Updated 2/22 - BBL on 2/8/2012 with Moises Salama in Aventura, FL

Hello All!! I'm 13 days post-op. The first week FLEW (thanks to the pain meds). Week 2 I think is fair to say is pure hell. Be prepared! Tylenol 3 was such a joke that I didn't even take it.

first, let me say sorry for not responding to comments. Honestly, my brain was half available until now and even now its still not 100%. So let me recap the past 2 weeks.

I think I got my first massage with Celli/Celia 2 days post operation. She removed a lot of fluid from me as I howled "Owwww owie" like a dog. She is a aggressive, but as my "obvious to the touch" swelling is practically gone now...I'm glad I sucked it up. She returned 3 days after that and I took 2 of the prescribed pain pills so that she could get all the fluid out of me. The sight of the swelling depressed me and I read about how swelling is the slow part of recovery, so I wanted to make sure I let her do her thing. Got a 3rd massage 7 days post op right right before my drains were removed. I literally went from Celli/Celia to Dr. Salama. My drains were never empty throughout the first week. If I saw that they were draining slow, I'd get up and walk to get them back active. I'm a busy body so :-D. Or I would remove my garment to shower and breath for a couple of hours then put it back on and viola....drainage. If I didn't feel like walking and going through the removing garment process, my crawl walk process to lay down and get up seemed to make the drains work. I never just laid there all day because I was determined to drain drain!

About 5-6 days post-op I'd began itching a lot on my butt and thighs. A LOT. So the doc suggested Benadryl. I saw that it makes you drowsy and I thought "GREAT!" Being drowsy helped me survive the first 7 days.

On day 8 post-op Salama removed my drains which was a gift from God. He put 1100 ccs in each cheek and I almost had a heart attack because I only wanted 600-700...so they gave me a smaller garment that compressed the butt to shrink it (which has resulted so far in wonderful results). That same night I flew back home to Illinois. I took 2 of the pain pills, 2 benadryls and slept just about the entire flight. The flight wasn't a problem at all and I think this was due to the garment being so tight it didn't matter :-D

As soon as I got home to Illinois, I took my garment off to show my sister and sleep without it (cheating yes but it was soooo tight!!!). I quickly regretted it though when my stomach got hard as a ROCK! I couldn't stand up straight, thats how tight it got! I was mean to Nomie because she was the bearer of bad news, that they couldn't just phone in my pain pill prescription. The cold weather and fresh lipo do not agree so I was in huge pain and for the first time not having the pills.

So I took a Tylenol 3 that was the NutraSweet to pure fresh sugar cane.... and got on yelp.com to find someone to massage me asap.

Day 10 post-op, I got a massage. The technique had the same pattern, but way less pressure than Celli/Celia and wayyyy slower. If you were to draw a tic tac toe board on your abdomen, the lady attacked each section one at a time. About 15 minutes into it, half of my belly felt like jelly so I extended to 1hr. I walked out feeling great! I put my tight garment thats almost impossible to get over my butt on with the cardboard and foam and slept until the next day. When I showered the next day, my swelling went down A LOT and my stomach was actually soft (so long as the temperature was warm).

Now its day 13 and I got a massage today. I've laid in my bed with the temperature low like it was the night I landed and my belly doesn't rock up without the garment.

I noticed broken skin on my left thigh (my legs swelled up A LOT but by day 9 they were almost normal except for left thigh) so I've been wearing a compression garment top with the foam and cardboard. When I removed it today for my massage my waist was super small!!! Yay!!! My butt looks good. When I look in the mirror, I see it and think its not a major change... LOL when I logged in today and saw the photographs pre-op... CHANGE HAS COME!

I was after the reshape more than wanting it bigger. I want to remain the same pant size, just wan the better shape. So yesterday I squeezed into the jeans I flew to Florida in and though I wouldn't be able to sit down without showing buttcrack (sorry I don't know how else to explain it :-) they fit!

Since wearing the smaller garment, and the almost immediate shrinkage from that, my butt hasn't gone down much at all. The garment made it more dense (harder!!). However, it is softening up now very slowly. One cheek softer than the other. Sitting down does not hurt me at all as long as I have my boppy pillow. I have to switch my angle up about every hour though. I've mastered sleeping on my back and somehow angling myself slightly on my side so that I'm not face down all the time. This puts some pressure on the butt but not like sitting. I do sit probably more than the doctor would like, but never without a pillow.

I will return to the garment they gave me when the skin on my left thigh improves. The stinging makes me limp to avoid anything touching it, if it were ok I'd be walking almost 80% normal.

I will try to post some pics soon.

Glad to see that despite my "non-sugar coating" everyone is learning about the recovery proces. If you meet another lady in the office, don't say her name on RealSelf.com. If you are like me and went the EXTRA mile to hide this from those who can't keep a secret, Use a nickname in the surgeons Lobby and with the driver. Real Self makes effort not to disclose people's identity (says it in the sign up process), so please respect the network. I would hate to see something like this fall over this because if I was a real "nutcracker" like people are making me seem, I would have a legit lawsuit in your mail by now! Celebrities and Non-celebrities don't clear their country to get surgery for no reason. Its a lot to do with privacy. Do you know how much stress that caused me? My naked photos and NAME on the internet for 3 days?? Meanwhile I'm not even on day 4 of recovery? I had to stay awake to monitor this rather than focus on recovering? Thats a hell of a curve ball when the anesthesia drug is still in your system and you feel at risk for fainting every other hour! I do have a lawsuit, but Im not that mean or crazy. I'd rather take the experience and use myself as a vessel to communicate to others that name dropping on Real Self is not cool! Helping others makes me feel better, actually.

Next lesson, If the person has posted that their surgery was less than 2 weeks away. Just be compassionate and wish happy speedy recovery, offer some help/support/tips and please don't go critiquing the angle of their photos. Questions are ok, they are expected. But critique of angle of photos "because you can't really tell what the curves looks like" is SELFISH. Just say, "Can't wait to see more, you look good so far!" Even if it doesn't look good, say that, because she will need it! Don't feel like you're lying because honestly results are not final until 2 months and with the swelling, you can't tell whats going on until about 2 weeks post-op anyway! Between that comment and my personal friends back at home thinking I'm some sort of showcase (offering NO HELP AT ALL just wanting to see and touch on me and watch me walk around) YES I am very vocal about the lack of thought people are displaying. When you realize it takes you 10 minutes to walk what you used to walk in 1 minute, you will not look back at it and say "YAY IT WAS WORTH IT *snap a picture*" you will just drag through and pray the next day is better!

I hope everyone has learned something regardless of how I delivered the message. I don't sugar coat just like neither of the people who triggered this made an effort to "sugarcoat" my REAL NAME nor did they sugarcoat when saying how my photos that I'm blessed I could even stand for are insufficient to what you're seeking. Another person LOVED that I showed the drains not focusing so much on the angles. The drains are the most critical part of the first 7 days!!! They're attached to your body so suddenly you have 2 extra limbs! I'm helping you guys be realistic.

Forget the showcase. What more do you need to see? SALAMA is OBVIOUSLY ***GREAT***. If you're in that much doubt that you have to stress me for pictures then maybe this isn't for you. I made my decision without the pictures, afterall!

For those who said "more pics" one time, I'm not directing this at you. Everyone can ask me questions. Just don't ask things already answered (because I don't have time and won't answer you. This is a costly surgery I expect you to do your research.) and lastly, since today is 2 weeks!!! I will post a photo. Sorry for snapping at the person who asked 2x as well as critiqued my angles starting at 7 days post operation and all before today (obsessive ain't it?). I'm really not that mean you guys! I am just very direct!

NOW ON TO MORE PICS!!! I'm about to shower and throw on something tight now. My skin still tickles with normal clothes on, but as long as it fits TIGHT I think I can handle it. I can barely wash my belly in the shower. I was really ticklish before this, when Salama drew the markings on me I was LAUGHING! LOL. He looked at me with this look and said, "You're ticklish?" I said yeah and asked why because his face let me know that things would be "interesting" after lol. OMG I hate that I'm ticklish!!