Katie713

It's a harrowing story. How frightening!
I had 3 c-sections in the 80's and an open surgery to remove my gallbladder in 1990. My WLS indicated he may need to do an open sleeve surgery due to scar tissue, but apparently that did not need to happen, he was able to do it laparascopically in less than 45 minutes without any complications.
I feel very blessed to have gone through the experience without problems and I am now 8 months out and doing well.
Your memoirs may be an important part of your recording what you experienced and what you have come to be made aware of. If you have to seek legal support this documentation may be pivotal. You may have other medical issues in the future that map back to this surgery, and you deserve to be compensated if this continues to impact your health and your financial stability as a family.
Take care, and I hope you recover very soon and don't experience more problems. Your family sounds really wonderful, you have obviously done a wonderful job raising your children.

chiki...you've gotten a lot of good advice and a couple of digs on this thread, but I know you are frustrated with the slow weight loss, of course you are, you've had 2 surgeries! What we take into our bodies is the most important thing now, and it sounds like your body is resistant to losing weight, the smaller stomach is not a magic fix....you still have to do the work. I am losing slowly now too but I have lost 100 pounds and the only way that happened was to eat about 1000 calories daily and less than 50 grams of carbs. Start fresh after the holidays and give up the bread, tortillas, rice, potatoes and all sweets (sugar) and focus on Protein and veggies, a little fruit and exercise daily, drink tons of Water. When you eliminate the carbs, your body has to turn to it's fat stores for energy, that is what you want to happen. If you eat the wrong things, lots of carbs for example, your body uses that glucose for energy first and your fat stays put. You have to get your body to burn that fat, and surgery won't do that, only diet and exercise provide that element.
Good luck!!!

I agree, it doesn't "feel" different once you are completely healed, but it has it's limitations and when you get full, you get full fast and it gets uncomfortable fast. Your stomach is alot noisier too, it gurgles and you feel it more acutely when you eat. If it doesn't want something, it lets you know fast.

Don't be surprised if you can't handle it creamy right after surgery when you move off Clear liquids. When there is literally no room in your stomach due to swelling, most people want shakes as thin as possible. Just don't blend it if it bothers you too much and just use the shaker bottle, then once you get further along, blending works fine. The blender aerates the shake adding alot of air (thats what makes it creamy and fluffy) and air in your stomach is extemely uncomfortable right after surgery - and it bloats your little sleeve. After a few weeks, and as the swelling goes down, it will get easier, I promise.
You are gonna be surprised as to what it takes to make you feel stuffed!
Good luck on your surgery tomorrow!

You won't have a normal feeling in your tummy for awhile Becky. With the stomach swollen, you feel some sense of nutrition from the liquids, but no fullness the way we were used to. It will be the same with pureed diet, and you start to normalize with soft foods as you move through the stages of eating. On my program, I was released to firm solids at about 6 weeks.
That is when you truly feel the restriction of the sleeve. You will know with certainty what full feels like and it is not comfortable. I am 8 months out and still getting used to it. One or two bites too many does not feel good. You get this little uncomfortable feeling and that is when to stop. Then I get 1 or 2 internal hiccups and 2 regular hiccups and I'm done. Like clockwork. Many people get the hiccups with fullness with the sleeve, or a runny nose. It's weird but true. My family all laugh when I hiccup and say, "That's it she's done!" or "Put a fork in her she's done!"
Have a good weekend

You are smart to have this surgery while you are young. I had the surgery at 56 and it has changed my life - I feel so much healthier, but back when I was your age, weight loss surgery was not an option for everyone, so I dieted, lost and gained weight so many times. I am also a shorty at about 5 feet tall. Now that I have lost almost 100 pounds, I am much more petite looking like the old days, but I still have my curves. YAY!
You may still lose hair. It happens with the surgical procedure and the HUGE decrease in calories. Keep up your Protein and Vitamins. I did lose a lot of my hair, but I cut it a bit to give more layers and it was not so noticeable. I am 8 months out and it has almost stopped now, I do take 4000 mg of Biotin and used Nioxin products to help. No one ever commented on my hair issues, so most of my insecurity was mine alone...but now I see it growing back, like an undercoat filling it all back in and I so happy about that.
Don't over buy Protein, your taste buds might change, it happens to so many! I found a Protein Powder I liked ok and stuck with that, and mostly I just use a shaker bottle and take it to work. I can get plenty of protein through regular foods now though, so only drink one shake a day.
Good luck, you have a good support system in place, and you seem ready to go!!

You won't have a normal feeling in your tummy for awhile Becky. With the stomach swollen, you feel some sense of nutrition from the liquids, but no fullness the way we were used to. It will be the same with pureed diet, and you start to normalize with soft foods as you move through the stages of eating. On my program, I was released to firm solids at about 6 weeks.
That is when you truly feel the restriction of the sleeve. You will know with certainty what full feels like and it is not comfortable. I am 8 months out and still getting used to it. One or two bites too many does not feel good. You get this little uncomfortable feeling and that is when to stop. Then I get 1 or 2 internal hiccups and 2 regular hiccups and I'm done. Like clockwork. Many people get the hiccups with fullness with the sleeve, or a runny nose. It's weird but true. My family all laugh when I hiccup and say, "That's it she's done!" or "Put a fork in her she's done!"
Have a good weekend

You got the right idea girlfriend!! You know back in the old days, they would take women who were out of control to sanitoriums and administer the same kind of therapy. It worked wonders then, and it works wonders now.

This is a great thread. BTB, your strategy seems very practical and I could see getting myself into this routine because I love lettuce wraps, salads and omelettes. I've been struggling with trying to play around with recipes and I end up with too much food, foods I didn't really like that much and avoid eating the leftovers (there are always leftovers!) or getting things to go on the way home from work, not the best choice. Obviously I can't eat much in a sitting, but this has led me to snack at times because of going beyond 3 hours and getting ravenous. I do have my good Snacks, but they should not be taking the place of REAL meals that are more nutritious.
It is getting harder to lose the weight as I get closer to goal, but I am a fighter, I am not giving up and I am not cheating with loads of carbs, it is more about finding a strategy that is doable.
DuranFan..l hope you feel more hopeful. Keep coming here, it helps to dialogue with like minded folk and people who are living this life and succeeding at weight loss. I was so big for my small frame for so long, I felt hopeless at ever making the change, but low and behold, I am now being called petite and I feel so much better, and I have so much more strength. You can do this!!!

Perhaps the new year will prompt you to re-commit to the process. Don't give up on yourself, and you may need counseling to help you through this process as self sabotage is something so many of us with long term obesity deal with, with our without our sleeved stomachs!!
You may need to clean out the cupboards of foods that are too tempting ro resist and plan some Snacks that are better choices. Your sleeve will not reject most foods, and in fact if that is what you were looking for, the gastric bypass would have been more effective, and for many years the gastric sleeve was a pre-curser to full gastric bypass, so this is still a viable option for you if you have insurance and your doctor concurs.
Unfortunately, the sleeve is just a tool to limit intake one session at a time. If you keep eating, the calories will mount.
I am losing slowly as well, but I keep on trying. I bought some string cheese and olives to nosh on if I need a snack, and I do buy the Weight Watchers frozen dessert bars for late at night watching TV. If you are doing well during the day, try and mimic the same thing at night, PLAN what you will snack on and make sure its healthy...i.e. an apple with some Peanut Butter spread on it, some deviled eggs, popcorn, olives, beef jerkey, some nuts, some low fat cheese.< /p>
Just don't give up. You can do this, and if you need help, heck get whatever you need, even hypnosis!!
Good luck on your journey!!

That kind of pain isn't normal. You may need to contact your surgeon or your doctor to make sure you are ok. Better to be safe than sorry.

That kind of pain isn't normal. You may need to contact your surgeon or your doctor to make sure you are ok. Better to be safe than sorry.

Just pick up some lubricant like vagisil. Works like magic and neutral, no fragrance or taste, just moisture.

Hi all!
I want to share my story because I feel like things are "hopeless" again like they did all of those years I had been dieting prior to having my gastric sleeve.
I was sleeved in September of 2010 by Dr. Aceves in Mexicali. I had a wonderful experience there and would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I feel like I may need to do it again since the weight gain has started.
I started at 240 lbs and the lowest weight I got to, which was last year at this same time, was 150 lbs. At that time, I stuidly felt like I was losing too much weight, as I wanted to stay curvy, so a friend of mine who has had the lap band, suggested I find something high calorie to substitute my daily intake with so I was getting enough calories to not lose any more weight.
Being an emotional eater, this should have been a huge red flag for me, but here was an excuse for me to overindulge, so I took it. cheese was what worked for me. I ate a lot of cheese.. sometimes, nothing but cheese once I figured out it would go down easy. After that I moved onto processed crackers and Cookies, again, things that go down easily without getting full and without getting the sick feeling.
I weighed myself yesterday and I'm back up to 167 lbs. Two months ago I was at 163 lbs, so i'm rapidly climbing back up the scale.< /p>
I do go to the gym, was twice a week, but in the last two weeks i've bumped it up to 3 times a week. I do strength training with weights and cardio. I am fairly active on the weekends, as I am fortunate enough to live in an area where everything is either walking or biking distance.
The problem is, and i'm suspecting this will be most of our problem here on this site, is that we are emotional eaters. And it was great at first with the sleeve because you literally could not eat anything.. .or you were so afraid to eat anything that you just wouldn't eat it in fear of getting "that feeling" (you all know what i'm talking about).
I can take the literature and read it over and over... my doctor can send me emails and tell me what to do (eat your Protein first, dont snack, etc). In a perfect world, if I could do that, then I wouldn't have needed to have weight loss surgery in the first place. My brain tells me to eat for comfort, eat when you're happy, eat when you're sad, eat to Celebrate.... and the hard part is, now that I've figured out what I can eat with the sleeve, its becoming more and more difficult to overcome this feeling.
I have been in therapy for about 8 years trying to overcome this emotional eating issue, but its so easy to go back to what we know, rather than change it. Not making excuses... i'm just reaching out to others who may have the same feelings and eating disorder as I do... and maybe if we can get rid of that shame we feel by sharing with each other, we can overcome this need to eat to stuff our emotions. Because I do feel very shameful that I paid all of this money, risked my life in Mexico to have this surgery done... and now i'm sabotaging myself and undoing the very thing that I've wanted my entire life... to be thin and "normal". Whatever normal is...
If you haven't had the sleeve yet, please, make sure you get in tune with yourself with regard to the emotional eating, becuase although the first year or so of the weight loss is great! If you dont get your disorder under control, it will all come back, eventually.
I said at the beginning of this post that I feel hopeless, but by letting me share here, I do feel a little more hopeful than I did when I started writing this.
Thank you for listening.
Nikki

We are all different, and I have taken a few sips with a meal with no ill effects at all. If it helps to maintain your good nutrition, I think it the way to go for you, but I would NOT revert to guzzling liquids, you want to keep your satiety so that you don't begin over eating because of hunger. Good luck!!

What a great dialogue this thread stimulated!
A myriad of things come to mind when I think about my ongoing weight loss journey. Tonight I am going to the Hollywood Bowl for a summer concert under the stars, to see Smokey Robinson. I am looking forward to the music of course, and hanging out with my girlfriends - but I am also looking forward to being able to walk that hill without feeling like I am going to pass out. Last year, I went to the same concert with some friends, and I used to huff and puff up the little hill that takes you into the venue site - I would always ask to stop at the restrooms at the mid-way point, even if I didn't have to use the restroom - I just needed to catch my breath! I would then get a few paper towels and moisten them to be able to cool myself off by the time we would get to our box seats. You know how it is or used to be, when you would stop walking - the heat in your body would just build up...and sweating was soon to follow. I can easily walk for miles now and I am nearly 75 pounds lighter than last summer...this is a milestone in my journey - oh how I used to wish I didn't have to go through the shame of being so overweight and out of shape! Well this is my little victory walk tonight! That's a NSV (non scale victory)!
I was also thinking about the mechanics of the post-op hormonal changes that take place, one the decrease of the hormone ghrelin, but also what I think may be a change in our natural reward centers revolving around the eating process and the release of dopamine and serotonin - our natural feel good chemicals, many of which are released during the eating process. The process of eating pre-op without limitation offerred us more than the reward of just getting full, the "feel good" hormones were soon to follow, and that reward kept us coming back over and over. Feeling bad, lonely, frustrated....bring on the food. Feeling joyful, elated, excited...bring on the food. What I have noticed without the food binge opportunity, is that my reward isn't the same, whether it is because we are comsuming so much less, or whether the balance of hormones has changed, it is different. I think this is why so many say that eating is more of a chore than a pleasure. Also, once you experience a negative side effect of eating something you cannot tolerate, it sends the body a powerful aversion to that behavior which is held in our memory bank. This stuff is all probably instinctive, to prevent humans from consuming things that were toxic. But, hey...it works!
The other side of this is that "feel good" hormones are coming from different strategies for me now. Feeling like I have a "can do" attitude makes me soar. Feeling good in my clothes is a secret little joy. Having control over my eating makes me proud of myself.
I still enjoy cooking and I still enjoy food - I mean we need it to survive...but I don't turn to it first to make me HAPPY anymore. I get out more, I can do more physically, and I just keep feeling better and better about this decision I made !
Good luck DeterminedGirl !!

From what I've read here those with the worst complications share one thing in common, a leak that is often diagnosed after weeks of intense nausea and vomiting, sometimes masked by other complications like blood loss, abcesses, and the like.
You NEED hydration and you need nutrition. It might be time to go back to the E/R and get those things taken care of and then your surgeon can re-address whether you now have a leak that needs to be dealt with. This does not sound like a stomach virus.
It is better to be safe than sorry Lux.

I am almost 8 months out and this still happens to me on occasion, but without the getting dizzy - just the intense feeling of having to vomit. Sometimes even one or two bites too many, especially if I have eaten fast can send me running to the bathroom.
I guess old habits die hard. Thanks for the reminder as we head into Thanksgiving, we need to go slow and carefully to not overwhelm our little sleeves!

Please remember to follow the forum rules,be respectful to others,we are adults and we should know how to express our own opinions without having to be disrespectful. Thanks.

Glad you went to have this checked out. Our bodies "tell" us when something is wrong. Your first post sounded so familiar that I had to give you my honest opinion.
I hope you have a speedy recovery. Take good care of yourself!!

I'm feeling the same way girlfriend and rocking my size 14's !!
I have no fear about Thanksgiving either, I know how to eat, focus on my turkey with a bit of gravy - a tablespoon of stuffing, a tablespoon of mashed potatoes a tiny bit of cranberry sauce....and of course I will save room for a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie.
I am no longer feeling like this is a race. It is a way of life and although I am losing slowly, I have not gained weight, I stall then lose, stall then lose, that's just how it is for MY body.
Love your pictures, you look so happy and skinny!!!

I'm feeling the same way girlfriend and rocking my size 14's !!
I have no fear about Thanksgiving either, I know how to eat, focus on my turkey with a bit of gravy - a tablespoon of stuffing, a tablespoon of mashed potatoes a tiny bit of cranberry sauce....and of course I will save room for a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie.
I am no longer feeling like this is a race. It is a way of life and although I am losing slowly, I have not gained weight, I stall then lose, stall then lose, that's just how it is for MY body.
Love your pictures, you look so happy and skinny!!!

Glad you went to have this checked out. Our bodies "tell" us when something is wrong. Your first post sounded so familiar that I had to give you my honest opinion.
I hope you have a speedy recovery. Take good care of yourself!!