CCRH
Over Five Years Out
Oct 01, 2013
I'm about five and a half years out and doing really good (weight wise). All in all, I've lost over two hundred pounds and kept it off. So in the Spring of 2012, I finally decided to get rid of some of the massive amount of excess skin hanging around body.
I've been nipped and tucked by my plastic surgeon and am almost back where I want to be as far as my weight. ALMOST!
A few days after my first plastic surgery, I had a strange incident occur; I fell asleep with a heating pad on my knees. Well, nothing wrong with that. HOWEVER...keep in mind that I was on fairly strong pain meds at the time. Ahem. Well, I woke up and the heating pad was under my left hip which still had a drain tube nearby and I was sleeping on a plastic lined hospital pad on top of a plastic sheet underneath that. I woke up didn't think much of it for a few days when a huge (and I mean HUGE) nine inch gooey red spot appeared. I was scared to death!
My first thought was I had MRSA; that had been my biggest fear all along. My surgeon had given me his personal cell phone number and I called him; he asked me to send him a photo of it and I did. He gave me some care instructions for the night and told me to come in first thing in the morning. I had time to think overnight what had possibly gone wrong had remembered the "sleepy stupor heating pad incident".
Anyhoo, he treated me with kid gloves the entire summer while it healed and since then we've had a good laughs since. But the burn prevented me from any serious exercise (because fabric rubbed and chafed the burn) for almost nine months and I couldn't get in the pool (which was horrible for me because I am an avid swimmer).
During that time, I gained eighteen pounds back, but have spent 2013 working very hard to get that off. I'm half way there; but have hit a little plateau. I know I'll get back where I was and may even go for a little more off.
As far as the plastic surgery, I have had: a tummy tuck, my arms done, breast reductions (and lift) and a few other small procedures like my eyelids done (and yes, I know the proper procedural names). In the future, I'll probably have a few more. For me, I have found that feeling good physically starts with feeling good mentally. Also, I work out in the water as much as I can; whether I am exercising or just floating, it is wonderful therapy for me.
Well, that's all for today. I'll pop in again soon!
FYI: The photos were taken approximately two weeks before my first plastic surgeries (and before I gained the eighteen pounds).
