Day 41 - Doctor's appointment

Wow! Day 41!  6 weeks post op!!
 There really hasn't been anything new going on since I last updated, which is why the updates are coming fewer & farther apart. 
Went to the doctors this morning. he said my arms are looking good. There is 1 pocket of fluid on my arm that wasn't going away but I woke up today and all of a sudden, it was almost gone. That figures! LOL. I told him about it & he checked it out. He said since it was starting to go away on it's own, he wanted to leave it alone for now & not drain it  I hope it doesn't fill back up, because it's pretty painful.   
He said the scars on my arms are thicker (wider) than the last time I was there and they're very pink in color. I had noticed that & hoped it was normal. He said it is. He said that's part of the healing process & it will continue to look that "bad" for at least another month or so.  Around the 3 month mark they will start looking better & better.

He said my stomach looks good as well. When I first got out of surgery, the skin was really tight, but I think it was mostly because of the swelling. Now that the swelling has gone down, the area has 'softened' up a bit and it's not as tight.  He said he's very critical of his work, maybe even more than his patients. lol. So he commented on the fact that it's not as "tight" as it was right after surgery.   But hey, it's nowhere near as loose & flabby as it was before, with skin hanging 5 inches down, so I'm happy about that! lol. Yes, it's a little bit loose, but I'm not terribly worried about that... For the most part it's flat and I think with a little ab work it will be fine! 

Then he asked about my weight... again. I told him I'm still slightly under my surgery weight, but haven't really lost anything more than that. I think he asks because he wants to make sure I haven't gained (or lost) a ton of weight because that could also affect the skin on my stomach.  But it makes me feel like a loser to say I haven't lost any more weight. 

He said that my backside is still very loose, so when I'm ready....if I still wanted to.... He said it would be easy to continue the scar all the way around my back and lift the skin that has kind of sank down into my butt.  lol  I'm still thinking about that though....

When I pulled my spanx back up & put my tank top on, he made a comment about my shape. He was like "Look at those nice curves!" lol. 

He said for the next few weeks or so, there won't be alot of changes happening, so I don't have to go back to see him for 6 weeks. yay! 

PO Day 41 - Before & Now measurements

Here are my before surgery measurementsWeight - 148 ( I ate bad that week before my surgery so I was a little higher than lowest weight to date)

Arms - 12.25 Left, 12.25 Right
Upper stomach - 27
Mid stomach (belly button level) - 27
lower stomach (hip level)- 37.5


Measurements on 1/27  - 5 days after surgery

Arms - 12.5 left, 12.5 right  (both are +.25)
Upper stomach - 29 (+2)
Mid stomach - 34 (+7)
Lower stomach - 39.5 (+2)

As you can see, I gained a ton of inches after surgery - was really upset about it, but then I had to remind myself about all the swelling. At this point, my weight was up by 9 pounds (157!) as well! All those dang fluids & swelling



Measurements on 2/8
Saw a huge dip in the scale - down to my lowest weight to date (146), so I knew that alot of the swelling was going away so decided to take my measurements on that day. Still not what I was hoping they'd be...

Arms - 12 left, 12 right  (both are -.25)
Upper stomach - 28  (+1)
Mid stomach - 33 (+6)
lower stomach - 38 (+.5)

And then my measurements today 3/7
I've been struggling with the scale - going up & down a couple of pounds. Today I'm 147. 

Arms - 11 left, 11 right  (both are - 1.25) yay, finally!
Upper stomach - 27 (0.... back to where I was before surgery)
Mid stomach - 31.5 (+4.5 still up)
Lower stomach - 37.25 (-.25)

Finally something (my arms) are measuring smaller than before I had surgery! PHEW! I was begining to get really worried there. And my upper & lower stomach is back to what they were before (with my lower stomach being just a tad smaller than before). My mid stomach is STILL  4.5 inches more than it previously was. kind of discouraged about that, but it's still in the early healing process (it can take up to 12 months).   That's where the most swelling still seems to be plus my belly button doesn't draw me in so much like it did before.