AliciaKC

So after my arm lift I stopped growing underarm hair. At all. I always had super light hair but now it is gone. What about you??? My arm lift was Sept 2018.

Hahaha. Laughing at this statement, but *not* at the pain you had!! Oh my goodness I could feel that pain right through your post. Glad you're doing better.

These rogue sutures are kinda weird. As I am typing right now I actually feel something on one of my side boob incisions. Ok, I just touched it (eeww I hate that), and I'm certain it's another one. Gosh I don't want to be going to the Dr every day or two to have him snip them all the time. His office is not close enough for me to conveniently pop in often. I need to get out of work early then drive in the downtown traffic blah blah blah. I'm hoping that once I put the silicone tape on then I won't really noticed the sutures that need to be snipped. But now I wonder, if I just leave them alone will they just continue to heal/dissolve on their own without the Dr's help to snip them? Hmm I might send an email to ask.

Had my check up with the Dr on my arms yesterday.

Said everything is healing nicely. He answered some of the questions I had regarding elbow swelling, and the tightness when extending my arms. He said that's all normal. It just takes awhile for full recovery.

There was one area under my arm that looked like it was puckering. Turns out it was a stitch so he snipped it. He said I may come across others and to just go in if they're bothering me and he'll snip them. I didn't realize that's what the issue was on that one he snipped because nothing was hurting me (like the issue @ms.sss had with her boob). It just looked weird, like it was just going to ultimately heal puckered, and in the days leading up to my appointment I was starting to get upset thinking that it was going to look like that permanently.

Dr said I can put lotion on the incisions of my incredibly dry arms. He also said to start putting the silicone tape on. I haven't done that yet because I've been so busy with work that I've pretty much just been crashing when I get home. I asked about the bio oil and he was indifferent about it. Said he didn't feel it makes a difference but it also doesn't do any harm so he left it up to me. He said with my light skin the scarring should not be very noticeable.

He said I can shave under my arms as long as I'm careful. But I'm not ready for that one yet because it scares me. I still barely even look at my incisions. I get grossed out seeing all those scabs etc. I just have my husband look over the incisions every couple days to see if he thinks anything looks to be of concern.

I really like my Dr. He is kinda quiet yet personable. And his years of experience just somehow really come across when he's explaining stuff and giving examples whether he's answering my questions or just sharing stuff in general. I can't really describe what I mean. He's confident, but not arrogant. Anyway I just really like him. I want him do other skin removal surgeries for me, after I've saved enough money.

So, pretty uneventful appointment. I walked away feeling good knowing that everything is healing well, and relieved that the aches and pains I've been having are all part of the recovery process. My next appointment is in 3 months.

So went to see Doc about my sore boob. He checked me out and said I'm ok (which I sorta already knew, really). He snipped off the suture that was sticking out and said to go back to wearing my supportive sports bra for now (he cleared me for regular bras yesterday) until it doesn't hurt any more.
He also told me to touch and massage my boobs often to aid in healing (as well as any other areas that feel sore or stiff). I thought his prescription to constantly feel myself up was hilarious, and I told Mr. about it. He told me he would be happy to take that task on for me, LOLOLOLOLzzz.
Anyhoo while my boob is still achy, it is much, much, much better than yesterday (and still perky AF!)

I feel like 98% back to normal, haha. Sometimes if I lift my arms straight up in the air I can feel a little tightness in my armpit. But yoga on Tuesday REALLY stretched things out and it has been significantly improved the last 2 days. It's really not even noticeable. My abs are 100% except I am actually sore from doing my crunches and I never used to get sore before. I was allowed to lift up to 10lbs a few days post-op. Now I have no weight restrictions; just to take it slow. I do my tricep extensions and bicep curls with 5lb dumbbells right now... not sure on the chest press and lat pulls because it's in kilograms and I can't remember what weight it is. LOL. I just remember where the pin goes. The yoga was SO SO helpful in stretching out the scar tissue on my arms. I can't wait to go back next week. It felt so good.

@rs sounds like you are doing better as well, elbow re-swelling aside. Also yesterday (I forget the context why he was telling me but...), Doc mentioned that during the day swelling tends to increase so maybe that is what you are seeing with your elbows? How are your incisions, aside from the dryness? Are they scabby/not scabby? Are they flat?
@sillykitty I hope this morning finds you better ❤️ (did you end up starting into space and ordering take out? LOL)
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As for me, I've got a bit of a pain issue. Yesterday my steri-stips came off and the PA was trimming/snipping stray sutures that were sticking out from the various incision ends. Well, I guess she missed one under my left boob, which I discovered late last night as I was taking my sports bra off.
The end of the suture I guess snagged on one of the hooks of the bra and when I was unhooking I inadvertently yanked at the suture. OMG I yelled. Felt like I pulled at an artery or something (if I knew what that felt like)..I could feel the pain from the entry point all across my chest. It continued to hurt and I noticed that it felt better to hold my boob up. But when I let go I could feel the ache again. So I taped it up with steri-stips to sort of lift it and taped down the suture so it doesn't get caught on anything again.
Had a horrible sleep cuz it hurt to twist or stretch out that area, so I'm pretty tired and cranky this morning.
I emailed my surgeons office at 7am this morning for direction. I don't think my issue is ER material, so am just going to wait patiently for them to answer. My pain is at a 0 if I don't move, but like at a 4 or 4.5 when I do. So its bearable. (Yesterday it got to a 7-ish )
P.S. Also my arm incisions sort of hurt/are sore since the steri-strips came off. Not sure if its because they are rubbing against my compression garment, or if I'm just feeling sorry for myself what with the boob thing, but I feel uncomfortable.

Sounds like a very good appointment and that your Dr thinks you're progressing well! That's awesome. Thanks for all the detail info. I'll bounce it off of what my Dr tells me tomorrow. Glad you love your boobs! Reading about them and your Tummy Tuck makes me so envious. I'm still surprised your Dr did everything during the same surgery. Mine recommended keeping the upper body lift surgery separate from the lower body lift because each is pulling the skin in opposite directions. I'm impressed that you are handling the recovery of so many areas of your body as well as you have been. If (I'd like to say 'when' but so many pennies to save first) I have further skin removal surgeries, I still think I'll split them up, moreso because my pain tolerance is so low that I just can't imagine having essentially my whole body hurting and trying to heal at the same time. Thanks again for your update!

yes - it was! I really couldn't wear compression garments consistently because of the pain from those dang things!!!

@catwoman7 what brand silicone gel did you use?

7:33pm EST: Edited to change Album Name
Ok, so I wanted to show you guys a before and after of my boob cuz I just have the biggest crush on them.
However.
Bare boobs are like 18+, so I tried to de-XXX it by putting a little censoring flower-sticker on the image...BUT it hides what I think is the best part of it (the perky tip!, lol). Soooo...I instead put a cartoon filter on it, so it looks less real and more like an "artist's rendition". Hopefully this is not offensive to anyone. If it is, please let me know and I will remove it.
Anyhoo...I was going to include a link to the photo here, but it shows a preview, and I don't want to surprise anyone coming to this thread with a gratuitous boob shot. So if you want to take a look:
go to my Profile (ms.sss) go to Albums and you can see it in the album titled "ms.sss PS pics (xxx)" Image Caption: Notice the flat, saggy, spread-to-the-sides-of-my-body pancake-y shape of the BEFORE boob with flat wrinkly nipple VS the perky, gravity-defying 16-yrs old-ish AFTER boob w/ stand-at-attention-nipples, LOL. The line you see under the AFTER boob is not a skin-wrinkle nor fold, its my incision line, so It sorta makes it look like its resting on my torso, but in the real life picture, you would be able to see that its staying up there all on its own.

Wow! I can see why you are so happy with the results! That's awesome. And aren't you oh so clever to figure out to put a cartoon filter one the pic.

ScarAway. I got my first tube of it at Walgreens. Then I noticed it was much cheaper at Walmart, so I got my second tube there...

I finally put the silicone tape on. I like it. Thought it would be uncomfortable under the arms but it isn't. And I think I'll be able to wear my bras without having a tank top underneath them for the side incision chafing.

After my shower today, I'm going to put mine on too.
I dunno, ever since they took my steri-strips off, my arms have been feeling achy and painful along the incisions. And to a lesser extent, my tummy incisions. I'm not sure if it's just coincidence or not...as I started massaging in earnest at the same time too.

Ok, I changed my mind about using the silicone tape right now.
I did a bit of reading (both online and the literature in the box of silicone sheets) and decided it's still a little early for me to put them on my incisions. I've still got sections that are scabbed over or freshly un-scabbed (very light pink skin that looks like it needs to heal a bit more) so am going to wait unitl I see my surgeon again at my in 2 wks, or when my scabs & pink skin are gone, whichever come first.
On another note, after my shower, I decided to do my hair for like the first time since surgery, meaning I put product in it, blow dried it and used a flat Iron (for the past 3+ weeks I've just been air drying and brushing to the side). And surprise, surprise, my arms felt loose and un-achy. So today's lesson is that I need to raise my arms more and not baby them like I've been doing so much lately and I will feel better 🙄
And on another, another note, I went for a 5.5km walk this morning and thought I would try to run the last kilometre. Wasn't the best run as I was wearing winter boots and they aren't very bendy, and I was being light-footed because it was icy (so it felt more like dancing than running, lol), but I was glad to be able to run even just a little and get my heart pumping. Also I really like running with the abdominal binder on, makes my core feel strong....

Uh oh mine are like that too. But my Dr said it was ok. And it really does feel so much better having it on. It's like a very light weight compression garment with no chafing. Just feels good to have everything held together. It's hard to get it to stay down near the elbows after awhile though. Some of it rolls/lifts and it's sticky. I haven't figured out how to make it stay.

... I want that held-together feeling back that my steri-stips gave me too!!!
Man, so much conflicting information. I wish there was a standard everyone can agree on .
K, new decision: I'm going to wait until the weekend, and if I'm still scabby & pink AND the achiness hasn't gone away, then I'm going to try the silicone sheets for 2 days and see if that makes me feel better...

Another thing that was different is that I didn't have all those steri strips like you did. The Dr just had some type of glue I think. I don't know. At least I'm feeling so much better those first weeks with that dumb garment. ...Hahaha my phone was smart enough to autofill with the word "garment" after I typed the word "dumb" ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Been working from home the past couple days due to snow and ice. Not getting up and walking around as much as I would if I was in the office so it's no surprised that my elbows are a little extra swollen. Other than that my arms feel pretty good. Not too much stiffness when I extend them. I really like this silicone tape. I kinda think it's keeping the wayward sutures under control too. I've only applied it once so far plus a couple small strips that I had to redo. I can see I won't have enough for a full second application so I had to order another box. I didn't see it come in a larger length which would have been nice, and probably more cost effective.

Isn't your silicone tape re-useable?

Warning: This is a long Read.
Hey peeps,
Feels like its been a while since I've posted on here...I think because alot of my initial apprehension/anxiety/fear of navigating maintenance has basically disappeared. I feel way more confident and secure that I've got this in the bag, so long a I keep up with my "good" habits, i.e., tracking my food, weighing daily, take my vites, drink my Water, getting in some exercise.
Background reminder: I am almost 15 months post op from sleeve surgery, and I've been in maintenance now for about 7 months. I stopped weight loss mode at 127 lbs, and weighed in 115.4 lbs this morning.
Prior to the PS recovery stage I am currently in, I finally figured out that with my normal activity level (5km run daily + 15 mins strength training), my maintenance calories average about 1800-2000 a day.
My activity level for the past month however has been virtually null (save the last few days when I started walking 5km day, with the occasional short distance run in there somewhere), and my calorie intake has greatly varied day to day (MFP tells me I roughly averaged 1500 a day for the past month) and this combo has me maintaining 115 lbs.
Though I think the lack of exercise/strength training is starting to show on my body parts. My thighs are looking soft, the muscles in my arms and shoulders look less defined, my butt is actually looking saggier! How much this is related to the PS swelling or repositioning, I dunno. I am told I will not see my what my post-plastics final body for another several months. In any case, I am ACHING to be able to run like the wind again and work on some body toning.
Regarding food choices, I still stay away from bread, Pasta &rice. I have the occasional sugar-laden mixed drink (which I often pay for with dumpings), and my chocolate and Desserts intake has probably quadrupled (again, which I often pay for with dumpings). Regarding dumpings, I notice I am more likely to get more severe symptoms if there is nothing else in my stomach, which, when I am drinking or having dessert, is often the case.
I can definitely eat alot more in terms of volume than 6 months ago. Though my capacity is inconsistent in that there are days I can eat lots, and other days when I don't...and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for it.
I continue to believe that I am all that and a bag of chips, and my confidence in myself and what I do is filtering into my life in strange ways. I am so much less angry and annoyed. I have way more patience with others and feel like I am less judge-y. I am not harsh on myself anymore, which makes me less harsh on others, I guess.
I no longer really care what (non-essential) people think of me, nor do I feel the need to be liked and appreciated by them. On the flip side of this lack of concern, I am fine with "cutting the fat" from my life so to say, meaning that I recognize which relationships or interactions are worth working on and maintaining, and which ones I just step to side from.
I am quite comfortable with silences now.
All in all, I'm feeling pretty great, and quite happy where I find myself these days.
Ok, I didn't mean for this post to be so long and oh-so-reflective, lol. Just wanted to give a how-I-am-doing-in-maintenance update.
How are the other maintainers out there (new and old) doing? Would love to hear from you guys ❤️

@chayarg : actually, I'm pretty impressed by YOU and your dedicated efforts to get back on track after so long after your surgery ❤️ . It ain't easy, but here you are posting your menus and working your way down.
I was 235 lbs two weeks before surgery.

I did lots of pre reading. (I avoided personal you tube clips & social media sites like FB pages detailing how to purée burgers! Be judicious - there’s a lot bad info out there.) Then after going through my medical history with me, my surgeon went through each of the surgical options highlighting the pros & cons of each surgery for me based on my history. He recommended the sleeve which I had been leaning towards from my pre reading.
I suffered from a little reflux (often stressed induced), over produced acid in my stomach, had a sensitivity to lactose & would suffer terribly with hiccups. Don’t think my reflux has changed, my hiccups are less severe, my stomach doesn’t seem as acidic as before & I can tolerate dairy a lot better.
As @AJ Tylo said there’s heaps of informative posts here. Members are always willing to share their experiences & offer support.
Good luck.

I too wanted the bypass to lose the maximum amount of weight and my doctor felt I could achieve the same results with the sleeve even though I suffered from GERD. I trust my doctor and I'm very happy with my surgery. I have not had any issues with GERD since my surgery.

5'4"
Starting weight 297
VSG on 7/31/19
Surgery wt: 266
CW 206
GW 135

Sent from my [samsung Galaxy] using BariatricPal mobile app

There's reality only two options in my city which was sleeve or bypass RNY.
I did tons of research and decided on RNY for various reasons.
1. I wanted the Malabsorption aspect.
2. I wanted greater chance of fixing my diabetes which it did pretty quickly; was off all diabetes medications within a week of surgery.
3. I wanted the metabolic changes that came with the redirection of intestines because i believe my metabolism was so bad after decades of bad food choices.
4. I wanted the most restrictive procedure available and only wanted one surgery; most of my research showed many people being revised after sleeve surgery to bypass for many reasons.
I am very very happy but I've been very strict on myself from day 1.
Almost 5 months later and I'm down 126lbs from highest weight.
But everyone has their own preference and reasons to what surgery they like.