I have a consult in Minneapolis, MN on the 29th, with Dr. Gervais. His pics and reviews looked really good.

They do not take insurance. I decided that I didn't want to wait and fight with my insurance to pay for part of the surgery. I have only had one rash and haven't had any other health type issues with the extra skin.

Guess I will see how this consult goes, and go from there.

It looks like you are doing really well after your surgery. Wish you a continued speedy recovery!!

Thanks, Janet! I'm feeling much better about all of this.

Argh. I typed out a very long pst and it got eaten....

So my appointment went really well. The doctor apologized and explained that his surgery yesterday was supposed to end at 1:30 and it didn't end until 7:30. He said I wouldn't have wanted him working on me at the end of that day. I think that's a fair statement.

He said I have wound dehiscence rather than an infection. Dehiscence is where the tissues separates and dies along the incision line. It's fairly common with a medial thigh lift and was not helped by my early incontinence and accompanying bacteria.

He cleaned out all the dead tissue (not at all painful as the tissue was dead). Everything that I could see that was yellow/gray was not pus, but was dead tissue, hence the smell. After cutting away all the dead tissue, he showed me how to pack the rather alarmingly large holes that he said not to be concerned about with gauze soaked in Dakin's solution (has bleach in it, but doesn't hurt either) - they will heal and fill in from the bottom up and sides in. He said there won't be any need for a skin graft or surgical repair even though it looks a bit alarming now.

He also removed all my lipo stitches and took out 2 more drains (still 2 to go). He showed me how to massage my lipo'ed chin to break up the scar tissue and smooth it out.

I explained how easily I become upset and he gave the same explanation we all hear before WLS - fat holds hormones and when it's disturbed through surgery and lipo, many of his patients become very emotional, eespecially the lipo patients. I had a lot.

Bottomline, I understand what happened and why he couldn't see me. It's just really unfortunate that I'm coming from very far away on LA freeways. The scheduler made me an appointment for next week and said she'd work on her end so I would come in midday rather than morning or afternoon to avoid traffic. I felt like she was trying to be very accommodating after yesterday. I feel better and feel really happy to have my wounds addressed and a plan to get them back on track.

Yes, he does the procedures fairly quickly because that is what he has focused on during his career. When I interviewed him he said that he would eliminate unnecessary steps. He did my entire body in 6 or 7 hours back in 2013.

He does not do auto augmentation to the buttocks... he doesn't do any fat transfer... he told me that he doesn't believe in those procedures because the fat falls down after a while...

It is YOUR body. You have the right to question anyone and anything.

He always made himself available to answer my questions. He certainly never seemed offended by them, as well as he should not be, and we had some very good discussions.

I have heard a surgeon getting all huffy... I recall one gal saying that the surgeon's assistance laughed at her and asked, "Do you know WHO you are talking to?" as if the doctor was above being asked questions. To be clear this was not Dr. Capella.

Good luck!!!

Yep. I'll wait until all is said and done. i know someone could easily find my surgeon on posts, but I'm purposely not putting his name on these to give him some benefit of the doubt and allowing for my general depressed mood about having complications. I'm interested in what he'll have to say today about what happened...