Bawilliams1

I totally agree with JulieNYC! I am 34 years old and although I am at goal and I am thinner than I have ever been in my life, I didn't feel that good about my body. I was certainly happy to be thinner than ever, but I am still so young for all of my skin to be sagging. I want to look my age! I had a brachioplasty first. A year later I had a lower body lift and a breast augmentation with a lift. I know that I am still the same person, but when I look at myself in the mirror I feel so good! I still have things I don't like. I would like to have a thigh lift someday and then I will be done with plastic surgery, but I still love my body! I never thought it was possible for me to look like this. It does make me a bit sad, that I couldn't love myself this much when I was fat, but I am so thankful for my whole transformation! I think that it is also somewhat healthy that I can atleast recognize that I should love my body no matter what it looks like. I am not oblivious to that. I do think that there are people who will never be happy andthey will always be looking for another plastic surgery. Yes, those people have problems! However, I think plastic surgery can be a great tool to help you with your transformation and if it makes you feel better about yourself then great! I think it helped me with my self confidence. I never thought I would go to the gym and feel that good about myself when I watched myself in the mirrors!

Enterprise, don't be scared of the scars. I have had a brachioplasty, Breast lift with implants and a lower body lift. I am hoping to have a thigh lift someday, but it will be a while. After the thigh lift I will be done. I don't think my doctor did as great of a job as he could have or maybe another PS could have, but I LOVE my "new" arms compared to the way they were. Hardly anyone notices my scars and if they do I am more than happy to tell them why I have scars. It has been one year and nine months since my brachioplasty. My right arm just has a very thin white line and my left arm has a line that is a little bit wider and a tad bit pink. However, I love the scars and all compared to my flabby arms that I had before! I am no longer embarrassed to wear tank tops. I wore a bikini this summer for the first time since I was five! I say go for it and if you have any plastic surgery questions I don't mind answering them. I consider myself a pro!

Thanks for your lengthy and detailed reply Wendel! I appreciate it very much. I seem to be doing a bit better now, but I haven't ruled out a small unfill. I am just going to give it a little more time and see what happens. Again, thanks!

I was just wondering what it feels like to you guys when your food is going through your band? I am feeling a lot of tightness in my throat muscles. It is like a lot of tension. I don't really know how else to explain it. I have been feeling a bit tighter lately. I am having a hard time getting coffee down in the morning, but if I wait about an hour longer I can get down a fruit/yogurt smoothie just fine. Later in the day it is a bit easier to eat, but I know that is pretty common. I am just wondering if anyone else experiences that muscle tightness or if you guys think I might be too tight. I have been at the same fill level since the end of June and I am just now questioning the fill. I don't want to just run back to my fill doc. It's a 3 hour drive and it costs $200. Plus, I don't want to end up regretting an unfill and feel too lose. However, if I continue to feel discomfort I will probably go. I am just going to give it some time first. Any comments out there?

<p>Puddin, I had a lower body lift and breast aug w/lift on May 1st. My doctor wants me to wear the darn binder for three months! It is driving me nuts! It has started binding up on me. I don't really know how to explain it. A lady that I work with had a tummy tuck and her doctor made her wear the same exact one for just two months. What did you have to wear and how long? Thanks!</p>

Thanks for your story! I, too, am in the beginning of my third year of the band. I know what you mean about learning to outsmart the band sometimes. I take in a lot of liquids myself. They are always low cal and low fat and I do journal my calories, but I know that I really should be learning or already have learned to eat more of a variety of solid, healthy foods. I am not really looking to lose more weight. Five - ten more pounds would be great, but as long as I maintain I am very happy. I just want to tell you that you have done so great despite any setbacks. Please remember that you have really accomplished a lot!

My fill doctor will do the same thing. I think his reason for doing it is not so much to allow you to pig out, but to avoid the likihood of you overeating and ending up PB'ing a lot or throwing up and making your band slip. I think a lot of people get unfills right before Thanksgiving. I totally understand because that day is all about food, but I personally am not willing to pay $200 for and unfill and then another $200 for a fill. If unsurance pays for it that is one thing, but I am self pay. I think it's a little more understanding if you are in the maintenance phase, but I'm not sure I would do it in the weight loss phase.

I weigh 134 pounds and my port has been sticking out for quite a while. With my first band the surgeon put my port down below my waist on the left hand side. I got rebanded by a different surgeon last summer after my first band slipped and he put my port much higher up. I was quite annoyed because not only did it protrude (you should have seen it before the swelling went down, TUMOR!), it clicked on my bottom rib every time I would laugh, cough, hiccup, do ab exercises, or move just the right way! Now, after having a lower body lift, the port still protrudes, but it has moved over to the right atleast about two inches. I asked the PS if he had taken it off and reattached it. He said no. It was still attached to the muscle in the same spot, but it had moved because he tightened my muscles up. Now the port doesn't click at all. I am wearing a bikini on vacation in a few weeks and it is not so bad that I am concerned about it. If anyone does notice it and asks what it is I am more than happy to explain. I know that some people don't want anyone knowing that they had lap band surgery or plastic surgery, but I don't mind sharing my story. I am just so proud of my accomplishments. If anyone had told me five years ago that I would someday wear a bikini, I would have never believed them!

I had the most awesome surgeon! His name is Alejandro Gaxiola. If I were you I would just let him do the tt and breast work at the same time. It's cheaper that way. He quoted me $4100 for the breast lift with implants and $4500 for a tt, but that's getting all of the work done at one time. I think it's a little cheaper when you are having multiple procedures because you only pay gor his fee once as well as the hospital and anestesiologist. Once I got there we decided to do a lower body lift instead of a regular tt and the price went from $4500 up to $5900. I was quoted $10,500 for a lower body lift and about $8000 for a breast aug w/implants in Texas! I don't think I will have any more plastic surgery, but if I did I would definately go back to Dr. G! I prefer him and his hospital over anywhere I have ever been in Texas! When he found out I was there alone he made me stay an extra night in the hospital for free and he sent a nurse and receptionist to my hotel to help me shower for the first time! The receptionist gave me her cell phone # incase I needed anything over the weekend! That would NEVER happen in Texas! I just can't say enough good things about my whole experience! If you are interested in knowing more or if you have more specific questions I will be happy to tell you anyhting you want to know. I can give you the doctor's contact info too. I don't think my skin has stretched. I think all of that tightness is just a natural feeling after your skin has been pulled and stitched together. It is pretty much gone now. My results are wonderful! Even at the hospital I looked in the mirror and I almost cried because I never looked this good in my life!

I had my two year "bandiversary" in April. I found out after about 13 months that my band had slipped. I got a new band one month later. Now the second band won't hold saline. I have to have it filled with a thicker liquid. I have never reached good restriction with the second band. June 21st will be one year with the new band. I am at goal weight, but it would be nice if the band would help me maintain it.

Yesterday was six weeks since I had a Lower body lift and a breast lift with implants. The lower body lift is a tummy tuck, but they cut you all the way around your body, so it lifts the sides and back too. I had vitually no pain at all. I still can't believe it! The only thing I felt was an intense tightness from them pulling the skin tight. That goes away gradually. Now I pretty much just feel a feeling of stiffness when I have been sitting at my desk for a while then I get up. I have been sekf pay all along for the band and the plastic surgeries. I went to Mexico for most of my surgeries. It has been wonderful.

Don't feel bad. I have a 4 cc band and I had 4.2 cc's in the band and I didn't feel the physical feeling of hunger, but I could get food down very easily. I was tighter in the mornings and I didn't even eat anything until about 1:00 or 2:00 pm. At dinner time I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted. I stopped eating because I wanted to lose/maintain my weight and not gain, but I could eat a lot of food. I don't understand what is going on. I feel like my stomach just adjusts to each fill!

Pacomomma, today is 6 weeks from my tt and lower body lift. I only have one small scab left on my incisions and all of my dissolvable stitches have come off. I had four places on my left hip and three places on my right hip where the stitches were sticking out. I am glad they finally fell off. I think the binder garment thing I have to wear helped them come off by rubbing on them a little. How long is your doc making you wear your garment? Anyway, my stomach still feels very hard all around my belly button and on down at night after eating, but that lessens by morning. I guess it is still sort of hard all the time, just more at night after eating. I don't know if or when that will go away. I feel like my surgery was so long ago, but six weeks isn't really that long. We shall see how things progress! I am going to the river with my family on June 28th. I am taking two bikinis! I will be wearing board shorts over the bottoms because I still have meaty thighs, but that's okay! That's just the way I am made and I can accept that! I will try to post some pictures after we get back if I can figure out how. Keep us updated on your progress! Oh yeah! There is a great show on TLC on Monday nights called Big Medicine. It comes on at eight. It's about bypass patients and it shows their lower body lifts and plastic surgeries. I love it!