Home from Circumferential Lower Body Lift

I arrived at the hospital Nassau University Medical Center at 6:00am 11/18/2011 for an 8:00am procedure. Even though this was considered ambulatory surgery. My Surgeon suggested that I stay in the hospital for one to possibly two days for pain management. I agreed as I remember not doing well after waking up from anesthesia from the sleeve. If I remember correctly I almost fell when I first tried to walk. Therefore I agreed to spend at least one night and see how it goes from there.

I was changed, blood drawn the same questions asked 10 times. Then I met my surgeon and the attending as it was time to mark me.

The Attending Doctor Riina kept saying you're going to be so psyched. You're going to be so glad you did this. You're going to look fabulous. I asked if I was going to be in a compression garment right after the procedure and he said no. The top half of my body and bottom half have to learn how to reestablish the blood flow. That is going to take a couple of days. After that we will want to put you into compression to manage the swelling.  

The Surgeon Dr. Gonzalez starting marking me with a Marker planning on where he was going to make the incisions and join skin together. He said to ignore what I was saying as it was shop talk between all the Doctors. Beside the Surgeon and the attending there was also a medical intern and a student. I asked Dr. Gonzalez if he was going to measure the skin and fat that he removes. He said skin doesn't weigh much but if that's what you want I'll take lots of pictures and arrange them nice for you.  

I asked the Doctor if he was going to give me a blood thinner. He said most definitely. He was prescribing Lovonox.

Then they took me into the OR. The anesthesiologist explained who was in the room and that he was about to give me the happy juice. I then heard my doctor said let's get the music going. That was the last I remembered until I woke up. They were pushing me into my sleeping room.

The next thing I know I saw the Medical Intern and the student. They said everything went well. I asked them Where Dr. Gonzalez was and they said he just left. Don't you remember him showing you the pictures in the recovery room. I said no. They said he explained the procedure that everything went well and they removed 5 pounds of skin. I didn't remember any of that. I remember them telling me that the procedure took about 5 1/2 hours and that it was about 6:00pm at that point.

I fell back to sleep for a couple of hours. Latter I heard a buzz in the room. It was the night shift coming on duty. I have to say these guys were great. They were very attentive and kept asking me if I needed anything.

I asked for pain meds. They asked on a scale of 1 to 10 where was my pain level. I said about 3 to 4. They gave me a perkiset Within like two minutes.

About an hour latter I felt a pressure on my groin. I thought I needed to urinate. I asked If I had a catheter and was told no. They gave me a urinal. I discovered that I couldn't go. I tried for a while still no go.

The nurse suggested that I sit up as many men can't go unless they are standing. I tried that. I felt something but still no go. I told the nurse I would like to try to walk to the bathroom. I felt up to it. The nurse called for help. I didn't have a problem standing or walking to the bathroom.

I stood over the toilet for a good two minutes. Nothing happened. Then all of a sudden i started to feel weak and my knees felt like they were going to give out. I put my knee up on the toilet to brace my self. I stopped myself from falling. The nurses almost had a heart attack. They said thank god you did that as I don't think we could have caught you.  

They put me back into the bed. And took my blood pressure. It was extremely low ie 75/50 (note I might not of remembered those numbers correctly but it was really low). Normally I have High blood pressure.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I still couldn't urinate. I was very concerned that they might of cut a nerve or something. I did notice that they did have the compression stockings on my legs but they weren't hooked up to a machine. I asked the nursing staff shouldn't these things be squeezing my legs. They said they had to get the machine. They hooked it up so my concerns about clots went down somewhat.

In the morning I was finally able to urinate a couple of ounces so I felt better.

The Day nursing staff sucked in my opinion. They weren't that attentive. They also wouldn't let me get out of bed. They told me I had to wait for the doctor to arrive. I had to ask several times for pain meds. At one point I felt more pain so they gave me morphine ontop of the perkiset.

The doctor Gonzalez arrived at 11:30. I told him I don't remember talking to him after the surgery. He said you know when you came out of anesthesia you  were like a mad man. He said I tried to show you the pictures and you flipped out. You kept saying Get me out of here. You had to leave. You were fighting us.  We were concerned that you were going to hurt yourself we had to sedate you.

I apologized and said I didn't remember any of it. He said it happens with some patients. Don't worry about it. Your procedure came out great.

He asked me if I wanted to go home and I said definitely.

He said I would have the four drains for at least 7 to 10 days. You need to keep track of the fluid levels. Come back in on Monday and we'll change the dressings. Sleep in a reclining position keep your feet up.

I'm two days post op and the pain is very manageable. I'm afraid to take off the bandages to see the doctors work. But from what I can see, I'm happy so far. I'm excited about him changing the dressings tomorrow as I will get my first look at the entire picture.

Glad to have you back on board, safe and sound!

Thanks so much for posting all of this.  I have so many questions.  This really helped.

Glad to know you are doing better. Hang in there it will get better.

 YAY Mikey!  I'm so glad to hear that it's over and you're doing so well.  I'm glad your pain levels are manageable.  Keep us updated on how you're doing please.  

So glad to hear you are home and doing well. I bet you are going to be really stoked when the results are visable. Congrats. Diane

Thank you so much for posting this..I have been wanting details!  So glad to hear that you are doing well.
As a nurse, I hate to hear stories of nurses that suck..I know it is true and it is awful!  But I guess with every profession there are good ones and not good ones!  It just makes me so mad to hear about the not good ones.   Anyway..I don't blame you for wanting to go home...why stay , pay for it and not get good care...you can do that at home!
  Keep resting and keep us updated!

Take care
Patty

Glad to hear your doing well, just relax and let the pain meds do there job. Those first 3-5 days are a bear then it gets better soon enough.
 
Take it easy
Bubba

 Sounds like you were quite the patient!!!  ha ha!!!  I'm sure we all do crazy stuff when coming around.  Glad he is happy with his work and you will be thrilled when you are able to take a good look. I had mine done a year ago and it was life changing.  good luck to you!

Its nice to hear a mans perspective of the whole thing! I am glad your pain management is good, sounds like overall things went well. Sorry about the after care. I experienced that with my RNY - they were short staffed and I was waiting two hours for pain meds and calling them repeatedly the night following my surgery.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.