TT & Breast Lift - So Far, Buyers Remorse.

Hi Nadine -

I also went through Kaiser WLA for my LBL, breast lift, thigh lift, and arms with flank skin removal.  DJ Lee was my surgeon there.  I like my results, and I'm pleased with my shape and such, but the whole process was hard.  I have some infections, and repeat surgeries from the body lift - I didn't have the anchor cut, but just around, and had more excess skin removed last October when Dr. Lee did my arms/flanks. 

I really like Dr. Lee, and I felt bad that I was a difficult case.  I wasn't healing well, and it took a huge toll on both of us with my LBL.
I think we don't realize how much of a toll the big plastics will take on our bodies and minds.

I am close to you, and although in school full time now at Mt. SAC, if I can help you, or if you just want to talk, let me know.  I live in Ontario, and I think we "spoke" a time or two on the CA board.  I don't hang out there much, but I remember you.

Praying that you will be on your way to recovery soon.

I can relate.....I have not been on OH for over 2 months. Today I went to see the doctor and something told me to log on.

I had my first surgery with a plastic doc on Feb 19Th. I had a breast Aug with a lollipop lift. Neck lift, and full back with waist line lipo.

On day four my right breast started to split open. I asked for advise from doctors, on Oh, friends, google. No one really related to my story. I went to Kaiser where it was aspirated in March and early April.

On April 21,2010 I had my second surgery on my right breast. That resulted in me having a bad reaction to the medication. A drain was placed while I was in the OR. That drain remained in until day 8, it was removed with no issues. On day ten I had an area on the incision line that opened again. The draining continued until 5 days ago. I saw the doctor today who agrees I have a small seroma. He said that it will probably open again. This time I do as before and keep it clean and take my antibiotic. I begged to go back to work today. I fear I will once again be back in the OR.....

So long story long....I will probably be without my very expensive implants that have brought me pain since day one. My husband and I hardly talk. I wish I could go back to before Feb 19,2010

I am so glad I posted my story here discovered my problems are minimal to some of you. I am also grateful that I got to speak with Jennie (in this thread) and hear her story and ask lots of questions. I am told that things will "get better" down the line. I too want to go back to work as I am bored out of my mind and hate staying home on my sofa. I'm also sick and tired of being a "chronic" and having people get tired of hearing me complain. I am over 8 weeks out of surgery but still feel like I'm on my first week. Some of my incisions start to get red and open up a little but I quickly put antibiotic ointment on them and cover it with a bandage. The open wounds under my breasts are starting to close. I am excited to see the Dr tomorrow and hopefully, he removes the drains. I'm scheduled to return to work on Tues. June 1st but I really don't think I will be ready but I'm afraid to ask him for more time off. If you need to talk to someone... privately email me or Jennie above (she is great) to exchange phone numbers. Hope things get better for ya.

 

I'm glad that I could encourage you!  I have talked with Jennifer too - she will be having Dr. Lee do her tummy tuck late this year.  She had wanted  to do it this summer but has had to change her plans because of your issues with her past procedure with another surgeon. 

I really think at times we think that plastics will go so smoothly and we don't realize that it is such major reconstructive surgery.  There is so much tissue disruption and so many sutures.  We would never view our WLS or a gall bladder surgery, or a C-section so lightly, and yet, we think nothing of this major surgery and the need for long term healing after.  I think that very realization helped me out.  Also, I had a hysterectomy 4 weeks before my body lift, and that surgery was easy for me, but I allowed myself to really heal and the LBL just 4 weeks later made sure that I wouldn't be up and around doing too much.  I was told to give myself 8 weeks for my lap hysterectomy, with the minimal incisions.  Why would I not give myself at least that long for incisions that went all the way around my body??


Hang in there ladies - this will end, and you will get through, but it is a process, and you have to dedicate yourselfs first to taking care of you and the mental game of healing!

Gentle cyberhugs to you and praying for a quick healing from here!

Yes  I know Jennie well....she has been a God send to me. She even went to the doctors with me. I love her to pieces. Yes it is true I can't get my tummy tuc****il I get my issues under control. If you need more time off ask for it. I have made the mistake of not taking the time off when I needed it. As a result of my stubbornness, everyone has to suffer.

My reverse TT last year turned necrotic (my RNY was open AND I had a hernia repair before the TT... all on the same incision line).  I had a HUGE triangular crater under my breasts and across my ribcage that took 6 months to heal (the necrosis went all the way to the muscle fascia at the deepest point).  Now I look like I have a burn scar there (and there is no excess skin left to do any kind of revision)... so I understand regretting that you elected to have the surgery that turned out so badly.

Now that everything is healed up, I do not regret having it done at all... I just regret that the scar is so nasty looking (so I try not to look at it).  This feeling will pass.  Hang in there.

Lora

Thank you for sharing your story...

Lora,
I really appreciate you sharing your story as well.  When I first started into plastics, I seriously thought that I was the ONLY one having such issues because people don't always come back and talk about the problems.  It seems as if someone cannot post a rosey response they are not always welcome, but I think we have to see that complications are common, and we have to anticipate them.

I felt fortunate that Dr. Lee told me that the complication rate of LBL was very high, and that I should just expect to have something happen.  I think that becaue NOTHING did happen till I was over 5 weeks out, we both began to think that the impossible had happened and that I wouldn't have an issue.  I remember the morning when he said to me that this was just so easy this time and he was really pleased that I had no problems.  The very next week, the seromas and complications began, and it went downhill from there to the longest 4 months of my life. 

Please don't take these surgeries for granted.  They are HUGE procedures, with a tremendous amount of tissue disruption, and there may be complications. Be patient, and realize that they will resolve, but they take time.  None of us like going in for aspirations, or at worst repeat procedures for another drain placement or back to the OR, but in the end, most of the time, the results are worth it.  I still look at my life and think of how much better it is with 200+ pounds gone, free of the extra skin, a nice looking shape, and a figure that my husband adores, and I feel very blessed.  Was the journey hard?? YOU BET! Do I have regrets?? Only that I didn't do it sooner.  Do I feel happy in the life I have now?  YES!  Does my figure get comments, and turn heads?? I don't really know.  I know that my husband is pleased, as am I and I have gotten several comments from men at school and around town.  It makes me VERY uncomfortable!  Is my body/figure perfect? Absolutely not, and there are things that I would like for Dr. Lee to revise - hopefully he will agree when we talk in the next few weeks.  BUT, even if I went no further, I'm feeling very blessed.  I DO hear ALL the time that people are amazed at my flat tummy at almost 47 and 3 kids.  They have NO clue that I used to be 200 lbs heavier and that I had WLS surgery.

Again Lora, thanks for sharing, and lets work to keep encouraging people that it is hard work, but worth the effort even if there are battle scars along the way.

It's so hard not to have buyers remore during normal healing much less with complications. I was pleased with my surgeons skill but developed an infection that put me in the hospital for 8 days and I came home with a PICC line for 2 more weeks and a wound vac for 8. I am now almost 4 months out from the infection surgery and 5 months out from the original TT/BL and am just getting back to normal. My whole family fell apart. Lots of family and friends stepped in but I've had memory loss issues which I think are related to all the meds and I have nerve damage in my arm due to the PICC line along with continued swelling that is daily intense. I am SO glad the skin is gone and I am not dealing with skin infections but I have to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have done it. I try to live in the now and not in regret but its hard when my arm (right arm of course) acts up and I can't lift anything.

Praying you heal quickly and what a blessing to have great disability.

Leah,

I am hoping for a full recovery for you!  I know that the unexpected is hard.  I had to learn the hard way after my first round of plastics to expect and anticipate that the next rounds could be very hard.  That helped, but I still felt like a failure and a burden to my family for a long time.  It really helped for me to see that they were OK to help me out, and wanted to be there for me and bless me.  My family and friends were proud of my accomplishments and stood by me when I needed them most.  I hope that you can see that for your family as well. 

I'm also hoping that with more of us talking about the complications that we faced following surgery that others will realize the possibility and know that it happens.  Sometimes we think that it is isolated or that if our surgeon is good, we will not have an issue.  I believe that we all have surgeons who were excellent - Nadine and I have the same surgeon, and I still have every confidence in his skills, but I also know that stuff happens.  We have to hang tough then and know that we did take a calculated risk, and for whatever reason, we got the infection or the necrosis, or the whatever, and deal each day. 

Thanks so much for sharing your story, so that people can be informed.  I think that it also helps people to realize that they need a support system to go through with all of this.  It is very helpful to the board population to see that complications are not so isolated, and to make some plans just in case.

I'm praying that you will fully heal, that your arm will regain full function and that you will have no lingering effects.