Update

Ok, it's been a month since the final surgery and things are looking great! The scar is slightly funky, but after a year, should look good. I feel good, and finally got back on Vin Diesel (aka StairMaster) 3 weeks ago. I'm working up to where I was before the surgery. Haven't gotten there just yet, but am getting closer. I'll try and post a picture of the scar for ya'll.

People often ask me, or make comments like:
You're not losing more weight are you?
Are you done losing weight?
Be careful, you don't want to become anorexic!
Stop losing weight!
How much weight are you going to lose?

And the list goes on. The truth of the matter is, I'm not really planning on losing any more weight per se. Once I had the excess skin taken off, the key was to just maintain. However, after recovering from the surgeries, I needed to get back on the exercise horse to do something about my flabby arse.

Now that I'm back on Vin, I expect to fluctuate and probably drop another 5 to 8 lbs. Not intentionally, mind you, but because I do have a little bit of jello on my hips, legs and belly. Once I firm that up, I should be solid. I'm not looking forward to hearing the comments of another 5lb weight loss. It's interesting, but people have been making comments like the weight loss happened overnight. These are people I work with and I've been on this journey since March of 2008. Granted, they didn't/don't know about the banding, but they do know about the careful food choices and the exercising and drinking lots of water, etc. Why suddenly is my weight loss overnight?

I even had a good friend ask me how to lose weight quickly! I busted out laughing and chokingly told her "You KNOW it's taken me 3 years to do this! The weight doesn't come on overnight and neither does taking it off!" I told her to look at all her options and choose something that will work for her and stick to it. We all know that no matter what tools we use to help us on this journey, it still boils down to what we consume, exercise, water and mind-set.

Sent from Diz's iPhone

Latest Status

 
Sorry it’s took so long for me to get back to the blog.  I know ya’ll are wondering what the heck happened.  Well let’s break it down, shall we?
 
Initial Surgery
     Everything went well with the initial surgery.  However, due to my doped up condition, I was not paying attention to the amount of time my ice packs stayed on my incisions….Bad Diz!  I ended up with varying degrees of frost bite with the most severe being below and to the left of my navel.  The blistering was bad, but the area and the area’s below my breasts didn’t want to heal. To top it off, the blood flow to the navel area was impacted by the band surgery, so that didn’t help. I ended up with a second surgery to get rid of the rough edges caused by the ice packs. 
 
Second Surgery
     This surgery was only supposed to be about an hour, but took a bit longer.  It also ended up with another drain installed.  Everything looked great, but about 3 days into recovery, I noticed that the drain was not collecting anything. When I pressed down on the incision, this gooey stuff came out. I played with the drain and finally got it to work.  However, I was still dealing with the gooey’s until my doctor visit.   When he checked out the incision and the goo, he noticed that his forceps was going in too deep so he had to undo the stitches by the navel.  I ended up with a deep socket in my abdomen that I was required to pack at least twice a day.  The doctor said that we needed to allow it to heal from the bottom up before we closed it again.  So I’ve been doing that for the past two months and meeting with the doctor weekly.  He supplied everything I needed, so no worries there.  He’s now scheduled my third surgery this Saturday to close the wound.  It’s reduced in size and depth and looks nice and red (before there was tons of beige stuff all over) for healing. This next surgery will not only be to close the wound, but to get rid of the scarred edges and make it look clean and nice.
 
I know in my heart that his work did not cause the difficulties I’ve been having, but he’s gone above and beyond to make sure I’m healthy and that the outcome would look good.  He takes it personally, which is what I really like about him.  He has not charged me anything additional to my initial costs for the surgery.  Everything he’s done has been included.  I know the finished result will be great.
 
What I'm happy about
     In the meantime, now that the extra skin is gone, it’s an unbelievable feeling. Even though I still have a bit of swelling, my clothes fit better.  I look really good. Yesterday, I had to go out and buy all new undies because the undies I was wearing kept sliding down inside my pants and driving me nuts! I threw them out and went down to a medium.  I’m in love with the twins (my boobs).  Forget men and their attention, I’m so happy with the way they turned out, I keep staring at them in the mirror.  This is from a woman who’s twins have been pointing to her toes since she was 20.  Will I be wearing a bikini?  Don’t know, but in all seriousness I’m getting past the bikini age, so probably boyshorts and halter/swim tops.
 
I’ll try and update everyone next week on the status of the surgery.  Things have been hectic with applying for a home loan, getting the divorce finalized, healing and not being able to lift heavy things, so my blogging has gone by the wayside.  I will be picking it back up and updating, but the next 6 to 8 months will be sketchy.  Hope all of you are doing well and are happy.  
 

Almost Two Weeks In

I'm almost two weeks in. I had my second post operative appointment on Monday and it went well. There are two minor things wrong, but other than that, the healing is going well. I was able to drive myself to the appointment since I weaned myself off of all the drugs the Thursday prior to the appointment. So technically I had about 5 days with drugs. I'm not huge into painkillers (lucky me) and with a high pain threshold, did pretty well.

Now, about the couple of things wrong. For some reason, I developed blisters on the hip, by my new navel and under my left breast. The ones on my hip I popped the third day out. But I didn't know about the other two. The doctor took care of them, but it means the skin underneath has to heal also. Like I said...minor. The second issue is just above the public area. The stitching is healing a little strange. He asked me if I smoked, and I told him that I've always been a non-smoker...not my thing. He said it was reminiscent of smokers and the way they heal. It may take a minor re-stitching, so we'll just have to see.

Other than that, I'm healing well. My abdomen is hard and a little sensitive. I know that it's still swollen and will be asking the doctor again how long it takes for the swelling to go down. I know he'll say two to three months. I just have to be patient. My boobs look fabulously perky. What's not to like about that? My next appointment is Monday, so I'll let you know what happens afterward. Happy New Year!

Feeling a little more Lively

So I had a sponge bath last night and put on fresh clothes, and it was a little slice of heaven. I was able to do most of it myself, and had no problems lifting the legs and holding up the arms. After a nice mug of tomato and roasted pepper soup, I settled in for the evening. Because the Robaxin really knocks me on my butt, I decided to stop taking it and cut back on the Vicodin. I'm now taking a vicodin once every six hours as opposed to once every 4 hours along with the Robaxin. I feel much more clear headed and myself. I'm not in a lot of pain and if it comes on strong, I just up my vicodin, but so far, so good.

I took a little walk outside to get some fresh air, as it's been rainy around here, it smells sweet and clear. I'm still hunched over of course, but I'm straightening out little by little. I am happy I did this so far and I'll be sure to tell you when/if I'm not. I will be telling my friend who has a slight roll that she'd be nuts to do this for her persception of an issue. She's got hard body and works out. She has no worries. Drainage is going well so I have no issues there, and I'm headed home tonight and looking forward to it. Miss my kitties and my own territory. But my friends have been wonderful and have treated me like a queen. I so appreciate that. Until tomorrow my dear friends!

The Surgery

Well, it was a pretty long surgery. About 7 hours because I had my boobs lifted too. When I came out of the surgery, I was pretty out of it. I don't even remember the elevator ride down to the car. Once I was planted on my friends recliner, that became home for the next 48 hours. The doctor had inserted a catheter, which made it nice for me and for my friend.

The pain was bearable because I had some great drugs. The doctor was right that I'd feel the middle more than I would my breasts. At the first look at my breasts, I was happy. They are full and perky. No implants, just lifting and the results are amazing. At my post surgery checkup the doctor said there was good things and bad things about my breast tissue. Because it is firm, it made it excellent for the surgery. But it will be harder to detect breast cancer. I'm lucky that breast cancer doesn't run in my family, so I should be ok, but I'll have to do a lot of self checking. The doctor said I was doing good and that the results are excellent. He said that I would love the results. I already love the breasts so I cant imagine that I'll be disappointed with everything else.

Today I'm getting around better. Can't use the abdomenal muscles, so getting out of the recliner is difficult. Today, I'm walking around much more and I'm walking straighter. I'm trying to ween myself off the meds cuz they make me woozy.I think I'll be going hometomorrow night, so that will be nice. I'm mostly drinking liquids and soups with lots of protien in it for healing. Going to the bathroom is a little difficult, but I hear my first bowel movement isgonna be murder. To prepare for it, I've ben taking mineral oil to help smooth the way.

I have alot of bruising due to the body contouring aka lipo suction. but it doesn't really hurt. I do have a high pain threshold so I'm wondering if that isn't working to my benefit. Because I feel like its worth it. That extra fold of skin was getting in the way of everything. I could feel it in my pants pocket just hanging there. Tonight I go for the sponge bath and a change of clothes. That will feel like heaven, I also have a drainage tube that sucks out excess fluid that I have to clean around. It doesn't hurt and I just clip it to my shirt to keep it out of the way.

Feel free to ask questions cuz i'm not sure what you want to hear about. I'll try to get to them ASAP.

Night before Surgery and all through the house...

Just kidding. It is the night before surgery and I just wanted to put down a quick post. I feel great, but tired. I've done all the little things I needed to do before, so I should be ok. I'm not nervous...yet. Just excited and wondering what I've let myself in for. Shouldbe interesting.

If I'm able to post tomorrow night after the surgery, I will. If not, It'll probably be Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed for me fellow bandsters!

Counting Down

So the countdown has begun my friends. This Saturday I will go under the knife for the Tummy tuck and the boob lift. I'm so excited. There's no scary feeling yet, and I'm not sure there will be. There wasn't for the last surgery. I did my homework and was comfortable with what to expect and how I'd feel. I feel the same way about this one.

Not nervous, just terribly excited. I'm trying to make sure I do all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing. Cleaning my house, laying in supplies so I won't have to do much. I bought a sweat outfit for surgery day that will be comfortable to wear. Still have to buy the frozen peas for the ice packs, but I will. Making sure I have enough split wood for the woodstove. I'm not allowed to lift more than 10 lbs after, so we'll see how that goes.

The only thing left is to buy Christmas present for my 8 year old Niece Serene. I don't have the foggiest idea what to get her and I need to deliver it before the surgery. I think I'll have the EX do it the week after instead and say that I'm sick and couldn't deliver it myself. I hate to lie, but I'm not telling my immediate family about the surgery. I've told everyone else though. My mother and sister are terribly narcissistic. They fight gowing old with a vengeance. I actually like growing older. They would be hounding me to either pay for facelifts, etc cuz they think a civil servant is rich) or be so jealous they'd never let me enjoy it.

As a matter of fact, I'm extremely glad I went with my instinct and didn't tell them about the banding. They treat me like a lab rat as it is. They walk around me inspecting my body everytime they see me. It gets so frustrating. Who am I if I'm not the Fat one...the fat responsible sister/daughter? Just like the banding...this is for me. I've worked hard...I'm still taking care of my mother, I'm done taking care of my sister...but I make sure my Niece has everything she needs. I've taken care of the husband, the mother in law and the father in law. I've taken care of my brother. It's time for Diz to take care of Diz. And by God...Diz is kissing off 2010 with a fucking BANG!