Tickle Lipo

I am three days post op from having tickle lipo done to my full abdomen and flanks. I am 39 years old 126lbs with three teenaged children, and I am a nurse. I had 500ml removed from my abdomen but not sure about the flank area. I want to mainly talk about the procedure itself. The procedure is rather expensive, about $2300 per area. You start the day before the procedure on an antibiotic twice daily for a week. You are also given 2 10mg toradol and 2 1mg Ativan you bring on the surgical day. You want to stop taking any blood thinning medications such as ibuprofen, aspirin, etc, about a week beforehand. They also suggest you drink a lot of water a few days beforehand to help with bruising. I followed all pre op instructions. I arrived with my driver in comfy clothes (joggers, flannel shirt and flip flops) I was told to take my toradol and Ativan and then was told to wait about 20 minutes for the meds to kick in. After that you are taken into a room for measurements and photos. You can wear your bra and they give you surgical underware. The doctor comes in to make his markings and then you are taken to the operating room. Here I laid flat on my back on what looks like a massage table and this is when I was given the nitrous gas. I highly suggest you take advantage of every bit of that you can get. The doctor comes in and makes his incisions. For the abdomen and flanks I have 11 total incisions. They are to my abdomen and my back. Then he inserts the cannula that releases the numbing medication into the areas to be treated. This is painful. I was not using the nitrous gas (I don't know why) but it was quite uncomfortable. He allows that to sit for a bit and then the lipo procedure starts. I will say I was sucking on that nitrous gas that I didn't feel a thing through the whole process. They had me turn and I was awake but pretty much out of it. When it was over (about 90 minutes) I was assisted with covering the incisions with pads (because you'll drain. A lot) and the pressure garnment was put on. I was given Vicodin for pain. That evening I was so sick. Throwing up all evening. The next day I was pretty sore. Not able to move much, needed help with garnment when using the restroom, I stayed in bed but took a short walk that evening. The second day post op I was still sore, noticed some brushing in my flanks and lower abdomen, I was getting around better, able to use the bathroom without garnment help, car rides were better. I am now three days post op, still bruised, still sore, but not too bad, and terribly itchy. I've read that it's the nerve fibers reacting to the trauma of lipo but it's a crazy itchy feeling. I love wearing my pressure garnment. It helps with the pain and I feel secure. The day after they have you return for a lymphatic massage, it's very light touch. I'm not sure if it did anything but it's included in the price. I also have two ultrasound heat massages that will help with skin smoothing. First one is 1 week post op and the second is 2 weeks post op. I am looking forward to those. I do have a lot of swelling too. I notice a difference in my flanks but nothing yet in my abdomen because of the swelling. I took pictures 2 days post op but the garnment kinda makes the areas look lumpy so I don't like the photos but I'll put them up anyway. You'll be able to at least see some of the bruising I have and I also have some stretch marks too (from my kids ????) and the swelling is pretty intense. I will update as my journey continues.

I didn't take before pics because I knew they would at the doctors office but I did find some photos of me in a bikini. As you can see I was pretty thick in my mid section which is what I wanted to fix.

It's been a week. It's getting better but I am still sore. Today info for my venous legacy massage so in sure that'll feel great. Returning ro work was a bit rough. I spend the majority of my work day driving my car and that was not comfortable at all but I'm getting through it. Bruising is better. Swelling is going down too.