Sunday, January 10, 2010
plastic surgery upate!!!
omg. it's been too long, i know. so for the update...
my surgery was rescheduled for june 25th at mass general hospital (MGH) because my plastic surgeon (dr. catherine hertl) wanted to do the surgery in the "big" OR. that was a little daunting! so the outcome of the plastic surgery way exceeded my expectations! however the actual surgery and recovery were much more than i expected.
to summarize the surgery was uneventful for me! it was a long day for my doctors...they took about 10 hours to complete my lower body lift. i had a tummy tuck, inner thigh lift, and a buttock lift. my insurance helped out with the tummy tuck, but i had to pay the rest. my doctor's office was extremely helpful in assisting with the insurance. the pre op and OR staff were exceptional! they were funny and compassionate and put me at ease right away. i was parked outside the OR, just like my bypass surgery, watching them setup for my surgery. I met the OR team that would take care of me. Everyone was awesome! My nurse anesthetist and nurse actually came up to my room on the post op floor the next day to check up on me. highly unusual. also the chief resident (simon) working on my case with dr. hertl was asked to do so by my boss. my boss is a plastic surgeon who worked with dr. hertl and the chief resident at MGH during his own residency. i am really glad that my boss was able to ask simon to work on my case. i am sure he learned a lot from working with dr. hertl because she has specific things that she does differently from other surgeons because of her experience. while they were marking me there was some discussion on different techniques!
i woke up from the surgery during the night. apparently (according to my mom) they brought me to my room really late june 25th. i was still out while my parents visited me that night. i woke up in pain immediately. it was pretty intense. i wasn't able to sleep well until over 2 weeks after surgery. i got the nurse to remove my catheter right away and help me to stand after surgery. i wanted to get to the bathroom as soon as i could. i remember from the last surgery the catheter was awful and i had that same sensation and i wanted to pee! i can't explain it...i guess my bladder doesn't agree well with the cath. anyway, i stood up and thought i was going to die. the pain was unexplainable and crazy. i wasn't on my pain pump because i learned at my last surgery that i and morphine do not get along. so i was taking 2 percocets every 4 hours. by the time i got to the bathroom it was hours later and a nurse change! my mom was there by now and when i got the bathroom i was completely in shock by what i saw. there were stitches in areas i did not expect. the inner thigh lift did not go down my thigh at all. it was all located in my groin. OMG. so awesome now because my legs look awesome and the incisions are hidden in my underwear line, but awful then because the pain from the heavy black stitches was unbearable! those stitches were not removed for over three weeks and they hurt all three weeks. after they were removed it was immediate relief. dr. hertl told me she had to bury the stitches deep into my leg close to the bone because they needed a good anchor to keep the thigh lifted. the stitches for the tummy tuck and butock lift went all the way arouond my abdomen and into my butt crack. i also had a vertical line from breasts to belly button to remove more skin. i'm about to disclose some personal information and male readers may want to skip to the next paragraph! i went into the surgery with my period just starting. it was early of course, typical. well when i woke up from the surgery and stood up for the first time it was like i turned on the faucet. AWFUL!!! i wasn't fully expecting or aware of the stitches in my groin area so when i went to the bathroom and felt the stitches and saw the blood i freaked out. cut to my nurse, andrea, checking me to make sure the blood wasn't coming from the incisions. seriously she deserves an award for what she had to do for me! it was awesome that i had such support from the nursing staff. she in particular was so so helpful and i can't say enough good things about her/them.
i stayed an extra day in the hospital because i could according to my insurance and everyone thought i should stay. dr. hertl, simon (the resident) with all the residents on their rounds, and the OR staff all came to check on me. i thought it was awesome. i had several breakdowns in the hospital because of pain and anxiety and the staff was great at helping with that. also dr. hertl had prepared myself and more importantly my mom for the anxiety and emotions...and she had given me medicine for that. it was very helpful and i recommend having some anti-anxiety meds nearby if your doctor agrees!
i stayed with my parents for three weeks; on their couch and then gradually to my old bedroom upstairs. my mom basically kept me from going insane and she might have gone semi insane herself in the process. she had to change my dressings everyday and monitor my drainage. dr. hertl removed the drains on my first post op appt after 6 days which was great because those things were just annoying. not a big deal removing them...just felt funny. they were buried much deeper than the bypass drains so let's just say they just kept coming and coming when they were pulling. it makes me weak in the knees just thinking about it! LOL
dr. hertl took out my stitches in my groin at three weeks post op. that was a little painful but immediately an improvement!!! at three weeks is kinda where i turned a corner. i took less painkillers and moved back to my apt. it was around week 4 where i felt like myself and week 5 where i could do anything but lift heavy objects.
the only "complication" that i had was a mild infection/skin irritation at one of my drain sites. i had to keep the sites covered with a bandaid and ointment and my skin just broke down from the bandaids...dr. hertl gave me some cream to put on the spot and instructions to discontinue the bandaids! LOL. apparently that is awesome for complication rates, since this surgery can have many complications!
i have pictures of the actual surgery (yes i know i am crazy) and am willing to answer any questions. feel free to email me directly at rachaeldstewart@gmail.com
ttfn.
rach
my surgery was rescheduled for june 25th at mass general hospital (MGH) because my plastic surgeon (dr. catherine hertl) wanted to do the surgery in the "big" OR. that was a little daunting! so the outcome of the plastic surgery way exceeded my expectations! however the actual surgery and recovery were much more than i expected.
to summarize the surgery was uneventful for me! it was a long day for my doctors...they took about 10 hours to complete my lower body lift. i had a tummy tuck, inner thigh lift, and a buttock lift. my insurance helped out with the tummy tuck, but i had to pay the rest. my doctor's office was extremely helpful in assisting with the insurance. the pre op and OR staff were exceptional! they were funny and compassionate and put me at ease right away. i was parked outside the OR, just like my bypass surgery, watching them setup for my surgery. I met the OR team that would take care of me. Everyone was awesome! My nurse anesthetist and nurse actually came up to my room on the post op floor the next day to check up on me. highly unusual. also the chief resident (simon) working on my case with dr. hertl was asked to do so by my boss. my boss is a plastic surgeon who worked with dr. hertl and the chief resident at MGH during his own residency. i am really glad that my boss was able to ask simon to work on my case. i am sure he learned a lot from working with dr. hertl because she has specific things that she does differently from other surgeons because of her experience. while they were marking me there was some discussion on different techniques!
i woke up from the surgery during the night. apparently (according to my mom) they brought me to my room really late june 25th. i was still out while my parents visited me that night. i woke up in pain immediately. it was pretty intense. i wasn't able to sleep well until over 2 weeks after surgery. i got the nurse to remove my catheter right away and help me to stand after surgery. i wanted to get to the bathroom as soon as i could. i remember from the last surgery the catheter was awful and i had that same sensation and i wanted to pee! i can't explain it...i guess my bladder doesn't agree well with the cath. anyway, i stood up and thought i was going to die. the pain was unexplainable and crazy. i wasn't on my pain pump because i learned at my last surgery that i and morphine do not get along. so i was taking 2 percocets every 4 hours. by the time i got to the bathroom it was hours later and a nurse change! my mom was there by now and when i got the bathroom i was completely in shock by what i saw. there were stitches in areas i did not expect. the inner thigh lift did not go down my thigh at all. it was all located in my groin. OMG. so awesome now because my legs look awesome and the incisions are hidden in my underwear line, but awful then because the pain from the heavy black stitches was unbearable! those stitches were not removed for over three weeks and they hurt all three weeks. after they were removed it was immediate relief. dr. hertl told me she had to bury the stitches deep into my leg close to the bone because they needed a good anchor to keep the thigh lifted. the stitches for the tummy tuck and butock lift went all the way arouond my abdomen and into my butt crack. i also had a vertical line from breasts to belly button to remove more skin. i'm about to disclose some personal information and male readers may want to skip to the next paragraph! i went into the surgery with my period just starting. it was early of course, typical. well when i woke up from the surgery and stood up for the first time it was like i turned on the faucet. AWFUL!!! i wasn't fully expecting or aware of the stitches in my groin area so when i went to the bathroom and felt the stitches and saw the blood i freaked out. cut to my nurse, andrea, checking me to make sure the blood wasn't coming from the incisions. seriously she deserves an award for what she had to do for me! it was awesome that i had such support from the nursing staff. she in particular was so so helpful and i can't say enough good things about her/them.
i stayed an extra day in the hospital because i could according to my insurance and everyone thought i should stay. dr. hertl, simon (the resident) with all the residents on their rounds, and the OR staff all came to check on me. i thought it was awesome. i had several breakdowns in the hospital because of pain and anxiety and the staff was great at helping with that. also dr. hertl had prepared myself and more importantly my mom for the anxiety and emotions...and she had given me medicine for that. it was very helpful and i recommend having some anti-anxiety meds nearby if your doctor agrees!
i stayed with my parents for three weeks; on their couch and then gradually to my old bedroom upstairs. my mom basically kept me from going insane and she might have gone semi insane herself in the process. she had to change my dressings everyday and monitor my drainage. dr. hertl removed the drains on my first post op appt after 6 days which was great because those things were just annoying. not a big deal removing them...just felt funny. they were buried much deeper than the bypass drains so let's just say they just kept coming and coming when they were pulling. it makes me weak in the knees just thinking about it! LOL
dr. hertl took out my stitches in my groin at three weeks post op. that was a little painful but immediately an improvement!!! at three weeks is kinda where i turned a corner. i took less painkillers and moved back to my apt. it was around week 4 where i felt like myself and week 5 where i could do anything but lift heavy objects.
the only "complication" that i had was a mild infection/skin irritation at one of my drain sites. i had to keep the sites covered with a bandaid and ointment and my skin just broke down from the bandaids...dr. hertl gave me some cream to put on the spot and instructions to discontinue the bandaids! LOL. apparently that is awesome for complication rates, since this surgery can have many complications!
i have pictures of the actual surgery (yes i know i am crazy) and am willing to answer any questions. feel free to email me directly at rachaeldstewart@gmail.com
ttfn.
rach
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