Upper/lower Stomach, Flanks, Lower Back, Neck and Fat Transfer to Hands

Things to consider buying one week prior to SmartLipo surgery. I had neck, stomach, flanks, lower back smartlipo and fat transfer stem cells injected into my hands (I will explain this very new procedure below): 1. Arnica 30x pills (Health food store)
This should be started one week prior to any surgery. It helps reduce bruising dramatically and helps with pain too. It is all natural and many surgeons recommend it. You should consider taking until all bruising is gone. 2. Arnica Gel (Health food store)
This is a cream I found out about from someone’s blog. Does the same thing as the pills, but helps with swelling and muscle aches and can be put on to the swollen areas directly. This helped alleviate pain from my hands and neck. I did not put it under my garment, but you can. 3. Shower liner and waterproof disposable pads ($3 at Walmart) 4. Air mattress and cheap sheets (Walmart). Someone suggested an air mattress and shower liner and waterproof pads from their blog and it worked out great. My husband took the mattress off our spare queen bed and put the air mattress on top. He then put a shower curtain liner and sheets on top of that and then the waterproof disposable pads. A little overkill (lol). I liked using the mattress because it was lower to the floor and you could slide and lift up easier and it gave a little beneath your sore spots unlike a bed would. 5. XX large mens t-shirts or big night shirts (Walmart on sale for $3 usually) You will want at least three of these as you will need to change them on the first two days. When they say you will have draining fluids, they mean lots of blood. You will have drainage from the time you leave the doctors office through the second day and a little on the third day in some spots. 6. Neosprin or vaseline - to cover wounds after putting on fresh compression garment to prevent wounds from sticking when you have to take it off. 7. SMART water or Gatoraid - you need this to replenish the electrolites in your system they said. On the day of surgery you will want to bring your nightshirt because it will get bloody and you don't want to ruin your clothes. Also, bring SOCKS. The surgery room is always cold and your feet will freeze, so make sure you put them on before you go in and you can just wear them home afterwards. PLEASE NOTE - you will definitely need someone to help you the first two days. Especially on day two when you take your first shower and also to get in and out of bed, walk you to the bathroom, get your shirts changed and washed for the next round, water, pills, food etc. Three days would be great. You will have to get up quite a bit to urinate, because of all of the liquids you will be drinking. DAY ONE - After I got home around 3:30, I got on my air mattress and just slept a lot and did not eat. I did try to drink a lot of water. Changed my nightshirt because the first one was pretty bad. I did drink water and take a sleeping pill the doc prescribed at 11:00 p.m. Slept until 5 am and had to get up and go to the bathroom. No bowel thank goodness. DAY TWO - I ate and drank a little today and was able to sit up and watch tv. Everything is sore and numb. Shower time was very scarey. My husband helped me into the shower. We have one of those europeon show heads that you can hold and spray wherever you need to, so that came in very handy. I kept me garment on and washed it all off to get the blood out and to make sure it did not stick to my wounds. We started taking the garment off and THEN, I started becoming nauseated and shaking and thought I was going to pass out and I started crying because I was starting to black out, so I just leaned my head on my husbands shoulder until it passed and then we were able to get the garment off. I heard that this happens to some people, so just prepared. You might want to have a chair to sit on if you can. We put neosporin on the wounds and I put Arnica gel on the bruises and on my neck and hands for the swelling. Only had to change my
nightshirt twice today. DAY THREE - Got off my air mattress and to the bathroom by myself. Sat in the kitchen and ate breakfast. Took another shower with the same procedure as yesterday (hubby helped me). Not much oozing at all, just from one entry wound. Getting a fresh one on was easy. Did not take a pain pill until noon today. Nothing hurts unless I get up, so I am just chillin’ as I write this. I weighed myself and I was 5'6 140 with clothes on and now 136.4 without clothes. Not much weight loss. My neck is sore and numb when I touch it, but I can definitely tell they got the fat out and it looks better. My hands have always looked old since I was in my twenties. I wanted to have them done, but did not want to spend the $1,000 for the fat transfer, so I decided not to do it. However, the day I had my Lipo, there was a Representative there to present a new machine that separates the fat from the stem cells and they wanted me to be their guinea pig, so I said yes…no charge, yeah! This new procedure helps the fat cells to survive better. My hands are still quite swollen, but what a difference. They look 20 years younger. My upper stomach sure looks flatter, but the lower portion, even though flatter, hopefully will tighten up more and my flanks as well. Time will have to tell on that portion. I am excited to see the end result, but anticipating next week when I go in for my follow up. I hope my post will help prepare you for your procedure and good luck. (I will post pics after my follow up visit next week.)