sunnydaysahead

I am 7 weeks out and trust me it gets so much better. I think most people wonder what the heck they did in the beginning, I know I did. Things started to get easier for me after about 2 weeks. Now I'm into a routine and all is well. That doesn't mean I don't have days where I miss feeding my emotions with food but then I remember that's what got me here. Hang in there, everyday will get better. Does your doctor have you on a prescription anti acid? If not you should request one. Best of luck to you, I'm sending positive thoughts your way!

The liquid vitamins taste absolutely horrible to me, tried it once and never again. The chewable aren't nearly as strong.

I agree, go get yourself a diamond band. You will definitely get to goal this time! Congratulations on your sleeve!

Talk to your primary care doctor. If what you are taking can't be crushed they should be able to give you an alternatiive. Just a warning, the taste of the crusched pills is nasty. I mix mine in a small amount of sugar free pudding and they go down much easier. Best of luck to you

Yes my throat was sore but by the next day it was better.

Just remember - everyone is different. I was also very nervous about waking up with the tube down my throat. The doctor told me the decision would be made in the operating room. Sure enough I woke up with the tube down my throat. I begged them to take it out and they did. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I know I wouldn't have survived having it down my throat for 2 days!!

Regarding pain, I never took any pain meds after I got home. I did have a pain pump which I would recommned to anyone. It has been a week since I had surgery and I probably could have gone back to work today but am fortunate to be able to wait until Monday.

EMLEFE,

I was sleeved one day after you and understand how daunting the Protein shakes are. My husband was stopping at the store daily for me to try new products. You may want to ask your doctor if you can add just a small amount of plain greek yogurt to the shakes and blend it. This seems to take away some of the sweetness (that is of course if you're not lactose intolerant). All I an say is just keep trying different things with your doctor's approval until something clicks.

As far as the depression, don't be afraid to ask for help. There is such a thing as situational depression and it can be treated. Talk to your family doctor. I went through this when I was receiving chemo a year & a half ago and the medication the doctor gave me made a world of difference. You may not even need medication but it never hurts to discuss your symptoms with your doctor. Also, I was given prescription acid reducers. I forgot to take it the first day home from the hospital and I thought I was going to die from the acid pain. Once I took it have not had that pain since. So if they didn't give you a prescription for an acid reducer please ask. You really need to be your own advocate as everyone is so different.

Best of luck to you! My thoughts & prayers are with you!

Char60,

I also can't open the file. If not too much trouble could you email it to me also at ssherwood85@verizon.net? Thank you so much!

I also was sleeved by Dr. Moazzez of BluePoint Surgical on January 31st at INOVA Fairoaks. I have been so impressed with them and how much they prepare you for this surgery. It amazes me how many patients on this site don't get that knowlegde from their surgeons office. Best of luck to you and maybe I'll see you at the monthly support groups.

Happy1957,

Thanks for giving me hope that it won't last long. Didn't want to think this would be a part of my new journey forever.

I haven't taken any pain meds since leaving the hospital as my first attempt at taking the liquid medication made me throw up. I will call the doctor's office tomorrow. Thanks

I was sleeved on January 31st and for the past 3 nights I just lay in bed and can't fall asleep. I finally dose off around 3 am and then wake up about 9:30 am. I have never had this problem in my life. Has this happened to anyone else and if so does it go away?

What a beautiful story! Keep up the terrific work, I'm so happy for you!!

I can officially be added to the January sleevers. I was sleeved on the 31st and am finally feeling human again today. Somewhat of a rough ride but am confident it will all pay off in the end. Congrats to all of us January sleevers - we did it!!

Hi there, my surgery date is also Tuesday. I wish you the best of luck. I am so excited to have the surgery behind me and begin my new, healthy life. I will keep you in my thoughts!

Jessica that is so exciting that we have the same surgery date! We will have to keep in touch and support each other.

I'm scheduled for January 31st. Definitely having mixed emotions - excited & scared.

Thank you for sharing. I am just now contemplating having the surgery so this really helps me to see what it will be like. Best of luck in your continued recovery!

Well, I wanna talk about SO Much!I wish I won't forget one thing!, The reason I am writing this long post is I feel like I wanna give back to this awesome community.

I have been learning so much fromthis forums, people will just come and post something and it makes me feel likewow, that just happened to me! Thank Godness I am not alone! What a relief..you know that feeling?

So here is what been going on.. umight or might not relate.. But just remember everyone is different and I amnot a saint by any means!

*PLEASE NOTICE MY ENGLISH IS MYSECOND LANGUAGE! So forgive any grammatical/phrasing mistakes.

I have been sleeved on April16/2011. I am a band to sleeve revision. I wont talk about my band anymore Ihave already discussed it before a lot on the sleeve to band revision section.

I wont bore u with my hospital stay! And what went there but all I can say my doctor and his team has been gentle and SOSWEET!

SO lets see what u might expect onur 30 days Journey! EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, GOOD AND BAD!

Day 1:

The good: you are done! You had thesurgery! You are alive!

The bad: If u are just like me, I wasstanding strong by my decision, not having buyer remorse not even questioning what have I done to myself… but u might! So don’t freak out! .. but the truebad things that happened to me, was the stomach spasms, that felt I wanna throwup although am NOT nauseous or near that. I had a tube entering my nose passing through my throat to my stomach, connected to a bag full of blue Fluid. I was informed later that it was just to keep sure there are noo leaks. Thank god mydoctor came at night and had it removed.

Day 2: I was allowed to sip and itdidn’t feel anything more than something heavy in my stomach.

The good: finally u are drinking * I was NPOthe first night.

The bad: GAS PAIN in my right shoulder that made me scream, cry and wanna die!

Pain meds are also not that good.. they make u dizzy and not in a good way.

Day 3: WOW U ARE FINALLY HOME!That’s the only good thing! My comfort zone, my bed.. That I couldn’t feel comfortable on! I still can't sleep on my sides.

The bad: u are just confused, should I drinkthat? Will it makes me sick? , after a sip of any clear Fluid u will startquestioning if u just had caused a leak?! Will my life be terrible forever!?Then u come on the board to let ppl know u are fine, and u just want to nap!But actually u are not in the mood to talk u just want to lurk and see if thereis anyone have had ur crazy symptoms!

Day 4: ALL BAD FOR ME! I was finewith Soups then baamm.. I smelled one sea food Soup and I went sick all day! NOFOOD NO Water NO ANYTHING! My parents were worried I looked so pale and was nearly dehydrated. Also I had my period one week before my surgery and I wokeup on day 4 with blood in my panty.. I was like WHAT THE HELL! Am I leaking!?!I called my surgeon and he confirmed that hormones are just playing up .. Hetold me ur bodyjust went into a tornado few days ago.. let it settle on its own. Don’t worrytoo much.

It was too late and I just decidedI need something other than CLEAR damned Soup and drinks so I went to creamsoup! ( felt so better afterwards but felt damn guilty and the fear of leak juststarted harassing me)

I came back on board that day, announcing I amhaving the worse time of my life. I received amazing personal conversations.One of them (without mentioning names, in case they wont like it, just let meknow that going on cream Soups and even MUSHIES on the 4^th day istotally okay for some surgeons and that I shouldn’t do it but its okay! It wasso comforting, so I continued having cream soups since then. The one thingbeside Water that wasn’t making me sick anymore.

DAY 5:

The bad: DON’T WEIGHT URSELF!! I gained 9 pounds! WHAT THE HELL?!

Yeah you have heard it before onOH and here, fluids and IV gives u extra illusional pounds on the scale rightafter the surgery and they will go away BUT when they happen to u!! IT ISFORBIDEN! And NO it is just u and urfat luck! U are always stay FAT! .. ppl will swear to u that u will pee themand No u will not believe them. Although u will just thank them.

DAY 6:

The bad: Starting regrettingur descisio, ..was it really worth it?! Am I such a spoil human being who cant take control over her life?! Did I do a big mistake losing my band (In revision cases) .. Iwill never lose weight in my life.. Is the rest of my stomach will ever forgiveme?

The good: I woke up so late atnight feeling like I CANT hold my pee!! Wondering Did they reduce the capacityof that place too? I kept visiting the restroom for several hours that nightand peed my life away.

DAY 7: I AM DOWN ALL WHAT I HAVE GAINED in my first week POST OP

DAY 8: I AM DOWN 2 MORE POUNDS

I kept losing 1 to 2 pounds fromday 8 to day 13.

It was the first time in my lifeto weight 99.8 !! KILOS! I have always weighted more than 100!

The rest of the second week, you will just go crazy with this liquid diet.

I relied on my good friend (GNCWhey protein) It tasted so good. I blended it with some yogurt and milk. Creamsoup weren’t appealing anymore to me. My second visit to the surgeon was in fewdays and I know he will ask me to do one more week of liquids and I was intending a murder on that day! I was going to fight for me food!

Day 15 : the day before mydoctor's visit I started not losing weight .. I have heard about stalls but Inever excepted it to happen to me! Why you! Why it is always you and some smallpercentage of other ppl? .. well truly I didn’t think so, cause I was startingto love my new me, the one who is not suffering while drinking water, the onewho can take a pill normally.. and the one who is gonna eat a hershy kiss thatnight!! YES ! I had it in my mouth and I kept chewing the hell out of it. It isokay you are not an angel, but still don’t do it!!

Day 16: My doctor was awesome! He gaveme the okay to start soft food. He wasn’t against solid either but he told mewhy would u make urself suffer that soon?.. just try practicing eating. Irolled my eyes thinking .. I have been practicing that with my band for a whole7 yrs .. no problemJ

My guidelines were simple.. EATWHATEVER U WANT! Nothing is off limits! U are on a long experiment with foodnow. The one thing that he stressed on is WATER! FLUIDS.. DRINK DRINK!

The good: U will eat!

The bad: there is no place for allthe things u want!

My first food ever was Sashimi and sushi.. I removed the rice after the scary things I have heard about rice onboards.. I didn’t have a bite or two.. I had many small tiny bites.. chewed thehell of them, and they are so mellow already. My first meal lasted 12 mins and then I said to myself that’s it! Lets ot push it. I had 2 pieces after all thechewing from the whole 8 piece roll.. without the rice and without the seaweed.

Day 17 till day 20 I had the samething over and over again, shushi, water, GNC in the morning and sometimessushi with it too.. My order stayed in the fridge for 3 days that I had tothrow it away!

Day 21: my 3^rd visit! NOpounds lost! No energy, but lots of love to life! My doctor advice was to stayaway from the scale! He knows me since the band, I weight morning and evening. He told me that the weight will come off slowly cause am not the same heavier person. He advised me to start having more physical activities so my energywill come back. Also I was suffering from continuous black outs when I stand upor get up too fast, he told me to start squeezing my legs muscles before it andafter I stand up and it is really working.

The good: I am no longer scaredfrom leaks.. Definitely healed from that obsession.

The bad: I had my first ice cream!And It isn’t my favorite anymore! I started feeling dizzy, nauseous, sweatingcold sweat, then having hot flashes, then running to the restroom for diarrhea.I had this before, It sounds like dumping syndrome but I am also hypoglycemic since my band! But it was definitely the worst episode I had of my life!

Day 22: I am down 3 POUNDS!! Lookslike the ice cream is working! It broke my stall! Lol can you believe that?!

I was ecstatic that day nothing bad can ruin that day EXCEPT if I chose to have more ice cream and suffer.. butI didn’tJ I had eggs with cheese in the morning followed by my Vitamins then Asnack of GNC shake, then a piece of lindit chocolate, then Sushi, then a snackof nuts! And I thought wow that is too much!

Day 23: I am down half a pound! WOW eating more definitely help ALTHOUGH I am actually not eating more, I am havingmore verities and quality food. It is just in very small quantities! I startedwalking so much more since the start of this week

The bad: I am not my usual self, Iam still tired after a walk in the mall which is not me. My back hurts! It neverhurt that much since I was over 300 pounds! I now knew from my doc that this is the weight coming off and shifting in my body! I Am late! NO PERIOD andreally unhappy about it!

The good: I am not hungry.. mylife is not about planning my next meal! It is about feeding my body when ittruly needs it! And stopping when it had enough!

Day 24: MY FIRST laughable dinningout!

The good: THANK GOD FOR BOXES! No vomiting, no scenes, no food stuck in urthroat that u cant have a nice social talk with ppl with u (Band problems)

The bad: I was a regular at thisrestaurants and they kept apologizing if the food wasn’t good cause it wasbarely touched! I kept assuring them that I had intensive surgeries and I just don’ttolerate food that much now.

Day 25: My first visit to my beloved gym.. It was all chatting with ppl there cause they really missed me! Aww!.

The bad: I couldn’t walk more than25 mins on the treadmill. It wasn’t anything more than I was just tired! And reallydisgusted that am walking not running. And really walking at a very slow-pace.

The few remaining days, I had noproblems except that I over ate once, I didn’t puke or anything I just kept feeling nauseous for a while then it passed. I gave sugar another try, which was cake and it was confirmed no more of these stuff. May be later?

I have a dark piece of chocolateeveryday! And It is my heaven.

I am not concerned about CARBS! AsI don’t have a real place for them and I am not freaking out about the grams ofcarbs in everything I eat, life is going good now, why should I restrict myself now when I can do it later when it is really needed.

DAY 30!

-I bought my first SKINNY jeans ever! And man did they look good on me!

-I had my first Mexican food! And the refried Beans really give me the goto a real restroom visit! (EW sorry) I noticed the EPMANADA went down fine, butall I had was half of it and the other half at dinner when I went home.

-I am down 18 pounds! That leaves me away from wonder land by 17 pounds!

- I am a happier person! I cant describe it but U gotta be sleeved to feelit. I am mentally thinking that everyone should be sleeved now lol cause it isa very good way of living

-I started writing this LONG post on that day!

Day 31:

The bad: still no period, still low energy but not the same levels as before, I wasn’t tired driving to some friends but I was tired sitting for too long there chatting.

The good: I finally finished thatpost which I seem to forget a lot of things I wanna talk about it here no matter how long it seems! Lol

My advice:

-Don’t stress about ur weight, Don’t stress about ur weight!! IT WILL Happen! No possible way it wont! .

.-Don’t freak about ur food, try DIFFERENT things! Sticking to the same pattern isn’t good for u emotionally or evenweight loss wise, when I stick to the same menu on a week I didn’t lose.

- Have a one day of fun each week, shock ur body with a new ingredient.

- FATS! Are important in urdiet! And there are plenty of good source of fat.

- CARBS are made to be eaten not freaking about, chose urcarbs wisely and see how ur body reacts, ur brain will love it! Andif it is a slider for u, try another source of carb. Refried Beans are good! Remember?There are some other stuff like it just search it with ur body.

- Water is the only thing that can stop u from losing weight! DRINK! The more u drink the more fresh u will be.

- Live like a normal person! When u are a month out stop freaking outabout the little things.. u are living to try not to be the same old patterned person. Sometimes as my doctor told me u will forget u are sleeved. Sometimes Ido!

( not talking quantity wise) I mean leading life.

- Have faith and push urself to new limits, Walk faster the next time u hit the road.

Congrats on your sleeve! And for anyone considering it, I strongly advice you start posting and asking as many question as u want!

See you in a another window;) my awesome new family!