My Introduction to Plastics in Monterey Mexico!

 

I orgionally posted the below thread on the Dr. Sauceda "group" on OH. However I decided that it may be better to post it "generally" on the Plastics board, as more folks will be able to read it (who may or may not be in the Dr. Sauceda Group), and can add any information and insight. 

Hello OH peeps! I've been reading the message boards and taking note of all of the positive things that you all have to say about Dr. S.  I have sent Dr. Sauceda pictures of my naked body, and I have an upcoming telephone consult with him. I guess I wanted to "put myself out there", as I will likely have other questions that I hope you all will be generous enough to answer. What I gather from the sentiments of this board, is that you all prefer folks to read previous posts, as there are redundancies in the questions and answers. I "dig" this, but keep in mind, that sometimes folks "miss" things, or they might not necessarily have the time to comb through several years of OH message boards. So I would greatly appreciate your patience with my upcoming questions as I walk though this process. 

I hope to schedule my surgery for the mid / later part of January 2014. I have about 13 more pounds to lose before I get to "my" ideal goal weight (which is 170 pounds). I've been stuck at about 183 pounds for almost 1 year. My surgeon never set a goal weight for me, so I "made up" my own. 

One question that I have "up front" is whether any of you have had a tummy tuck or arm lift, and continued to lose weight afterward (after the surgery)? If so, how much weight, how did the results appear after the weightloss? I doubt that my 43 year old body wants to get much below 170 pounds, so I think that it is safe to assume that I'll be about that weight give or take 5 pounds (from 170). 

My next question (dated 10/14/13) is whether any of you are concerned about media reports of violence and other things that I need not even mention reportedly happening in Monterey Mexico? I did see a post dated sometime in 2012 about folks "not really worrying about thing", but we are in a new year now.  I will be traveling there and staying there with no family, friends or other sources of support. 

I am very appreciative of any insight, links, or tips that you all can provide me with.

Unfortunately, neither AOL nor OH can seem to work out why I am not being notified of responses to my posts. So I will have to continue to "check back and forth" to see if this thread is being responded to, as I will not be alerted otherwise.  Thanks for your help, and patience! Please feel free to "inbox" me a message if needed. Thanks. 

 

I cannot help you on most of what you posted but I'm glad you posted here too.
I also have noticed that I not always getting my OH emails from when I post.
Good luck on your continued journey to a more normal body.
Mikimi in Israel

I also only get some of my notifications recently

I do not get all of my response notifications, either. I did lose weight after my tummy tuck. Dr. Capella removed 6lbs and I lost about 19lbs additional. He said that I should be able to lose 10-20% of my weight and be OK but I did have skin laxity after losing those 19lbs. He tightened me up when we did my last surgery to get rid of the laxity.

I am on my own for this last surgery here in NJ. It is bearable but I wish that I had my Dr and nurse coming by everyday to check on me like I've heard Dr Sauceda does. But of course that would increase the cost of the surgery and I could barely afford it this time. During my stay in the carecenter my doctor saw me everyday and of course the nurses were always there, It was great because whenever I had a care or concern it was addressed immediately. Today I woke up in tears with post surgery blues about some of my results and had to get transported to see my doctor. He is available but the transportation thing is a hassle and having to wait all day to talk to a clinician to relieve your concerns is kind of crummy. In the carecenter the nurses were there immediately to answer my questions. So I had instant relief. It also is lonely here by myself whereas at the carecenter there were lots of friendly staff to talk to. But the carecenter is $300/day... too rich for my blood. 

Good luck. I would not go outside the country to get surgery because I think it is too risky. I hope you get the results you are lookingt for!

Unfortunately, I've heard about just as many horror stories happening in the USA. I am a bit nervous, I must admit, but I need to trust that things will work out. I'm not going to do anything with my breast. Only my TT and arm lift. I pray that everything will go ok. I really need the aftercare, and 12 days of aftercare by both the Dr. and Nurse - every single day is looking very attractive to me. 

So sorry that you are having the "blues" about your results. I hope that they are minor and will be worked out in the healing process. 

yes, i have seen horror stories with surgeons in the USA, too. it is scary! it is so important to find a great surgeon!!! they are not all created equal.

i am feeling much better about my boobs and my arse. I love everything else!!! He said he would revise me if I wanted. He is very good about that. I can say that in my first surgery he made my monster crotch look normal, and in my second surgery he made it look sexy! 

I am not satisfied with my breasts at this point. I feel that the nipple areaola complex is too low on the breast and that my areola is too large. I feel like my boobs are too saggy, not perky as I was expecting. Dr. C said that he made the areaolas as small as is normal for a woman and cautioned me not to go too small, but he said he would revise them and do what I wanted. He also said that my breasts came out as he expected and he thinks they look pretty good. He mentioned something about using a tailor tack approach and said that most women like it because it preserves projection. So I am not sure but I think what this means is if he had lifted my breasts more than I would have lost projection. He asked me to wait a few months for them to change and see how I liked them. He said he could move my nipple areaola complex higher on the breast if I still wanted that at the time he does my implants. I think that he does the best boobs I have seen so I am excited for the end result. He and I have had many conversations about what I want my boobs to look like and he said that he could make them look like a photo that I picked out. That woman that he did had perfect breasts.

 

I had my extended tt with muscle tightening when I weighed in the 150's, she took off around 6lbs but I never witnessed that on the scale, I lost weight within the year after my surgery to 135 and currently weigh 127, my  tt looks amazing still tight and wonderful.  As for Mexican surgery I would never do it, I used a residency program, Yale in CT and my tt was 4k back in 2006 and my arms and my arms were 3.5k in 2008.  And frankly I have seen many pics of tt since I had mine done, by surgeons who cost much more and I think mine looks better, my female surgeon was from Germany and when I told her to pull my stomach tight and make me hot like her, she laughed but hell yeah she did it.  Having a perfectly flat stomach still amazes me everyday.

 

I have about 3 months to knock off a little more weight. I'm going to work hard at it. I want a very very flat and contoured stomach. 

i think the residency programs are a good idea for affording plastic surgery. heidi's body does look wonderful!!!

I really want to get the best results possible  from my surgery (as I'm sure that anyone would). But realistically speaking, I'm never going to be a supermodel. My body will be full of scars. I am trading hiding rolls of fat and an apron stomach, for hiding hideous scarring. I want this to be about self-dignity opposed to vanity. With that being said, I still feel a bit more comfortable having the surgery performed by a plastic surgeon with many years of experience working with bariatric patient skin, than a resident who may have little or no "specialty" experience with former MO patients.  I do however understand folks apprehension about traveling outside of the country. 

What makes me more nervous is not so much the surgery, but what would happen if I get back home and something goes wrong. Or if something goes wrong there, thus requiring me to need to extend my stay (outside of the country). I live on the West Coast, I imagine if I had surgery on the East Coast, I'd be pretty much in the same predicament - as far as needing to travel back to the surgeon in case of an emergency. 

I hope that you get used to your breast lift. Perhaps as they "settle in" a bit, they may begin to appear more to your satisfaction. I decided against the breast lift because mine would still be flat and floppy (but just less skin). Also there's no tissue at the top part of the breast, so there wouldnt be much benefit with regards to appearance while wearing a bra. They look like flatjacks. The only thing that can help these "girls" would be implants, and I'm not going to do that if I can help it. I have had auto-immune issues in the past, so I by no means want a foreign substance in my body. It's bad enough that I have titanium staples from roux en y.