Plastic surgery - arm lift question

I am gong to have PS on my arms, most likely 1 year from now. I did a consult about 8 months ago to find out costs and to make sure that I could do the surgery. I just about have the money saved and thought I would be having the surgery this Christmas but my PTO got screwed up at work so it will have to wait until my next shut-down which will be next 4th of July time.

I was wondering roughly how long you're out of commission with just that surgery? I'm not having anything else done. Obviously I'll be going to the PS and they will be giving me more information way before then, but I'm HR at work and Payroll as well and I have to train a backup and currently no one else can do the payroll...it's a whole thing lol. I'm working on getting that done and thinking through how much PTO it would take.

I am jealous, I will have to live with bat wings. I am sorry I don't know the answer but just had to say, congrats on the awesome weight loss!!!!!

Well everyone is different but I will say of all the work I had done it was the quickest healing and least painful that is once the drains were removed, the drains made me feel like a scarecrow but once they were gone. It was remembering not to pick up or pull things because I forgot about them. The other things I had done where waaaay slower and more painful (LBL, BA/BL.)

I'm not a good gauge on downtime... I had 3 procedures at the same time so it was about 7 weeks for me but had I only had arms wouldn't have been that long till I could type/desk stuff... if you have to lift stacks of paperwork or move boxes or anything plan to have someone help with that, PS will usually say nothing heavier than a water bottle for a month.

I did lose more weight post PS didn't plan to... so I have a little mini bat wing going on... I didn't see how far out you are but maybe the wait will end up being a good thing.... I was 16 months and probably should waited a little longer.

Be sure your water and protein levels are hitting goals for the weeks before and while healing religiously... helps with healing.

Hope it all works out for you!!

Just FYI, there is a plastics forum! -- http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/plasticsurgery/ (I'm not telling you to forum nanny you, just letting you know in case you didn't know it existed. It's been invaluable to me!)

Okay, so I had my brachioplasty on June 5th. I had a lower body lift at the same time. If I was JUST having the brachioplasty? I think it would have been a cakewalk. 99% of my pain and therefore dopiness due to drugs has been from the LBL and, with prep, I don't think I would have needed much in the way of help post op if it was just the arms.

Sadly, it's really hard to predict recovery. Even for yourself much less someone else. Like, for me, if I'd just done my arms it would have been about the same as my VSG which, for me, was about 1-2 days of round the clock pain killers, 1-2 days of pain killers just before bed, and then nothing.

For your work - how much do you need to move your arms? Can you lower everything so it's lower than your armpits? How much reaching do you do?

I know, thanks! I thought about posting there but thought it would get more traffic from people who are past the surgery and who don't visit that forum anymore. When I actually have the surgery I'm planning on posting there :) I read there a bunch lol!

Thanks for the feedback. I've had a lot of surgeries, but never on my arms before. And I quit painkillers as soon as I possibly can because I hate the way they make me feel. I've been wondering if I could get by with 1 week off of work and then go back.

I work at a desk all day. I don't do anything physical at all. So I feel like that part is totally manageable. I think I'm going to make an appt with the surgeon to see what he says. It depends on his availability as well, if he's available the week after Christmas I could actually make it work this year maybe. Hmmm. I think I need to contact him this week.

To be safe ,- I no would plan at least 2 weeks - with an option to come back in one week if you were up to it.

As evidenced by the fact that I just cross posted the heck out of my medial thigh lift questions... I totally understand :D

I felt the same way going into plastics. "I've had a lot of surgeries and I quit painkillers as soon as I possibly can." Holy crap, nothing prepared me for this. And that was the was one of the few scary things for me going into this. You can prepare for everything, but nothing will prepare you for recovery because you never know how YOUR personal recovery will be. Ugh. But I attribute the majority of the challenge/pain of this recovery to my LBL and not the arms.

You'll just have to be really careful about reaching for things. I feel like most people reach for things more than they are aware - I know this has been the case for me. I suggest getting a good grabber stick. And use this time to evaluate where things are in your office. And how you'll be able to adjust your ergonomics. You might want to be at a different height from your keyboard, have arm rests, etc.

I would always plan two weeks, but of all my recoveries the arms was the easiest. My surgeon did not use drains for the arms, which made it even easier. It did require wearing compression sleeves for a month, but that was really no biggie, annoying ass but not the end of the world.

Thanks!

Compression is so annoying!! When I had my FIEP they take fat from your belly to make the breasts and I had to be in this compression bodysuit for a month and then this girdle for about 2 months after that. I think I was going crazy after 2 days of that ****! I assumed compression for this, one reason I wanted to do it in the winter and not summer actually.

Usually doctor M waits three months between surgeries, but I push for two months because I wanted to wear them in May not June. The hotter it is the more annoying than a day. And I laughed at the auto correct in my last message LOL