Monday, June 18, 2018

What an ordeal you've been through, but it sounds like you are on the better side of the healing curve now. Is there a risk of scarring with the healing issues? Are you having any second thoughts about your other PS plans?

He said the scars will be bigger obviously than if they had healed the way they were supposed to, but he said I would be surprised that they won't look nearly as large or bad as you are led to believe when you see the wounds. There is in office scar revision if it's needed, but he said people don't often feel they need it. I might need to on my groin area because there is a lot of ridging, but I can't even begin to think about that. I'd only do it if it looks or feels really weird when it's all healed.

I really do worry about doing my arms. I asked the doctor when I saw him last if my current situation doesn't bode well for my arms and he said not necessarily. But that they don't really understand why WLS patients sometimes have such a high rate of complications. Honesly I don't know. I really, really hate the way my arms currently look and haven't worn short sleeves in well over 25 years. I don't think any of this is related to him - he's got a fantastic record for massive weight loss patients - but maybe I research some other surgeons. Maybe someone closer to home would be less grueling for follow ups. But that's something to think about way down the line when I get to the point where I feel like this current operation was a good idea.

I will probably need a scar revision for the facelift scars behind my ears. Everywhere else they are impossible to see (in front of ears, eyelids). Even my WLS scars are hard to find and my TT scar is thin and flat. But the ones behind my ears stick up a lot and I have to have my hair longer behind them than I like so I can pu**** forward. Thank goodness I don't need to wear my hair up and am not a man. My PS asked me to massage them for 3 months before revising, but it has been almost 2 and I don't see any difference. On other words, healing clearly can be different in different areas on the same person.

I was looking for my wls scars the other day. They apparenly went in the garbage with my tummy skin! You're right about healing being different in different places. I healed so fast from my wls and hernia ops that I thought this wiuk be similar, but on a large scale. I guess you just don't know until you do it!

Greetings my Fine Featherless Friends

Well even if anyone had feathers, you would be accepted in this group. So body and self acceptance are indeed the theme today. We all tend to separate our bodies from our "selves" but in truth they are one in the same. Hating your body is hating yourself. I think separating body from spirit is a thing fat people learn to do early on.

So I guess what I am is 150 lbs. A couple of bad eating days (Mexican food Saturday, peanuts and cheese sunday and gallery sitting) makes me a fat-head. The fish festival day at the gallery was pretty fun. It was a long day but we had a steady stream of visitors and interesting people plus some sales. The only bad note was a not so good musician playing outside our gallery. Not only was it yucky music but it competed with other better music down the street.

Cecily I am so glad you feel you are moving forward. I bet healing speeds up now that your body has the hang of it. The OH newsletter had articles about LBL that looked interesting. Congrats on the removal of potty equipment.

Anybody know how to cook fava beans? Somebody gave me a load of home grown ones and I have no clue. DH refuses to eat them. Won't even try. More for me.

More banking today. Seems like everyday brings some new such chore for one gallery or the other. Post office visit needed but DH for some unknown reason likes that chore. Kiln opening and a guy coming to fix the window that DH thinks I broke last week. I think he broke it.

Paula wishing you the best through these next days. I bet love and friendship comes out of the wood work in boatloads!

Well no more insight here. You guys have got it nailed. Back when I was 2 or 3 years out I felt I really had this nailed. Now going on 9 I know I still have more to learn. Gotta get studying. And what goes with studying but coffee? Cheers. Diane S

Loved all of the posts today.... really have me thinking. Even with my rose colored glasses, I can find myself struggling to be in the present and appreciate what is and not the excess skin, the bags under the eyes etc. After Cecily's ordeal, I'd never chance plastics...ever. Yes, all of you teach me a great deal about perseverance, self care, raising the bar, introspection, grace, courage AND compassion. I'm so grateful to you.

So, I transferred the pups records from one vet to the new one, two towns over. He is on vacation this week and will meet Atlas and Sadie for their well patient intake exam the 25th. This morning, I went to pet Sadie and stroke her ears between my fingers (like velvet) and they are enormously thick and SWOLLEN. The underside of her ear flaps were just covered in hives. Her belly and flanks were full of hives. The emergency vet is an hour and a half away, so I dosed her with Benedryl and started on my way. She had begun to transition off of chicken and rice, with a handful of her dry kibble added in. The vet said it was an allergic reaction and gave a shot of Benedryl, a shot of steroids and two days of steroids to taper off at home. Two weeks ago, I would have said I have healthy dogs. I thank the powers that be that I had the presence of mind to get her established with the emergency Vet when we picked Atlas up.

Hug the ones you love !

Oh no, poor puppy!!

I'm sorry that my experience has turned you off plastics! I think I'm one of the unlucky ones. But lots of people have fantastic results and not terrible recoveries. But it has made me rethink how I felt about the excess skin. In hindsight, it just wasn't that horrible or life altering.

The poor puppy! They have been through a lot.

BTW, my PS experience has been extremely positive (other than some annoying behind ear scars that can be fixed). I didn't go as far as Cecily though. I was afraid to do an LBL and didn't think about doing thighs. I have to admit that at times I've thought about doing my arms even though my PS recommended against it but I'm definitely going to pass now. Ear scar fix then I'm done.

FYI, I wound up not going to The Big City today because my therapist cancelled our appointment today due to a bad (his assistant said "terrible") reaction to poison ivy.

Anyway, about plastic surgery, body dysmorphia, trying to make peace with an older face and body, et cetera ....

This is actually a big damn deal to me. And I say that even though I'm not terribly unhappy with how I look. But the indisputable fact is that I'm continuing to look different "in the face" faster and faster -- they call it "aging" ;) -- and it's disconcerting.

For the last three years I've said I'm going to schedule a consultation for a "neck lift," maybe a "slight face lift," perhaps "some injectables," maybe "some laser work," and look into "freshening myself up." And yet I've not yet made an appointment. Talk about procrastination!

Happily, I don't think that "face work" (apparently, I can only talk about this subject if I use air quotes) presents the kinds of challenges body plastics do. The recovery time for those kinds of procedures is legendary. EVERYBODY I know who's had that kind of work done goes through hell. And then they come out the other end and rave about how happy they are to have done it. And they are happy.

But at my age, the "price per wear" of any body plastics I might undergo would be so high that I just can't justify the money or agony or recovery time it requires.

I really can accept my aging body from my decollete down. And, after all, those neighborhoods are what great foundation garments and flattering clothes were designed to deal with. BUT ... and I think I'm making a decision of sorts here ... after I get back from Europe I'm going to schedule a consultation with a plastic surgeon to talk about what can be done to anything (although not necessarily everything) above my cleavage.

See what happens when your therapist rolls around in poison ivy on the weekend? You have to do the therapy all by yourself.

Just so you all know, Ben's obit has appeared on the Caring Bridge site. A wonderful tribute to an accomplished and giving man. ds