Charleston Bound, part 2

omg, eyelashes! Now I am really freaking out about having an eyeball boob! Brunch at Crave sounds wonderful, my sister will like that, thanks Marty.

The boathouse is lovely, but loud and crowded. There are better and less touristy.  Staying at Homewood places you at 3 excellent restaurants and a great burger pub within 2 blocks, no driving necessary.  Opal is amazing.  Basil is upscale fusion Thai, beautiful with excellent food.  Crave is really great and accommodates a wide variety of dietary concerns - gf, paleo, crossfit, etc.  Calders Pub has great burgers.  The sushi at Yamato is also excellent.

A new restaurant will be available front beach on IOP when y'all return, owned by Ken Vedrinski the chef who took the Woodlands in Summerville to a 5 star rating.  Also, the Long Island Cafe on IOP in the old Red and White Shopping Center is really good.  Nice touch to their food.  Such a privilege to live in a foodie mecca, but gotta carefully watch waistlines.

I too, grew up in Northern Virginia and fished the Chesapeake.  Lots of trips to the Eastern Shore.  Crabs off the dock were my forte when I was really tiny.  The good news is that when y'all are back in town, it will be shrimp and crab season.  Though they say the shrimp season might be light.  We often go to the docks on Shem Creek to buy for a week where I can get large, heads off for $4 - 6 per pound.  Yum!

Another fun idea is to take a participation cooking class at Charleston Cooks on East Bay and Cumberland in the historic district.  They do a realy wonderful job.  There are only 12 per participation class - usually costs about $60 pp.  Really can learn some fun wonderful food!  Also, there is a fantastic culinary tour.  It is a walking tour of either upper or middle King Street.  The guide is wonderfully knowledgeable.  I have lived here for 25 years and still learned wonderful things about the people and the town.  Highly recommended.  

An amazing technical woman invaded the IOP.  Soon, if turned lose naked, she will cammofloge quite nicely in the woods.  Ah, the colors I have turned.  We lowered my abdominal incision and removed the dog ears.  She also preformed a plication of the abdominal muscles/fascia to flatten the tummy.  The left breast was lifted and rotated into place.  She broke up a hard area along the IM Fold left over from a hematoma.  She also corrected the bat wings that were left by the initial BS 27 years ago and never used by the PS.  This resulted in having to draw the scar much further around the back that anticipated, but wings gone.  She did a lot of fat grafting on the upper poles of both breasts.  The lipo for the fat was limited to the love-handles, back and upper middle flanks.  In August she will take the fat from the outer thighs for additional grafting, reserving the inner thighs (which she says is best) for December.  It is certainly nice to have a plan and I am glad we will be going every 4th month instead of every 3rd as it gives me much more time to recover.

My next surgery is in two weeks and I seem to be more uptight about this one.



For anyone who has had scar lowered and revised I am wondering what this entails. Recovery? Drains? Compression? I will also have a hooha lift! 😄 I have a family wedding two weeks after and don't want to miss it. Will that be doable? Any info will be greatly appreciated.



I feel great, but not looking forward to recovery again. Dr. M wants to keep me on schedule and does different areas each time. I trust her decision with this. I need to be done this year for insurance reasons. Of course money is an issue and I have met my deductible and copayment for the year. If there are any complications, I still have December, but I certainly hope not to.

Cherrie, not sure what a hooha lift entails if it isn't asking too much, can you explain? My scar from a year ago's SGAP was lowered and revised big time, though, and the 2 seromas I had managed to get a couple of months after surgery were also removed. My husband almost did cartwheels when Dr. K said there were no drains!!!! So, I did not have any drains this surgery! VERY much appreciated but not expected! Little to do after surgery no need for ointments, draining drains, etc, only thing to do is shower, put on the major compression garment (which after getting used to getting in and out of it when needed is a piece of cake). We are all different as are our Drs. and their procedures, but for my experience, there are no drains, no ointments, no more antibiotics as there are no drains (Dr K wants us on antibiotics as long as we have drains). I have some stitches in the back that need to be removed in a few weeks, but other than that, it's doing my part to heal.



I do have pain in the revised area, but it's healing pain that does well with the pain meds. I also itch when I heal, so good thing the compression garment is on, to prevent me from itching the skin raw - and I have one of those backscratcher things that help in the itching department.



I was told NOT TO BEND as in tying my shoes, etc, to help the revision to heal.



I wouldn't be afraid of it at all, (but that's hindsight) it seems like my fears are truly for nothing when it comes time to realize the actuality of the surgery or healing, it all works out and I'm sure you are in good hands so yours will too.



Funny story though: I was a bit out of it when my husband told me I had no drains, so later when he went back to the hotel and the nurses were truly NOT checking drains, I moved around as good as I could (just a few hours after surgery) and called him and asked him if he really meant NO drains!!!!! He was asleep and groggy himself, but assured me there were NO drains! I was prepared for just about anything EXCEPT no drains!!!! LOL. I will not expect that to be the norm for all my surgeries but was a pleasant surprise. I think it was due to the fact that Dr. K took out the seromas and made sure they had no room to come back!



So, Cherrie, while you may or may not have drains, it's all doable, just a bit harder to take long strides walking. I get tired a lot, so when I do, I rest, I'm almost 2 weeks out.



Hope this helps?

Compression isn't as big of a headache as I thought it might be. Kind if used to it after 2 weeks.



Went to a dinner party last night and came home almost in tears! While DH was parking the car so we could leave early I walked in with a greeting from a Newfoundland eager 125# puppy who looked like a bear and jumped on me! The owner - host - grabbed his choke chain, I screamed NO as his paw hit my right shoulder! I'm not at all afraid of dogs, I had a pet photography business at one point, but new breasts/flaps and a very sutured rear did not bode well for either another paw and/or a trip back down the stairs I had just climbed! The paw hit me so hard my necklace broke (host laughed) and I was paranoid the rest of the dinner.



Had I not had surgery 2 weeks ago Iight have laughed about it or perhaps I just went out too soon - not knowing the bear theses people had as a pet- the host said he hadn't encouraged the 'puppy' not to jump (he's almost 2 yrs old) because the dog sleeps on their bed and its a jump to get on the bed!



I think I'm telling this event because I need it out of my head! I feel shaken and want to get it off my mind! Yikes.



Retrospect would have/should have walked in with DH instead of insisting we park so we could leave without breaking up the dinner party (6 couples)



Thanks for listening!

CRS319 from Louisville, KY,



If you've found this thread -- Welcome to Charleston!



Will be thinking of you on Wednesday, May 1, during your BMX and DIEP surgery with Dr Baron, Dr Kline, and Dr Craigie at East Cooper Medical Center.



😊

Pink it happened so fast! Just a heads up to me to be extra aware of my surroundings I guess.



Was never so happy to leave a dinner party. Other guests stood outside of the door saying they wouldn't come in until the 'bear' was under control! LOL

Bear?  I was thinking more like horse.    Good friend of mine had a NF, but she's an advocate of doggie obedience school.  Went to a friend's last night who has a so smart, so sweet, incredibly obedient border collie.  Almost wanted to bring her home with me.

Cascader, sooooo sorry.  What a weekend.  Hope you will be okay.  East Cooper has an excellent ER if you still feel the need.

Oh no. Hope it isn't serious and heals soon. I can only imagine why you need to vent and cry. GHEEZ!

Thanks, Pink. Glad to be back - it hardly seems like it is already time for round 2.

At airport waiting for flight, ankle huge with strange red rash. WTH?

Arrive CHS @midnight. Emailed dr Kline cuz I can't take anything , ibuprofen etc. he said to go to ER, I went to Smithsonian instead. Will see what tomorrow brings. And yes, had the flu last time. Good grief. Rollin' with the punches

Cascader,



We think alike -- gotta see, gotta do!



Got myself really sick and in pain and spinning with drain gushing going on kayak tour when I shouldn't have. Kim helped me out on that ordeal.



At next follow up Dr Kline's greeting comment was:

I heard you went kayaking.


(busted, but was it ever a beautiful morning on Shem Creek). At least he didnt know I drove myself there...



So you may never hear the end of your Smithsonian marathon.



Kidding aside, Really sorry and really hope you will be okay and please keep us posted.



Thanks Marty for your Charleston hospitality!

Catie - I quit taking pain meds after the first week.  The last of my drains came out Wednesday evening.  Most women go back to work at 2 weeks from Stage 2.  I have been taking walks as often as I can to keep moving parts moving.  I don't do anything that would stress my abs or flaps.  Still covered in glue, but Dr M says that should start to go this week.  A nap daily has always been part of my life.  And yes, I am driving.