Why did you choose Dr. O’Daniel?

I first heard about Dr. O’Daniels at a Christmas dinner party. I was sitting next to a friend and she happened to be the same age I was. We start talking, and I made a comment about how great she looked. She said, “I can thank Dr. Jerry O’Daniels for this.” I said, “Really?” We got into a conversation. Next thing I know I was calling him on the phone and saying, “I’d like an appointment. Basically just a good friend who looked fabulous is how I became acquainted with Dr. O’Daniels.

The reason behind Surgery

The reason I considered cosmetic surgery was pretty much because I reached the point in my life when I turned 63 I thought all of the things that I wanted to do in the future, well the future was now. It wasn’t going to happen if it didn’t happen now. I started working out, got back to the pre-baby weight, lost 25 pounds and felt great about that. Then, when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t feel like the reflection I saw was what I really felt like inside.

A lot of dark circles, kind of saggy jowls, things that just seemed to happen overnight. When I felt happy, my face didn’t look happy. I started thinking then that maybe I ought to do just a little tweaking, just to see if I can make myself look a little better. As women, we all wear makeup, a lot of makeup that tries to conceal and hide things. I thought, you know if I’m doing that to try to look better, why don’t I do something a little more permanent to look better?

what happened on the day of Surgery?

As with almost all surgeries, you need to be there at the crack of dawn. Being a night person, that was hard for me, but my mother came to town and actually drove me down. The whole procedure was very, very relaxing and that’s before I received the I-don’t-care medicine that relaxes you, but it was just very warm and nurturing. I had absolutely no concerns. I had many friends that say, “Aren’t you afraid to do this?” After talking with Dr. O’Daniels and after meeting everyone and he explains the procedures so thoroughly that I had no concerns whatsoever. You get there and they hook you up to a few things, write down a few notes, and next thing you know, you’re asleep and when you wake up, you are feeling lightheaded so you do need someone to drive you home. I could not have done that. You also have bandages everywhere so you can’t see as well, but it was much easier than I anticipated so the first day was really a piece of cake.

Post Operative Recovery

The day of surgery I slept the whole day, so I don’t really remember that. The following day I was still very groggy but I didn’t have a whole lot of pain. It was amazing how comfortable I actually felt. The only thing that bothered me was because I had some eye surgery I had patches over each eye so I couldn’t see for a day, so I had to listen to TV instead of watching it. The pain level was minimal at best. Dr. O’Daniel called and checked on me several times to see how I was doing. He asked how my ears were, which I thought was interesting because I had no idea I had stitches behind my ears, but they did great. They never bothered me at all. After about 3 days, when all the bandages came off, the drainage tubes came out, that kind of thing, I liked what I saw. I was still bruised, a little bit swollen, but I could see the end result, and I was very pleased.

The first week, one week after the surgery, I actually went out in public. I wore a hat and sunglasses, but I was able to go out and felt great. Two weeks after the initial surgery I was having lunch with girlfriends. There again, I wore sunglasses simply because of the procedure I had, I had a little bit of a black eye, but I felt great having lunch. I’d say at week 3 I felt perfectly normal. I think I reached the point of where I looked like I’m going to look at about 6 to 7 weeks, and at that point it’s been smooth sailing all the way through.

Final Thoughts on Dr

When I first decided to have a cosmetic procedure done, I did a lot of research. I, first of all, started out asking friends. Then, I started doing some internet researching. I dug in deep to find their credentials, to find out what their focus was, what their emphasis in their practice was, and after all of that research, Dr. O’Daniel stood head and shoulders above all the rest. One of the things that struck me, again, was his artistic influence. Being a sculptor is something that … He understands lines. He understands proportions. He understands subtle changes and what an impact those can make. I think that was the biggest influencer in my decision. Besides he was great talking with and just a wonderful human being, but his skill as an artist and as physician can’t be matched.

Are you happy with your results?

I wasn’t one of those kind of people that tried to hide their cosmetic surgery. I thought, hey, if I’m going to do this I’m telling everybody about it. My closest friends all knew that it was going to happen. All my old college roommates knew it was happening. I sent them daily photos, some of them kind of scary, but I sent them daily photos to show them the progress. All of them said the same thing that just made me feel so comfortable. They said you look fabulous, but you don’t look like you’ve had cosmetic surgery. That was the key and I think that’s one of the things Dr. Daniel excels at. You don’t want to look like one of the overdone Hollywood types with the big duck lips and cheeks out to there. He gives you what you had a few years earlier and just polishes it up a little bit. You look the same, you just look refreshed. None of my friends, especially those that were very, very honest with me, ever said hey, I can tell you’ve had surgery. They just said you look wonderful and that’s the best news I can hear.