Smart Lipo Recovery: Day by Day Journal - Boulder, CO

I had liposuction of the abs, flanks and "muffin top" area yesterday, Friday, May 6th and thought I'd chronicle my experience for others thinking of the procedure.

I'm 142lbs and pretty average weight. I go to the gym/do yoga 5-7 days a week and after trying for many months to get rid of my awful muffin top I finally gave up. Every time I'd wear jeans, as soon as I'd start to walk, a muffin top would form (and quite a significant one). I got to the point where I hated wearing pants even though i'm a size 7, simply because I really hated how the muffin top looked.

I spent about 2 months doing extensive research on what to do and decided on Smart Lipo. I had 6 consultations total and what cinched my decision was 1) how I felt about the doctor, and 2) the many positive smart lipo reviews written about him. I also contacted several patients directly via realself.com to ask for some personal feedback (and I'm really grateful for the responses).

In my pre-op appointment, I was advised to stop all herbal medications, multivitamins and fish oil (many of which have a tendency to increase bleeding). I don't smoke nor drink, but you are advised to do neither for the two weeks prior. I was also told which compression garment to order, and was given four prescriptions to fill (anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, pain reliever, and a sedative).

For a week prior to surgery, I have also been taking arnica montana (homeopathic remedy to reduce brusing and swelling).

Here is my day by day journal:

Day Before
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I was all ready for the surgery. Up until this point I had completely avoided even thinking about it. I figured I'd leave getting nervous until the last possible minute :-). I packed a bag with my compression garment and my 4 prescriptions. I was to begin the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory the night before surgery, which I did. All in all I felt pretty expectant.

Day of
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As instructed, I had a nice big protein breakfast with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds. I arrived bright and early at 8am with my wonderful boyfriend who kept singing "bye-bye muffin tops, bye-bye muffin tops" which had me cracking up. Jennifer was the lady assisting with the surgery and welcomed me. She is just the best - awesome, awesome, awesome. Talk about someone putting my mind at ease. My blood pressure was taken and I put on a surgical gown. Jennifer did absolutely everything she could to make sure I was relaxed, comfortable, and ready. The doctor arrived and we got "down to business" immediately. He drew various markings on my abdomen and flanks while I was standing, so that he would know from where to remove what. then I went into the surgical room. Flanks were done first, followed by love handles/abdomen.

Oh my gosh. I was not prepared for the pain. I had just taken 2 halcion and 1 percocet and had hoped I woudn't feel much but jeeeeez, it was painful. There would be periods of nothing, followed by jabs that hurt. Within 5 mins I was sobbing like a baby. Wonderful, wonderful Jennifer kept reassuring me and making me feel at ease, she was a godsend. I don't remember much beyond that except for intermittent pain. I'm not sure if I whimpered and complained the entire time or just the beginning (hopefully the latter). I don't remember leaving and I don't remember getting home (my boyfriend later told me I was telling everyone I was just fine as I kept nodding off and swaying as I walked! he and Jennifer wheeled me to the car in a wheelchair). I don't remember getting crawling up the stairs and getting smothered in kisses by the dog, and I don't remember getting into bed.

5 hours later I woke up in bed, lying on surgical sheets. All together there were 6 very small incisions (I was actually very happy to see how small they were) 3 on the back and 3 on the front. I had on an adult diaper with 6 maxipads, one over each incision. Two of the maxipads were soaked through with leaking fluid (totally normal and expected), the others were minimally soaked. My boyfriend helped me get into the compression garment and put 6 new maxipads over the incisions. The incisions are purposely left open to allow for the necessary drainage, which helps drastically reduce post operative swelling from what I understand. I was starving, ate a wonderful dinner in bed, and changed the pads again. All in all, the pads were changed 5 times by midnight (drainage was quite reduced by then).

I went to sleep at midnight after taking meds and 1 percocet. I was not necessarily in "pain" but everything really, really ached. I slept on and off on my back. I didn't want to take the halcion as I really didn't like that weird amnesia feeling.

Day 1
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Well, I was shocked to actually feel pretty good! My hips and abdoment really ached though, and I needed help sitting up. But within minutes I was gently walking around and within an hour felt great! The bleeding had completely stopped during the night. I mean, I felt so good that I called the doctor to tell them how I was (as instructed) and asked if I could do a 5 mile walk with some friends. The answer, of course, was a resounding NO! It's really important to take it easy and do light, gentle walking. Overdoing it = major swelling. The compression garment feels good. Had a very quiet day. I was previously advised by my massage therapist to do some gentle bouncing on a large pilates ball (sit on the ball and do gentle pulses to stimulate the lymphatic flow). I did that for 15 mins, twice during the day.

I have to sit up/down and stand up/down carefully as everything is really sore. But I'm not in any pain and have taken no pain meds at all today. I have very, very little bruising which is a surprise (I don't know if that is due to the arnica montana but I'm very grateful as I usually bruise very easily). My abdomen feels rather numb and puffy under the compression garment, normal and to be expected.

So far, so good. The pain of the surgery seems like a long distant memory and it's only a day away! :-) I will continue to update daily with progress. I will also post pictures soon.