11 Days Post Op - National Harbor, MD

DISCLAIMER: This is long, so I'm sorry in advance.

ME: I am 11 days post op and had "mid body liposuction" (meaning everything in the front and back from my underwear line--right below my former massive love handles--to my bra line). Like many of you, I was eating right and exercising (both cardio AND a lot of strength training), and still wasn't losing where I wanted to. I'm 19 years old and the biggest issue for me was my love handles (I had had them since I was about 12). They made me so depressed about myself because they were just plain difficult to hide and made me look fat. They were HUGE. Literally like another set of hips. Love handles were my main target but my surgeon advised mid-body in order to perfect the contouring, which made a lot of sense, and honestly wasn't in all that much more expensive.

THE SURGERY, IMMEDIATELY AFTER: My surgeon put me under general anesthesia (and I'm glad he did, all of you who only had local anesthesia are so brave!). I remember laughing to sleep and waking up totally out of it, trying very hard to be alert. I was pushed in a wheelchair by the nurse to my car (it seemed to be a very quick surgery) and my mom drove me home. It was very painful. The nurse suggested that I not take the pain meds in the car (even though I had food) because I might get nauseous. I wasn't hungry, but as time slowly went by my pain got worse. My pain medication was for a small dose of Percocet (which was definitely necessary, I literally started bawling from the pain when I tried to go upstairs and I have a high pain tolerance). It didn't kick in for about an hour, which again was not fun.

EXPERIENCE SO FAR: The first day was very rough. I was in so much pain, nauseous, bruised, exhausted...just hurting all over. I had a lot of trouble walking, even just to get to the bathroom. The swelling from bending to do so hurt very much, especially because I was swollen in my pubic area as well. My surgery was done on a Thursday so I was able to take two days from my internship and then use the weekend to recover. Monday was still not "easy," but I was feeling a lot better. I thought I swelled to about five days post op or so, and then it started slowly going down. My doctor has instructed me to wear my compression garment (which was a foam wrap, or "binder," around thing with velcro that holds it together. for the first two weeks post op 24/7, and then only during the days for the next two weeks. It DEFINITELY has helped the swelling.

RESULTS SO FAR: I feel FANTASTIC. SO much happier and SO much more confident. I don't regret it whatsoever. I wish I had my before pictures on hand to show, but my love handles are gone. They were swollen at first, but the compression garment over them (which was a bit uncomfortable initially) has made them disappear, and my hips (where my love handles use to reside...ugh) have still been showing improvements. It literally is flawless, I have to give my surgeon major props. My stomach looks similar to what it did before surgery (as in from a side view), but I'm not sure. I have a hard time believing that I will improve more, but I am super excited about it. I see small improvements every day. And I am still a little sore but not much.