Lissa

Yay, Neva!! And you've already hit Onederland! Now, THAT is a huge payoff!!!

If there are no other symptoms and the bleeding is minimal, I'd probably put a band aid on it for tonight and call the doctor's office tomorrow. As long as it's not red, swollen, oozing pus, hot to the touch and you don't have a fever, you're probably okay. It it's doing any of the above, I'd call tonight.

For soft/mushy foods, it was if you CAN chew it, don't eat it.

I've eaten pretzels a few times. The secret is to chew them to mush, which kind of defeats the purpose of eating them. They don't make a good substitute for cheetos either, darn it!!

Yay! That will be here before you know it! Congrats!!

Congrats! You'll be on the other side before you know it!

I ate some potted meat, but you're probably talking about sliced meat. My booklet from my doctor said "If you can chew it, don't do it."

Mine was gas pain and it was also my full signal for awhile. It feels kind of like you strained your shoulder, not super painful, but it hurts enough.

D to a C so far. Hoping they're gonna hold up, but not counting on it!

I waited 3 months for raw veggies. Most still don't sit well with me.

Someone here explained it to their kids by saying that Mommy was getting "skinny shots" that hurt some so the kids needed to be gentle with mommy for awhile. I don't know if that's too young for your daughter, but I liked that explanation. My kids are grown, so I just told them I was having WLS and that I had taken care of everything possible in case something happened. Nowadays I just send them my weekly update pictures via text message.

Congrats! Glad they found and fixed the hernia! Keeping you in my prayers for a smooth and easy recovery!

Yay!!! That first walk is the hardest! Soon you'll have it worked into your routine and feel badly if you miss a day. Great start!!!

You're going to be SO happy you did this! I was self-pay as well and I'd do it all over again, even if it was double the price! I feel like a new person! Good luck!!

I just sat and played with it, too! That's really interesting!

Congrats on Onederland!! What an incredible transformation! And check out those guns!! Great job!!!

Aren't AZO tiny little pills? My rule of thumb was that smaller than an m&m I could swallow. Anything bigger had to be crushed.

I'm only allowed Tylenol. NO ibuprofen, no advil.

Great job! You're looking Good!!

JetPilot, It sounds like you're doing well with your sleeve and what you are doing is working for you, which is great! My sleeve doesn't like bread or Pasta very much, so I avoid both. However, I'm in the camp that doesn't believe in "good" or "bad" food. I eat what I want to eat, work out religiously, and I'm at nearly 100 pounds lost. I believe that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. I want to eat like a normal weight person eats, meaning that I can have what I want to eat, just less of it. You said we have the same doc? Dr. Domkowski did your sleeve? YAY! I adore Dr D, as I've said constantly. How does that work with you living in NY? Or did you move after you were sleeved?

The first doctor I spoke with (Dr. Michael Cho at Strax Rejuvenation in Fort Lauderhill, FL) was very nice, but I truly felt like I was standing in line at a deli with someone yelling "NEXT!" the whole time I was in his office. I was researching the band at the time and he didn't even discuss other options with me, nor did he look at my existing medical problems. He just said yep, he could do it and then sent me to their money person. I called several people I knew and finally confessed to one of my best friends, a nurse, that I was considering WLS. She immediately provided me the name of my surgeon, Dr. Domkowski in Sebastian, FL and gave him a glowing review. ER nurses don't typically like most of the doctors they deal with, so this meant tons to me. Every time I have spoken to Dr D, he's been kind and professional, while still being completely honest about my chances and risks. I had a ton of health complications, including blood clots and pulmonary embolisms, so I was definitely high risk. Dr D even had me come back in for an extra pre-op visit to discuss my feelings about surgery and whether I was truly ready to take such a big risk. Then he reassured me that he felt my surgery would be successful, and it has been. He's been caring and kind at every post-op visit as well! My point is that you MUST be comfortable with your surgeon pre-op or you're just going to hate your post-op care as well. Yes, higher BMI is a big risk, but so are the complications of obesity. You didn't post your BMI, but mine was 53, which is pretty high. Add in all the co-morbidities and it was scary having the surgery, but my doctor, while making me aware of the risks, did it in a manner that left me feeling confident in his ability to get me through the surgery. I was self-pay as well, but I never got the feeling the Dr D was just going to take my money and then leave me to struggle through on my own, and he hasn't. Keep looking until you find a doctor that you like. You're putting your life in his or her hands and you should be able to feel completely confident in his or her abilities. Good luck!!

I just tell it flat out. I had weight loss surgery. Usually it's in response to someone who hasn't seen me in a while asking how I've lost all this weight, but I am truly a sleeve evangelist IRL as well as online. The stigma that surrounds WLS will not disappear until real people start talking about it and not trying to be coy. I've lost weight in the past on every fad diet out there. WLS was right for me. If someone actually has the nerve to say something snarky to me, I just let them know that having my sleeve done saved my life, literally. I don't care who knows. Once I started posting my journey openly on FB, I've had several people contact me asking for more information because they are at least slightly interested in doing this. If my openness saves one person from the complications of obesity, it's worth it!

From my reading, the DS requires a ton more attention to diet and Vitamin levels than the sleeve requires. DS patients must carefully monitor their vitamin levels because they have BIG problems with malabsorption from food. DS also requires rerouting the digestive tract and that's not something I really wanted to have done. IMO, the sleeve is the best option because we get to keep our normal digestive system, including the pyloric valve at the bottom of the stomach. We also still absorb most Vitamins normally. I believe B12 is the major exception to this. Literally, we still have all of the same parts in the same places, with restriction on the amount we can eat, which, IMO, leads to fewer complications. I decided that reduced stomach capacity, with the ability to absorb nutrients from my food was a better idea for me than having a foreign body implanted and, if I read everything correctly, you CAN still opt for a DS if the sleeve doesn't work for you. But, from the results I see around here, the sleeve WORKS!!! I'm definitely a testament to the sleeve working, and working very well, thank you!

I heartily disagree with your doctor! I started weights within my first few weeks post-op. I started out with 2 pound weights and did as many repetitions of the arm exercises as I could handle, which was 10-15 at first. As soon as I came home from surgery I started walking as well. Now I do cardio every single night, plus 4 days of morning cardio and 3 days of morning weight training. While I'll never have killer arms, my arms have improved tons since I started and I actually have muscle definition in my arms, my thighs and a ton of muscle in my abs that I never had before. I still have loose skin on my tummy and my upper arms/thighs, but it's nowhere near as bad as I was afraid it would be. I carry my 2 pound weights in the car and do arm exercises while I drive (a lot) for work. I use the 5 and 8 pound weights at home most days to help with the arm definition and I do every machine in our gym at a lower weight with high reps on my weight training days. All of this has added up to my feeling pretty good with how I look right now. I think that doing the weights with the cardio is the way to go, obviously. Just start slow and work up to something you can live with because you're going to be doing some variation of exercise every day for the rest of your life. I'm sure I won't be working out twice a day forever, but I'm now in a routine that I could live with if it did turn out to be a lifelong commitment to two workouts a day. The bonus for me is that I am losing inches fast and my weight loss has now resumed a somewhat steady pace after slowing down around the 7 month mark for me. If you wait to start weights until you've made goal, you're going to be way behind on shrinking that skin, IMO.

I loved big macs before surgery and now the thought of one gags me. I just thought of it because someone mentioned a big mac in another thread. I spent 4 months hating sweets. Unfortunately, that didn't last, but I can control it better now than pre-op. Most spicy foods don't agree with me, so I tend to avoid them these days. On the bright side, I've found that green Beans are tolerable now. I still love broccoli and collard greens and my favorite fruits, bananas and pears, are easy to eat and digest. I'm lactose intolerant post surgery. I've recently started experimenting with milk again, but my sleeve hasn't changed it's mind about regular milk quite yet.