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The Day of the Procedure

My God was I nervous.  Thankfully, my dad was able to take me.  They say that you can drive yourself and drive home but if you do, you can’t take any pain killers.  I wanted to have the option if I needed it!

For the abdomen procedure, I wore a sports bra and a long sleeved shirt because the nurse warned me that the procedure room was going to be freezing cold.  Oh, and socks!  You know if your feet are cold, your hold body is cold!  Unfortunately, the only thing I could wear the day I had my arms and back done was socks.
The doctor came in the prep room to do her “artwork” – basically I had lines all over me in permanent marker to guide her where to do the procedure at.  I also took a valium to help my nerves start to calm down.  Then we went into the procedure room.  The doctor numbed the areas where the incisions would be.  Of course, you don’t feel anything.  Then she started doing the next phase of the numbing process.  Basically, it’s a long metal rod that injects a numbing agent into the fat cells so you can’t feel the laser.  It’s very bizarre feeling.  You can actually feel it as it is pushed through your fat cells.  There were times when it was painful – REALLY painful!  The worst of it was in the areas that had the least amount of fat (for me, by my ribs and hip bones).  The only thing that helped was to constantly take deep breaths and exhale, repeat, repeat, repeat!!!  Once the numbing is done, the pain is pretty much done.  Getting numb is definitely the worst part.

I’m not sure if it was just because of my anxiety levels but I had to take a second valium because the first didn’t seem to have much of an impact.  They also gave me a pain killer to help.  My legs started shaking uncontrollably.  The doctor said it was a result of the numbing fluid and not to try and fight it because I’d lose.  It didn’t last the entire time and part of me thinks it actually helped distract from the pain at times.
Next, the doctor starts with the laser and it feels a lot like when the metal rod was going through the fat cells, but now it was of just a pressure you could feel, not any pain.

To ensure that everything was “even” on each side, I had to stand up at the end.  That wasn’t easy.  I got light headed a few times and had to sit back down.  While you’re standing up, there is a lot of draining that’s going on.  The nurse pretty much washed me head to toe.  Helped me get all bandaged up and put on the compression garments. 
By the end of it, you feel beat up!  Your body is tired.  All you want is to lay in your bed!

Each procedure took approximately 4 hours.  I did the abdomen (which consisted of abdomen, hips and lower back – no more muffin top!) on a Thursday and then did arms and upper back on the following Tuesday.   I would have done it on that Monday, but it was 4th of July weekend.  I know, what was I thinking doing it on a holiday weekend, but, it was one less day I had to take off of work.  Being an adult sucks J lol 

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