Lissa

Mine was pretty boring. I arrived at 6am for 9am surgery. Had an IV installed, then was wheeled into the prep room where they put inflatable things on my legs and put on the EKG leads and blood pressure cuff. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me for a minute, then he gave me something to calm me down. The next thing I remember is a woman saying "Breathe deep" and I said "Goodbye". After a little, dreamless, nap, I woke in the recovery room and said "What?" A nurse came over and started talking to me before I was moved to a regular room. I don't remember this part, but I apparently demanded to walk from the stretcher to the hospital bed, then decided I'd rather sit inthe chair than on that too soft bed. I might have spent 5 minutes in the hospital bed during my day and a half in the hospital. My hospital apparently has some policy about not letting anyone feel pain because the nurses were pushing the pain meds like crazy!! After 2 or 3 doses, I refused more pain meds. I didn't like the woozy feeling they gave me. The charge nurse came in to talk to me about taking pain meds if I needed them, but I just wasn't hurting badly enough to want them. The next morning my surgeon discussed them with me as well, but I wasn't having it. I was discharged after noon and drove myself home from my friend's house at 6:30 or so. I did have some pain in the hospital, but it was about a 2 for me on a scale of 1 to 10. My legs hurt worse than my tummy from trying not to use the stomach muscles to get up and down. I did want a dose of the liquid loritab my doc gave me that first night at home, but I couldn't convert mL to tablespoons, so I didn't have any. The bottle is still unopened. I had two other surgeries to install and then remove a filter before and after the VSG. I had a major blood clot in June and my surgeon didn't want to risk my having a heart attack or stroke from a clot. THOSE surgeries seemed much worse because of the conscious sedation used. UGH. Good luck with your journey!!

What you're feeling is pretty normal. I have a two oz bowl that I used to start with, and I often couldn't eat the "whole" bowl full of food. Mushies are way denser than the liquids and they sit in your sleeve while the liquids usually slide on through. Try eating veeeerrrrryyyyy sllllooowwwwlllyy. It will seem stupid at first, but the slower you eat, and the better you chew, the easier the food will go down. Later on you will be able to eat a little faster, but slowing down helps to keep air out of the tummy and allows you to know when you're satisfied rather than eating that one bite past full. You will know if you eat that one bite past full, too. Either you'll slime, vomit, or have pain for a good while after that meal. I'd almost prefer to vomit and I HATE getting sick. Early on, it's very easy to let your eyes pick out what your sleeve will hold...and then only eat 1/4 of it. I couldn't do a full 1/4 cup of refried Beans now, I don't think. I can usually handle 1/3 of a pintos and cheese from Taco Bell before I'm totally done with that bowl, if that gives you any idea for volume. Several times I have ordered based on what I think I can eat, only to eat two or three bites and have to ask for a box. That's frustrating and rewarding at the same time, because it means that I have the same delicious food for the next meal or two. Some foods reheat better than others. LOL Good luck with your journey!!

Brown, Instead of separating yourself from your partner over food issues, why not let her do some of your cooking for you? Then you can, in turn, cook for her sometimes. You could try splitting a meal when the two of you go out, or just order something small. Family harmony is important in the long run. You did do this for you, but the two of you probably had conversations ahead of time about how you'd be more up for the fun things you like to do once you had surgery. And now she's feeling that you're pulling away. Please realize that I'm basing that on comments my husband and son have made to me in the last three months and what you said in your post. I get what you're saying about people being nicer to you now than they were before you had surgery and started losing weight. You can resent them for their "two-faced attitudes", but the only person that hurts is you. Yes, they are wrong, but you're going to see lots of changed attitudes now. You can choose to live as a happy person, or as a resentful person. I'm betting you'll choose ignoring their stupidity and living happier for yourself. As for food, it sounds like you are doing well with that and you actually get more variety in than I do! I'm stealing some ideas from you, particularly the black beans! I loved them before surgery and will have to add some back in now. Good luck with your journey!!

Sleeved 8-30-11 and down 59.2 pounds!

Tiffani, Congrats on choosing a healthier life for yourself. I have a family history of diabetes as well, including a son who has Type 1 diabetes. My father, paternal grandmother, maternal aunt and uncles, and several other family members have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. I was pre-diabetic myself prior to surgery, but I've been told that particular condition is resolving quickly with my weight loss. Watching the toll diabetes takes on others is a strong motivator to have the surgery, isn't it? It looks like you are jumping through the insurance hoops, so they should approve you when the time comes to submit. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but I think you're going to do fine. Good luck with your journey!!

Congrats, Mona!! It's scary and exciting all at once to know you're so close to making this major change in your life, isn't it? Your determination to make it through the pre-op diet without cheating will be the key. And, no matter how bad you think it is, just keep reminding yourself that this is the next step to the rest of your life!

Is there a WLS support group at your hospital or associated with your surgeon's practice? Perhaps hubby could attend 1 of those meetings with you. You could let him come here and read some of the pre and post-op threads. That would give both of you a realistic view of what to expect. You'll see lots of posts from people who are in the first few days post-op who have some pain, but then those same people come back a few days later and they are in much better shape. There are a few complications, but even those people usually say "I'd do it all again". For me, the choice was easy. I was told "Lose the weight or die" and this was the right choice to make. I have watched a 52 year old aunt let obesity rob her of her eyesight, her mobility, and her independence over the last several years. She's had so many "minor" surgeries on her feet, her arms, her eyes from various complications of obesity and diabetes. This is the woman I used to party with. We'd go out and dance all night long and we both treasured our ability to take care of ourselves and others. Now, she's a shell of the woman she was. I do NOT want to be that person! So, my point is that you (general you) can have this ONE surgery and start improving the quality of your life and hopefully head off bad complications or you can stay where you are at and possibly have to have several surgeries for various complications. I think that it's much easier to have one surgery and work the sleeve! BTW, I like the term pessimistic optimist. I updated all of my estate planning before surgery and made sure I'd loved on all of my family and friends. I was prepared for the worst outcome and was truly shocked when I woke up in recovery!! Good luck to you and hubby with your journey!!

No, you aren't being greedy. You've worked hard to lose the weight you have lost, and it's a tough road. I lost 50 pounds the year before surgery, then I got pneumonia and ended up in and out of the hospital 3 times over a couple of months and :::whoosh::: all that weight came right back, with friends! It was SO much easier to put it back on than it had been to take it off! Someone here has a quote in her signature that says something like "Take the help, you deserve it." And, you do deserve it. This is a step to a healthier YOU and a happier life. I don't think it's greedy to want those things. I think it's smart! So, take the help, you deserve it.

Seraphina, You have my good wishes for an easy surgery, uneventful recovery, and a warm spot on the loser's bench just waiting for you. Wait a minute, I have to push someone over a little bit to make room ::::::push:::::: There you go! Your spot is all ready for you now!! Good luck tomorrow! Can't wait to read your update that everything went well!!

whataloser, What a Loser you are!!! It sounds like you're doing an awesome job of working that sleeve!! Congrats and good luck on your journey!!

Cathy, If you search for "ticker tutorial", you'll pull up a great post by LilMissDiva about adding the ticker to your profile. It sounds like you're having the same experience I did post-op, which is great! I was so worried before that I think I walked around in a haze of relief after surgery! I was, and still am, ecstatic at the results I'm seeing. So far, the best prices I've seen on Vitamins are the B1G1 at CVS and Walgreens around here. Since they are always across the street from each other in Florida, it's easy to compare and see who has what you need at the best price! Good luck on your journey!!

Yeah, the pre-op diet is torture, for sure! If you were a caffeine addict (like me) and/or a sugar addict (also like me), then the initial cravings can be pretty intense. By day 4 or 5, though, you'll already be noticing weight loss and, for me, that gave me the motivation to keep going. Dropping 13 pounds in two weeks was a huge motivator. As Longer Life said, after surgery, you won't be hungry and you'll be pushing yourself to get in your fluids and Protein. "Diet" is going to be your focus for a while to come, although this is really a life change. By the time I got back to solid foods I was definitely over wanting anything sweet, or fat, or slider consistency. Try to find some Protein shakes you LOVE while you're pre-op, because post-op they might be barely tolerable. My tastes changed immediately after surgery AND I am now lactose intolerant. I can do cheese fairly well, but milk, cottage cheese and yogurt disagree with me. If you're having a hard time with the diet because of all the sweet stuff, try some warm broth. After surgery, I found that warm went down better than cold for quite some time. And, all in all, this is a VERY short time period compared to the rest of your life! Easy for me to say now that I'm past it, right? But, it is a short time and soon you'll be back to eating regular food, although not in the quantities you're used to eating. But, you'll be watching the scale zoom downwards, and that's worth a LOT, IMO. Good luck with your journeys!!

Sleeved on August 30, 2011. I have lost 58.6 pounds so far. Below are two pictures (I hope). The ones in the coat was taken in Jan or Feb of this year and the other was taken 15 minutes ago. I'm THRILLED with the changes in my body so far! They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 3,000 words about how happy I am with my sleeve!!

I went through and wrote down all my questions for my check up. Should I be limiting calories/carbs at this point? How much exercise do you recommend I do at this weight and considering any meds I am taking? What should my heart rate be during that exercise? Am I taking enough/correct Vitamins and supplements? Do/Will you do a test to verify my Vitamin, Iron and cholesterol levels? I have strange pain in this area. Can you check that to see if it is surgery related? Is my weight loss in the expected range at this point? Those are a few of the questions I asked at my visit. You may wish to use some of them, none of them or make up your own list. I just jotted mine down in the notebook app on my phone and went right through them. Good luck at your visit!

Ladonna, I am LOL here, not At you, but With you. I had a pain between my drain incision and my belly button about 10 weeks out. I asked the doc about it when I went in because I was afraid it was a hernia, too! He felt and prodded and pushed, then finally told me that it's a fibroid! I have had a fibroid dx for about 10 years, but they had never hurt before. Now I can feel it all the time. Why? Because there's no freaking padding over the darn thing now!!! Ask your doc to check it out, but hopefully it will be something mild like mine!

I say, don't push your sleeve. As long as you aren't trying to drink the whole cup at one time and are drinking rather than gulping, go ahead and drink. Just try not to drink large amounts really fast. Once you start putting in mushies and then solid food, you will feel the restriction from your sleeve. So don't worry that your sleeve is too big. Good luck with your journey!!

Diva, I've told you this before. You are an inspiration to me. Thanks for the link. I will be checking it out when I get closer to ready to start the C25K. I know I'll get there soon. I'm still going to walk that 5k in January, even if I can't run!

Bad habits: -I drink diet coke. -I have a bag of chocolate Peanut Butter cups on the counter and I have one or two a day, which is a huge improvement because before I could have eaten the whole bag at one sitting. -I smoke and I'm trying to quit, but not doing well at it. (I've quit before and will again, permanently this time.) -I hate exercising. Today was the first time I've gotten into the mental zone that says it COULD be fun if I keep at it. -I'm a perfectionist and have a tendency to be way too hard on myself.

Taking off the fat suit makes us cold. I can live with that!

Pdx, Thank you for the encouragement! I'm looking forward to that 5k, even if I am walking. I hope you manage to run yours. I'll be envious, but I will do it at some point. I figure that I'll be starting a C25K program in about 40 pounds from now. That means I'll be heading into that training program in Feb or March, if my weight loss continues at the current pace. Right now, I'm just going to concentrate on distance and then I'll worry about the speed. Thank you all again for your input!!

I preach (and try to get) 70g of Protein and 64 oz of Water daily, mostly because that's what my nutritionist and doctor preached to me. I've read tons of people who are having problems with low energy and bad hunger problems, but I haven't had much of that. Of course, my hungry days ended when my pulmonologist switched me to Tums for Calcium rather than the chewable calcium I was taking. My WLS doc agreed to the change because of other Rx meds I'm taking. My daily Vitamin regimen is as follows: 1 chewable Centrum per day (was 2 until I started solid food), 2 chewable Tums morning and night, 1 Biotin in the morning, 1 B12 in the morning. I'm considering adding magnesium for joint pain in the next few days, but need to get it approved by the pulm doc first. I started taking biotin at my 2 month surgiversary in order to (hopefully) head off the hair loss, but it's not completely successful for me. I am losing more hair than I am used to losing regularly. I have purchased a couple of hair pieces on the advice of my hairdresser and will probably end up using them later. I've been VERY open about my WLS, even posting a little information on my FB page. I don't announce it to strangers, but I have told several people who have asked about my rapid loss. I don't think it's that noticeable, but others tell me that it is dramatic. Many people don't talk about their WLS, and that's perfectly acceptable. My theory on it is that WLS won't become an accepted solution until others see us losing weight and living healthy lives. I have many aunts and cousins (mom was one of 17 kids) and they are all built like me. They are all watching me to see my results. Once I really lose weight, I have a feeling my doctor is going to have lots more business!! Good luck!

I doubt many of us have NEVER cheated on our liquid diets. And, it doesn't sound like you aren't capable of handling the after surgery requirements. You are hungry now, and you are losing even with the cheats. You need to buckle down and follow the diet from now until surgery so that you get the maximum benefit from the liquid diet. After surgery you won't be hungry and following the diet will be much easier. Good luck on your journey!!

Great job!! You are doing an amazing job of working that sleeve!

Good for you!! You'll have a much happier, healthier life with the sleeve!

DallasMom, I use My Fitness Pal to track and all I worry about is the Protein (70g per day) and Water. The rest of it is irrelevant to me. My doc said that staying under 1000 calories a day was good, but not the primary number to worry about. He has said NOTHING about carbs, for or against. I do try to keep my carbs low, but I don't obsess about them. Some here say that fewer carbs are good, other say that some carbs are necessary to build muscle when you work out. Speaking of working out, "no real exercise to speak of" won't help you lose weight. I've started walking half an hour three times a week, which probably falls into that category! LOL But, maybe you should look into something. However, maybe chasing twins by itself already counts as more exercise than I'm doing daily! Good luck!!