46 Years Young - LBL with Gluteal lift + BL with BA (350cc Medium Plus profile Round/Silicone Implants) Incl Lipo - Deakin, AU

Background story on me:
I had my one and only baby 22 years ago (and at 22 years old she is still may baby!!) which left me with a stretched stomach and a front apron. Prior to my pregnancy had always had a flat(ish) stomach and after having my gorgeous daughter, it obviously never was to be the same again. I always missed my firm skin tummy and promised myself one day (if I could afford it) I would do something about it.
Life got so busy, loving/raising/caring for my daughter and my career were my priorities, during this time I also stacked on a whole heap of weight on two separate occasions.

I have recently lost near 40 kilograms (approx. 88 lbs), this has now left me with loose skin that requires a LBL rather than just a TT and I have lost my boobs!!!! I have always had great boobs but this last weight loss effort saw them saying "Au Revoir" for the very last time!
It has taken 18 months to lose most of the weight I want to lose and I have (and am still) committed to being the healthiest and fittest that I can be, for me - first and foremost, and for my beautiful daughter/best friend and my amazing and loving husband. I exercise most days (5-7 kilometre (approx. 3-4 miles) early morning fitness walks with interval jogging) and I include a challenging mountain walk on weekends. Exercise is now a very important part of my daily routine and I never thought that would ever be the case for me but once you set your mind to it and commit to yourself, strange and wonderful things happen. I also gave up smoking and I don't miss it one bit!!! I feel amazing and now I want to look the best I can look, for me, without my clothes on and better when wearing my clothes.

2015 - the year of change:
For the first time ever, I gave serious thought to my plastic surgery wish list - mainly I wanted a TT and BL and BA. I researched surgeons interstate (mainly Sydney) and I also briefly toyed with the idea of going to Thailand. Sydney (although only a 3 hour one way drive from Canberra where I live) would end up being a pain in the rear with having to go back and forth for pre and post OP medical appointments and Thailand was just all too scary - I have been stalking RS and another site for a couple of years, I knew what I was signing up for in regards to the surgery/risks/pain/lack of mobility and the thought of being in pain or having any complications in a foreign country was not worth the risk and neither was risking my one and only body. I love Thailand but I will keep it for holiday/vacation purposes only.

My best friend had decided on a local and highly reputed plastic surgeon for her BR, knowing how fussy she is and also knowing how much research she does on anything prior to making any decision (buying a set of towels or having a breast reduction - all big decisions requiring lots of research!), I decided to have my first ever plastic surgery appointment - it was booked for Friday, 18 September. It took a few weeks to get to see Dr Milovic which was a bit stressful as I had also decided that if I was going to do my surgeries, it would have to be in mid-October when I got back from my overseas vacation. (1) I would be rested and ready for major surgery and (2) I was lucky enough to have someone with great experience cover my job role while I was overseas for two weeks and it would be easier to extend her time in my position (and I would feel less guilt about being absent from my workplace because my temp is amazing!) if I could have my surgery when I returned back to Australia.

Long story short - it was meant to be, I get back from overseas on Sun, 11 October and Dr Milovic had a long surgery appointment available on Thu, 15 October and after the first consultation (which I will put in another blog) being very successful, was booked and confirmed for surgery prior to departing overseas on Tue, 29 September. May I add....doing it this way was a wee bit stressful and if it wasn't for the support and unconditional love of my husband during this time, I may well have been committed due to insanity and having a stress melt-down.

I am currently laying in my hotel room on my last night, having decided while I have been on holidays and talking to my husband about everything, that I am going to blog about my journey - how I got here, my doctor's appointments, my fears, my excitement, my doubts...........everything! This is something completely out of my comfort zone and for those who know me, I am sweating, having hot flushes and feeling generally uncomfortable doing this but I want to do this because reading other people's advice, stories, pre and post surgery preparations, their emotional roller coaster rides has helped me so much with making my decision to do this. But this is also for me.....part of stepping outside of who I think I am being who I want to be......

I will be uploading lots of pre-photos when I return home in two days and once the surgery has happened (next week EEEEKKK), lots of post photos - the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly....(hopefully not too much ugly...)

Thanks for joining me on this journey, I hope we can entertain one another along the way...

My husband and I attended my first consultation with Dr Milovic, I remember being so nervous driving to his office. Why?
I think I was so nervous was because I knew that I had to strip down and even after losing all the weight I wanted to lose, this was very confronting for me.

What if he said there was nothing he could do to help me look physically the way I felt on the inside?
That sounds stupid now that I write it and re-read it but that is exactly how I felt. I have also always been a bit of a prude (compared to my best fiend, my daughter and husband who all seem to be part of some nudist colony - always getting their kit off and flashing it around) so just taking my clothes off in front of the Doctor but also his Business Manager (his love wife Sonja), who was there to actually make me feel more comfortable, was terrifying for me. But.......
I had nothing to worry about. We met in Dr Vlad's office first and we discussed what I wanted to have done (at this point I was there for a consultation for a TT, BL with BA and some lipo on my outer thighs) and he asked me lots of questions about me prior to having a baby (22 years ago) prior to my most recent weight-loss and then suggested that I may not get the results that I seemed to want just from having a TT, I may wish to consider a LBL with a full abdominoplasty to get the best results. I thought you could tuck a bit here, suck out a bit over there and all good. No. That is not how it works and once Dr Vlad explained to me about skin quality and symmetry (what I would look like front, side and back rather than just what I could see from the front) I started to understand that what i wanted was a little more complex......it was time to go into his consultation room, take off my clothes and see what Dr Vlad had in mind for my life-changing surgery.
He showed me by drawing on me where he would cut, what he would take away, what would be lifted - EVERYTHING! It was very impressive and it was at that point that I knew that if I was going to do this, it was ALL or NOTHING!
My husband was 100% with backing me that the LBL including the full abdominoplasty, BL with BA plus lipo to sculpt the areas of concern was the way to go, he said to me that I would not be happy with just the TT and he didn't want me to go through all of this to be disappointed with the end result.

The next part was the exciting part, what sort of boobs did I want?
Interestingly, it wasn't like I had a huge choice, Dr Vlad is very much about the size that will suit your chest size, what boobs you have now, the skin quality on both your upper and lower pole area - all I knew was I wanted my boobs lifted so I could choose to wear a backless/thin strapped dress without a bra and I wanted my volume back - I want perky, big boobs without looking like I was about to step onto a [RS bleep] film set (nothing wrong with that, just not what I wanted). I also needed to take into consideration that I exercise every day and didn't want them hitting me in the chin as I jogged and I also want to be able to buy pretty/sexy bras at the shops. The last thing I want is to have to order special sized bras online.........
Dr Vlad and Sonja said to try the 250cc and 300cc bra filler - I said to Sonja the 300 felt good but I was hoping to be a bit bigger. We tried the 375cc filler and that felt good but Dr Vlad said that he wouldn't go larger than 350cc for my chest size - I trust him and he knows that I definitely want as much volume as possible without the implant busting out at the top/sides. He is known for his amazing boob jobs in Canberra and I am happy to take his advice and trust he will give me amazing boobs, again!

We are given the quotes (one to include just a TT and the other with the TT and LBL) and an amazing folder of information about all the surgeries, pre and post OP information - I was so impressed, we hadn't even booked the surgery with him and we were given all of this. The quotes were both what I was expecting, I did have this moment where I thought I should not afford to do this, we should be concentrating on saying off our mortgage but my husband was adamant that this was something that was important to me. Ever since we met 11 years ago, I had always wanted and now was the time to do it. I cannot thank my husband enough for supporting me through this huge decision and being so understanding about me wanting to do this and also spending that amount of money.

Dr Vlad was very insistent that I took enough sick leave to cover my recovery, he asked for 4 to 6 weeks at first. I have taken 3 weeks in the first instance to be negotiated with Dr Vlad closer to the time. Thankfully my work has also been very supportive and I have been blessed to have a wonderful temp cover my position for the time I am away.
Dr Vlad also speaks with my husband in regards to him being able to take Carer's Leave and also explains to him that I will be pretty useless for the first week or so after the operation, was he prepared for me being like that? He really wanted my husband to understand how much support I would require after the operation, that was so lovely of him to explain this to my husband but I am pretty lucky to have an awesome, caring and loving husband.
Luckily, my husband can take unlimited time to care for me and is also able to work from home, if required, in an emergency. I am lucky to have a great support team at home with my husband, daughter and my Mum, who lives close by.

The best news is that Dr Vlad has a long surgery availability in Canberra a few days after I get back from overseas. Everything is falling into place, we book the date and now it is all happening.
It is meant to be.............

I promise, photos are coming....

Helloo...

I am finally back home from overseas and feeling a little weary but I wanted to upload my pre-surgery photos so that I can start the pictorial part of my review/blog.

I think, to date, this is actually the hardest part of the process - even harder than taking my clothes off for Dr Vlad and Sonja!!!
I look at the photos and that is not what I feel like inside, I feel strong, healthy and fit but I look at these photos and they do not tell the same story. Why is this so?
I am not bummed out or depressed but I find it very interesting how the physical look of my body is not at all reflective to how I feel within myself.

I am so proud of the effort I have put into becoming the best ME, my regular exercising, eating heathy and well but not restricting myself either (I love food and I will never be a slave to eating food as fuel and not for enjoyment), giving up smoking and being so fit and so much stronger! The photos do not reflect any of this, it is like I am a different person inside and out and hopefully this surgery will bring the two closer together.

Tomorrow I have some last minute blood work to do early in the morning, check everything is OK with the hospital and my private health insurer and then we will be preparing my recovery suite downstairs (my bedroom is upstairs and I am not sure if stairs will be good for me in the first week after the operation).

I will get back to everyone who has so kindly messaged me tomorrow, I am ready for a BIG sleep in my own bed - LOVELY.

Night all xx