This is a backdated posting on my preparation on liposuction and the day of liposuction.
PREPARATION
After some correspondences with Jennifer (Dr Arthur’s service coordinator) and sending photos of my body, Dr Arthur accepted my case and I proceeded to do my blood test. The blood test results was emailed to me within a day and everything was fine. I proceeded to book my air ticket and confirmed the surgery with Jennifer.
Prior to the blood test, Jennifer sent a detailed checklist of liposuction and fat grafting. It contains useful information such as flights, where to get compression garments and types of compression garments for different parts, all the preparation required such as taking Yunnan Baiyao prior to surgery, transportation arrangement etc.
When the day of surgery was approaching, Jennifer sent several long emails on things to take note and more instructions. You MUST read it. They are very useful and informative.
To prepare myself for liposuction, I went to Chinatown to get Yunnan Baiyao and hormone pills from doctor to delay my menstruation. I was looking for Design Veronique’s arm compression garment online but I couldn’t find it anywhere (not in amazon or ebay). So in the end, I got another brand of arm compression garment (But it was not long enough to cover beyond elbow. -.- Got ‘reprimanded’ by Dr when I was there. Haha).
I read from some blogs that we can actually bring our own medications to save some $. Jennifer was kind to provide me with the list of medications (for consumption and for application) and the costing. In the end, I decided to get from the clinic to save the hassle as this was my first time there.
FINALLY, THE DAY OF SURGERY
I took a morning flight via Silkair to Medan. As it was my first time to Medan, I followed all the instructions in Jennifer’s email and the advice given by fellow bloggers. True enough, the custom officer asked a few questions and thankfully I printed my return ticket e-receipt/itinerary as he requested for it. The guy in front of me had a hard time with the custom officer as he was not able to produce his return ticket e-receipt/itinerary.
After clearing the custom, the driver was waiting for me outside and he drove me to Dr Arthur’s clinic.
Upon arrival of the clinic, the nurse, Yusma, gave me a number of forms to fill in and brought me to my room. I was shown around the kitchen area so that I knew where to get water. I bumped into Dr Arthur in the kitchen. He was friendly and he addressed me by my name. I was asked to take a shower and changed into their garment before consultation.
Finally, I was called down to see Dr Arthur for consultation. I think Dr Arthur was shock with my gigantic arms. He said that I’m too big for liposuction and liposuction is meant for people within normal weight range. He even asked if I had edited my photos which I have sent in. He took very long to explain to me in details on the risks of liposuction. He was very frank that I will not achieve the results which I have seen online and will have loose skins. He advised me to reconsider my decision on liposuction since I will not achieve good results. I was very determined to continue with liposuction. Beside liposuction, I have requested to do fat grafting to breasts since my breasts was very uneven and shrunk due to dieting/exercising. Dr Arthur agreed to proceed with my surgery after lunch since I was able to accept the low expectations.
After lunch, I was called down to the surgery room. Dr Arthur asked again if I want to reconsider my decision on proceeding with liposuction. I was really determined and he reminded me again on the risk of loose skins and it will not be a masterpiece. Finally, we were ready for the surgery.. But there were hiccups. Dr was unable to find my vein for to insert the cannula. He tried both left and right hands but still couldn’t find. He said that he would have to cancel the surgery if he still can’t find my vein. After a long time, finally, he managed to insert somewhere near to my left waist (normally, it should be on the hand). I was so scared that the surgery had to be cancelled. For my own good, he advised me to train more with weights to have bigger veins in case I need emergency surgeries in future.
Next, we proceeded to take videos of pre-op. As my faced was covered and maybe due to the injection, I was feeling giddy after standing for a few moments. Yusma and Dr brought me back to lie down. Dr was concerned and told me not to hold a strong front if I’m not feeling well. Thankfully, I was feeling fine after lying down for a couple of mins and we proceeded with the videos and surgery.
The pain was bearable thru-out the surgery. The most painful areas were the armpits and upper breasts, nearer to collar bone. But it was still bearable. Thru-out the surgery, Yusma was a great help to me as she held my hands at times. This was comforting. Btw, I was on LA thru-surgery (lower risk as compared to GA).
As my arms compression garment was not long enough, Yusma had to bandage the areas which was not covered. I did not experience vomiting or nausea which the other bloggers did. However, my hands were very swollen and my arms was unable to bend. This caused inconvenience and immobility to carry out daily routines such as brushing teeth, eating etc. Dr dropped by my room a couple of times in the evening to check on me, ensuring that I was fine. He was very caring and kept reminding me to drink up more due to lose of fluids.
The next morning, Yusma called me down for massage. It was painful to remove the compression garment. The massage helped to relieve some soreness and Yusma was gentle in her strokes. As my arm compression garments was not tight enough, my inner arms area was pretty swollen. Hence, Yusma applied a bandage cover the compression garment on this area too.
On the 2nd day, my arms were able to move much more. After the morning massage, we proceeded to take some videos of post-op and I managed to take a walk at Sun Plaza too. The first thing which I did at Sun Plaza is to wash my hair at a salon. I was not allowed to bath after surgery. Hence, it was important to shower before surgery and also to bring a lot of Dettol wet wipes to clean my body after surgery (Note: This tip was given by fellow bloggers. I have benefited a lot from their sharing and this made me wanna share my own experiences too). Yusma also gave me some guidance on how and where to get a cheap hair wash.
I stayed 3 nights in total (Good that I brought along my laptop to self entertain in my room). At the end of my stay, I have decided to tip Yusma handsomely as she has taken good care of me thru-out my stay. What are my thoughts on Dr Arthur? As what are bloggers have mentioned too, Dr Arthur is an extremely passionate doctor who takes pride in all his works, cares for patient and very frank. He is not like those consultants in slimming centres who just want to earn your money (He even asked me to reconsider my decision twice and took pains to explain to me on the risks and expected results.)
PHOTOS (Apologies for the bad quality as I took screenshots from the videos taken)
Pre-Op (videos Pre-Op Arms (Part 1), Pre-Op Arms (Part 2), Pre-Op Fat Grafting to Breast)
Pre-Op
During Surgery (Video: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3– Dr Arthur asked me to sing… haha)
Immediately after Surgery (Video)
Two-day after Op (Video)
If anyone of you is interested to find out more about liposuction with Dr Arthur in Medan, please take some time to read thru the blogs which the patients shared http://www.elixirdevie.sg/blog.html. Personally, I find them very useful as it has helped me to be prepared mentally and lots of tips on the preparation (e.g. bring dettol wipes and wash etc). There are also pictures of the clinic in those blogs so that you know what to expect of. Dr Arthur has a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/arthurtjandra?feature=watch. Do spend time to watch those videos to know more about the surgery. It is important to read up and research on liposuction. After all, liposuction is a surgery and all surgeries have risks (including death, eg CEO case in Singapore). Thankfully, Dr Arthur has reduced the risks a lot by using traditional syringe and using LA instead of GA. Fyi, many videos have been removed by Youtube recently, hence you may want to read up Dr Arthur’s blog which was setup recently https://elixirdevie.com/.
Wah.. It really takes time and effort to upload photos and videos… Really thank those bloggers and Dr Arthur for uploading photos and videos for sharing. I have decided to spend time to upload and share too as I have been thru a long way and wasted a lot of $ on slimming quest. Hope that others will not make the same mistakes as me…
Note: You will have to bring along a thumb drive or laptop if you wish to have a copy of your op videos or photos.