34 Years Old, Lost 155 Lbs...time to Fix the Arms! - Pittsburgh, PA

So, a little about me. I rapidly gained a significant amount of weight in my early 20s (120 lbs in 8 months!) and remained obese for about 8 years. I finally managed to lose it all and then some (155 lbs total) over the last couple of years. I'm now maintaining at around 145 lbs (I'm 5'10"). However, gaining so much weight so fast badly damaged my skin, and as a result, I'm left with areas of my body that look quite loose and baggy. My arms are the worst of all....they had tons of big, deep stretch marks which now look like weird wrinkles all over my upper arm. I also have the dreaded "bat wings," which often cause chafing and irritation under my arms. No amount of working out or additional weight loss is going to fix this.

Although I'm terrified of surgery, I decided to take the plunge and schedule a brachioplasty to remove the excess skin. Not only do my arms look strange and cause me physical discomfort, but they are a constant reminder of the painful time of my life when I gained the weight and battled to lose it. And they are a very visible indicator of my struggles to the outside world...struggles that are personal and that I don't want to broadcast to everyone that I walk past. I just want to move on from that time in my life. I don't strive to look perfect...I just want to look NORMAL. I've done a ton of research about brachioplasties and I've read stories that run the gamut from amazingly easy recoveries and great results to horrifyingly painful recoveries that leave people looking and feeling worse than before the surgery. I'm hoping that luck, genetics, and surgeon skill are on my side and that I fall into the first category :)

I consulted with four surgeons and ended up choosing one that specializes in performing surgery on people who have lost large amounts of weight. I'm hoping I made the right choice, but there's no way to know until it's all said and done. In addition to removing the excess skin, my surgeon suggested doing light liposuction on the back of my arm to remove a bit of remaining fat so that I hopefully won't ever re-sag in the future. Although I didn't ask for liposuction and didn't even know it was a possibility, I'm hoping that this will improve the overall aesthetic result. As it is now, I very rarely wear sleeveless shirts...and when I do, I'm extremely self-conscious, embarrassed, and wondering if everyone can notice the hanging skin and wrinkles. I can't even imagine how liberating it would feel to have normal arms! I'm excited at the possibility and keeping my fingers crossed that this is a good decision and will turn out well.

I don't feel ready, but I guess I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be. I've cooked and frozen a bunch of meals so that I won't have to worry about cooking for me and the hubby while I'm out of commission after the surgery. In anticipation of preparing my body for the surgery, I've been taking extra Vitamin C and Zinc for the last month and have trying to be extra diligent about eating nutritious whole foods so that my body has the nutrients it needs on board. I also bought some additional supplements (Bromelain, Arnica, Glutamine) to take after surgery to (hopefully) help with healing. I've been battling an annoying cold all week, although my doctor says it shouldn't impact my surgery unless I get a fever or severe chest congestion (I have neither of those things). It makes me a bit nervous, and I'd really prefer to have my immune system running at 100%, but I guess sometimes these things are unavoidable (especially in the winter) :(

I have to be at the hospital tomorrow at 5:15 AM in preparation for my 7:30 surgery. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight, even though I need it. Wish me luck!

Thank you all for your well wishes! I made it through the surgery! I have been pretty much just hanging out on the recliner with my arms elevated for the last few days. My arms are wrapped from armpit to fingertips in ace bandages and I have one drain in each arm. So I haven't been able to use my arms much, and I have no idea what things look like under there! My husband has been taking good care of me....I'm not even able to feed myself with how my arms are wrapped. The first couple of days were really painful. They gave me pain medication, but I still had quite a bit of discomfort even after taking the meds. However, when I woke up today, I noticed that the pain has started to lessen. Tomorrow I go in for my first post-op appointment, where hopefully I'll get my drains removed and my ace wraps removed so I can start wearing compression sleeves. I'm a little nervous to see what my arms look like under there, as I'm sure they are probably bruised and swollen and scary-looking, but I know that it will (hopefully) get better with time. I will try to post pics with my next update once they are unwrapped!

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my first post-op visit. I got my drains removed and the doctor took off my ace wraps for the first time. I got a peek at what things look like underneath and it's kind of terrifying. I am still a little swollen and bruised, and obviously I have the big scary incision with stitching. The shape of my arms is looking good, but I am concerned about how the scar will form, especially under my arms. There are big ropey pieces of skin under my arms where the incision is and it looks much worse than I thought it would. I know I'm pretty early out, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it until a few more weeks have passed and I heal more. Both the doctor and the nurses were very pleased with how things looked, so maybe I am jumping the gun. I'm now in compression sleeves that are pretty tight and hook in the back like a bra. It was hard to get them on, so I'm going to try to keep them on continuously for the next week or so until my incisions heal more. I did manage to take a shower today with a lot of help. I still have very limited range of motion and need help doing a lot of things. I was hoping to be more independent by now, but I don't want to push myself and rush the healing process and risk making the scars worse. My pain isn't too bad and I'm down to only taking one pain pill before bed to help me sleep. Unfortunately, my left arm from the top down through my forearm is pretty numb, which feels so weird. I hope that this is temporary and I'll start regaining sensation as I continue to heal. I'm trying to remind myself that this is a process and I am less than a week out from surgery, so it's unrealistic to expect everything to be perfect. I'm trying to be patient and not freak out, but it's hard. :)