Mike, hey there,

Are you going for the RNY Bypass or...? I would be more than happy to offer you support, my experience thus far. I am 18 months out from my RNY, have much I can share with you if you'd like.

Reddy299

aka Brenda 

Wonderful news! Very happy for you and glad that it went so well. And super good news on the magic 80 (so jealous) part of me is still wanting the full tummy tuck but I have so many other things needing "financial r esponsibility". Right now that justifying spending thousands on me isn't in the picture for a while and I don't want to wait as things are getting harder and harder to manage at the gym and I am having alot of skin breakdown related to that. Best case scenario is that the panni will give me what I need to comfortably exercise and fit clothes better. If not, I'll take off to mexico for a mommy makeover in a couple of years for a retirement gift to myself as I could really use a new pair of "girls"

Or would that be classified as a granny makeover? Thanks for sharing Dianne! All info is apprciated

I will be there in spirit only! Wish you guys a great Meet and Greek and hope to see you at the fall one with the clothing swap. I have some things to bring to that one.  Hugs everyone!!! 

Thank you for sharing! I'm still wanting to lose the last 20 lb ... it's all in my tummy and toying with plastics... For some reason getting lipo/panni/tummy tuck scares me more then the vsg... more pain , more stress....

Hi folks 

I thought I would share with you that I had my full abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) two weeks ago today, Saturday, Aug 10. I didn't think MB Health would approve me to have it done (I have no skin issues whatsoever) and I really needed it done at this time for personal reasons, so I just paid for it privately. Not cheap, but not much is! I paid for my original surgery in Mexico and decided I really wanted to complete the whole process. My husband supported me 100%.

So far everything is going great. The surgery was done in Dr. Dolynchuk's office operating room with no overnight stay (thanks to MB Health rules & regulations). My surgery started around 8:30 in the morning and I was home by around 3:00 p.m. By 10:00 p.m. that night the worst of the pain and side effects from surgery had decreased dramatically. By the next morning I was up and around almost normally. Dr. Dolynchuk came to my house Sunday morning to remove the drain and said I was doing really well. I had a follow-up Thursday that week and he was really happy with my progress. I see him again in mid-September.

Unfortunately it looks like I've got a bulge of extra fat left on one side. Dr. D. wasn't too happy with that as he was sure he had done both sides the same. Hopefully it will smooth out more as time goes on.  I'm still really early out from surgery and it will be months before everything is at it's final appearance. I had some liposuction in a few spots and those areas are still very hard. I still have quite a bit of excess fat in my upper abdomen, but my weight has been stable for over 6 months so I suspect it is there to stay unless I work harder at losing more weight. 

All in all, the surgery wasn't as bad as I had expected it would be and so far I'm happy with the results, which should get better as time goes on. It's pretty amazing to realize that all the skin from above my belly button down to my pubic hair line is just gone. I've read several posts where women say they've had to walk bent over for a couple of weeks, but I didn't experience that. I was standing almost upright within a couple of days without any sensation of pulling in the abdominal skin.

The sensation is a little weird from having my abdominal muscles tightened, but it's feeling more normal every day. (The muscles were plicated with the extra muscle just tucked inside and a long continuous stitch pulling the two pieces tighter together.) I'm still wearing a compression girdle almost 24 hours a day, which I can start to decrease now.

Also very surprising to me is the small amount weight-wise that was removed. Dr. D. said he removed just under 4 lb of fat and skin, plus whatever was lost from the liposuction. He said it will be a few weeks before I actually see that weight loss on the scale. So far I'm at the same weight I was the day of surgery.

Clothes fit better already. That was my real issue. I had a "blob" of skin and fat on my abdomen that left it bigger in proportion to everywhere else. I've lost weight in places I don't care about and not as much in the places that really matter! Now my stomach is pretty much flat when I'm standing (still kind of blobby when I'm sitting) and shirts and jackets that fit my shoulders will now button across my tummy. I will never be as thin as many of you have managed to accomplish, but I'm happy with where I'm at compared to where I started.

I took 5 weeks of sick time off work, but will be "officially retired" as of Sept 30 and actually won't be going back to my job after my sick leave. However, I will be starting a new job hopefully early to mid-October. I work in health care and have reached my Magic 80 so I can collect my pension. I have a desk job and can't imagine I would be ready to go back to work any sooner than 4 weeks minimum. 

If anyone has any questions, ask away!