Panniculectomy and Inner Thigh Lift - Ypsilanti, MI

Well, here it is December 28th, the evening before my surgery. My initial consultation with Dr. DiNick was back in April 2016. I was positive when I left his office, that he was the right surgeon for me (after a not so great experience with another surgeon in December 2015). When I left his office in April, I was unsure if I was going to have the T tummy procedure or just the horizontal incision and was unsure if I was going to have the full upper inner thigh incision or just the groin.

When I went for my preop appointment in early December I decided I was going to go big or go home. I will be having the T incision on my tummy with some lipo and am having the full inner thigh incisions with some lipo near my knees. I know they say never say never, but I am pretty confident that I will never wear a bikini, so the only person who will be seeing those incision would be my husband and I would much rather be 100% confident and happy with my results versus wishing I had done something differently. I also have a hernia that will be repaired while he's performing these two procedures.

This was the perfect time of year to have this done because I have been so busy with the holidays and training for a new job, I have not had a single minute to freak out about the procedures. I had to go out of town today to take a test and while I was gone, my family bleached the bathroom for me and took down the Christmas decorations, which was a huge help. I have rented a lift chair, so that is in place. I have also invested in a shower chair, toilet seat riser and walker, those are all ready as well. I will receive a compression garment at the hospital and have purchased a "go girl" because so many people recommend them, antibacterial soap, gauze, tape, etc. So, I think I am good to go, but am sure I have forgot something.

Infection is my biggest fear, but I think it's just from looking at too many reviews on here. I know what I have to go to keep things clean, but those people who get actual holes in their legs, tummy, etc., just freak me out. So, with that said, my house has been disinfected from top to bottom and the cats (I have heard horror stories about cat dander) will not be coming near me or even in the same room as me.

I am to report to the hospital at 6am tomorrow, which means we will be leaving our house around 4am. I have been drinking clear liquids since noon and am starving. I will upload some before pictures and stay in touch.

It's day four and I am doing well. I have been staying on top of pains meds every fours and was able to take my first shower today. I also feel, compared to some other reviews, I am moving well, as I can walk standing up with very little discomfort.
When I went for my preop it was determined that my iron was a bit low, so I had been taking a supplement the two week before my surgery. They checked it the morning of surgery and it has went up 2 points (11.something) and they were happy with that. The evening of my surgery it was again checked and had dropped to 6.something, That combined with my very low (normal for me) blood pressure, the doctor recommended a blood transfusion. So, I ended staying a second night and receiving two bags of blood. The first evening, I also noticed that my vision was blurry, for example, I could not text message on my phone. I asked the doctor about it and he said it could be the pain patch, so we removed it or it could be the anesthesia. As of this morning my vision is about 80% normal.

As for must haves, I am so, so, so, glad I purchased a toilet seat riser because I cannot physically sit on the seat because of the incisions going around the back of my legs, so I hold myself up each time I go. I have not used the walker (don't think I will) and did not use the shower chair simply because it hurt worse to sit down. I am also so very thankful that I rented the reclining lift chair, it has been a savior.

All in all, I feel better than I expected I would considering I have five drains. I am trying to get in 80-90 grams of protein each day, today I am at 75 and it's only 1:20pm, so I meet my goal today.

I feel pretty amazing, for just have major surgery six days ago.

As of this morning, I have switched to a weaker pain med, but am still taking it every six hours as recommended. Taking a shower is so refreshing and gets easier each day. After my shower today, as I was letting things "air out", I noticed that one of my drain sites appeared to be a little redder than the others, so I will be watching that closely.

Getting around is becoming easier by the day as is getting up and sitting down. I still have trouble sitting flat on my butt due to the incisions going under my butt cheek.

I still have all five drains in and over the last 24 hours they have averaged between 12.5-35 CC's of discharge. I called this morning and scheduled my one week post-op appointment for Jan 7th, so I am hoping to have most of them removed at that time.

Not much else new, just taking it easy and feeling better each day.