Jessica Hogge
Episode 12

Conquering Skin Death After Tummy Tuck

Jessica Hogge

This episode includes topics about

Episode Twelve of the Plastic Surgeon Podcast, Dr. Sajan chats with his patient, Jessica Hogge. Dr. Sajan performed Jessica’s tummy tuck. During her recovery, it became evident that Jessica experienced a rare complication known as necrosis, or skin death.

This episode details Jessica’s story of why she sought a tummy tuck from Dr. Sajan, finding out she had necrosis, and the how Dr. Sajan treated her. Despite going through a complication that would easily deter many patients, Jessica’s bright spirit persevered through Saturday treatments with Dr. Sajan, caring for the wounds at home, and healing from the inside out.

Necrosis is a not often talked about complication that can happen after any surgery. While rare, Jessica’s story highlights how complications don’t have to ruin amazing results.

Subscribe to the Plastic Surgeon Podcast for more plastic surgery stories from real patients and providers. Follow Dr. Sajan and the Plastic Surgeon Podcast on social media @realdrseattle.

Learn more about Dr. Sajan’s plastic surgery at https://www.allureesthetic.com

Transcription pending. Check back soon!

Transcription

Dr. Javad Sajan 00:00

Ever wonder what motivates people to get plastic surgery? Did they regret it? What can we learn from the stories of plastic surgery patients? We're here to explore these questions and get some answers today with my guest, Jessica, on the plastic surgeon podcast.

Dr. Javad Sajan 00:32

Hello, my friends. Welcome back and thanks to our listeners for the amazing feedback. We have had so much fun and so far, and look forward to more insights and suggestions. Please rate and review us on Apple podcast and help us get you more awesome content. On the plastic surgeon podcast, we listen to real plastic surgery, stories of triumph and pain from real patients and providers to further understand the motivations of why they would risk their life under the knife. I'm Dr. Javad Sajan and today is my amazing guest, Jessica who had a tummy tuck by me with a fantastic journey. We're here to talk to you about your journey, how we came to know each other, the procedure you underwent and how it affected you. How's it going, Jessica?

Jessica Hogge 01:12

Hello. Thanks for having me here. It's going great.

Dr. Javad Sajan 01:16

Thank you. And so today, what we're going to talk about, Jessica is we want to talk about, you learn about you, understand why you want a tummy tuck, how that journey went. I know what that surgery, we had a small hiccup or a little complication, and then how we handle that and how your life is now. So Jessica, tell us, what do you do for work?

Jessica Hogge 01:36

So for work, I do I.T Support for a medical billing software company. I have been in the healthcare industry for about 20 years and I was raised by a nurse. So I've always been some sort of involved in healthcare one way or another.

Dr. Javad Sajan 01:54

And where got you thinking about a tummy tuck.

Jessica Hogge 01:56

Well, last year my son left home. He's my youngest and I had an empty nest and I kind of thought now's my time. Now is my time for, to do life for me. Instead of thinking of, you know, you're always gonna think of your kids and want to protect them, but you unselfishly raise your children to think of them before yourself. And it was a process of knowing what do I want to do with my life now? And how do I feel about myself? I was a single woman. I was 44 years old. And it was between, do I want to Corvette? Do I want to convertible? Do I want to go on an exotic trip? How about something just for me, just for me. And I thought all my life, I've not really been secure with my body and not really insecure but, you know, there's things that you think, well, maybe you could just change a little bit and having children really puts into perspective of the wear of childbearing on your body. Well, for me. And anyway I decided I wanted to do a tummy tuck. I had extensive stretch marks and you know, the things that come with bearing children. And I thought I would like to feel better in that area, my whole life.

Dr. Javad Sajan 03:39

You always wanted to change something about yourself. You know, your midsection is something that you were focused on. And is that an area that other people highlight it to you? Or was that something that you thought of yourself?

Jessica Hogge 03:50

My whole life I had up and down weight issues? It was always a yo-yo so, you know, kids can be mean, and then you second guess your worth and how you look and stuff like that. And that was kind of always an area that I never felt really secure with.

Dr. Javad Sajan 04:07

Did you ever have any relationships that highlighted that to you?

Jessica Hogge 04:12

No. In fact, when I had decided that I did want to get the tummy tuck everybody's like, what?

Dr. Javad Sajan 04:17

Was your family supportive or were they trying to talk you out of it?

Jessica Hogge 04:21

They were actually shocked. Nobody thought that that was something that I would ever want to do or interested in any plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery at all. So for that to come up, they're like, "Oh, well, I kind of thought about, that would be cool to have too and good for you". So they were very supportive.

Dr. Javad Sajan 04:44

Had you had anything done before this?

Jessica Hogge 04:47

No.

Dr. Javad Sajan 04:48

How did you hear about me?

Jessica Hogge 04:50

So I did an internet search and I looked at several different plastic surgeons to see cosmetic surgeries. And I looked for examples and of body types that were like mine. Like, how would mine look if I had this done? So some of them weren't very good at sharing before and after’s. And I was impressed with the dialogue that you had on your website. I wanted to also know that if there was some sort of complication, because of course, I didn't think that was going to happen to me that if something does happen because working in healthcare, you just, there's no guarantees it happens that I would have good health care as well. And supportive provider that would help me through any dilemmas that might have happened.

Dr. Javad Sajan 05:51

And when you were thinking about doing the tummy tuck, what was your main goal about yourself? What were you really after?

Jessica Hogge 06:00

Just to have a more fit, slimmer, feel more self confident less stretch marks,

Dr. Javad Sajan 06:12

And then you decided to have the surgery or you consulted with me, how did the consult go?

Jessica Hogge 06:16

So when I went into the consult, I thought, you know, I don't want to go to the first surgeon that I have. A consult with thinking that that's going to be the, the idea of who I want to go with. And so I came in with an open mind and I was just very, very impressed with you. And I felt secure in having that surgery and knowing that, you know, if there was a complication that you would be supportive.

Dr. Javad Sajan 06:42

Well, how did you finally decide that you wanted to go forward with it?

Jessica Hogge 06:47

When I decided to make the consultation, I knew that that's what I wanted to do. When I had the interview with you and I just had a good feeling from your energy and your knowledge and how you were concerned about, you know, complications, you did bring up, you know, things that could happen and laid it all out. So I felt, you know, this is the way I want to go. This is who I want to be supporting me in this journey.

Dr. Javad Sajan 07:19

That makes sense. I know you say that you knew you wanted this. What research do you do to get there?

Jessica Hogge 07:26

Well, I have a friend who had the experience herself and, you know, it's kind of scary having that severe of a surgery done on your body. And she did say, you know, it is a hard one to recover, but you're not gonna regret it.

Dr. Javad Sajan 07:45

And your friend had another doctor. We're not going to name anybody. What made you want to come to me versus the doctor, your friend might've had?

Jessica Hogge 07:52

I was impressed with the before and afters on your website and what you had to share with, you know, the teaching part of it, I thought was fascinating too, that you also want your patients to learn with you the process and growing together from that,

Dr. Javad Sajan 08:11

Where did you get the teaching part of it?

Jessica Hogge 08:13

Just in between the words that you had said on the website, I felt like you want your patients to be educated and knowing what they're having done.

Dr. Javad Sajan 08:24

Makes sense. And then when you came in for the consult, I drew what skin we're going to remove, what our approximate plan was. And then did you book that same day or did you go home and think about it a little bit?

Jessica Hogge 08:36

No, I booked it that day.

Dr. Javad Sajan 08:37

Okay. That's awesome. Then there was time between then in surgery. Did you do things to prepare?

Jessica Hogge 08:44

No, I didn't know what if there, I mean, I walked more and watched what I ate and then COVID came, there was a lengthy amount of time from the time that I booked it until the surgery and COVID came probably right in the middle.

Dr. Javad Sajan 08:59

Yeah. Then we had to cancel and reschedule.

Jessica Hogge 09:02

Yeah. And so all of the effort of walking and watching what I ate, of course the holidays came in between there. So that was a little throat in that process, but after COVID and things getting canceled and not knowing, you know, what to expect in life anymore, I'm just like, I'm going to enjoy what I have going on in my house and food is one of them.

Dr. Javad Sajan 09:29

I think all of us did that. I don't know anybody who didn't, right? There was nothing to do. Gyms were closed, you know, very limited activities. Why not? So we delayed the case because of COVID then surgery day came and then I saw you for the markings. And we had a discussion that day about doing the tummy tuck and we marked it out. How were you feeling when you were there that day?

Jessica Hogge 09:52

Really nervous. Of course you have it in your mind that if there are complications that it won't be as major as you think it will be, that you're just overthinking things. And it's probably a good thing to overthink things because you just don't know what's going to happen. But I felt confident. I knew that it would, we would be able to work through any issues that whatever eyes had, no idea, what were we working?

Dr. Javad Sajan 10:22

Correct. And you're so right. Surgery is the technically for many people, right? It's not a hard thing to do. As far as getting the procedure done, the hardest part, I think of the whole process is the healing, right? Because that's something we don't have a hundred percent control over. And when I do the operation, Jessica, I have control over for a tummy tuck, how much skin I'm going to remove, how tight I make the muscles, how much fat we're going to remove with liposuction. And then the question comes, how is it all going to heal? And that's the hardest part. When you're a doctor doing what I do, there's science to it. You have to understand the blood supply to the abdomen. You have to understand how to fix the muscles, right? And then there's a lot of art to it. And that understanding how much skin you can remove to give the contours the patient wants.

Dr. Javad Sajan 11:11

And I would say the hardest part or what I do Jessica, is when I do these operations. So many of them, I have to walk a fine line. And that line is I have to do an operation. That's significant enough where you have a result and you can see a result while not giving somebody a problem, because you can make things very tight, very small, but it doesn't mean they're going to heal that way. So, and that's something we talked about. I said, you know, Jessica, we're going to do the surgery for you there. You know, there are some risks. One of the risks we talked about was necrosis or skin death. We talked about that could happen. And then you were comfortable, you know, you understood that was a risk, correct?

Jessica Hogge 11:49

Absolutely, yes.

Dr. Javad Sajan 11:50

And then I made my markings. I drew out for you exactly, my approximate plan for skin removal for liposuction. And then we went forward with surgery and I know we Snapchatted your surgery. Did you watch that operation?

Dr. Javad Sajan 12:03

No, I don't even know you Snapchatted it.

Dr. Javad Sajan 12:06

Really. We don't save them. Sorry. Anyway, so we did the surgery, it went very smooth. And then you are, How was that timing recovery? Do you remember how it felt?

Jessica Hogge 12:19

I am going to admit, I under estimated the amount of recovery that it would take. I thought, well, I'll bounce back. You know, I bounce back from childbirth. I don't think I've ever had really major other than appendectomy. And that took a couple of weeks to recover and I was pregnant at the time that I had that, but I and maybe, you know, age has something to do with it being 44, 45 at the time. That was there's a lot of energy in your body that takes in recovery.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:01

How was the first night?

Jessica Hogge 13:04

I don't remember much other than my mother's terrible driving and it was rainy coming back and she would slam on her brakes and be like, Whoa, girl, that's a little rough.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:15

Were you having a lot of pain?

Jessica Hogge 13:18

I wouldn't say it was a lot, but it wasn't comfortable.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:21

Were you able to walk around and use the bathroom? Okay?

Jessica Hogge 13:23

I did. Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:25

How was eating?

Jessica Hogge 13:27

I didn't have any problems of eating.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:28

Yeah. The first couple of days were okay.

Jessica Hogge 13:31

Yeah.

Dr. Javad Sajan 13:31

That's good. Then you came for your first post-op and tell me how that went?

Jessica Hogge 13:37

Well seeing, I had never taken off the binder since the surgery, when I went into the post-op and taking that off was that was quite an experience. Just is such a different feeling that you're used to your body having.

Dr. Javad Sajan 14:00

How did you feel?

Jessica Hogge 14:02

It felt like I needed to have something secure around me.

Dr. Javad Sajan 14:06

And then we took it off and you looked at your abdomen. How was that look to you?

Jessica Hogge 14:10

Well, I thought it looked, I thought it looked great. Other than you could see on the skin where it was dying.

Dr. Javad Sajan 14:18

Yes. And I remember that appointment, we looked at it and I shared with you, there was an area in the bottom of the middle of the incision where it didn't look like the skin wasn't getting great blood supply. And how did you feel when I told you that?

Jessica Hogge 14:34

I still felt positive that it would work out, you know, you don't know what to expect until it's right in front of you. So you knew that it was going to be a process. There's something else new going on here that you weren't quite used to, but I still felt confident that it was going to work out. I think I just put a lot of positivity into the healing process. And so that's what I worked with getting through it.

Dr. Javad Sajan 15:08

And I think that says a lot about you. Having got to know you over the past several months has been so amazing and such a pleasure, but I can tell you your outlook in life is amazing, right? When you look at things you don't look at, what's not there you look at what's there. When you see a problem, you don't focus on the problem. You focus on how are we going to make it better. And very few people have that in life. And I think that's why you're always wearing a smile. Almost every time I've seen you, every appointment, even read it. I have seen you more frequently. You always had an amazing outlook and that, and I think that's one of the most unique and special things about you.

Jessica Hogge 15:41

Well, I appreciate hearing that.

Dr. Javad Sajan 15:43

I see it. You know, when I have the pleasure of doing surgery on nice people and I only try to do surgery on nice people. If I feel someone's not a good fit now, you know, I try not to take them on as a patient because as you've seen more than 90% of the time, things go perfect. A certain percentage of the time you get a hiccup. And when you get a hiccup, then you and the doctrine that patient become besties, right? Whether you like it or not. Right. Like I tell everybody when you are my patient, you're my patient until you're healed, whatever that takes me to do. And we'll talk about, well, you know we what special precautions, but took for you in the process. And that's why when I select people, I'm very careful in who I have the privilege of doing surgery on it. Sometimes I say no, and people get very upset. However, this surgery is a two way process in my opinion, patient and doctor. And you have to be congruent because it's a relationship that's there for many people, a lifetime. Wouldn't you say so?

Jessica Hogge 16:37

Absolutely. Yeah. I don't think that I could have gotten through it without the positivity from you as well.

Dr. Javad Sajan 16:42

Thank you. So I saw your skin, your skin one area didn't look very healthy. I shared with you that I felt the blood wasn't blood supply wasn't very good. I knew you lived three hours away and it was, you know, and told you, we're going to watch it carefully, but we're not going to rush to do anything, but we're going to act when needed. And then you went home that day, correct?

Jessica Hogge 17:06

Well, yeah, I actually was recovering at my mother's in port Townsend. So the first two weeks I went to her house to recover.

Dr. Javad Sajan 17:18

How were those two weeks? How were things going everyday? What were you noticing?

Jessica Hogge 17:22

I felt like every day was a new experience. I felt better every day. By the third day I thought, "Oh, I'm going to get off the pain medication". That was a little bit of a jump. So it took maybe, probably another three days before I was fully off of it, but I was feeling so much better every single day.

Dr. Javad Sajan 17:47

And I know you were using a Walker in the beginning. I put all my patients in a Walker to minimize stress on the incision and to help them maneuver and walk. How was that?

Jessica Hogge 17:55

It was so helpful to have the Walker because you don't really want to stand up. Right? And having the extra support. It's very helpful.

Dr. Javad Sajan 18:05

And then you came back and saw me. We were, I was seeing you weekly initially, cause you were close on you, you live longer away. And that skin area that wasn't getting good blood slowly, it went from dusky, right. Which was like a blue to a black area. And I shared with you that you were getting one of the complications that we had chatted about, which is called skin death or necrosis. And how did that go over?

Jessica Hogge 18:31

Well, there's not any going back. So I just knew that we would move forward. However that process would be, and we would work through it.

Dr. Javad Sajan 18:40

Then you came for your appointment and I shared with you, I would have to cut out or remove the dead skin because when somebody gets necrosis, you wait till you see what areas isn't doing healthy, and then you have to deb, it's called debridement to removing that area. I removed that skin for you. And then we had our wound. Right. tell me how that process was of removing the skin. Did you have pain with that?

Jessica Hogge 19:04

No, there was no pain with it, but the visual was, that was a little.

Dr. Javad Sajan 19:10

How did you cope with that?

Jessica Hogge 19:12

Oh, well it was kind of a step back. You know, you have to take a new direction when you find a complication like that and going through all of that effort of having the surgery done, and then you have a little bump in the road that you need to get around. You have to take a step back to reassess which direction, how you're going to maneuver over that. So I felt like we did well with that process.

Dr. Javad Sajan 19:46

Yes. And, you breed it, you had for people that don't know when you remove some skin that didn't make it, you ended up with a hole in the abdomen, it doesn't go to your organs, but it goes basically deep underneath the skin and we had that area. And then we first started a little bit more conservative wound care where you were changing gauze a couple of times a day, right?

Jessica Hogge 20:10

Yeah. It's parts of my body. I never thought that I would see.

Dr. Javad Sajan 20:15

And how was doing that wound care yourself?

Jessica Hogge 20:18

My mother helped me at first. I'm lucky that my mother is experienced in healthcare. She's been a nurse for 50 years. And so she helped me in the beginning. When I first went back home for about two weeks and then after I started doing it on my own it, it got easier after the first day.

Dr. Javad Sajan 20:46

We did that for a while. And You lived a few hours away about three hours. Right?

Jessica Hogge 20:52

Yup.

Dr. Javad Sajan 20:52

And I know, I remember you were working and I didn't want, I knew this was impacting your life obviously not for the best it was a little roadblock over, we're going to get through it together. And so we, I made some accommodations the best I could. And I decided that we were going to see you every Saturday. Right? Me and my wife, she was going to help me. How was that?

Jessica Hogge 21:11

Okay. So the fact that you were thinking of me and my job and would sacrifice your own weekends to take care of my health, I can't tell you how impressed and thankful I was for you to do that for me. And I knew at that moment that the healing was going to go so much better, that I would have that support.

Dr. Javad Sajan 21:38

Of course, absolutely. Now I would do it no other way. When someone trusts me with, you know, literally putting their life in my hand, Jessica, I take it very seriously. I know I don't take it for granted. I don't see it as my right or I deserve anything. You know, I meet a lot of doctors, young doctors or people who've been doing this for a couple of years. They're like they come to me and they ask me for advice, even older docs, which I'm surprised are like, "Hey, why are you so busy? How come you're doing so much? What do you do that's different". And they, some of them very arrogant. Some not all. They're like I went to school for 20 years. I have all these board certifications, blah, blah, blah. I should deserve all the tummy tucks.

Dr. Javad Sajan 22:19

Why are you getting any tummy tucks? And I sit back and I look and they're complaining about money. That's all they talk about some of these people and I sit back and I asked myself, the problem with you is right now, your focus is on burning and churning. Your focus is on doing the surgery and not thinking about the people you're treating. A lot of people ask me, Jessica. "So Hey doc" the same people, other doctors like, "Oh, what's your secret for being busy? How do you do so much in any podcast hall all this YouTube series and all these things that you do and the patients are and why are they waiting so long to see you? And nobody wants to wait more than two weeks for me". And I tell them, it's very simple. All you have to do is treat that patient like your family or friend, literally not, not, and not, don't just say it, but believe it.

Dr. Javad Sajan 23:06

And that's why I was happy to give up my Saturday. So whatever I had to do, and I don't want to see it as a give up, you know, some people see it as a sacrifice. I don't see it that way. I see it as it's I had the privilege of operating on Jessica, who is an amazing kind sweet person who I really value. And I got to know you, and now we've got a little, little stumble, fumble, whatever you want to call it. And now we're going to get through it together. And I'm happy. She's letting me help her. And that's the mentality that I have just like you see things positively. I see it that way. We had a bump in the road now we're going to do it together. And for me it was never a sacrifice or never give up. It was always about, we're going to get through this and we're going to have, we're going to get to become friends.

Dr. Javad Sajan 23:44

And that's what it is. Right. And I'm happy you felt that way. Cause I was really important to me. So we went through it every Saturday. I saw you, we did the gauze dressing. We cleaned up the wound and then we did that pump thing, right?

Jessica Hogge 23:59

Oh yes.

Dr. Javad Sajan 23:59

Yes. So first we got the wound controlled and clean. Then we did, what's called a vac. A vac is a vacuum assisted therapy where somebody puts a special dressing that's connected to a pump. And what that pump does is it applies negative pressure. So that negative pressure pulls the wound in, pulls the nutrients in, and then it slowly heals much faster,

Jessica Hogge 24:24

Much faster. And I felt like after the pump was installed we were moving boulders. We were moving mountains with that pump.

Dr. Javad Sajan 24:33

Yes. The little pump, right? The little Pocket size, so we started with. So we got you the pump and then you were coming from, was it Yakima?

Dr. Javad Sajan 24:40

Moses lake

Dr. Javad Sajan 24:40

Sorry, Moses lake. Yes. You were coming from Moses Lake every week and we did the pump changes. Uand slowly it was healing more and more and more. How then eventually you felt comfortable doing the pump changes at home, right? How was that?

Jessica Hogge 24:57

Well, I had a good care team. I had some friends that helped me do that. And after we did, we did it in your office and we videoed it. And so we had, you know, a guideline to go by how, and we didn't have any issues at all. Any time that we had to install the pump on the abdomen.

Dr. Javad Sajan 25:22

Eventually we did the pumps and then things healed. At the end, I gave you some gauze that helps healing. Cause it was too small for the pump and then everything epithelialized, our skin grew over it and now things are going well now, how do you feel now?

Jessica Hogge 25:36

It's still a process I'm still extremely happy with, despite what we had to go through, I'm happy with the results. I feel great. There is still healing going on. Not with this, not with the outside of the skin, but I still feel internally that things are still healing inside. You can feel a little bit of difference within the areas where the skin, the flesh is a little bit different than the rest of the areas.

Dr. Javad Sajan 26:13

In that area heals slower. So now, you know, we're in the phase of it sort of becoming more like you and it's going to, I haven't seen it recently cause I know you live far away. And we're going to keep close tabs on you and check on you. Right. It's, I'm telling you. You're gonna probably tell me it's a little bit firmer, a little bit more numb. It's not a soft. And oftentimes when somebody ends up getting a little bit of necrosis, what happens is where that end comes in. The scar falls in like a divot, like a crater. And like I shared with you, certainly once things are settled and you're ready and you want it. I typically, what we'll do is I'll do a revision for you. And obviously there's no cost for that, where we take out the skin there and we pull the stomach down a little bit to help get rid of that crevice.

Dr. Javad Sajan 26:59

So things are more flattened. The incision is more congruent because when you, what happens is with healing. There's two types of healing like primary and secondary intention basically. And when you have a wound that doesn't heal, you heal by secondary intention. What that means is the body heals from the inside out basically. And when that happens, the biggest issue oftentimes that you deal with is a scar that's thicker, which can be easily treated, doing a scar revision. Does that make sense? So if you want that, obviously I'm happy to do it. That would be the final phase of getting things tie-dyed up and getting you as tight as possible while giving you a nice car that fits in the incision line that we made.

Jessica Hogge 27:38

I do have to say, despite the complication, there was a positive side of that as well as the wound healed up, it also lifted up the purest areas. So that's a nice refresher.

Dr. Javad Sajan 27:57

Yes. When you get that things do end up a little bit tighter, oftentimes you're correct. Tell me, how do you feel about yourself now?

Jessica Hogge 28:04

I have so much more confidence than I've ever had before I wear clothing a lot more tight around my midsection than I ever would. And every day I go to bed and every day that I wake up, I feel more confident with my body, much more confident than I've ever felt my whole life.

Dr. Javad Sajan 28:19

That's wonderful. How do clothes fit?

Jessica Hogge 28:23

I like to wear a lot more tighter clothing around the midsection now than I ever did before.

Dr. Javad Sajan 28:30

Did people notice around you, Jessica, that you had, surgery?

Jessica Hogge 28:33

They actually thought I had a breast augmentation.

Dr. Javad Sajan 28:37

I hear that because everything else looked a little bit bigger cause yeah.

Jessica Hogge 28:43

Yeah. And I'm impressed with that aspect as well.

Dr. Javad Sajan 28:47

From having more confidence, which is really one of our big objectives in doing this operation. I would share with you, some people may have said, you know, maybe the surgery shouldn't have been done. We know we should have waited till a later time. Maybe had you lose more weight, which we know we did talk about. Do you feel honestly that the timing was right for you or would you have preferred to wait?

Jessica Hogge 29:15

I feel the timing was right for me. Definitely. You know, even going through that little bump in the road and even if I had lost weight, there's still a possibility that something could happen. So either way I'm happy with the results. I feel valued as a person from my surgeon and I value the friendship that we have grown as well.

Dr. Javad Sajan 29:45

Thank you. Thank you so much aside from more conference, anything else feel different about the way you feel now or the way people notice you?

Jessica Hogge 29:57

No, actually not really. I mean, other than wearing different clothes and you know, they think maybe I had something done with my breast instead. I'm okay with that.

Dr. Javad Sajan 30:12

Have there been any changes in your personal relationships, like a significant other during this whole time period?

Jessica Hogge 30:18

None at all, there was my significant other was a little bit more apprehensive for intimate moments because he didn't want to disrupt any of the healing process, but I'm like I can give birth. I'm pretty sure we can work through that.

Dr. Javad Sajan 30:40

Jessica, thank you so much. It's been such a privilege that I got to know you. We spent a lot of Saturdays together and they were all fun. I'm happy. You're on your way to a very strong recovery. Your personality, your spirit is one of the brightest and amazing people I've met in my entire life. Patients often tell me that they learned something from me. I can tell you, I learn more from patients like you then is obvious. You know, I learned more about what drives people, what motivates people, how they are and how they see things. And it changes how I am. So it's been such a privilege. Thank you.

Jessica Hogge 31:16

I appreciate the time and care that you and your wife took taking care of me through this situation. And I admire your guys's teamwork.

Dr. Javad Sajan 31:26

Thank you. Thank you so much for being our guest today, Jessica, your story is one of true success, triumph and pain, and we got through it together. I have learned a lot. I know your ordeal will teach our listeners how and what to expect as they start their own cosmetic surgery journey. I appreciate your time and am honored to have you as a guest and a friend now.

Jessica Hogge 31:51

It's my pleasure.

Dr. Javad Sajan 31:53

Thanks for listening to the plastic surgeon podcast and please rate and review us on Apple podcast to hear more amazing content. Tune in next week for my amazing guest, who's going to talk about his journey through gender confirmation. For my live surgeries on Snapchat and my adventure throughout the week. Catch us on all social media at @realdoctorseattle. See you next time.


Episode 11

Episode 13