Past Due Updates

My sincerest apologies. My blog silence must have been killing all of you! On Saturday (April 2nd), I got my arms vaser liposuctioned, also known as "had the fat sucked out." This has turned me into a lazy recoverer and so I have not blog posted anything about recovery for my tummy tuck, the arm procedure or its recovery. Well, friends: it's time to catch up.

Tummy Tuck Update: Not much to report really. Still healing. The scar doesn't seem to be changing at all--at least not noticeably. I have not been eating well and so am not interested in taking measurements. :) I have an appointment with Devon to take measurements when I get back to the gym on April 18th. I will post those here. Still wearing the spanx-like garment daily but not overnight. I asked Dr. Alonso today if I needed to wear it while working out and he said no, but I should probably wear it as I ease back in the first week.

Vaser Lipo on my Arms: This is the same type of lipo I had done on my midsection/back during the tummy tuck. This time I did not need to go off of my blood thinners and also I was awake for the entire procedure!!! Also, it was at the med spa rather than the outpatient surgery center like last time as it is a very minor procedure. I arrived at Monarch Med Spa at 12pm for my appointment. They brought me into my room and let me pick out a movie to watch--I chose Elf, naturally. I then took 2 Vicodin, 2 Ativan and 1 Promethazine (for nausea)--a most excellent combination in my opinion. I then laid back and watched Elf--sleeping on and off--for about 2 hours. At some point, the nurse came in and gave me a Benadryl shot because I told her I wasn't sleeping. In hindsight, I was. Either way, I'm good with that decision. Around 2pm, they walked me to the operation location across the hall. I was "awake" for the whole thing, but not very "with it". I do remember telling Dr. Alonso that "I like a surgeon with a competitive attitude," when he was chatting with the nurse about how he was sure he could get a full 400 ccs out of my left arm. He also got 400 ccs out of my right arms. Yes, that is 800 cubic centimeters of arm fat, folks. Roughly 3/4 of a liter combined. There are 4 holes--two on each arm, right around the elbow, one of the inside and one on the outside. That's it. Dr. Alonso stitched them up, covered them in gauze and I put a compression garment on which will be worn 24/7 for the next 2 weeks.

After the procedure, I met Ryan and Meagan in the waiting room, patiently waiting to drive me home. I think I remember Meagan saying out loud something about how I looked fine and alert and I could almost drive myself home.--she would soon learn this was not the case. I scheduled a follow up appointment and Monarch gave me a present!!! It's a goody bag filled with bath-related treats (loofah, poof, wooden massager, etc...), all branded with the Monarch logo, of course! I was *SO* excited for my present!!! They put the post-op paperwork, my appointment card and my present in a bag and I was off!

I insisted we stop at Panera Bread as I was hungry. I skipped lunch that day and wanted food. I also insisted on going in with Meagan to get it. It was at that point that I realized I could not walk straight. I ordered (apparently quite coherently even though the woman did not understand me and I had to repeat it several times) and as we were waiting for my food someone commented that my elbow was covered in blood/pink ooze. It was true. Meagan assured them I was fine. Meagan and Ryan saw to it that I made it home okay and ate everything fine. They offered (apparently numerous times) to help me clean up my compression garment as my left elbow region was covered in blood/pink ooze. I quite forcefully told them NO and that I was NOT taking off the garment until at least the next day. They then left. About 5 minutes later I apparently called them and asked where my prescriptions were and if we left them at the med center!!!! Meagan calmly told me they were right in front of me on my coffee table. I found them. :) I also quickly took off my compression garment, spot cleaned the arm and rebandaged my wounds. I then used my hair dryer to dry the arm of the garment. I promptly took a nap.

At this point, Amy came by with dinner and when I woke up to let her in, my left elbow was AGAIN covered in ooze. We ate and then Amy helped me wash the arm...again...and blow dry it and rebandage the wounds. This time, we got wise. We used gauze and as an added back up: maxi pads. Yup. My left arm was wrapped in 3 over night maxi pads and a lot of tape. And it worked. Like. A. Charm. ;) (Note: my right arm did not leak at all.) I also was very concerned about the appointment I made for later in the week. I had no memory of when it was. I asked Meagan--she didn't see me make it. She told me to call them. It was late Saturday night, they were closed. Amy said I could call them too. I told her I already knew that meanly (apparently, loopy Erin = blunt and harsh Erin--but still lovably so). The next day I found my bag with the present, the post op instructions and my appt card. Since I forgot about its existence, it was like getting a present ALL OVER AGAIN and I knew when my appt was!!!! Double win.

Since the initial fun, here are some notes about week 1 of recovery:

Pain: Not too bad, but any pain stinks. My arms from elbow to shoulders are basically two large bruises. On Monday, my arms literally were 5 out of the 6 colors of the rainbow (red, yellow, green, blue and purple). By Tuesday, they had faded to mostly yellow and green with deep red spots throughout. I've taken a total of 6 tylenol and 0 vicodin since leaving the med spa on Saturday.

Antibiotic: I hated it. It tasted gross and made me sick. It was Keflex. Luckily it was only for 5 days, but BOY! am I glad that's over.

Compression Garment: This is the compression garment I got based off of Darby's (med spa employee/my bud) recommendation. I like it, but it was pricey when you include shipping (they only have overnight shipping!--expensive!), and so I only got one. Combine this with the fact that I have to wear it 24/7 for 2 weeks and it makes for a big pain in the you-know-where. I have to hand-wash it, then blow dry it dry so I can put it right back on. The process takes between 45 minutes and an hour and when I am done, the garment isn't fully dry. I am just usually over it and it is dry "enough" to wear. :) Having said that, is this inconvenience worth an extra ~$70 for another garment? Nope! I'll hand-wash and blow dry. :) Having anything tight on your body for 24/7 gets irritating, but after 6 days it isn't so bad. And hey, only 8 days left! At that point, I will wear it to bed only. The velcro strap across the front is visible in most shirts I wear, so I just don't fasten it during the business day. It doesn't do much anyways.

Lotion/Massage: Just like with the midsection/back lipo, I need to apply lotion and massage my arms. I just started that today as the pain is getting much better. For some reason, SEVERAL strangers felt the need to touch my arms this week not knowing it hurt so bad!!! Now it's just annoying not intense pain like it was. I did my best to wince internally to not make them feel bad.

6 day check-up: Today I went to see Dr. Alonso. He removed the stitches and checked out the first week's progress. He is *very* pleased with the results so far. I am super skeptical about this whole arms thing--and he knows this. I told him that I feel like my arms look exactly the same. I understand they are swollen still and the skin has to tighten up and these things take time, but NOW they look the same to me. He made me hold up a mirror and hold out my arm and he held my before picture behind it. I still don't see what he sees, but I do trust that he does this a lot and knows what to look for. Oh! This reminds me: I posted before "arms" pictures to the tummy tuck album. I will post afters when I am good and ready to. :) Maybe at 2 weeks? My arms have been itchy inside the garment and so I usually itch them. After the stitches were removed today, the wounds were itchy. I didn't even think about it but noticed big red blood marks on the right arm of my sweater. Yup, I scratched them open accidentally and they bled through my garment and my sweater. Sigh. They are bandaged up and my garment and sweater have been spot cleaned. My left arm is fine *this* time. I just cannot win with these wounds!!!

Alright. I think that's all I got. If anyone has any questions about the procedure or recovery that is unanswered, please ask!