Life is What You Make It - Getting a Yily Body January 2017! - Dominican Republic, DO

Here's my first entry on my DR surgery journey. I've been doing research for a year, though only researching medical tourism for the past several months. It hadn't occurred to me before and I had been looking at having a butt lift and tummy tuck locally when I started reading more in RealSelf and started to read stories about Dominican Republic and realized how steep the price difference was for the same procedures. Not just the price, but the routine nature of the dramatic hourglass shape and willingness to do butt/tummy together which seems like less of a common decision among american surgeons. Anyway, I arrived at the decision to go to DR, to a doctor who performs t his combination of procedures routinely and for a better price, and while there I'm getting an arm lift, because why spend so much effort and money on my body and still feel weird about sagging skin non my arms? Here's a little background where I'll focus on what brought me to this point, and I'll share details about travel and preparation in subsequent posts. I have two kids and am having my third, actually by scheduled c-section six days from now!! I had my first at 18, gained almost 100lbs, and I've basically been obese for the majority of my adult life. I spent a good 15 years tipping the scales at over 300 pounds, and came down a bit after the birth of my son into the mid 200s where I've been for the past 7 years, until last year. Last year I met the love of my life (who I married this year) and in a place of happiness and love I found all this inspiration and drive to become better, healthier, happier, the best that I could be so that I could share the best of me with this amazing person who made me feel so good. I ended up losing a lot of weight through healthy eating and exercise and had this emotional realization of like... opening my eyes to how beautiful I was and could be. For years of my life I'd told myself a certain narrative about being very smart and valuable and "above" the need for beauty, never realizing that narrative was just a way to make peace with all the weight. I learned through experiencing beauty at new levels that it has value and feels flipping fantastic. And I realized I was beautiful and allowed myself to embrace that outward beauty was becoming important to me. The difference in my face was extreme, but so was the difference in what I felt I could do, and what I felt I could obtain. I've spent so many years of my life seeing very attractive women with hourglass bodies and certain shapes and never thinking any of that could be for me and upon realizing I can have anything I work for, I've arrived at this place where I am ready (and very excited) about shedding the evidence of years of obesity (like the loose skin on arms and belly) and kick it up a notch with an amazing ass. I'm excited for all the new clothes I will wear and how I will feel. I'm excited for my husband who followed his heart and saw the beautiful girl in me before I started to blossom. I'm excited for the pride he will feel on the other side of this transformation along with the pride I will feel. I'm thankful for his love and support and the role he's played in my own improvement. Many of you know that body transformations are often as much emotional as they are physical. I'm scheduled with Dr. Yily on January 11, 2017 and can't wait for the outward manifestation of a whole new life and mindset, where I'm healthier and happier and more beautiful than I ever imagined I would be.

So here's where I'm at so far. The $6700 I was quoted includes the all inclusive package for: Tummy tuck Butt lift Liposuction of flanks/back/belly/arms Arm lift (brachioplasty) Recovery House accommodations: 10 days, 9 nights in a triple room, including food/drinks - I'm staying at Serenity Round Trip Airport Transportation from Las Americas - SDQ Round Trip Transportation for all doctor visits related to surgery Stage 1 Faja Initial pre-op lab workup Definite additional costs will be: Medical Insurance: $150 USD. You must purchase this insurance prior to surgery. It is mandatory. Blood Transfusion: $250 USD to be returned if blood transfusion not necessary. Compression Socks: $20 USD. Overnight Caregiver: $50 USD. Costs still to work out will be: Recovery supplies - need to contact Recovery House and see what they provide and go from there Medications - can I get from American PCP or pay $250 to get them in DR Stage 2 Faja Compression sleeves for after arm lift Lymphatic massages $25/each I need to figure out if I should get them every day in DR. Airfare - I'm thinking I'll be able to get completely with credit card rewards points but we'll see what happens Tourism Card - $10 - I've heard this is required. Passport - $150 Some flip flops and maxi dresses for wearing at Recovery House. I've paid my $300 deposit and secured my surgery date. This is where I'm at so far with a little over 7 months to go to sort out additional details! :)

So, when I decided I was going to have surgery and when I paid my deposit and confirmed it, I was 9 months pregnant which is a big reason why my Sx is so far in the future. But I needed time to coordinate it properly with three children, a demanding job, and needing to schedule my time off so that I have vacation time (I'm on maternity leave now) and coverage at work.

Now that my deposit is paid and I've received confirmation from Yily's office and from Serenity Recovery House, it feels very real. My husband and I are now looking at everything there is "to do" before hand and spacing out purchases/preparations.

Another exciting element to this trip is that I've never left the USA. It's one of the things I'm kind of ashamed of in my life. Living and working in NYC for so long, I know so many worldly people. I've done a lot of reading and studying on all sorts of places, politics, religions and so forth but I've never left the country! So I'm getting a body I've never thought I'd have, and I'm also leaving the country. Two dreams coming true in one trip and I can't wait.

I'm just spending a lot of time reading, focusing on the preparation people have done before hand. So if there's anything you bought and couldn't live without, let me know! If you bought anything that was a waste and you never used it, let me know that too :) I'd love to hear others experiences.

As of now, as I just mentioned I just had a baby 3 weeks ago, I'm about 30 pounds above where I'd like to be when I go in, and about 15 pounds from the BMI threshold of 35. I have just over six months though so I don't feel any issues with losing the 30 pounds. I lost around 80 pounds last year so I have a low carb/high protien game plan with a lot of cardio. Only I'll be taking more vitamins than before so I can keep my hemoglobin up.

Another thing that's heavy on my mind is finding a new doctor. I have to find a new doctor because I moved to New Jersey 4 months ago, but since I was pregnant I had been following up with my NYC OB/GYN until now. So it's time to find a local primary doctor, and one part of my selection process will be their willingness/open mindedness supporting my trip to DR and possibly prescribing medications for that trip and so on.

Is there a way to buddy up with people in my local area just to talk to them? I live in central New Jersey and I've seen that some of the DR Dolls have come from New Jersey as well and I'm just wondering if there's any local sx networking to be done.

I'm adding my before pictures, as I look today, and I still want to lose 30 lbs. I have sooooo much excess skin from prior obesity/weight loss and I can't WAIT to be rid of it.

I may end up wanting a breast lift in a year but we'll see what happens. For now I can't wait for my tummy tuck, bbl, arm lift. <3