AbidinginHIM
It's been awhile!
Nov 27, 2009
WOW, I'm realizing that it's been over a year since I updated my blog/story.To pick up at the end of my last blog, I was released and considered recovered from my body lift December 5, 2008. When I went back for my checkup with Dr. Lee he literally stunned me when he came into the room and asked if I was ready to do my arms or legs! This from the man who SWORE he never wanted to see me in the OR again! LOL I had to laugh at him once I was over the shock of his question. As I've shared many times, I am a person who strongly believes in prayer, and my faith in Jesus Christ is key to my life. That faith and hope is the only thing that got me through the summer of 2008 and all the complications. Before my appointment with Dr. Lee the morning of December 5, I prayed and asked the Lord that if He wanted us to go through with the next stage of surgery (legs) that Dr. Lee would be the one to bring it up, and say that he was ready to do it. So, when he asked me that question on that December morning, I felt that I had permission to go ahead. My fleece of faith had been answered. I left a message with Dr. Lee's scheduler. I was hoping for a date in January, and I was really hoping that January 31st, (these elective surgeries are always on Saturdays at Kaiser in West LA) would be available. This was a date of signifigance to me - as it would be the 2nd anniversary of my by-pass surgery, and I wanted to celebrate my new legs on the anniversary of my new beginning. I received a call later that afternoon from Jene, Dr. Lee's surgical scheduler, and found out that he was booked through January and as soon as she knew the February schedule, she would let me know. A few hours later, my phone rang again - it was Jene calling back to ask if I would be interested in a date in January because Dr. Lee had a cancelation. She asked if January 31 would work for me! Again, I felt that I had a confirmation to my prayer request.
As I approached my thigh lift, I was worried about complications, but decided that it was well worth the challenges that plastic surgery had included with my body lift. I work at a pool as a fitness instructor. I am in a bathing suit every day at my YMCA when I work. I've had kids make some interesting comments on my legs. They HAD to be fixed.
As the morning of January 31 came, I was quite nervous about the procedure, and prayed for peace and to stop the surgery if it is something that we should not consider. I knew that I could again trust the Lord with my recovery and how it might affect those near to me. Surgery started at 7:30 on the 31st and was over by 11. My surgery also included liposuction - 500 cc from each thigh. When I woke up, I was still surprised to be going home so soon, and by 2pm I was on my way home. Getting tnto my mini van was difficult, but I was able to figure out how to get in. Once home, I took my place in the lift chair that had been borrowed from a friend to recover. The only real challege was trying to figure out how to get up and down from the toilet. I had been working with my personal trainer to make sure my legs were in the best shape possible before surgery. I had been doing lunges and squats for 6 weeks to prepare. The muscle prep and my ab conditioning really helped. After 3 days, I returned to the doctor, had my dressings removed, got into the compression garment and I was so pleased at the difference in my legs. By the end of the week, my legs were really inflammed and terribly itchy. We now know that I was having a reaction to the suture. Over the next few days, the redness, rash and spitting of suture would continue to worsen. I developed severe infections in my incisions. I spent the next 4 weeks on cleosyn. I was having problems with my drains. The drainage was well over 300cc per drain (4 of them) per day. Even when all the drains were pulled on March 9 they were still producing 200cc per leg. The drain tracts were having some problems and needed to come out. We knew they had to be pulled as they were starting to infect. I was still having lots of problems with infections, tremendous amounts of spitting suture and small openings. I was again on another round of clindamycin (cleosyn) for infections.
To be concluded.
