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Surgeon Testimonial Brian S. Boe, M.D. The entire staff at Barix Clinic/Northwestern Suburban Community Hospital in Belvidere, IL was great. Dr. Boe was professional and personable when I talked to him before and after surgery. He made me feel safe and that, to me, was the most important thing. The only negative thing I have to say is that I don't feel like I got a lot of one on one time with him to ask questions, although the nursing staff was there to help with any of those questions I didn't get to ask Dr. Boe. During my two night/three day stay there I came into contact with A LOT of nurses. At first I tried to keep track of all their names but because there were so many wonderful ladies working with me (not to mention I was on a lot of morphine) I was unable to. I didn't see a place to talk about the rest of the hospital staff and I really wanted to stress how great these particular ladies were so here we go. The second night in the hospital I got a fever and was worried that I wouldn't get to go home, or that there was something horribly wrong with me. One of the over-night nurses stayed with me in my room and talked to me to help me relax and feel better when I couldn't find the number to the hotel where my mom was staying. She didn't have to do that, but I was very grateful she did. I highly recomend Barix Clinic, all of the people there were caring and helpful. Member Interests
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Amy "Frailey" Berry's Blog
Swimming Suit Shopping 2 and 1/2 years post-op...
Kyle came home from work a couple of weeks ago and casually informed me that he had agreed to go along (and take me) on a group excursion to Wisconsin Dells on July 8th. A couple friend (two people who make up a romantically involved couple) of ours have birthdays around that time and they decided to celebrate by going off to Noah's Ark (a big deal waterpark for the non-Wisconsin people) to cool off and then go shopping at the many tourist-trap-shops Wisconsin Dells has to offer with friends. Kyle and I have gone out with them before and it has always been fun (honest fun, and I have said as much several times to Kyle) so he just assumed that I would be happy to go. And it isn't that I wasn't initially happy to go, I like excursions as much as the next guy, but Noah's Ark implies something dreadful to me that it does not imply to Kyle. Noah's Ark means a day in swim wear in public - very much public - and in swim wear. Yes. He forgets that I feel good in clothes and I look good in clothes but swim wear does not leave that much to the imagination and it has a way of baring - even excentuating every imperfection that a good pair of jeans would hide. But I refuse to be a captive to body insecurities, so I agreed as long as Kyle would let me get new swim wear. I have some swim wear that fits loosely. I bought it at the end of summer 2006 (so almost two years ago, when I would have been 9 months post-op) when my mom and I were staying at a hotel in Rockford the night before my gall bladder removal. There was a pool and my mom loves to swim, so we went to the Rockford Wal-Mart and I found a tank-ini that fit well enough to do the job as long as there wouldn't be too many people around to traumatize. But those two pieces have this way of falling off (I am so sorry Kathy-Joe, you poor thing) and the tank-ini bottoms do bad things to my thighs. My mission then was Mission Swim Wear that is not a sting binkini or a floral print all over nightmare. I started to peruse the swim wear at Wal-Mart a couple of times but became frustrated quickly with the selection (you have two choices - g-string or grandma) and gave up. Then I remembered something my older sister did. She got boy swimming trunks for the bottom piece of her swimming suit. Genius. So I found a pair of navy blue swim trunks (that are the same size as Kyle's swim trunks!!!!!!!!!) but Kyle said I was not allowed to go swimming topless, lest I scare small children, so I was still only half way there. Wal-Mart's top selection was not going to happen. I tried on a bikini top, just to make myself manically depressed I guess, and yeah, that was a really bad idea. Not only does my stomach sag but I have 18 incision scars from all my surgeries, fading stretch marks and huge gash / brown spot / indent where my feeding tube used to be. So even though I do have a relatively flat stomach (it is squishy and droopy, but it is flat) it would be obscene for me to wear a bikini top - that and I really do think bikini tops are border-line inappropriate. I got so desperate that I went to the desolate K-Mart, but the selection was not much better there. I tried on a couple tops, but they didn't come down far enough or they were halters that made me feel like I was slowly being dragged down or I simply do not have the chest to fill them out. As a last resort I went to Maurice's (and I made Kyle come with me for moral support and to make sure I didn't hang myself with a string bikini top in the dressing room). I grabbed two tops and the second one, a halter tank top that ties in the back, fit like it was made for me and it even matches my navy blue trunks. In conclusion, shopping for swim wear will never be a 100% pleasureable experience, as I'm sure it is not a 100% pleasureable experience for most women. But at least I had options in my size at all three stores I tried. And the big picture here is that on the 8th when we go to Noah's Ark I will be able to keep up with the group and go on whatever rides I want without a concern about how I will fit. At the end of the day I am healthy, I am mobile and it is a wonderful life, squishy belly and all. 1 Comment(s)
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Another big trend this year was the "monokini" which is like a 1 piece but with the sides cut out. Still covers the middle (where I assume the majority of scars are).
Glad to hear you found something workable though!