Abs/Flanks- Los Angeles

I went to about 4 other Dr's for consultations. At first I did not like this Dr's approach. He does not want you to tell him what you think you want but views your whole body and then tells you where he would recommend. I left there with attention to new areas that never bothered me and feeling a bit bummed. After a little more time I read through his site more and realized his approach was not meant to be upsetting or rude but that his critical eye is probably better in the long term. If you are going to go through with this you may as well get the right balance of proportion.

His big thing is proportion and that is what I wanted. I have a almost triangular protrusion above the belly button and then of course excess around flanks. However,I didn't even care about anything but I just want my side profile and if you look at from the front that it does not look like I might be having a kid.
He suggested we do (under local-which is what I wanted!) flanks, lower and upper abs. In addition to that to balance out the shape he suggested I do mid back now instead of coming back in later as when the front gets smaller that will look bigger and out of whack. Also, as you get older he said the skin is less forgiving to work with. I am nervous about doing the whole thing but I trust him and am hoping for the best. Trying to have reasonable expectations. Nervous about fat redistributing to other parts of my body in a crazy way or something but all scientific evidence does not seem to support that theory too much. WISH ME LUCK!!!

I know they said you have to "get bigger to get smaller" regarding the swelling but I am kind of freaking out a little bit like "Did he take out enough? Will I even look any different?"
There was one liter taken out in total but you know that includes all the fluid and everything too. I overheard them on the phone to the place they donate the fat to (for stem cell research) and they said about "300 cc to 500 cc of pure fat in total"...from reading this site that seems like very little.
I am 5'6 and 164 (most days ha ha!) so I am not little by any means. PLUS he ended up doing the back a little bit too to make sure I was in proportion.

He noted that he was surprised to find out that I had very fibrous tissue in my abdomen so it was a little harder then anticipated and he used the laser a bit more. I have this one area that bothered me the most because when you see my side profile it really sticks out quite a bit above the belly button.

What do you guys think? I am TERRIFIED that I just spent a bunch of money and even in a few months when swelling and all goes down, won't see the results I wanted because he was too conservative.

Is it possible that he could have done enough with flanks, abs and back with that little amount?!?

Day Two was brutal. Super Swollen- Plus 7 lbs from the day before going in so basically 7 lbs of swelling. I was upset the whole day, felt terrible and regretted the entire thing for most of the day. Pain/Discomfort was mostly related to being super tired and the amount of swelling, I looked worse or same as I went in-even in the problem areas.

Day Three- Woke up feeling better, weighed myself and weighed like 4 lbs less then the night before and was noticeably less puffy and tender. Though still swollen. The garmet is annoying rubbing under my armpits. Most of the incisions look fine but they seem to have stitches in them and I was under the impression I would not have any stitches so am a little concerned there.

The Dr. called last night in response to my email about the small amount of fat taken out and responded that because my tissue was more fibrous then anticipated it was harder then the thought so he worked really hard on the areas and that the tissue restructuring was more important then the fact removal. He said I should expect good retraction when the tissue heals. I am hopeful he is correct but nervous that he could be wrong and was conservative in the wrong way. We will see. Walked two miles much easier today (used to run before this so the day after sluggish-ness was not normal).

SOO sick of this garmet. HA HA Rubs under the armpits. Hard to see results of any kind yet. It seems to look the exact same as before the surgery though the problem area seems like it may be swollen more then fat...which could be this is where he worked the hardest so the trauma to the are was worst? These are just guesses I am making. I go into get the incisions checked today and otherwise I feel mostly fine. Bruising is even fading and is located soley in the lower abdomen, I guess where everything pools? There is also swelling there. Really missing being able to run but I can tell it's not time for that yet. Pain is really just feels like sore muscles, not overwhelming at all.

Everything is healing fine. There is almost no change. Dr. says because I was so fibrous, I could look bigger for awhile as there is increased swelling. He says be patient and come back in 6 months for follow up. I am counting down the days until I only have to wear this thing for 12 hours. The idea of being free during the day sounds fantastic though yesterday at the DR I had to walk without it for a little while and I could sort of feel everything swollen moving around and sore.

The massage was not too painful at all and she says it will help with reducing swelling so I am hopeful as well.

I will add photos in the next few days.

Did a massive hike yesterday and defiantly was swollen after. Got to sleep for the first night without the garment. Was awesome. ha ha My Dr is ten days for 24 hours and then 10 more days for 12 hours a day (night/day-your own choice). Slight tender to touch like a sore muscle on the back, some random tingling or weird sensation if you touch the stomach area but nothing unbearable.

I just don't see results and sometimes I look bigger which is discouraging.

Not sure...they say your body gets better and your eyes get worse so I really can not tell at this point. I know it is not what I was hoping for. The Dr. says to be patient. I'm actually working out several times a week and still not really seeing results like I thought I would. In fact I think my main area of concern kind of looks the same. Documenting this all here so that in the end we can see how it honestly turns out. Don't regret it yet but just don't know if it was worth the money and such...yet.