Wrong again

But finally in a good way.

Ohhh, was I dreading the drain pull. I'm not kidding when I say I brought my last pain pill and a bandana to chew on in anticipation of it.



The surgeon was happy with the healing so she snapped on the gloves to yank it. I took out my bandana and she asked what it was for. I told her that the last time I was there I heard someone screaming down the hall. She kind of laughed and said that the transplant unit is down the hall also and she wasn't sure what happens in those offices. She got me ready and it was over in 2 seconds. NO pain. Like, none. It felt like something slithery coming out of me but no pain. It didn't get caught on a nice chunk of skin that had healed. OMG. What a relief.

We talked about a few things. It's funny, of course I trusted her when I chose to have her do my surgery. And I've talked about why I stayed off the cosmetic surgery boards because there's only so much non-medical opinions that you can take. I'm not going to go in and micro manage my surgeon. She is where she is because she must know what she's doing. That said, I've been upset about my hip swelling from the beginning. I've talked about it here and when I look in the mirror and I can really see my tight little abdomen starting to emerge I see the bulges in my hips and I get depressed. I mentioned it again today and 2 minutes of her talking to me made all the difference in the world.

She said the swelling happens because that's where the blood supply comes from (hence the spot for the drains), meaning the area is highly susceptible to swelling and inflammation. She said she used to do lipo on the hips at the same time as the abdominoplasty but found that it was to aggressive. She said 90% of her patients look like that after surgery and it resolves itself almost all the time. IF in a year (which tells you just how long it takes for the body to snap back from this) I'm still unhappy she'd do a little lipo but to not even worry about it now.

Of course she knows what she's doing. Of course she has a rationale. I was so glad she mentioned the lipo because when I look at myself I think "Why didn't she just suck the fat out there too?" But she had a reason. I love explanations. They put me at ease and make me stress less.

Other than that I am coming along okay. I have clearance to start walking for exercise. Miles are miles so I'll take it! We decided that the trip to Istanbul for work next week is probably not a great idea so I'm on leave for 2 more weeks which I'm relieved about. I can really, really finish healing hopefully without further stress, like hurricanes and stuff.

We had dinner with our friends tonight at a churrascuria. OMG, so perfect! Relatively healthy, too especially if I'm doing high protein. I had some sides too but the meat was excellent and I'd go back again.

I'm excited the drain is out and I can really focus on getting better. Yay!

Also, got the first preview of the new blog design. I have a few tweaks I'd like to make but I love the idea of this new blog!