Very Thankful - Gainesville, FL

I'm 33 years old and after a 90+ lb weight loss, I was left with loose saggy skin all over my body. I did a lot of soul searching and knew that to be truly happy with myself, I'd need to get rid of the skin. The scars will fade but the skin was not going away.

After 4 consults, I chose the best doctor in the area. He is doing my surgeries in 2 stages. The first stage is the LBL and lipo of the outer thighs (no matter how much I exercise, the fat pockets on my thighs wouldn't go away). The 2nd stage will be over labor day - arm lift, thigh lift, and breast lift.

Here's my experience so far with the LBL. I showed up yesterday at the office at 7:30. After passing all the test - BP, pregnancy test, etc, the PS came in and marked my body. I was in the OR by 8:30. The nurses gave me a sponge bath of warmed up brown goo (can't remember what its called) then off to la la land I went. I woke up around 1 p.m. I was vre y groggy and disoriented for awhile. Oh and I was in PAIN, oh my, it was the worst pain I have ever felt. The nurse told me they removed 7.5 lbs of skin - craziness because I didn't think I had that much and skin doesn't weigh that much. By 3:30 p.m., I was in a wheelchair on my way home. My mom was with me and I'm very thankful that she is a nurse.

After making it up 3 flights of stairs, yes I live in a 3rd floor walk up. I crashed in a reclining chair. The positive is that they sent me home with the foley - I was upset at first but now I think it's the best thing ever. I'm sleeping a little at a time and taking meds every 4 hours. My first post op appt is on Thursday - super excited to see myself without the compression garment. I'll post pics at a later time.