Plastic Surgery

[LadyBugRed 2]

Congratulations Frangi!!:thumbup:

You and Becky are a day apart right?

[TexasBecky 1]

Yeah Frangi!! OMG, we are both less than one month away. How exciting is that? The "home" health service you describe sounds great. It must be reassuring to know that you will have that available if you need it. How long do you plan to stay in FL after the surgery?

My plan (and the docs) is to stay in the hospital two nights - June 12 & 13 then home for a few days and back to the doc for a follow up on the 17th. My sister is coming to help me out for the first few days. DH said he would take off for a week if I wanted him to, but honestly I don't think its necessary. I really think my sister is going to be the better caregiver anyway. When I tried to explain to hubby about the drains, etc., he turned white as a ghost, lol. He was going to Boston for business on the 17th, but he has changed that so that he can take my sis to the airport and me to my followup appt. that day. After that I hope I'll be ok on my own. I think I'll arrange for some kind of home health service to be on standby too. That is such a good idea Frangi.

My upper GI is scheduled for May 28th. I've discussed it with my band doctor, the plastic surgeon, and my pcp and none of them think that there will be anything that will cause my surgery to be postponed, so I'm feeling like it is safe to start getting excited now.

I see the plastic surgeon again on May 23. He will have "worked" on my naked pictures to show me what results he expects to get from the surgery. I'm really anxious to see those - the afters that is. I'm not so anxious to see the before pictures, but I guess I can endure it. I've always hated to see myself in pictures with my clothes on. Can you imagine how awful it is going to be to look at pictures naked? Oh God. It makes me shudder.

I'm rambling on and on, so I think thats enough for now.

[salsa1877 10]

Ok...this is NOT fair. :biggrin:I am stomping my feet and throwing a temper tantrum. Just picture me as a acne faced teenager whose cell phone was just thrown in the toilet by their parents. :thumbup: Why you ask....I want my TT sooner! :thumbup: I have to wait almost a whole month after you. Do you see my ticker????? I have OVER a month! POOPY that is what this is.:thumbup: All the green faces represent my jealousy!

No really I am just kidding. :biggrin:You both have done so wonderful with the band and have actually had quite the journey to get PS. Looks like setting the PS date has been a difficult trend for us Crazy Ates! But in the end...it all worked out. Actually having the date later lets me run the half-marathon. I figure even though i won't be able to exercise for several weeks, that going into the surgery that I will be in the best shape of my life. :thumbup: (but yes...I am still green with envy!)

Congrats to both of you...De

[LadyBugRed 2]

Yea Becky and Frangi!!! Dancing Bananas all around!! Salsa - you are right behind them!! You girls rock my socks!!

:thumbup::Banane53::thumbup::thumbup::smilingface (52)::thumbup::thumbup::Banane21::thumbup::thumbup::Banane52::thumbup::thumbup::Banane20::w00t::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

[Frangipani 1]

Hey Jody,

Thanks for all the well wishes and the celebrations!!!! Since I will be in the hospital for three days and probably won't have access to a computer, I was wondering if you would be willing to post an update on my progress if I called you from the hospital. If yes, please PM me with your phone number.

Salsa, thank you also for the well wishes. You are just three weeks or so behind us, which will probably seem like just a few short days with all that you have going on beforehand.

Becky, can you believe we are doing this together? I actually think it will help us both to have someone else going through the same thing at the same time. I am glad to hear that you got good reassurances from your Doctors. See, I told you so :thumbup:!

I agree with you regarding the husband thing. Women are actually much better to have around when you're sick. Still, I know it would be comforting to have my husband there (if at all possible) and it would actually be good for him to have a break for a few days, if he can swing it.

I won't need him right there with me and he can go do some things that he enjoys. He is a collector of rare tropical plants and he loves visiting all of the wonderful nurseries in Florida. During his last trip to Florida he picked up two incredibly rare palms of which there were exactly four total in the entire state and absolutely none here. We boxed them up and expressed mailed them home and they are thriving.

Thanks again ladies -- you're wonderful!!!!!

[LadyBugRed 2]

Hey Jody,

Thanks for all the well wishes and the celebrations!!!! Since I will be in the hospital for three days and probably won't have access to a computer, I was wondering if you would be willing to post an update on my progress if I called you from the hospital. If yes, please PM me with your phone number.

Oh Frangi,

I would love to post updates for you. I feel honored!!! Thank you so much!!

[TexasBecky 1]

Thank you Jody for the dancing bananas! You are such a sweetheart to be excited for all of us who are about to have PS.

Salsa and Frangi, I am just amazed at everything that has happened since Aug. 07. I'm so proud of us. I never imagined that I'd be having my body fixed this soon. Did you? It is one of the most thrilling things to happen to me in a long, long time. I suspect that you two feel the same way.

I'm feeling so much better since I've stopped worrying about all of this. I think a big part of my GI problems have been related to nerves. I'd forgotten how tight I get when I'm feeling stressed. I guess that is another good thing about my band. If I start feeling too tight I need to look at what is going on in my life and work on relaxing. In the past, I just ate when I felt stressed. What a blessing that I can't fall back on that now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

[Frangipani 1]

Oh Frangi,

I would love to post updates for you. I feel honored!!! Thank you so much!!

Jody, thank you. I am honored that you're doing this for me :thumbup:!

However, I will be preparing a confidentiality agreement for you to sign that bars you from repeating anything goofy or stupid I might say while under the influence of drugs LOL :thumbup:!

Salsa and Frangi, I am just amazed at everything that has happened since Aug. 07. I'm so proud of us. I never imagined that I'd be having my body fixed this soon. Did you? It is one of the most thrilling things to happen to me in a long, long time. I suspect that you two feel the same way.

Becky, I'm amazed too. I never would have imagined that I would be having plastic surgery just 10 months after being banded. However, in retrospect, I'm glad that I'm doing it this way, because my weight problem has blighted my life for some time now, and it really makes sense to remove the weight and all reminders of it as quickly as possible. It also makes sense to do this while we're already in a very intense and highly driven mode, as we all obviously are now.

Edited May 17, 2008 by Frangipani

[Frangipani 1]

Yeah Frangi!! OMG, we are both less than one month away. How exciting is that? The "home" health service you describe sounds great. It must be reassuring to know that you will have that available if you need it. How long do you plan to stay in FL after the surgery?

Becky, I'll be staying in Florida for a little over two weeks. I am a big Priceline addict and I got a tremendous deal on my hotel, which is just a few miles away from the hospital. I stayed at the hotel on my last trip and it's a very nice, brand-new hotel with extremely comfy beds, refrigerators and microwaves in the room, (plus room service, free wireless, a business center, and all the other "stuff"). The location is great too -- just a short walking distance from a grocery store, pharmacy, post office, etc, and (of course) I am within a 30 minute radius of 6 Stein Marts!!!! :woot:

In fact, yesterday after I heard from the Dr.'s office, I got the hotel all squared away, so I'm happy about that. Now I'm just waiting for a good airfare to come up and I'm all set. Of course, there's lots to do around here before I leave for Florida on June 11, and I will be very busy between now and then.

[TexasBecky 1]

My surgery is three weeks from today! I'm so excited. Not a day goes by now that I don't find myself thinking about the surgery. I'm nervous, but mostly just ready to get it done and get on with things. Tomorrow I see the plastic surgeon again to see the pictures of what I should look like after the surgery. That will be interesting. Oh, and I'll be paying the doctor and the hospital tomorrow too. Not so interesting.

Frangi, did you get your flight booked? Are you getting as excited as I am? Are things going to work out for your hubby to get to be there for a few days?

My sister will arrive in Dallas on June 5th, so we will have several days to "play" before the surgery. I just have to control my urge to shop for clothes. No sense in buying anything else now, since I think (hope) I'll be wearing 8's after the surgery. I don't think I've worn an eight since I was eight. WooHoo!

[Frangipani 1]

I just have to control my urge to shop for clothes. No sense in buying anything else now, since I think (hope) I'll be wearing 8's after the surgery. I don't think I've worn an eight since I was eight. WooHoo!

Becky LOL! Don't even go too crazy on clothes until a while after surgery because you might even drop down to a size six!

What I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around is how I'm going to look after surgery. I mean, I think I am going to look like I've never looked (certainly the bust line will be infinitely more impressive than it has ever been).

It's really hard to come up with a mental picture because even when I was in college and weighed 106 pounds, I still had little pooch of fat in my lower abdomen.

So to think of a perfectly flat tummy well......to be honest, I'll believe it when I see it!!!! I am still not sure it's going to happen even though the Dr. claims it will :crying:.

I did not book my flight because fares have gone through the roof with the price of fuel skyrocketing. It is well over $400 to fly to Miami and I have never paid that before. I will probably end up using frequent flyer miles.

My husband is quite insistent on being there BUT, I'm being a little protective of his schedule. He's one of these people that always piles way too much on his plate, so I'm kind of sitting back to see what's happening with his schedule before I book his flight for him. Definitely he will be there for at least a few days, I think........

I'm excited for sure, but also getting just a wee bit nervous -- not so much about the PS, but more about the pain from the open myomectomy plus all the other things I'm having done. If I can rest comfortably, I'll be fine, but my concern is that I will be in pain and that I won't be able to rest either. But I guess there's no use worrying about it.

[TexasBecky 1]

No worrying won't do us any good Frangi. But it is hard not to. I am worried about possible complications like pneumonia and blood clots. I know they are rare, but still I worry. I'm not so worried about the pain. I expect good drugs and the doc told me today that in addition to the pain meds he will call in sleeping pills and antibiotics a few days before the surgery. He said that he figures I will need the pain meds for about two weeks. I think I have a fairly high tolerance for pain so I'll be surprised if I take pain pills for two weeks. I'll know soon enough.

After seeing my "after" pictures today I'm more excited than ever. He really does expect my results to be as good as the computer images I saw today. A totally flat stomach, yes totally flat! And to go along with that I'll have a flat, lifted pubic area, completely smooth and slender thighs, and a nice, smooth lifted butt. No more sag for me!! I just kept saying, "are you sure this is realistic?" He told me that I am the perfect type of patient for the lower body lift because I have practically no fat left. Are you talking to me doc? No fat left? It is true. I never thought I'd hear any doctor telling me that, lol.

It is just a shame that my upper body is going to continue to be a saggy mess, but I can conceal a lot of that problem with a good bra and sleeves until I can get the rest of me fixed.

I will see the doctor one more time in his office the day before surgery. He says he prefers to mark me the day before so that he has plenty of time - he thinks it will take about 30 minutes. I wouldn't have thought they spend that much time marking, but it is really important because everything looks different when you're lying on the OR table.

Oh, I almost forgot. He thinks he'll be removing between 8 and 12 pounds of skin! Frangi, you may be right. A size six just might be in my future! Is a size six going to look good at 5'9"? DH keeps warning me not to get too thin. Like that could ever happen, lol.

[salsa1877 10]

My DH is worried that I will get too thin also. I told him there is enough hangin skin on my arms that it won't happen anytime soon! I am in 6/8s now and my doc is predicting a size 4! HOLY COW! Let me tell if that happens I am putting my pants on inside out and taking a picture of them on my butt!

I am sooooo excited for you 2. Not much time left at all. I just keep telling myself that I need the surgery to be a long time off because I still need more training time for the half-marathon. I am really glad I have that to worry about instead of the surgery. It is a great distraction.

Becky I feel you on the arms and breast issue. My arms are HIDEOUS and the are getting worse the more I run. I really have VERY little fat left anywhere except my belly and that is coming off in just a little over a month.

[TexasBecky 1]

Salsa, I'm enjoying picturing you at school with your pants on inside out. Your little, tiny, size 4 pants. Wow, Wow, Wow. Did you ever imagine you would be a tiny little thing? I remember when I first got banded thinking how fabulous it was going to be to wear a 14. And it was. I was deliriously happy the day I bought a pair of size 14 jeans. I only got to wear them for about a month, but I'll never forget what a milestone that was for me. Now I'm just over the moon at the prospect of a size 8. If I get down to a six, I'll probably have to be hospitalized for shock.

I feel so fortunate to be getting PS that I hate to dwell too much on the breast and arms, but I do hope to get them fixed eventually. Have you discussed that with your PS? Any plans? December would be the soonest that I could consider another round of surgery, but more likely it would be this time next year.

[salsa1877 10]

I mentioned my arms and she said that she hates doing them because of the scar and that she hopes that they will recoil...but I don't think they will. As for the breasts, we are hoping that once I get through the TT that we can start working insurance to get a reduction covered. There will be no surgeries for me without insurance for a while. I am still paying off the lap-band and will soon be adding the TT...almost 1000$ a month in medical bils...GULP!

I am just now starting to see how tiny I actually am getting...and it will take another several months after the TT I am sure.