The last couple of weeks have flown by !! Lot's of positive things happening (weight loss just doesn't happen to be one of them)!
First off, last weekend my daughter and I set a new milestone...a 10K! A new bridge that has been a few years in the making is finally opening up here and they staged a 10K as part of the celebration! We thought how fun it would be to run on the new bridge so we signed up. I had to walk part of the time, but we completed the 6.2 miles with times that made us proud. Our next race (back to a 5K) is on Mother's Day next month.
Food and I continue to battle it out. My weight has stayed steady...but with the weather finally getting better around here, I am stepping up my exercise. I am feeling much more confident in the process than I was just a couple of weeks ago. I know I can do this!
To help keep me motivated, I made a GIANT decision this week. I sent in my deposit to schedule my plastic surgery. The doctor feels like I need to lose about 10 more pounds to have optimal results...so that is what I am going to do! I gave myself lots of time to get there...my surgery is scheduled for February 3rd, 2017. That is just 2 days shy of my 2 year surgiversary! If all goes as planned, I will be getting a Tummy Tuck with muscle repair, a Breast Lift (maybe with a tiny bit of augmentation), some lipo of my flanks and bra rolls, and if the gods are smiling down and everything is in line, a reshaping of my lumpy backside! My hemoglobin needs to be above 14 for all that to happen...so the next 9 months is going to be all about losing 10 pounds and building up my blood levels. The surgeon I have chosen is Dr. Irving Rodriguez. His clinic Cirugia Plastica is in Tijuana. Yep...I am headed back there to have my plastics. I never ever thought I would be saying that. I really thought that I was going to have my plastics in the states...but in months of research, I changed my mind.
A quick run down of the journey to find "my" surgeon. I had my daughter take several photos of me...(naked - yikes!). I have an online friend who's daughter went to the Domincan Republic for her TT and BBL and I was able to follow her journey online. So my first thought was to check out doctors in the DR. Then, when I first started thinking about plastics (about 6 months ago) I found a Florida doctor online who did some really great work, so I added him to my list. That caused me to look at other doctors in Florida too. More doctors on the list. Finally, I thought I should at least go see a couple of doctors here in Seattle. I knew the doctors here would be way more expensive, but I wouldn't need airfare, a recovery house, etc and so I thought it might work out to be closer in cost than I thought. Boy was I in for a shock! First off, I got so many different opinions on what I needed to have done. Everything from a breast reduction, to a breast lift, to a breast lift with augmentation. Everything from a tummy tuck, to an extended tummy tuck, to a circular (360 degree) body lift! Most wanted to throw in lipo and a BBL for good measure! And the prices...anywhere from $6,000 in the DR to $20,000 here in Seattle. After a few months of research and 6 different surgical quotes, I was so discouraged. Some doctors didn't respond at all...one said he wouldn't work on me, but sent me to an associate whose patient coordinator repeatedly told me he would have my quote ready soon...but never ever got back to me. Some had patient coordinators who felt a little like used car salesmen - "if you put your deposit down right now you will save so much money" - I later learned that some of those people work on commission from the doctor and don't get paid unless they book surgeries! I had just about decided to bag the whole thing when I saw a women's story on real self.com. She was about my age and also had lost a lot of weight. She had gone to Mexico to Dr. Irving Rodriguez. She talked about how kind he was and how he really listened to what she wanted and gave her very realistic ideas of what he could and could not do. She said the recovery house he uses is amazing and near the coast where you could smell and hear the ocean. I read every post she had ever written...and by the end decided to send my photos and an email to Dr. R (as everyone refers to him). Much to my surprise, the next day I got a long email from him. Before he even talked about surgery, he talked about my weight loss and all the positive things that had done for my health. He talked about the advantages of weight training to build muscle and making sure I am taking in enough (and the right kind of) calories each day to maintain optimal health. Then he talked about my surgery. He said that from my photos he had come up with a plan for my plastics. He was very realistic and very thorough. He also made sure I understood that my health and safety comes first before any of the procedures and that until I was down there and he could assess everything in person, this was only a PLAN. He was kind and compassionate and never once made me feel like he was trying to sell me something. He told me to let him know if I wanted him to send me a quote for the surgery. And he told me that the quote would be "all inclusive"...the only thing I would need to pay extra for was the air fare to San Diego. That was how it was with my VSG surgery, and I really liked that. So I wrote him back and told him that I would very much like a quote. When I got the quote back from Paulina (his coordinator) at first it seemed really high. So I made a spreadsheet to compare every surgical quote I had received. I made columns for the cost of surgery, air fare, recovery house, medications, surgical garments, everything I could think of that other doctors had told me I would have to pay extra for. At the end of it all, Dr. R's quote was right in the middle! The other thing that made me feel good is that he only does 1 major or 2 minor surgeries per day. He considers my surgery "major" and so I will be his only patient that day. When undergoing this big of a surgery, I want that kind of focus from my doctor. I slept on it for a few nights...then I just decided that this was what I wanted, and like I did with my VSG surgery, I put down the deposit and booked the surgery before I could talk myself out of it! Next year, this blog will be devoted to my journey through the world of plastic surgery. Stay tuned...
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