9/1/06 - Home from the hospital

I had my plastic surgery on 8/30 with Dr. Sterry at Mt. Sinai Hospital. The surgery went well and my stay in the hospital was about as good as I could hope for. One unexpected side effect from the surgery is my lack of appetite. Either the muscle tighening or the binder makes it difficult to eat much; my capacity to eat is about 1/2 of what it was going into the surgery. It is like have the gastic bypass surgery all over again; what a bonus.

I had a little bit of trouble with one of my drains in the hospital. The tubing was separting from the bulb that collects the fluid. I was walking around the nursing station, doing my laps, when I realized I was leaving a trail of blood along the way. Dr. Sterry came and thought a sucture around the tubing, where it goes into the bulb would keep the problem at bay. Later a couple of the residents came by to fix the drain and started talking about not giving me any anesthetic for the sucture. I was a little confused because the problem wasn't where the tube came out of me, but at the end. I told them that, and they did fix the problem. The lesson here, make sure you speak up for yourself, the doctors are not always right.

Dr. Sterry said that he took off close to 16 pounds! Woo Hoo! I did tell him that he cheated me since he originally told me he would take off 18-22 pounds.:) Of course, I am thrilled with the 16 pounds!!:):)