Circumferential Lower Body Lift

I arrived at the hospital 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.

Im pleased things went so well for you, must have been scary to feel like you were going to fall, and then have them tell you they prob would not have caught you..

please keep us updated on your progress i cant wait to hear more...

So glad to hear that you are doing well. It sounds like you had quite an adventure in the hospital. Luckily, you weren't hurt, when you almost fell. Pleased to hear that the pain is manageable. Keep us posted, as to what you see once the bandages are removed.

Take care and get plenty of rest.

Gail

Thanks so much for the update Mikey.

Take extra specail care of yourself.

Can't wait to see the pics.

Gentle hugs,

Cindy

So glad you are home and doing well!  Keep on healing, Mike :-)
--Dorothy 

Wow, what a giant step to take.  Congratulations.  I sure hope and pray all goes well.  Marie  

Hi Mikey, I responded over on the PS forum.  So glad that you're doing so well.  I bet you're even better today!

Thats funny how you were fighting them?  Must be a reaction.  Anyway, I am very happy to hear that things are going well now.  You're gonna love that new body, no doubt!

You sure wrote a fantastic description of the whole surgery experience Mikey!  It was a good read.  I had a good laugh over how combative you were while waking up.  Surgeons and anesthesiologists are use to it.  They have seen it all.  The stories they could tell!!!  Wouldn't it be great if you could remember?  Maybe not so great, because then you might be embarrassed like I was.  I pinched the guy who put the I.V, in me on his arm, because it took him 9 tries to get the needle in.  My arms and hands were so black and blue, I had no problem hurting him for it while under anesthetics!  Ha HA.  I remember the incident with perfect clarity.  I also remember my skewed reasoning for thinking it was OK to pinch him at the time!!

I'm so glad you didn't fall in the bathroom.  Holy cow that could have resulted in some serious injury to you.  It was sure good that you had the forthought to brace the fall.  Good on you!!

Please keep us updated, I can't wait to hear how it looks! 

Thanks so much for the update. Hope your doctor's appt went well. You continue to be such an inspiration - thank you for continuing to share your journey. Take care!