POSTED UNDER Body Lift Reviews
Maintained 140lbs weight loss for 30 years. Now it's time for the excess skin and flop to be gone!
UPDATED FROM mtngirldsg
2 months post
Oh, and I've been keeping Dr Fisher…
Oh, and I've been keeping Dr Fisher informed about all this and he is pleased with the healing progress. I still think I picked the right man for the job, we just both could have made some better decisions along the way. I still stand by him. He contacts me a least 3x a week to check on how things are going.
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Replies (5)
How are you doing now ? It has been several months since your last post. I pray that you are doing well and are healing properly.
Yes, I would love to get an update on you also. Hope you are back to riding your horses!
Hope you have recovered, how are you? You seem to be handling it so well, so tough. It looks sooo painful!
Has anyone heard how she’s doing? I think about her often and wish I knew if she recovered okay
UPDATED FROM mtngirldsg
2 months post
Honestly, I have some of the most…
Honestly, I have some of the most dedicated, selfless, patient people working with me that I have ever met. A Wound Vac is a fabulous invention, and boy, it is more than proving it's worth on me. But when a leak occurs. well, let's just say that sometimes it takes more than one person several minutes, maybe even an hour to track it down
The amount of healing that has gone on with me is just astounding. Even the Local Plastic Surgeon and Wound Care doctors agree. The local plastic surgeon is now debating whether to try a skin graft, or leave it alone and let the wound heal and fill in on its on. I'm leaning towards leaving it alone. Yes, the extended tummy tuck will not be quite as successful, nor will the butt lift, but both will still show significant improvement that I think I can live with. We'll just have to wait and see. So, included are today's pictures from the dressings being changed. I would be much happier if only the left rear would stop hurting so bad when the dressing is being changed that I almost pass out.
The amount of healing that has gone on with me is just astounding. Even the Local Plastic Surgeon and Wound Care doctors agree. The local plastic surgeon is now debating whether to try a skin graft, or leave it alone and let the wound heal and fill in on its on. I'm leaning towards leaving it alone. Yes, the extended tummy tuck will not be quite as successful, nor will the butt lift, but both will still show significant improvement that I think I can live with. We'll just have to wait and see. So, included are today's pictures from the dressings being changed. I would be much happier if only the left rear would stop hurting so bad when the dressing is being changed that I almost pass out.
Replies (2)
omg that looks so bad, so painful, I hope you are all healed now....my gosh
How are you doing? I also had complications, wound vac, a closure surgery and have a couple spots that have reopened up again. It’s so discouraging! I hope you’re are all healed up and doing well!
UPDATED FROM mtngirldsg
2 months post
I've had the wound vac for 6 days now and…
I've had the wound vac for 6 days now and am amazed at what a difference it has made. The wound in front looks completely different Friday than it did last Monday. It has filled in and has good granulation. I've been quite depressed about how bad my wounds have looked, but the progress I'm seeing with the wound vac has lifted my spirits some. And I'm beginning to have a sliver of hope that the things will turn out OK in the long run.
The amount of drainage from the wounds is beginning to slow down some and is not quite as bloody as it was in the beginning. I know my iron levels are dropping again, as I'm having the classic symptoms of shortness of breath, blue fingernails and feeling cold all the time. Strangely my insatiable craving for eating ice has not returned, which is a good thing. I'm sure the iron anemia is not helping with healing. We'll see where I stand Wednesday when I go for a blood draw. I'm sure
The wounds around my hips and buttocks still look awful. The nurse changing the dressings said she saw 110% difference between Monday and Friday, saying it was doing much better. All I can say is that the ones on my buttocks, especially the left side, are extremely painful...so much so that when they go to change the dressings I almost pass out and get physically sick. It is very deep and we're beginning to think that a nerve is involved. It takes over 90 minutes to change the dressings, and my Wound Care nurse said she'd only seen one patient whose wound was worse than mine.
The good news is that we have finally found someone who will work with my insurance company and come to my home to change the dressings 3x a week instead of me having to drive to the Wound Care Clinic at the hospital 20 miles away. I hope the nurse is well informed and prepared for the time this will involve.
I have kept Dr Fisher informed of my progress, sending him photos after each change of the dressings. He has made it a point to keep in contact with me. Eventually there will come a time when a "secondary closure" will be needed, where the wounds are brought together and closed. Dr Fisher wants to do this, but I'm not sure I'm willing to fly back to San Antonio for him to do this. I understand why he wants to be the one to do the secondary closure, but the abdominal wound and the ones around my hips and buttocks are not healing at the same rate. I thoroughly expect to have to have two separate sessions, one for the front, and one for the sides and buttocks. Plus, insurance is paying for a good part of this and Dr Fisher is "out of network", as is Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital. And, I believe they will at least have to use "Twilight sleep" on me to do the closures, and I don't have anyone who stay with me afterwards in San Antonio. I will just have to wait and see how things go.
On the positive side, I can say that my upper arms look fantastic and my breaststroke are doing well too. I still have some scabs and healing around my nipples, but everything else has closed up nicely. Time for me to start working on softening the scars.
The amount of drainage from the wounds is beginning to slow down some and is not quite as bloody as it was in the beginning. I know my iron levels are dropping again, as I'm having the classic symptoms of shortness of breath, blue fingernails and feeling cold all the time. Strangely my insatiable craving for eating ice has not returned, which is a good thing. I'm sure the iron anemia is not helping with healing. We'll see where I stand Wednesday when I go for a blood draw. I'm sure
The wounds around my hips and buttocks still look awful. The nurse changing the dressings said she saw 110% difference between Monday and Friday, saying it was doing much better. All I can say is that the ones on my buttocks, especially the left side, are extremely painful...so much so that when they go to change the dressings I almost pass out and get physically sick. It is very deep and we're beginning to think that a nerve is involved. It takes over 90 minutes to change the dressings, and my Wound Care nurse said she'd only seen one patient whose wound was worse than mine.
The good news is that we have finally found someone who will work with my insurance company and come to my home to change the dressings 3x a week instead of me having to drive to the Wound Care Clinic at the hospital 20 miles away. I hope the nurse is well informed and prepared for the time this will involve.
I have kept Dr Fisher informed of my progress, sending him photos after each change of the dressings. He has made it a point to keep in contact with me. Eventually there will come a time when a "secondary closure" will be needed, where the wounds are brought together and closed. Dr Fisher wants to do this, but I'm not sure I'm willing to fly back to San Antonio for him to do this. I understand why he wants to be the one to do the secondary closure, but the abdominal wound and the ones around my hips and buttocks are not healing at the same rate. I thoroughly expect to have to have two separate sessions, one for the front, and one for the sides and buttocks. Plus, insurance is paying for a good part of this and Dr Fisher is "out of network", as is Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital. And, I believe they will at least have to use "Twilight sleep" on me to do the closures, and I don't have anyone who stay with me afterwards in San Antonio. I will just have to wait and see how things go.
On the positive side, I can say that my upper arms look fantastic and my breaststroke are doing well too. I still have some scabs and healing around my nipples, but everything else has closed up nicely. Time for me to start working on softening the scars.
To answer your questions 1) so far at least, none of the wounds have been infected. I've gotten other infections, such as a chest cold immediately after my surgery...which I'm sure I picked up from Dr Fisher, his staff or the OR crew as they were all passing it around. I got a severe case of thrush (yeast infection) in my mouth....which I do if taking high powered antibiotics for more than two or three days....and I got a kidney infection. No clue where that came from. But while there has been a lot of dainage from te wounds, they hve NOT, thank God, been infected.
I think my problems stem from several things 1) we simply did too much at one time and my body couldn't handle that much stress. In hindsight, we should have divided this into two separate surgeries. I've always popped back from surgeries exceeding well...usually way ahead in regards to rehab and recovery, but then, none of my other surgeries have been longer than 4 1/2 hrs....9 hours adds a lot more stress to the body. 2) I was unable to maintain the angles needed to help keep stress of the suture lines. The 3-4 week time frame is very important...your skin has started to heal and form scar tissue, but it's very delicate and can tear easily, and it's also about that time when dissolvable stitches start to weaken. In my case, I was unable to maintain the angles to keep from stressing the suture lines. I'd bought 1st class tickets to fly home so I'd have that extra room needed to maintain those angles. One of my flights was delayed, and the connecting flight only had one seat available, otherwise I'd have to wait until the next day. I could feel the stress pulling on the suture line on that second flight. Then it was like a zipper, once it started to separate, it all came apart.
I do have one pre-existing condition which I'm sure has contributed to the problem. I have chronic iron deficiency anemia. It is a direct result from the gastric bypass I had 32 years ago (they don't do that particular bypass anymore). I had gotten an IV iron infusion approximately a month prior to the surgery in hopes that the higher hemoglobin etc would help. But i lost a lot of blood during the surgery and wound up having to have 2 units of blood. I think this directly impacted my healing because it's the iron in your blood that carrys oxygen to your cells that you need for healing. I just had blood work done and I'm down again, with a hemoglobin of 9.4. Ideally you'd like to be in the 12s.
So no, I can't say it's any one thing, but instead a series of several things. I've never smoked, am not diabetic, blood pressure is fine and my cholesterol is actually too low (hmm, hadn't thought about that, cholesterol contributes to cellular strength...though I don't know of anything I could have done about it). Maybe it's just karma in that things have always gone so well, it was my turn for something to go wrong. Just don't know.