My Experience for a New Me - Iowa

On Friday, 5/11/12, I had my pre-op appointment. It was at 10:15am, everything went ok for the most part. Had many questions. I was told I can't drink anymore tea!!! apparently it's a blood thinner. Also told I couldn't hula hoop anymore because it was causing bruising on my hip bone area. (I started hooping with a weighted hoop for exercise) I was also told that I can no longer tan, which SUCKS because I haven't been tanning and I wont be able to tan for a while afterwards so that means I'll be so WHITE!!!! I asked about the marble thing, he kind of laughed and said no, no marble, he uses some gauze in the belly button and it turns out fine. I asked about the silicone sheets to help reduce scarring, he said it was actually quite difficult to keep the silicone sheets in place in that area and that he prefers using medical tape. He did say that my stretch marks will still be located to where my new belly button is, but I'm hoping he is just not trying to get my hopes up. He said I have great ab muscles! WOO-HOO! I don't know why but that's awesome, he had to feel them, thats how he could tel, I can't really go show off my ab progress right now so those complements are awesome. Now when I went my blood pressure was VERY high and they were very concerned. It was 150/110, they wanted me to check it later so I went to a clinic on the same floor as my office and a nurse kindly checked if for me and it was 162/102... I called and let them know. They want me to keep an eye on it. I'm hoping it was just nerves, I CAN'T reschedule this surgery... They took before pictures. I made a lot of jokes (as I usually do when I'm nervous) and said he could totally use me as a before and after advertisement so that he would do a better job with the added pressure :). He just laughed. I genuinely do feel comfortable with Dr. Barnard. I trust him and am glad I went this route and didn't try to find any cheaper alternative elsewhere. I did look around and out of everyone I've talked to Dr. Barnard has a fantastic ethical review, he is highly recommended, and his staff has been a pleasure to work with. One week from tomorrow you guys... I'm terrified...

It is May 22nd. Day after my procedure was done. I came home today. I have no idea what the results look like. I have the drain tubes in place, it hurts to move. When I do move to get up to go the the bathroom I have moments where I get overwhelmingly hot and start to sweat profusely. There is quite a bit of pain. Especially in moving. I learned that my arm muscles use up too much of my abdominal muscles to rely on the for movement, so my legs combined with rolling have been the best way for me. Wont see my results until Thursday, (today is Tuesday) Keeping fingers crossed that this is awesome....