The Surgery

An IV was inserted into my left hand and then I was called to the operating room slightly later than 2.30pm. The doctor took photos of my pre-lipo body from each angle without revealing my face. He mentioned that I had a chunks of fat at my waist in particular that made my body look squarish and he said he's going to be nasty about it in the video. Lol! I laughed off and said it's okay. It's the truth and it's his style.

One of his assistants recorded the videos. I was perfectly okay with his verbal description but his pinching was very painful! As there is a video size limit on blogger, I am not able to upload the videos which I have downloaded from Elixir de Vie's website. Please click on this link https://elixirdevie.com/2019/08/22/patient-no-520-session-1-abdominal-liposuction-on-a-slim-girl-weighing-just-45-kg/ to view the very comprehensive videos ! 

After the recording and markings on my body, iodine solution was applied onto my torso and I was asked to lie down on the operating theatre. The doctor then injected tumescent anesthesia into my torso. I remember feeling sharp pain when the jab penetrates but i think I went to sleep shortly thereafter due to the sedation.

I was woken up by a sharp pain on my abdomen. I had no clue how much time has passed but the anesthesia has worn off because the liposuction really hurt. I was screaming and had to squeeze one of the nurses' hand (so sorry!). Dr Arthur said I lost a lot of blood, and so had to stop for a while to see if the bleeding will be better. He said if the bleeding continues to be that bad, he would not be able to continue as blood loss can lead to death. I was upset and suggested to do tomorrow if today was not possible, but he has a new patient tomorrow. I was quite sad when I heard and seriously hoping that I could have the liposuction done. I think I said "huh.." in response and he said "no choice (pointed to the jar of blood) but I will do what I can". Though I was glad that Dr Arthur was being a very ethical doctor and puts his patient's health and safety first.

Shortly, he continued the liposuction on my abdomen while I screamed in pain as the anesthesia has worn off. Thank you to the nurse who let me squeeze her hand and sorry to everyone in the OT who had to bear with my screams.

At the end of the operation, Dr Arthur showed me the 800cc of what he extracted, mainly fats but with quite a lot of blood. He did say that he never really encountered any patient with such heavy bleeding. But to be honest, I did not feel dizzy. I just felt sad and upset that I bled so much, so there remained certain parts that did not go through liposuction to its fullest compared to other regions. (which I will explain in my post-op writeup).

I was given some time to rest on the table before I was ushered to the mirror to see the results :) I must say that I was very impressed by how there were no more love handles, in particular. My waist was smaller and had the hourglass figure! I could not judge the abdomen as I had not eaten anything and there was already post-op swelling. The nurses helped putting on the compression binder and brought me to my room.

Dr Arthur was so kind to check on me very frequently even though I assured him that I was okay. He was concerned because I had a lot of blood loss and reminded me to drink lots of water. Sometime later at night, I started feeling very nauseous. This was a side effect of the anesthesia / sedation as I experienced it once when I was sedated for a scan long time ago. Dr Arthur gave me an anti-nausea injection and I felt an almost instant relief!

I slept and I recalled Dr checking on me now and then even though it seemed very late already. I felt very well looked after. This was one of the reasons I would without any hesitation, recommend Dr Arthur to anyone who is looking for a liposuction surgeon. I have read from other bloggers who had liposuction in Thailand and Korea where after the liposuction they had to go back to their hotel/airbnb themselves?? That sounds daunting.

I will be writing about my post-op experience during the rest of my stay in my next post!