Tummy Tuck with Muscle Repair, Full Body Lipo and Fat Grafting to the Butt -Tijuana, Mexico

Wasn't sure how many pics I could post at 1 time so broke it down into 2 postings. Also I forgot to mention above in reference to Dr Cardenas so called infection rate that I personally did not have any type of infection nor did the person that I befriended that had surgery by her a few days before mine. Just wanted to clear that up for those of you going off of these false accusations. Most infections are caused be people after they go home because they themselves don't properly care for themselves after returning home, or they aren't properly cleaning the wound. I personally washed with hepa cleanse from your local rite aide 3 days before surgery and for 2 weeks after on the surgery sites. And making sure you wear a under shirt under your garment and cleaning your garment every 2 days. for the first week and a half I actually cut big strips of disposable bed pads and put them on the surgical site and put the tank top/undershirt over it and tucked my shirt inside the garment and changed these daily. Again it's all about how you care for the area afterwards. My PS paid CLOSE attention to my flap ( the area where the 2 pieces of skin are re-sewn together making sure they don't over lap from the pulling of skin) I had to have a tummy tuck from hip to hip and a little area vertically because of lipo I had 12 years ago and had a lot of scar tissue under my skin in my upper region of my stomach where you see the little roll above my ribs in my before pics) Anyway here are the remaining pics.

I am including before and after pics. I am still really swollen. I walked a little this past week, will increase my distance next week. Want to join a gym but know I will be limited. Still soar from the lipo and tummy tuck. I sleep in my bed, but with pillows tucked under my sides. I will love when I can sleep normal without all the extra cushioning. LOL I know when I have lost a pillow or rolled over too far as it is painful!! My PS Dr Cardenas has been nothing but great!!! She emails and calls and has her assistant call to check up on me at least 1x or more per week. She has me still send her pictures and had me sending every few days after surgery. She is a VERY caring and compassionate Surgeon. I am so happy with my Surgeon Choice. I heard through the grapevine about people who had never even met her or knew anyone that used her that she had a high infection rate. I don't know how that is as when I stayed I physically saw someone there cleaning all the time.
The surgery room was VERY clean and everyone was very clean and attentive. The nurses were on top of everything at all times from checking on me constantly, emptying my drains, staying on top of my pain management, taking me to the restroom, making sure I was warm enough, checking my sutures ect... helping me shower, making sure I knew how to properly walk and correct me if I wasn't bent over enough. I even had mandatory blood work required by my PS before I was allowed to go home. My hemoglobin ended up being on the low side and the Dr did not want me to leave and suggested a blood transfusion, but I refused and told her I was fine and wanted to go home to rest. On that note ladies, if at all possible try to stay at the facility for at least 3-5 days or make sure you have an electric hospital bed before you come home. I tried the recliner thing and was miserable. I could get in and lay back but could not get back up or was a very painful experience when I did. I even tried to sit on the couch with pillows surrounding me and feet up on a chair. Very uncomfortable. I could get up easier, but was miserable. My personal experience I would suggest a wheel chair (for going places, I had many Drs appts because of my hemoglobin issue and having to go to the ER, getting blood transfusion and getting blood drawn every 2 days for 2 weeks) A shower chair (ladies don't try to be he woman and stand. I thought mrs toughy that I am I didn't need anything, lol) and the hospital bed is a MUST HAVE. or at least it was for me. The tummy tuck never really bothered me except for the walking hunched over (which kills the back) and the tightness of not being able to stretch. The most painful thing for me I think was the lipo and fat deposits done at the same thing. I think it was too much for me to have so much done and so many areas done at one time and the tummy tuck all at once. My bruising was soooooo bad I think that in conjuction with everything I had done was just tooo much to bear. I have a very high pain tolerance or at least used to. If I had to do this all over there is no way in hell I would have everything done at one time. Again each person heals differently and maybe since my hemoglobin dropped so dangerously low it made everything so much more painful. I have several areas that I wanted lipo in that the Dr by law was only able to take so much. She asked me what areas were the most important with notifying me of that and I told her pretty much everywhere, so a little was taken from each of those areas. :-( Unfortunately it wasn't as much as I thought it would be, so if I don't lose enough to be happy with those areas by this summer I will be getting only lipo done, which I think will put me where I want to be. I am including before and after pics and 3.5 weeks post op pics. Sorry guys as some are graphic, but I don't want to candy coat anything. I will again update soon.

Sorry guys I haven't been updating on a regular basis. It has only been a week since my surgery, but I feel like it has been a month. This has been the longest week of my life. I have been so soar and not being able to do anything but sit ALL day long sounds like something someone would love to be able to do. Not me, it's driving me crazy!!!! I can't do anything and then to top it off I have had a big problem with my hemoglobin since my surgery. As I indicated the surgeon wanted to give me a blood transfusion and I declined. Unfortunately 2 days later I found myself in the ER for 14 hrs and ended up getting 2 bags of blood as my levels had dropped down to 7. The day after my surgery it was at 8.6, which I felt alright but the first night of being home my ears kept having this sound like an ultrasound constantly running and I could hear my pulse in my head and neck area. I was miserable. I figured it was either my blood pressure was raised or the fact I had lipo done under my chin and this was just the aftermath of having this done. I dealt with this the first day, but on the 2nd day home I had the sound in my ears, my heart rate would raise just walking to the bathroom and the throbbing in my head just would not subside. I called my surgeon and told her how I was feeling as I had missed her call earlier, she too thought it was my blood pressure med not being strong enough as the med I take is a very mild diuretic. I figured I would just relax and see if it would subside on its own and put a heating pad on the back of my neck to try to help alleviate my headache. So to make a long story short it got worse as the night came and I could not sleep so got up and went to the ER where they did an EKG, Ultrasound of my heart, chest xray of my lungs and heart, 6 tubes of blood, 2 bags of Potassium, a nasty warm very orange salty Potassium drink, 2 bags of Saline, 2 doses of morphine which made me eventually throw up and the nausea meds they gave me after I threw up wasn't working, but I had to wait an hour to try a different one. On top of this I was up and down so much and wasn't in my garment yet, only a wrap and every Dr wanting to see the incisions ect... I believe this in itself is a BIG reason I am more soar than I should be. Anyway after my 2 bags of blood, which takes 3 hrs for each bag was finished my levels game back up to a 8.6, still low but better. I refused to stay at the ER any longer as I had already been there 14 hrs, no food, no sleep in 2 days and it was the noisiest place ever. I followed up with my Dr the next day had blood work done again, my levels were up to 10. Normal is 13-16 so I wasn't horrible. Then had to do blood work again yesterday, my levels dropped to 9.6 but she said we will recheck on Wed and Fri and then figure out where to go next. This all sucks, but the good thing is after the Transfusion my ears stopped with the noise, my chest no longer was pounding and I was able to sleep. I think the Tramodol was messing with my sleep as when I stopped using it I could sleep. Strange. Oh and ladies I have been sleeping in my recliner which is nice, but when it comes to shifting around to get comfy and all you do it go further back and theres no way to get back up except to have someone else push the recliner down or you have to figure out how to pull yourself up no fun. I switched to the couch with 2 dining room table chairs to prop my legs up on. Works a lot better but I broke down and have a hospital bed coming today. My advice is rent a hospital bed, or get a recliner that puts you up into a standing position. I have had one miserable Journey. And ladies make sure after and extensive procedure that they test your hemoglobin and if it is 9 and under GET the transfusion. It will help you heal better and help you to not end up going through the work up that I did, as it makes the healing process so hard if you do it the way I did. I was just too proud and couldn't imagine someone else's blood in my body. My levels were in the 13-14 range before Surgery so as you can see I was in the normal range.