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After three children I had the tummy pooch- under...
After three children I had the tummy pooch- under my belly button that rubbed against jeans and made things just uncomfortable. I finally decided to go for a consult at Sonobello in Edina, MN to see what could be done. My areas of concern were primarily my tummy and also my legs (especially my calves which have always been large and heavy and out of proportion to my 5'1 frame. )
The initial consult was done with Cassie who went over some general information, looking at my frame/ body over my clothing and giving me a rough estimate of cost. It was more than I anticipated as one 'area' might only be $1300...but basically no one has 'one' area done. Your tummy might contains 2-3 areas such as upper abdomen, lower abdomen, flanks, etc...so it seems like it's always more than you anticipate. I later read that people 'diggered' the price quote given, which made me feel a bit taken as I didn't try to digger them down.....live and learn?
I was able to meet with Dr. Volk that same day which was convenient as I am 2 1/2 hours away and this appt met my pre consult dr. visit. Jess (I think was her name) was a great nurse...very open and fun and up front about what to expect. She made it less 'uncomfortable'- cus let's face it, getting naked in front of people and analyzing your fat and flaws isn't a ton of fun....but she focussed on the excitement of what they could do and what she's like to have done someday and that made it less weird.
One thing I read was that you would expect the areas of concern to have 50-70% less fat. I told them that WHY would I want 50% less fat if 70% was an option?! She said that Dr. Volk was very good and known to be aggressive and she said I would be happy. I hoped she was right.
Because I was having tummy, flanks, inner and outer thighs, inner thigh and calves I needed to have two separate procedures. (I wasn't going to do outer thigh at first but Dr. Volk suggested it saying tho I was pretty muscular he thought it would benefit the overall results. I didn't get the impression he was trying to 'up-sell' me..but just giving me some honest & educated opinions.
Proceedure 1: Tummy area: after getting my drugs and prep I went into the surgical room. Did it hurt? Most of the time it didn't hurt..but when the probes went high into my rib area or very low down into my pubic bone area it did hurt a fair degree. Kinda like a sander was grinding my bones. This wasn't constant and so I survived...tho they had to keep telling me to put my hands down. Josie was my nurse for the procedure and I was a tad disappointed not to have Jess- but Josie was friendly and I liked her as well. She was super nice putting my garment on my swollen body and getting me ready to go home.
She took a photo of the fat vials and said they removed about 5 lbs of fat!
RECOVERY PROCEDURE 1 (TUMMY area). Expect a lot of wet drainage. I wasn't prepared to feel so faint and nauseous when we tried to change my pads out that evening when we got home. The removal of the garment lowers blood pressure and makes one feel super dizzy. Be prepared. I have no idea how anyone would 'do this' alone as I was basically a drugged floppy sick mess. I was extremely sore and just trying to get horizontal in bed was trying. I will say EACH day got incrementally easier. By day 3 I was still sore but I could move pretty good. I know they say you should be able to return to work after 3 days, but I think that would be pushing it. Maybe 4 days if you had a total desk job.
The first day I took off my garment to shower and looked in the mirror it took me a moment to adjust what I saw with my eyes to what I had seen for so many years ,because my whole frame looked so much smaller. It was like someone 'cut' off my sides and shrank my whole torso size down. It had shape and it was just awesome. My tummy was almost nearly flat! FLAT. I guess Dr. Volk WAS aggressive and it was awesome!!! Every day I felt better and better and I felt so great not having to suck in my tummy and wear girl fit t shirts and have nothing but flatness on my tummy. By 7-10 days I was feeling pretty much back to normal though it felt great to have the garment holding me in tight. At 2 weeks post op my tummy was flat and when the nurse compared my pre op photo to post op even she was totally amazed at the difference. I still have some lumps and wrinkly unevenness but even if that never goes away ( I think it will?) I'm happy! I didn't take a pre op photo of my tummy, but I plan to get the one the clinic took. I think I was so disgusted at the time with my tummy I thought I'd never want to see it again..but now that it's gone it would be fun to compare.
I will do a separate post on my Procedure 2 (Lower body/ legs, thighs and calves) .Procedure 1 and 2 were 2 weeks apart.
The initial consult was done with Cassie who went over some general information, looking at my frame/ body over my clothing and giving me a rough estimate of cost. It was more than I anticipated as one 'area' might only be $1300...but basically no one has 'one' area done. Your tummy might contains 2-3 areas such as upper abdomen, lower abdomen, flanks, etc...so it seems like it's always more than you anticipate. I later read that people 'diggered' the price quote given, which made me feel a bit taken as I didn't try to digger them down.....live and learn?
I was able to meet with Dr. Volk that same day which was convenient as I am 2 1/2 hours away and this appt met my pre consult dr. visit. Jess (I think was her name) was a great nurse...very open and fun and up front about what to expect. She made it less 'uncomfortable'- cus let's face it, getting naked in front of people and analyzing your fat and flaws isn't a ton of fun....but she focussed on the excitement of what they could do and what she's like to have done someday and that made it less weird.
One thing I read was that you would expect the areas of concern to have 50-70% less fat. I told them that WHY would I want 50% less fat if 70% was an option?! She said that Dr. Volk was very good and known to be aggressive and she said I would be happy. I hoped she was right.
Because I was having tummy, flanks, inner and outer thighs, inner thigh and calves I needed to have two separate procedures. (I wasn't going to do outer thigh at first but Dr. Volk suggested it saying tho I was pretty muscular he thought it would benefit the overall results. I didn't get the impression he was trying to 'up-sell' me..but just giving me some honest & educated opinions.
Proceedure 1: Tummy area: after getting my drugs and prep I went into the surgical room. Did it hurt? Most of the time it didn't hurt..but when the probes went high into my rib area or very low down into my pubic bone area it did hurt a fair degree. Kinda like a sander was grinding my bones. This wasn't constant and so I survived...tho they had to keep telling me to put my hands down. Josie was my nurse for the procedure and I was a tad disappointed not to have Jess- but Josie was friendly and I liked her as well. She was super nice putting my garment on my swollen body and getting me ready to go home.
She took a photo of the fat vials and said they removed about 5 lbs of fat!
RECOVERY PROCEDURE 1 (TUMMY area). Expect a lot of wet drainage. I wasn't prepared to feel so faint and nauseous when we tried to change my pads out that evening when we got home. The removal of the garment lowers blood pressure and makes one feel super dizzy. Be prepared. I have no idea how anyone would 'do this' alone as I was basically a drugged floppy sick mess. I was extremely sore and just trying to get horizontal in bed was trying. I will say EACH day got incrementally easier. By day 3 I was still sore but I could move pretty good. I know they say you should be able to return to work after 3 days, but I think that would be pushing it. Maybe 4 days if you had a total desk job.
The first day I took off my garment to shower and looked in the mirror it took me a moment to adjust what I saw with my eyes to what I had seen for so many years ,because my whole frame looked so much smaller. It was like someone 'cut' off my sides and shrank my whole torso size down. It had shape and it was just awesome. My tummy was almost nearly flat! FLAT. I guess Dr. Volk WAS aggressive and it was awesome!!! Every day I felt better and better and I felt so great not having to suck in my tummy and wear girl fit t shirts and have nothing but flatness on my tummy. By 7-10 days I was feeling pretty much back to normal though it felt great to have the garment holding me in tight. At 2 weeks post op my tummy was flat and when the nurse compared my pre op photo to post op even she was totally amazed at the difference. I still have some lumps and wrinkly unevenness but even if that never goes away ( I think it will?) I'm happy! I didn't take a pre op photo of my tummy, but I plan to get the one the clinic took. I think I was so disgusted at the time with my tummy I thought I'd never want to see it again..but now that it's gone it would be fun to compare.
I will do a separate post on my Procedure 2 (Lower body/ legs, thighs and calves) .Procedure 1 and 2 were 2 weeks apart.
Provider Review
I was very pleased with Dr. Volk. Felt he was professional and had a flair for the 'artistry' involved in contouring. I really feel like he was aggressive in removal on the areas that I told him bothered me most. I would like to see the Dr. for every follow up, but typically one only sees the nurse unless you are having issues that need to be addressed by the Dr. That being said I felt like if I had specific needs I needed to address with him he did share his no. and one could get ahold of him at any time.