hunydew2262

SleeveDreamer, we are sleeve sisters! I leave for the hospital in less than three hours. I can't sleep. I'll sleep plenty when I get to the hospital. I've been working like a mad woman lately, 11/13 days. I'm a RN, plus I've had multiple abdominal surgeries, so I have some idea of what is coming. I was very melancholy yesterday. I felt like I was leaving a large part of myself behind, saying goodbye. I know it is an unhealthy part of myself, but it kept me going for decades. I'm going to have to face my internal demons on my own now. It scares me. Still, I'm going forward. I know it is just preop jitters. I will come out of this with a tool to be the person I've longed to be. I'm going to the hospital to free the healthy, thin woman that lives hidden inside me. It will be good to see her again.

I'm a psych nurse. I also take Clonidine for periodic panic attacks. It falls into the medication class of benzodiazapines. Be careful when you first start taking it, as I had a patient who tried to drive and got a DUI. The most important thing to know with taking benzos for regular, long term treatment is that abrupt cessation of the medication can cause seizures. If you find you need to stop the medication, see your MD and get instructions to taper the medication.
I know that seems like a lot of negative information, but really, it is one of the better benzos. Ativan, Xanax, are a couple of other well known benzos. Start with the smallest dose and increase it gradually until you find relief. That way the side-effects will be minimized. Remember, there is no medication that does not have side-effects. Just ask the pharmacist what warnings and contraindications s/he has for any medications. I even ask about OTC meds, and I'm a nurse with a great drug book at home!
Feel free to ask me any questions. I'm glad to help.
HD

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forums. I just got my surgery date, November 30th. Excited, scared, anxious, worried..all of these emotions simultaneously. I keep reminding myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint.
HD

I'm getting sleeved 12/14 with Dr. Northup in Cincinnati. I've had multiple abdominal surgeries so I'm not so worried about that part of the process. Just remember to walk afterwards. It does speed your healing, helps to get the bowels moving, prevent pneumonia, lots and lots of good stuff. I'm excitged for us all! Next Christmas we are gonna look and feel SO good!!!
HD

I'm getting sleeved 12/14 with Dr. Northup in Cincinnati. I've had multiple abdominal surgeries so I'm not so worried about that part of the process. Just remember to walk afterwards. It does speed your healing, helps to get the bowels moving, prevent pneumonia, lots and lots of good stuff. I'm excitged for us all! Next Christmas we are gonna look and feel SO good!!!
HD

I can remember being very young, six or seven, and a girlfriend wanting me to try on some of her clothes. I told her they wouldn't fit. Looking back at pictures of the two of us, I'm actually smaller than she is, but apparently my body image was skewed from an early age. I moved on to chubby, overweight, obese and morbildly obese. I've been on a diet, reading about losing weight, looking for that breakthrough that would turn my life around. I imagine many of you share that journey.
I was adamantly against by-pass surgery. Then a fellow RN had a sleeve. I'd never heard about this type of WLS. I started researching and decided to go to an orientation meeting and see what it was all about. Since the hospital I work for has a bariatric center, getting approved was easy. My PCP is supportive as is my unit manager. Everything was a go. I freaked out and cancelled everything. I gave myself three months to lose the weight. Didn't happen. So I'm back at the starting gate. My surgery is scheduled for December 14, 2011.
Even now I have my ups and downs. I worry that I'll regret this decision afterwards, when it is too late. I worry that I'll fail at this, just the way I have failed at every other weight loss attempt. Then I'm so excited about the opportunity I have to change my life, to finally be free of the guilt every time I put food in my mouth. I'll be done with the shame and embarrassment of being so large. I will be done with diabetes, which is the main reason I'm doing this. I will have a chance to live the life I've dreamed about for 40 years. I will get to be the authentic me, the one inside that has been trying to get out my whole life.
HD

Hi AET,
I did the same thing. I went in May to see my surgeon. Everything was in place for me to get my surgery. I just couldn't get my head around all the voice in my head telling me I was smart enough to lose weight on my own and didn't need to go to such extreme measures. I cancelled everything and gave myself until my surgery date to start losing on my own, I had big plans, I really did! I don't even have to tell you the outcome. Three months later and not one pound shed, not one trip to the gym.
Now, we are all concerned about having surgery. It's not something to take lightly. The question is: Do you trust your doctor? If not, then find a new one. If you do, then talk to him or his staff about your fears. You aren't the only one having them.
Secondly, this proceedure is only a tool. All the other times we have had great plans to lose weight, only to fail because of hunger, or emotional eating, or whatever reason, THIS time we will have a physical barrier to keep us from overeating. We will lose weight. We will have time to adjust our behaviors while we are losing weight. This is a tool to get us over the big hump so that we have the energy to exercise.
Here is the truth: someone is going to judge you harshly for having the surgery. It's probably the same person that judges you harshly for being obese. You will not win the approval war, so call a truce on pleasing other people and do this wonderful thing for yourself.
Yep you will have scars. Women that have laproscopic surgeries for endometriosos or tubal ligations have them too. I have so many stretch marks on my stomach I dare anyone to find the scars from my sleeve! LOL
You will eat again. If what I read is true, you will struggle to eat enough. Will you be able to go to McDonald's and eat a supersized jumbo whatever and down an extra-large soda? I sure hope not. Isn't that the road that got us to this place?
The only question you really need to ask yourself, IMHO, is this: Do you desire the chance to make behavioral changes to you life style that will allow you to live a healthier life? If so, the sleeve will give you the tool to make those changes a reality when all else has failed.
I have doubts. I have fears. But I have tried to lose weight for decades using every diet and exercise gizmo that comes along. Guess what? I'm still fat.
It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. I'm tired of my crazy, obese life. I'm choosing sanity. I hope you do too.