I'm 5'2" 196 lbs - My journey - Suwanee, GA

I havent posted in a while because I didnt have any updates. I've just been reading everyone else's blogs and trying to feel my way thru this whole process. I did book a hotel room, I was freaking out with the prices. To stay for 8 nights some places wanted me to pay the cost of my mortgage..absolutely NOT.. I remembered my job has travel discounts so I booked at Wingate By Wyndham in Atlanta for $500. It's further away from Dr. J's office but my husband will be driving me to and from so I should be fine. Just glad I can save a couple hundred dollars.

My main concern is losing some weight. I'm 5'2" 196 lbs. I read somewhere that I should be at least 20lbs from my ultimate weight goal ( 150 lbs) prior to surgery, this means I have to lose 26lbs. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. With the holidays coming and with what seems like a "Pot Luck" every other week at my job, my will power is nonexistent. I'm not even going to mention the love/hate relationship I have with my beloved red wine and exercising is out of the question .

Since my birthday is next week I was thinking about asking my mom to buy me the "Insanity" work out DVDs as a gift but I know I will only last maybe 3 weeks with that. Does anyone know of any helpful tips for weight loss.. other than exercise and giving up my wine...

Hello Ladies,
I was just browsing MMH and I discovered a post from a young lady that is distraught over her BBL performed by Dr. J. I know that everyone is not going to be 100% pleased with their results but the way she describes the way she was treat has me terrified. I definitely don’t want to be lopsided or worse off than I was before I had the procedure. She also stated that Dr. J wanted her to pay for to correction, I thought if there was some revisions to be made ( because of the surgeon's error) the surgeon's fee was waived. I understand having to pay for the anesthesiologist/facility but You made the mistake and then I have to pay YOU to fix YOUR mistake... I'm so scared now! have any of you heard of any other horror stories with Dr. J? I've already paid my nonrefundable $500 and I don’t know what to do now.

Ok Ladies, I started my weight loss journey yesterday and I think I did a good job. For breakfast I ate 4 strips of turkey bacon and a Yoplait Lite yogurt, early afternoon snack was watermelon, lunch a turkey sandwich on 1 slice of bread and a salad, afternoon snack was a banana ..by dinner time I was starving, I did not watch my portions and had seconds but what I'm most proud of is that I DIDN'T DRINK ANY WINE!! YAY ME!!.. I only drunk water!...

Today I'm doing pretty much the same thing except I'll try to snack more during the day, that way I won’t be famished by dinner... and drink more water...Any suggestions on meals? I don’t want to get bored eating the same things over and over again.

I called Michelle today and made another payment towards my surgery, so now I really have to get this weight down cause that’s just too much money to be wasting.. I haven’t started my walking during my lunch breaks yet because it’s been raining here in NC. I’ve also been working thru my lunches because I’m taking a week off for Xmas and I want all of my work to be done before I go… I plan on starting my walks when I return from vacation and then eventually increase my exercises.

I haven’t had a chance to order my Insanity Dvd yet.. honestly I’m trying to hold out in hopes that someone would buy it for me for Christmas since I didn’t get it as a birthday gift.

Well tomorrow there is another potluck at my job and I’m in charge of bringing the baked mac and cheese and I have to cook for Xmas dinner this year.. I need some will power.. Pray for me Ladies

I'm having such a hard time losing weight.. Because my main reason for having sx is to have a flat stomach, I think I might just have a TT and BBL.. I was scared of having a huge scar on my body and the healing time but I may not have a choice..Has anyone had a TT with Dr. Jimerson? If so are you happy with your results?

So yesterday was my consult. It went all wrong! Keep in mind I scheduled this appointment in Nov. 2012. so I was anxious and excited for this day to finally arrive. I had all my questions written down, did all my research, paid a my deposit plus an additional payment, scheduled my surgery date and was ready. I got 2 emails to confirm the consult date and time, I even got a phone call 2 days prior to confirm all of my information. I specifically gave everyone instructions to call my cell phone and take my home # out of my records. I understood the call would be betwee 9-12 so I blocked that time out of my schedule. Well 12 o'clock comes and goes.. 1 o'clock comes and goes so I call them only to be told that they are so busy someone will call me before they close..I again made sure everyone knew to call my cell phone ONLY. Around 2:30 I check my home phone voicemail and heard a message from Shelly..I called them and explained what happened and was told that someone will call me Monday, well that was unexceptable someone needed to call me TODAY.

When Shelly finally calls me back the first thing Shelly says is "I left you a message with your mother Alice" ...I'm like really cuz I don't have a mother name Alice...then Shelly started talking about deposits and scheduling my surgery date. CLEARLY this girl had me confused with someone else, which is very discouraging...If u can't keep a simple phone consult in order than how am I suppose to trust you with my life..Shelly then proceeded to talk way too fast like a used car salesman, I had to ask her to slow down several times...I understand she does this everyday all day but I don't.. this is something new and personal to me and although I've done my homework I'm still scared and need a little hand holding through this process... I still had questions but couldn't ask because Shelly kept cutting me off before I could finish the question and when I asked her to stop cutting me off she cut me off again..WTF!?... I was like please just put Dr JIMERSON on the phone...

By the time Dr JIMERSON got on the phone I was so flustered that I wanted nothing to do with him and he sounded like he wanted nothing to do with me. I don't even remember discussing my butt, I only remember him saying he won't be able to get my stomach flat even with a TT...now I'm thinking well what the f* ck am I paying u for.... I was done! He then put Shelly back on the phone to finish fast talking me before I gave her a piece of my mind.

Now I'm at work, sitting at my desk regretting giving up a $500 non refundable deposit plus an additional payment when my cell phone rings again... this time it's Aziza to save the day....when I answered the phone and heard the warmness and concern in her voice I couldn't control my emotions. I cried like a baby and Shelly allowed me that time... once I pulled myself together she patiently answered all of my questions and talked to me as if I were a person and not just another client.. I'm once again feeling good about my decision to have my surgery but I think I'm going to call Dr JIMERSON again to discuss my butt and I won't accept "he's busy " as an answer

So now that I'm done with school ( graduated on May 10, 2013 ..YAY ME!!) I can now focus 100% on my surgery. I went to the doctor on May 15th for my medical clearance, my blood pressure was a little high but I had just came from a parent/teacher conference at my son's school, my Dr. said that was to be expected. Good thing I called Dr. J's office to confirm if my faxed medical clearance was received because it was not.. it took 4 tries and for them to finally get the fax.. don't know what that was about..but N-E Way..all is well with my health and I can proceed with the surgery. My final balance of $300 will be made on Friday and then I'm all set. I still have to pick up a little more supplies, get my hair braided, a bikini wax, a pedicure, and a few maxi dresses. My husband will be driving me down, so I have to get an oil change and tune up on the car. My hotel room is booked, I changed it to Sun Suites of Suwanee and I hope it's nice for only $545.86/14 days. I have about $250 on my Healthcare Savings Account and a discount Rx card from www.RxReliefCard.com, so I hope I don't have to come out of pocket for the expensive prescriptions we have to get. I'll stock my hotel room with food, water, movies, DVD player, and the necessary medical supplies. I'll also be studying for my National Board Exam coming in August so I shouldn't get too bored. I stopped taking the vitamins, iron pills, Arnica, and Bromelain pills last week..I took them for about a month and my face broke out real bad.. I'll just eat a lot of pineapples and drink pineapple juice until the day of surgery.

I'm feeling nervous, I'm just worried my results wont be what I want because I haven't lost a pound. I'm not looking for a 6 pack but I want to look down at myself and not see this big @$$ stomach, I want my shirts to look nice on my body, I want to be able to wear a damn tank top! I want that more than I want a fat ass..the fat ass is just a bonus

I took 3 weeks off from work, that should be enough for recovery time. I only told 2 of my co-workers, so I'm assuming the whole damn job knows at this point but I don't care. At first I wanted to keep my business my business, didn't want all of the judgement but then I realized if these heffas could afford to do it they would do it too. So I'm not hiding N-E thing anymore..it's whatever.. I can only worry about my happiness and I pray I'll be happy with my new body

I guess that's it for now... 21 days and counting

I think I have everything covered, I still haven't actually packed yet..but I'll do that this weekend. I'm a little nervous because my money is funny and I worried about unexpected expenses. I'm also worried about the hotel I selected, It's cheap so I hope in this case I don't get what I pay for. I just hope it's clean.

My 19 year old son will be staying at his grandmother's house for the summer and my 8 year old son will be staying with his dad for a month, so I will be able to recuperate without any stress from my boys.

At my family's Memorial Day BBQ I told a few family member about my surgery and of course I got my share of judgment from the naysayers .. making comments like "Why you letting someone cut on you" " All you need to do is exercise" " You wasting all that money for nothing, you gonna be fat again in a year".....
Later on that night them same naysayers pulled me to the side one by one and was like..." What's your Dr.'s name again?" " How much you said it cost?" " ..... HA! them hoes wanna be me!!!!

Well ladies, pray for me a speedy recovery and magnificent results. I wont post again until after my surgery. The night before the surgery I'll finally post my before pictures, I'm just too embarrassed to post them now

OMG LADIES! I have never gone thru anything like this before. I'm finally able to physically type and mentally recollect the emotional aspect of it all. I'll start from the beginning.... So my husband and I left NC around 6am headed 95 south, we made it to DR Js office around 12:45p for my 1:00 PRE-OP. Initially we were the only ones there, I went to the bathroom and freshened up from the long drive, got a bottle of water from the fridge while my husband made him a cup of coffee. I saw Dr J walking around and talking to a few of the girls so I'm thinking, "Why are we sitting here fake watching tv when Dr J is walking around making small talk", let's get this pre-op started. Just then Geedie calls me and my husband into an office and started going over information as if she was my doctor. I said wait a miniute where is Dr J..she says oh he's about to perform a precedure...I said well this man will be cutting on me tomorrow morning and I would like to speak to him, I still have questions being that my consult went so horribly wrong. "Geedie" leaves the office and comes back with Dr J...FINALLY I get to ask about my stomach. He looked me and my husbnd in our eyes and says "you will not have a 6 pack but you will look better than you do today" I WAS SOLD! I appreciated the honesty, he was sincere and relieved all of my fears. We finished up with "Geedie" , then went across the street and paid $108 for my Rx. I didnt get the stool softner filled because I was going to buy some prune juice from Walmart.

Next to the hotel.....So we found the Sun Suites hotel and the first thing I asked the manager LaToya was, "can I see a room prior to paying?"...she says no problem and gives me a room key for room 139. The hubs and I inspects room 139 and we concluded that its not bad for the price and will pay for 3 days for now. While hubs unloads the car, I go back to the rental office and signs the contract, pay for the room and get an additional key for the hubs. I go back to the room, disinfect, lay plastic on the bed, put my own sheets on the bed, you know try to make it feel like home...we decide to go to Walmart to pick up the prune juice and food for a few days...we come back from Walmart and the room keys dont work...my hubs goes to the office and is taking a little too long in this Georgia heat so I goes into the office just to get some air condition oblivious to the drama that is going on...once I realized that my husband is being told that we need to move our things into room 127 because the room we were shown was ONLY a show room I exploded. Is it just me or is that false advertisement? I ask to see the room before I pay, you show me one room and once I pay you send me to another room...so after I go off, these fools are trying to tell me that I have to leave because I'm a disruption ..with a no refund policy...really??!! I just paid you for 3 days and I've only been here a total of 1 hour and because I'm calling you out on your scam you're going to keep my money?? I dont think so.... after talking myself out of snatching a MoFo from behind the counter, I calmed down and called the police. Surprisingly, these southern cops understood where the hubs and I were coming from and called the "Head manager" and convinced them to give me a full refund....While we were packing back up, there was a knock on the door, the hotel clerk is standing at our door apologizing, saying we can stay as long as we want and began kissing our asses and NOW trying to treat us with respect and free accomodations...Needless to say hubs and I decided to stay.."cant beat Free!! HAHAA!

The next morning (sx day) my cell phone rings at 6:50 am, I'm in a sound sleep so I jump up and answers...it's Geedie saying, "where are you? you were suppose to be here at 6:45... I'm now in a panic because I remember reading somewhere that they charge you an extra $500 if you are late and I didnt have $500 to give away like that... so I grab my antibacteria Dial soap, jump in the shower , brush my teeth, and throw on a maxi dress and sandles...and out the door..thank God no traffic so early in the morning...I throw my zantac in my mouth with a swig of water just as we pull up to Dr J's office. Geedie takes me in the back and gives me socks,gown etc..take pictures of me,asked me ?s and then puts an IV in me...I talked to the anesthesiologist where I told her that I'm easily nauseous and she will give me somthing for that. Dr J comes in and marks me up..no one mentions a late fee...the last thing I remember is entering an OR with mary j Blidge playing on the radio....

My next memory is walking into my hotel room. I was in sooo much pain..much of this part is a blur.. I just remember so much pain. I remember telling my husband that this pain is not normal...my hubs is telling me, just two days of pain and then it should subside. I made it thru the first day and woke up the second day saying there is no way I can go thru this another day...My chest was hurting so bad, I was having shortness of breath and then began throwing up blood... I mean buckets and buckets of blood. Hubs calls the ambulance and they're trying to get me to lay on the stretcher on my back. Im like #1 it hurts like hell to lay on my back and #2 there is no way I'm going threw all of this for you to f%ck up my bbl results on this stretcher...crazy right!!??
Apparently when I was sedated I regurgitated and aspirated into my lunges, causing pnemonia. My hemoglobin levels were low, I had to get 2 pints of blood...and spent 4 days in ICU...a mess, I felt like death..Im finally home resting in my own bed but Im still sore .yesterday I couldnt stop crying..I like what my body looks like but I feel horrid...I noticed a knot pretruding above my new navel..my mom says give it some time before i start complaining...honestly Im just grateful I have this much of my health back...Im emotionally all over the place but I will be looking into this lump above my belly button...

I feel so much better today, I went to Wal-Mart with the hubs to pick up some mederma and few other things, couldn't understand why everyone was looking at me... Men and Women just kept looking.. Hubs said it's all that ass babe.. your body is smokn... I'm like damn I haven't gotten these many eyes on my in 10 years.. it feels good... still sore but I'm taking my pain meds every time I need it...
I forgot to mention that when I went back to get my drains removed it hurt like hell, I'm just glad its all up hill from here.. I go back to work Monday so my mom and I will be going on a little shopping spree this weekend to get some new clothes for my new body... My scare does not look bad at all, and with some TLC it should heal just fine... My ass has gone done significantly and I'm thankful for that because I was looking like Nicki Minaj or a cartoon character with all that ass, now it looks proportionate with my body.. Just hope it doesn't go down any more.. the lump on my stomach is still a concern, I will be making an appointment with my PCP.. I remember when I was in the hospital the Dr. said that I had a hernia that could have came from child birth and I'm thinking that may be the lump.. will keep you all updated...

So today is my first day back to work and I am DYING! I am in so much pain, I cant get comfortable in this chair and 99% of my job is sitting. This boppie pillow is not working, when I lean forward my back hurts and when I lean backwards my stomach feels as if it's going to rip open. I took a pain pill and now I'm sleepy.. WTH is going on!! I thought 3 weeks would have been enough time off work, I dont have any more time to take off, I'm trying to save some time for Christmas. I'm so tired of complaining, I just want to be able to enjoy my results... speaking of results, my ass is getting flatter and flatter by the day. I know I said that I was more interested in having a flat stomach but shit I paid for an ass too. I dont want to be right back where I started from...sponge bob!

Noone noticed the difference in my body, I have on a maxi dress and a jacket so I'm all covered up. I want it like that, that way I dont have anyone all in my business. I went in the bathroom stall with my coworker that already knew I was having the surgery and showed her my TT scares and she was impressed. Showing her my scares made her comfortable enough to show me her stomach. HA! I gave her Dr. J's information ASAP. I said I wouldnt suggest a TT for anyone but she already wants one so what the hell...and she really needs it..
I cant wait to get home and lay down, the hubs drove me to work today, I'm just not ready to sit on my ass, the boppie pillow does NOTHING.. maybe I'm sitting wrong.. any suggestions

"Scars..not scares"

So yesterday I went to my family's 4th of July BBQ and everyone was commenting on how nice my body looks..( I wore pants for the first time since sx) I wish I would have taken pictures, but n-e ways I'm healing nicely. I feel better when I wear my garment so I wear it most days but it's just so hot in this NC heat. I'm not as sore as I use to be and the swelling has gone down some, so that's a good thing. I sat directly on my butt for the first time yesterday but I don't plan on doing that again for a while. It didn't hurt at first but after a while it hurt like hell.
I will take my 1 month post op pictures soon
That's it for now
Happy Healing

So today makes 5 weeks post op and I'm feeling much better. I lost 15 lbs, my stomach looks amazing to me, however my butt is getting smaller..it still looks better than it did 5 weeks ago so I wont complain much.. my husband has no complaints at all :)..I'm just worried that it will continue to get smaller ..fingers crossed that it wont
I stopped wearing the full garment during the day time and only wear it while I sleep. I brought a corset from Lipoexpress for $71 and I wear that during the day because if I don't have anything on my stomach my skin feels like needles are sticking me. Although my navel looks lovely, I noticed clear fluid seeping from it when I was getting dressed this morning. I cleaned it with alcohol and starting taking my antibiotics again...hubs said he thinks it's just water from taking a shower but I'm not taking any chances..
I came out of those long maxi dresses and now I'm wearing sexy summer clothes. I haven't felt sexy in years and I get emotional just thinking about it. Yesterday was the first day I wore heels in almost a year and today I'm actually wearing a belt pulled tight around my waist and I look AMAZING.

Co-workers are noticing and commenting on my "weight loss", I look so natural that they don't even suspect surgery. Hubs is trying to be supportive but I detect a hint of jealousy when I put on a short dresses..it's so cute

Although I went through and I'm still going through changes because of the surgery, I'm glad that I decided to do it. I'm so happy with my results and I'm willing to take the good with the bad and all that comes with this journey. Sometimes when I catch a reflection of myself in a window or a mirror, I cant believe it's me. My mind has to catch up to my body and embrace the new sexy me.
I promise I will post pictures soon, I've just been so busy with work.. because I took 3 weeks off from work I have a lot of catching up to do. My family reunion is next weekend so I'm sure I will take lots of pictures then.
That's all for now
Happy Healing!

Dr. Jimerson was on Love & Hip Hop Atlanta last night... Ha Ha Ha! He tryna get ALL the money!!!

I found out what the lump is in my stomach.. A hiatal hernia... My Dr. says it could have come from the TT or it could have been there all along but at any rate she expects it to heal itself once all of the swelling in my abdominal area recedes, in 6 months to a year.. Had my 2 month post op consult with Dr Jimerson's office and my PCP and both cleared me for Zumba class ... So 6 pack here I come ... I weighed 196lbs before the surgery..to date I wear 176lbs..I'm so proud of myself and plan on getting it tight and right during the winter so by next summer I won't be able to stand myself ...that's all for now ladies HAPPY HEALING

Still happy with my results

Hello everyone... I'm still happy with my results, just wanted to stop in and give an update on how I'm doing physically.

I still wear my corset every day, not to make my waist look smaller, but because without it I still feel a prickly sensation in my stomach. I still sit on my pillow at work and while driving, and I still sleep on my sides. Although it's been 6 months I'm still worried about losing fat cells.

My TT scar and navel have completely healed. I'm still working on getting the scar to lighten up but it's definitely not a horrendous eye sore. I think it healed nicely

My hernia is still present and has not gone down any, I was thinking about getting it surgically repaired but after what I've been through I'm too scared to go under the knife again. As long as it doesn’t give me any problems I think I can live with it.

I'm back to my old self again and it feels great. I can run up and down stairs with no pain from my butt, dance all night on the dance floor without getting winded due to a huge belly. My self-esteem and confidence is at an all-time high.

The only complaint I have is not being about to find pants that don’t bunch up in the back.

Happy Healing and Joyous Journey