CowgirlJane

There is a forum on Obesity help dedicated to the DS. It seems to me there are a lot more "long timers" there. I personally hate that forum, but it might be worth a quick cruise to check it out. what I am excited about are the new approaches to DS which reduce some of the nutrient deficiency risks that the traditional procedure had. I am curious why he thinks that the DS is a better option over sleeve or bypass? DS includes a sleeve (usually a larger one) and does tend to have statistically better weight loss over sleeve. It is my personal backup plan should this sleeve not continue to work for me (3.5 years since my band to sleeve revision and still going strong!)

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. The good news is that people have wound openings always heal on up and seem to have no worse scarring or any other ill effects... eventually! I had MAJOR reconstructive plastics all at once and no I didn't have a resurgance in swelling 7 weeks out. We all heal differently, and i know Dr Sauceda told me I "healed slow" but I like to think I may have healed slow, but i healed good. I took it really easy for a prolonged period of time as I believe, based on the Dr S facebook group that people who do more early have more problems with recovery. Basically, I was even more conservative then the docs orders but I watched many others absolutely flaunt his advice - some healed fine and others had complications. I did note that at about 12 weeks out when I went skiing I swelled up. I switched to stage 2 garments for the lower body and wore them anytime i did any intense activity (horseback riding, skiing, working out) for several MONTHS post op. The doctor didn't order that, I just learned about it from those who had gone before me... it helped reduce swelling and it made me feel more secure too. hang in there... you still have a whole summer ahead! BTW, you do know that you are supposed to keep your scars out of the sun for two full years?

My surgeon was very conservative for band to sleeve revision patients the intro to solid food was 2 weeks slower than his normal protocol. I think you might be doing too much or too fast or the wrong foods too early. It is NOT normal to vomit with the sleeve. The only times I have is when I wolfed food down too fast. Seriously consider calling your surgeon as this is not normal.

I am glad you don't have any ill effects, so far. It would make me nervous too... and I guess I would want to have some images done to check...just in case. I still say it is worth trying some of the techniques... going low carb, Water load etc etc I don't know anything about Almanza except what I have read on these forums. I personally would not go to ANY surgery that does the daily volume he does. 12+ a day? Stories of people being operated on late into the evening. I don't know, just sets off alarm bells for me. (Full disclosure my sleeve was insurance covered and done at a COE in the USA but I went to Mexico for plastics. Medical care in Mexico CAN be outstanding!)

I went through alot of weird feelings when I got close to goal. I felt like everybody was staring at me. I thought maybe I was dressing inappropriately, or my excess skin was hugely ugly or something like that. At some point, I started dating a guy and he told me...no... people are looking because you are HOT. Overtime, I realized something. People weren't staring, they were just doing normal looking at me. I went from invisible to noticable. Who knew that was such an adjustment but for me it really was. I am over it now and don't even notice it or pay attention. People can look or not look and I just don't care. In addition, i think it is only fair to say that people treat me differently because I AM DIFFERENT. i am much happier, outgoing, self confident, physically capable, prettier, fix my hair and make up more, wear fashionable clothes (it is alot easier to look up to date when you are in single digit sizes versus the 26-32W range!!!). An aquaintance that knew me both before and after weight loss summed it up. She said that I had a bubble around me before... not that I was rude or unfriendly, but I had energy that repelled people... or at least did not encourage them to come hug me. She told me that now people WANT to be around me because I am fun, energetic, positive and just draw people. I could have been offended by her remarks, but i have to tell you.. I think she was right. so yes, people do treat me differently and it cannot all be chalked up to "fat phobia" - a good deal of it is me.

I am 3.5 years out and yes my appetite is back. I think that is normal... The whole idea is that the WLS helps us develop new habits, and even all these years later I really CAN'T eat as much as I used to as long as I stick to dense Protein first... everytime. My advice is to go back to basics. Protein first. Don't drink with meals but hydrate really well between meals. Limit carbs - and don't eat junky slider type foods. dont drink your calories (soda, fruit juice, booze etc) and watch out for "healthy sugars" as they can trigger cravings too - examples are fruit and fruit juices. Watch Protein Bars as they are high calorie/high carb. It is a lifelong struggle but I will say I am alot happier fighting it out in the 150s than I was fighting it out in the 300 plus plus range.... Hang in there! Oh I am sorry, I thought you were a sleever like me... it seems you posted in the bypass forums so I assume you had a different surgery. I suspect my advice/comments are similiar though regardless of the WLS type...

I was still pretty hunched over at a week or so post plastics. I am more concerned that you are going back to work so soon and in an effort to hide your surgery, you don't take maximum care of yourself. Heal well!

I am sorry. While I was still losing weight post sleeve, my sweet sister in law died of a massive heart attack at age 64. Last summer, my niece died in her sleep of heart failure, she was only 40. They were both very very obese - in the 150-200# overweight range. These are sobering experienced and remind myself to not whine too much about my "maintenance struggles" compared to the path I was on.... I agree that your sis needs to find he own path. She knows you had surgery - she knows who to reach out to when when she is ready....

I had a great weekend and yes the hip pain did interfere, but I am more motivated then ever to get this "fixed". the damage is permanent. Keeping my weight down is motivation to reduce symptoms but it doesn't fix anything. I need to actually talk to the doctor because remember when I last spoke everything was fine... it was the follow up voicemail that explained I have severe arthritis and nothing can be done (in terms of hip preservation) so next is to schedule a cortisone shot and to start thinking about hip replacement. What i realized is that doctors look at stuff like "can you tie your shoes" and I say "I aspire to more than that". I need to be able to ride, hike etc. so I am not willing to wait until I am walking with a cane (That is what happened to my boss). The motivational story of the weekend is that my friend Tom the firefighter has a coworker who is young - early 30s - that had a complete hip replacement and has gone back to not just fighting fires, but playing soccer. It gives me much hope. Kim, sounds like you had a real blast with your friends! How are you doing with 5:2 - back on track?

You didn't provide alot of detail. If we are talking few pounds here and there.. that is the normal ups and downs.... as long as the trend remains downward, it's all good. If you are talking about gaining 5-10 or more and then relosing it...well, I suspect you are finding yourself "falling off plan" and then getting back on plan. That is tough, it is really hard to break a lifetime habit and stay consistent in healthy habits. do you have support such as counseling, family, support groups etc?

Just a word of caution... a personal trainer completely siderailed my fitness journey. I was quite fit but decided I wanted lower body fat and to build up my gluts. Since I was aerobically so fit, the young man always felt I wasn't working hard enough. (I had been doing pretty hard workouts on my own already!). anyway, due to his pushing, I got an over use injury that led to a whole string of events. I am still dealing with it a year later. The part that makes me so mad is I was doing pretty good on my own - I push myself, but listen to my body too.

Prayers for you and hubby... take comfort in knowing that MANY people survive colon cancer with proper treatment. take care.

When was your resleeve? It takes time for things to heal and feel the restriction. I have heard of other docs doing a sleeve revision, but it is not something I would take lightly... While I understand your disappointment, do you have any reason to think you were harmed by the resleeve?

I got some depressing news. While the first set of xrays showed no big problems, the series they did for the hip preservation specialist revealed it is too late to preserve mine. Doc left me a vmail and he is gone till Tuesday but basically injections until I cant take it and then replacement. I am upset. It makes me feel like I did when I was obese..helpless that I am becoming disabled. I am going horse camping this weekend, in pain and now a little bummed. Duck. At least I will be with good friends so my mood will lift. My biggest fear is that for some reason I don't get good results and I really do become disbled. Doctor did tell me "keep the weight off" so it is added motivation to get back under goal. When I go in for injection I am going to ask if 10-15# makes a difference because I might be in less pain at 140. He was pretty sure my history of obesity contributed to this. When I am less pissed off I will share my story publicly...maybe it will convince some that obesity destroys you even if you don't see it at the time.

I knew it was paid... now I know why I got it for free! They will probably fire me as host though..I keep deleting crappy adverstising posts and duplicates/cross post/spams.

I am sorry you were treated this way. I am going to gently suggest that due to the very emotional nature if this process you might be reading alot I to it that wasn't there. Maybe the look on her face was remembering the scars on her own mother and having to process all that while doing her job. Maybe she was pissed off over a speeding ticket. .. I don't know. Anyway. .those people aren't important to you. It is a waste of human energy to get so upset by people that just don't matter. I have noticed people treat me better when I feel self centered and confidence. I have realized that some of it is me...not "them"

What do you consider "too thin" ? I had to fight hard to get to a normal weight/size and yet I had a sister ready to stage an intervention. She has dismorphia the other way...normal size people look too thin to her. Anyway truely becoming too thin is a rare problem.

Wish I could help you but since I had to do hand to hand combat with each and every of the ast 40 or so I lost...this was not a.problem I faced. I had "unexplained " weight loss a year later and that was a whole different situation.

Did he use the words "pouch dialation"?

I have a dress that is designed to look like a skirt blouse. the color combo I would have never dreamed of... black and white striped bottom and a royale blue top. I get so many compliments on it! So, a comment I would make is that strong patterns tend to draw attention. So, since i have a relatively skinny ass, i am fine with a striped skirt. I am less inclined to wear a vertical striped top because i am already top heavy. Anyway, the tan/white looks pretty subtle to me. I think you could go "monochrome" and wear it with a very neutral tan or beige colored top or you could go with a solid color and look great. Frankly, the rules about matching solids with patterns are often broken very successfully, you might even have a subtle pattern top and look good with those. i think the high contrast navy/white one is harder to wear, but could be striking! I would love it with a crisp white top, or a comfy white tank and a jacket. I would even wear it with a pink top and a navy jacket or sweater but I love my colors and I like that big bold look!

You aren't stupid... you are doing a very hard thing. You ate very low carb. the purpose for most docs is to shrink the liver and low carb is the key to that. Just get back on track.. you can do this!

I used to sweat excessively - for no reason - not exercise related. VERY embarrassing! As it relates to working out, most people fit people consider sweating badge of honor. I will never forget my first spinning class with hardcore cyclists. I have thick long hair and the sweat was running off the ends of it. I suddenly understood why people put a towel under their bikes! Everybody sweated like crazy. Kickboxing is another..OMG the sweating. A guy brought his girlfriend to a class and I asked her how she liked it. She said "I used to wonder if you guys sprayed each other with garden hoses now I KNOW that is all sweat!" So, as you start working on your fitness, start thinking of sweat as a badge of honor. It is NOT embarrassing, it shows you are working it baby! It is way different then sitting there in a business meeting and starting to sweat for no reason...grrr

I rely on my home digital scale exclusively. Yes, the doctor weighted me and it reflected the same progress, but my own records are what my scale says. It doesn't actually matter if it is perfectly accurate - but it does help to use the same scale in a consistent manner. Example, i only weigh first thing in the morning with no shoes/no heavy clothes. I record weight weekly..

Since I follow a Dr S group on FB, I read ALOT about people's experiences with plastics. A couple of things, most of us don't have that much skin removed. Seems like 20# but for me, it was only 5.5# Then, you DO generally have swelling.. often for months. I didn't swell too bad, but did have some. Extensive plastics take alot of calories to heal (especially protein!). I was HUNGRY I mean really hungry during the healing phase. I had to focus hard to not overeat. It wasn't destructive, it was my body telling me I needed the nutrients to heal. I stayed high Protein and really monitored my intake so i didn't gain weight ... but I didn't lose any either. Others on the PS forum (private FB page) have LOST weight due to the "afterburn" I just described. I am not sure why - but many say they have no appetite. I don't think that is necessarily better as I want my overall health to be as good as possible and if I need nutrients to heal - I would rather feed the healing process than lose a few pounds. So for me, I stayed the same but could have easily gained. I do NOT think it was sabatoge, it was genuine physical hunger that declined approx 4-6 weeks post plastics. Remember, i had alot done at once too (LBL, breast, arm lift and a small thigh lift)

I let her know that knowledge about 5:2 is on that veterans thread not here so she seems okay with that. Is anybody here still doing 5:2??? If so, I encourage you to keep posting there on the Vets forum. I want to drop about 15 and get into the 140s again, not sure if i will use 5:2. right now, I am focused on getting my body back in working order. I am very much focused on "taking care of myself" and taking on 5:2 while I am in alot of pain does not fit with that. I saw a hip preservation specialist practice yesterday. Good news, my hip XRays show only level 1 arthritis (0=normal 4= really bad so level one is pretty typical for someone my age with obesity history) which is good and no cause for concern. Also found out I don't have some of the really scary crap I didn't even know was possible..whew. Exam confirmed that my range of motion and mecanics of my right hip are definately wonky. I do have a small bone spur but he didn't think it was significant enough to cause so much havoc. Good news is that they can shave those suckers off... so that is still on the table. He decided to take another round of Xrays at all different angles and will review with the team of specialists before making treatment recommendations. Good news = I don't have anything obviously horrible wrong (I was starting to imagine the worse since not responding to PT etc) Bad news = I still don't know why it bugs me so much and isn't fixed by PT, rest, ice or any of the standard things. Doc told me I can do all normal activities as long as I can stand the pain. Tally ho. I admitted I have stopped exercise and pretty much protecting the hip which isn't making it better. Earlier this week I said "screw it" and spent the evening assembling patio furniture, hanging drapes and pictures. Lots of bending, climbing step ladders etc and guess what.. hip felt better next morning. Might be coincidence, but i think "protecting" it has led to more stiffness and pain so i am going to slowly ramp back up activity now that I know I don't seem to be dying from hip cancer...haha. (actually one of the "worries" was a condition where blood flow is cut off and the bone starts to die! who knew?)