Not Nearly As Painful and Scary As I Feared

I had my inner and outer thighs and knees done. I've always hated these areas, and they are completely out of proportion with the rest of my body. My lower half is about two sizes bigger than my upper half, and even working out at the gym 7-8 hours a week and eating small portions and only healthy foods wasn't helping. I was TERRIFIED before the procedure, sick with fear after hearing all the comments here about how terribly painful the procedure was. Guess I was lucky, it wasn't anywhere near as painful as I was afraid of. This doctor does the procedure under local anesthesia, not general. The nurse gave me one hydrocodone pill to relax 30 minutes prior, then a shot right before the procedure started. Most of the next 2 1/2 hours were a blur. I slipped in and out most of the time, only vaguely aware of what the doctor and nurse were doing. I didn't even feel the numbing anesthesia being injected into my legs. Two or three times I did feel really intense pain in my inner thigh as they worked on it. I remember moaning in pain and grabbing onto the bed, but all those times put together probably lasted no more than 10-15 seconds. Other than that, the pain and discomfort was not even a two on a 1-10 scale. Altogether the doctor made twelve incisions. I lost all concept of time and was surprised when they told me they were all done. When I got home I limited my Vicodan intake to about 3 a day, one about every 7-8 hours and the pain wasn't bad at all. Just like my doctor's office told me, it felt like I'd done a marathon workout at the gym: super sore muscles, it was painful to walk and sit. But nothing unbearable. Had the surgery on Thursday morning and was back at work by Monday morning. Am still extremely sore and can't take Vicodan at work because it makes me too sleepy. Am on Extra Strength Tylenol now, which will get me through the day until I can get home and take a Vicodan and go to sleep tonight. I had virtually no drainage of blood or fluid after I got home from the procedure. My husband changed my bandages that night, but we didn't really need to. We put towels on the car seat coming home from the doctor's office and I slept on a shower curtain with towels on it the first night, but didn't need to, as nothing seeped through any of the bandages. Wearing this compression garment is a major pain in the neck. Texas in July is not a good place and time to be wearing a full body garment, from shoulders to ankles. But I'm determined to wear it the entire 2 weeks, as I don't want to mess up my results after all this cost and discomfort. One of the most difficult things about this whole experience has been getting that darn garment back on after showering the day after the surgery. I was so swollen and sore and having to pull and tug and try to get the garment back on straight was TOUGH. As for the results, I'm only 4 days out and too swollen to really tell yet. My husband says he can absolutely tell the difference and he says my saddlebags are definitely smaller, but I don't see it. I know I am still extremely swollen and am just hopeful that over the next few weeks and months it turns out to all be worth it.