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The mother of three children frankly told Wday.ru about her sad experience of plastic surgery and warned readers.
We wrote about Ekaterina Bashlay in 2017. Then a young mother from Ufa managed to lose weight after the birth of two sons by a total of 50 kilograms. In the fall of the same year, she became a happy mother of three sons. When the youngest was one year old, Catherine decided to undergo abdominoplasty – a tummy tuck operation.
“It almost cost me my life,” Ekaterina told Wday.ru. – I just wanted to have a flat beautiful tummy, but after three caesarean sessions in a row, even me, a fitness trainer, did not help 20 lost pounds and training. The same hated “apron” hung in front.
But if I knew what I would have to go through, I would not agree to plastic surgery. During the time I was in intensive care and the doctors were trying to stabilize my condition, my husband was alone with three children and literally turned gray from worries. “
Catherine with sons Victor, Vladimir and Alexander
“I went for this not only because of the desire to have a flat, tucked stomach. Severe diastasis (divergence of the rectus abdominis muscles) after three pregnancies, hernia, displaced internal organs, so the operation was already according to indications. The stomach had to be constantly drawn in so that it would not fall out. The last straw was the day when my husband sent me shopping, and the consultant in the fitting room, seeing me show off at the mirror in a new dress, completely sincerely exclaimed: “Oh, who are you waiting for – a boy or a girl?”
“Well, I lost so much weight!” – I cried for several days. Then she calmed down and started looking for a doctor and a clinic where you can have an abdominoplasty. I studied inside and out, how the operation goes, what they will do with my body on the operating table. A tummy tuck is not the easiest intervention, so I weighed all the pros and cons. Choosing a clinic, I read reviews, compared the work of surgeons in social networks and eventually settled on the institution in which I once underwent treatment with my son. As I later realized, the hype and status of the clinic is not the only thing that you need to pay attention to when you go under the surgeon’s knife. We saw the doctor who operated on me only twice: the first time at a consultation, the second time in the operating room.
The heroine lost weight after the third birth
But the same “apron” hung in front
Contract, tests and allergies
Before plastic surgery, I was asked to pass tests, and the list was quite elementary: a general blood test, biochemistry and a few more. With the results I came to see a therapist, anesthesiologist and a surgeon – all gave permission for the operation. To celebrate, I didn’t read the contract that I signed with the clinic. Yes, and the administrator said that he is standard, everything is like everyone else’s, so sign it. This was my main mistake, because after the operation it became clear that I would never get the truth from the doctors.
Another fact that confused me, but also only after the operation, was that I was not allowed to fill out a questionnaire, which is usually given to each patient before any, even minor, procedures. It turns out that the doctors did not know if I had any diseases or injuries. And regarding the allergy, they wrote in the card: “Not detected”, although I said at the consultation that I have asthma, but why it manifests itself is not clear.
The operation was scheduled for October 29th. In the ward, I put on compression stockings, they painted my stomach with a marker, where they would cut and where to transfer the navel. In the operating room I was literally shaking with fear, although I understood that this was my deliberate and well-balanced step. The doctors reassured that everything would be fine. They assured that the operation would take no more than two hours. In fact, I spent at least four hours under anesthesia. I woke up in the same place. Doctors and nurses said that the operation was successful, but they were not immediately transferred to the ward, they said that they needed to lie down for several hours in intensive care under supervision. Even then, I felt unwell, my blood pressure began to decrease, and nausea set in …
The surgeon stood nearby and was whiter than the wall
Three hours later I was transferred to the ward, there was always a nurse nearby. At 11 pm I suddenly felt bad. My head was spinning, I felt sick and it got so hot that I had to open the window. The nurse measured the blood pressure – 50/30 and began to convulsively call: “Urgently the brigade, we need resuscitation!” With such a low pressure, people lose consciousness, fall into a coma, but I was able to get up on my own and lie on a gurney.
How did I feel? Unbearable and sharp pain. I saw the lights flickering on the ceiling, then I passed out
I came to at one in the morning. Nearby stood my surgeon whiter than the wall and five doctors who exchanged glances and whispered constantly. Through a word, but I heard and understood that they did not know what happened to me. The surgeon explained that hemoglobin dropped from 146 to 76, that is, almost twice! At the same time, he assured that there was no bleeding. The pressure was still critically low, dropper after dropper was poured. They did an ultrasound scan, an MRI scan, and they did not find any internal hemorrhages.
“Maybe the analyzes are unreliable or you drank what?”
I spent almost three days in intensive care. Hemoglobin did not rise, I was offered a blood transfusion, but I refused. When I felt better, she asked to be transferred to a regular ward. I didn’t want to be in intensive care also because the stay in it cost two to three times more expensive than the hospital. My husband and I asked for an invoice, but the clinic for some reason refused. Each round of the doctors’ rounds, I heard that something was wrong with me, but what exactly, they could not say. At first, they doubted the reliability of the tests that I took in the laboratory before the operation. As a mother of three small children, I constantly monitor my health, therefore, as proof, I provided them with the results of tests that were done three months before the surgery. Only then did the doctors make sure that everything was in order with my hemoglobin. He, like before the operation, was 146.
Then the doctors began to hint that since I am an athlete, maybe I used or injected some “special” drugs. “I have kids all the weather, what steroids can be!” – I could not resist. From such moral pressure that I was somehow not like that, I really wanted to go home, to the children. The conclusion after the consultation of doctors was that I allegedly have a genetic hereditary blood disease. Because of this, the consequences arose after the operation. The head physician suggested that the clinic should bear all the costs of resuscitation, examinations and treatment. I agreed. I had to sign a waiver, because due to poor test results, the doctors did not want to write out, and I could no longer be in the hospital walls.
After the operation, Catherine’s stomach became taut, but a large scar appeared.
Scar from one side to the other
On the day of discharge, I went to see a hematologist, a doctor who specializes in blood diseases. Do you know what he asked first, comparing the test results before and after the abdominoplasty? “Did you have heavy bleeding during the operation?” That is, a doctor not from this clinic did not doubt that I had blood loss. I understood why they didn’t want to discharge me yet. Yes, it was right on the part of the doctors not to let the patient go with poor health and tests. But it could also turn out that I could get to the hospital, where other doctors would also have questions about the operation.
I gave birth to all my sons by cesarean section. The mothers who have gone through the CS, I think, will agree that this operation is much more serious than any plastic surgery. But after each birth I had no complications, and I was always discharged from the hospital with stable analyzes and normal hemoglobin.
The most annoying thing is you know what? It seems that modern plastic surgery and its consequences on the body should be invisible. No matter how it is! After each cesarean, I had a thin and neat scar. Now the bottom of my abdomen is “decorated” with a terrible scar almost from one side to the other! Yes, it can be removed with a laser, but how much will it cost? And it is not a fact that the scar can be completely leveled. You won’t see this kind of work for any surgeon on social media. Because unsuccessful plastic is not exposed or a terrible scar is hidden under the linen.
After the operation, Ekaterina was very much helped by her husband Vadim
I did not share my story in order to scare or dissuade from plastic surgery. Just keep in mind that even in the most prestigious and expensive clinic and the coolest surgeon, something can go wrong.
1. During the consultation, ask a variety of questions, including “uncomfortable” questions.
2. Be sure to ask the surgeon to show as many postoperative photos as possible. patients on whom the stitches will be visible.
3. Do not ask, but demand a questionnaire, if suddenly for some reason they were not allowed to fill it out before the operation. In it, write all the characteristics of your body, diseases, allergies, injuries and operations that you have ever suffered.
4. I especially advise mothers with small children to decide who will help you the first time after the operation.
Let my experience after plastic surgery serve as an example that not everything can turn out the way you want. I cannot disclose the name of the clinic, since I have already signed the papers that I have no complaints. I do not blame the institution, because the clinic’s management went to meet me, but medical error and the human factor still take place.
This can happen in any other medical institution, too, because plastic surgery is now popular, they are provided in a huge number of clinics. I really hope that my story and self-tested advice will help some of the readers to stay healthy.
Doctor of the highest category of the international medical center “ON CLINIC”
Abdominoplasty is a rather traumatic operation.
The amount of blood lost depends on many factors: blood clotting, patient weight, duration of surgery, and other factors. It all depends on the amount of tissue removed and the length of the incisions. The larger the incisions, the more blood loss. In addition to blood, the body has lymphatic fluid, which is also lost in some quantities. For example, liposuction also involves blood loss, although only fat is removed during this operation.
In this story, I believe that two examinations and the delivery of prescribed tests are enough. This is how the preparation for most operations proceeds, and practice shows that this is enough, unless the patient has diseases and contraindications that can negatively affect the operation. Such cases require longer preparation and additional tests.
The woman who told her story is most likely healthy, since she gave birth. If she had any serious disorders, doctors would have told her about it during pregnancy. It is difficult to comment from a distance, but the cases in the operating room are different. When the surgeon “marks” the abdomen with a marker, he should warn that during the operation he can make incisions slightly larger or slightly smaller than intended. Because the final length of the incisions is determined during the operation. Scars from abdominoplasty are usually large, and sometimes even larger than in this case.
Therefore, it is necessary to ask the surgeon in advance how aesthetically pleasing the scar will look after the operation, ask him to show it clearly. Also, unforeseen events during and after the operation can occur when patients hide their illnesses, taking medications, or believe that this has nothing to do with this operation.
It is necessary to say everything, even if, for example, the pressure rarely “jumps”, this also needs to be said. And the doctor will decide what is important to consider when preparing for the operation. Patients who are going to be operated on should be warned about the possible risks during the operation and about possible complications after the operation, despite the fact that the doctor will do everything to prevent them. They must sign the papers, having previously read them very carefully. After all, some people sign and do not even look at what is written there. It is necessary to ask the surgeon all the questions of interest, and the surgeon must answer them.
Plastic surgeon of the Center for Cosmetology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Candidate of Medical Sciences
It is not very clear why there was such a strong decrease in hemoglobin.
But abdominoplasty from the entire arsenal of plastic surgery is one of the most traumatic. This type of intervention is always accompanied by a very large tissue detachment and, as a rule, also includes liposuction. Therefore, a very large wound surface is obtained inside. After the completion of the operation, the release of blood products still continues from this wound surface: plasma, lymph. Therefore, I fundamentally disagree with the heroine’s opinion that a cesarean section is a more serious operation compared to an abdominoplasty.
Judging by the description in the article, despite the consequences that happened, all the necessary assistance to the patient was provided professionally, competently and in a timely manner. If the heroine did the operation in a simpler clinic, it is not known whether there would be resuscitation, MRI and other necessary types of examinations.
As for the big scar that the heroine is talking about. If the patient has an “apron” before the operation, then this already suggests that the scar will be long. The length of the scar before surgery is determined as follows. The patient sits down, and the excess skin fold that forms at the bottom will approximately coincide in length with the length of the scar after surgery. Abdominoplasty is actually a tummy tuck, that is, the tissues are sutured with a certain tension, so the scar is not always thin. As a rule, six months after the operation, patients need to undergo scar correction.
Is it possible to give birth after an abdominoplasty? Yes, you can give birth. This operation does not affect the internal organs and takes place on soft tissues. Although sometimes, if necessary, diastasis is also sutured – the divergence of the rectus abdominis muscles.
I suppose that the surgeon at the consultation instilled in the heroine a frivolous attitude towards this operation. Again, abdominoplasty is a very serious intervention. In the field of plastic surgery, it is during abdominoplasty that the bulk of deaths occur. In surgery, there is always a risk that something might go wrong due to unforeseen circumstances. It is clear that such complications are not part of the patient’s plans. But from this, unfortunately, no one is immune.