Fat grafts are taken from left lower quadrant for a reason

[wendysig]

Hi all,
I can't remember who first posed this question but I asked my doc and it turns out there is a reason fat grafts are taken from the left lower quadrant.  The reason is that if taken from the right they can be mistaken for an appendectomy scar.  In the event you are in an emergency situation and have acute abdominal pain someone might see the scar and dismiss the idea of appendicitis.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Wendy

[JulieW4]

Wendy,  My doc must not know about this because he cut on the right side next to my belly button.  I posted a picture of it in another thread.  Since the incision was not made in the lower part of my belly then I guess it will not be mistaken for appendectomy scar.  I will ask him about it when I see him next.  I still think these docs need to talk with a plastic surgeon and discuss how to get fat out without having to cut so much.

Julie

[Debbi]

Wendy-

Very interesting - thanks for asking your doc.  Julie, you are still the trendsetter of the group!  Hey, why don't they take fat from your behind?  (I cleaned that up!)  Hhmm, well, I guess maybe that wouldn't be that good either, would it?

Debbi, massaging my belly scar...

[JulieW4]

I have a friend from work that had surgery to remove a tumor next to his rib cage.  They did take fat from his buttocks to fill in where the tumor had been.  He said he had just a couple of stitches and they removed quite a bit of fat.  He also was surprised at my belly scar and thought it was excessive.

I am assuming the reason they don't take belly from our bottom is because it would be hard to move us since most of us have a head frame so it's easier to take from the belly since they don't have to move us.

I'm going to let my doc know that I seem to be a trendsetter with the scar so close to my belly button.

Julie

[leapyrtwins]

Hi all,
I can't remember who first posed this question but I asked my doc and it turns out there is a reason fat grafts are taken from the left lower quadrant.  The reason is that if taken from the right they can be mistaken for an appendectomy scar.  In the event you are in an emergency situation and have acute abdominal pain someone might see the scar and dismiss the idea of appendicitis.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Wendy

Wendy -

thanks for reiterating this.  This was the explanation my doctors gave me for the fat graft being on the left side.  I thought I'd posted this explanation before, but maybe I forgot 

Jan

[Debbi]

Hey, Julie-

I'm curious - did you have a head frame?  My docs don't use them, but I am under the impression that some do.  Personally, I'm glad mine didn't - one less thing to hurt afterwards!

Debbi

[wendysig]

Hi Jan -
Hope you had a great vacation in NYC and NJ. NYC gets a bum rap much of the time, but we NYers are pretty proud of our city and think it's a great place to live!   I also  meant to ask you about something.  When we were in Orlando we went to Giiordano's,  a Chicago style pizzaria we discovered a few years ago on a previous visiit.  We really loved the food and make it a "must stop" whenever we are   Have you been to the Giordano's in Chicago and if so, how is it?

Wendy

[JulieW4]

Yes, Debbie I did have a head frame.  I think it is very common to use in surgery.  My husband and best friend confirmed that my surgeon explained to me about the head frame the morning of my surgery but I do not have any memory of it.  I can feel the points on my head where the head frame must of been attached, but I never had any pain or discomfort after the surgery there.  I bet some docs may not explain the head frame before surgery but still use it.  Anyways, it's because of the use of the head frame that they probably can't move us to get the fat from our bottom.

Julie

[leapyrtwins]

Wendy -

Giordano's is in Chicago and the surrounds suburbs and it's quite good.  But for my money, I'd do to Gino's East downtown.  The building is a total dive with graffiti all over the inside walls, but the pizza is to die for    IMO anyone planning on attending the 2009 ANA Symposium should put Gino's East on their list of places to go.

The kids and I had pizza in NYC at a place called Angelo's Ovenbaked Pizza - I think it was on 5th or 7th Avenue - and we were sorely disappointed.  However, the kids tell me that the pizza on the boardwalk in Point Pleasant, NJ and at the cafeteria on the grounds of my brother's employer (Schering-Plough) ranked very high.  We also thought the food at The Hard Rock Cafe New York was great.

I found NYC to be a lot different from Chicago; parts of it I really liked, parts of it I didn't like so much.  I think a lot of it has to do with what you are used to.  Not to be nasty, but I never realized how clean Chicago is.  I was shocked by the bags of garbage piled on the sidewalks at night in NYC - something you'd only see in Chicago during a garbage strike.

All in all, though, I'm glad we got a chance to go to NYC.  We had a wonderful time. 

Jan

[wendysig]

Jan -
I never heard of Angelo's Ovenbaked Pizza and can't comment on it.  There are not many pizzerias here that have Chicago style pizza and I don't know if this is one of them.  The only decent Chicago style pizza I've found here is another tranplant from Chicago --Pizzeria Uno.  They are all over the place in New Jersey and Long Island, I'm not sure if I've ever seen one in the City though.  Original Ray's or Rays (also all over the City) has really good pizza, but it is  just regular (flat crust) pizza, plain or with toppings.  It's too bad you didn't go to one of these shops.  You wouldn't have been disappointed.  I know what you mean about the garbage bags in front of the buildings at night (we don't have that very  much in the outer boroughs.  It can be disgusting and I'm sure it's a turn off to tourists.  Glad you had a good time anyway.

Wendy