Nancy Rivers

Congratulations! Great job!

So sorry this is happening to you. I hope the date and place doesn't change again for you.

So sorry you are having pains from the gas. It took about 3 or 4 days for the gas to totally dissipate for me. Walking and movement really does help to get the gas out. When the pain started to migrate to my left shoulder, I started exercising that shoulder - lifting my left arm up over my head, doing arm rotations, crossing the arm in front of me, etc and it drove the pain back down to the abdomen and I no longer had the pain in the shoulder. Walking is what got rid of the rest of the gas - but as I said, it does take a few days. I never used the gas-x strips because that will only get rid of the gas in your stomach. The gas from the surgery is OUTSIDE of your stomach and intestines - therefore it won't work on it. The only way to really get rid of it is through exercise and time. It will clear up for you and you will start to feel better day by day. Hang in there!

Glad you are doing well. Hope it continues for you.

You will do it! I'm sorry you can't have anything more than liquids until August 1. Maybe make a slushy with "larger ice chunks" and chew the ice - that might help.

My surgeon made me purchase my first supply from him - it's Bariatric Advantage Cherry flavor. I like them.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations on getting your date! Go camping this weekend and have fun.

Does your surgeon have BLIS coverage available? I'm self pay too - but my surgeon included 90 days of BLIS coverage in the cost of the surgery. The BLIS coverage will cover any complications there might be for the self pay patients. You might want to check into that.

Glad you are doing so well.

It is normal to be nervous about the surgery. After all, it is a major surgery. Stuff can happen unfortunately. However, you need to research your options and make up your own mind. Only YOU can make that decision. Research not only the operations, but also your surgeon. My sister is a nurse and a nursing instructor. She is dead set against ALL weight loss surgeries because of the risks of complications. She went ballistic when I was just talking about some friends who were having weight loss surgery and was not even thinking of it myself. Well, any surgery has risk, so that doesn't hold Water with me. Personally, I had a friend who had the lap band surgery by one of the best surgeons in the area he lived in. Almost 3 years after the surgery, he had to have the lap band removed because it had eroded and caused an infection so bad that the top of his stomach (the pouch) had swollen to the size of a baseball and turned white. Since the removal, he continues to have issues. Recently, he found out that his stomach is DEAD - it does not function normally. They scoped him and found that his stomach has a LOT of undigested food in it (they could tell him everything he has been eating). Apparently during one of his surgeries (I am guessing the first one), the vagas nerve was somehow damaged and therefore his stomach will no longer contract. He has seen 2 different specialists in recent weeks and they are not sure how to correct the problem yet. I had never considered the lap band - partially because of his experience, but also because of many other reports of unsuccessful lap band surgeries. I also did not like the fact that a foreign piece of plastic would be placed in my body. But again, this is just me. You need to decide for yourself what surgery you want. Once you make up your mind, do not let anyone else change your mind. Your kids are probably reacting the way they are because they are scared of losing you since they love you so much. I don't know how old they are, but perhaps explaining to them that this is a tool that will help your diet work for you permanently this time will help. The sleeve really is just a tool. It's a tool that many of us need because we don't have the ability/willpower (or whatever you want to call it) to make the needed changes ourselves without help.

Glad to hear everything went well! It sounds like your experience is very similar to mine (except I was kept in the hospital a bit more than 24 hours). Hope everything continues to go well for you.

I was not on BC before surgery - but I would go with what your surgeon says instead of the psychologist. The surgeon will be more knowledgeable about the after-effects of stopping medication than a "mental health" doctor.

Congratulations on getting your date! That's awesome!

You are not alone! There are several people on here who are "slow losers". It is also normal to enter a stall around week 3 or so. From what I understand, when you start eating normal foods again, it is also normal to enter another stall. Drinking alcohol this early out isn't a good thing - it is just empty calories, plus it could potentially damage your new and healing stomach. My surgeon's office says to not have alcohol for the first 6 months because of this. Have you talked to your surgeon and/or dietician about your stall? You really should. They can help you figure out why your not losing anymore. Make sure you have food logs to show them as they won't be able to be as helpful without those.

I never had nausea after the surgery. The surgeon and anesthesiologist were both in the room before surgery when I asked the surgeon how likely it would be that I would be nauseous. The surgeon said that I definitely would be but did not indicate that he would give me anything for it unless it was really needed. The anesthesiologist did give me some anti-nausea medication when they put me under - I think that is why I didn't experience it. I did have some pain in one incision (the one they took my stomach out of - it was/is bruised the worst), but the nurse gave me a different pain medication in addition to the PCA and it took care of it. I have not taken any pain medication since being released from the hospital (and probably before that - but they kept giving it to me even though I had no pain). I never even used gas-x or anything like that for gas. It all passed naturally. I had always been very gassy before surgery, which is why I think I didn't need anything else. There have been a couple of times since I came home where I ate too fast and didn't feel well afterwards - but it wasn't nauseated. It was more of an uncomfortable pressure than anything else.

I'm sorry you had so many complications! That's awful. I am glad you are recovering and seem to be doing better and was able to be at your daughters wedding. I hope things continue to improve for you.

I just realized another milestone. This is the 2nd day in a row that I have gotten in ALL of my liquids and ALL of my protein! Yay!

One week ago today I had my surgery. Today, I weighed myself and found that I weighed just 268.2!!!!!!! I have not been under 270 in YEARS! In the one week of post surgery I have lost MORE weight than the previous 8 weeks combined! I have lost just over 11 pounds this week. I have never been able to take off 11 pounds so quickly before. In the past I would struggle and I MAY accomplish it after a couple of months. Now, I did it in ONE WEEK! This makes dealing with the diarrhea and the very tiny portion sizes so worth it!

Wow. I'm glad the sleeve went well for you! Sorry you need another surgery so soon for the hernia. I hope that goes as smoothly as the sleeve did for you. Best wishes.

Glad it went well for you MLD!

Congratulations!!!