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My Modified
Brow Lift, Fat Grafting to Cheeks and Radiance to Lips - Page 4
"Click on
all images for the larger view*
Recovery
In The Hospitality Suite
Next thing
I know, I have ice and towels all over my face and head. I
can't see anything, can't feel anything either, and I don't
care. I hear Marc's voice telling me I was in the Hospitality
Suite. Okay, I know where I am. All is good.
Dr. Rusca has an
aftercare facility on the premises which includes two private
rooms complete with anything you would need in case of an
emergency, hospital beds, phones, Internet access, DirectTV.
Plus the hospitality suite has a kitchen, large bathroom with
shower, a nurses station, and a private dining area for the
staff. The Hospitality Suite can only be entered with
security swipe-cards and is very private with entries in the
rear. |
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Cecilia
Stein is the director of New Horizons, which is a privately-run,
aftercare nursing service. New Horizons is who takes
care of you when you stay at the Institute for Aesthetic Surgery.
Cecilia took watch my first night and took absolute perfect care
of me! She kept my face and scalp iced for 48 hours, applied
my bruise cream regularly, kept my feet warm with the heatblower
and extra blankets. She made sure I had all my medications
on time and was never in any pain, made sure I had my cranberry
juice whenever I wanted it. Plus, she fed me Jell-O,
pizza-flavored Soup-At-Hand, and instant cheese or bacon grits
whenever I was hungry (which was a lot after the first few hours).
By the way, you can either bring your own food, or have it catered
or request special items. We brought all of ours so it would
be easier on everyone. |
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first evening was blurry but I remember some things. I know
I was cold so I got an extra blanket and Cecilia turned up the
heat-blower at my feet. I still had a saline drip, leg
compression sleeves, and the catheter in because my input/output
needed to be monitored in case of a major fluid shift. I
didn't have to get up to do anything. What a relief! I
am going back to sleep.
A few hours later I
wake up and I am hungry! It is about 12 am and Cecilia comes
in and asks me if I'd like anything to eat. Yes,
ma'am! I'll take a large pizza with roasted garlic,
pepperoni and mushrooms, and a diet Dr Pepper...er just kidding,
um how about some Jello-O? So she gets me a raspberry Jell-O
(my fave!), then some cranberry juice which I drink, then I am
still hungry so I ask for pizza-flavored Soup-At-Hand and more
cranberry juice. I haven't eaten since about 24 hours so I must
be trying to catch up. Then I take some meds, lie back down,
get more ice on my face and head and go to sleep. |
I wake back up again very
late at night, I think maybe 3:30 in the morning and I am hungry
again. So I eat two packs of instant grits, some more Jell-O and
cranberry juice. So, after I take a pic with my camera phone that
didn't come out very well, I go to bed again with more ice on
my face and head.
Next
Morning - May 6, 2004, 6 AM
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I am woken up by Marc at
about 6 AM. :) He is clean-shaven (hehe he hasn't
shaved in years) and ready for his own surgery. He asked me
how I was and told me he missed me. I said I was fien, told
him how much I ate last night and asked him if he was ready for
his own surgery. He said yes, and that the camera crew was
setting up now.
I was given a mirror to see myself
for the fist time after surgery. I look like I gained 40 or
50 lb instead of got fat sucked out. BTW there are no mirrors in
your room or in the bathroom and the hand mirror is kept at the
nursing station. I feel like I'm on the swan. No, just
kidding, I know that some people can't handle seeing themselves
after surgery so it makes sense not to have easy access to mirrors. |
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I swear
to you I HAD to brush my hair. My hair was so nasty from
being bloody, wet, sleeping, etc. (as you can see in the pics
above. I usually wear my hair in ponytail secured with 4 or 5
cloth bands and sleep on a satin pillow. Plus, I just got extensions
so I knew they would get fried if I did not brush it immediately.
So I gently brushed my hair every before the Discovery crew got
there and every chance I got thereafter.
Then Dr. Rusca and the camera crew
came in to see me. Dr. Rusca was dressed very nicely, as
always. He is always wearing a suit, with cufflinks and
all. I remember telling him, "Wow! Don't you look
dapper!" He just smiled and laughed in his wonderful
hearty laugh! |
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He asked me how I was. I
told him I felt great, told him I ate like crazy and told him to take care
of Marc. He said of course he would! I told him I finished my
IV last night and I started bleeding into it so Cecilia removed it.
He said that my output was great and that the urinary catheter would be
taken out later that day while Marc was in surgery.
I got to talk to Marc a little
on camera and was very nervous about him going under anesthesia and in
general. He has never had any type pf surgery and only had taken one Vicodin
for a root canal, so the meds he'd be under were freaking me out. I
mean, I am used to it, have been there and done it many times, but this is
his first time. You can understand my anxiety, can't you? Well, it
was time for his surgery, so, I told him I loved him, wished him luck and
told the camera crew to keep me updated whenever they could.
Cecilia Rusca comes in and
give me some lovely chocolates wrapped in bright yellow tissue paper and a
lovely ribbon which matches my room. I can't wait to eat one!
She asks me how I am and I let her know I am very well. She looks
beautiful as always, I must look a fright. She told me to get some
rest and to get ice back on my face and head.
Marc's
Officially in Surgery
That's it! I am taking an Ativan! and I want more Lortabs. I
am officially flipping out. So Cecilia Stein makes me some more
bacon-cheese grits and cranberry juice so I can take my meds before I try
to sleep. After I finish eating, it is ice time again.
Catheter
Removal - Joy.
I wake up a few hours later wanting to know how Marc is. Seems he
had an asthma attack but they stopped it. Great. I needed to hear
that. But I wanted to know and insisted I be told. It is
catheter removal time, joy! So Cecilia I think injects a little air
into the tube, okay that wasn't pleasant at all. This apparently disrupts
the negative pressure so it can slide right out. Which it did, I go
back to sleep but not until I brush my hair again.
However, sleep is short-lived
since I must get up several times to go to the restroom now that the
catheter is out. It is hard at first, Cecilia has to help me out of
bed with the use of the bed back rising up. I cannot use my arms to
support my weight because of my breasts so I have to be pulled up.
Of course every time I get up it disturbs my ice packs and poor Cecilia
has to replace the,. I can't help it, I try to hold it for as long
as I can but I have tons of fluid coming out of me. Let
me tell you how much it hurts to sit on a toilet after you have had the
back of your legs lipoed. Even with Lortab, it hurts
badly.
Marc
Is Pulled Out Of Surgery Early
I wake up to the camera crew entering my room. Jaime tells me Marc
was being pulled out of surgery before his facial procedures could be
completed. It seems he started having another asthma attack which
they stopped, and since working around his neck could possibly trigger
another attack, they didn't want to risk it so they pulled him out and
pumped him full of asthma meds. They interviewed me about how I felt
about this, and of course I said I was afraid and that I wish he'd take better
care of himself, and just rambled about everything. I am a worrier.
They said he just went to
recovery, so I immediately get up to go see Marc in recovery, butt showing
and all. I forgot there is a hole in the back of my compression
garment. Wonderful. Recovery is just down the hall to the back
of the Hospitality Suite. I take the camera and take a pic of Marc
and the camera crew. I stop at the door and I hear Sonya say to
Marc, "You've got a visitor." So he says, "Is it
Danielle?" So, I of course cattily say, "No, it's
your girlfriend." Then he quickly says "Hi beautiful!"
So, I then think, hmmm truth meds. "Can I ask him some
questions?" And everyone says "NO, not yet" heheehe.
Okay, so it was worth a shot. Incidentally, he thought it may be Danielle
because Danielle would be a "visitor," and I am a
"patient" and he thought I'd still be in bed with a
catheter. As Ice Cube once said,
you ain't gotta lie ta kick it. LOL!
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Then he
starts with, "I got gypped!" meaning he didn't get all
of his surgery, so everyone starts laughing. He is obviously
high as a kite, practically speed-balling from the asthma meds and
anesthesia. I naughtily thought to myself, *I am so glad I don't
have to take care of him tonight.* After
he is stable, but still jacked up on asthma meds, he is wheeled
into the Hospitality Suite. Thankfully he has his own room
or he'd keep me up all night, hehe. The camera crew filmed
this part and well, I think possibly my ass as well ,sticking out
the compression garment. I keep forgetting.
I find a robe and I go
talk to Marc for a few minutes. He is fine but he is a
little out of it now since he took pain meds, but still feeling
the asthma drugs. The asthma meds make him sick. He
vomited an entire kidney-shaped bowl full of water, which was from
a fluid shift, not anything he drank. Okay, now I am
freaking. They say he is fine, Dr. McLeod comes in as
well. All is well, he just needs to calm down and vomit if
he has to. They have him on oxygen all day and night to help
him breathe better. Damn asthma.
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He tried to sleep but his
oximeter kept going off because he wasn't breathing deeply enough, so of
course everyone would rush in. He was all mad because the alarm kept
waking him up. He said loudly, "It's happened like 10
times!" It actually happened 4 times. I counted,
grouch. Finally, he insisted it be taken off. Cecilia
determined it would be safe for him to do so. I took the above pic
of us at 2:24 PM on Thursday after he got out of surgery. Hopefully
he will post his journal soon, so you can read his account. He is
going in June 17 to finish his surgeries, barring anything
happens.
So off I go back to my room, took
some pics, went to the bathroom like 15 times (so much fluid!), and I think I
ate again, lol! I got yelled at to get back in my ice packs. I am
kidding, I didn't get yelled at but I think I got a stern look. So I iced.
Next afternoon 2:30 pm
New
Garment Time!
Michele comes in with a Rainey first stage medium compression garment that
is bigger that the medium first stage Design Veronique garment.
Thank goodness I can breathe again! Everyone left Marc to talk to
himself in his room and to get some sleep, but instead he called Richard
from Design Veronique for a new garment in large. 3650cc later and I
am a large, how depressing.
Design Veronique's garment are
made a better as they have have compression panels, are heavy duty, will
last through many weeks of wear without ripping, and yes, they are also
more expensive. But do not be mistaken, I am more than glad to get
into the Rainey garment, with the help of half a bottle of baby powder of
course.
May 6,
2004, 8:00 PM - Dinner, Meds & Picture Time
Now, things start
to really get hazy. Marc is finally sleeping. I remember
creeping off to listen through the crack to hear him snoring. Okay,
he is snoring, all is right in the world. Although, I bent down to
far and hit my right cheek on the door. D'OH!! Cecilia says he vomited again
after eating a little Jell-O.
She saved that and some other fluid he vomited to show Dr. Rusca in the
morning. Either he is vomiting from shifting or from his meds, or both.
I ate some soup
with 5 low sodium Saltine crackers, raspberry Jell-O, and some cranberry
juice. I talked to Cecilia for a while about Costa Rica and what it's like
there, took my meds, took some more pics and went to sleep.
May 7,
2004, 3:40 AM Can't Sleep
Linda, the other nurse, came on at 11 pm
to relieve Cecilia. I can't go an
hour without having to get up and go to the bathroom. Poor Linda, I'll
bet she wants to put the catheter back in me so she can stop making new ice
packs. I'd be willing to if it didn't raise my chances of getting a
bladder infection. I am drinking my cranberry juice and already on
antibiotics, though. It's doubtful I'd get an infection.
I went and checked
on Marc again, he is still snoring away.
I took some
more pics, I am far less swollen than I was. I guess all these bathroom
trips are paying off. Linda
made me something to eat so I could take my meds. Okay,
I am going back to sleep.
Friday, May 7,
10:43 AM
Marc is up already, he is feeling a lot better and
isn't on oxygen anymore. I am sore every time I get up so he came to see
me. He finally got to eat a little bit and take his meds this
morning. He kept vomiting up his medication last night I found
out. Not good, but he is way better. In fact, we are being
discharged this afternoon!
Linda made me THE BEST
homemade cheese grits I have ever had--ever. She said it is one of
her favorite foods so she knows how to make them really well. I was
out f the instant grits so she mixed them with butter, salt, and cheese
and cooked them up. I don't know what else she put in it but
OMG. I can't even make them that good. When Marc comes back
for his surgeries, I am going to go there just so she can make me some
again, lol! I will bring all the stuff, she just has to make mea
HUGE bowl.
I am more swollen compared to 3:40
am last night. I am assuming because I just woke up. Here are some
pics for you to compare.
BTW I have determined from all
these pics that my right side is my best side and my nose looks lie utter crap
from the left oblique angle. Seriously, it needs to be redone.
Then maybe I can breathe better! Not to mention it till look better.
Trust me, look at every left oblique angle photo and compare it to the
left. I'm right, huh?
12:49 PM
Shower Time!
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I get to take my first
shower to clean my scalp of gunk and goo. My middle cheeks are
less swollen than when I woke up. Lips are still the same though
:) YAY! After we shower and get dressed, Danielle is coming over
to pick us up and bring us back to our hotel room.
Danielle got there shortly after and
helped us pack, she kept saying You guys!! You are so skinny! Just
what I wanted to hear LOL! Thank you, Dani! She is a doll,
plus she can drive, I can't stand being a passenger in a car where the
driver has no clue how to drive. It scares the bejeezus out of
me, doing 35 MPH on the freeway, are you insane. Step on
it!! Danielle drives fast, but very well and I was totally fine.
She had to go back to work so she helped
us get our stuff out of the car and carried it for us up to the
room. I am very sore. I feel as though I have had assaulted
with a Louisville Slugger. |
3:00 PM - Back
At The Hotel
Everyone I meet is staring at me, but who
cares. I look as though I had a car accident not plastic surgery.
Alright, maybe not. But they are staring at me. This one
guy I swear was going to swallow his tongue. I wanted to ask if he was
alright but I think that would have made it worse. Good grief,
people.
We talked to Danielle about her
breast reduction scars and her options in revision. But since she had to
go back to work, she didn't stay long. We got our stuff in order, set up
our food and then noticed we didn't have our microwave, extra pillows or
blankets. Grrrr. So we called downstairs and they brought it all up
immediately.
It is time to get some more clothes
on (I am cold), and take some photos. After a while, I got in bed, got
online and posted a little message to everyone on the board. In all my
post-op glory...
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