update and pictures on my plastics and hernia repair done May 11, 2009 Ottawa, ontario...

Hi all,

As promised I have updated my profile with a couple pre and post op pictures.  I haven't taken any pictures lately and will be 4 weeks out this coming Monday.  What I have shared is the post op pictures at the 2 week plus a day or 2 mark.

On Monday May 11, 2009 I had plastic surgery at the Queensway Carelton Hopsital in Kanata with Dr Trefor Nodwell http://www.nodwellplasticsurgery.com/.  I highly recommend him as a surgeon.  His bedside manner and work is fantastic.

A brief history about me:
I had the DS surgery with Dr L in michigan on Sept 4, 2007.  I have sincle lost 168lbs with a goal of losing 22 more lbs.  At just over 6 months out I ended up with an incisional hernia.  It was painful and grew rapidly and caused me to lose weight slowly as I was not able to go to the washroom very well.  I had surgery to repair it in June of 2008.  Surgery went well and I recovered and began losing agian.  I lost about 30lbs when near the end of Sept 2008 I sneezed suddenly and tore the mesh causing the hernia to come back. with a vengance.   This time it got bigger and bigger.  I decided this time since most of the weight I needed to lose was in my lower body and not my stomach area ( I am pear shaped) that I would have plastics to remove the excess skin and a tummy tuck to reinforce the muscles at the same times as having the hernia repaired.  This was in hopes of preventing the hernia from ever coming back.  I have a couple consults with different surgeon**** some roadblocks with my hernia surgeon.  I ended up deciding on Dr Nodwell who arranged to find a general surgeon that would work with him to do the surgery together.

On May 11, 2009 I went into surgery to have a hernia repair with an abdomniplasty with anchor cut, and a breast lift with auto augmentation (meaning using my own breast tissue).  The surgery ran long at 8 hours and sure took the wind out of my sails...  I was in the hospital for 4 days and then staying with my good friend Kerry (dutchy) and then another friend until my mother came up for a week.  For the first two weeks I stayed heavily sedated as I was in a lot of pain and discomfort.  Now that the hernia was gone I had a lot of restriction again so eating was tough not to mention that I didn't have much appetite.

I get better each day, am no longer on narcotics and as the swelling goes down I am more and more pleased with the results. Everything has been healing up well apart from my belly button which is healing very slowly with tissue continually dying.  Dr Nodwell assures me I will heal up and have a belly button still which as he reminds me is a scar with which we were born and is a scar with which I will die.  Hmmm what does that mean for how it will look? haha.

It is taking time for my energy levels to come back but I think it finally is... woohoo.

I have had a lot of great family and friends help me through this... Bev has visited a couple times, Kim H took me to the hospital the day of surgery and came to help me figure out how to dress comfy and washed my hair when I got out of the hospital... Kerry took me into her home for a week... I couldn't have gotten through without them. :) 

Will try to add pictures as I get further out and keep you posted.

Sorry it was so long winded.

pre op



POST op

wow!  You have done so well with you DS and you will love you results from PS when you heal up

thanks for sharing

Wowwweeee,,what a difference!!

You're gonna look GREAT!!!

PamT

  You look  wonderful.. You must be so Happy... Enjoy....

You look great, your waist is tiny and your stomach is flat. I need my breasts done and that is next on my list. Debi

Wow you are so flat that is great I wish I could have pd the extra money and have a flat belly too but I am happy just to get what I got off! again he did a good job! your breast look like a teen take care! 

Wooo-hoooo!  You look wonderful!  Congratulations!!

~ BJ

You look SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You are going feel so great about yourself once you are all healed up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Gail

Thanks for sharing.. You look freaking incredible, can't wait to see your progress as you heal!!! I will be posting 6 week photos soon and love that I can look at pics and see changes with healing progression, hope you will do the same and share with us!!

HUGS

awe thanks everyone. That has truly been trying on the brain.  I hate that feeling of being draggy with no energy... Pain I can handle as its temporary but when you go a while with NO energy you begin to wonder if it will ever come back... Even though you know that it will haha... .Sound weird??? yep ... oh well.

Thanks for all the compliments... I am very flat and have a tiny waist and I like my breasts... proud to say that they are all natural too.  :)  I have always wanted to be just  a C again and believe thats what I finally am now... It will take a while to get used to them being so small compared to what I had before... but I love that they are right up there where they should be and that I don't have to tuck and adjust them when putting on my bra... When I put it on they just sit where they should be... with no changes required. :) LOVE that.....

I love the tiny waist and the flat tummy.... I am  not however quite at the exact phase where I can say its all been worth it or I don't wonder what  I went and got myself into.  My surgeon says that normal at this phase (4 - 6 weeks out) and as a result he showed me my before pictures so that I can get an idea of just how far I have come.  It really is a truly amazing difference.

I will for sure share more pictures as I take them.  I took a photo yesterday which is just under 4 weeks out.  I will wait till Monday the true 4 week mark and if remember will take pics and compare them.  If I forget then I will post the ones I just took.  Its another frontal view and a side view....

There are more before pics in my profile but you have to be my friend to see them. :) 

Cheers all