Recovery: 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

The next few days following the procedure were tough. The whole "you can go back to work after 2 days" claim seems a bit like a joke to me, though admittedly i did have a lot done.

First of all there is the pain. And my god there is a lot of it. I have had surgery before for non-cosmetic reasons, so I went into this thing thinking I knew what I was getting myself into. But having had my front, my back and my legs done all at once, I was so very unprepared for this. Every position is uncomfortable. Changing positions, especially from laying down to sitting up, brings a new fresh hell. Thank god for the painkillers to help take the edge off.

Secondly, there is is dizziness. Now, I have super low blood pressure normally. But the trauma of surgery plus the meds they put me on all combine to make that ten lower. Every time I changed levels of any sort, my ears would fill cotton, I'd get dizzy and black out. Every. Time. So we tried getting out of bed slower, breathing techniques, adding a bit of salt to my diet etc.

At one point, when we first took off the compression garment, about 2 days out, in the hopes of taking a shower, it came on so fast and I barely had any warning. I recall telling my mom I was going to go to sleep, sitting/collapsing onto the toilet next to the shower and then it all went black. I almost came to hearing her frantically shouting my name, and the next thing I remember after that is being on face down on the floor of my hallway, with her pleading for me to wake up.

Apparently I had a seizure. A 5 second, eyes rolling back in my head and convulsing seizure. Then I passed out cold.

My poor mom, I can't even imagine how scared she must have been. I learned after a quick google search on low blood pressure, that it can lead to seizures. Fun.

For the rest of that day we took it slow. We scrapped the shower idea, got me back into the compression garment, and I slept the rest of the day with the help of those trusty painkillers.

The next day way a complete 180 from that, thank god, and I was able to shower, move around etc without any more fainting episodes. For anyone else out there with low blood pressure, I found it helpful to add a bit of salt to my food and drink some coffee (I read somewhere that caffeine can help) before trying to shower again. It really helped me, but check with your doctor before you try anything out of the usual.

I promise to post some pics soon, however disgusting they may be. For anyone reading this, please do feel free to ask me any questions you may like.

Surgery Day!

Man, I was so excited. And nervous. Mostly excited, though.

I got to my doctor's office at 7:15 am and got changed. The nurse took my stats, had me change into my surgery garb and game a a shot of something wonderful to relax me. That's pretty much all I remember until I was finished.

I chose to to IV sedation, instead of just localized anesthetic shots. I am really glad I chose to do that, cause I do have a coupe of flashes of memory during the procedure, asking them to stop or take a break cause it hurt, which is presumably when they gave me more meds. God I love painkillers.

I had 4 "areas" done, which is a lot. I had my upper and lower abdomen, by inner thighs and my back flanks/waist done, and I am told the removed 5 Litres of fat. Which is both, amazing, disgusting and awesome! I kinda wish I had been alert to see all that, but then the fleeting wish goes away and I remember the joy of pain killers.

I vaguely recall being put in a wheelchair to get me to my car, which my mom was driving (my mother is a true godsend, by the way. People, if you are going to get this done, make sure you have someone calm, collected and not easily grossed out. Then buy them something amazing to thank them for their awesomeness). I know I apologized to the male nurd more than once for having to see me naked. I'm sure he got a kick out of that.

My mom got me home and up the two flights of stairs to my apartment and into bed. Since I still had a lot of the painkillers still coursing through my veins, I don't recall this being very painful.

Then came the nighttime when I had to pee. This was not easy, people. First of all, trying to pee in a crotchless garment isn't the easiest thing in the world. Your body is still saying "Hey! I've got clothes on! Don't pee your pants!" Plus your body is still in shock from the massive attack it had earlier in the day so your abdomen can't relax enough to let your bladder do it's thing. This has been an ongoing struggle, and I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.

I did fall that first evening, even with my mom's help, trying to get to the bathroom. I have very low blood pressure normally, and it just kinda bottomed out & I passed out and landed on my left knee, which caused more drainage/bleeding on that incision than the right knee. No lasting damage, it didn't even pop the stitch, it was just kinda scary.

But overall, the day went well. I was bandaged up like a sausage in the super uncomfortable compression garment and slept a nice, dreamless sleep.

Making the Decision - A long time coming

I think most women have at least one part of their physical appearance that they would change if given the chance. Some people have more than one item on the wish list of changes. An in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with that.

 Now I know people like to pin the blame on Western society or the media or Disney movie princesses or Barbies or whatever but the fact is that all of that doesn't really matter at the end of the day. You can use as much rationalization and self affirmations as you want, but when it comes right down to it, plastic surgery is a multi-billion dollar industry for a reason. People are deciding that they want to change the hand they have been dealt.

 As far back as I can remember, probably around the age of 4, I have hated my stomach and my thighs. I have a major complex with my weight and have been battling it my entire life. About 4 years ago I met someone who helped me completely change my life style and my relationship with food, and I subsequently lost about 50 pounds. I have kept that off for the past 3 years and promise myself that I will never go back to how I used to be. For the record, I am 5'4" and weight 154lbs, give or take a couple as I tend to fluctuate around my period.

 Now, losing all of that weight totally changed how I look, especially in my face. But my body shape, while much smaller (going from a size 16-18 to an 8-10) remained the same: I was still very straight through the waist, with belly rolls and large thighs. So as my 30th birthday approached and I began feeling more and more helpless about my slowing metabolism and never getting to where I want to be, I started fantasizing about plastic surgery.

 This was by no means a new habit. I love looking at all kinds of before and after pictures. I am one of the few people who actually miss those horrid plastic surgery shows like Extreme Makeover and, yes, even The Swan. They made me so happy! So win I started reading more and more about Smart Lipo, or laser assisted lipo suction, it started to seem like more of an achievable goal for me. It had all of the elements that I wanted: no need for general anesthetic, shorter downtime, skin tightening effects, etc. The more I researched, the more I wanted it.

 I made my lists of doctors in my area to visit. Researched each and every one online. Made sure they were not only board certified, but that the were board certified in PLASTIC SURGERY. (Side note: I am kind of shocked at how may non-surgeron doctors out there are using this machine. Even the ones listed on the Cynosure website were dermatologists. Kinda freaky). I had my notebook full of questions. I made my decision, was going to do this completely vain, possibly dangerous and (in some people's eyes) totally unnecessary surgery.

 And I couldn't ave been more excited about it. So, on July 25th, 2012 I had my surgery.