TheGh0st's Extended Tummy Tuck w/Lipo

[wombat712 2]

Ghost you look fantastic!!! I hope you are feeling better soon :0)

[kareyquilts 1]

Diane: Thanks for answering all my questions.

[kareyquilts 1]

Diane: Thanks for answering all my questions. You're looking fantastic. I can see why the drains would hurt. They are big and they don't look too flexible either! Hope they can come out soon! Looks like you've got some kind of compression on your thighs as well. Is that for blook clot prevention? Did the doc tell you when you can resume exercise?

[JulieNYC 4]

A comment on the drain thing. I had 4 drains and 3 different experiences with them coming out. 2 of the four were a 0/10 on the pain scale. Felt totally weird to have something pulled out of me like that, but didn't even register on the pain scale. The third one hurt like nobody's business. Like a 9/10 -- thought I would pass out kind of pain. Luckily, it was only for like 3 seconds and it was over. I just didn't expect it! I think it has to do with whether things have dried up there in the tubing (which is probably a good thing). The fourth one, Dad shot me up with numbing meds because #3 had hurt so much. The numbing meds didn't really help a lot -- took it down to maybe a 5/10. But, ahh, then the freedom of having no drains was totally worth that 5/10!

Diane, you'll be fine. Even if it hurts, it's VERY quick. Akin to the quickness of a bandaid coming off, or having something waxed.

[bigsexy 0]

Diane - who was your surgeon? whomever it was did an unbelievable job. A lot of other surgeries i have seen on this and other board look like hack jobs. To date only 2 including Julies and one other have been equally as good as yours. I am really impressed at how flat your tummy has become and that the stretchmarks have disappeared. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Please pass along the surgeon info as I will certainly be needing ps eventually and I want to have someone who does equally as nice of a job. Congrats

[TheGh0st 9]

I got to tell you I'm pretty amazed at my scar line as well, after seeing some of the others on line. I was expecting worse. Not only is it amazingly straight but it is so friggin low. I'm not sure it would have been possible for him to have gone any lower. My surgeon was Dr Dillow with Monarch Plastic Surgery in Kansas City. I don't know the exact number but his nurse said he had performed 100's of TT's & LBL's on lapband patients over the last several years. He is around 42-ish and very friendly. His price for the extended TT with the Lipo was approx 8.5K. This included the hospital & anethesia fees as well. His full LBL price was much higher at around 12.5K if I remember correctly and the arm lift price that he quoted me was 4.5K though I don't think I'll be doing that one either. The Breast Reduction will be covered by insurance and I plan on doing it sometime next year. Would like to do it in the spring to be healed in time for summer but may have to wait until fall for the time off from work.

As far as the leg wraps, I think I forgot to mention but the morning of the surgery I was somehow able to "Sweet" talk him into just the smallest bit of lipo on my inner thighs for "FREE":whoo:, or at least for no additional money. Don't know if it was the fact we were both from the same small hometown or if he was just feeling genorous (sp?) that day. He only took off about 100cc's (total I think,not per thigh) I could do with a lot more I'm sure. But it was enough to supposedly remove an annoying lump on my upper inner thighs I've had since highschool and didn't involve any skin removal. At my highest weight it was like a large grapefruit had been cut in half and tucked under the skin on each side. At my current weight it looked more like a tennis ball, but still VERY noticeable. My hopes are that with that lump gone I can learn to live with my thighs as they are now. Since I doubt I could afford another 8+K in PS just for a body part you only see when wearing a swimsuit.

[Tamjpjb 1]

You are looking wonderful! I'm very happy that you are feeling so well. You are gonna be amazed with the end results, I know it! Take care.

[sweethot143 2]

you are so lucky! i can't wait to have on! after 30 morelbs i'm going to schedule a consult.

[OH Juli 15]

Rock on, you're doing great. You look amazing.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

You look fantastic!! You bring me such motivation -- I know I'll get there someday. I won't do a TT until after I have a few babies, but after that, it's PS City.

Thanks for sharing!

[nume130 0]

Congratulations Diane: You are doing so well and look great as well. All your hard work is paying off.

[cindyluhu 0]

Diane, you are looking awesome. I hope to someday be as brave as you! I'm still in the beginning stages, just banded in May, so I have a ways to go yet. Did you get to your goal first, or just close to it? and how did you decide when the best time to do it was (weight loss wise I mean). Did the ps tell you when a good time to have the surgery was weight wise?

Maybe I'll start investigating for a good ps in MA now, so I'll be comfortable when I'm ready. How long did it take you from when you consulted with him, till the surgery date?

Thanks, sorry for all the questions

Cindy

[TheGh0st 9]

Diane, you are looking awesome. I hope to someday be as brave as you! I'm still in the beginning stages, just banded in May, so I have a ways to go yet. Did you get to your goal first, or just close to it? and how did you decide when the best time to do it was (weight loss wise I mean). Did the ps tell you when a good time to have the surgery was weight wise?

Maybe I'll start investigating for a good ps in MA now, so I'll be comfortable when I'm ready. How long did it take you from when you consulted with him, till the surgery date?

Thanks, sorry for all the questions

Cindy

Cindy,

I hope your ready for a novel. I'm not exactly known for my short responses....

No, I didn't get to my goal first. I originally thought my final goal would be around 135-139 and I ended up doing the PS at the 165-170 range which was still nearly 30 pounds from my goal and I knew that the surgery would probably take less than half that off. BUT, I'd reached a point in my weight loss that I was starting to doubt my original weight loss goals, it had really only been an arbitrary number picked from a combination of what would put me in a healthy BMI range for my height and a silly desire to be in the single digits for the British method of weighing in Stones and pounds (with a Stone weighing 14 pounds, making my goal 9-Stone 9-Pounds, to 9-Stone 13-pounds) this was a VERY SILLY way to set a goal. When I reached the high 160's that put me at a BMI considered "Slightly Overweight" for my height. (Gotta love that "Slightly" bit) I was starting to fit into size 10's and thinking how thin do I really need to get before I'm going to be happy with this. After all I use to think that I'd kill to be a size 10 and if I were to lose another 30-ish pounds where would that put me? Then the Band Surgeon I'd had hosted a group meeting with a local PS that was familiar with doing surgeries on Banded patients so I went, thinking I was just doing "early" research and would still need to lose another 15-20 pounds. After the group meeting I started thinking it wouldn't hurt to meet with him one on one and get his formal opinion on how much more I needed to lose and how long I'd have to maintain that loss as I'd heard most PS' won't do surgery unless you have maintained your weight for over 1-year. So I met with the PS and to my surprise he thought I'd already lost enough to start the process. He said even if I continued to lose after the surgery that there wasn't enough left on me to lose to make the remaining skin start to look baggy again. Needless to say I was in SHOCK! I was convinced he was going to tell me I needed to lose another 15 pounds minimum and I'd have to wait till next year. I also met with a 2nd PS in town familiar with band patients and he had the same opinion that I was ready now and that I only needed an extended TT not a full LBL. In summary on this issue since they both thought I was already at a good weight for PS they never really did say what weight was necessary for my size, therefore my best novice advise would be to get down to that magical "slightly-overweight" category. Not all BMI charts seem to have this terminology, I've included a link to one of the sites that does. looking at your ticker I'd guess your are much closer than you think, maybe only 20 pounds away. Now, considering it took me over 1-1/2 years to get there and your racing to it in months there is a chance the PS surgeon might want you to also wait a bit longer to show that ability to maintain the weight. who knows?

BMI Calculator - the Bariatric Center of Kansas City, Providing surgical solutions to obesity

But I'd agree you should definitely start looking around and researching your options now! There is nothing worse than being ready emotionally & physically for the PS but being slowed down with trying to research all your options. If I'd started researching a bit sooner I might have looked more into going to Mexico to save some money, But in the end I LOVE my doc and my results so far it was worth EVERY PENNY!

Lastly, you asked about the timing. I looked back (on lapbandtalk) and found that the group seminar with the PS had been in early April and that I had just hit 168 for the first time back then (after a bout with the stomach flu but still I hit it) I think my first one on one appt wasn't until the end of May beginning of June I knew as soon as they told me my body was ready that I wanted to do it but it took a few more months to convince my husband and our budget which is why I ended up with surgery in October. Actually several family members were pushing for me to wait until the first of the year when they would have more time to help with my recovery, but once I'd convinced my husband there was no stopping me from doing it as soon as humanly possible. The only delay I put on it then was to wait until just after my, and more importantly my son's birthdays so I wouldn't be trying to bake cakes, and blow up balloons with stiches and drains in me. Overall, with PS I think once you have the $$ in place and a doctor picked out the timing is MUCH faster than with the band. The docs might have a bit of a backlog but there are none of the pre-surgery hoops to jump through like the band and the wait times are usually just a couple weeks, not months like some of the better band docs around here.

Cindy, if you are still awake and reading this novel of a post I hope I answered all your questions. Feel free to ask me anything.

[TheGh0st 9]

Congratulations Diane: You are doing so well and look great as well. All your hard work is paying off.

Nume - Thank you for your kind words. It is good to hear from you, I haven't seen you on Lapband lately. Guess we've been frequenting different threads. But I've got to congratulate you as well. Last we spoke you hadn't been banded yet and now here you are amongst the banded and down over 25 pounds already. You ROCK! Keep up the great work and we'll be looking at your PS thread before you know it!

[stacy73 2]

Diane- WOW! your poicks look awesome-imagine how you will look when the swelling goes down-it is amazing what PS will do!!Congrats on the great results!!Hope to be where you are sometime next year!