Recent Posts
My belly button looked gross too. I kept asking Jon (my husband): "Does this look...no ok to you?" but when I would send pictures to the surgeon he said it was fine. I think the scar in the button makes it look red for a long time, mine still does on close inspection.
As a note, my pre-op pants have been too big since about week 6. I was previously a size 4 and now I'm a size 2. I haven't bought any new pants because I figure I'll give it until 12 weeks just to be sure. I still do have swelling but it looks more like a 'food baby' at the end of the day then that all over water weight.
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
I just finally got to a take a bath at nearly 10 weeks, because of the stupid open spot. I was dying for one! I actually went to LUSH and bought bath bombs to commemorate the occasion. 
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
I was cleared to run at 6 weeks, but I found that the small opening I had got considerably worse when I ran for the first time. It went from 'well this might be open and it's weeping' to 'Holy crap, it's deep and I'm afraid it's going to split further open'.
I backed off again and didn't start running again until 8 weeks and everything has been fine.
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
I wore a binder for 8 days and then a surgical compression garment until around 5 weeks (I was told to wear it 23 hours per day until 4 weeks, but I wasn't ready to take it off). Then I switched to normal 'store bought' compression wear. I ended up settling on these:
Maiden Form Corset Compression
I'll be 10 weeks out on Monday and I now am not wearing compression, except in the form of high waisted compression pants when I work out. I still have plenty of swelling in the evenings on days I've worked out hard or sometimes just for no reason at all. I will put the compression on occasionally but don't feel I need it anymore most of the time. I absolutely felt like I needed the security for longer than 3-4 weeks. At some point, I just started feeling better about not having it. Maybe around week 8 or so?
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
I thought about sharing a (censored) picture of my butt back then and I figured I'd scare everyone away, LOL. It was truly awful at first and now it looks totally normal.
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
I had the same experience with the weirdly shaped butt. Dr. M doesn't really do butt fat transfer (or it wasn't something I opted for?) but he does auto-augmentation and the first butt picture I was like what the actual **** am I looking at here? Since then the swelling came down and my butt is much more normal looking. Like the OP mentioned it's still harder in one area than elsewhere. I need to get back into squats to build up the lower muscle. My butt was FLAT. Like flat Stanley kind of flat.
Just a note, the fat transfer in my breasts appears to have mostly not worked and I think that's a risk with fat transfer in general. I'm interested in the protocol for fat transfer to the butt during recovery because with my breasts I couldn't smoosh them (in a bra, or by laying on them) for 3-4 weeks.
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
on 4/7/18 8:21 pm
I did see that realself.com (bottom of the linked page) let's you search for doctors in other countries. Maybe start there?
on 4/7/18 7:54 pm
I dread the itch! I ripped off 3 of my 6 laparoscopic dermabond coverings in my sleep after my hiatal hernia surgery from all the scratching. And during the day I scratched all around them all day just to get some relief from the crazy-making itching. And those probably totalled 3 inches of incisions! God help me when I have more like 5 feet of them...
I was allowed to start running again at 6 weeks - that's when I was cleared for exercise. But I didn't actually feel ready to start training where I'd stopped prior to surgery.
So I'd suggest a) asking your surgeon and then b) listening to your body and taking it easy to begin with!
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
OMG 4 weeks out and the itching is the worse. I keep telling myself that the itching means healing. I am also taking 1/2 benadryl before bed also. I see the ps on Tuesday hoping he will confirm it is just the healing so atleast i will feel better about it. Lol
Bonnie RNY 2/11/15 by Dr. Takahaski
5'3" SW 230 pounds, GW per Dr. Takahaski 150 pounds, CW 132 pounds (10/1/17)
BMI 19% Bod Pod test 1/29/17 13.1 mile half marathon, 1 hour 59 mins (8/21/2017)
donnaloza · 2 replies · 452 views
