Question for those who had multiple surgeries

My surgery went OT, too. My PS does not charge for that but anesthesia and OR do. That is why I received a bill for $357 for anesthesia.

They are so tight in the mornings and ROM is very limited. They loosen up during the day, but it still cannot raise them as I would normally be able to do. The right arm wound looks smaller and is not oozing as much as it was. The gauze is very dry with little goop on it. I guess the axilla are about the same, maybe a little better. My surgeon is sending silver nitrate sticks to me and will walk me through using them. Hopefully that helps.

TY!

My PS doesn't charge me for any overages in time from the original estimate.  I guess if there were some big surprise that appeared when he opened me up there might be additional charges.  But he holds to his estimate of charges that I get prior to surgery.  All sorts of things can cause delays that the patient has no control over - so I guess this is how they account for it.  Every now and then I get a bill for some charge but it is because someone used the wrong codes when they recorded the procedure.  I would encourage running any bills by the surgeon to make sure that this did not happen.

Thanks! I will look into it further. 

I visited several doctors for consultations and those with post bariatric expertise, especially with women over 40, suggested splitting up the surgeries front and back, not top and bottom.  They said that women over 40 (not sure how old you are) tend to have skin that is not as elastic as those younger.  They perform the TT and BL first which allows you to lean forward without pulling an incision on your backside.  Then a few months later you have the butt lift and brachioplasty done.  During the second surgery they extend the butt lift incision to the front and retighten the skin on the sides.  They say this gives the tightest appearance of the stomach and the most minimal scarring.  

I have seen some horrible scars on this website, yet all the before and after pics from my surgeon's office show a fine white line after 6 months using this technique.  My doctor cautioned to never do a full lower body lift at once unless you don't care about the width of the scars.    My TT scar is barely visible - just a fine pink line - and I am only 3 months out.  I have the second half of the surgery in Feb.

Thank you everyone! This does help.

I can't imagine going to multiple consults even though it does make a lot of sense. That first one was traumatic enough, having to look at those photos of me and seeing ALL the same rolls and bumps I've gotten so used to over the years. Granted, they are much MUCH smaller than they were but it was still difficult to see. Never mind standing there in your next-to-nothing in front of complete strangers (male dr, female nurse) no matter how many bodies they've seen and handled. I know THEY are used to it; it's just that I'm not. ;)

I am 47yo and definitely have some issues with skin elasticity--thus the disgust with my arms. I've been weight lifting and can tell there's muscle under the skin, but I'd have to bulk up HUGELY to fill all the loose skin and I don't want to be that big. Similar feelings about my stomach--I have loose skin in the panni area as well as above the belt line so will probably require an anchor incision. Blech. 

Y'know...one thing the PS mentioned at my consult is that I may have a ventral hernia. He didn't poke too much because I was only a week out from having my gallbladder removed. I feel like I should be doing core strengthening exercises in addition to the other weightlifting I'm doing but am not sure how that might affect a hernia. If I have one. I don't have any symptoms other than some discomfort during and for a short while after doing planks or crunches. That could be hernia or just under-used muscles. Guess I need to have someone check. I see my WLS late in December for a late 18-month checkup so can ask him I guess. He's the one who would do the hernia repair if I go with the PS I met with.

So much to think about!