mountain_lover

Thank You for your prayers.

Hello Stacie, How are you doing since you last posted??????? I sure hope that you are feeling better. It has been a week since you posted, please let us know if there has been any improvement. So many people have you in their thoughts and prayers. We are here for you if you need us. I hope you recover quickly and go forward with your journey with better days ahead!!!

I have had lots of head hunger, but little stomach hunger. Taking away alot of the Ghrellin by removing most of the stomach really helps ( the hunger hormone). I find out real quick what my stomach can tolerate. Foods that are too sweet or greasy might smell, look and taste good, but sometimes my stomach cannot tolerate them. Also if I eat too much of a good thing, I get a very uncomfortable discomfort and feel like I am going to vomit, so now I try real hard to not eat too much, I eat a little bit and stop for about 15-20 minutes and then finish the rest if possible. I can only eat half of a diet taco at Taco Bell, then wait and eat the rest when I can. I don't get much stomach hunger, so I try to get in 3 meals a day and eat 2 snacks. I try to eat mostly protein now, with a small serving of vegatables such as cucumbers, tomatoes or green peppers on the side. Right after surgery, I kept thinking about the food I wished that I could eat, but couldn't because I had to be on liquids for 2 days and pureed food for 2 weeks. My mind seemed to be on that constantly, but as soon as I started on soft foods, I stopped thinking about it so much. Once I was able to try more foods, like I said before, I started finding out what I could tolerate and what I could not tolerate. It gets easier, because once you experience the same feeling each time you try to eat the same thing, if all you can associate with that item is discomfort, then it becomes easier to pick other things. Candy is a real good example, because it is just too sweet for me to eat more than 1 or two bites and sometimes even that makes me feel nauseous. Before surgery, I enjoyed eating cake, donuts, candy and many other sweets, but now I know that if I eat them I am going to feel very nauseous afterward and it is way too many calories and too much fat, with no protein. I am really happy that I had the sleeve, it is a great tool to help me not to overeat like I did before. I know that some moments can be very frustrating, but it is all worth them, I am looking forward to this new journey of losing weight and trying to keep it off with the sleeve. Looking back over the past few weeks since surgery on Dec.2, I can honestly say that it was difficult in the beginning and it does get easier and easier, like other sleevers commented. I wish everyone the best!!

Hello Tiffykins, You are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope all goes well for you and you have a speedy recovery.

Hello, and welcome, I had to go on a two week pre-op diet. I had to have 4-5 Protein milkshakes, one Protein Bar and 32-64 oz. of Water each day. You can buy the whey protein milkshake from different places. I bought mine from GNC but they are expensive there, I got mine on sale for half price. Wal-mart has some for $14.98 for one tub. It has serving size and amount of protein for each serving. If the protein is 52-60 grams, then you can use only half of the serving size per milkshake. I liked the Atkins Protein Bars that were the Peanut Butter ones the best. They are high in protein, low glycemic, low carbs. I used those plastic mugs with water inside them and put them in the freezer prior to making my milkshakes. When I would make my milkshakes, I poured them into the mugs, I made 2 servings at a time and it would fill up at least 2-3 of the mugs. I set the ones I was not using in the freezer until I could use them. It was like eating ice cream. The only thing is that you should eat them frozen and not let them thaw too much. I also used 1% milk in my shakes , pineapple and strawberrys in the strawberry flavored shakes were real good. The chocolate flavored ones tasted good with pecans or walnuts blended up in them. I hope this helps. If they are not sweet enough, you can use splenda in them, I used 2 paks in 2 servings. After surgery I drank shakes until I was able to go on soft foods at 2 weeks out and then I couldn't handle them any more. Different doctors put different people on different preop diets. It depends on the person and how much weight they might need to lose pre-op. It is important to shrink the liver. The liver is in front of the stomach and sometimes it is very fatty and this helps the doctors to see the stomach during surgery. I wish you all the best.

Wow you are a great inspiration, I will be glad to see some before and after pictures of you. I am glad that you are doing OK after your surgery. I had my gallbladder removed in 1972. I hated those attacks, pregnancy brought them on the last three month and the three months after pregnancy. I thought they were going to kill me, the vomiting and dry heaving were horrible. I am in size 16M jeans now, I will be so glad to reach my goal, it is so glad to hear your story to give me more hope. Keep coming back to let us know how you are maintaining your weight!!

Congratulations charitymarroquin, WOW you made it to the hundreds. I am getting closer, I am at 204 and I am fitting into size 16. I am also having a hard time getting in enough water and protein. I have been going to swim exercise classes 2-3 times each week. My weight is coming off slower than the first month but I am still excited about this surgery. People are finally noticing that the weight is truly coming off. I feel much better. It is so nice to hear how you are doing and I will be glad to see some new pictures of you. I have some new pictures of me the day before surgery and New Year's Eve, but I need to find out how to get them on here. I wish you all the best, and I know you can do it. Just keep up the positive attitude and you will reach your goal!!

Hello pumpkino7, I really enjoyed reading this thread, thank you for starting the comments. I am almost 2 months out at this time and I have no regrets about having the sleeve. My thoughts at first was that I was only going to have the Band and nothing else, no major surgery again for me. I had just had a Total Knee Replacement less than a year before deciding to have bariatric surgery. Well, after going to the seminar and reading this forum and Obesity Help forum, and reading as much as I could on different procedures I decided on the sleeve which my doctor suggested would be good for me. I started my Weigh-ins in Feb 09 and had my sleeve done on Dec.2, 09. I weighed 266.8 in July and 232 the day before surgery. Now I am at 204 I am looking forward to reaching my goal weight of 145. I am losing weight much slower than some are, but I have been eating more than a few bites and I have been eating some things that I know are not diet foods. But I am trying harder now to get in more Protein and eat healthier foods. I want this to be successful and it is a great tool, because now I am not hungry like before and I cannot overeat because if I do I really get to feeling alot of discomfort and feel like I am going to vomit. Foods that are too greasy or too sweet really make me feel uncomfortable. I am learning what my new stomach can tolerate. I am having a hard time getting Water down at times, but I can drink 1% milk. NO REGRETS-------Maybe one small one when I was allowed soft foods I ate too much of the scrambled eggs at the hospital at Christmas and I vomited them all back up, but it was a good lesson early on not to put too much in the stomach at once. I am thankful for the opportunity to have had the sleeve done and I hope for the best for anyone that decides to have this procedure.

Hello Stacie, I noticed that you have not posted since Jan 25, I sure hope you are doing better. Please let us know how you are doing. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I hope as you heal from the surgery and start seeing the pounds coming off, you might get some of the hope and joy that you had before having the surgery. I had one incident happen at Christmas that put me in the hospital. I had chest pain and was worried that it might have been a blood clot in my lung. I found out that it was not a blood clot, but I did have a Hematoma about the size of an orange on my spleen. It might have been caused from the surgery, because it is easy for the spleen to be bruised during surgery. I was told that the spleen and liver are both in front of the stomach, that is why it is so important to lose some weight before surgery, especially on the pre-op diet to help shrink the liver for easier access to the stomach. I was told that the Hematoma will hopefully be absorbed by my body. The two worse things that could have happened, would have been for it to have ruptured or to have become infected. I have not had any problems since Christmas, so I am hoping that it is healing ok. I go back to my doctor in March, and at that time I will find out if they will have to do another CT SCAN to see if it has healed. I know that we are told all of the risks before surgery and we all hope that all goes well, but sometimes things do happen and it is difficult for the people that do have. I am trying to stay positive and praying for strength to follow through this journey that I started one year ago. I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

Here is a part of one of my postings on this forum in the insurance threads: the Duodenal Switch was being performed on patients, but if the patient had a very high BMI and health problems which made it more risky to have the Duodenal Switch, then doctors would perform the Sleeve (Which is the First part of the duodenal surgery and only restrictive), hoping that the patient would lose weight down to a SAFER, LOWER BMI, then the other part of the Duodenal surgery which is Malabsorptive could be performed without all the risks that were present before the Sleeve, so that the patient could lose more weight to reach their goal. ------------>>>>> What many doctors were discovering was that many patients continued to lose the weight and was reaching their goals with only the Sleeve, and the second part of the surgery did not need to be performed. So then many doctors started performing The SLEEVE as a STAND-ALONE RESTRICTIVE PROCEDURE. Now the sleeve is becoming a more sought after surgery by doctors and patients, because it is a less expensive, less evasive, and less risky surgery. Also the doctors know that there are less complications and healing time is faster with the Sleeve vs. the other procedures.--------------->>>>>>>> Medicaid and Medicare are now approving some Sleeve procedures. I hope this helps to explain the sleeve and how it came to be. Some insurance companies and doctors still consider it to be an experimental surgery. The procedure has been performed on many patients as the first part of the Dueodenal Switch for quite some time. Now it is a procedure that some doctors and some insurance companies are willing to have patients to consider having done instead of having the more evasive surgery. Maybe as time goes by and more understanding of this procedure takes place, then more insurance companies will cover it and more doctors will perform this procedure. Then we will possibly see more advertizing of this procedure. I live in Somerset Ky and my surgeon is Dr. Husted. He has a commercial on TV during the show "THE BIGGEST LOSER". He lets people know that he does different procedures. Some doctors only perform the Band and some do other ones. Dr. Husted created a new procedure called "THE VERGITO". It is a combination of 3 different procedures, using some of each to do one New Procedure The Vergito from what I understand it to be. Before I had the sleeve on Dec. 2, Medicaid here in Ky did not cover the sleeve until in November. Also the sleeve was done with 5 incisions laprascopically up until right before I had mine done, then Dr. Husted started doing the sleeve with only one 2 inch incision right above the belly button. I was his 2nd patient which he performed the one incision. The only pain I had was from gas pain after surgery, No pain at the one incision site. They are constantly learning more and more about bariatric surgery and different procedures. I hope I have helped you to understand a little more about the sleeve. I wish you all the best and a happy journey.

At 1 month after my surgery I was allowed to go to regular diet foods, but I still had to be selective and had to chew, chew and chew my foods, because I did not want to do anything to my stomach staples. I am almost at 2 months now and I eat nuts, meat and other things that require lots of chewing. If I eat too fast, I find that my food does not digest very well. While I was on soft foods from week 2-4, I did eat some things that were not as soft as they should have been, but I chewed them up very good and ate them very slowly. I hope all went well with the dim-sum.

I had my surgery on Dec.2 and went home on Dec. 5. I had pain and nausea for about 1 week. The doctor said the pain was from the gas from the anethesia. I did not have any pain from the 2 inch incision. I only took pain medicine for the gas pain for 1 week. I buy Wal-Mart Equate Brand Acid Reducer-----Ranitidine 150 mg. They are only $4.00 for 65 tablets. I take 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. This seems to help my nausea and any heartburn sensations that I have. I have not been taking my pills for nausea and vomiting that were prescribed by the Doctor. They were generic for Reglan and I see all the commercials on tv about the side effect- tardive dysplasia, so I don't want to take the risk. I manage to do ok with the acid reducer. Also I always do better if I don't eat foods that are very greasy or too sweet. They make me feel more discomfort. If medication for the pain does not help, then I would suggest talking to your doctor very soon about the pain. It should subside soon and then you will be on your way to feeling better. I was so happy when those gas pains left, it does tend to frighten us with the thought that it would be terrible if it continued for a long, long time. I wish you all the best, and please let us know how you are doing. I sure hope you get to feeling better soon.

I had a stall 3 weeks out and then I started losing again. Now this past week I gained 1 pound and then I had another stall. I am hoping that I will get back down below what weighed on Jan. 22. Maybe in 1-2 days I will be there. My weight was 204.2 on Jan. 22. I am trying to get more protein in and I need to pay more attention to how many calories I am getting in each day. I have not been counting calories in the 7 weeks since surgery. I had surgery on Dec.22 and I have lost 28 pounds since surgery. ( I lost 34 pounds from July 1 until Dec. 1 before surgery.) I just try to stay positive and keep coming on here for advice and support from other sleevers. I wish everyone all the best on your journeys!!

I wish you all the best. Welcome to the sleeve forum. I have really had alot of help, prayers and support from the people on this forum. You are not alone and you are in the right place to find all the answers to any questions you might have. Stay positive and keep looking forward to the new you.

Hello Sarah, I am very happy to know that you came on here to talk to us, this forum has been a great help to me and I hope that you will get the help that you need at this time. I had the sleeve done on Dec. 2. and you took me back to a time when I felt so much as you do. The closer that I got to my surgery date, the more nervous, anxious, excited, fearful of a painful surgery and worried about so many things. I was real glad when I read others comments on here to know that I was not alone with similar feelings. It helped me to stay positive until the surgery date, no matter what I was thinking or feeling at that moment. I started my weigh-ins in Feb. last year and I weighed in at 257, the highest that I had ever weighed in years. I already had a total knee replacement the year before my first weigh-in. I had been walking with a cane and having to be helped up from chairs. I had gotten rid of all my size 24 jeans and at 257 pounds all my size 22 jeans were getting so tight again and I was feeling so miserable. I started losing weight, but after a few weigh-ins I started to gain weight, and by July my weight was up to 266. I am so thankful to God and all the people on this forum, because I read on here about how others sometimes experienced the same thing. One explaination is that some go through thinking about being deprived of food after surgery, so some eat more and more. Anyway that is how I understood their explaination. Food depravation, just the thought of it can really be very emotional. I am happy to say that I do not feel deprived of food now after surgery. I do not feel hungry like I did before surgery. I am thankful that the surgery helps with getting rid of some of the hunger hormone which is called Ghrellin. Also I get full very quick so I have to stop eating, because eating too much makes me feel very uncomfortable and I almost vomit if I don't stop when I should. I also started dreading going through the surgery very close to my surgery date, because I was dreading the anticipation of all the pain that I thought I would experience after surgery. I got on the forum and read more and more about some of the sleevers having good recoveries, returning to work early, wanting to get back to exercising, others not experiencing much pain after surgery and many other positive comments. After surgery the only pain I experienced was gas pains and some nausea. I was able to go back to swim exercise classes 2-3 weeks afterwards. I had to wait until the incision healed up completely. I know the inside takes longer to heal, but I did not experience any pain. I hope that you find the help that you need on this forum to get you through this feeling down time. I have no regrets having this surgery done. From July until Dec.1 before surgery I lost 34 pounds. After surgery since Dec.2 I have lost 28 pounds. I can now cross my legs, get into 16 M jeans, get up and down without someone helping me up, get comments from others about how good I am looking since losing weight, and I am not feeling so down on myself all the time like before surgery. Hang in there and stay positive and before you know it your day will be here and then you will be on your way to a new you. I wish you all the best!!

Ranitidene is an acid reducer and Wal-Mart Equate Brand is really cheap. My doctor told me to take 2 pills the night before surgery and 1 pill the morning before surgery. And I also have been taking them since surgery. I was also prescribe a generic form of Reglan, but I did not want to take them because of the possible side effects of Tardive Dysplasia. It was for nausea and vomiting. I decided to only take the acid reducer so that it might help with heartburn or the nausea feeling.

Many good comments have been made on this thread. So true, the new stomach lets you know right away what is good or bad for your situation. My head tells me one thing and my stomach can tell me a totally different thing. I learned real quick that anything too sweet or too greasy is very hard for my new stomach to tolerate. Also if I overeat I have to stop eating right away or it really feels uncomfortable and I feel like I am going to vomit. I try to get in 3 meals and I have some snacks. I try to eat healthier snacks such as Nuts, Sun Chips, frozen lowfat Yogurt ect... If I have too much to eat at a meal, I save part of it and wait until the feeling of being too full goes away then I eat the rest when I feel better. I can only eat about 1 1/2 oz. then I start feeling uncomfortable, stop eating and in about 15-30 minutes I can finish another 1 1/2 oz. or so for a total of about 3 oz. for one meal. For an example, the diet menu Fresco Ranchero chicken soft taco at Taco Bell is one of my favorite and I can only eat half of it and then I can eat the rest of it in 15-30 minutes. That is a big change from my usual 3-5 tacos before the surgery. The surgery sure took away my stomach hunger. I eat now because I know that I need to eat or I am trying to get more protein. Before surgery I felt hungry most of each day. I wanted to eat and wanted to really eat alot of what tasted real good. But now that I have had the sleeve everything is so different. I do still have my moments, but they are less than before and I am learning more and more everyday. I wish you all the best. It all does get easier as time goes by, especially when you can eat regular foods instead of the milkshakes and liquids.

I started out wanting to have the band and nothing else. I didn't want to have any drastic surgery, but the more I learned about all the procedures the more I leaned towards the sleeve. I had the sleeve done on Dec. 2 and I have no regrets. I lost 34 pounds before the surgery and I have lost 28 pounds after surgery. The only pain I had after surgery from the gas pains and nausea. I only had one 2 inch incision above my belly button. I was Dr. Husted's second patient that had only one incision instead of the normal 5 incisions for the laprascopic procedure. He did not perform any leak tests. He has a very good reputation for sucessful surgeries. I am very happy that the sleeve helps by cutting down on the hunger by getting rid of the part of the stomach which produces alot of ghrellin. I eat now because I know I need to eat something or because I am trying to get in enough Protein. Sometimes I do get the head hunger, but I usually find out that my new stomach cannot handle the item as well as my head told me it would. I have a hard time eating real sweet or real greasy fatty foods, which is a very big difference than before surgery. Also overeating at one meal is out of the question. I do not like the feeling of getting ready to vomit, so now I really try hard not to overeat and I wait a little while before finishing my meal. I try to eat three meals and I try to eat healtier Snacks such as nuts, Sun chips, frozen yogurt, ect. I sure hope your insurance covers the sleeve procedure. When I first started my journey, the sleeve was not covered by Medicaid here in Kentucky, but the month before my surgery it became a covered procedure. The sleeve is the first part of the Dueodenal Switch. Many insurance companies do cover the Dueodenal Switch but not the Sleeve. There are many good comments about insurance coverage in other threads on this forum. I wish you all the best, and it sounds like you have been doing alot of research on the procedures and I do believe that you are making good decisions based on your knowledge. Please keep us posted with your story and your progress. Thank you for posting!!

On Friday 1/22/10 my weight was 204.2 pounds. I am now more than half way to my goal weight of 145 pounds. Recently I bought me a pair of Rider Jeans size 16 M, and I had been looking for size 18, because the size 20 were getting loose on me. Well I tried them on and they fit me real nice, only a little snug around the waist. It has been many years since I was in a size 16. I was so happy. Before surgery I was wearing 22-24 jeans and some of them were tight on me at times. I am so grateful that I had the sleeve, I do not regret having it done. I still have a long way to go to my goal weight, but I am very positive that one day I will see the scales at 145 pounds. Many people on here have been a great inspiration to me, and I want to give a special thank you to Tiffykins for all the comments and photo updates. She incourages me to hang in there and keep looking towards my goal, even when I have my ups and downs. I haven't posted any new photos yet, but I am planning on doing so real soon. I look at my profile picture and I am so happy for the results from my sleeve. I am thankful to God and my surgeon Dr. Husted for helping me to change my life. I never want to go back to where I was. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I was ready for a change. I am changing a little bit at a time, but I do believe that I will reach my goal and be able to maintain my weight with God's Help and all the help I receive on this forum from all the sleevers. I wish everyone all the best!!

The therapy swimming pool at the Y was shut down for almost 3 weeks to be repainted. I really am glad that now it is open. I have went 2 times this week. I really need the exercise. It helps in so many ways. I have lost some weight and I need to do some firming and toning. This morning my weight was 207.6 pounds. The night before surgery on Dec. 2 I weighed 232 so that is a loss of 24 1/2 lbs in 6 weeks. I know that the exercising will help me to lose some more and will help to tighten up some of this loose skin. July 2009 I weighed 266, so I am almost half-way to my goal of 145 pounds. I am so happy that I had the sleeve.

I have been wondering about the taste thing. Sometimes my head tells me something is going to taste so good, just like it did pre-op, but then when I try it I can't believe how different it tastes. I use to love those hot fudge sundaes at McDonald's, and so one day I just had to buy one. I only ate part of it and I had a hard time getting that down. It was way too sweet. Sweets were one of my weaknesses. But now when I eat them I start to get nauseous and I can't eat very much. I hope that stays the same, but with other healthy foods, I hope it changes. I don't feel hungry, but I know that I need to eat, so I try to eat 3 meals and a snack. I can only eat 3-4 ounces in 30-45 minutes. So I usually eat 1/2 and save the other half for later. I have not been counting calories. I am having a hard time with the taste of Water, but I try to drink it anyway so that I don't get dehydrated. The Powerade 0 drinks were too sweet tasting to me. I am glad that you put this on here, now I am hoping my taste buds will change with time. Thank you for your comments.

Have you tried those Vegetable chips? My daughter is trying to get off of eating potatoe chips and cheetos ect. so she bought a bag of those. I looked at the saturated fats and they are really low and no trans fat. I think the brand name might have been TERRA. They had like 9 grams of fat, so I am thinking that they have some of the fats that are better for you. They tasted really good, they had alot of the root vegetables. They also were not real high in sodium. Maybe those would be a healthier snack, if you are having a hard time with the chips. A serving size was 1 oz. about 14 chips. It was enough to make me feel full. Very satisfying!!

Hello Rachel, I have wondered the same things. I have been able to eat more than a few bites. I am 5 weeks out and now I can have regular foods. I still chew, chew and chew because I am afraid that I am eating things that will be too hard on my stomach. I try not to drink anything with the meals, but I have been keeping a glass with some 1 % milk and a piece of ice in it so that it will stay cold through my meal. If I feel the need to take a drink, I try to just take a little sip. Sometimes I start to feel nauseous or either the food feels like it is getting stuck in my throat, so that is when I take a little sip. I found out real quick that if I drink too much liquid then I don't have much room for the food, so I finally stopped drinking alot of Fluid with the meal. I am still having a problem with trying to wait 30-60 minutes after eating to drink fluids. Maybe it will get easier as time goes along, I hope!!

I went to my heart doctor and he reduced my meds down to half of what I was taking before surgery. I go back to him in 6 months and he will decide to leave me like it is now or take me off of it entirely. I don't have a monitor, so I don't know how high it is during the day. When I was in the hospital Dec. 24 and 25, my BP went up and down, but it was usually very low. I guess with time and more weight to lose, maybe it will even out more. I didn't think too much about the high blood pressure being genetic and having high blood pressure even if a person has low weight. My family has a history of high BP. Some are overweight and some are not. Very interesting topic!!

Thank you for all of your comments, I am really trying to stay away from the sweets. When I was visiting out of state, my sister bought some chocolate covered cherries and those were my favorite at christmas time before surgery. I usually always ate the whole box over 1-2 days, but I only ate 2 and didn't eat any more. They tasted very good, but the sweetness made me nauseous. I have tried cake 2 times and both times I couldn't eat all of it, I became very sick to my stomach. It really seems so weird being like this, because I have never in my life been this way. Not complaining, don't get me wrong. I am very happy that it is this way and That is why I said I hope it stays this way. Sweets use to be my biggest weakness. My head still tells me that I want cookies, cake or ice cream, but my body tells me I should not eat it or very little if it does go down ok. I decided to buy some low-fat frozen chocolate yogurt, because I had a hard time getting a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's down. I use to eat them all the time, but when I tried it, it was too sweet and tasted very different and I could not eat it all. I thought that the frozen yogurt would be healthier and taste better, but for some reason it did not taste very good like it did before. Is there anyone that has been like this before and after surgery? Have you stayed like this or has it changed? I know that it is important to get in lots of protein, so I try to eat meals high in protein. I always try to remember that most all sweet foods contain very little protein if any at all. Sometimes I just have a little bowl of cereal for a snack, I tell myself that sounds like a healthier snack. I even get a little bit nauseous eating cereal. I am sure that I am not alone in feeling like this, but I sure would like to hear from others about this. I weighed 210.4 this morning, since July I have lost a total of 56.4 pounds. (The night before my surgery, Dec. 1, I weighed 232.)