Three Week Update
Happy New Year Gang!
I was three weeks out from body work on Friday and tomorrow is three weeks since my face. I thought I should post an update since I love reading how everyone else is doing.
Let me start by explaining why I've been more quiet than ususal. On my last day in Mexico, while waiting for Patty to come remove my stitches, packing etc, I had an email to call my corporate office. Since I didn't have a phone, I did a voice Skype call. The gist of the call was "Thank you for 18 years as senior management, we're closing your corporate office on the 29th and that is your last day of work". Blow me away. I couldn't believe I was being given 5 days notice after 18 years on the job. I built that company from the ground up but we were bought out in April and that's how corporate America works. On the positive side, I went back to work last Tuesday at only 2.5 weeks out because I used vacation time, not disability. At least now I have more time to heal from surgery. My 37 year old son (and best friend) Zach came home last Monday and will be here until Thursday when he has to return to NYC. It's been great having him home and we're treating this like vacation. I'm 61 and I've never had a day's disability or unemployment but now I'm unemployed and will collect unemployment until something comes along. I'm not feeling sorry for myself and I'm maintaining my optimistic attitude. Everything always works out for me.
So back to surgery. I flew home on December 21st. The first flight was Continental from Monterrey to Houston. I had less than 45 minutes to connect. I told my wheelchair attendent that there was $10 in it for her if she got me to my plane. She was great! Security had to do a full pat down and wanted info on the two alien babies hanging off me. The attendent got me out of security and passed me to someone else because she couldn't go to the next gate. $10 earned. The next one took me to the restroom and there asked someone else to get me to my gate. Of course I tipped the next two as well because they got me there in time. The next flight was 4 hours from Houston to San Francisco. When I got my seating on the way down, I reminded them that I needed a wheelchair. They gave me bulkhead seating without the $69 charge. Cool. Nancy was two rows behind me. I slept, got up and went potty, then repeated over and over. Sitting was tough on the incisions because I get kinda stiff when i'm in the same position for very long. I was so happy to get to SFO where friends were waiting. It was another 2 hours to my house in traffic but that was ok. It made for a very long day. Nancy was happy to get upstairs to her apartment but knowing that she was upstairs was great.
I was able to get in and out of my garments before I left Mexico so that wasn't an issue. I also could shower myself and get the ointment all over my body. By the way, the Vitacilina or whatever it's called is actually Neosporin Dr. S said. I bought three tubes at HEB because it's cheaper than in the USA. Dr. S said I didn't need gauze once the stitches were out. I came home with two drains and groin stitches as well as three stitches from the Liposuction.
On Thursday I did a lot of resting and watching movies. I was pretty wiped out from the trip home.
I woke up on Friday morning knowing that my leg drain was getting infected. Thankfully, I also woke to an email from Dr. S telling me to pull the last two drains (leg and abdomen). I couldn't get it out fast enough. I washed my tweezers and sissors in antigerm soap and very ho****er, then set to work taking out stitches and pulling drains. For the leg I put my foot up on the toilet and pulled fast. For the mons drain I sat on the toilet seat, put my hand where the drain came out to steady it and pulled with the other hand. Bye Bye Alien Babies! What a freakin relief. I had to sit down for awhile once I accomplished that. I packed my leg with neosporin and put a maxi pad over it because it was so sensitive to the touch of my garments. By Saturday it was starting to feel better. YAY!
I did a lot of resting until Christmas day because Nancy and I were going to friends house for Christmas dinner. There were around 22 people there and nobody could tell that I had work done on my face. I just wore yoga pants, uggs and a sweater and was fine. We stayed about three hours and came home because I had to poop. Ok, so I poop at home because I take my garments off. I pee wearing them but don't poop. TMI? :)
Monday I took a long walk to meet Zach because he took the subway from the airport to close to home. We've been doing lots of hanging out. Going for walks, out to brunch, the usual.
Thursday night Zach's former NY roommate who's an ER doc came over to remove my groin stitches and check out my body healing wise. She found some stitches in my back, leg and breast that Patty missed. Patty was taking out so many that this seems normal to miss a few, but I highly recommend getting checked out. Naomi did say that Dr. S did a beautiful job with the running stitches and was very impressed with his work. YAY! I have been hurting behind my ear and it was determined to be infected so I'm putting strong antibiotic salve on it three times a day. Hopefully I won't need oral antibiotics. She wrote me a script so I have them just in case. My health insurance ended yesterday. Naomi also found two popped stitches, one in each groin side that are tiny little holes. I'm putting steri strips on them but it's a terrible place to try to close a hole. Hopefully they will heal nicely on their own. They are really tiny, about this size o. I'm not intending to be a bikini model so no problem as long as it doesn't get infected.
Yesterday I walked over a mile to the farmer's market, then to brunch. I felt good when I got home. I rested up then went out to dinner with four girlfriends. Afterwards two came back to watch a movie and of course I napped a bit during the movie. Zach is sleeping in my bedroom and I'm sleeping on the very comfy queen size sofa bed so that I can watch Tivo or Netflix in the middle of the night if I'm awake.
New Years day has been low key. We went to see a movie and in a little while we're going up to Nancy's house so zach can have a cooking lesson and eat dinner.
Here's the best part. Last night I got dressed in a short dress, leggings and knee high boots. Zach looked at me and said "mom, this is the first new years that you have everything (physical) that you want". He look lots of pics and I'll post one.
I'm still taking 1/4 of a vicodin every 4 hours. I like that it doesn't upset my stomach as much as tylenol. I get the crawley skin from the nerves doing their thing. Sometimes it's painful. I get worn out pretty easily, or at least I did while working this week. My back incision line is telling me not to bend over quite so much. I've been able to reach over my head since before leaving Mexico, as well as being able to bend down to pick things up. The most painful was the muscle tightening in my stomach. The hotel bed is not as user friendly as the clinic. I never had and trouble from having legs and arms done together. My core and legs are very strong and I didn't need my arms to sit on the toilet or get up. I babied my arms and let them heal. Once home I can pick up after myself, cook food, shower, dress, do laundry. Just slower than before. I'm not always great with my vitamins or getting in protein but I'm getting better with that as well.
It's three weeks since surgery and I'm down 10 pounds. I hope that I can keep them off as time goes by. I try to eat on plan and not allow many treats because I'm loving the new low weight.
My goal now is to heal, walk daily and slowly build up to being able to walk the 3.5 mile path around the lake in front of my house. I'm taking it one mile at a time. This week will be 1 mile daily, then next perhaps 1.5 or two. When I increase, I may do it on the treadmill so that I can stop when I get tired and just have to come upstairs to rest. I'm taking it slow now that I have the time and don't have to ru****
Thank you all for being so supportive!! I'm so luck to have Dr. Sauceda. I LOVE my Body by Sauceda. I love my flat tummy, great breasts, nice arms and legs. I'll give you my vote on my face when the swelling goes down a little more. :)
I was three weeks out from body work on Friday and tomorrow is three weeks since my face. I thought I should post an update since I love reading how everyone else is doing.
Let me start by explaining why I've been more quiet than ususal. On my last day in Mexico, while waiting for Patty to come remove my stitches, packing etc, I had an email to call my corporate office. Since I didn't have a phone, I did a voice Skype call. The gist of the call was "Thank you for 18 years as senior management, we're closing your corporate office on the 29th and that is your last day of work". Blow me away. I couldn't believe I was being given 5 days notice after 18 years on the job. I built that company from the ground up but we were bought out in April and that's how corporate America works. On the positive side, I went back to work last Tuesday at only 2.5 weeks out because I used vacation time, not disability. At least now I have more time to heal from surgery. My 37 year old son (and best friend) Zach came home last Monday and will be here until Thursday when he has to return to NYC. It's been great having him home and we're treating this like vacation. I'm 61 and I've never had a day's disability or unemployment but now I'm unemployed and will collect unemployment until something comes along. I'm not feeling sorry for myself and I'm maintaining my optimistic attitude. Everything always works out for me.
So back to surgery. I flew home on December 21st. The first flight was Continental from Monterrey to Houston. I had less than 45 minutes to connect. I told my wheelchair attendent that there was $10 in it for her if she got me to my plane. She was great! Security had to do a full pat down and wanted info on the two alien babies hanging off me. The attendent got me out of security and passed me to someone else because she couldn't go to the next gate. $10 earned. The next one took me to the restroom and there asked someone else to get me to my gate. Of course I tipped the next two as well because they got me there in time. The next flight was 4 hours from Houston to San Francisco. When I got my seating on the way down, I reminded them that I needed a wheelchair. They gave me bulkhead seating without the $69 charge. Cool. Nancy was two rows behind me. I slept, got up and went potty, then repeated over and over. Sitting was tough on the incisions because I get kinda stiff when i'm in the same position for very long. I was so happy to get to SFO where friends were waiting. It was another 2 hours to my house in traffic but that was ok. It made for a very long day. Nancy was happy to get upstairs to her apartment but knowing that she was upstairs was great.
I was able to get in and out of my garments before I left Mexico so that wasn't an issue. I also could shower myself and get the ointment all over my body. By the way, the Vitacilina or whatever it's called is actually Neosporin Dr. S said. I bought three tubes at HEB because it's cheaper than in the USA. Dr. S said I didn't need gauze once the stitches were out. I came home with two drains and groin stitches as well as three stitches from the Liposuction.
On Thursday I did a lot of resting and watching movies. I was pretty wiped out from the trip home.
I woke up on Friday morning knowing that my leg drain was getting infected. Thankfully, I also woke to an email from Dr. S telling me to pull the last two drains (leg and abdomen). I couldn't get it out fast enough. I washed my tweezers and sissors in antigerm soap and very ho****er, then set to work taking out stitches and pulling drains. For the leg I put my foot up on the toilet and pulled fast. For the mons drain I sat on the toilet seat, put my hand where the drain came out to steady it and pulled with the other hand. Bye Bye Alien Babies! What a freakin relief. I had to sit down for awhile once I accomplished that. I packed my leg with neosporin and put a maxi pad over it because it was so sensitive to the touch of my garments. By Saturday it was starting to feel better. YAY!
I did a lot of resting until Christmas day because Nancy and I were going to friends house for Christmas dinner. There were around 22 people there and nobody could tell that I had work done on my face. I just wore yoga pants, uggs and a sweater and was fine. We stayed about three hours and came home because I had to poop. Ok, so I poop at home because I take my garments off. I pee wearing them but don't poop. TMI? :)
Monday I took a long walk to meet Zach because he took the subway from the airport to close to home. We've been doing lots of hanging out. Going for walks, out to brunch, the usual.
Thursday night Zach's former NY roommate who's an ER doc came over to remove my groin stitches and check out my body healing wise. She found some stitches in my back, leg and breast that Patty missed. Patty was taking out so many that this seems normal to miss a few, but I highly recommend getting checked out. Naomi did say that Dr. S did a beautiful job with the running stitches and was very impressed with his work. YAY! I have been hurting behind my ear and it was determined to be infected so I'm putting strong antibiotic salve on it three times a day. Hopefully I won't need oral antibiotics. She wrote me a script so I have them just in case. My health insurance ended yesterday. Naomi also found two popped stitches, one in each groin side that are tiny little holes. I'm putting steri strips on them but it's a terrible place to try to close a hole. Hopefully they will heal nicely on their own. They are really tiny, about this size o. I'm not intending to be a bikini model so no problem as long as it doesn't get infected.
Yesterday I walked over a mile to the farmer's market, then to brunch. I felt good when I got home. I rested up then went out to dinner with four girlfriends. Afterwards two came back to watch a movie and of course I napped a bit during the movie. Zach is sleeping in my bedroom and I'm sleeping on the very comfy queen size sofa bed so that I can watch Tivo or Netflix in the middle of the night if I'm awake.
New Years day has been low key. We went to see a movie and in a little while we're going up to Nancy's house so zach can have a cooking lesson and eat dinner.
Here's the best part. Last night I got dressed in a short dress, leggings and knee high boots. Zach looked at me and said "mom, this is the first new years that you have everything (physical) that you want". He look lots of pics and I'll post one.
I'm still taking 1/4 of a vicodin every 4 hours. I like that it doesn't upset my stomach as much as tylenol. I get the crawley skin from the nerves doing their thing. Sometimes it's painful. I get worn out pretty easily, or at least I did while working this week. My back incision line is telling me not to bend over quite so much. I've been able to reach over my head since before leaving Mexico, as well as being able to bend down to pick things up. The most painful was the muscle tightening in my stomach. The hotel bed is not as user friendly as the clinic. I never had and trouble from having legs and arms done together. My core and legs are very strong and I didn't need my arms to sit on the toilet or get up. I babied my arms and let them heal. Once home I can pick up after myself, cook food, shower, dress, do laundry. Just slower than before. I'm not always great with my vitamins or getting in protein but I'm getting better with that as well.
It's three weeks since surgery and I'm down 10 pounds. I hope that I can keep them off as time goes by. I try to eat on plan and not allow many treats because I'm loving the new low weight.
My goal now is to heal, walk daily and slowly build up to being able to walk the 3.5 mile path around the lake in front of my house. I'm taking it one mile at a time. This week will be 1 mile daily, then next perhaps 1.5 or two. When I increase, I may do it on the treadmill so that I can stop when I get tired and just have to come upstairs to rest. I'm taking it slow now that I have the time and don't have to ru****
Thank you all for being so supportive!! I'm so luck to have Dr. Sauceda. I LOVE my Body by Sauceda. I love my flat tummy, great breasts, nice arms and legs. I'll give you my vote on my face when the swelling goes down a little more. :)
HW: 249 SW: 229 GW: 149 Age: 63 - Body by Sauceda - 12/2011
I am sorry to hear about your job, but it sounds like your healing is going well. Keep up your great attitude!
I had my LBL and A LOT of outer thigh lipo on the 22nd and things are going great. I am going back to school on Tuesday! :-) Most of my discomfort is above my back incision, but I am sure that too will pass.
Keep smilin!
I had my LBL and A LOT of outer thigh lipo on the 22nd and things are going great. I am going back to school on Tuesday! :-) Most of my discomfort is above my back incision, but I am sure that too will pass.
Keep smilin!
Happy New Year Lee! I'm so glad you are positive--that undoubtedly will help with your continued healing! You have what sounds like a very nice life. I hope to have such a great relationship with my kids one day. I can't wait to see your pictures. I actually got my first sweater dress this year and what fun to rock that with leggings and knee high boots.
Hang in there with the job thing. Like I said, you can have a 99 week vacation like so many others I've known that have lost their jobs.
Hugs!!
Hang in there with the job thing. Like I said, you can have a 99 week vacation like so many others I've known that have lost their jobs.
Hugs!!
Check out my blog--menumealplanning.com. Tales of making meal planning managable, family fodder, and everything else under the sun.
RNY 2/3/09, LBL/BL w/Augmentation 9/16/11
Start weight: 335 Current weight: 185 Goal weight: Whatever the hell I can maintain without driving myself insane!
*6.5 lost preop
Wow Lee, sorry to hear about your job. Can't believe they didn't at least give you notice. My company was sold last year and we were told last month that our station (I work for an airline) was closing June 2. Not sure what will happen after that.
I hope some of that positive attitude that oozes from you rubs off on me.
Sounds like you had a great experience with Dr. S. I have actually never heard anything different. I was going to have surgery with him but opted to stay close to home just because of the time I would have had to be away from my son.
Sounds like you are doing great. Keep up the great work and positive attitude.
I hope some of that positive attitude that oozes from you rubs off on me.
Sounds like you had a great experience with Dr. S. I have actually never heard anything different. I was going to have surgery with him but opted to stay close to home just because of the time I would have had to be away from my son.
Sounds like you are doing great. Keep up the great work and positive attitude.
Penny
Highest weight 275
Surgery weight 241
Goal weight 145
Current weight 143 (after TT and Thigh lift) 
southernbelle102
on 1/1/12 3:01 pm
on 1/1/12 3:01 pm
I am sorry to hear about your job! That really stinks! I am very happy to hear that you are loving your new body!! I can't wait to have my second surgery in the end of February (LBL). I can't wait to get that flat tummy you are talking about! I hope you continue to heal well and I would love to see pics of your progress. I tried to friend you on here but it wouldn't let me...
Lee I hate to hear you lost your job but as that terrible song goes, "Every new begining comes from some other begining's end". I cannot wait to see your before/afters! Healing and hugs!
5'6" Start-276 Goal-150 Weight loss Preop=5 Month 1=25 Month 2=10 Month 3=14 Month 4=3 Month 5=7 Month 6=9 Month 7=7 Month 8=7 Month 9=9 Month 10=7 Month 11=5 Month 12=5 Month 13=3 Month 14=4 
Lee,
YOu have the greatest attitude...love it! YOu sound like you are healing great and really taking the time to do that right. I am so sorry about your job..that is a real bummer...but you need to tell yourself that things will work out..sometimes for the better in the long run. Perhaps you will end up with a job you never even dreamed of..and you get more time off now right as you can take unemployment for an extended time if you want. Just know that I wish you all the best and hope things work out just better for you!
continue to heal well and rest!
OX
Patty
YOu have the greatest attitude...love it! YOu sound like you are healing great and really taking the time to do that right. I am so sorry about your job..that is a real bummer...but you need to tell yourself that things will work out..sometimes for the better in the long run. Perhaps you will end up with a job you never even dreamed of..and you get more time off now right as you can take unemployment for an extended time if you want. Just know that I wish you all the best and hope things work out just better for you!
continue to heal well and rest!
OX
Patty
My weight loss journey 
I think you are incredible and so brave. I only had my breast lift and you had so much work done and you seem like you are handling it like a champ. I have been following your journey. i can't wait to see your photos. i hope you post some soon.
Sorry about the job but I know something great will come. This is your year.
Sheila
Sorry about the job but I know something great will come. This is your year.
Sheila
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