weho

I'm sure someone else can answer this better than me, but yes, you can stretch your sleeve. But as you mentioned the stretchiest part was cut out. The part that we are left with is more muscular and therefore less liable to stretch. The healing process takes about 6 weeks after surgery, so the further out from surgery the more you should be able to consume due to loss of swelling (although my doctor said the swelling can come and go so each day is different). It takes about 6 months for our sleeves to mature so until then we really won't be able to eat to full capacity.

Before insurance approved my surgery for high blood pressure, I thought my approval would come down to the sleep apnea diagnosis. I was confiding in a doctor that I work with about this and he "suggested" that I go into the sleep study sleep deprived. He basically told me to stay up the night before the study. I got notification of insurance approval before my sleep study so I just went into it normally (yes, I still had to do the stupid thing). I am sorry that you are going through this! I really wish more insurance plans would be more liberal concerning weight loss surgery. I am already off of my blood pressure pills (one week after surgery!) And I think of all of the stuff that I am heading off by living a healthier life style: heart attack (dad), stroke (mom), diabetes (sister), and so on. Don't give up. I was kind of in your boat...if insurance didn't approve me, there was no other option.

So glad that you made it to this side! The first couple of days are rough with the fluids and the general not feeling good, but each day for me was so much better. I am a month out and can drink pretty normally; small gulps instead of large though. And your dog is doing well I assume and probably very excited to see you

I had one too, and experienced some moderate discomfort for about 3 hours after surgery, then the pain subsided quickly and I just felt "uncomfortable". The "ball" emptied after about 48 hours and then I removed it. I was expecting some pain after that but I didn't have any.

I had a hiatal hernial also that was repaired at the time of surgery. Curious as to why even after repair it would not be a good option? I haven't had any issues since surgery; no gerd, reflux, nothing!

I was just prescribed Ursodiol to help prevent gallstones (I am almost 1 month out). Just wondering if there were any side effects and if they really worked. I am a sonographer so I am almost tempted to not take them until I see something in my gallbladder Did you have gallstones after sleeve surgery?

I started out having about 75 lbs to lose with "controlled" hypertension and I questioned the surgery also. I like you have not been overweight my whole life, especially not obese. I have only become obese in the last 5 years. But I am so glad I had the surgery! I tried and tried to get the weight off in numerous ways but it just was not working for me. I would starve myself, exercise like crazy and if I was lucky I would lose 1 or maybe 2 pounds and then just give up because it was not worth it. And I felt like I needed a tool to not only help me lose the weight but keep it off. I decided to do something about my condition before I abused my body beyond it's limits. I wanted to prevent the diabetes, heart disease (Dad), stroke (Mom), etc. It is normal to question your decision. People have come to me and ask if I would recommend the surgery to others or if I have regrets. I tell them I have NO regrets but I would personally only recommend this surgery to those who are desperate and ready to change. That's just my personal opinion. I find eating healthy much easier on this side of the surgery. Wishing you the best with your decision! Keep us updated.

Ha, pretty interesting. My husband has the p90x. I might have to give that a try once I am released to get my butt kicked by my surgeon. The oils sound pretty cool. I've heard the vitamin E is supposed to help with minimizing scarring and the coco butter is good for stretch marks. Thanks for the info!

You have a beautiful, long, young looking neck! It looks "strange" to you because you're not used to it, but I'm sure to others it looks great! My neck isn't thin enough to look that pretty (YET), but I have noticed that my rolls are getting smaller

My surgeon explained to me that our bodies are in an inflammatory state till about 6 weeks out. As our bodies heal, it cycles in retaining and letting go of fluid as needed. He assured me that at this early out if the scale goes up it's fluid. And even if the scale doesn't move downward, you are still probably losing weight because the fluid retention can be pretty deceiving.

Wow, you "won" a surgery!?! That is awesome! It is so cool that you and your husband are going through this together. Even though my husband didn't have the surgery I feel like it really pulled us together. Once I "survived" surgery he became really excited about my decision and has been cheering me on ever since. I think he understands now how desperate I was to lose weight. Obviously you have a great surgeon with Dr. Kim! Keep us updated.

Cool! Less time to stress over it. I scheduled mine about 3.5 months after insurance approval which was pretty silly. Good luck to you!

I am told not to eat anymore than 10 grams of sugar per serving at a time to help avoid "dumping". As far as wine, I have already indulged in a few ounces a few times and did not have any problems. Sorry, but the "you're never gonna have alcohol again" doesn't fly with me. But that being said, I am going to put weight loss over wine any day, considering I just had 85% of my stomach cut out Good luck to you!

I have an itch to go buy some jewelry. I've never been much of a jewelry person, but I think that is about to change....

I quit drinking coffee about a week before surgery and haven't had any since (1 month now). I have had no caffeine in a month! Not even after I went back to work. Yeah I was tired in the mornig, but no more than I was after drinking 2 cups pre-surgery. I used to have daily headaches; I have only had 1 since my surgery which I blamed on the anesthsia. I think my lack of headaches is due mostly from cutting out the caffeine. You will miss it a little at first, but when you get it out of your system the cravings will go away hopefully. They did for me!

NewBeginnings, sorry that you are having such a difficult time at this stage. I've heard that it will take up to 6 months for our sleeves to mature. Meaning that we might still have a hard time eating certain foods, and won't be able to eat to "full capacity" till around that time. We are still SO early out that we really can't know how all of this is going to end up food-wise. Don't let yourself get too frustrated! Have you spoken with your doctor about it? Are you really physically hungry or head hungry? I do feel hunger, and at this point have to eat every 2 to 3 hours to stay on top of it. As we get further out, we will be able to eat more and it will last longer so we won't feel like we have to eat all the time. This is what my doctor explained to me a couple of days ago. Hope this helps. Wishing you well!

I am 3 weeks post op and really like the "meh" feeling about food. I don't want my cravings to return! I love not really having an appetite. I've had one sad day since my surgery. I was walking through the grocery store and everything that appealed to me was something I couldn't have at this stage (bread, pasta). But I ate a little something and it went away. I love this!

Hello Suzanne, Thanks for the words of encouragement. I know what you mean about getting nervous about surgery. I almost chickened out several times before I finally did it. My co-worker just kept telling me it is so worth it and helped reinforce my decision. I really admire him and respect his opinion so he literally walked me out onto the edge I am just at the beginning of my journey but it is nice to have someone to "follow". That's why I love these boards. I hope that I can be a mentor to someone someday who needs this surgery to turn their life around. I love my decision! I am in healthcare and got so sick of being a hypocrite. Now as I drop the weight I can lift my head up high and really help encourage others!

Our bodies are in an inflammatory state right now, usually until about 6 weeks out. That means our bodies grab on to fluid and let go of it in cycles as the body heals and that's why we are seeing the scale move up and down. My doctor explained this to me at my 3 week post op check up yesterday. We will lose the weight! But our bodies are just trying to heal right now.

Although I am not over 60, one of my co-workers/ sleeve mentors is. He is 62. He pretty much talked me into the surgery. He had the surgery in October 2010 with a starting weight of approx 350. He has since lost over 100 lbs and is off most of his meds (bp, diabetes, arthritis, etc). He says that he feels great and has much more energy. He definitely gets around better at work and looks happier! Good luck to you. Sixty is the new 35!

So good to hear that you are doing and feeling better! You are doing great girl!

Sounds like you are doing good kellyw74! Don't give up on the chicken salad though. I bet if you try it again after waiting a bit it will be just fine. I haven't done the refried beans yet, but I do alright with the cottage cheese. I love Wendy's chili so I stopped by and got a small cup. That was 3 meals for me! Heck, I used to eat one of those, a baked potato and then sometimes added a hamburger to all of that. About the only thing that I've tried that didn't quite agree with me was eggface's ricotta bake. Oh well, I'll try it again later on. One of my favorite things is Kroger Carbmaster yogurt. One container has 60 cals/1 gram fat/ 4 carbs/ 3 sugars/ 8 protein. I'll have to try that Premier protein, I've heard about it. A very kind person from this forum just gave me 4 tubs of protein powder, and they all seem to taste pretty good. I'm not really picky on taste though so I will try to get through these before buying something else. I haven't mixed my protein powder with milk yet; I like the soy milk idea. I also drink ready made eas carbadvantage shakes. They are REALLY good. I feel like I'm cheating when I drink them. Those will come in handy when I go back to work next week. Oh well, enought babbling. I feel like I have hijacked this thread Sorry KeKerene.

Ilkrista and Wishes, I did week 1 day 1 yesterday and by the evening I could barely walk. The arch on my right foot was throbbing. I will try it again next week. I would love to come on here and see how ya'll are doing with this! Please keep us updated on how you are progressing! It's definitely a work out! I downloaded an app from Itunes that allows you to make your own playlists and cues break in as needed and tell you when to walk or run. I'm sure there are tons of apps for C25K.

Kelly74, as you said, I bet going to soft foods will do the trick. I didn't have to do mushies, went straight to soft foods, and the first day I ate, I was the least "hungry" that I had been in about a week. I really feel satisfied now that I can eat. Are you starting to get more calories in with Mushies? I remember reading that you were pretty low on your calorie count on liquids. Kekerene, I really don't get hungry either, although toward the end of my liquids I felt like I had a huge appetite and I was salivating over the thought of food. But NOTHING compared to my preop liquid diet. That was AWFUL. I was delirious with hunger I think there was a thread last week about this with some good responses if you want to do a search on hunger. I'm sorry you have had such a bad experience with the band. I did not have one so I can't really compare my experience to yours. Wishing you the best!

I didn't get mine till after surgery, so you getting yours ahead of surgery is great. I was told to do 10 reps approx every hour for two weeks. I did it for one week because I was back in the gym the second week. And I did suck (vs blow) on mine as well.