Sianzations

Day 22:

Didn’t wear compression garment to work again, but wore a full length tights with not too bad compression. Though swelled as usual after work, but didn’t feel much of it. Maybe I’ve gotten used to it and also the overall intensity had gone down. No massage this day. Woke up feeling a little tight in the muscles. No other discomfort.

Day 23:

As the overall swelling subsided a lot as compared to previous week, starting yesterday I came home from work with only hardened lumps and tender feeling on the other parts that used to swell a lot. The hard lumps would soften a little after rest. Went work without compression garment again and didn’t feel too bad. All the bruises have gone away except the little patch near my left knee. Did my own massage. Woke up feeling ok - no aches or sores. Took this photo before work at 9PM. Tried to close my knees to show the definition. Started applying bleaching cream prescribed by the doctor for the wounds this day. Only started this day because I waited for the scabs to fall off.

Day 24:

Still felt a tiny bit of straining in the muscles at work sometimes. Came home without feeling much of symptoms because I wore the compression garment to work, but there was actually tenderness and lumps hardened. No massage. Woke up with on and off instances of pain from stretching of the skin again.

Day 25:

Stayed home at the start of the day because there’s no work. Switched between lazing on bed and at the desk. There’s stretching pain at some part of the skin each time when getting up from the chair or out of bed. Inactivities caused all the skin and muscles stiffness. Didn’t get much of this feeling during work. Did my own massage. Slept the whole noon till work.

Day 26:

Came home from work a little swelled up. Lumps hard on the inside and tender on the outside. Actually the overall condition of the hard lumps did soften a little. Bruise on the left knee only left a small fainting patch. There’s slight discolouration of the skin where it was swelling badly before, typically around the inner thighs. The colour similar to layer of dirt and dead skin from not showering for a long time. I tried to rub it in shower but didn’t come off. LOL! Anyway that’s part of recovery and should disappear in a few months, but for some, it may stay permanent. Shall see how lucky I am. Feeling of needle pricking the skin can be felt at times. Dr Arthur did mention before that those are symptoms of the senses recovering. Did my own massage. Woke up with aches and sores again.

Day 27:

No work and rested a lot but felt tender and sore here and there. Hadn’t take a photo from this view since last week, so I tried taking one this day. Condition have improved a lot, though there’s hard lumps lying beneath. Squatting all the way down was possible but only after a bit of warm up, some pain in the knee joints and stretching of the skin at the inner thighs but bearable. Still I hadn’t switch back to using the squatting toilet yet. No massage because I was feeling lazy and sore.

Day 28:

Got a reply this morning. She sounded all so defensive, “Dr Arthur stands ALL patients up during surgery. This is part of his routine and that’s why he only uses local anaesthesia and NOT general anaesthesia.” Local anaesthesia used - I knew of course! I was awake through the whole procedure and I could stand and walk immediately after it. Why emphasize to me the type of anaesthesia used? I have no questions about that at all! And because I was awake during the procedure, I only remembered it being carried out while I was lying down. Or I might have suffered from partial memory lost due to the sedation that I don’t remember standing up in the middle of the procedure? I don’t know! You could advise me on this since you are more of an expert than me.

Next, kind of offended because I felt being slapped for impatient. Maybe she is sick of always receiving emails from patients complaining too early, but I think its uncompassionate to think that we are being impatient. I wrote back, “I hope you understand that having read or being told what to expect, there is still a difference from actually experiencing it. So it is very normal for patients, after having done surgery, whether cosmetic or medical, to have uncertainties and questions even if they have been given all the information on what to expect beforehand.”

I weren’t even complaining because I didn’t think that the doctor did a bad job. I’m actually happy now even though its not yet the final result. I’m ok with all the swelling, loose skin, hard lumps, the unevenness appearance of the thighs and also the slight asymmetry between both thighs, because I completely understand they are part of recovery. I’m just a little bothered by my right inner thigh so I just wanted to clear some queries. I mean, looking at the photo, who wouldn’t have questions? After all, written or verbal information given are very general. Every patient bound to experience slightly different situation, that’s why I wrote in to see if she has other answers for me. Maybe I shouldn’t have write in at all! If so, then what is their customer service for? Zzz...

Day 15:

Swelled up at work again. At some point, felt as if the compression garment may burst at inner thighs from the swelling. Still felt muscles strains but not as much as previous day. Rested a few hours after getting home before taking the photo at 9AM, may not seemed to swell a lot but quite obvious unevenness of the inner thighs. Slight improvements on bruises only. The bruise at the back of the left thigh seemed to progress slower than others, maybe because massages were more focused on the inner thighs for the lumps and front of the thighs for the numbness and slight swelling. The hard lumps occupy the whole area of the inner thighs. Felt like there's big chunk of blu-tack underneath the skin. The hardness of it was like the chunk of blu-tack left unused for a long time. Did my own massage this day - rubbing and kneading the hard lumps with my thumbs and fingers.

Woke up with some parts of the hard lumps feeling very sore. It was painful to walk at first, but got better after a while. Tried touching the painful area, that part of the lumps did soften! So the sores really meant that the condition was improving. Other parts of the lumps not feeling sore still felt as hard. I guessed I had to endure the pain and knead the lumps real hard.

Day 16:

Walked a lot and ran a bit at work. Drank a lot at work this night and I meant alcohol. I’m not sure if drinking would slow the healing process, came home with the usual swelling anyway. Since most of the bruises were gone, I decided to take photos showing where the hard lumps. The areas I pinched showed where the big hard lumps - inner knees all the way up the inner thighs to near the groin. Pretty hard to knead on and the hardest being at the upper inner thighs near the groin. Did my own massage this day, but only for a bit because I was too tired after work.

Since I only did a little massage in the morning before sleep, woke up with no aches and sores but the usual stiffness. There were still muscles strains but not much of pain from stretching. Still limping a little sometimes. Went out in the noon for a while, but didn’t come home swelling like the way after work. Took this photo at 8:30PM. Bruises improved a tiny bit, but some patches were stubborn to fade.

Here’s a photo of the thighs with legs resting on the table. Looked slim yet had the feeling of a little swelling. With big chunk of hard lumps at the inner thighs, some smaller hard lumps elsewhere and the numbness of the skin on the whole frontal part, I didn’t quite know how to tell if there was still swelling. All I knew it was better after rest and worse after work. But the overall swelling might have gone down, because I was able to pinch a bit of the loose skin and also felt the compression garment sometimes not as tight as before, or maybe it expanded from all the stretching. By the way, the stretch marks at my knees were not from the procedure. Never been very fat or lost a lot of weight before, so I have no idea how I got them.

Day 17:

No work last night. No massage as well. Had a long sleep and woke up with no aches and sores. Muscles still felt tight but no pain from stretching, lumps still as hard. Really felt that the compression garments were loosening a little, though still fit snugly but just not as tight as before. Bought 3 pieces of the 2XU compression tights but been changing between two pieces only, because the 3rd piece was a different range and a little smaller. Started wearing the 3rd piece on this day.

Day 18:

Swelled during work again, but not as bad as before. Didn’t feel much stress after work. Could walk briskly all the time and ran a bit and didn’t feel any strains except for feeling tight in the muscles. No pain from stretching most of the time except for starting off to walk after having sat down for some time. No massage again. Woke up feeling sore for a while. Throughout the day, sometimes there was sharp pain from stretching but not the muscles, just underneath the skin instead. Felt like the skin was tearing apart at some parts. Maybe the skin was recovering from the numbness, that’s why the funny feeling. Not sure.

Day 19:

Sharp pain from underneath the skin felt on and off. The pain came suddenly and went away in a while, mainly while walking. Photo taken at 7:30AM. Swelled up after work as usual. Still a bit of bruises around. Some parts of the hard lump at the right inner thigh softened a little, the rest still as hard. Still not able to squat down all the way, worse when swelled up. The knees would feel very tight and the skin surface of the knees felt like tearing apart. Did my own massage this day - a short one. Woke up with some soreness and stiffness for a while. Sometimes pain from stretching just underneath the skin. I guessed the senses are really recovering.

Day 20:

12AM at home because no work. Feeling bored, so I tried to take a photo of my thighs and compared them to pre-op. I’m glad that the knees, though still a little swollen, more defined than before. But to my horror, my upper inner thighs looked uneven!! The right side is larger than the left!! Tried pinching the right side, seemed that there’s still fats over there!! Yes the frontal part hard lump, but towards the back of it joining the saddle bags was soft and no pain like the original. The left side had bigger hard lump and some loose skin, but less fatty. I’m quite sure the right side is bigger not because of swelling! The shape seemed the same as pre-op. I hope Dr Arthur did not forget to remove the fats there!! I vaguely remembered him saying tried to take out a lot of fats from my left side but I had quite bad loose skin, I hoped he didn’t take out less on the right because of this. I’m worried that it would stay permanent this way. Nevertheless, just have to wait to see the final results. Worst case - get a revision done.

No massage this day. Slept on and off. There’s always soreness on the skin immediately after waking - the pain that felt like the skin is tearing apart. Would go away after a few minutes. Bruises still improving. Overall hard lumps soften a little, hardest still being the left upper inner thigh.

Day 21:

Taken 6AM after work. Swelled as usual, but not as swollen as before. Could feel all the lumps hardened. Both my shins got very dry and flaky from wearing the compression garment 24 hours a day, so I went to work without wearing it for the first time. Wore a 3/4 tights which I bought years ago but too small so I never worn out before. This day I could fit in it nicely, tight at the tummy though. Will go back to wearing the compression garment. Though the seams of the 3/4 tights left a print on my skin shown in the photo, but it still didn’t provide enough compression, felt kind of uncomfortable when the thighs swelled up. Bruises gone about 95% except for a few small stubborn patches like the one near my left knee. The redness on my right thigh is birthmark. Was hoping the birthmark would be gone with all the bruises - fat hope! Did my own massage. Woke up with the usual stiffness and sores that lasted for a few minutes.

Day 10:

During work, felt a lot less stiffness but some pain from stretching still there, sometimes better. With minimal walking at work, thighs still swelled up. Maybe not so noticeable in the pictures, but it was swelling really bad. Took out my compression garment after reaching home and shot this photo at around 5AM before massage. Had the feeling of swelling up even more after the garment was removed. Skin was feeling tight and it was hard swelling beneath, mainly on the inner part from the knees up to the groin. Bruises improved only a little but much less painful to press on, so I could endure a massage with more pressure. Nick did a bad massage on this night. Kept feeling she didn't do it right. Maybe because she is not trained for it, or my numbed skin is sending all sorts of funny senses. After all, its free massage. What to do? Can't complain too much!

Thought I would wake up feeling better than previous day but no. Except for bruises improved and much less swelling, I felt sore, stiffness and aches! Good massages are essential. Nick needs to improve on that! Got a little better after getting out of bed to move around. Pain from stretching still there. Expect the hard area from the inner part of the knee all the way up to the groin to stay for weeks. I feel that the garments don't provide much compression for the upper inner thighs at the part just joining the groin. I'm thinking if I should try to wrap that part with bandage during sleep, but I'm not sure if it would cause permanent unevenness.

Day 11:

Moderate walking at work. Swelled up as bad as previous days. Took this photo at 5:30AM after coming home. Thought I could get some relief from removing the compression garment for a while but no! Felt the swelling is pushing out the skin and tearing it apart. Compression definitely better. There's still a bit pain from stretching when moving off from a stationary position, for example, walking after having sat down for some time. The stretching and straining pain can be felt with every steps, got better after walking around and stretching out more, but that would cause swelling. When swelling reduced, there's stiffness and pain from the muscles stretching out. When swelling badly, there's stiffness from the hard areas and skin felt like tearing apart. Don't know which is better! Bruises improved.

Nick didn't come massage because she was drunk again!! Tried to massage a bit myself. I'm a side sleeper so I laid on my side while resting one thigh on top of my body pillow while massaging, then turned over for the other side. Only did for about 10 minutes then remained lying down and rested for 45minutes. Swelling subsided a little as I felt relief that the skin didn't feel tearing. Not sure if the 10 minutes massage helped, but I think lying down definitely worked! I tried sitting down at work to rest for 30 minutes , only felt comfort sometimes but will suddenly swell again. Back home while sitting at my desk, I tried to rest my legs about perpendicular to my body, could sometimes felt swelling up. I guess it depends on the whole body's resting posture.

Photo taken at 5:30PM. Woke up with less swelling, but felt stiff and sore all over. Stiffness was temporary, got better after getting out of bed to move around. Muscles straining and pain from stretching improved, was feeling pain from the sores instead. I guessed the sores were from the massage. I did a hard massage over the lumps to soften them. Bruises looked the same as before going to bed, but improved a fair bit compared to the day before. At times when I removed the compression garment, felt itchy at some part. Tried scratching but there was no relief. Its a funny feeling because the itch was there, but the skin was numbed and couldn't feel the scratch. Skin felt smooth, tender and shiny as it stretches out during swelling. I think I should be applying moisturiser. I've got this thought that the skin will wrinkle from the over stretching when the swelling totally subsides.

Day 12:

Photo taken at 6:30AM. A good comparison of swelling before and after work with the previous picture. Except for bruises, no other improvements on this day. Same swelling after work. Same level of muscles straining and pain from stretching experienced on and off.

Nick came over to massage. Since there's not much pain from the bruises anymore, I told her to use more strength to soften the hard lumps. In fact when done with correct techniques, the massage shouldn't feel painful. You are supposed to press the whole palm down with even pressure and smooth over with lubricant, not pressing with finger tips. She did a better job this time. The lumps felt like a memory foam pillow but a harder one, would leave a dimple when pressed with a finger.

Woke up with stiffness, aches and sores. Aches got better after moving around a bit, but muscles straining and pain from stretching still there and seemed to be on different part of the thighs. Still walking awkwardly like an elderly or monkey when starting off, also not able to squat to use the toilet yet.

Day 13:

This was 5AM before massage. Alternated between sleeping and sitting at my desk the previous day. Not much of walking since there was no work, just the normal swelling and not serious. Only saw a tiny bit improvement on the bruises. Stiffness and muscles straining level still the same, or maybe a tiny bit better because I was able to keep my body a little more upright when starting off to walk. Thighs liposuction did not hurt my back, but I had a tendency to bend my body forward when starting off walking to elevate the pain from stretching in the thighs muscles. It was either arcing the knees, or bending the lower back forward as if perching the buttocks. I prefer to bend my back forward because I felt like a monkey walking if I arced my knees. I realised there was a bit swelling at the ankles. Maybe it was there all along, I don't know. All I knew was after the removal of bandages back in Medan, the swelling of calves and feet subsided within the next two days. It must be the compression garment since its pretty tight at the ankles. Nick's massage did not improve.

Woke up with pretty bad aches and sores. Muscles straining and pain from stretching didn't improve as fast as other days after moving around. Thought I'd feel better since I rested a lot. Don't know what went wrong.

Day 14:

After work, came home, rested an hour without compression garment before taking this photo at 6AM. Didn't seem as swollen as other days after work, but it was actually swelling before that. Noted the slight unevenness on the left inner thigh, that whole part of it was where the hard lumps. Same for the right side, but not so visible from the photo. More improvement on bruises. No massage.

Woke up and felt relaxed in the thighs, though the hard lumps didn't improve. No stiffness, bad aches or sores. Was able to walk with normal posture without much stress, just a little muscles strains. Could squat about 70% way down, not all the way so still can't use the squatting toilet. Guessed the massages caused all the aches after waking up. Maybe Nick had been doing the massages wrongly, or maybe the aches and sores meant that the condition was actually improving. I don't know, but will still continue to massage.

Here's a photo timeline of the bruises healing: