Wanted results?

Worried about spending that kinda money and not getting the results I want. Anyone else go thru this? Surely not just me. Please tell me how you got over it? Cold feet, chickening out here!
Pam

I share your feelings and I bet most people do too. Sorry this is long but I'm expressing what I've thought about to deal with this issue. If I was a light weight with just a small amount of hanging skin I probably wouldn't go through with surgery.

I shed my weight by diet because after thoroughly researching WLS I realized there was nothing wrong with my digestive tract, the problem was in my head and I found a way to solve that. It makes me sad that since I was super morbidly obese I have tons of hanging skin....and the only way I can fix that problem is with surgery...I can't avoid surgery this time. I am scared and felt like chickening out until I found the right surgeon. I've been in the OR and seen mistakes occur - I'm scared of the known and the unknown. I know surgeons are just people, not superhuman.

Aesthetic results are not my only goal, although they are important. One reason why I am determined to get the hanging skin fixed is looking forward into the future when I'm elderly, maybe in a nursing home and perhaps incapacitated with little to no control over my care. I can deal with skin issues now while I'm active and in good health with easy access to Dr. and income to pay for prescriptions etc. When I feel like quiting and just living with the skin problems, I remember the potential future.

I'm close to goal and at an ideal weight for plastics so the few more pounds I might shed after surgery will not affect my results - I'm not worried I'm spending a lot of money on something that will need a revision in the future. I've seen a couple of obese and overweight BMI posters here who thought they were stable and were not going to shed any more - they then shed enough weight (more than 20 pounds) that they needed to have many of their procedures repeated - I am lucky enough to benefit from their experience. Once is enough for me, I patiently waited to get close..

I went for 3 consults - and I would have gone to more if needed. The first surgeon put me off with his arrogance and his sky high prices. The second surgeon was recommended by a popular Bariatric surgery group and I was shocked he didn't do LBL - he just recommended TT with thigh lift - well I have way too much skin for just that. This surgeon could do the LBL but he doesn't have the trained team to do it properly - the LBL is definitely a team effort. After meeting the third surgeon I felt secure in my decision. I looked at many pictures, asked a ton of questions and felt comfortable with their answers and their honesty. I chose to go to someone who only specializes in reconstruction after massive weight loss - he doesn't do anything else. Most of the bariatric surgeons send their patients to him. This was the only office that is savvy about helping me get my panni removal covered by my insurance. His office is like a well oiled machinery - very professional and his prices are reasonable. I feel like Goldilocks - everything was just right - the proper size chair, nice warm porridge and the bed fits.

I am now looking forward to this surgery - cold feet are now warm and jumping with excitement. To be honest I'm not looking forward to the post op pain and recovery process but I know my memory of that will dim with time.

I hope you find peace in your decision.

I was a light weight with "only" having a bmi of 40 when I had my weightloss surgery. I have also had 4 big babies so my stomach was a mess. I had a full anchor cut tummy tuck and besides the scar and stretch marks I still have ( which I wear a bikini with anyway) I am soooo happy with the results. I have a great flat stomach and nice shape with a small waist and curvy hips. It was a very difficult recovery but, I'd do it again to get the results I have. I'm looking at getting my arms done in the near future and am going to use the same surgeon.
It is normal to be scared and worried. Only you know if you can live with the amount of skin you have but, I'm sure after you have come this far it will be another step in the journey as it is for me. I had a hard time believing I was no longerfat when still wearing my "fat" skin. The TT really helped and I'm sure the arms will make me even happier. I wish you all the luck and if you're comfortable with your surgeon I bet he'll do a GREAT job and you'll be tickled pink!

I had that fear too.  My DH had the same fear for me as well.  The "what if I go through all of this and I'm *still* not happy" fear.  We talked through it, I discussed it with my therapist (which helped immensely in working through my body image issues) and I was able to manage to keep myself sane up until the the morning of my first round of surgeries.  Then the melt down.

I cried pretty much from the time I woke up at 3:30 AM until I the surgeon came in the holding pen to do my mark ups.  There was a lot going on that week and it just all culminated to the morning of surgery.  There was no way I wasn't going to go through with it but the fear kept coming back when people would leave me.  While the hospital staff was coming in to prep and talk to me, it was distracting and calming.  They all did a great job with relaxing me.  Then my surgeon came in and, I'll tell you, the guy has a way of making me feel at ease.  After that, I put my trust in him 100% that he would do not just what I wanted, but what was also best for me.  

Now, as for what I wanted - my advice to you is keep it realistic.  I knew as a 42 year old woman who put her body through a lot of abuse with morbid obesity since the age of 4 or 5 - I could not expect to look like a super model.  I just wanted to improve my appearance and feel comfortable in clothing (and not find things to hide all the flaws).

I'm an advocate of keeping communication open between patient and provider (regardless of the practice type), but even more so when it comes to your plastic surgeon.  Any questions you have - ask your ps.  Any fear you have - address it with your ps.  Plastic surgeons are notorious for being very particular about their work and would rather take more time with you than rush you through the appointments/process.  If you ever feel rushed, that's not the ps for you.

So for me, leading up to my surgery dates, I kept myself occupied/distracted; I also talked to my therapist the day before my first round of surgeries; Any question I had, I called or emailed my ps' office.

 Lisa
You have a wonderful way with words......


Now, as for what I wanted - my advice to you is keep it realistic.  I knew as a 42 year old woman who put her body through a lot of abuse with morbid obesity since the age of 4 or 5 - I could not expect to look like a super model.  I just wanted to improve my appearance and feel comfortable in clothing (and not find things to hide all the flaws)

I am having the biggest issues with not looking perfect!! I think that this is hard, we get caught of with PS and looking like others.....I was 365 lbs at one point, the fact I can wear a size 12 pants and Large shirt should be good enough! But, we obsess over an extra bump here and an extra pooch there! 

I HATE IT!

Maybe what I need is a therapist. Thanks all for replying to my post. I'm usually not this much of an emotional thinker, but lately my hormones have been on a rollercoaster ride.WTH 53 on hormones and started having hot flashes again?
Pam

This part of the journey - is very emotional.  More emotional than anything else we did to lose the weight.  Sure we had to push past barries and change our thinking about food, family, friends.

Now we have to change the way we think about ourselves. 

Think of yourself as a present - you put a lot of time and effort into making you the best you can be, now you're down to the wrapping.  You want your wrapper to be appealing.  Everyone sees the wrapper before they see the gift.

You are absolutely normal in how you're feeling.  One of the reasons I decided I needed a therapist to push through the last barriers was because I knew I had a hard time recognizing the new me without plastic surgery, I didn't want to wake up in the recovery room not recognizing the me on the outside.

For me, it was extremely eye opening to find out that my body image issues - were impacted along the way by so much more than I could have imagined.  Once I started sorting through all the crap, I felt so much better about myself.

At 43 I knew my results were not going to be what I hope they could be.   I mean there is the realism that I was once 500lbs.   I am still amazingly happy and very much pleased at this point of just two weeks out.    The main thing I wanted to see gone was that big 20lb huge mass around my stomach.    It is shocking every morning to wake up and not see it there.   I'm still very swollen so I have no idea how things will come together and will look like, but happy also that I can start wearing clothes I want to wear now and not pulling them up all the time.  :)

Think you just really gotta be realistic in what you want..   I spent cash for my lower body lift and so far it looks like a great investment.  :)

Well geeze Pam, I don't know why you would have any cause to have the heebie jeebies right about now!  ;-)  You're only getting ready to put out a lot of your hard earned bucks to some guy you've hardly met to knock you unconscious, cut you wide open, and have absolutely no guarantee that you are going to love the results!  And on top of that, buyer's remorse doesn't come close to having a place in the conversation, you come out of surgery and "it is what it is"! 

So, if you really are going to go through with this, the best you can do is be a proactive patient with realistic expectations.  You've picked, in my opinion, THE BEST surgery center in our area, your surgeon is just so sweet and understanding so you know he will do his best to honor your wishes, and their aftercare services are outstanding.  At least take comfort in knowing that you will be in very professional and caring hands and no issue is to small for you to call them.

As for realistic expectations...we all need to remember that no amount of looking at before and after shots means that we will look like those folks do, all of us are different ages, body types and skin types are different so no result is ever the same.  We must remember what we are giving our surgeons to work with when judging our results and my prayer for you is that you will go in hoping to not have loose skin and come out surprisingly AMAZED!!!  I've seen Dr. R's work and I was amazed, I hope you are, too.

No worries lady, you are putting yourself in good hands.  Just be prepared for recovery, be a good patient and don't plan on partying the week after surgery, and remember that your incisions heal from the inside and RESPECT that little fact.  

I predict you will do just fine and like what you see in the mirror when it's all said and done.  Then we'll plan a huge clothes shopping trip when the swelling's gone!

Mary 

I'll get this all thought out hopefully sooner than later. One of my brothers always told me "that's what you get for thinkin" lol
Sometimes better just to go on and do it than think about everything little detail.