TheGh0st

OMG YOU LOOK GREAT - Sore and gory but GREAT! I am so happy for you! Just 39 days and counting for me. D@~n I wish they would do my tatas at the same time but my doc insists on doing them seperately which with my job may mean waiting another 6-12 months to have the time off. UGHHH!!! Speaking of work, how much time did you schedule off you work. My PS tried to convince me to ask for a whole month off. I don't know what planet he lives on but in my world I have to work to get a paycheck, especially if I'm going to pay his bills.

Yes - I never even knew what heartburn, gerd or acid reflux was before the band. But many would argue that it is not inevitable. Most say it is a sign of being filled to tightly or possibly eating to close to bedtime. Both of which I may be guilty of. But either way I've had it terrible for the last 6-10 months.

We are all holding our breath in anticipation....

I wish I could sleep on my stomach. But alas it aggrevates the gerd/reflux nowadays. But back to post surgery - I found that the port didn't hurt so much as just feel wierd when I laid on it. I kept feeling like the princess and the pea. I found that if I layed on my stomach with my hand cupped over the port for a few minutes then I could pull my hand away and be comfortable. After a few weeks/months (can't remember) I didn't need to do that anymore. But like I said now I can't lay on my stomach more than 5-10 minutes before I start to have stuff come back up. YUCK!

I know what you mean! Here's my pretty picture.... Having the habit of lifting up my "apron" everytime I go upstairs in loose fitting clothes. D@#~! I can't wait to be rid of that! Just 39 days and I'm counting every minute of them.

I am using Dr Dillow. He was at an informational meeting with Dr Hoehn/Hitchcock a few months back. I hear he has done PS for a lot of their patients but to be honest I don't know a single one of his patients. But his resume was good and on a strange side note - it turns out he is from my home town in Nebraska and I went to High School with his little sister. I also had a consult with Dr Cannova (sp?) as I do know several people first and second hand that have used and loved him. But his price for the extended Tummy Tuck were much higher. My price with Dillow for the Extended Tummy Tuck with Lipo is going to be $8,500. Cannova wanted 12K+/- for the same procedure. Oddly if I'd had a full lower body lift which they both said I didn't actually need though I was tempted. Then their prices were nearly identical. These prices include anethesia and the facility fees as well as the doctors fees.

With work and personal conflicts the surgery isn't scheduled until October 9th (My mom's B-Day) I wish I could go TODAY! OK Julie is this crazy thinking or what? - I really would like to get down to 159 before the surgery which is only 6 pounds. I think I can do it if I really try hard, but then a little voice keeps whispering to me "why try?". After all even though some of the weight I lose might come off of other areas of my body looking at my current shape I believe a signifacant portion of each of those hard fought pounds I might lose between now and surgery would have just been cut off by him anyways. So why not just focus on maintaining my current weight until I see what I look like after surgery rather than busting my chops for no reason?

FSC - I'm praying for you!! I hope you or your hubby post soon to let us know how you are recovering. I know how you feel about the guilt issue. I was self pay for the band and even had some guilt issues over that. Most of the relatives were good about it at least on the surface (Except my mother). But under the surface I knew that they felt I was both taking an "easy" way out and also "wasting" money for an unecessary procedure, since in their minds I should be able to lose the weight if only I had the will power and tried. UHGHHH!!!! Now I'm scheduled for PS (Extended Tummy Tuck) in early October and I'm feeling the guilt even stronger now than I did with the decision to get banded. I know there is no way the skin will go away on its own but I struggle with feeling I'm wasting money to cut it off just because of a few heat rashes and the inconvienence of having to wear a SPANX to make my clothes fit right. But, it's too late to feel guilty now. Just enjoy the ride, we all deserve it after all the hard work we put into making this "easy way" work for us.

:bump2: Haven't seen any traffic here for a while. How is everyone doing? My hubby is trying lately. He still isn't very physically affectionate outside the bedroom but he is trying to at least be more verbal. Complimenting me a couple times a week out of the blue. Though I'm starting to suspect part of his renewed interest may be due to the fact he seems to be acting a bit worried that I might be having an affair. He hasn't come out and said that mind you, it's just a feeling I get. The way he asks me more than once exactly where I'm going or who with. Complaining he doesn't know what I'm up to. By the way, I am not cheating. Don't even have any male friends right now that I can think of off the top of my head exept maybe his own brother (also married) 250 miles away. But I do go out 2 nights a week with some banded friends to walk. He's never met them or wanted to meet them and is usually in bed when I get home.

Thankyou, maybe once all the extra skin is gone I'll finalllyfeel like a different person as well.

My4Sons - Congrats and Good Luck! - I was banded 9-13-2005 but my bithday is the 28th. fugnik - Would love to join with you on that but near 2 years out 5 pounds in 2-1/2 weeks may just be unrealistic. But I'll give it the old college try.

Thankyou for your comments. I loved your own thread and read it with much interest in no small part because of the similarities in our age/height. I'm sure you understand I'm not doing this to look "beautiful". There is nothing wrong with being beautiful, its just not my life goal. My desire however it too feel "thin", scratch that, to feel as "normal" as possible. I know my clothed pictures don't look bad. Sometimes I think I may even "Pass for thin" but all the time I know what is lurking under all those clothes and it's weighing me down both mentally and physically.

KLM - I hope you don't think I was saying that younger people with the band won't need PS. Just that there is a chance that some people might (emphasis, might) shrink back a little better than others depending on factors such as age, strechmarks, skin type, etc. But Skin is its own organ and once it grows to cover our larger bodies there is not a whole lot that can be done. I absolutely hate it when My MIL and well meaning friends keep asking if I am lifting weights to get rid of the extra skin. Correct me if I'm wrong but how is toning the muscle organ going to help the skin organ change its overal size one iota?

SheSmiles (Like the name by the way) - I don't mind you asking at all. I am 5'2 and 37 years old. I have always considered myself overweight though looking back at photos from high school and especially college I wish I could go back and beat some sense in me. I have one outfit from college I saved that is still a good 4-5 inches smaller in the waist. Maybe if I'd had a better body image back then I would have never let myself go so far. But no use crying over the spilt milk now I guess. Since getting married after college 14 years ago my weight has steadily yo-yo'd up the scale until I hit my high weight of 255 in 2005. My co-morbidities were mild compared to some but at the end of 2004 I had actually made it down 30 pounds to 200 pounds then turned around and gained another 50 in less than 6 months. My "early" arthritis in my back and hips was getting progressively worse. I had terrible pitting edema in my legs making them act like silly putty. Which according to the internet only had two causes; heart failure & liver failure. The doctors said both my heart and liver were currently fine but my body was telling me I needed to act fast. Diabetes, heart disease and strokes run in my family and I felt like a train running full speed towards a cliff. Unfortunately health insurance was not an option for me but we had recently sold our house and moved to a larger but more inexpensive home in a different neighborhood and had money left over from the sale. We were going to use it to pay of a 14K student loan that was costing us $130/mo @ 3.9%. We decided instead to use that money for the lapband surgery and just keep paying the student loan off. That was in September of 2005 nearly 2 years ago. Since then I have lost 90 pounds and gone from a size 24/26 to a size 10. I am currently 165. My original goal weight was actually the 130's and I had wanted to get to the 140's before considering plastic surgery but several things have made me reconsider waiting. 1) The PS says despite my weight that I really don't need to lose anymore before I proceed with surgery. He says I don't have enough left to lose in my stomach area for their to be a risk of new saggy skin issues from any potential continued weight loss I might have after the procedure. 2) I'm not getting any younger and that 40 year milestone is ringing very loud bells making me want to reach my goals before I get there. 3) I have practically stalled out on weight loss now and have only lost 10 pounds in the last 10 months. I'm getting very frustrated and despite being a size 10 the sight of all that extra skin in the mirror is really beginning to make me feel like I've ultimately been a failure at this. My hope is that by having the surgery it will give me just enough of a boost to get my head wrapped around the fact that I really have lost the weight and to stop some of those pesky urges to sabotage myself. I know, I know surgery whether it be lapband or PS does NOT fix a persons head any more than a pair of $400 dollar running shoes will make you win a marathon. Then again it's a lot harder to win a race in a pair of crocs than it is in the right running shoe. Similarly I'm hoping the flatter stomach PS gives me will help make it a bit easier for me to finish working on my head issues whether it be with or without counseling. (Chimboree26 - up for any long distance practice counseling?)

Sorry for blushing. But as you said in all seriousness if I had the extra $ I think I'd ask for it as well. Roxie - This might not be the most accurate description but it is basically a "pubic lift".

OH MY!!! I just looked it up on google.

Julie you flatter me, size 4/6!! I'll be happy if I'm an 8. Just reading that number 4/6 makes my heart skip a beat, and butterflies dance in my stomach. But, just what is a mons lift?

Vicky - I do the same thing. I have a bag of Fisherman's Friend cough drops by the bedside. They taste terrible but much better than the acid. I do think in my case it may be more a pb than reflux as it tends to only happen on nights I eat or drink withing 3-4 hours of going to bed.

New Hope? Is that another of Malley's offices? She is not changing jobs is she? I'm planning on being there as well. It will be my last meeting before I have a tummy tuck in October. BEWARE: Graphic images http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/thegh0sts-extended-tummy-tuck-w-lipo-40316/#post551087

Really, I just rubbed the heck out of my upper arm. All sides. I have three different ways I rub them. First I rub as much of my arm as I can reach with my knuckles, kind of like when you give someone a knuckle rub on their head but as hard as you can do it. then I rub and anywhere else I can reach with an open palm exerting most of the pressure with my middle finger. Finally rub my arms with my hand held in a rigid "karate-chop" pose using the side of my hand or fingers to rub my arm. I try to do it for several short periods each day. Like if I'm sitting at a red light, while waiting for a particularily slow web page to load or in the shower. The only word of warning would be that when I first started I did it for longer periods of time "maybe 5-10 minutes" 2-3 times a day. After the first few days my arm was already looking better, BUT by the end of the week the shoulder of the arm I was using to rub the other arm was killing me. Somehow I'd pinched a nerve or something, it hurt bad enough I was starting to think I'd really torn something. After I cut the sessions down to just a minute (give or take) my other arm started to get better. I still feel like there is a nasty loose bit up near the arm-pit but that area is hard to rub well without aggrevating my sore shoulder. I've been trying to think of some "tool" I could use to help rub my arms, maybe one of those wood back massagers with the rolling balls on it? Though just yesterday I realized the bannister on my stairs was just the right height and shape to use. But I got a tell you I look mighty silly swaying back and forth trying to rub my arms with it.:becky:

Thank you for your kind words. Now if you want to see a real fright and to understand the basis for my self criticism I've taken the plunge and posted my pre-op plastic surgeon pics on a new thread. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/thegh0sts-extended-tummy-tuck-w-lipo-40316/

I had some trouble getting the photos to upload but here they are. I know this is hard to believe but I swear these are photos of me 165 and a size 10. Despite the fact I would equally swear they look like they could be me over 50 pounds ago.

OK after that vent - there is one thing that I do think can help if not cure some sagging skin problems. I know it sounds crazy but deep and vigorous tissue massage can help firm up the skin a bit. I saw something on TV about 3 months ago on a woman that was very skinny but had loose skin on her stomach that looked a bit like those elephant ankles you get with loose nylons. After 8-weeks of intense massage that she described as nearly painful her stomach was flat. Unfortunately they did not mention how frequently or how long the treatments were during the 8 weeks. It sounded VERY fishy to me but I'd just got a 4.5K quote on my "bye-bye" arms at the PS something I can't imagine paying just for my arms. So I thought why not just give it a try. In the spirit of scientific discovery I only massaged one arm. I would massage my arm several times each day. Each time only for approx 1-2 minutes. I would rub my upper arm as hard as I could, usually hard enough to turn the skin pink. Surprisingly I thought I could see a difference within just a few days. After the first couple weeks I stopped doing it as regulaly as I was at the beginning. It's been 8 weeks now that I've been doing it to just the one arm and that arm is now 3" smaller than the other arm. I have a pre-op appointment with my PS in a couple more weeks. It will be the first time he has seen me since he gave me the unsolicited quote for my arms. I can't wait to show him the difference. Then I'll start working on the other arm as well. I never could have afforded spending over 4K on my arms and even though 3" is not enough for me to like my arm, it is enough to make it more bearable. Hopefully enough so that I won't obsess over them in the years to come. And if I'm lucky maybe if I combine the massage with weight lifting and plain old time they will get even better. I've posted a pic below. Mind you I can't imaging any amount of massage having got rid of the stomach skin I have now. Maybe if I'd done it everyday for the last 2 years but not now.

Ready - Wasa might be able to answer better with her medical background but my own opinion is yes you might fare better than some. From what I understand the ones who fare the best are young with a naturally darker skin tones, such as latin/south american, medditeranean or african. Factors that make it worse are pre-existing strech marks, age, and fairer complexions. So my being nearly 40 with strech marks from my upper chest down nearly to my knees, and a red-head with skin so white it's like to glow in the dark, I was bound to need PS from the start. To possibly be more graphic than some would like I am now a size 10 and my deflated "pannis" or as I call it my personal fanny pack. hangs down so far that if I put a ruler under it it measures 3-1/2 inches. Still my family (in-laws & out-laws) have it in their heads I am taking the "easy-way" out yet again by having PS surgery to get rid of it rather than just do a few extra sit-ups. Come on people! I don't see how any number of sit-ups are going to get rid of a 3+ inch flap of skin hanging down.

No worries. I've been thinking of starting a thread soon as well for my upcoming Tummy Tuck so I needed to figure it out, but It took me awhile as well.