. One thing that is holding me back is that 23 months out, I'm finding it harder to keep the bad habits at bay and am toying with getting therapy for behavior modification and stabilizing a bit better (behaviorally, i.e., controlling nighttime binges) before going under the knife. Congratulations on moving forward with you plans and please keep the updates coming!

CW 168.2. Nowhere near goal but at this point any loss is great news. Happy New Year and New You, all!

CW 168.8

169.4.

171.2. I'm heading in the wrong direction! Will buckle down this week. These challenges are awesome in helping me be accountable!

170. Grrr. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! I'm more than a year out, almost 100 lbs down, and couldn't be any happier about the decision to get sleeved last August. My self esteem has improved tremendously, I'm so much more active than before surgery and have adopted some really good eating habits. If I stop losing weight here (at 170 lbs), I'm thrilled. If I lose more, I'm thrilled. So know I'm overall in a really good place when I talk about the following: 1. My addictive drive is returning with a vengeance. The worst eating habit I've had for 30+ years is nighttime eating/snacking/grazing. I had this under control during the healing process but over the last few months I find that I am absolutely losing control and becoming obsessive about nighttime eating. I've discussed this with my surgical team and while that helps, I'm still nowhere near in control of this really, really bad habit. I know it has slowed my weight loss and is the one red flag that, if not controlled, will surely be the reason for regain down the road. Intellectually I recognize this but that doesn't do anything for me when the sun goes down and the drive to eat, eat, eat overpowers me. So I've decided to get professional help with behavior modification by reaching out to psychology practices near me. Which leads me to my rant: 2. Do psych practices near me not want my business? I've left messages with 3 practices. The first was a couple of months ago and the last 2 just this week. Not one office has called me back. What is up with that? Have you dealt with either situation? What type of professional have you used for behavior modification? Psychiatrist? Psychologist? Licensed professional counselor? Psych nurse practitioner?

Thanks for the support and your response. I've taken a look at Geneen Roth and at Growing Human Kindness. Fascinating information there. Maybe that's the direction I need to take...

You will lose weight. Just be patient. I stalled for a long time a week after surgery and was really stressed out but like everyone says, every body is different and reacts differently to surgery so stick to the plan, don't stress, and let you body do its thing. You will lose. We're all rooting for you!

Goal: 165 Current: 170 Date: 11/15