Pookeyism

I will see what I can do

Absolutely one of the best blog posts! Thank you for sharing with us - the pics of you able to goof off in the rain are awesome!

Absolutely! Eight miles in a day is great. I Don't think I have been able to do that yet.

...for a week, and right about the same time my tummy seems to be able to have solid foods! Poo! My Hubby had to leave for some refresher survival exercises and I am alone for the first time since the surgery and my Mom passing away. I have tons to do but I find myself kinda sad - more sad than I should be. I don't normally care if I am alone. I think this might be the first time I have felt real head hunger.

Off topic but I have wondered the same, but I suppose it is to get in there, get it done and get back out. I would love to see the difference in what the surgery is like on a fatty liver and a firm liver - that liver was FIRM, and an excellent argument for the pre-op diet.

lol, thanks guys!

I keep meaning to post this and I forget. Biotene is a spray that will keep your mouth moist. It isn't going to be easily swalloed - it coats rather than runs. It will help when your mouth is dry and you can't drink. That includes before surgery and the barium drink, when you can't have liquids.

Biotene Moisturizing Mouth Spray!!! Walmart carries it and other pharmacies carry similar things. It's simulated spit. Two sprays will not even go down, but it will coat your mouth. It isn't the solution but it will provide relief.

I am going to post, but I am not a doctor or counselor. This is more than head hunger. This is more than if your tummy can take it. I bet you are also drinking fluids with your food, and that will make it easier to eat more, and you will be able to push more food through. You should not be eaing at all two weeks out. But you know that. Everyone is being very nice and supportive but I am going to be a bit different. You are a grown woman who has cut away your stomach in order to lose weight. You have lost weight so you think the cheating won't matter - you have two sets of facts in your head and you are going to have to decide which you believe. Do you believe you can go on doing this and it won't matter because obviously you have lost weight, or will you decide upon the actual truth, which is you are doing damage to your body, continuing old habits, and setting yourself up to fail? If you keep stuffing food you still do not have an excuse - you cant go back to eating like that, using the excuse that you ruined your restriction. I will give you the information that you will now never be able to use that as an excuse again: YOUR STOMACH WAS CUT AWAY. You had over 600cc of tummy and it was reduced to 50cc-80cc, on average. You had trocars inserted into your abdomen, another tube was passed into your stomach through your throat and the doctor used that internal tube to gauge the staples - your tummy is as big as the tube they used. You were stapled, sewn over the staples so they do not have pressure against them, and that extra tummy was put in a pouch and sucked up a tube and thrown away. Your stomach takes a long time to stretch out, it can be provided with and learn to have elasticity - to go back and forth - but that is not the stretching we are talking about. You have not stretched out your tummy. There is no excuse for the foods except you choose to. It feels very good when we are stressed and feel like we are over our heads to get sympathy kuddos, which you are doing now. You feel lost, you did not prepere enough, and you aren't sure how to procede with something so permanent, so you just do what you always do. To make it better you confess, and get some attention and it is very unlikely unless you evaluate this on a very sincere level it will not change. I think you anticipate being told how to fix this but no one can do that for you. Look at your environment and start fixing it. We are a damn good community here and we want you to succeed. I can't imagine how I would have felt to be doing that after the surgery. It's all on you. Keep a journal if you have to. Write it down as you do it so you can see it adding up. Counseling is imperative - and confide in those around you - those of you you know can help. Don't allow the food in your house. Something, anything. In no way take my post as me putting you down, or bitching, I care. I really do. I would rather be sure someone said what I did and it possibly be needed than it be left out of fear of people thinking I was too abrupt. Let us know what the doctor said, and in the meantime do what you can. You are more at risk of popping a leak in your sleeve than anything, and it it was accompanied with a hemmorage it could be fatal. I will be praying for you. It sounds damn mean but guys, seriously, sometimes the harder stuff has to be said.

I hope we get some responses!

Thank you for the post. Long term success is not going to be about whether or not your stomah stretches a bit, I think. It is going to be about whether or not you learned your lessons along the way.

Ok, I have a question that may only apply to a few, but within the numbers on here some will be able to answer this. A ketogenic diet is a diet with minimum carbs, moderate protien and the rest of your intake (a majority of your intake) is fats. This happens to be what alot of us are doing. It has long been known to prevent seizures in children. My question is have any of you seen a reduction of seizures, or narcoleptic tendencies, twitches, ADD, or even improvement in high functioning autism? Curious and again if you can contribute please do.

Yay for you - keep us posted! You may want to check out any one of several mouth hydration sprays for post op. They simulate spit and are intended for people who for whatever reason cant keep their mouth as moist as it should be, but they work wonders after surgery.

This one has been one that I can't help to sing along to lately...

I am actually sleeping more - but I was sleeping about 2-4 hours a night before. I have had serious sleep issues since I was a child. I used to have so much trouble at one point they would put me to sleep in the outpatient section of the hospital sometimes. So I now sleep quite a bit more, about 6 hours. With a lunesta I can sleep almost 8 hours - but I have to wait a few more to drive, so I have only took it a couple of times, and none since I returned to work. If it persists I would suggest looking into it further, poor sleep has been proven to affect weight loss and maintenance among many other things.

Is it the persistent hunger or is it controlled with slow "sleeve eating" or a protien drink? I have had some hunger a couple of times but it was easy to manage. I never expected to not be hungry at times, just not to the point it affected so much of my day. I hope it is manageable. Keep us informed.

You have had alot of offers but if you need another let me know. I was sleeved 1/4.

Sounds good!

Not everyone is the same. if it is isolated to feet or hands then it could be a circulatory problem. The general cold feeling many of us have is our body relearning our thermostat. We had insulation for the longest time, and now we are less padded but also consuming less calories, so the body sits on it's fuel that it would have turned up the thermostat with. Um, not very steeped in medical terminology but I hope it helps! There are actually ways to eat that will stoke the furnace - Eskimo and other high north natives have been doing it forever(ish). But we cannot eat like that. Suprisingly is isn't volume. But we cant swallow food whole, and most people dislike semi-rancid, semi Jerky foods! (my hubby tried it and it actually works - can make you sweat even - but also just about made him, er, well...he didnt feel so well. You have to get used to it).

Me and my Hubby discussed that. I have no intention of stretching out my stomach more than the healthy progression allows but I have decided to put away additional funds so that should the time come I will redo the surgery, if necessary.

Your weight loss sounds like a sucesss story already! Way to go! Use this forum to get advice and support and post questions as you need answers - and make friends. You are among a vast community of very diverse people with one common interest and need. Stay motivated - keep your head hunger under control, exercise and you will do great!

I can only speculate which is what I know you don't need BUT if you can use it please do. If you are constantly hungry, just be very sure to make your choices count, and still focus on smaller portions but more of them. Do not take my word on this - but if you chew and chew and then give it about an hour and *lightly* flush your food through with Water you could then have another light meal...but please get an OK on that from a gastric doctor. I do not know what your protien needs are right now but I imagine them to be massive. Consider a top notch protien drink such as Celebrate - it has the protien and Vitamins - keep drinking your protiens. Yor body is going to need it to heal too. Ask you gyno what you need for lactation so your milk is as potent as possible. Much of what your baby needs will be veggies and fruits, I suggest you avoid canned foods like the plague - there are chemicals in canned foods that they are beginning to show a direct relation to them & the body not being able to detect when to stop storing fat. Frozen and fresh do not have these chemicals. If you fear your tummy stretching the general rule will apply - don't put more in your tummy than you want the size of your stomach to be. I would speculate that the biggest for you will have will be post-op. Keep your spirits up and avoid head hunger and stress eating. Get yourself in the mindset to know you will have gained some weight, and it will have to wait for a while as you get your life in order with your new arrival - then worry about it but only in terms of fixing it. Good luck! Babies! Yay!

I was hit while I was cycling in 2007, but I was already overweight - I had gained almost 80 lbs in a year about 5 years before that and a 1400 calorie a day diet(just couldn't do less I would get so hungry and disoriented) and exercize wouldn't make it budge - just fluxuate a little. So I get hit and I am in emergency surgery and the surgeon diagnosed me as diabetic. He guesses I was misdiagnosed for 5 years or so, and while I was overweight before, once I developed atypical diabetes it helped my weight spiral and my hunger increase. Thats a long story wrapped up tight - but sorry about the bike accident - no one but other cyclists seem to give us any attention on the road. GRRRRR!

The Celebrate Vitamins rock! I drop an extra b supplement into my protien drinks, and the Calcium chews are soo easy! I use both

Thank you. I will look it up. I too use the library but I will always be surrounded by my books. I am getting ready to but customized shelves in my living room that will go to the ceiling (vaulted ceiling) complete with the attached ladder! I AM SUCH A NERD, lol.