LUCY I"M HOME!!!!!

Hey girl!! How are you doing? Is your swelling gone and how are you feeling? Worried in MI

Wendy, dear! I am back to work. It was way too soon. I am so exhausted physically. My swelling is a lot better. My hands were like huge marshmellows last week. It's much better, but for some reason my feet are swollen. Yikes! I went to the doc last night. Now he wants me to wear a C cup instead of the B I was wearing. That was exactly what I didn't want! I hope that when the swelling goes down, I'll be down to a full B cup. It could be the shape of the bra I was wearing. I feel huge though. The implants are 300 cc each, so we'll see over time. My revision from the LBL looks great. No more extra pouch over the pubis. My arms are awesome! I figured a way to keep my arms wrapped. Instead of the ace wraps that would always come down, I bought the TED compression thigh high stockings and cut off the foot portion and the thigh portion and used them as sleeves. It works perfectly and gives me the right amount of support. That is probably why my swelling came down as it did. I have to wear underwire bras which I hate. I am already tired of wearing a bra 24/7. I know it is good for me but I gotta complain about something! I sure miss all of our Junebugs here. It's like we all fell off the face of the earth. I get a sneaky suspicion that people are having a hard time with losing or grazing issues at this point. I know that I am. It was so good to hear from you Wendy. Tell me what is going on with you. How are your iron levels doing? Love ya! Lucy

I had my last iron infusion today before surgery!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! I am up to 13 in my hemaglobin and hopefully after this treatment it will go up further in the next two weeks. I am scared to death though of the pain I know I will deal with. I hope they drug the crap out of me!! LOL!! I am tired of surgery and stuff. I am sure you know how I feel, even more so. It is so hard on your psychy and body and family. I think I will put off the rest of the reconstruction for awhile after this. My hubby doesn't care about the flab and I can wait, so I think I will. Maybe fall I will start looking into the boob job and other stuff. The belly HAS to go though, it interferes with my back and gets in the way of my clothing and all the belly sweat and etc. is gross. I'll be glad to be rid of that baggage. Glad you are doing better, you are my inspiration. You have been through so much in the last two years and you just keep on soldiering your way through. I am glad I have you to talk to about all of this. It is scary stuff that only other people going through it would truly understand. Wendy

Hi Wendy. I have a lot of support from the plastic surgery board. Actually, I became friends with two of them who came to the hospital the day I had my surgery. Val (Willow) offered to stay with me when I was coming home from surgery last week. She was going to stay overnight to make sure that I was ok. Jeanette R. had surgery one month before me and she came to the hospital while I was in surgery and stayed for a long time. They both have been so supportive and wonderful to get to know as friends. We go out for dinner every so often and Val and I have gone shopping and to a movie. We share our joys, fears and thoughts on plastic surgery. We all have the same plastic surgeon which makes it even more special. He knows that we are all friends and are watching out for each other! I can understand that you would want to put off additional plastic surgery at this time. First get through the belly portion and recover. You'll know when you are ready for additional surgery or if you don't want anymore surgery. It's really up to you. I can say that with the lower body lift, once I got through the pain in the recovery room it wasn't so bad. I had my muscles tightened up, so I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. It is definitely worth the pain. I love my small tummy and new belly button. I couldn't wait to get rid of the big belly and all the skin. Really with the pain, they can give you enough pain medication to make you comfortable. It's only immediately post-op while you're in the recovery room that it gets to you. I always think that I'll never do this again, but once the pain is gone, I think about doing it again. Just like having a baby! I'm happy that your iron levels are going up. Your day is coming soon! I will be here to support you in anyway I can. The summer is coming! We definitely have to plan a get together. Maybe a very long weekend - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Hugs, Lucy