At least you won't be at work for a while:) 

Two-week post op update on body lift (no TT), thigh lift, arm lift, flankplasty, breast lift, monsplasty, lipo...

Yesterday marks 2-weeks since my second round of body contouring after massive weight loss with Dr. Capella. I flew home after 2.5 weeks in NJ for the surgery and recovery. I was there unaccompanied so I want to let people know that out of state travel for surgery is manageable. That said, it is better if you have a great surgeon near your home considering ease of access before, during, and after surgery. But choosing the best surgeon over convenience takes priority.

I had four drains for the lower body. I had no other drains and use no compression garments. I know many surgeons follow a different protocol but I like that Dr. Capella keeps it simple. I feel physically more comfortable this way and the results of my previous surgery with him (a tummy tuck) were outstanding.

That said, compression by any means (it doesn't have to be an expensive and uncomfortable compression garment) seems to create a smaller waist and lower abdo based on some experiments that I conducted on myself. Dr. C believes that the compression may speed the results but does not deliver better results than what one would get without compression. As of now I do not agree with him on that. You may do your own research by Googling "waist training" to learn more. Do be careful that you do not make compression too tight as this can lead to serious injury. I always run everything that I do past my surgeon and I suggest that you do the same.

I repeat: Run everything past your surgeon. During my recent surgery I have done things that I thought were beneficial, specifically to use diuretics to relieve swelling and hibicleanse post operatively on my incisions. Subsequently, my surgeon and PA told me these were very harmful to me. My PA told me that the diuretics were making me ill and could be life threatening. My surgeon told me that the hibicleanse will kill both good and bad cells and delay healing. Just a word of caution to you from someone who has been through it.

Here is a high level run down on my results. He removed 5lbs of fat/skin plus 1 liter of fat through lipo. In my first surgery he removed 6lbs of fat/skin. You can see new before and after pix in my photo album.

Incisions, bruising, healing: My incisions looked great from the beginning and the healing looks really good. I've seen so many surgeon's create nasty-looking incisions, some that look like they were made with a butcher's knife rather than a surgeon's scalpel. But my incisions are clean, straight, symmetrical, fleshy-colored and not overly red or scabbed. When my surgeon pulled my last set of drains the fluid was nearly clear and had very little volume. That is a good indicator of healing. I also have little bruising and I was pain-free 2-days after surgery. 

Complications: So far my only complication is a small opening in my left armpit. There looks to be a stitch coming through. My assumption is that this was caused by me using my left arm to raise and lower myself into and out of the car/cab. I was trying to protect my groin incision that had become irritated and painful, so I would grab onto the handle that is in the car ceiling and use it to support my weight as I got into and out of the car/cab. My surgeon told me to keep it dry and that it should be healed in 3 weeks.

Health: I have been on several courses of antibiotics from my surgeon. When I arrived in NJ by way of a vacation with my kids in Cali I felt as if I was coming down with a sinus infection. My granddaughter had been ill the day that I left and I was concerned that I picked up what she had as I am very sensitive to sinus infections. So I asked him for antibiotics and he gave them to me prophylactically. That was a good call because I did get ill the day before surgery but on surgery day I was good to go. However, three or four days post op I developed a hacking cough that still has not gone away. He prescribed antibiotics for that and I finished the course. Then when he pulled my last set of drains I developed a fever that last approximately two days, for which he also prescribed antibiotics. I am still on that therapy per his orders and he told me to see if something presents itself during the course of my treatment. He said maybe it is respiratory and said it was not staph, which of course would be concerning.

Arms, flanks, and breast - Dr. Capella does a combination procedure in which he excises skin from the arms, the side of the torso beside the breasts, and the breasts, which results in a very beautiful aesthetical outcome as far as removal of excess skin and restoring a youthful appearance. Many surgeons do not do this combination all at once but the result is superior when it is done all at once. Have you ever seen women who get the breasts lifted and arms lifted but still have bra blubber under their arms and on their backs? Well, with his procedure I do not have that. 

Arms and torso: Look great! They are very nicely shaped and youthful. No more bat wings! He hides the incision under the arm where the seam of a shirt goes, so there is little visibility. The incision run from my elbow into the armpit, down my torso to and under the mammary fold (breast crease). I love that my back no longer looks like old lady's back and appears tight and youthful.

Breasts: I do not like the results of my breast lift so far. I know that Dr. Capella took great care in doing the procedure and that he is happy with the way that they look. But I am not happy with the way that they look and now neither is my husband. My husband thinks they look like my pre-surgery breasts. I find that they are still saggy, and the nipple areaola complex is positioned too low on the breast without enough fullness under them, and the areolas are too big. I also feel that the nipple areaola complex points too far outwardly. Dr. C said that they turned out just as he expected they would so I wish that he had conveyed that to me pre operatively. He told me that he made my areaolas as small as is natural for a woman and he cautioned me not to go too small with them because I would look odd but he said that he would revise them however I wanted. As far as the position being too low, he said that he could raise them when we do the implants but told me that I need to wait 3-mos to see what my breasts really look like because they will change a lot between now and then. He said that I may end up with more tissue under the nipple/areaola than I have now. He did tell me that he could not raise where the breast is on the body and I feel that mine are too low so now I am concerned that if I get big implants that it will make this look worse - low hanging big boobs look very aging. As far as the nipples/areola pointing outwardly, he said that as a woman's breast goes down the nipples/areola go out. Mine are too far out and always have been and I thought he was going to correct this but maybe it cannot be changed. Has anyone had this with their boobs? Anyway, I will wait to see what I look like in a few months. I think he does the best boobs I have seen so I am hopeful that in the end I will love my breasts after the implants. Oh, I should mention that he did a lovely perfect job with cutting my areolas. They are perfectly round in shape and symmetrical in size, and aligned with each other. Also, my lollipop incisons and the incisons in the breast crease are beautiful. They are clean and straight and faint... a spectacular job.

Buttock lift - I had square old ladies ass and it came to somewhat of a point at the very tip of the bottom of my ass. I also had cellulite and sagging. But I did have good projection. My ass looked good from the side but lousy from the back. I was concerned that they would take away the projection but both Dr. Capella and his PA said that my ass would not get flat. At this point, my ass definitely looks better than it did but I am not yet happy with it. It certainly looks much better from the back. He eliminated the cellulite and it is nice and smooth. He got rid of the square old ladies ass and the sagging, and even the point at the bottom seems to be gone -- and that is something he told me that he wasn't sure if he could fix but paid close attention to in surgery. My ass looks smaller in the vertical vector and much more youthful; it does not look like a 49yo ass. And my back looks wonderful - no more bulges of fat over the back of my pants and no more wrinkly old ladies back. However, it seems that I have lost projection. The area where my back goes into my ass seems too flat. Dr. Capella said to wait because it still needs to loosen up and he said if I did not like it that he would revise me. He said that he could not add any flesh but he could take more away. Also one cheek is higher than the other and he said that is the way my body is... however, my ass has never been like that whether I was fat or thin so I hope that one will drop to be equal with the other or that he can revise it during the last phase of surgery. I do hope that my cheeks will be rounder. I am anxiously awaiting the 3-mos mark to see what my ass will look like. Lastly, I still have a whole lot of numbness and tightness here and my tailbone hurts!

Mons/vulva - Speaking of revisions... I had monster crotch all my life. During my tummy tuck Dr. Capella did a mons lift and I was amazed at the transformation. It was the first time that I looked normal in my life. But I asked him to correct some laxity at the next surgery and he said, sure, I can make you tighter and I know just how I am going to fix you. Now after the revision I have a sexy vulva and I freaking love it, love it, love it. I will need to shoot a pic and upload so you can see the difference. I am so amazed.

Thighs - I love love love my thighs, seriously, they are wonderful. Many surgeons say this is a difficult procedure with a painful recovery and results that just are not good. Ha! Dr. Capella has done 1000 thighs and he told me it is not hard if you know what you are doing. Well, the man knows what he is doing. My thighs are beautiful and look like young natural thighs rather than surgery thighs. Recovery has not been hard compared to other procedures. The tummy tuck was the worst, followed by the c-section, then gastric bypass, then butt lift, then the arms, then the thighs, then the breast lift. Your experience may be different.

Tummy tuck revision - A breeze and it looks great. Dr. Capella cut out the old incision and did some minor tightening, as well as removed some fat I had in my lower left abdo. My incisions is now beautiful, symmetrical, light, thin, and healing very nicely. 

Other - I've lost my waist, sigh, and look boxy but Dr. Capella said my body is very swollen and I will get my waist back. Yeah!

Recovery - Dr. Capella told me to wait 6-weeks before resuming my regular exercise (planks, sprints, ab workouts, etc). As for sex, he told me to play it by ear and that is what I have done. I've already had sex twice since getting home last night (I have not seen my husband in over a month and he cannot resist me, LOL). I forgot to ask about when I can return to driving and bathing in the tub, although it will be a long time before I will be flexible enough to sit/lay in a tub of water comfortably.

My advice to everyone wishing to have a better recovery is to follow Dr. Hurwitcz's advice: Train like you are preparing for a marathon. I began a light ab workout and sprinting routine in September. Then two weeks before surgery I really upped my game, doing long vigorous hikes in the mountains of NoCal and daily HIIT training with TurboFire. I also take a ton of supplements, drink lots of water and eat lots of high quality organic protein and fresh vegetables. I've lost about 25-lbs since my tummy tuck 6-mos ago and my body was in such better condition for this big surgery on Oct 10th than it was for the previous surgery. And so I believe this made the vital difference in my recovery.

As for supplements, there are doctors who know about surgical nutrition. Consult with them or a nutritionist or do your own research. I firmly believe in taking Glutamine powder (recommended to me by two doctors), and arnica montana begun two weeks PRE op recommended to me by my surgical PA (remember I had very little bruising). I took bromelain and ate dried baby pineapples (two bags in 2 weeks) from Trader Joe's that had the core in them which is where the bromelain comes from. I also took Quercetin. I also had a doctor recommend arginine powder but the taste was so awful taht I could not tolerate it.

I have one more surgery left in which Dr. Capella will do my implants, face/neck lift, and any revisions/tweaks to what he already has done. I expect to complete that 1Q14. Let me know if I can answer any questions. Good luck to you on your journey.

Wow!

I wish you all the best and very happy for you.

I saw Dr Capella last night and I told him that I miss him.He was laughing and told me to come back for more work... Will see.

I jus stack now with big dental work.

Take care.

Alla

Thank you!

Good for Dr. Capella trying to close a sale, hahaha! As far as missing him, I'll bet he hears that often enough from patients. He is a good looking man and interesting to talk to. Do you think there is any possibility that you will get more work done? I know your arm lift was a very painful recovery, but... 

As for me, I would not want all these surgeries to drag on for years. I don't like the recovery interfering with how I feel about myself or the things I want to do. Time is too precious!

 

I am crazy, but I am thinking about my legs, specially after I read your message about thigh lift he does.

I hate, hate my thighs, but so scare to go through surgery again after my arms.My daugther against any more surgery for me.

Oh, will see, will see.

Maybe have a very frank discussion with him about your recovery from a thigh lift in light of the healing issues you had with your arms. Make sure he gives you a very realistic scenario of what your particular recovery will be like, and see what you can do pre operatively to build your body. I believe that he told me patients have told him that thigh and arm recovery were about equal as far as pain. That has not been my experience. My arms are slightly more painful than my thighs. 

I love my thighs  they look so good from every angle. 

Wow that is quite an update.  I don't know your doctor but I completely disagree about the compression thing, does he not understand swelling hurts and compression helps relieve it.  But you love him, he has yet to impress me but I am awaiting your final outcome to cast my judgement.  Having a flat butt and no waist would have totally pissed me off.  If you don't train your waist how does he expect it to get smaller.  But you know my opinion on that.  I am glad this surgery recovery seems to be going much better.  Sex twice already.  lol lol  if you pop stitches down there we will all know why.

I did use compression on my waist and abdo after the TT to relieve pain. He wads fine with that. But he does not believe it produces a smaller waist only speeds your ability to get there. That is where I disagree with him. I did experiments on myself and saw enough evidence that the compression would result in my waist and abdo getting smaller. I have yet to go back to wearing the binder or wrap this time around because every time I tried them they were very uncomfortable. I have more swelling in my core than anywhere else on my body. Each other place that I measured is smaller than before surgery but my waist is like 4 inches bigger!

Now just tonight my arm really opened up. The new pic is in my photo album. It looks horrible!!! The wound is not contained to my armpit as he said it would be, but has traveled down my arm and now created a round opening. Before surgery I asked him if compression would keep my arms from opening and he said no because the opening would only be in the armpit where I could not place the compression sleeve. Now I wonder about that.

I may go ahead and order the Gelzone wraps because they provide compression and silicone, so that should help with scar healing. I just have so much to wrap up that it could really be a *****

The compression sleeves I had weren't really super tight or anything and they did cover my arm pit, they were like a little short cropped jacket and felt silky next to my skin.  They protected the sensative scar tissue.  I wore them for a long time until a friend mentioned she thought I was addicted to them and that I had to stop to toughen up the skin to real world use.  I weened myself off after that.

: Update, I now have small openings in my right arm pit and right groin. Why, I do not know, but what I can say is no more sex. So much for playing it by ear! My back above my right buttock is now swollen and painful and red around the incision. Likewise my right arm is red around the incision. Dr. C told me to get a CBC and give him the results. He wants to check my WBC.

I will upload pix into my album.