Thigh Lift, BBL, Lipo on Arms, Back, Abdomen, Inner&Outer Thighs, Knees, Breast Implant Exchange, Fat Transfer to Lips and Face

I just have to say that I'm still in horrific pain now more than before. Luckily for me family members have been able to supply me with Vicodine therefore I've been taking that in addition to Ibuprofen 800 and barely this way I've been able to tolerate the pain I've been under. I do wake in excruciating pain since I miss the 4 hour period to take the other pill but I sleep with the medication under my pillow to take it as soon as I wake up. I'm still sleeping in my recliner and even though its uncomfortable I still cant lay down on my bed. I'm suppose to return to work next week and honestly I have no idea how in the world I'm suppose to accomplish that since just this week I've been able to bend my knees, I haven't even attempted to drive. :-/ I guess I will have to play it by ear this weekend and attempt to drive. Also I will have to see my doctor for more pain medication, possibly higher dosage for night time.

I found a guy friend of mine Chiropractor that does lymphatic massages and I'm so very grateful for his services. He's been making house visitis every 2 days to give me massages. His massages are so much better than the other ones I was getting, where it felt like torture. He explained that they are not suppose give a deep tissue massage since the lymph nodes are just below the skin. Although he does take his time and works on me for about 2 hours, but that just might be because he is giving me special treatment since he is fancing me. :-) He also forbid to wear a girdle until the swelling and hardness has ceased. Although it feels awful to not have the girdle on the swelling is reducing and the skin is softening.

Here are some pics as promised. Sorry its taken some time. But better late than never.

So that little incision that opened up gave me a good scare, as I had mentioned before it had started to drain but nothing that was alarming until I started to smell an unpleasant odor. I immediately emailed Angie regarding this but due to not being able to drive and the response times of emails I was unable to go immediately and instead had to wait an entire week. I have to say I was freaking out pretty badly. I was finally able to go in last Friday, the 3rd for a consultation with Dr.Campos as opposed to just the nurse. I have to say the consultation did not go as expected whatsoever and was very surprised.

As soon as I walked in Angie welcomed me and immediately asked how I was doing. I was in a lot of pain still so I verbalized it. She said she had been aware of it since she had read the review of RealSelf. I explained that I've been in pain all this time and that nothing the doctor had given me was working since I don't fully absorb what I intake due to my gastric bypass. She asked what I was taking now and I told her 600mg Ibuprofen which was the only thing Dr. Campos was willing to prescribed me before I left home. Ok so those that have had Gastric Bypass know that Ibuprofen is a huge NO NO for our stomaches since its an irritant but since he gave me that and did not want to give me anything else, or stronger I had no choice but to take what was prescribed to me (I did take extra precaution and I have medication at home that protects my stomach for medications such as these). Angie did mention that had she known about my situation that she would have helped me out. She asked other than the pain how was everything else. I told her my issues fairly quickly and how the fat graphing didn't take to my lips and lopsided my cheekbones. She expressed concern and thought it was strange since she said that is usually the places where it takes the best. Amongst our conversation she did mention that she wanted to explain some misunderstandings regarding the money situation before I left. I told her ok.

Now I'm not a shy person at all and I will stand by what I say and what I write, I will not apologize unless I know I am wrong and like I've mentioned before I will not sugar coat things, we are all grown people and some professionals and should be able to take the complete honest truth. With this said this is what happened as I went in to see Campos.

The nurse Patty was the first to quickly examine me prior to Campos. She is one of the best nurses I can assure you. I let her know all my concerns, the right breast looking like it was trying to bottom out but I put on a holster to correct it which it looked like it did somewhat, My face fat graphing, my thighs still being swollen and hardened like rocks and the incision opening and oozing what was know somewhat creamy looking and an odor that did not smell right. She took a look at my incision and immediately assured me that it wasn't infected. I asked her why it smelled like that, she said it was fluid that was stuck inside my body for a couple of weeks therefore it is normal to have that scent. She said we would double check with Dr. Campos. As for my legs she said that I would probably need more massages. She added that she knows I have no tolerance for pain but that it is very necessary.

So I'm standing there with a gown in my bday suit as Dr.Campos walks in. Now I'm going to reserve my opinion and let everyone be the judge of this, but as Campos walks in he has a slight annoyed face and he says Hi Lizeth, I've read your review on RealSelf. Now in my perspective if someone has read my review already then they know why I'm coming in. He uncovers my gown to quickly examine me and says I look fine. Meanwhile he is trying to justify and reason for the remarks I've made. He stated that I'm the first one to say he has no bed side manners, I stood by my answer and told him You don't doctor with all due respect, you could be more compassionate. He stated that he does have bed side manners and that he is very compassionate that no one has ever spoke badly on him, so my respond to that was "Maybe not to your face." Now this might not have been the wisest response, even though its the honest truth (I've a couple of profiles that have had similar experiences) but I realized after the fact and since Campos was too busy focusing on what I had written instead of examining properly which he did not examine my face, or arms as a matter of fact the nurse had to remind him about my legs and the incisions opening, I just pretty much just stayed quiet and nodded to everything he said. Particularly when he said he had never met someone who had such little pain tolerance and even more so that the medication didn't have any effect. So at this point I went into a slight quarrel with him, in which I told him that I had informed him about gastric bypass, that if he had experience with patients of such he should know that a lot of medications will not be well absorbed. He argued that he did try to help that sent me 2 injections and sublingual pills. I told him yes the injections that got me sick, he said it was the strongest form like Morphine, therefore I responded had you indicated that to me I would have told you NO, I don't react well to morphine no wonder I got sick. And I thought to myself what are 2 injections really gonna do. Then he stated that then he sent another medicine (equivalent to Codeine) that he never prescribes. Now this was the only medicine that helped a little and when I tried to get more he refused to give it to me and gave me Ibuprofen instead. So he continued to justify that he did try to help. I informed him that I was in pain for a long time even for his response time and even in the first follow up visit I continued to tell him I was in pain and he brushed it off, checked me made me cry then sent me to the massages for another session of torture. And I'm sorry but I'm a Spanish speaker but it is very rude and unprofessional when you tell the massage tech "Me vale que le duela, dale duro" translation is "I don't give a damn if it hurts her, massage her hard".

So at this moment I'm probably as annoyed by this whole approach altogether and stayed fairly quiet. He continued to check my legs and decided to squeeze, compress and massage my inner thighs that felt like rocks. Lets keep in mind I had told him once again that I was still under a lot of pain and those areas were very sensitive. Guess what happened? I started to cry, the pain was unbearable. He was scolding as to how I need to massage them out, then he would switch about the review and at the end after 5 mins of torturing my inner thighs he thanks me (in what seems like a sarcastic tone) for the review because he will learn from it. All I said at that point with tears running down my face and gasping for air, that I never said that his work wasn't marvelous. He looked at the nurse told her to get me up and send me to get a massage because if I didn't that was going to form fibroids or tumors. He walked out of the room, the nurse ran after him to ask about pain medication he walked back in and asked if I had had any pain medicine and I said a couple of hours ago, the medicine he had prescribed. The nurse then came back 2 minutes later with and injection, she said it was gonna hurt a lot but it was for pain so I can tolerate the massage.

Now I'm a professional individual, I've had my fair share of responsibilities and professions, I know how to choose my battles carefully, for crying out loud I've been an elected official I know a thing or two about professionalism and the opportunities one should take to amend situations and make things right. This would have been the perfect situation for Campos to flip the script and make things right. As a professional we should know better than to take things personal but to take them as professional criticism. Particularly when it comes to patients and customer service. How many more patients have felt this exact way but didn't voice it? Well I don't regret doing so, or how things turned out even though I did much suffered if it means that he won't do it to other patients.

The massage therapist Joanna came to get me to take me to SkinMed Office. Bless her soul, she did not allow me to scream as I had done previously instead she talked through the entire process and every compression, she would stop when she saw that I was in too much pain and asked me to breathe, then she would ask can I continue. She would also stop when I told her to stop. She apologized a million times. I had to stop 30 mins into it to take a 600mg Ibuprofen then stop again 15 mins later for another 600mg ibuprofen and that's in addition to the shot they had just given me. This is what I mean that I have no pain tolerance. I literally felt that first 600mg Ibuprofen wear out as she massaged me intensely but I was able to tolerate it. So for the other leg I did the same. It helped a lot. But this is to show that my body works differently and just because its not like the rest, and I probably only absorb 50%, doesn't mean I should suffer with pain. So by the time the massage ended I was so much better Pain wise. My legs felt slightly better but I noticed right away that my legs where starting to swell like crazy again.

I went upstairs to Angie to purchase another Lipo Cream. She then explained the confusion about the money. She apologized greatly and stated that I had a point about the way they were doing things in the office therefore since reading my review they have changed their policies and procedures. I expressed that it bothered me greatly that my mom was charged she explained that she had gone to the room and I told her to charge my mom since she had the money. I told her I didn't remember but how could I, I was heavily sedated. I told her that in situations like that they should just wait until the patient is out of recovery in their senses if there is still an outstanding balance because something wasn't included. I have to commence her for that apology and willingness to give me an explanation, I know that a lot of people wouldn't even bother. So my respects for being a professional about it.

I asked her about other procedures that I didn't have a chance to talk to Campos about, for the obvious reasons. She told me how much they run for but that Dr. Campos would give me the ultimate quote on that stuff. I asked about Accent XL, which is a treatment that slims and tightens the face, chin and underchin, which is something I want even more since my cheeks are lopsided. I asked about fillers for my lips and to straighten the profile of my nose and botox for the line inbetween my eyes that the fat-graphing didn't take. I'm still very disappointed in this, and I didn't even have a chance to address it with Dr.Campos nor did he offer any revisions or alternatives, but I doubt that he'd even give me a discount after everything even more so I doubt that he'd even take me as a patient again.

This makes me utterly sad because I still need one more round to fix my arms. Originally Dr. Campos offered to provide additional treatment to shrink the skin on my arms after lipo, but since I don't have that in writing and he is so bothered by me, that pretty much went out the window. And now after his demeanor I'm sure he would not want to finish with my rounds. I love his work he did an outstanding job but like anything, work, work ethics, and personality are all completely different things.

I guess I'm starting again from square one looking for another PS that specializes in arms now.

My recovery has been slow and very painful. I'm almost 4 weeks Post Op and I'm still dealing with the stiffness in the morning and so much pain. I still have severe swelling in my inner thighs which doesn't allow me to close my legs and make me waddle when I walk.

The majority of the areas that got lipo'd has hardened, by this I mean the skin and underneath has gotten really hard, it's a very unpleasant feeling and some of it is numb or very tender to touch. This is normal but to my dismay it can take 2-4 months for the hardness to seize and soften like regular skin and 6-12months for those lucky individuals (sarcasm). I can't put any heat/cold compression to relieve it since that makes my Edema worse so I'm pretty much stuck just waiting everything out.

Trial and error: Ok so at this moment don't go without your girdles on. I made the mistake of going without my girdle or simply putting one of those SPANDEX wannabees from Sears and that was huge mistake. My body is still molding therefore the skin and swelling shifts according to the girdle and support. Lets just say I created a muffin top in the middle of my abdomen but soon dissipated as soon as I put on my Surgical Girdle.

NOTE: Just as a note as soon as you take off you're girdle you feel like gelatin and if you've had lipo you start to feel the burning sensation from the fluids traps inside and that is very painful, not to mention that it feels like your loose skin is about to fall off. You'll notice as you go from girdle to girdle that the tighter it is the better it feels.

Currently I'm in the process of purchasing YET another girdle since I need the next Stage.

COMPLICATIONS: Ok so like my previous experience my Inner Thigh (GROIN) incision has started to open a tiny bit and has been secreting small amounts of fluid (not infection). This is common for me since it happened in my tummy tuck as well only thing that I had a minor staff infection in my tummy tuck incisions. Now just quick education on staff infections and incisions, anytime you get a staff infection at an incision site it creates an opening that obviously starts oozing greenish fluid that is very stinky, the infection can be cleared with antibiotics the bad thing is that the opening that it created is automatically detrimental to the overall look and outcome of the scar meaning at the end you will be left with that part that is darker and wider than the rest of the scar that was not infected. Now since I have experience in this I've been taking extra precaution because my incisions are at the groin area (see pictures) and are more likely and easily to get infected. I noticed that the reason a few parts started to open up was because the doctor had asked to air it out 3 times a day, this was drying out the incision but was also creating tensions and stretching that area when I would sit down. My Edema and that fact that when my legs blow up it pulls on the incision site doesn't help at all either. Since the INTERNET IS MY BESTFRIEND, I look everything up and saw that a couple of doctors rather keep the incision moist with Antibacterial Ointment and that at times that can speed the healing - The con about it is that you need to be very careful because Bacteria grows in moist areas therefore I have to be extra clean. Its been a few days now that I'm using the ointment that was provided to me after surgery and what a relieve. I know that in those areas that opened up will have a hide scar its inside where its not visible. The part of the incision that is located at the crease of my booty cheeks are most completely healed and hardly visible which is GREAT news because from those scars my main concern was that part since it was the most visible. On the front part of the incision its placed on the underwear bikini line and its still healing but healing very nicely, I'm not to worried about the scar that is on the lower side since I'm planning to get all my scars lasered to improve appearance particularly those areas that opened up and created wide scars.

BREAST IMPLANTS: As for my breast implants, the scar was placed in the bottom circumference of my Areola. The doctor determined that since I healed very well there and did not lose sensation that it was best he went down that route. That incision is completely healed now and I'm about to purchase Scar Strips to start fading the scar (I will post pictures of the scarring so far). I've used Maderma before and had good results but I heard the strips are even better. I noticed that my right breast was starting to bottom out again but I'm hoping since its still early and the inner tissue is still healing I will be able to save it with the proper holster, I already had the holster so I'm now wearing it and as long as I wear it the breast implant goes back in place, I'm hoping this will work since its the primary reason why I exchanged my implants to begin with.

FAT GRAPH TO FACE: Well all the swelling is pretty much done and I have to say I'm not impressed with it. I was so swollen at the beginning I looked like a monster and I thought maybe the doctor put way too much fat on my cheekbones and lips. But now that the swelling has seized I realized the fat didn't really take and my cheekbones are not aligned correctly, they are lop sided. What a waste of $600. I originally wanted lipo on my cheeks and under my chin with fat graph on my lips and line in between my eyes. I should have just done this instead of taking the doctors suggestion, although I might like a bit more youthful I feel I now have a fatter looking face. Well we will see when I see the doctor again I'm hoping he can correct the cheekbone issue and I think I still want the lipo on the cheeks and under chin, which I will probably get when I go back for my Arm Tuck.

BRAZILIAN BUTT LIFT: Ok so during this entire time I've been sitting on my butt on top of my donut. I noticed that indentations have started to appear on my butt. It still looks nice but no longer has the smooth look. I'm bummed about that but I'm sure its because I've been on my booty and that's usually not recommended. I cannot lay on my side or my tummy because of the Edema and because its very painful and for some reason when I'm on my tummy tension rises and it feels like my head is going to explode. I know, weird. Anywho I'm looking to see if I can still reverse those indentations and save my BBL. I looked it up and it looks like if I purchase a girdle with the booty opening it just might do it. I hope so, if not I'm gonna have to have more fat graphing done there to correct that. :-/ Honestly I don't want anymore unnecessary surgery.

So these are my updates so far.

I have a follow up appointment next week to consult about the stitching that popped in my Groin Area, the face fat graphing, the edema and skin hardening, and the implant that I'm having issues with. I will let everyone know what Dr. Campos says. I'm hopeful that its still early to reverse and help with the issues without going under the knife again for those same reasons.

I'll be posting pictures of 3 WEEKS Post Op in a few days once I take them. I realized I haven't posted any of my arms so I will definitely do that. If anyone wants to see anything in more detail don't hesitate to ask. I'm very open about this since it was very important for me when I was researching all the procedures.