The Best of the BEST!

Hello, fellow RS'ers! I wrote this review 10 days ago, but I had some IT issues. Today I am 3.5 weeks pt-op and feeling great! I'll make a seperate review for how I feel now.
Anyway, this is what I'd written on 12/27/24 :)I am currently 16 days post-op abdominoplasty with the gifted Dr. Christian Subbio. While I still have a LOT of healing to go, I'd like to share some important and hopefully helpful details. There will be more to come if anyone finds this helpful.I should start by making a disclaimer. I work in the same field as a nurse, with a background primarily in facial plastic surgery (although I have experience with general plastics as well) and aesthetic injectables.Also, I am no stranger to receiving both elective and health-required surgery. I have experienced massive surgeries (ex: lumbar spinal fusion surgery) and also elective procedures, so maybe over a dozen surgeons have operated on me with general anesthesia. I say this to point out that I have had several surgeons to compare Dr. Subbio to, both good and not so good.While I thought I knew exactly what to expect pain-wise/ recovery/ bruising/ swelling/ etc., I was still very nervous about the recovery from this surgery, because of exactly what I knew. Sometimes knowing too much is not a good thing, ya know? Ironically, knowing Dr. Subbio's work and his results are second to none, I had virtually no concerns or worries about my results. But pain and pain management... that was a different story.Ok! So, first thing first: Dr. Subbio is incredibly patient. He listens to all of your concerns and answers all of your questions, whether you think they're silly or not. His bedside manner is gentle and calming yet humbly confident. Despite knowing me and knowing I have plenty of clinical knowledge on this procedure, he still took the time to answer all of my questions. He treated me no differently from any other patient, professionally and seriously.Dr. Subbio's staff is definitely a reflection and an extension of himself, second to none. Chelsea, Margot, Amber, EVERYONE there are incredible, kind, nonjudgmental, helpful, attentive, and knowledgable.Pre-op instructions were crystal clear. All labs and anything needed were outlined and highlighted clearly, and Chelsea (and Margot, etc.) delivered them articulately. My husband (who is not medical at all) had no issues following directions for medications or post-op instructions. He said all of the instructions were laid out perfectly for anyone to follow easily.Dr. Subbio operates out of Paoli Hospital. We live in center city Philly, which is about an hour-ish away. Because we needed to be at the hospital at 5 am and Dr. Subbio's office the next day for post-op day 1 check-up, we opted to stay at the Marriott AC across the street from his office the night before and the night after surgery. (The Marriott AC there is new, beautiful, immaculate, and deserves a glowing review of its own, if I'm being honest!). I wanted to be close to the hospital/ his office because I was nervous about a long car ride the day of and after surgery and not being able to tolerate it. Knowing what I know now, the hotel for this distance was NOT necessary, but it did provide us a great deal of peace of mind.From the moment we walked in the door at Paoli Hospital, the entire staff (both the administrative and healthcare staff) was super friendly, calming, and accommodating. Once I was taken back, I kissed my husband, and they said they’d call and text him as soon as he was out of surgery and update him on when to come back. My husband really appreciated that so he could get himself something to eat, get me something to eat for when I was awake, and kind of set up the hotel room to be ready for me after, etc., and didn’t feel like he was sitting around waiting without a clue.When Dr. Subbio came into the pre-op area to say hello and make me up for the procedure, I casually mentioned I was a little nervous. He stopped to take the time to ask me what I was nervous about, like which part was making me nervous. For those of you with little to no experience with surgery, please hear me when I say this is a BIG deal. The OR in a hospital runs on a VERY tight schedule, and this is NOT the time for a patient to ask questions or voice hesitations. ALL concerns and questions should be fully satisfied prior to this moment, if for no other reason than out of respect for the dozens of hospital staff working on this schedule, other surgeons also operating that day, and the patients that come after you. It’s kind of like the airport; if that first flight is delayed, the rest of the flights, people, and the airport are a mess. My concern was about the pain for the first 24 hours, and the first 3-5 days. I knew once I was “over the hump,” I’d be ok, but I was scared of unattainable pain management.Friends, let me please tell you, do not worry unnecessarily like I did! While it’s true I have had traumatic experiences waking up from anesthesia in the past and endured two back-to-back spinal fusion surgeries, I am a total baby and have zero pain threshold left. Pain-wise, I am over it. But THIS, the tummy tuck with Dr. Subbio was maybe a 4 out of 10 pain at most, and even less when the meds were fully on board. There is a delayed-release, injectable pain medication Dr. Subbio uses during surgery that, when injected strategically and expertly, will keep you pretty dang comfortable! I was SHOOKETH! Like, mind FULLY blown! The delayed-release meds start to kick in about a day after surgery when the meds they use in the OR start to wear off, so there was no “dip” in pain control.Dr. Subbio will also prescribe you narcotic pain meds, then tell you about when to expect to transition to ibuprofen and Tylenol only (in addition to other meds like antibiotics, etc.). I was only on the heavy Rx meds for 1.5 days, and no one was more surprised than ME! Post-op day 3 I was on Tylenol and Ibuprofen ONLY for pain… never would I ever have believed that.Don’t get me wrong; you are sore AF, swollen, bruised, have drains (usually for the first 7-9 days), are in a compression binder, and Gd forbid you need to sneeze or really need to cough hard… that HURTS. Also, if your husband is half as funny as mine is, I recommend having someone else take care of you (lol) because laughing really hard also HURTS. (only half kidding here lol, laughing till you cry has a new meaning now) However, given the extent of the surgery and the change that is happening, the recovery pain was virtually nothing.Personally, my drains came out on Post-op day 8, and that was a great comfort to have them gone. They don’t hurt or anything; they’re just super annoying, and after day 5 I was over them. When my drains came out (gently and expertly removed by Margot), I was taken out of the binder and given a “Faja” to wear with some foam to go over my belly.And that’s where I am today! I am standing about 90% straight up now. I’ve been sleeping in bed (as opposed to a recliner) for the last 3ish nights, and I’m independent in the house. It’s still super swollen, and the bruises are fading greenish and all those lovely colors lol, but I could not be happier at this point! Please ask if anyone has any questions or if I left out something you want to know more about! I’ll be posting pics ASAP, too.Good luck on your journey, everyone! I hope it’s as smooth for you as it’s been for me!

Here’s a bunch of me before the procedure. I’m sort of changing the way Instand or whether I contract my abs or not. The lax skin was just too much for me. Posting after pics next.

Sorry I don’t have pictures of days one through four after surgery. I was just resting and not moving much, just trying to recover.
Like I said, my pain was managed much better than I expected! It looks worse than it was. But I just wasn’t moving much or taking pictures those first few days.