Episode Transcript
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Darnah Mercieca (00:04):
Welcome to the
party, you guys.
I'm sipping on green tea rightnow and it is so good.
It's giving me life.
I just recently launched myfive step pre-surgery protocol
and I'm so stoked about thisbecause I've had so many women,
(00:25):
as you can imagine, over thelast three years asking me what
did you do to prepare, what didyou do to get ready for explant?
And being a health coach thisis a big part of why I created
Empowered Explant is becausethis journey is more than just
removing your breast implants.
This is a journey where you getto show up for yourself and you
(00:47):
can prepare your body for thischange and you can transform
your health.
Okay, and it takes more thanjust removing your breast
implants.
I think so many times we getthis like this false expectation
on this journey that all I gotto do is pop the implants out
(01:07):
and everything's going to befine Doesn't work like that.
Sometimes it does.
I'm not going to say it doesn'talways.
Sometimes some women areblessed with that, but more
often than not, there are otherthings that you need to do on
this journey to prepare forsurgery and to recover from
(01:28):
surgery that lead to healing.
A quick disclaimer, please knowI'm not a medical doctor, and
this podcast does not constitutemedical or mental health advice
.
I share from my personalexperience, research and
conversations with other people.
If you're experiencing symptoms, pain, post-surgery
(01:48):
complications or mental healthconcerns, please seek care from
your medical provider or surgeonand please make any medical
decisions in consultation with aqualified and experienced
healthcare professional.
Healthcare professional.
(02:08):
So I put together my five-steppre-surgery protocol.
It's in a beautiful 59-page PDFguide, super detailed, but
today I want to kind of give youa high-level mini workshop into
what these five steps are sothat you can feel confident and
organized.
(02:29):
The five step pre-surgeryprotocol is, like I mentioned, a
beautiful 59 page digital guidethat I created.
Here's a quick little sneakpeek of it.
I will post a sneak peek onInstagram for y'all and so you
(02:49):
can see.
You get this wonderful flipbook and you also can download
it as a PDF.
And includes common mistakes toavoid my five step protocol,
which we're about to go over.
Quick wins and easy start guide.
(03:10):
Frequently asked questionsPost-surgery self-care tips and
those self-care tips actuallyinclude I went too far.
Let me go back, sorry.
The planning section, just backhere, also includes a surgery
(03:34):
day checklist, as you can see.
So, um, it's really cool.
You can print out thatchecklist.
It gives you what to do a weekbefore and final tips and prep
and all of the good stuff.
So, yeah, you should be set upfor success with this and it's
like, really comprehensive.
(03:55):
It is not blank, it's justflipping too fast.
Okay, so there's a lot here, ascan see.
We talk about nutrition, we talkabout exercise, all of the good
things, emotional and mentalprep, um, and it's really
beautiful.
So very proud of that, andright now I'm going to do a
(04:19):
little mini workshop on it andgo through what this is.
So, yay, now, okay, fulltransparency.
I was, um, I was sitting herepreparing about 30 minutes
before I went live and I waslike, oh, let me put together
(04:40):
some slides real quick.
This is very ADD of me and itis just.
It's just who I am.
So I decided, 15 minutes beforeI came live, to put together
these slides.
They are nothing fancy, butit's going to help me kind of
stay on track and and know whatI'm talking about.
(05:03):
And know what I'm talking about, okay.
So welcome to my mini workshop.
The five-step pre-surgeryprotocol.
This is just a breakdown of it.
You can consider this like thewhat, the what this protocol
(05:27):
focuses on, and then, if youwant the how, if you want to
deep dive into this, then Irecommend checking out the guide
.
Okay, but let's dive in in thisguide.
(05:53):
In the actual 59 page pdf guide, you can expect to learn how to
find strength in mental andemotional preparation so you can
face surgery feeling groundedand steady.
The foods and habits that cansupercharge your body's natural
ability to heal, helping youfeel stronger and more resilient
before you even step into thesurgery room.
Exercises that don't exhaustyou but support your body, boost
(06:15):
circulation and set you up fora smoother, stronger recovery.
How to reduce toxins in yourlife and create a clean,
supportive environment thathelps your body bounce back.
And practical tips to plan outall the little details, because
there are a lot of them, makingsure that you're ready to take
(06:36):
on your surgery without thestress and all of the overwhelm.
Plus, you'll get a bonusprintable surgery day checklist.
Now that's in the 59 page guide.
Today, let's dive into what thesteps are.
Okay, so that you can at leastknow what these five steps are
(06:56):
that I recommend in mypre-surgery preparation protocol
.
Preparation protocol, step onemental and emotional prep.
Now, I just don't think thatthis is talked about enough in
this space, in this community.
The mental and emotional prepis so important.
(07:19):
So many times I talk to womenafter they've explanted and some
of them are a mess.
Some of them are great andthey're like, oh, this is
amazing.
Some of them are a mess and Ialways find that the women who
are really strugglingemotionally during their
(07:40):
recovery and their healingjourney often are the ones that
did not do any kind of emotionalwork prior.
They didn't address any oftheir past emotional wounds or
their whys or, you know, evenreally dive into why they got
(08:04):
implants to begin with.
And so healing past emotionalwounds is huge.
Reframing thoughts is reallybig.
I have a whole podcast episodeabout changing how we talk to
ourselves and just reallyreframing, rewiring our brain to
start treating ourselves withlove, talking to ourselves with
(08:28):
love and having more loving andcompassionate thoughts, and then
bring ease to stress and worry.
It's super easy to get into aspiral in this, especially with
so much unknown leading up tosurgery and even afterwards.
But you know, really bringingin some techniques to bring calm
(08:52):
and peace into your life,creating a mindfulness routine,
bringing in some meditation,deep breathing visualization,
meditation, deep breathing,visualization.
There's a lot of great toolsand techniques that can ease
anxiety, ease stress and worry,and that plays a huge part in
(09:13):
your physical recovery.
It plays a huge part in howyour body responds to surgery.
So please spend time on thisarea.
So please spend time on thisarea.
(09:35):
Step two is pre-op nutrition.
Okay, first up, I just want tosay that quite often we get told
that all we have to really dois change some of the things we
eat or take or whatever, twoweeks before surgery, and that's
(09:57):
usually like our medical advicefrom our surgeon, which is
accurate, because we have tofollow that to make sure that we
are safe during surgery.
But there is so much more youcan do to optimize your results,
to optimize your healing, somuch.
So these are four points that Icover in my protocol for
(10:23):
nutrition.
First up, anti-inflammatorydiet.
Get on it.
If you want my eat and don'teat list, go to.
What is that link?
Go to eat list.
Yeah, I think that's it.
(10:44):
Let me just test it.
Yeah, eatlistempoweredxplantcom.
Okay, that will take you to myanti-inflammatory eat and don't
eat list, so you can print thatout.
You can stick it on your fridge.
Um, that's a great freeresource for you, uh.
(11:08):
Number two supporting gut health.
Your gut health, uh, directlyimpacts literally everything.
It's so important and it helpsyour detox system as well.
So your gut is going to bepretty torn up from the surgery,
(11:29):
the anesthesia, the antibiotics, all of that.
So supporting your gut healthprior to surgery super recommend
that.
Let me just turn my do notdisturb back on, because it just
turned off.
Okay, enhancing immune functionOnce again, using nutrition to
(11:54):
really bolster your immunity.
Going on an anti-inflammatorydiet and supporting your gut
health is going to help withthat inflammatory diet and
supporting your gut health isgoing to help with that.
But really making sure that youare focused on immune health
because your immune system comesinto play big time during
surgery and surgery recovery.
(12:15):
And also you want to stayhealthy leading up to your
surgery, because any illness canalso affect your surgery.
It might even delay yoursurgery, so that's also
important.
And then increasing proteinhugely important for recovery.
(12:36):
I have a whole podcast episodeon that as well.
Recommend going to listen tothat.
But leading into surgery, youdo want to increase your protein
intake.
This guide talks about whatthat looks like in detail, but
also you can go to the podcastand listen to the podcast
episode.
I have a free guide also onprotein planning, specifically
(13:00):
so that you can go and make sureyou could do the calculations
and make sure you're gettingenough protein.
All right, next step threepre-op exercise.
So there's a lot ofconversation about exercise
after surgery and kind of therehabilitating back into normal.
(13:25):
You know, re-strengthening,regaining mobility, all of those
things.
But exercise before surgery canbe really impactful as well.
It's how you can get your bodyready for what's to come and
also it helps with yourcirculation.
It helps prepare your body forsurgery.
(13:48):
So better circulation, betterblood flow all of that actually
impacts how your muscles andrecover.
It just affects everything aswell as your strength.
(14:09):
There's so much that happensafter surgery and you are going
to need your core and your legsand your glutes to be strong.
That's why strengthening legsand core and glutes is really
important.
You're not going to have yourarms, you're not going to be
able to lean on things or pushyourself up or anything.
So really making sure thatthose foundational muscle groups
(14:32):
are ready to support you andthen getting good sleep and rest
is critical as well.
Pre-surgery, not just post.
So all of that is I elaborateon it a lot more and give you
some ideas for what types ofexercise you should be doing
(14:52):
prior to surgery.
Also being gentle and strategic, like I point out here.
Being gentle and strategic inyour exercise approach because
it's not just about likeslamming it before surgery and
getting as fit as you can,because a lot of the time I know
I speak for myself when I saythis, but my goodness, I felt
(15:14):
like crap.
I had symptoms, I had BII, Iwas not feeling well at all, and
so it took a lot out of me toshow up for exercise Um.
But being strategic with yourexercise, being gentle with your
exercise um, and doing theright exercise leading into your
(15:36):
surgery can be so helpful andit can really help you recover
faster afterwards.
So if you're concerned aboutthe length of your surgery
recovery, it would definitely beincorporating exercise into
(15:57):
your pre-op protocol protocol.
Okay, next up, step four toxincleanup Even beforehand.
So even though you've still gotthose implants inside you, you
(16:18):
can start cleaning things up andgetting your body ready to be
able to detox effectively.
Now, this is not starting adetox protocol necessarily.
This is not starting anaggressive detox.
(16:40):
So I don't want you to thinkthat.
I want you to think about thismore of like a detox prep.
But you are supporting yourbody in being able to detox
naturally on its own.
Your body is detoxing right now.
Even with implants inside, it'sjust really struggling.
(17:01):
All of the all of the detoxareas in your body are blocked
and overwhelmed and all of thosethings.
So this is just aboutsupporting your detox system so
that when those implants do comeout, your body's like oh my
gosh, I can actually startdetoxing effectively.
(17:23):
So steps one to three help withthis.
So the nutrition, the exercise,the mental and emotional health
side of things that all helpsyour detox system, which is
great news.
Then step four sorry.
Then you want to support yourdetox system.
(17:45):
So you've done those threethings.
Then you want to start focusingin on like okay, how do I
support my liver, how do Isupport my digestive system and
make sure that I'm peeing andpooping and all of those things
(18:08):
that are essentially your bodydetoxing.
So all of this comes into playand then you start to support
your detox functions.
You support your organs, yousupport your detox pathways and
then you reduce and removeenvironmental toxins, because
(18:31):
the last thing you want to do isadd more to the load that your
body's already carrying.
So chances are there are toxinsin the products you're using
household products, body careproducts, makeup you name it.
(18:52):
Toxins are everywhere in thefood you're eating, it's
everywhere.
So, taking steps to starteliminating toxins where you can
and this is a really big one soI give you more tips about
doing that in the guide.
(19:14):
But, yeah, I really recommendgiving some, making some swaps.
Now, you know, looking atgiving yourself like a bit of an
audit and then deciding whatyou can start swapping out, okay
.
(19:35):
Step five finalize yourpre-surgery plan.
Okay, so you've put so mucheffort into getting here right.
(19:55):
You are preparing your body.
You are taking care of all ofthe last steps that I've spoken
about.
You are taking care of all ofthe last steps that I've spoken
about.
This is a really important partof it, because overwhelm,
(20:20):
stress, those nasty late nightrabbit holes that we go down and
dive into and can't pullourselves out of, the nerves and
anxiety that consumes us as weare getting ready for our
surgery.
It's not healthy and some ofit's inevitable, because it's
just a part of this journey, butthere are ways that we can
prepare and plan in advance tocircumvent some of that
(20:45):
unnecessary drama and headachein our lives, and that is my
goal with Empowered Explant isto empower you with what you
need to make this as stress-freeas possible.
So get prepared in advance, beinformed and ask questions.
Okay, ask the questions youneed.
(21:06):
So many times women are afraidto ask questions to their
surgeons.
Um, they're asking questionsinto facebook groups that need
to be going to their surgeons.
So, yes, use the facebookgroups they're amazing and
supportive and ask questionslike in the groups as well, but
(21:28):
ask questions to your surgeon,get informed.
The resources page on theempowered explant facebook uh
website sorry, the empoweredexplant website is a great place
to start.
So that's empowered explantcomforward slash resources super
helpful.
I've kind of curated a reallynice bunch of information there
(21:51):
that you can go to and get awell-rounded grasp of what all
of this is.
Also the empowered explantpodcast over 60 episodes now of
just binge worthy material thatis empowering and informative
(22:12):
and educational and andaccepting and loving and kind.
So go and check that out.
Get testing if needed or wanted.
The PDF guide includes twopages of tests that you can get
if you need or if you want.
(22:36):
Make time for self-care.
Please make time for yourselfleading into your surgery.
Please make time for yourselfleading into your surgery.
Life can be so frantic and itfeels like we can.
We've got all this time in theworld, especially if your
surgery is a few months away orsix months away, but gosh, that
time goes so fast.
So making time for self-care Ithink just any time in our lives
(23:01):
can feel challenging, but isone of the most rewarding things
that we can do for ourselves.
Know what you need to do oncetwo weeks out from your surgery.
Be prepared for that in advance.
Have a list of that and thenhave a checklist for your
surgery day so that you're notgetting to your surgery day or
(23:24):
the day before and scramblinggoing I don't know what I'm
supposed to be doing.
It happens.
It happens more than I care toadmit or see.
So that is another thing thatI've included in this guide for
you.
So, yeah, you might have somethings you want to add, but it's
(23:47):
pretty comprehensive andthere's a great surgery day
checklist in there that you canprint out Um and some things to
keep in mind for that weekpre-op.
So I'm all about making this asstress-free as possible.
(24:10):
I'm a pretty organized personand I think that that's why,
going into my surgery, I feltpretty calm and ready, because I
was just like huh, kind of doneall the things and like all of
these lists and all of this thatI am giving you I also had for
(24:30):
myself.
I'm just I've just refined itand made it better and
everything for you.
Obviously mine was just on likepaper written down, but yeah
it's.
It's just so important to haveall of the planning taken care
of so that you can focus on you,you can focus on your emotions,
(24:53):
you can focus on nurturingyourself and healing and all of
those things, and it also easesanxiety.
Anxiety really comes from theunknown, and there's so much
unknown on this journey, so whyadd to it Like?
That's why I'm always likecontrol what you can surrender
(25:14):
the rest.
Control what you can surrenderthe rest.
It's like my favorite, probablymy favorite mantra on the
explant journey.
All right, so if you want thebeautiful 59 page digital guide,
visitpresurgeryempoweredexplantcom.
(25:38):
That'spresurgeryempoweredexplantcom.
Ps.
It's only $11.
That's it $11 for all of thatthat you just saw.
I am not, you know, I just wantto get this out and um, and I
figured you could buy me a fancylatte for it and then we're
(25:59):
good.