Seroma

That's what the 10+ lbs of swelling on my tummy is called. The lymph and drainage system has been cut, and the upper belly fluid has no where to go. We opted out of tapping it today, to avoid infection. Could be eight weeks to one year for this swelling to go down. We decided to wait another weeks to pull the drains. My surgeon called his new PA into the exam room to see this amazing seroma, and first thing he told her is "this is when you want to keep prescribing narcotics". I'm not just a wimp.

The incisions look really uneven, but that is due to having to surgically compensate for the uneven way my excess skin had settled. Upon closer inspection, the creases and folds are aligned nearly perfectly, even taking into consideration the massive swelling. The belly button is there. My doctor mentioned the love handles area and that I may want to go see the plastic surgeon he works with about some liposuction. But you know what? I'm not concerned at all. That is where all of my swelling is, and once that goes down, I will be thrilled. Actually, as long as it tapers well, that's all I want. The taper was very acceptable from what I could tell before the seroma. It was precisely what I had wanted.

It's exciting and weird and scary and wonderful and everything in between to be where I am on this weight control journey. Even though I'm so close to reaching my goals, I've really only just begun. Living my life is the real goal. This has not been about weight loss or surgery... but about living my life the way I want to. Now is the time to reap the rewards of my hard work, but it's also the start of the real challenge in the journey. This is it. That's why it's been so important to me to lose the diet mentality, because that was setting myself up to fail at this exact point. No more. This time I have my band, and a sense of security about my relationship with food that gives me the reassurance I need to know that I can do this for the rest of my life.