25 Year Old Athlete - Anxiously Excited - North Adelaide, South Australia

So it’s been an extremely long time since I started this and after not following the healthy eating and exercise suggestions I gained quite a bit of weight back on, but have recently been following strict food and exercise guides and am seeing the fantastic results from Doctor Rahbar originally sculpted over my lower abdomen.

Firstly I want to apologise for my lack in updates for my review – the weekend leading up to my surgery was jam packed full and I wasn’t near a computer/phone long enough to put through a pre-op post, as for after surgery, well reading what I post now will help explain my total lack of posts. I will try to post everything in order and in as much detail as possible – starting from the Sunday night before the surgery.
Sunday 28th of September.
After my busy weekend, I enjoyed a late, large dinner with friends, before heading home to prepare everything for the next day. Before bed, I tidied my bedroom, laid out my clothes for the next day (rayon harem pants are a godsend – I recommend getting them for any abdominal/leg lipo – they are light enough that you can’t feel the weight on tender areas, and the ruched elastic waistband stretches comfortably), showered and finally took the tablet the clinic had given me to make me placid for the next day. Not long after the tablet, I’m pretty sure I went to bed.
Monday 29th of September.
I hadn’t told many of my friends that I was having liquid lipo, I had told them I was going in for a Laparoscopy – my nurse friend had suggested it as the recovery period is similar. I had told my family, one of my nurse friends (she was a great help in the planning) and my best friend who was taking time off work to look after me. So on the Monday, bright and early (we had to be at the clinic by 8:30am, we left at 7:30 because I didn’t want to risk being caught in traffic and being late).
I was directed into a room to strip down to my underwear, a blue surgery gown and a plush white robe. After a short time, Dr. Rahbar knocked on the door, we had a quick run through of the consent forms and what not, and then he was ready to begin the markings. We went over all 5 areas I wanted done, did all the markings, turned me this way and that, and then took photos. I have to admit, the tablet I had taken the night before made everything that little bit more difficult – I was slightly clumsy, and in a room with wooden floorboards – everything sounded so much louder.
Not long after photos were taken I was told to put the white robe back on, then collected by the nurse, Juliette, to use the ladies, and then taken into the operating room.
I don’t really know what I was expecting, but I was well past nervous by this point. I had 2 nurses, Juliette, and I think the other lady said her name was Mae – she introduced herself when I was already on the bed, and starting to panic about what I had gotten myself into. I’d had my IV put in, and some other cords connected, a blood pressure band was around my arm throughout the whole procedure, and I had one of those air tubes tucked into my nose.
I really don’t remember the start of the procedure, and I don’t know how much time passed, but I woke up and everything was in full swing – including the pain. My body processes anaesthetics really quickly, and, well…the first dosage was wearing off fast. I was awake for the majority of the rest of the surgery, I went through 2 green whistles, a ton of laughing gas (p.s. it doesn’t make you laugh – it makes your lips drier than the fricken Sahara!), numerous additions of anaesthetics/pain killers/Endone and several breakdowns/emotional episodes (both nurses and doctor were quite calm and very comforting during these times) before Dr. Rahbar stated he had done my lover abdomen, flanks and inner thighs, but was going to be unable to do my outer thighs an arms that day due to the amount of drugs they’d already had to pump into my body. I was shattered. I cried quietly while Dr. Rahbar finished closing particular incisions and covered them with dressing. I was very drowsy and in a lot of pain from not long after – the nurses slowly sat me up, then stood me up to take me to the toilet, I was apologising profusely the whole way, I don’t know what for exactly – I know I was leaving little bloody footprints on the floor though. After I’d finished in the ladies, Juliette and Mae brought me back into the operating room and tidied me up a bit – wiped down my legs and feet to remove the majority of the blood, and then helped me into my compression garment and clothes. They then sat me down in a chair to wait for my friend to pick me up. I’m pretty sure Dr. Rahbar came in to talk to us before we left, but I’m not 100% sure. But the nurses were really lovely about it all.
Getting into the car was…interesting. While I was in pain, I was also swollen, and was wearing an absorbent sheet type thingy (padding they lay down on beds which has thin plastic on the back) as a nappy, so I literally looked like I had a tyre underneath my pants. I’m pretty sure I slept on the drive home, and went to bed when I got there. I slept for a few hours, and then stirred when my mum and friend came in to check on me. I badly needed the bathroom and the first time going, was quite traumatic. You read about all the blood and stains that are going to be on your garment, but when you actually see it, on yourself, it’s scary. I had to slowly lower myself onto the toilet, my mum and friend standing nearby, and then handing me baby wipes because of the blood on the toilet seat. I think I may have either gone back to bed or stayed up for a little bit. I do know at some point after that I was quite sick – the drugs leaving my body anyway possible. I think I managed a little bit of toast with butter before I went back to bed for the final (yeah right) time. I did have to get up to use the bathroom a couple of times during the night.
Tuesday 30th of September.
Dr. Rahbar had booked an appointment for me to see him the day after surgery, but it wasn’t until late afternoon. Upon waking up in the morning, I greeted my friend (sleeping on a mattress on the floor) with a very nice “I’m going to be sick” and I was, for 10 minutes, pure stomach acid – not nice when you’ve had your entire abdominal area ripped around and you’re already in pain. I’m actually pretty sure I may have had something really small to eat, and then because I felt really gross, I asked my friend to wash my hair in the laundry sink – I wasn’t supposed to shower until 24 hours after the surgery, so I thought that would be a good alternative.
Kate, the lady behind the desk greeted us with a big smile and directed us to sit in the waiting area; I stood because I was afraid I was going to leak on the seat.
Not long after Dr. Rahbar called us into his office, we had a quick chat about how I was feeling and I mentioned I was in pain and had been sick both last night and that morning. Once we’d had the chat, he asked me to strip down to my underwear and gave me a towel to wrap around my body, then left the room so my friend could help me undress. When he came back in he got me to lie on the examination bed and began the massage to start the fluids moving. While massaging he mentioned he had managed to get quite a bit of fat from my inner thighs, almost double what he would get from most people, and in total he managed to get approx. 2.4 kgs of fat from my lower abdomen, flanks and inner thighs. I was quite happy with that. After the massage we spoke for a little longer and then Dr. Rahbar left so I could get changed.
Beware – seeing yourself for the first time is surreal…there was so much change, and not much swelling on day 1. But after the massage you feel a little weird – I suggest having someone with you who can help you dress – bending over to put pants/shoes on hurts and you may get dizzy.
After we left, we went to a chemist on the way home to fill all my prescriptions – I stayed in the car and dozed while my friend went in for me.
I really didn’t do all that much on Tuesday night, ate dinner and watched TV really.

I will try and post before photos tonight, and hopefully update until now as well!!

So I've been browsing this site ever since the idea of liposuction came into my head a little while ago. How did it come into my head? I was getting desperate.

I am a 25 year old female athlete. I'm a cheerleader and gymnast and have training 5-6 days a week. I eat regularly and fairly healthy, my splurges are only ever on one day of the weekend, and yet, this year I've put on weight/fat, compared to last year where I was eating worse and not training as much and my weight was stable most of the year, if not decreasing slightly.

One thing you should also know about me, is that I have OCD and I’m a Perfectionist. These aren’t traits I chose – I’ve had them since I was a young child, they’ve just been escalating as I’ve gotten older. I know getting ready is hard for a lot of people, but having OCD and Perfectionism makes it ever harder. If something doesn’t sit just right, its wrong and can’t be worn, and when you have an outfit in your head that would work with someone slightly smaller, or you need to buy that one piece of clothing to complete it or its ruined, and when you put it on, it doesn’t look how you thought it would, or you can’t find that one piece to make it work – it’s devastating. I’ve never let it stop me, until one night I did, and I knew I needed to do something.

Eating healthy and exercising regularly weren’t working – I was training more and I was putting on more fat than I had when I had been doing one night a week. The next thing I knew I was looking up liposuction – a scary thought for a 25 year old – and all its alternatives. I’d seen all those medical shows when I was a kid, the makeover ones where they actually show you what happens in a liposuction session – I’ll admit I was a little more than terrified. But then I came across liquid lipo. The healing time was less, and the actual process overall seemed not to be as traumatic to the body. It also seemed the results were a lot more refined – I mean I don’t want to come out looking like I’ve had surgery, I’m not telling any of my friends except for 2 (the one who is taking me, picking me up and monitoring me for the first few days. And the other was a nurse – I needed to pick her brain on what I could tell people as to why I was having surgery and having time off).

I had my consultation a while ago – back in the mid-year break, but knew I couldn’t book the appointment for a while with all my cheer competitions coming up. I was incredibly pleased with Dr. Rahbar from Cosmos Clinic in North Adelaide. Although I didn’t really have much choice – Googling Liquid Lipo only lead to the Cosmos Clinic. Dr. Rahbar and his staff put me at ease – yes I was still quite embarrassed to strip down to my underwear for a man I didn’t know to stare at my bare flesh – but Dr. Rahbar was very professional in his approach and as quick as possible while still getting the idea of what I wanted and where I wanted done.

I have 5 main areas, 2 of which I was going to do without, but decided I wanted them done. I’m getting my lower abdomen, flanks, inner thighs, outer thighs, and the back/underside of my arms done. Well I was almost knocked over by the cost, but if this is going to make me feel happier about my body and more confident – I’m willing to pay the price.

I picked the first day of the term 3 / 4 school holidays – so I would have 2 weeks where I wasn’t missing training and only 1 where I was – my doctor has recommended I take the 3rd week off from cheer training, but I can start other exercise as I feel up to it. Once I had decided I was definitely going for it and when I was going to do it, I started researching finance – well this was an entirely new headache. I inquired with the finance company the clinic recommended – their interest rates were variable and phenomenal – I wasn’t keen. Next I moved onto a bank with really low interest rates – after much stuffing around and about 3 weeks later I received the card and letter, only to tell me that I had only been approved for a third of what I had applied for, and to get the cheaper interest rate, I had to reapply when I activated the card – so out the window went that idea. I then thought I would take the ‘easier’ option and go through my own bank – 2 weeks later and I’m still getting the run around from them. I keep getting asked to upload new documents via their internet banking messaging system and then don’t hear from them for 4 days, and when I do, they ask for more documents. And when I speak to them on the phone its always ‘the documents are being verified, you should have your funds tomorrow’. Well I took a step and applied elsewhere today, mentioned it to my bank, and lo and behold, someone is personally keeping track of my loan and will let me know tomorrow, when they start their shift, what the verdict is as I got asked for another payslip this morning, which I uploaded straight away.

I feel incredibly upset by my bank, but also quite embarrassed as my appointment is only temporarily booked in with the clinic as I haven’t been able to pay the deposit – final date to pay that was last week, and if I don’t have any loan by Wednesday, well I may have to cancel as that is when the final payment is due, and I feel there may be a fine for that (the deposit is non-refundable, regardless that I haven’t paid it, I feel that might be the fee if I have to cancel).

So my fingers are crossed that this bout of incredibly bad luck clears away shortly so I can prepare for this surgery without any of this hanging over my head.

Now that I have had that spiel – anyone looking at getting finance for your surgery – look into it well in advance and if applying through a bank – go into your local branch to apply – over the internet means too much back and forth and dealing with not very helpful people.

A couple of things I didn’t mention: I’m 5 foot 6/7 and I currently weigh 76kgs (my absolute highest). I will post some before pictures up soon :)