"The Next Time You're Thinking About Beautiful Things, Don't Forget to Count Yourself!" -Sx completed-8/27/16-Dominican Republic

Sorry dolls, I've been MIA but healing nicely. Today I am 23days post and most of the itching and pain has subsided. I am still very swollen and some days I swell more than others but so far, I am happy with my results. I've neglected this site a bit as I've found myself updating more on Instagram instead. Thank you ladies so much for the warm wishes, concerns and support. If anyone has questions, please DM me as I get those notifications and can respond more quickly. I was scheduled for sx 8/25, my Hemo was only 11.7 so I got iron IV treatments for 2days and brought it up to a 13.2. It was 14.5 the week prior but I donated blood to find out my blood type, which was a bad idea. I had sx 8/27, I got lipo, TT and BBL and had no complications, no excessive bleeding or bruising and did not have to get a blood transfusion, which was my fear. My Hemo dropped to a 10 after sx. I stayed at Serenity2 recovery house and overall, I enjoyed it. I had a private room which was very clean and my laundry and room was cleaned regularly. The food was good, some days it was heavy but each meal included salad and it tasted really good. The cook brought me snacks throughout the day and always made sure I drank lots of beet juice to keep my Hemo up. The nurses allowed me my privacy and I was able to relax during my recovery. Only 2 nurses spoke English and they were at the recovery house on seep rate days, the other nurses and I often used google translate and the wifi was good in the house the majority of my stay. The in house masseuse Sarah was the truth, I loved her because she did awesome work, paid attention to my body and called my doctor personally when my drain broke and I couldn't reach her. I got 8massages total and left DR at 8 days post to come home. My flight was great and I had no excessive swelling.
When I arrived in DR after I completed my labs for sx, I met up with my dentist to get fitted for my veneers and then I had my temps placed, it took about 4hrs; I was so tired because I had been in airports all day beginning at 2am and upon arriving in DR, I had to go straight to the clinics for labs. I arrived to my recovery house that day around 9pm, ate and went to sleep. I completed my dental work the day before I left by having my permanents put in place. Dental work was painless and fast; Dr. Beltre did an awesome job and was very attentive and upfront with me. The cost was great and it was definitely worth every penny! I would recommend him any day.
Ok, back to the sx...the first 2 days post were most difficult for me as I was very sore, broke both of my drains and couldn't do much on my own, basically I stayed in bed and did minimum walking. I was so afraid of getting a seroma or something worse since my drains broke and I could t get in contact with my doctor after the sx, her communication was very poor after, before the sx it was amazing. I ended up getting a fever, didn't have much of an appetite either so I got 2 additional iron IV treatments. Ladies, please bring extra cash for the unexpected! Most of my extra cash went to Meds and IV treatments! Day 3 was better, I got my 1st massage, one of my drains had fallen out so the masseuse removed it completely after talking to Dr Baez and I forced myself to get up, move around and care for myself. Day 4, everything turned around for me and I was feeling pretty normal. I was up and about just like I hadn't even had sx! I wasn't retaining much fluid, thank God and I ended up rigging my drain so that I was draining something. Day 4 was my first follow up appointment and the doctor removed the second drain since it was also broken and she told me compress,compress,compress; I did not get it replaced. That day, I had my first BM without any problem(probably because I had started taking stool softeners 3days prior to sx) so that battle I won! I did not buy a stage 2 faja in DR, I brought 2 extra Fajas with me and just got my stage 1faja taken in from an xl to a small waist and did the same for one of the others I brought along. I packed my faja that day with 3 lipo foams, back board and 2 foam belly boards I purchased from my masseuse since it was softer than my ab board against my TT incision, I did use my ab board but not until day 7 post. Oh also dolls, don't stress yourself out, I was in pain so I decided to not sacrifice my comfort and be miserable during my recovery so since day 1, I've been sitting on my bum periodically; I do not think it's gone anywhere. The week I returned home, I gained 9lbs... Stay away from the scale, it could have been just swelling and inflammation. I'm now back to my pre-surgery weight and hoping that I lose more as the swelling continues to go down. Well, here's some pics of my journey and progress.

Ok so I arrived on August 24th, completed all my labs and learned that my Hemo was low so I couldn't get sx August 25th! Realized that when I donated blood 7 days prior(at that time Hemo was 14) it caused my Hemo to drop(now it's 11.4). I went back to my recovery home(Serenity 2) & started iron IV infusion treatments and took my vitamins to try to bring it up. I go back to get it retested today and if over 12, sx will be tomorrow...we'll see! Oh and yes, I was also able to start my dental work when I arrived so next Friday I will go to get my permanent veneers. I have temps in now!

Ok so I am still trying to lose weight, I'm down 20lbs since starting July 3 and I'm working hard to lose another 10-15lbs within the next 3wks, we'll see! So far I'm really proud of myself whether I achieve my goal weight or not. Basically, I'm trying to keep my daily calorie consumption to less than 1200 calories and I drink lots of water, working on increasing my workouts to 4-5 days weekly for optimal weightloss!