29yr Old, Mother of 1, Lipo on Upper & Lower Abs Plus Flanks - Dallas, TX

So the night before my surgery I didn't get much sleep as i kept thinking it was time to get up since my appointment was at 5 am. Idk if I was anxious or nerves kicking in.... so when I made it to my appt i had to sign a few docs and take a pregnancy test just to make sure surgery could still take place.

So I met with Nurse Deb at American Lipo Center on Dallas, Tx who is great and she gave me my first set of med to relax me for the next 30 mins. These meds began to getting feeling calm and released all anxiety I was having. The 2nd set meds were given and about another 1hrs I was ready for Dr Baker to come in and mark the areas to be worked on me. I was glad I did have the privelage of meeting Dr Baker at my preop appt a week prior to surgery.

So once I laid on the table. Dr Baker gave me 4 shots in which 2 were just above vaginal area and 2 below/slightly under boobs. This allowed access to my upper and lower abs. Then for my flanks I received 2 more incisions that were right above my butt. The worst part of getting the cuts/incisions is the needle/medicine stinging so the small section could be numb before scalpel was used. This was a quick process and the stinging sensation was over in the blink of an eye.

The real deal process started in which Dr Baker use those entry points to numb up everything, followed by laser to melt away everything and finally the suctioning of the fat. This part if process had some areas that were a little painful just because of extra sculpting done by Dr Baker to remove addtl fat so that end result is smooth, even and consistent. The entire process took about 2hrs. Which wasn't long at all. Yay!

After the nurse and Dr gave me a final look over I was bandaged and placed in my stage 1 garment. Note prior to this surgery my waist size was 33/34" now the garment I'm wearing for recovery is a 26-28" so that's progress right there.

Overall there was very little pain during actual laser lipo process with the exception of when Dr had to get close areas like my upper rib cage.

I appreciate Dr. Baker and his Nurse Debbie as they have been amazing and even called to check on me later that day to see how I was doing. They were both pleasant and professional each time I met them. During the procedure they had light music playing which was great cuz I didn't have to use my headphones to listen to my own music.

For my car ride home I remember basically nothing lol and after I got home my sis helped me change incision padding. I also took a pain pill as prescribed as my initial surgery meds were wearing off. I ate a chicken salad from Chickfila with some Gatorade and water. I got in some really good sleep for a few hrs and had a snack of green apples with peanut butter. Once my daughter got home we spent some family time watching a movie and i had some water, small fries and whopper Jr from Burger king of (not healthy i kno :( but baby steps.

FYI the prescribed pain meds work great only downside is I'm sleepy. So it's taken me several hours to write this one post....sleeping on my back and being slightly elevated with the use of pillows have been working great! Good night/day

So getting some sleep went OK as its definitely more comfortable to sleep on my back slightly elevated by 3 pillows.

I've been taking pain meds about every 6hrs. Along with antibiotics 2x a day plus my Vit c with zinc, multivitamin and iron pills. Whew that's a lot.

I've noticed I don't have a huge appetite and don't crave sugars/chocolate which is my absolute favorite.

Leaking or draining has stopped which is great. Got to take a shower and let me tell u the worst pain is taking off this compression garment for the 1st time and this was with the help of my sister I still cried.

Shower was as good as it can get. Touching my stomach feels weird like 'phantom feeling' as I get occasional itching that I can't really reach. Had my sister wash and dry my garment while I took a shower and since it was still drying I just wore my binder which feels better than not wearing any garment at all

FYI it really does help to sit up straight and walk as much as possible as I was definitely getting stiff if I sat down too long.

My appetite still low as I had oatmeal for breakfast, soup and crackers for lunch and a baked potatoe for dinner which I ate half and then ate other half for a really late dinner since I was still up.

I can see a difference in my stomach from before till now despite being swollen a d bruised which I'm drinking plenty of water, Gatorade a d pineapple juice and being sure to limit salt intake

Day 3 not so bad so far .... just ensuring I drink plenty of fluids. Still no real appetite but focusing on eating healthy when I do. Still takin pain meds every 6 hrs although pain is tolerable. I've noticed my flanks are still itchy and I'm still swollen but 1 day at a time.

So day 2 I was able to remove my garment to shower and took some initial pics to track my progress. Definitely some bruising. I'm glad incisions are really small.

Can't wait for swelling to go down so I can see more realistic view of what my final look will be as I still need to get my umbilical hernia corrected as my next surgery.