Paniculectomy & belly button fix this morning!

[hadouni 301]

Hi All- had my panicectomy and belly button fix this morning and I'm resting comfortably at a hotel. I have an 8am check-in tomorrow before going home. I skipped the ab plication and am happy I did! I feel really good- much better than I expected. They removed the catheter before I woke up. My drains come out at each end of the incision. I was expecting them to be around the pubis and I'm happy they didn't make extra holes for them.

Dr. Carl Askren in Fresno is amazing!

[Elode 8,093]

Well congrats! Good to hear your comfortable!

[blondebomb 580]

good to hear all went great! I had a gf had a Tummy Tuck about 4 yrs ago she had her drains in for 6 wks are you? I would think so. or is this differant then a tummy tuck? rest easy..

[Julie norton 2,850]

Please tell us more or msg me. I'd like to know tests timeline and costs. Really looking into this. Thanks

[hadouni 301]

I had a consult in late October. I met Dr Askren in the summer when I went with a friend for a mastectomy reconstruction consult. I really liked him. I contacted my sleeve surgeon for a plastics recommendation and Dr Askren was on the short list.

There was a big delay after the consult. I called a couple times and left messages. I finally called and said I was coming in and would like to talk to someone. It turned out the delay was having the Dr's recorded notes transcribed. That was a little frustrating but I got in to see the office manager who is AWESOME. I explained if I didn't get in with enough time to heal and help my friend after her masectomy in mid-February, I'd have to wait at least six months. She got me in on a cancellation. Otherwise, I would have been looking at late January or even later. I got totally lucky!

My next round of luck was getting insurance to cover the panniculectomy. I had to fill out a form on why I wanted to have a Tummy Tuck and I made it ALL about the rashes and problems I had from my flap and listed all the things I used to battle the rashes. Several were prescriptions I had from other things. I only talked to my WLS surgeon's people about it. I didn't bring it up with my PCP who I rarely see. So again, Dr Askren's office worked their magic with the insurance!

He would have preferred to do the ab plication as well but I didn't want it.

Oh, and it took me over two months just to get the consult. He's in high demand.

The without insurance quote was for $8200. With insurance the full quote was $4370. I believe it will come down about $1500 because I skipped the plication. I have to pay for the belly button fix as that is cosmetic.

[hadouni 301]

The check-up this morning went great. Dr Askren was pleased with the surgery and I think it looks amazing. I got to see my belly button. Lots of stitches there but it looks good. I was trying to find a couple scars from my sleeve surgery to see how far things moved down. I still have a few stretch marks down low but they're way down. I'm totally thrilled so far!

I go back on Monday to have the stitches and hopefully the drains removed!

I really agonized about the ab stitching and I think I made the right decision for me. I'm happy I skipped that part of it.

Thanks for listening!