Tummy Tuck Update

Yeh, that tummy tuck that I wanted?

Well, looks like it might not happen.

At least, it's not gonna happen for my 60th birthday, that's for sure.

The surgeon called me the other day after he had spoken with the anaesthetist.

Seems that anaesthesiology has concerns about my asthma and the use of cortisone injections -- obviously.

At first, apparently the surgeon had thought that I had taken the injection in April to control my asthma (it had been taken to control my allergic response to the trees budding, as you might recall -- my asthma is well controlled by all the meds I take for it).  I clarified that matter for him so initially, he was prepared to go ahead with booking the surgery.

Until I updated him on the fact that I had just received a second steroid injection on June 18th in my hip joint.

And that I had remembered, since visiting him, that I had also had injections in each bursa a year earlier from my rheumatologist.

That means that in the past year, I've had four steroid injections.

And given my history of having experienced suppressed adrenals as a result of steriod treatments, we can't risk that my body has again been put in that state.

We decided that since tummy tuck surgery is not a life-saving necessity type of surgery, wherein I absolutely have no choice but to allow them to operate on me, I should opt not to let them put me at risk.

So, he will wait until I call him -- perhaps in six or eight months down the road when I have not had any further steroid treatments -- before we proceed with this plan.

I am a bit saddened that I can't have the tummy tuck -- it's something I've wanted for over thirty years.

But I'm not interested in having the surgery at the risk of my life, or his reputation.

I've had a few days to come to terms with the loss of my dream.

And it's not the end of the world, really. (Think about it, $7,000.00 can buy a lot of Body Wrap undergarments to help hide the offending parts.)

Now, if this latest steroid injection that I received in my hip joint continues to give me the wonderful relief that I'm enjoying (it's only been a week so far), the recommendation will be that I continue the injections on a regular basis to give me pain-free mobility.

Should that be the course of treatment that we end up taking, the tummy tuck will never again be an option for me.

And frankly, I'll choose mobility over tummy tuck any day.  I mean really, that's a no-brainer!