LVikingFan

One thing that would be concerning is that one of the things they would do in a hospital if you were brought in as a trauma would be to put what is known as a NG tube into your stomach. This is really not a good thing for someone with a sleeve unless it is done by someone acquainted with our changed anatomy. For this reason I would at the very least put a note of some sort in my wallet telling that I had had the surgery or wear a Medic-Alert bracelet. I really wouldn't go for the bracelet because I wouldn't want to advertise "Hey I used to be really fat!" on my wrist. unless there is some other code word or something that would alert rescue or hospital staff.

I have been wearing elastic waist basketball shorts ever since my surgery, and since I live in a hot climate and no longer work it hasn't been a problem. I have one pair of khakis that I wear to church, but my wife is getting tired of my "upper class homeless guy" look. I was fine with it, but a couple of weeks ago I had to go out of town to a funeral and realized that I had nothing to wear. SInce we had no shopping time until I had to go, I dug way in the back of my closet and found a sport coat that I had not been able to wear in 15 years and my trusty khakis. I guess I looked semi-presentable. But it did make me think that I need pants since it is now 40 degrees. My wife took matters into her own hands and went shopping. Not wanting to spend a lot, she went to K-Mart. Well she found the sleeved mans Godsend. Dockers style pants with an adjustable waist. They aren't the funky looking elastic waist things either. The look like a nice pair of slacks with this nifty little adjustable thing inside. You may be acquainted with them from tux pants or from little kids jeans. I found that I can make them go down almost 2 inches! The really cool thing is that they cost less than $20! These should work for around 20 pounds of weight loss.

Well, I am feeling better soon too. It must be some 3 month thing. I was losing 3-5 pounds a week and then boom it stopped. I have lost 3 pounds the last 3 weeks. This started exactly at the three month mark. I have been really trying to up my exercise level and I hope that might help. I had a goal to get to onederland by Christmas, but being a 227 now, I don't think it is going to happen.

58 and I have had Chronic A-Fib for over 15 years. My cardiologist said there would be no problem with the surgery, but it kinda freaked out the anesthesiologist. He put a arterial line in my wrist during the surgery to better monitor my blood pressure. I didn't even know it was there except they told me afterwards why there was a bandage there. Since the surgery I am off some of my cardiac meds and feel so much better.

They put mine in after I was out in the OR and took it out after I was back in my room and would be able to walk to the bathroom. No pain at all, just a strange feeling while they took it out.

I chose the weight I weighed when I got married, 165. I am a male 5'7" and my doctor thought it sounds reasonable. My more immediate goal is to weight under 200 by Christmas. I am about 227 now and I really have to start working out, but I think I can do it. You can achieve whatever you want, just pick a goal and aim for it. Good luck and congratulations.

The second day I had hiccups that would not go away, they hurt, nobody seemed to care (at least in my opinion) I was miserable. I thought why did I do this? I took my pain meds and went to bed. I kept hiccuping for 8 hours. Then they stopped. I had survived! Since then I have not had another second thought. My obesity was so out of control I had been forced to go on disability and no longer work. I was taking 19 different medications a day including over 200 units of insulin. I could not tie my own shoes. I couldn't enjoy my beautiful granddaughter. All I could do was sit in a chair and watch TV, my wife was disgusted with me. I wasn't the husband, employee, father or grandfather that I should be. Fast forward 3 months. Now I am 72 pounds lighter, I take only 9 medications, with the promise from my physician that if my labs come out good at the end of November I will be off 5 more. My blood sugar is normal, and no more insulin. I can play golf again and walk over a mile a day. I am enjoying life again. If I had not had this surgery I probably wouldn't be here in a few years. I have no regrets.

I am 3 months out and still drink a bottle of Isopure a day. I get it at GNC. If you go the GNC route make sure and get their "Gold Card". It gives you a pretty big discount the first week of each month. Experiment with the different flavors, some are better than others and make sure that you get the zero carb ones. They have an Isopure smoothie too, but I found it was pretty high in calories. Good Luck.

Honestly you will forget all this stuff ever happened. Three months out and I can barely remember the first few days. I did have hiccups on days 2 and 3 and they were miserable. My surgeon just said to take the liquid Lortab and wait for them to go away. I did and went to bed and eventually they did go away. Mine didn't seem related to eating or drinking, they would just even start in my sleep. For the nausea I has some suppositories. Not that great of a thought to use, but you won't throw them up and they do help quickly with the nausea. The acid reducer meds are almost always a must. Most of us who have felt hunger have found that the acid reducers really help with that sensation. If the ones you have now don't agree with you call your doc and try a different one. Keeping liquids down is so important. If you are dehydrated you will feel miserable. Good luck, I promise in a month you will hardly remember the rocky start.

I am 3mos out and haven't lost any. Of course, I am pretty bald to start with, but my wife swears I have more hair than before. I am also very anal about getting enough protein too.

I am 3 months out yesterday and my surgeon says it is ok to work out. Up to this time all he allowed is walking. I have been walking and can easily do a mile. (Before my sleeve carrying in the laundry from the garage left me panting in a chair). The doctor recommended hiring a personal trainer to get me on the right exercises, but I really can't afford that at this time. Anyone got any suggestions what to start with at the gym? I know the treadmill, but I need to work on tightening up my abs and rebuilding my strength. Help please? PS I am a 58 year old guy if that makes any difference.

My doc said no gym for 3 months. I am 4 days away from that and I can't wait. I am down 65 pounds and never in my life would I think it was possible. My goal is to be under 200 by Christmas. I am hoping the gym will get the weight loss going faster again. 34 pounds by Christmas, I CAN DO IT!!!

I read somewhere that for every 35 pounds you lost you gain a usable inch.

Can't believe I have been living this new life for almost 3 months already. I have pretty much became used to the water/protein regime, I can usually get enough Protein in during the day, but I still drink one bottle of Isopure every day. I guess I am strange, but I don't mind it. I pretty much know exactly how much I can eat of different foods now. I can go out and eat at a restaurant now and be comfortable. The weirdest thing is when I get asked what I want to drink when eating out. When I say nothing., I get the strangest looks. I am down 65 pounds which is great, but 10 pants sizes which is the best. My wife keeps telling me that I look like a homeless guy with my baggy clothes and a very bushy beard. I have had facial hair for 16 years, but I haven't trimmed it since I retired a year ago. I surprised her the other day when she got home from work by being clean-shaven and in clothes that fit! I bought a shirt in a large---I haven't worn a large since just after high school! Let's hear how everyone else is doing? What are your greatest challenges and rewards now?

I can drink pretty much normally too, 2 months out. Living in Las Vegas in the summer if you can't drink you are in big trouble. I know some people here say they drink soda and beer, but I am going to avoid them alltogether, although I do have to say I miss my Diet Mtn Dew more than anything else!

I think that we need to make up our own minds and go for what we feel is realistic for us. I started at 295 and I am a 5'6" male. When asked I said I wanted to be 170, my doctor said that it was attainable. I had gone to another program and that doctor said that I could "Maybe" get down to 225. I didn't like one thing about that program so I looked around for one that I felt comfortable with. I would suggest for anyone who is pre-op and looking at a surgeon in their area, to go to one of their support group meetings. There you will see real people and real results with that program. A good doctor wouldn't be afraid for you to do that. We had a daughter and dad come last month and the dad asked all of why we did it and would we do it again. 100% of the people said yes. Don't let what others, even doctors, stop you from what you think you can do. What is the doc going to do if you lose more than he thinks you could? Sew your stomach back? Get to the weight that feels right and is healthy for YOU!

I would wait a while on the meat. When I did have it we cut it up really fine and added lots of gravy to make it super moist. Spicey didn't bother me at all. I think the anti-acid drugs that most of us are taking really help in that department. Be careful with guacamole, it is super high calorie and one of the things that my NUT suggested never return to my diet.

Thanks everyone for your response. I think my surgeon just seems to be ultra conservative about everything. Not all bad though, because I really have had no issues at all beyond hiccups the first couple of days and I have lost of ton of weight already.

Sounds like your blood sugar might be a little low too. A call to the doctor is not a bad idea.

I take 12 different pills a day (down from 19 so things are getting better). My doctor insists that the all be crushed. There are a couple that are really big, so I am cool with those being broken up, but how many of you actually just take pills without the crushing thing?

Are any of you taking meds for your tummies? I feel really dumb right now because I can't think of the technical name, but they help so much! At the least go out and get some Gas-X strips. They help with the bloating and tummy pain. I am two months out and just this past Friday at real regular food for the first time. Two ounces of steak and a little sweet potatoes. It satisfied me. The most important thing is to keep the liquids coming. If Isopure is too thick tasting to you thin it out with water, but keep drinking and walk, walk, walk! The first week is the worst by far, but from them on you will get better every day. I never thought it would feel "normal" to me, but now it is just everyday living. It is important to adjust your mind to not think that you are doing something bad to yourself. Think how good what you are eating or drinking tastes. Enjoy what you can have and don't mourn what you can't. Your life is going to be so much better in really a short time. No it is not easy, and anyone who tries to say we are taking an "easy" way out has never done it. But the rewards are huge. Now down off my soapbox. Good luck and hang in there. It will be better before you know it.

I am two months out now and have gone from 50 waist pants to loose 42's! I am retired, so I don't have to worry about clothes for work. I just broke down and got new underwear after taking a lot of grief from the wife. My 2X shirts were all donated last week and I am now wearing T-shirts from a box that I should have thrown out 10 years ago, but are a pleasant surprise that I can wear now. I have one pair of khaki's that I wear to church on Sunday that I just keep tightening the belt on and a few pairs of shorts that my bargain hunting wife found on clearance. I think that I am going to ask Santa for clothes for Christmas since I think by then I should be close to where I will wind up.

To weigh in on the insurance questions. Most insurances say that they will not pay for anything that you get as a result of something that they do not cover. My insurance did not cover any bariatric surgery and for that reason I put off having the surgery until they did. Since your insurance does cover bariatric surgery they should cover any complications you have even though you did not have the surgery through them. But I agree, a call to member services to guarantee that it is going to work that way is in order. If it isn't make sure that it is covered by any new option that you might have to choose from in Open Enrollment. Relax and hang in there through these first few weeks. I am in my 7th week now and it all seems like normal to me now.

I was sleeved back on 7/22 and even though I haven't had any complications, no nausea, able to get my liquids and protein in and no pain, I had absolutely NO ENERGY. Thank goodness I am retired because there was no way I could have gone to work. Now that I am in week 6 I suddenly feel like a new man. I can walk a mile with no problem. This is miraculous. I have a handicapped placard for my car since I couldn't walk into work from the parking lot without huffing and puffing. I have lost almost 50 pounds and I now know for sure that this was the right decision. I went to the doctor last week and he says no heavy workouts for another 6 weeks, but I am ready now. If you are still having issues take heart it will be over really soon and we Firecrackers are going to really be sparkling!

Have you tried the Iced Tea Isopure? My GNC mixes a case of the different flavors for me every two weeks. I guess I am weird because I actually kinda like the stuff. My favorite is the blue raspberry. Get it good and cold. The protein shots aren't too bad if they are good and cold too. Protein and fluids are your most important things right now. Don't worry too much about other stuff. And stay off the scale. Just weight once a week and don't stress it. You WILL lose weight.