Manatee

Follow up with the plastics doc Today was my week+1 day follow up with the plastics doc. He said that he was very pleased with his work (naturally!) and that he thought it would heal very nicely. He took out many stitches from the various liposuction holes, but didn't touch the large incision hip to hip. Those will apparently come out later, either naturally or he'll remove them later. I have been talking about how swollen I've been getting. This doc doesn't use drains, so the fluids have just been building under the skin. He took a big-ass needle and sucked out 120 cc of Fluid from the area -- 60 cc from each side. That's 4 fluid oz of liquid. Delightful. Still have to wear the compression garments for another 2 weeks at least. I have another followup on Friday of this week for more drainage, and then another checkup on Tuesday of next week. To those who were asking about my 'dog ear' comments, look below -- ugly pic warning Here's what I mean -- see the pic of me with the scar? Look at the sides where the scarring ends. That edge might turn into a little flap, that looks like a clipped 'dog ear' on either side of the abdomen. I have included a close up of the area so you can see what I'm talking about. Doc thinks it probably won't happen, but if it does it just means a slight trim on each side.

I'm still alive, and doing well See http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/manatees-turn-plastics-75422/ for (hopefully!) the final stages of this process. And just as a reminder of where I started, see the pic from April 2007. That's a 48" pant (+overhang!), now I'm in a 33-34" I didn't have as far to go as some of y'all, but I'm still proud of the progress

Are you -still- ticked off about not making it into a real medical school? Time to up your meds.

Yeah, I was driving around a few days later. Not far, but I was tired of being stuck home.

Officially one week out today. I'm tapering off the pain meds on normal days. The swelling is still there, but even at this point I'm smaller than I was pre-tuck. I had Cowboy tickets yesterday thanks to another bandster, so we went to the game. Although I was still in full compression mode, I made it the mile or so to the stadium from the parking lot. I was immensely sore at that point, and moving slow. The return trip was worse, but survivable. I will admit to sucking down a LOT of the hydrocdone (sp?) when I got home, and got to bed early. Feeling stiff and sore today but not as bad as I expected. I'm scheduled for a follow-up and stitch removal tomorrow morning. Fun, I'm sure. It does look like I'm going to end up with some slight dog ear flaps, but I'll wait until after the swelling goes to see what happens. As mentioned earlier, this is covered by the original costs.

As a guy, I have to agree with Steph. In addition, he might really have something to worry about. Nothing bad insinuated against Tracy, but I'm sure we've ALL seen the "my marriage is now falling apart" posts after WLS and cosmetic surgeries. Good luck Tracy. Beware that this takes a LOT more energy than you would expect, don't be surprised to be very tired for a while. A desk job should be ok in two weeks. Twisting HURTS, you'll get very conscious of your every move.

Seems that there's people in the chatroom, but they cannot see each other?

Unless you're in one of about a half-dozen battleground states, it doesn't matter what you think of the debate. Your state and the associated electoral votes are already locked into one candidate's column or the other.

It was lipo plus a small tuck. I had some loose skin, not a whole lot but enough that the doc wanted to trim some of it out to get the look he wanted.

To the OP: Just a thought, but maybe a night job or weekend job with the proceeds dedicated to the surgery is a viable idea? Most people have to jump through hoops for a year or more anyway, why not take that time to get some cash. Alternatively, can you sell a car, boat, etc.?

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In my experience, one can sorta lose weight and build strength at the same time, but the best results are built by focusing on first one and then the other. In my case, I toned, but the goal has been to get concave and thin first. Now that I have reached that, I have unfilled the band and will focus on building strength and bulk over the next year. I also know as a 5'9" guy with a natural medium build, I won't ever bench 300-400 lbs. That's perfectly fine for me.

So, day 5 Mostly off the pain meds, I did end up taking some tonight after driving over some too-rough road in the pick-em-up. The strange yellows and blacks and greens are fading back to purple. The long horizontal scar looks like it's going to clean up pretty well, time will tell. Still wearing a full knees-to-shoulder compression garment, along with an abdominal wrap when at home. When I'm out I take the additional wrap off so that the clothes aren't tight to minimize the pressure on the incisions. I can walk upright just fine, albeit slowly. Getting some really strange sensations on the skin surfaces, I suspect that will be the case for quite some time. Thanks for the comments, they're appreciated.

Personally, I always tighten up for a day or three when I have to fly in a jetliner. My doc swears that the travel shouldn't affect it, but that has been a consistent reaction for over a year now. I avoid all foods and drinks before and during a flight.

Here's the thing for me: the band keeps me from backsliding badly when I do lose my motivation. After a while with this, you start to see portions differently, and you start to see types of food differently. It may be hard to imagine, but after a while you start wanting to be in better shape, and you'll find yourself working out and enjoying it. It's a matter of feedback. I've lost hundreds of lbs in my lifetime, and gained them all back. This time, it's gone and will stay gone. Oh, and that lb per week is just about what my doc says we should be aiming at. 1-2 lbs is a safe, sustainable loss, and in only a year or two you'll be down a significant amount. See my profile albums for pictures.

Just because they're related doesn't make them non-toxic. Some people need to be left behind. Move on, and f' em.

Well, after 15 months, a revision, and now a tummy tuck/lipo, I do believe I am finished. I still have to recover from the tuck (I'm only 3 days out), but I can FINALLY SEE a skinny dude in the mirror! Frankly I don't care what my final weight number turns out to be, it's the body shape that's important -- and I'm finally concave. Bruised, ugly and still healing pics here, I expect the skin to retract in the future: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/manatees-turn-plastics-75422/

285 to 17X. I'm 3 days out from lipo and a tuck, so there's still some swelling for a while. 48" waist + overhang to a loose 34"

Day 3 report. Got the feeling back in my fingers, doing well there. No more seeping, so the gauze is gone too. I decided to get out of the house for a bit today. That was sort of a mistake, as I really didn't have the stamina I expected. Made it back home and took some more of the pain medicine. Feeling better does NOT mean you are indeed better! Got some pics in regular clothes. That's a large shirt and a pair of 34" jeans, both are very large on me. Good thing for now, but I think I'm going to end up needing custom tailored shirts if I bulk up any. Look how huge that back billow is, and that's just cloth -- nothing under it.

And more pics, without the compression garment Beware, all sorts of bruises and scarring, not pretty at all. The skin is very loose but will adhere back to the underlying layers later from what I understand. It feels very strange, I suspect there's some nerve damage under there, but that too will eventually heal. On the bright side, the fingers are close to normal again.

Some early post surgery pics Keep in mind that there's quite a bit of swelling, and the final results won't be in for 6-8 weeks. Also, I'm wearing a compression garment right now. Still, it's a hell of an improvement. At this point I have NO idea what the scarring is like, I get to see those tomorrow.

The default background color and font color makes it very hard to find a font color everyone can see. Can we please go back to grey background and black fonts for default? The order of the names in the chatroom are now in order of entry rather than alphabetical, which can cause difficulty finding someone The thing seems to freeze up a lot more often, but that may be related to site maintenance rather than the chatroom itself The sounds do not mute even when mute is selected for all sounds or for individual sounds Thanks for having the chat room, it's an invaluable resource. I do like the new room structure

Made it through. Trussed up like Houdini, but I can see that the extra roll seems to be gone. Pain isn't bad at all, been up and walking. Only weird side effect is that all my fingers are numb. Went back to the doc to have it checked, he has no explanation. His advice is to hold out for a bit and see if it's better tomorrow.