Calf, Knee and Ankle Surgery

Thank you so much for such a detailed review. I’m having the same procedure with Dr Su in two weeks, flying in from overseas. How are you feeling now? Your initial results were beautiful! I’m more and more impressed with the ArtLipo team as each day goes by. I’ll also be travelling alone - eek. What are the essentials I need to bring, do you reckon? All advice and support hugely appreciated! Would be lovely to chat once it’s done too..thanks again

Thank you! I'm still in the achy, swelling stage, but I will still say it's worth it! The really bad pain is gone, I'm back to work with just some achiness when I overdo it. I walk about 2 miles a day, but no working out yet, or even kneeling or crouching down. And my wardrobe is a bit limited to what pants can fit over my knees and calves right now, because the swelling is still quite bad! But any residual discomfort is quite manageable, and I'm on with life. As to your questions about surgery, they give you everything you need medically (compressions, bandaging, dragon's blood for the incisions, which is a magical substance, by the way). My biggest suggestions that helped me are these: stay in a place with a kitchen (fridge, microwave), because you WILL NOT feel like going out to dinner or going to any trouble at your hotel. Make a run to Target and/or a grocery store the day before your surgery and get everything you think you might need. Get a lot of bottled water, easy-to-eat foods, like microwavable things, fruits, healthy "finger" foods for as little effort as possible. You need to eat something every time you take your meds, so it's good to have something easy to grab. You will be medicated, sleeping, and in pain when you walk those first couple of days. For clothes, bring either long skirts or soft pants (like sweats or yogas) that have WIDE legs - nothing tight. You want everything soft and loose. Bring lots of small bills to tip all the people at airports and hotels to help you with luggage, and I had great luck using the Lyft app for getting back and forth in Tampa. The drivers were very reliable. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask, and good luck! I didn't have Dr. Su, but their office is wonderful, and his results are quite good! Remember to keep looking at your initial before/after pic, because you won't see it again for a while, haha! :)

Good luck! I'm a month out, and I hate to say, the swelling is still there, especially at the end of a long work day. Try to prop your feet up whenever possible and just wait it out. The good thing is that we have all winter with long pants and boots to recover!

I would love to an update now that you are further out. Did the swelling go away? Are you happy with the results?

Yes, it would be great to get an update, hope you're well!

I am post op day 3 and have been very faint/light headed with any standing. I am not too worried because I’ve read that many others have experienced this too. I am going to stop the pain med and make sure to eat and drink enough to try to help, but otherwise I just have faith that it will resolve as my body heals.

Yes, it was crazy! For me it lasted about two weeks. But it WILL go away. Oddly, what helped me was a little more walking, as much as I could handle. I had been in bed most of every day (which is good), but adding just a bit of activity helped. Also, I took some iron supplements, as I can be a bit anemic sometimes. Take it easy and good luck with your recovery!