advice about loose skin surgery

Check out this blog from another MFPer who just went through surgery two weeks ago . . . his posts are honest. Although I don't have any experience with this (yet) and I'm not sure if I will, I found myself feeling his anxiety and fear just by reading his words. I'm rooting for Ed everyday.

www.gettingfit4life.com

In 2000 I had surgery to remove loose skin on my abdomen. During pregnancy with my oldest son in the 80's I developed pre-eclampsia and gained over 150# in about 4 or 5 months, the majority of it fluid. I was on bedrest from 5 months on and could not move around too much, the diuretics I was on during that time weren't helping at all. My physician was pretty old school and kept telling me that as long as it didn't affect my heart or kidneys he would not take the baby by c-section. You can imagine I was like a tight balloon, getting bigger and bigger. My stretch marks, for there was no normal skin left on my abdomen, began to bleed at around the 8 1/2 months mark and my arms and legs were weeping water all the time, it was horrible. After delivering my son naturally at 40 weeks I began to dump water rapidly. By his 3 month check up I had lost 120# and I had an apron of skin that hung down to the middle of my theighs. I was young, less than 20 at the time and relatively active. I remember rolling up the abdominal apron and shoving it down my pants to go to the gym. The skin on my arms and legs was loose and saggy too, but not like my abdomen and slowly the skin on my arms and legs tightened up on it's own. My family doctor as well as my GYN kept telling me to give it time for my abdomen to tighten back up. It didn't! When my oldest son was a teenager I visited a plastic surgeon to get the information about having it removed, she was astounded by my story doubly so by my abdomen. She told me it looked like I had had ceptuplets instead of one child. She assured me that that type of damage never repaired itself and the only option for a normal looking abdomen was to have the skin removed. I did! Was it the most painful procedure I have ever had? Absolutly!! Would I do it again? In an instant! I still have stretch marks everywhere including my arms, legs, abdomen and back that will never go away. The biggest issue after surger for me was that because there wasn't any whole tissue to sew back together she had to sew the stretch out skin back together and it didn't heal nicly. The incision opened after nealy a week making it necessary to kept the staples in and I had to do would care at home with my husbands assistance for the areas that didn't heal correctly. So now along with the stretch marks I have a hidiously thick scar across the bottom of my abdomen. Does it matter to me? Absolutly not! The only person who ever sees me with my clothes off is my husband and he doesn't care at all. Another curious after effect that I wasn't told about up front, I don't have any sensation to touch on my abdomen for about 6 inches all the way around my belly button (which had to be moved), the surgeon said the feeling might come back in a couple of years after surgery but it probably wouldn't and mine hasn't. I can feel pressure on the underlying muscle wall but the skin is absolutly numb. What ever you decide, discuss your expectations with the surgeon beforehand. Ask him/her about what the possible complications could be. No surgery is ever simple, it requires anesthesia and a knife! Make sure your surgeon is board certified and do a little research on the internet. There are plenty of places out there that rate physicians and the complications they are responsible for. But remember that like my wound seperation and delayed healing, some complications you just won't know about until you actually have the surgery.