On the occasion of this article: “Testimonial Hortense”, this patient Hortense shares her experience of a liposuccion WAL under spinal anesthesia.
Hello, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Hortense, I am 22 years old and I am a student in law/ecology
If you have lipedema, when did you start thinking “there’s something wrong with my legs”?
Ever since I was a little girl, I had huge legs compared to the rest of my body, and the older I got the worse it got. I always had a huge discrepancy between my upper body where I had visible ribs, a rather “normal” morphology and my legs which were hypers disproportionate.
I went to angiologists and they told me it was hereditary and water retention. And one day I saw a report on 7 to 8, with my mother and she said “look” and I did a search on the internet and I came across Dr. Nicolas Zwillinger.
You were able to put a word to what had been ruining your life for a while, and you took the plunge and made an appointment with Dr Zwillinger.
Yes, I made an appointment in July for the 15th of October at the surgery and I had the operation 1 month later. I told myself that I had to do it. I don’t regret it at all.
I have just had an operation so the result is not representative of the final result but I don’t regret it at all! I am very happy!
You left the operating theatre a few hours ago, under spinal anaesthetic. Was this your choice?
The anaesthetist also told me that it was a good idea as I was young, that this anaesthesia would allow me to recover a little faster, that it would be cool. I took into account what I had been told, I was afraid of not being comfortable, that it was perhaps better to sleep during the whole operation, but in the end you don’t feel anything, you hardly hear anything. It’s not even unpleasant, it goes by very quickly. I really have no regrets.
Did you bring your music?
I brought my laptop and headphones, I didn’t even use them. I was fine!
How did you feel during the procedure?
I felt that something was happening, I couldn’t tell what, it wasn’t unpleasant. It was a strange sensation, hard to describe, as if someone was passing over my legs. And in terms of noise, I thought I was hearing horrible noises but I wasn’t.
Your operation lasted 1h30, then a passage in the recovery room for less than 1 hour and then a return to your room.
How do you feel a few hours after this operation?
Well, I’m fine. I have a bit of a stomach ache because I had to pee a lot. It took me 30 minutes to pee but I’m better now. The nurse explained to me that after the spinal anaesthesia it is sometimes a bit difficult to pee. But really it doesn’t hurt at all, it pulls a bit but it’s fine.
I can almost walk by myself already, so it’s going really well, yeah!
To conclude this interview
A discharge is planned for the end of the day, and a post-operative appointment with Dr Zwillinger in a month’s time, to see the first results.
Exactly, at the beginning I was very afraid of outpatient hospitalization and finally I said to myself that it was not so difficult as that.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Please feel free to consult the testimonies of other patients of Dr. Zwillinger in order to complete testimonial Hortense.
