smallgirlsxthree

They check your blood for Carbon Monoxideand it has to be below a certain level in your red blood cells. It hangs around in those cells for 3 months before they die off and make new ones. Just being around smokers can make the level raise up. I had a friend who is a Lab Tech explain it all to me. So it isn't the nicotine that they're testing in your blood, it's the effects of the cigarrettes that they're testing for. And you can't get around it! I quit in March of this year and used Chantix, and it worked really well! It was still hard, but more manageable that way. Good luck-it's worth it in the end! Keep your eye on the prize!

Pilates and Yoga can really tone up your arms and legs, and it can also help strengthen and tone up your core. I LOVE Zumba, it works your abdomen in alot of different angles and it's fun! We bought the Zumba game for the Wii, and they have DVD's everywhere for it too. I get alot of Pilates and Yoga videos off of Netflix on the Wii also, they have a whole bunch of fitness-like videos on there. The strength training and cardio I don't know alot about, but these will help you some I would think!

Oh GOOD!! I've been praying that the weight loss helps all of that...it's a pretty depressing problem for me for a long time! I had a doctor tell me once a long time ago that I would just have to deal with the facial hair-a pretty deep blow. 30 lbs doesn't seem that far away either, Thanks!

They did my right wrist the open way, I can see a couple of stitches when I look dwon in my cast. It will be a week tomorrow that I had this one done, and I haven't had any pain from it for a few days now. It's just a pain in the butt to have a cast on it!! My husband has been a huge help, thank goodness. Thanks for the encouragement!

One of the many problems that being overweight has done to me is that I have PCOS, and imbalance of hormones, and that gives me Hirtuism-dark facial hair. This has gotten worse the more weight I've gained, and I know other people do this too. But what I'm wondering is, does it get any better after some of the weight comes off?? Or does it stay the same forever? Just curious if anyone had noticed!

Thanks for the info...my hubby will be around and my kids don't have school my first couple of days home, so I will have some help. My husband is soooo supportive, he actually acts excited about it. He was my little enforcer earlier when I was trying to botch my pre-op diet and eat some potatoes out of the soup tonight lol, thank goodness I have someone to be accountable to. My oldest daughter told me that she would tell my doctor if I ate something with sugar in it. They help me so much!! I hope that the help continues after all of this is done!

I get the cast taken off of the right arm before they do my left arm, I will only have one cast at a time!! Sorry, I didn't realize it read like that!

I have had problems with my wrists for a while, and I really need to have them fixed for when I go back to work, but I'm so torn. I keep telling myself that it will only be 2 weeks of my life....

I have GERD, a Hiatal Hernia and early Barrett's esophagitis and I'm having the VSG with a Hiatal hernia repair. The dr told me that I have to have an EGD every year for 5 years and if they all come back normal I'll get to change to every other year. Getting the weight off and getting the hernia repaired will help with the GERD the most for me. I watched when the did my esophogram and I refluxed up to my collar bone area when they laid me down!! I will do anything to help make this better!

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand last Wednesday, and I have my left carpal tunnel surgery on the Wednesday before my VSG with a hiatal hernia repair on Friday the 14th. I'm doing all of this so I can be off of work at the same time for all of it. And when they do my carpal tunnel release's I have to wear an OCL cast for 2 weeks afterwards...so Friday when I got to take a shower for the first time with my arm all bagged up (picture a broken arm) I had a meltdown thinking about having my left hand done and the major abdomen surgery afterwards. Am I crazy for doing these both at the same time?!? All I can think of is that I'm not going to be able to take care of myself after the surgery, am I being too paranoid? What is your opinion??

Hope all goes well for you!! I go Friday the 14th to get mine done....let us know how you're doing!

I was sooo nervous for mine too, but I had my self worked up way more than I needed to be!! I had to fill out the million bubble questionnaires, and then we "talked" for about an hour. The psychologist I had was so nice he almost seemed too good to be true lol. The questions were weird, but it's not as bad as you think it will be. Answer them honestly and it won't take very long. Good luck and hope all goes well for you!

They told me not to bring mine either...I don't know when I'll start taking them afterwards though. Did they tell you??

THANKS!!

I'm glad that I will be able to also, I can't imagine not being able to urp!!!

That's awesome info! I have severe GERD also, so it will still be bad after the surgery?? It's so bad now that I have Barrett's esophagitis, and the weight loss is hopefully going to help that. I have to take 2 Protonix and 4 Zantac every day...misery!! I'm ready to be done with that!

One of the girls in our pre-op class was talking about it....was just wondering. Thought it would be pretty terrible not to be able to throw up!

The dr is going to fix my hiatal hernia when I get my sleeve done, and now I heard that I won't be able to throw up after he does that. Has anyone else had this "fix" done?? What am I in for here?? I have severe GERD and have Barrett's esophagitis now with the hiatal hernia, so I really need it fixed...any thoughts??

It's official now, I'm going to do this surgery!! I have been on a long hard journey since April of 2010, and alot of it was my own fault for it taking so long. I went through a lot of soul searching to figure out if this surgery was really what I wanted to do or not, and I finally told myself I was in it for the long haul. I have struggled with my weight since I was about 8-9 years old, and I've always been the "thicker" type. I thought that I was alot bigger than I really was, and looking back at pictures of me in high school and my early 20's make me cringe to think that I really thought that I was FAT then. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in 2000 and got all of the fun side effects of that-weight gain, insulin resistance, and facial hair. It's great fun to say the least. Thankfully I was able to have 3 healthy girls and didn't struggle with in fertility with it. I went from 145 lbs when I got pregnant in 1999 to 200 lbs by the time I had had my 3rd baby in 2003 (yes, I had 3 kids in 4 years). The struggle was on after that. I stayed around 200-225 until last fall, and I started having alot of swelling in my lower legs and hands. I quit smoking in March of this year, and since then I've gained 42 lbs between that and the swelling, I have massive pitting edema in my lower legs and my hands swell really bad as well, and the only reason that the dr's can come up with is due to weight gain. I was diagnosed with Obstructive sleep Apnea in Dec. 2010, and then with Barrett's Esophagitis in April of 2011, and I've had GERD since 2002. They put me on high-blood pressure medicine to try and help with the leg swelling, along with diuretics. AND, I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel and tennis elbow in both arms this week. So, I wear a CPAP to bed with 2 wrist braces, I have to wear compression stockings all day to keep swelling down, I take 6 pills a day for my stomach problems and I pee absolutely constantly. Yeah, I'm ready to get all of this taken care of. My sister asked me today if I thought that I really needed this surgery. I told her that I was tired of feeling like I was trapped in this body, like my fat was in control of me. I'm tired of being terrified to go to the dr, because they're going to tell me that something else it wrong with me. I'm scared to death of the first 6 weeks after surgery, but I know that those 35 days will be the best hardest days of it. I'll live, I'll get through it. I'm ready to feel like me again, to feel like I'm in my skin again. Not this fat person's body who has no control. I'm scared,but I'm finally going to do this! Let me know all the little details that I need to know...don't hold back!!