Good Experience with my Recent Surgery : Lipoabdominoplasty with Umbilical Hernia Repair:

Lipoabdominoplasty with Umbilical Hernia Repair: I have been working on my weight loss since Jan 2024. (110kg wight) My weight loss was working fine with walking and diet, but my tummy was not going inside. Hence in Austin around March I scheduled an appointment with Plastic surgeon (Laparoscopy) in Austin Texas. My A1C in Jan was 7.1 and March is reduced down to 6.7.(Weight 103 Kg) He recommended me to meet with a civil surgeon as seen some issues with umbilical hernia. So, two weeks later I visited a civil surgeon, and he identified an issue with umbilical hernia. So, if I have to do surgery I need to work with two surgeons and follow the schedule. Civil surgeons do his part of umbilical hernia repair and plastic surgeon do the part of laparoscopy. I gave another thought a consulted with my school friend from Thane Dr Girish Sawant and he recommended / refereed with Dr Sameer Karkhanis from Thane. I started interacting with Dr Sameer for medical more in-depth technical conversation with Dr Sameer via email followed by photos and virtual consultations. I forwarded him a few pictures of my tummy as well as medical reports from Primary care, Plastic surgeon and civil surgeon from Austin. Dr Sameer responded to me promptly and answered my all the questions and risks with surgery. He provided accurate estimates of costs and other details. After all the discussions I planned to have surgery in Thane than Austin. The decision was based on convenience to do both the surgeries from one doctor/surgeon than the cost. I decided to travel from Austin from 3rd June reach Thane on 5th June do the pre-operation medical/blood tests at Jupiter and have surgery at Dr Karkhanis hospital on 6th June. His office also guided me to schedule appointments earlier so place will be sure for 5th June. I started from Austin on 3rd June and luckily flights were on time and reached Thane on 5th June morning around 2:30 am in the morning. Slept properly and woke up around 7 am. Some of the blood work needs to be done fasting so went to Jupiter directly. Did fasting blood work /tests first and had heavy breakfast at Jupiter. Most of the tests are done by 11 am and then went to Dr Karkhanis hospital around 11:30 am. He welcomed me and we did in person checking and conversation for the first time. We had discussion about risks and did checkups and everything looked good. After that met my parents and sister. Then in the evening I need to do fitness certificate down and that part becomes some challenge or bit opportunity on proactive communication. Anesthetist Dr Richa Mathur and other doctor Dr Pande feels some lungs improvement after long travel and my sleep anemia issue. Dr Sameer called me at late night, and we discussed postponing the surgery to 8th June instead of 6th June. That decision was very good as that will help post recovery sooner. Two days extra time helped me to complete my bank work as well as meet relatives and got enough rest before surgery and jet lag. On 8th June, morning Dr Richa Mathur and Dr Sameer communicated me things are looking good. They had a consultation with Dr Jaspreet too. The decision was made to go with epidural instead of full body anesthesia. 9:30 am pictures taken. Around 10:30 am I was taken to the OT room and started pre operation procedure. Dr Richa asked me which music I like to listen to, and things were going properly. I was awake during surgery, and we were having chit chat going on (from politics to other things in Austin). It was a good experience and around 6:20 pm I was back in the recovery room. It went a little bit longer and Dr Sameer said things are looking good. Hospital staff were cooperative, and nurse were to support almost 24*7. Earlier discussion was only two days hospitalization is good after surgery but looking at nursing care I decided to stay for 5 days. After that got discharged and moved home and for the first few days food intake was slow. But hospital staff was always for me to support on Phone which was helpful. We had another 11th Day in person inspection and the doctor cleared me out to fly back to Austin on 22nd June. He gave me discharge reports as well as wheelchair was recommended and necessary precautions. I was also a little worried about how I would manage everything after coming back to Austin. After coming back to Austin things were fine. The flight journey was okay. But got flue from internal travel back and one 4th day sugar went low to 47 and had to call 911 and admitted to the hospital. After proper sugar intake they discharged me the next day and things went good after that. Lots of fluids and food helped me to recover back quickly. Dr Sameer was available on the phone to support. After 4 weeks almost 80 % of the wound recovered and the new skin came back. One area on the RHS one inch that recovery took another two weeks. Suddenly a leak started in that area, and I was worried. But Dr Sameer did virtual consultation via video and pictures. He assured me not to worry and leak will stay for couple of days. I applied the cream as well as did wound care as per instructions from him. Office started right away, and driving was in progress. After 6 weeks, ie on 21st July drove to Houston too, ie approx. 3 hours away from Austin. That gave me some confidence. Had virtual consultation again on 27th July. This is the first day I did my long walk other than routine walk. This weekend had 2.5 miles of walk in the neighborhood. My current weight is 90 Kg. Feels good. Recovery was eventful but always has expert support. Thank you, Dr Sameer, for everything. Amol Manduskar