Hello, I'm 32, 5'7", 175 lbs (hope to be 160 by surgery) high weight 230. Pretty physically active. Run about 8-10 miles a week and yoga and gym time 3-4 times aweek. I have 5 kids. The first was when I was only 18 so I've been suffering with a tummy pooch and deflated breasts for a long time. I suck at keeping my weight gain in check during pregnancy and I breastfed so each kiddo has added their own toll on my body with further stretch marks and sag. The 3rd pregnancy being full term twins and the 4th being a 9lb9oz monster didn't help things either. I think all things considered my body looks pretty good. I've been researching doctors and procedures, and have gone on several consults here locally. My first choice quoted me 18600 for a TT, BL and BA. :-O I considered taking out a medical loan as I don't even have half of that amount set aside but that would have been hard to make work and the interest rates suck. Reading up on here led me to investigate going overseas for surgery. I've found a dr that I really like and am comfortable with. Got my quote today for 5900 for a lift, BA TT and lipo. Even with travel expenses I won't even pay half what I would here. So I'm ready to pull the trigger and start putting down deposits. So excited!
32yo, 5 Kids, Wanting TT, BA+lift and Lipo - Dominican Republic
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Gwyllion
- Not Sure
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Cost:
$5,900 - Luis A. Fernandez Goico, MD, Dominican Republic, DO
Hello, I'm 32, 5'7", 175 lbs (hope to be 160 by...
Update with before pics
Hey, decided to share some before pics.
I talked to my mom last night and she is on board with coming to the DR with me. She is a RN with over 30 years experience in the OR so that means I will be in good hands and can save some money and be more comfortable besides renting an apartment off of airbnb.
I applied for my passport so that will give me just enough time to get it by the 6 week max timeline. One less thing to do. I'm going to wire my Dr the money for my deposit cost thing in the morning. Just waiting on my savings transfer to clear. I'm wanting the surgery date on March 4th. I plan on flying out on the 1st that way I will have one whole day to get settled in and enjoy the beach before I have to get my preoperative stuff done on the 3rd. I'm so incredibly thrilled that this is finally happening. Been planning this for 6-7 years. It's past time.
I talked to my mom last night and she is on board with coming to the DR with me. She is a RN with over 30 years experience in the OR so that means I will be in good hands and can save some money and be more comfortable besides renting an apartment off of airbnb.
I applied for my passport so that will give me just enough time to get it by the 6 week max timeline. One less thing to do. I'm going to wire my Dr the money for my deposit cost thing in the morning. Just waiting on my savings transfer to clear. I'm wanting the surgery date on March 4th. I plan on flying out on the 1st that way I will have one whole day to get settled in and enjoy the beach before I have to get my preoperative stuff done on the 3rd. I'm so incredibly thrilled that this is finally happening. Been planning this for 6-7 years. It's past time.
Date set plus wish pics.
So after much scrambling to get dates approved and get my girlfreinds quote we now have our dates reserved! My big day is march 9th and my girlfriend has March 10th. It's so awesome she decided to travel and get a ba done at the same time. We booked our flights to get us out there the 3rd that way the flight was cheaper and we get to have a couple of days in the sun before surgery.
These pics are my wish pics. Hoping for a nice balanced hourglass figure. Kind of like kim kardashian BEFORE she had work done to enlarge her butt. Marilyn Monroe and Scarlet johansson are other good examples. I DON'T want a giant butt. The plan is to use a little lipo on the lower back and thighs to make the butt I have seem bigger.
These pics are my wish pics. Hoping for a nice balanced hourglass figure. Kind of like kim kardashian BEFORE she had work done to enlarge her butt. Marilyn Monroe and Scarlet johansson are other good examples. I DON'T want a giant butt. The plan is to use a little lipo on the lower back and thighs to make the butt I have seem bigger.
All reservations set
Hello everyone, I leave for the DR in exactly 2 weeks and I'm getting so excited. We've all gotten our passports and tourist cards. I have all our reservations placed and most of what I need trickling in from online orders and I'm packing as it gets here. I need to make a master list of what I need so I can check it off when it gets here. Although I'm not really worried about forgetting something. I'll just buy it in the Dr if I really need it.
I'm still working on weight loss. I'm down another 5 lbs to 169. It's going slower than I like, I've had a few setbacks. I'm sick with a cold ATM and I have a hard time controlling my eating with working extra time and taking care of the kids and getting everything ready. Hopefully I can get back on track and lose at least another 5 lbs before the big day. It's not as low as I was wanting but not too much off.
I'm worried about my kiddos and how they/we are gonna handle the separation. I've never been away for more than like 3 days and that was only one time. How are we gonna handle 3 weeks? I plan on using face time and all that, but I know it's the snuggle time we will all be really missing. My 2 year old still sleeps with me about half the time... It's gonna be rough.
I'm still working on weight loss. I'm down another 5 lbs to 169. It's going slower than I like, I've had a few setbacks. I'm sick with a cold ATM and I have a hard time controlling my eating with working extra time and taking care of the kids and getting everything ready. Hopefully I can get back on track and lose at least another 5 lbs before the big day. It's not as low as I was wanting but not too much off.
I'm worried about my kiddos and how they/we are gonna handle the separation. I've never been away for more than like 3 days and that was only one time. How are we gonna handle 3 weeks? I plan on using face time and all that, but I know it's the snuggle time we will all be really missing. My 2 year old still sleeps with me about half the time... It's gonna be rough.
Today is the day!
I'm packed and ready to go to the hospital for my surgery. Just waiting on the taxi. My stomach is all butterflies. This is so crazy that I'm actually here. Our apartment here in Santo domingo is awesome, cool breezes, awesome view right on the ocean and huge with plenty of space. We really lucked out. Dr Goico is awesome. He speaks nearly perfect English and he is very safety conscious. All my labs and tests came back good so that's all set. I'll update you guys on the flat side!
Day 2 update
Hello! I made it to the other side! The first day kinda sucked I have to admit. Didn't sleep well the night after the surgery so I was tired but no matter how I tried to sit I was really uncomfortable. My abs are the worst. Especially the few times i couldn't stop myself from coughing!! Man that hurts so bad! The second worse thing was getting into the faja the first time. One if the two nurses was really rough. Boo . I brought some hydrocodine from home though and took one before bed so I managed to sleep well last night. Thank God! Today I've been feeling so much better. I can't eat very much at a time and I don't feel like I can get a deep breath. He ended up putting 460cc microtextured medium profile implants in. He also removed 3liters of fat with the Lipo!! I didn't really think I had that much to remove! He said he was sad to throw it all out because it looked very healthy. I guess I'm good at making fat Lol! I also had a huge separation in my abdominal muscles. He didn't tell me exactly how wide, just showed me with his hands but I'm guessing he tightened me about 4 inches. 5 kids really stretches you out! That's why my abdomen hurts as much as it does. Anyways I'll leave you with a few photos and report back soon!
Quick update
Feeling much better now. It's day 5 after surgery and I'm back to mostly caring for myself. Haven't needed help getting up and down, in and out of bed or fetching things for at least a day or so. I just have to take things slowly and think about how to move. Twisting and bending wrong still causes burning pain near my drains and lipo areas. Oh and of course no lifting anything. I'm only on the milder pain killers now. Biggest thing bothering me is my back from hunching all the time. My out put from my drains is slowing down. I got my breast drain removed on Friday. My back drain put out 75 cc and my front 55 cc in the last 24 hrs. I'm hoping that's low enough to get the front removed today, but if not it will be tomorrow. That will be such a relief!
Drain drama
So on Monday my back drain clogged and I woke up that night with my faja and lipo foam soaked through. What a pain. We had to wash my faja and foam and man that foam takes forever to dry. I used the tube clip to strip the tube and it suddenly drained a whole bunch of fluid and the clot into the reservoir. It was really gross. By that night it had drained more than it had in the previous 24 hours so I definitely had a lot of fluid backed up needing to drain. My front drain has been slowly tapering off though so dr fg took it out at my appointment this morning. That one was so uncomfortable so I'm really happy it's out now.
Other than the drain drama I'm doing pretty good. My back bothers me more than anything else due to all the hunching. I could probably almost stand up straight by now but dr. Fg wants me to keep hunching for another week to keep tension off the TT incision so it stays nice and thin. All of his advice and recommendations as when I can start to do things like stand up straight, raise my arms, start to drive, wear normal bras, etc are all much further out than any other dr I've read. He's just very cautious with everything. It's a pain for me but it's a big reason he has such low complication rates and great results. He takes as few risks as possible. Its paying off, my results look great so far.
Other than the drain drama I'm doing pretty good. My back bothers me more than anything else due to all the hunching. I could probably almost stand up straight by now but dr. Fg wants me to keep hunching for another week to keep tension off the TT incision so it stays nice and thin. All of his advice and recommendations as when I can start to do things like stand up straight, raise my arms, start to drive, wear normal bras, etc are all much further out than any other dr I've read. He's just very cautious with everything. It's a pain for me but it's a big reason he has such low complication rates and great results. He takes as few risks as possible. Its paying off, my results look great so far.
He has really impressed me so far. First with his aesthetic work. He has very natural results that are exactly what I'm looking for. Most of the other doctors in the DR that I was looking at were much more over the top and voluptuous than I was looking for. I don't want to look like a Barbie doll. I want to fool you. ;-) Secondly he is more approachable and accessible than any doctor I've had in my life. He always responds to all my questions quickly, especially considering he is working all day besides. All the other Dr's I had quotes from had their assistants email me canned, scripted quotes, some of which weren't even for the procedures I had asked for! In fact now that I think about it, they still haven't gotten back to me with the quote I asked for. Their loss. I've picked someone who had the time to pretend they care. :-) Edit to add: Now that I am post op I have to say Dr FG is amazing. He is a complete perfectionist and is very concerned with quality over quantity. He is very conservative with his surgical technique and does not take risks because he wants to remain in control of his patients results. He spends way more time individually with each of his patients than any other doctor that I have even heard of and seems genuinely kind and caring. If you have a hard time getting a quote from him rest assured, it is because he is incredibly dedicated to caring for his current patients and he is totally worth waiting for. I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten into his surgery schedule when I did, but knowing what I know now he is totally worth waiting for no matter how long it takes. His office and clinic is very small but just as nice and clean as anything you would expect in the US. His assistant Karel is incredibly sweet and caring and is eager to help you any way she can. In fact I head home in just a few days and as much as I miss my kiddos I am already sad that I have to say goodbye to these incredible people. I feel like I'm more than just another patient to them but a good friend.
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