Bilateral Thigh Lift in a Week

This time next week, I will be at the surgicenter for my thigh lift.  I have:

1. a comfy dress to wear (no pants that day!) with slip on shoes
2. my compression garments from Marena because the one my doc provides is scratchy and only goes down to my knees, mine go down to mid-calf which are more comfy
3. a walker
4. a female urinal
5. plans for a pain ball to be used but I also have oral pain meds if I need them
6. Hibiclens for washing the night before/morning of
7. My hubby lined up to bring me/take me home/help me after
8. Some Good Night pads to put under the sheet I will be putting on my reclining couch just in case I have any leakage from the sites
9. The full set of Twilight movies and the released movies for Hunger Games on Blu Ray (hey a girl has to have some guilty pleasures!)

What else do I need?  I'm remembering what I had in place for my lower body lift last year, I think I am well prepared this time but if anyone has any other suggestions, it would be appreciated. 

Getting excited..... :-)

I would add some unscented baby wipes (or adult wipes) to the list. Even if you have the urinal, you might need to clean and dry the incisions in that area every time you use the bathroom. I have also been using generic, unscented maxi pads to keep the groin incisions dry and padded. And it really helped to start taking a stool softener and miralax right after I got home. I cannot tell you how uncomfortable going to the bathroom is after a thigh lift....so much worse than the lower body lift!

Good luck!

How maxi are the hospital pads?  Are you talking like when you had a baby 20/30 years ago or the little ones they have now.  I was just getting ready to throw out the left overs from before menopause that I kept for the DD that don't use pads.  Just asking as there is a big difference in bulk and I wonder how thick is thick enough and how much is to much.  Hoping to avoid pitfalls by picking all your brains.

I just didn't feel at all prepared for the face lift.  I am a control freak and almost lost it the night before due to lack of preparedness.

Good call on the baby wipes, I have some of those already ****ep a stash in my gym bag) and the maxi pads is also something  I didn't think of, but I do have those so I will keep that in mind. 

Oh my God, yes to the laxative. I forgot about the killer constipation after my LBL (how could I forget that?!?!? It was awful) I will be stopping at CVS tomorrow for sure. Thanks!

Thanks for the list and info.  I am saving this for future use.

What is a Marena compression garment and were do you get it?  How tight should it be?  How did you know in advance what the surgeon has, did you ask?  Does this garment have and open crotch like the long spanx?  Can you use them as I have the below the knees with an open crotch.

Do they tell you that you need a walker?  Nobody has mentioned this.  I do have my husband's from his knee replacement surgery.  What are Hibiclens?  Would puppy pads be the same as Good night pads?  

Where do you find a female urinal.  Never heard of one and thought I was an intelligent person until I started the research on this.  When I first came here all I could find was LBL info.  I am so glad you ladies are here and getting thigh lifts.

I actually got this compression garment on Amazon, it is black and has suspenders as it goes up in the back. It has legs with zippers and eyelets only about half way down. It should look a lot like leggings with a short dress/long shirt. I got another one directly from Marena last year after my LBL. That one is beige and has zips/eyelets down the whole leg. Both go down to mid calf and both are crotchless.   The material is softer and more comfy than the one my doc provided. I heard about this brand in these boards last year and I highly recommend. 

With my LBL, a walker helped. My doc didn't tell me to, but my mom was a visiting nurse and she suggested it. It actually came in VERY handy the first week after that and I am planning on using it again. If nothing else it helped me get up and down off the commode unassisted. So if you have one available to you, you may want to have it handy. 

Hibiclens is antibacterial soap the hospital had me use for previous surgeries, so I planned on using it this time too.  you can get it at CVS or even on Amazon. 

Puppy pads ads would probably work. Good nights are made for bed wetting, pretty much the same thing. :-)

Female urinals can also be found on Amazon (amazing what you can find on that site!)

i did get some body wipes. Actually Dial just put out a version and they had coupons a couple of weeks ago so I scored there. 

Good luck to you!

Oh and I still have my shower chair from last year. That was a help to me because I would get so dizzy after taking off my compression garment.  You may want to consider it. Also got it on Amazon.  It was like $40 and so worth it. 

My step daughter loaned her's to her father.  I gave it back but will have him ask her about using it again.  Wish I had hung on to it now.

I'm two weeks out today from the long thigh lift.  The difference in recovery between this and the LBL is night and day.  Yes, I kept up with my pain meds for the first several days, but I'm totally weaned off.  There's a bit of swelling, but nothing uncomfortable.  A bit of bruising.  The incision looks very ugly (as I was warned it would be), but it's improving and flattening every day.

I had a walker from the LBL.  Didn't need it.  Got the female urinal.  Didn't need it.  Thought about getting a toilet seat riser, but wouldn't have needed that either.  Laying down was comfortable, walking was okay, sitting was fine.  The only issue I had was trying to straighten up completely - it put a bit of pull on the legs.  But that only lasted a few days.  And my walking stride is a bit stiff.

I'm in the Marena garment and it keeps things nice and comfortable and secure.  I went back to work on Monday, full day, no problems.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sore.  But the recovery from the LBL was very hard and I was expecting something similar, even though the PA kept assuring me that it wouldn't be as bad because there was no muscle repair involved.  So, fingers crossed, so far, so good.  I hope all goes as well for both of you!

Oh thank you for this post!  I am hoping I will have the same experience, but at least I feel prepared just in case.  Good luck to you, we will have to stay in touch to track each other's progress.  :-)