10 weeks Post-Op LBL Update

Jun 11, 2007

6-12-07

Well it's been a while since I updated.  The last time I posted I think I was frustrated with the waiting process but now I ask myself where did 10 weeks go?  Okay where do I start.  I think I was anxious to get the surgery OVER with.  Folks often asked me was I excited about the surgery.  Actually, um, no - I was NOT excited about the surgery itself - I really was looking forward to about 1 month POST-OP because I was hoping by then I would be past all the challenges of the surgery and be on the road to some form of normalcy.

The day of surgery was okay.  The administrative process at Mt. Sinai went fairly well, overall, and by 9:30am, Dr. Sterry was taking me into the O.R.  Seven and a half hours later, I was waking up in recovery with 17.5 pounds of fat and skin removed from my midsection, thighs and butt.  I felt groggy but not really in pain.  Coincidentally, my other-half had a terrible time getting to me as the wheel on the truck came off while he was driving or some such craziness and I was too drugged up to understand what he was telling me so I just ended up crying in frustration.  But it all worked out ok and everyone was fine.  It's just strange to not have control over your mind when you really want to.

Anyway, my hospital stay basically sucked.  Sorry, but anyone who really knows me knows that I keep it real.  Mt. Sinai hospital has gone down signficantly over the years and their nursing staff is understaffed, overworked and in many cases they appear under-qualified or just have gotten to the point that they are going through the motions and whatever gets done, gets done - and whatever doesn't, oh well.  Some of the residents are good while some make you wonder how the hell they got through medical school.  Hmmmm......to illustrate some of what I am saying here, let me give you a few examples.  When being wheeled up to my room from recovery, apparently I was still in an O.R. bed (or something) and had not been transferred into one of the new patient beds.  The nurses and orderlies were arguing this point HEATEDLY over my head outside in the hallway.  Ok well, then they have that contraption that basically stimulates the circulation in your legs when you can't yet walk - in order to reduce the chances of developing bloodclots.  My surgeon put it on me in recovery.  Well, when they transferred me, they FORGOT to turn it on so I went all night without it.  HELLO?  Isn't that when I needed the damn thing?  Also, I realized THE NEXT MORNING that I had been sleeping with my legs propped up on this huge metal oxygen tank on the bottom of my bed.  Why is that?  I still don't know.  Also, I had so much congestion in my chest, I had a hard time breathing and they had me terrified that I was having some kind of pulmonary embolism and wanted me to sign off to have some test done that shoots a dye made of iodine (hello, I am violently allergic to iodine) into my lungs to see if there are any bloodclots.  WHAT THE #$%^&*????  Are you kidding me?  They gave me an EKG with a portable machine that wasn't working.  Needles did not move.  Oh well.  They took the machine away and never returned with one that worked.  So much for the EKG.  They had about 4 residents, some assorted visitors, a couple of nurses, a doctor that happened to be on the floor - ALL in my room like I was a friggin science project - and none of them was doing squat about my breathing problem.  One male nurse, who was a numb-nuts about a lot of OTHER things, happened to be the one who suggested that maybe I needed an albuterol treatment to open up my lungs.  He administered it, thankfully, and that was what I needed.  But the whole experience was really scary.  Oh yes, and also, NOT ONE NURSE came by to help me walk - though this was my doctor's orders.  They didn't take me off the fluids or the IV pain meds, even though I could eat, drink and swallow oral medications.  It was ridiculous.  I had a couple of nurses aids that helped out as much as they could - and my family & friends came to help out or else I would have been much, much worse off.  This was totally ridiculous!

Okay so back home - it was a challenge.  Not a lot of pain, still, but just the limitations.  But wow - what a difference.  It was sur-real living all these years with a tummy that could rest on my lap when I sat and looking down and it's just NOT THERE!  Incredible.  The drains were a pain! Always in the way and needing to be drained and measured was not something I was in the mood for.  But it's part of the maintenance process of being a post-op.  I was so happy to finally get them removed.  I had one small separation in the back but luckily no infection and no seromas.  My incision lines are a little crooked and not exactly symmetrical (hahahaha) - I am anal about such things so I am not thrilled about that.  But in the big picture, I am a realist and I had a LOT of fat (not just skin) to deal with and as you can see from my pics, I had COMPARTMENTAL fat deposits that posed a particular challenge.  So all in all, I think Sterry did quite a job with the canvas he had to work with.

Things I am particularly happy about include: NO MORE HANGING PANNI of course.  I still can't get over it sometimes.  I am actually able to wear something tucked in with a BELT these days.  I am also happy that my boobs don't seem to be AS sad as they were before.  Hmmmm.  I also happy at how thin my incision line is across my butt.  If all my scars were like that one, I'd be thrilled.   My doc starts with the back first and it seems to make a difference I guess because that scar is as lovely as a scar can be - hahahahaha.  I'm happy about having a butt that no longer continues to jiggle ten seconds after I stop moving.  But I am still bootylicious - which is my birthright and I'm glad my surgeon took my threat seriously.  (I told him if he cut off all of my behind that he and I would be fighting - for real!)  I'm happy to just look and feel better.  No more itching and rashes under the belly and in the folds and no more belly button deep enough to use for storage.  I also feel blessed that even with the challenges, the surgery was successful and that none of the difficulties were life-threatening or life-altering and now I am officially grown & sexy and loving it.

Things I am not thrilled about:  These blankety-blank-blank thighs.  I've been complaining about them so much, folks are tired of hearing it but I don't care.  My thighs are huge and no, it's not just because the rest of me is smaller now.  I think the lift actually seems like it transferred girth from lower in my thigh to the mid-way part of my thighs and now they seem like they are exceptionally large in that one area.  It is truly frustrating because my waist is one size; my hips are one size larger; and my thighs are one size larger than my hips.  Also. my vertical incision is nothing close to straight.  Not thrilled about it.  My upper belly has been reduced, true, but it is still bigger than my lower belly.  This is part of the by-product of having fat pockets and deposits rather than one big lump panni.  Ah well.  Also I despise the swelling and the burning.  I am also flatter on one side of my incision than the other.  The further out I go, the more critical I become.

Things that have me perplexed:  People's reactions - and I will just leave it at that because delving into this is a whole 'nutha talk show.  Anyway, I am still baffled that even after 10 weeks, I STILL weigh more than I did the morning of surgery.  I weighed more when I came home than when I went in.  Yeah, Yeah, I know - swelling - but damn!  THAT much???  How can 17.5 pounds of blubber be removed and I weigh more now and in smaller size clothes?  Also, what the heazy is up with these boobs.  I swear they are bigger.  No, my cup TRULY runneth over.  My boobs look huge now.  From the side, I catch my reflection sometimes, and I say WOW, look at those things.   I guess with the tummy out of the way - well, who knows?  They just look big!!!! hahahahaha I just shrug it off now and deal with it because through it all, I have to say that with all the prep work, the research, issues with docs, insurance concerns, the waiting, the drains, the sleepless nights, the yadda yadda yadda and so and so and so, yeah, it was worth it.  A few years ago, I looked in the mirror and saw that my phsyical did not mirror my emotional and mental self.  I had finally (after 40) gotten to a point where I loved who I was as a person but I did not love the condition of my physical self.  Gastric bypass surgery and plastic surgery helped me to be much more satisfied with the outer me and made me feel better connected with who I am on the inside.  Now I feel like my inner and outer are a better match!

About Me
Bronx, NY
Location
35.2
BMI
RNY
Surgery
08/19/2004
Surgery Date
May 10, 2004
Member Since

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10 weeks Post-Op LBL Update

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