Gina’s Blog: The Price of Looking Good!
July 27th, 2009
I am giving up a lot to have this surgery done. The modifications to my life style that will have to be made are many. Let’s start professionally. I teach and train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and during my recovery from surgery, I’ll have another instructor cover my classes for the first week. The following weeks 2- through 5, I will have another instructor helping me with the demonstration portions of class, while I instruct using verbal cues only. As far as my personal training business being affected, I will have to take a few days off. When I return to training my clients, I won’t be able to demonstrate most exercises, because I am not allowed to lift more than 5 lbs for three weeks following surgery. Again, most everything will have to be done through verbal cues alone.
Now let’s hit the personal modifications… and there’s a lot! I usually train 2-3 hrs a day, 6 days a week. I do a variety of things from Jiu-Jitsu, kettle bells, yoga, Pilates, lots of cardio (running & walking), and tons of body weight stuff. Clearly, all of this is going to have to be put on hold while I recover from surgery. Some of it will have to be put on hold a little longer than that.
Dr. Bashioum has cleared me for a slight increase in activity after the first week of surgery; I can start to raise my heart rate again (thank goodness!!) by fast walking and possibly some light jogging, if there’s no pain. Once I hit the 3 week mark, I can start to incorporate things back in to my workout routine… slowly and without pain, of course. This is by far, the hardest thing for me to give up. It’s my life, my profession and my passion.
Giving up all supplements prior to surgery has also been extremely difficult! It has affected my training and recovery time greatly. I realize how much I take my health and physical performance for granted at times. It has once again proven to me how important proper nutrition is for a body to function at its true potential.
The other lifestyle area that will be affected by my surgery is caring and playing with my dogs. We have two Boston Bulldog’s of our own and one foster dog. I will be unable to walk them, hold them, or have them play rough with me. I can have them sit in my lap, provided that I don’t pick them up.
In addition, I will be unable to some of my normal household duties without assistance from my husband and friends because of the 5-lb/3 week rule. I like to do things on my own and in my own way, so this will be challenging for me to have help. It will be interesting couple weeks for us. Although I’m complaining a lot, I will be very happy to have the symmetry of my breasts restored, when this is all over!
I do feel sorry for my husband, Brian, because he is going to have to deal with all of this during my recovery. And I know I won’t be too much fun to be around. I have one final consultation with Dr. Bashioum tomorrow, to answer any last questions that I might have. Please check back for video clips of both my consultation and my actual surgery later this week.
Office Notes: Botox
July 21st, 2009
Today I will be injecting Botox ®. Comments I hear frequently are, “My last Botox ® did not last as long as I would like. The Botox ® did not work as well as I had hoped.” Patients with these complaints usually had their last injections elsewhere. Often times, the injectionist is a non-physician and sometimes an individual with little or no medical training.
Botox ® is packaged in 100 unit bottles. This “unit” measurement is determined through a physiologic assay. The Botox ® package insert recommends 20 units for the frown lines. When the full 20 units is used in this one area, the results are consistent and should last for the full 3 to 6 months. It has become common practice in salons, med-spas and some physicians offices to inject less than 20 units of Botox ® into the frown lines. Injecting less saves money. Reducing the dosage leads to decreased effectiveness and decreased longevity. Patients return for “touch up” injections to get the result they desire.
My advice for the increased likelihood of a obtaining a professional and lasting result, is to consider having the full dosage recommended by the manufacturer (20 units for the frown lines) and consider having your Botox ® done by a physician.
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