surgery

Skin removal surgery, part 3

Posted on by kismac

So, two days ago I got this little accessory removed! I had a recurring seroma (fluid pocket) in my abdomen that my surgeon tried manually draining a few times a week for a couple of weeks, before finally saying “I think you need an indwelling drain”. Oh yay, oh joy, just in time to go back to work! As you can see from this picture, the drain was not innocuous, and definitely could be seen under my clothes. It was bulky, uncomfortable, and an overall pain in the butt, but it did do it’s job, which is I guess what I should be more focused on. The drain stayed in for three freaking weeks (three weeks and one day, exactly), and by the end I was SOOOO ready for it to come out. By the end it was putting out less than 5ml a day, so it definitely did it’s job. Unfortunately I had to wear it while on a pleasure trip to San Francisco, and it earned me a pat-down at the San Francisco airport. Gotta keep the world safe from me!

With the ongoing issues with the seroma, with the antibiotics for suspected early cellulitis, with the having to wear the compression garments for weeks on end, would I do this surgery again? Absolutely! I still have a little bit of swelling in my abdomen, but I actually have a waist now, my arms finally feel like they belong to my body again, and I can fit into size 10 jeans (at my largest it had been size 26-28). An added bonus that my doctor had said may happen is that I have actually lost even more weight since having the surgery. As he puts it, the tummy tuck portion basically creates an internal corset, and makes overeating near impossible. I’m down almost 20 pounds since before surgery, and actually that pre-surgery weight had been comfortable for me, this is just mind-blowing!

Thanks for coming along on the journey with me. I’m back to work, this week I go back to the gym, and am starting to feel like a normal functional human being again!

Post-surgery, week 2

Posted on by kismac

So, I’m now almost two weeks post skin removal surgery, from arms, abdomen and thighs. Things I’ve learned during this time:

  1. Never do surgery on three freaking body parts at the same time! So I have an unreasonable fear of anesthesia and asked if all this could be done at the same time. My surgeon said yeah sure, people do it all the time. Well, I have no idea WHY!! More body parts all hurting at the same time, oh joy! My arms are sore. My legs are sore. My abdomen, I greatfully can feel nothing, thanks to the Experel pain block he used. I’m to the point where a gram of Tylenol once or twice a day is holding my pain under control, but I’m looking forward to the point where even that isn’t needed. Which may not be too soon, because….
  2. There is absolutely NOTHING comfortable about wearing compression garments! Compression sleeves on my arms are making my forearms look like Popeyes, with all the fluids shifting. Compression shorts, which don’t cover my knees so I also have to wear compression stockings (but NO, I will never wear the thigh high ted hose again!) And an abdominal binder on top of all this. A friend of mine from work said she wore her abdominal binder for a YEAR after she had a tummy tuck done, because it gave her such support. At the time I thought oh wow, ok, cool. Now? HELL NO!! This compression stuff can’t come off soon enough! Six weeks is required. Six weeks and one day, they’re off!
  3. What post op complications you can get, I have gotten! My drain when in was either displaced or blocked, so it was leaking around it, instead of draining appropriately. Once the drain came out, a bunch of serous fluid came pouring out, to the point where the office nurse said, OK, well that’s gross. Yes, thank you, I’m gross! Since the drain came out, I’ve developed a seroma which had to be drained (rather surreal seeing a large needle poked into my lower abdomen to drain the fluid pocket and I could feel none of it). Also I’m on an antibiotic right now for possible cellulitis of one of my arm incisions, which got pink and warm. I’ll hand it to my doctor, at least he’s very proactive about treating all possible issues.
  4. I still can’t take a bath, for six weeks. Showers only. I can’t wait to lie down and relax in a bubble bath!

Do I regret the surgery? No, absolutely not. I’m already excited about the effect noted on my arm circumference and my waist and tummy. I have a flat abdomen at this point, which is what I’ve earned through hard work, and would not have seen otherwise because of the skin leftover. He says they removed about 6 pounds of skin from the abdomen and arms, which seems significant (only liposuctioned the thighs and knees). I’m not noticing changes in weight or size of clothing right now, because I haven’t been on a scale recently and am mostly wearing pajamas and jogger pants with t-shirts, but already my scrubs had been getting too large, so at the very least I’ll have to buy new work clothes.

Do I think that the surgery is having a positive effect on the body dysmorphia? Oh yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I’m already impressed with the impact on my abdomen and arms. I feel like I look somewhat smaller, and feel smaller in the clothes I’m wearing.

What am I looking forward to? I’m looking forward to having some energy again, and to be able to move around without discomfort. The end of this week I can go back to the gym, to only go on the treadmill at a flat rate (i had been at a 15% incline doing 20 minutes before, but now I am starting from scratch again!) I’m getting back together with my two new nurses I’m mentoring this week, and slowly getting back into doing normal life things like car maintainence and shopping.

Will check back in here in another few weeks when hopefully nothing is going wrong! And hopefully I’ll have my energy back and be back more to my normal self.