I Actually Did It! - Pittsburgh, PA

I am 45 years old with no children and I have been waiting for over 2 years to have this procedure. About 5 years ago I was morbidly obese and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I thought I had it under control and decided to go to the doctor to have my A1C (test that checks your glucose levels for the last three months) done before I left for the beach. I wanted to make sure I could drink all of the fruity frozen drinks I wanted too without worrying about my Dr. finding out that I was drinking straight sugar on vacation. Well, the day before leaving for the beach, I got a call, my levels were out of control.

I had to see the Dr. immedialty. I talked him into letting me wait until I got home. While I was at the beach I realized how much my weight limited me. I could not get out of the beach chair without rolling in the sand looking like a beached whale I'm sure. I got stuck in the rocking chairs on the deck literally my hips got stuck under the arm rests!); I could not fit into booths in restaurants either. It was an eye opening experience.

Anyway, when I got home and went to the Dr I asked about a diet program and started right away. Two years later I had lost 114 lbs. (120 from my highest weight.). I was thrilled about losing the weight but the excess skin never let me feel as good as I should have. My Dr. told me to wait for 2 years before looking for a PS to make sure all of the skin that could retract did and that I was at a steady weight. 2 years later I started interviewing surgeons. Then I met Dr. Guesnoff. He specialized in dealing with weight loss skin removal. HE IS AMAZING! The most compassionate and attentive surgeon with fabulous credientials that I have ever met. I scheduled surgery for January 24, 2013. When I went to my Pre-op I decided to add Brachioplasty (spelling?) and he re-scheduled my surgery for the 22nd. He was leaving for vacation the Friday after my surgery and did not want to just operate and leave for vacation. I was really very nervous before the surgery but excited too. I had to eat a liquid diet after noon the day before and then use laxitaves to clean my self out before the surgery. He did not want any "bearing down" for a week after surgery.

The day finally arrived and I was the first (and later found out only) surgery for my PS for the day. I got to the hospital at 5 am and they checked me in right away. My PS ordered an air heated blanket for me because he does not want his patients to be cold. What a sweetie! I would have frozen too the heater happended to be broken that AM at the hospital! My PS let my husand (who came to every appointment) come with me to be marked up before the surgey. It was nice to have hubby there, I was so nervous I thought I would forget something and the PS would not mark it but Hubby made sure! Then hubby had to leave and I was taken into the OR.

In the OR my PS held my hand until I was out. I thought that was so nice. They also called my family several times through the surgery (it was 6.5 hours long) to let them know when each step was done and that I was doing well. My family really appreciated that. It helped them to be at ease. When I was done, he went up talked with my family and then came back to the post-op area. When I woke up he was the first face I saw. It was kind of funny, first thing I asked is if I had to have muscle repair. He said yes, top to bottom. Not the answer I wanted but it is for the best. He gave me the overall details and said he would stop up to see me later that night and we would talk more. He wanted to make sure I was really understanding what he said and thought I may have more questions.

I was taken to my room and my family came up to see me. About 8 pm my PS came in too see me. He thought I needed to try gingerale so he went and got one for me at the station. This amazed me because most Dr's would have called someone to get it for them, not him, he went to get it himself! When he got back with the drink, we talked about the procedures and what would be happening the next few days and then he set an appointment for me to see him on Friday before he left for vacation. (3 days PO). Then later that night he came back again with his full team and they helped me to stand and gave me meds etc.

I went home the next day about 4 PM. My PS told me to stay as long as I wanted because they charged me for the full day. I was not ready for not having any core muscles. LOL When you go around a bend and are not ready for it, you can fall over. I had my arms done too so it was quite an interesting ride home. I was so glad to be home! I will post more later on my review about the recovery and will post some after pictures.