My Liposuction Journey

Foreword

From young, my body shape is a pear shaped figure.  I was skinny, but with the small pockets of fats around the hips and thighs area. Choosing clothes was difficult, with S on top and M for bottoms. Some kind of dresses do not fit also as it would either be too loose on top and too tight on the bottom. 

Over the years, of course I gained weight. And the weight will always go to the bottom. So I'm always top flat and bottom round. My boyfriends used to tell me, "you are perfect, if only you were taller and the fats on your thighs would be proportionate" or "the most unsightly thing about you would be your big thighs". Sure, all these are very hurting and upsetting, but true. Who would be the clearest on which part of my body to change if not me? I am my own biggest criticizer. I always say I'm fat and I want to slim down,  but actually what I mean is if I can slim down on my bottom and transfer all the fats to my top.

Years go by and I would gain weight and lose weight. I admit I do like to eat. I love the taste of food. When I was younger I could have suppers and binge and not feel the weight, but as I grow older, just one binge would make me feel bloated and overweight. 

I always toy with the idea of liposuction years ago when it came out. Of course then, I was still very young. Now when I finally reach mid twenties, it can be more than an idea, but a goal. I tried all sorts of traditional way to slim down my bottom; signing up thousands of dollars worth of packages in well-known spas and slimming centres, buying the products, cutting down on food, exercising and every other non invasion way I can think of. Sure, it worked for awhile, but body fat is stubborn, and a pear shape will always be a pear shape, it's just a matter of how big or small the pear shape is. 

Now being at my prime as a woman in my mid twenties, after working for a few years and saving up, I decided to finally go for it. I tried to coax my friends to do it with me, so it would be less terrifying. It is, after all, a huge step. I've heard of failed lipo attempts, and even death. Would the money spent and pain and recovery be worth it?

Taking the First Step

So, I started researching. I have no idea how much it would be. I was thinking that $10+k would be the norm. At first, I thought if I increased my boob size, it would look more even. I was thinking of Macrolane at first, because it is non-invasion and recovery is fast. Therefore, I researched about that and the many other options available now. Upon researching, I came across this thing called fat transfer. I read about it before, and now I was thinking since I wanted bigger boobs and smaller bottom, I might as well do the fat transfer if the price difference was not great. So I called around several clinics to get a quote and finally made an appointment with one clinic because the nurses were very friendly and the price was what I expected.

I read some articles about how lipo is becoming so common nowadays and also non-invasive surgeries. Macrolane would be a good choice but the price is steep and the results only last a year. I read other blogs about their lipo experience and I thought it was not bad. The recovery was not as bad as I think, with some being able to walk around the enxt day, even shopping for those who did their lipo overseas. That's not too bad, I thought to myself, if one is able to walk around.

Consultation

Finally the day came for consultation. Initially, I wanted to do everything and recover by Christmas, but the clinic was too busy. For the consultation, I just asked questions about what should I do, and if I should go for Macrolane or something else. I told the doctor that I wanted to change my boobs size. In my mind, I just wanted something non-invasion and painfree to try. Then the doctor said that Macrolane is expensive (around 6k in some places) and the results was not lasting and the size would only increase by a bit (100-200cc which can be less than a cup). I was willing to pay only about $2-$3k for something not lasting, so $6k was steep to me. Then Doctor said why not try fat transfer? It will be my own fat and the fats would be taken from other parts that I want to change. So I asked the price and it was not too bad. They can charge by cc or by lipo cost (per part) and transfer fee of $3.5k. The doctor added up for me and the price would probably by around $10k for transfer of fats from thighs to breast, plus, the results would be permanent.

Asking all the questions in my mind and having a better understanding, I could go back and think about it or set an appointment date to do it. All this feels like a dream on  fast forward. Maybe I'm a little impulsive and never thought it through properly, just thinking of the results that I want, so I agreed to it and we discussed payment options (installment or full). I followed their instructions on coming back to have the blood tests, measurement of compression suit and ultrasound. Even when going through all the procedures, I still felt that it was another person doing it. I was just excited for the results. 

Surgery Day 

The day of surgery, I was very nervous. I did not tell anyone about doing this fat transfer, not my friends, family or anyone. Still living with my parents, what I was doing was super secretive and quite dumb. But for now, I had noone's support. Luckily, the nurses at the clinic was very friendly, answering all my many questions and tolerating me hounding them for advice and support. So I fasted for 8hours and went for the surgery. I had to strip down while they wiped me down with iodine for antiseptic purposes. One thing I can never get use to is stripping down in front of the nurses. 

One thing I forgot to mention is that I decided to do the lipo on my inner thighs and outer thighs (4 parts), posterior arms (2 parts), waist (2 parts) and transfer as much fats to the breasts. Essentially, chaning nearly every part of my body. It was to be done all in a day and cost me around 17k, which was way above budget and my expectation. I paid 9k as installment and the rest cash, wiping me out of all my savings. 

I was excited for my transformation and very worried about what the results will be. Without further ado, the surgery started. 

When I Woke up

When I did the surgery, it was 10am. When I woke up, it was 11pm. I had nobody to send me home as I didn't tell anyone, and I woke up super groggy and unable to open my eyes, The clinic was closing and they had to ask me to leave, but I could not even walk properly. I had a very bad reaction to the LA and was so groggy and keep on vomiting. The doctors were worried and sent me to the hospital. It all feels like a bad dream. I was even thinking of driving home previously, but I could not even walk. So the doctors kindly sent me to the hospital for one night. I did not even look at my body, just knew that I was suffering in pain and nausea. So I spent the night alone at the hospital, at least with kind nurses and knowing I was taken care of.

Day 1 -3 Post Op

When I woke up, I was feeling better, but still nauseous. At least the vomiting stopped. The nurses put me on a drip and gave me more meds. However, because of the drip, I had to go to the toliet. The nurse had no help me as I could barely even walk. Thinking back (I'm writing this post-op 3weeks later), I think I am very strong willed. I don't even know how I survived it, just taking one step at a time.

After I slowly and painfully checked myself out of the hospital with help of kind nurses, I stayed at a hotel (to avoid detection from parents) for the next 3 days. For the 3 days, I did not leave the hotel room and basically just rest there. I did not even eat much, just drank fluids. My body was so painful all over. Even lying down and getting up was difficult. I did not even know how I passed the 3 days, just sleeping and eating my meds.

On day 2, I took a bath. And it was the most painful thing to do. It would also be the first time looking at my body. When I painfully opened the garment, I saw myself. I still look like me, but a more bloated and swollen me. It was not a pregnancy kind of swollen, but a kind of soft jelly swell. I don't know how to describe it, but it would be sort of like having jelly filled balloons tied to you with hard rocks inside, and everytime the jelly and rocks come into contact with each other, it hurts like hell. So moving about with the garment was very painful. The jelly like skin feels like an open wound. I quickly bathed and put on my garment and hope it would get better. Oh and did I mention the bruises? The bruises was dark, ugly purple and red and in big patches everywhere.

Day 4

I still felt like shit. I had to go back to the clinic review. I did some more blood tests because my blood pressure was elevated and doctor told me I would heal and the bruises would get better. I fear I would not be able to wear cny clothes properly. I was still on pain med and antibiotics. The worse ever possible thing was that I had diarrhea (side effect of the antibiotics) and my menses at the same time. I could not have worse luck. Going to the toilet was painful and an act I had come to hate. I could only walk with the garment and whenever I have to take off the garment, I felt like I was opening up an open wound, with the jelly legs and hard painful lumps in it. It was awful. Furthermore, it was so hot and I had to wear long sleeves and long pants to cover up the ugly bruises, and it was not helping my mood.

Day 6

I went back to the clinic for ultrasound (a device that helps to soften the lumps). I really don't know why there are so much hard lumps after lipo. The act of doing the ultrasound hurt so much. It's like a device that gives off a bit of heat and had to be pressed/massaged hard onto the lipo areas and hard lumps. It was torture. My legs were still swollen and the lumps would not go away. I did the ultrasound for an hour of pain, and felt a wee bit better. At least I was not so stiff. One thing I didn't read about- was how stiff the area of lipo could be. I could be sitting down and finding a lease painful position, but the moment I want to stand up or move my limbs, I felt like a robot. It feels like cramps x1000, all stiff and as if I am carrying rocks with me all the time. The awful thing was that the rocks are with you 24/7, I could not even sleep well. I could not sleep on my sides or front because my breasts were still swollen like balloons, so I can only sleep straight on my back like in a coffin. Life is pretty painful and depressing at this period of time.

Day 7

It was only 2 weeks to cny and I did not feel any better after 1 week. I know time heals all wounds, but my thighs were bruised and swollen and hard and lumpy. My body ached all over. When I lie down, I do not feel like getting up, when I'm up, I do not feel like lying down. I just want to be a statue and not move any of my aching limbs. I felt better after a few hours after the ultrasound, but the next day, the lumps all return and the swell did not go down at all. I was really depressed and desperate. How to make me feel better??

I decided to research "massage after lipo", because I was so sore and aching and if I could stand the horribly pain ultrasound, surely I could take human hands and a gentle touch? I just wanted to feel better. My doctors did not recommend massages or tell me anything about it even though I asked them many times what could I do to lessen the pain and fasten the recovery. They only recommended more ultrasound (which I bought more).


When I googled 'massage after lipo', I was so shocked to find out that it is a MUST. None of my doctor or clinic nurse told me this. At first, I thought I should do lymphatic drainage, so I searched places that does it, but the more I search, I read some scary reviews about people who went to a certain place and their experience was horrible (more pain and no results). I was in so much pain and my limbs were all so hard, I did not want to go through a traumatic experience. I just wanted relief.

Then I found out some reviews on Cozycot about this lady that does lipo post op specially. All her reviews were good, some even saying she has the 'touch of an angel', and she is friendly and her timing was flexible. I also went to her website was it looks clean adn professional, answering a lot of doubts that I had already and reassuring me that I had come to the right place. Her website is: http://jannheal.com/ and it is the first result I saw when I googled. I was doubtful at first, I did not want to end up at some unethical person's hands that not only did not deliver results, but made me more pain then I already am in. However, I hoped for the best as I really needed help and smsed her in the wee early morning.

Day 8- Finding Hope

She replied and said she can help me so she gave me a slot for appointment, Straight up she told me her price was $120/hr, which was reasonable, considering other massages were also at that range, so it is a price I can afford and it is better that she told me up front the price rather than me going all the way and realizing it is out of budget. So I made my way down not knowing what to expect, but hoping I can get some relief.

I initially thought it would be a big establishment, and was hoping that it was be the woman that I read about (Jannifer) that would be doing the massage for me and not some foreign and lesser experienced worker. I was surprised to see her place was like a single bedroom and humble place. It was cozy and it was Jannifer who personally massaged for me. She was super friendly and welcoming, immediately talking to me to ease my worries and asking me to undress. She could immediately tell I lipo-ed a lot of places and ask me to slowly lie down on the massage bed.

She is very knowledgeable and explained to me more about post op care, which I knew nothing about. She told me I could do her massage even on the second day of my post op, and it would really speed up the recovery. She also told me post care is a must, if left untreated, the hard lumps in the body will be there for a very long time and the lipo would be wasted. I asked if I could get well by 2 weeks which was cny, and she said the bruising will certainly be much lesser and the lipo shape will be more obvious, but I had to be consistent in coming as frequency was key. She commented that my breasts were well done and reassured me that my legs would not be so swollen, as after she massage with her special technique, the water trapped in my body will be dispelled in the natural system of urinating.

She told me the swollen areas were water, and even the hard lumps were water, thats why it will keep coming back until the body is fully healed. She said she had patients that also didn't know about post care and lived with hard lumps for years, thinking that lipo was a waste as the shape was even bulkier and bigger than before.

She is very open and willing to share her wealth of knowledge and everything about lipo. Having done post care ever since lipo became famous, she certainly has a lot of experience. She also said she was trained in Australia and I think there is noone more certified and qualified like her. Lympathic drainage is different from post care massage, and she is the only one doing it correctly and specializes in it.

I had an hour appointment at 2pm, and she even kindly told me she would stay back and do another hour for me if I can come back at 9pm. I gladly agreed as I wanted to recover faster. Upon doing the massage, I was bracing myself for pain, like the ultrasound (tears came out when I did my ultrasound). Even at day 8, I could still hardly bathe well, and can hardly stand to remove and put on the garment again. I still barely touch my own skin and when I gingerly touch my skin, it still felt like jelly and was so watery and uneven. So when Jan massaged me, I thought it was going to be another hell hour. However, it was nothing like that. It was nothing like the ultrasound, where the device was pressed very hard into my flesh, but Jan's touch was soft and even. Of course my skin was still ginger to the touch, but the pain level was probably at a 1 or 2, as compared to the ultrasound, a 7-8 where tears come out. I was really pleasantly surprised at the comfortable massage and reassuring therapist. I must really thank social media for allowing me to find her, as she is most widely known in forums and it is through word of mouth that people get to know her. I really thank my lucky stars for there is someone genuine to help lipo patients. I really do not know why my doctor did not recommend her, even after asking many times what could be done to fasten my recovery.

2 Weeks Post Op

It has been one week constantly going for Jan's massage. I agree with what the forums say- she has an angelic touch and she really does wonders. She is the one to go to for post op care and is a real lifesaver. She is very nice to arrange slots for me nearly every single day, and she is always packed to the max. She sometimes even work till 1-2am just to help patients. Being so busy and she still has slots for a new patient like me, I am really very grateful.

In this week, although I still have a lot of hard lumps, my jelly like legs has started to reduce. It was not so much like an open flesh anymore, where walking without the garment would jiggle the watery legs, but the water has slowly started to dispel. Sure, there are still bruises, but it is decreasing. After every session, I feel so relieve and for that moment, painfree. In my mind, I was just looking forward to the massage sessions. With the garment, I could walk around and sit down, although it is still painful but at a bearable level. I stop the pain meds and finished the antibiotics after 1 week. I am still wearing the garment, and feel really extra hot in the garment and long sleeves and pants, especially in our scorching hot weather. I feel depressed sometimes, that recovery is still a pain and long road, because time is relative (one week in pain is like forever), but Jan always reassures me that I would heal and am healing very nicely. She would say comforting things like "I can see your shape" or "your legs will be very skinny" and I took hope in that. I am liking the breasts though, because it is still swollen and I hope it won't decrease.

My appetite has also returned after my bout of vomiting and diarrhea. My menses has also stopped. I feel more slightly normal and am having a better time than the first week of surgery. Jan has also really helped me to recover alot. As I did not tell anyone about undergoing this surgery, Jan became my confidant in lipo matters and in life. I feel like I can tell her anything and she would guide me with her years of experience.She is open and can talk about anything under the sun. I am really grateful to have found her. Her skill is really amazing, as I feel my legs are lighter everyday. I can go out and meet my friends and act semi normal, though a bit robotic in movements sometimes still.

Nearly A Month Post Op

It is 3 days to being a month post op and cny has just started. I am really amazed at the results. Just only 2 weeks with Jan, I look exactly the same as before I undergo-ed surgery.  The bruising is so minimal I am already wearing dresses. The bruises can be masked as from banging myself, and not surgery-scary bruises. I think I am slightly slimmer as I can wear my jeans from before and feel that it is looser around the thighs area. The best part is, I am not 100% recovered and my legs will get slimmer! I can still feel hard lumps at my waist and thighs, but it so manageable to the extent that I can sit cross legged (up to week 2-3, I can only sit on chairs, but my thighs are so stiff and lumpy that it is impossible to sit cross legged. I tried once and my skin nearly tear from the lumps being all compressed and it was so painful).

This is the most normal that I have felt in this month, to the extent that I'm nearly forgetting my pain when all this first started. Perhaps why I decided to blog about this whole journey is because I am afraid I will forget it all. One thing good and bad about our brain it that- it forgets. It forgets the actual pain, the actual agony or regrets that one feels at point in time. Good that I write it all down to remind myself how stupid I was. The pain is all fading, but I hope the lipo results would be really good. I look the same as I did pre-op and I hope to get my best figure soon. If I were to ever do lipo again, at least I know my recovery period would be faster with Jan's help. Just imagine if I went to her on day2, I could have almost get my mobility back after 2 weeks and not having to waste a week in pain and agony.

I would post some pictures up later(sadly I did not take any pre-op, I would have to get them from the clinic). I really really hope to get my perfect figure soon, but from what I see, the shape is looking good.


Conclusion

1. Lipo is serious, read more, research more, have some support
2. Find the RIGHT surgeon (experience, personality)
3. Post OP is a MUST
4. Jan is the ONLY ONE doing post care
1. Her Number: +65 9683 2379
2. Her Website: http://jannheal.com/
5. Write it all down (can also be a help for others)

Would I do it all again? I really don't know, if I forget all about the pain and I have Jan to help me post op, maybe I will. I have certainly learn alot and have more knowledge about it now.



-disclaimer: am not advertising anything. I just hope this information help people as strangers in forums really helped me in terms of questions and knowledge. Feel free to ask me any questions ^^