VACookey

I had my surgery with Dr. Nain. I couldn't be happier. They've been absolutely wonderful throughout the whole process. I don't know about Fair Oaks, but Potomac Hospital was phenomenal. I couldn't have asked for a better experience, considering the trauma I put my body through.

My husband spent the night with me and I'm so glad he did. I told him he didn't have to but wound up needing him after all. We you're heaving and ready to puke, the nurse can't get there fast enough to help you. And when you need to go to the bathroom at 3am, I'd rather have my husband help me than to wait on the nurse.

*YAY*

Here's my advice: give it up completely. It's all chemicals and not good for your body period. Carbonated or not. And this is coming from a 4 bottle a day diet coke addict.
My skin, hair, nails, and teeth are so much better since I stopped drinking that stuff. I'm sure Vitamins helped but I believe getting those chemicals out of my body has helped as well.

Here's my advice: give it up completely. It's all chemicals and not good for your body period. Carbonated or not. And this is coming from a 4 bottle a day diet coke addict.
My skin, hair, nails, and teeth are so much better since I stopped drinking that stuff. I'm sure Vitamins helped but I believe getting those chemicals out of my body has helped as well.

My pet peeve is people who use apostrophes for plurals.
My pant's are too big.
My clothe's don't fit.
Drives me nut. But lately, I've started seeing apostrophes on words with "nt" in it.
I wan't chocolate.
My pan't's are too big.
Now, with that being said, loose and lose are very hard for some people. My father is great at math but spelling is so difficult for him. Always has been. And I worked with a woman who used loose instead of lose in a document. I made a joke about it, thinking it was just a typo. She looked at me like I had stabbed her and said "are you making fun of me?" I felt so bad. I didn't realize she just had a hard time spelling. So, I try to cut people some slack.

I've never had lap band so I have no words of wisdom to offer you. But I can offer you my sincerest hopes that this all gets resolved for you soon. Best of luck to you!

Hi all,
I've been hovering around goal for weeks but today I am finally, officially there! I weighed 134.5 this morning. It's not my normal weigh in day, but I said the day I get to goal, that's the day I declare it!
Time to join the maintenance threads!!!!
I'm loving my new life. Over the course of this, I have spent time worrying I would never get to goal so it is extra sweet that I am here!
During the last 10 months I have learned:

How to walk with my knees closer together and my back straight because I'm not carrying 100+ extra pounds everywhere I go.
Tracking food and Water can be easy: I use a white board on my fridge door.
I have to have a group exercise. I simply will not exercise on my own.
I look great in $5 tshirts from Walmart and Target.
Probably two pounds of my weight loss is from my thinner hair, but it is coming back!
The freezer is my friend. I freeze lots of bits of veggies and meats and reuse them later.
Only the skinniest people obsess about my weight loss. What's up with that?

I'm looking forward to maintaining my weight and enjoying my healthy life. I feel like I've been given a gift of good health and I am enjoying it every day!
Lynda

My pet peeve is people who use apostrophes for plurals.
My pant's are too big.
My clothe's don't fit.
Drives me nut. But lately, I've started seeing apostrophes on words with "nt" in it.
I wan't chocolate.
My pan't's are too big.
Now, with that being said, loose and lose are very hard for some people. My father is great at math but spelling is so difficult for him. Always has been. And I worked with a woman who used loose instead of lose in a document. I made a joke about it, thinking it was just a typo. She looked at me like I had stabbed her and said "are you making fun of me?" I felt so bad. I didn't realize she just had a hard time spelling. So, I try to cut people some slack.

Ok, here's the dinner: one small meatball with a touch of Tomato sauce and a few pieces of reduced fat shredded cheese, heated and Ninja'd (yes, I broke out the Ninja food processor). Plus I have a spinach and cheese stuffed mushroom, blended as well.
Oh so delicious and I think it's sitting ok.

Had my 2 post op appointment with surgeon and I lost 11 pounds this week for a total of 26 pounds 4 days prior to my surgery! Super excited!

My jeans are to big already! And I went to Walmart...just looking around in the clothes to see what's out there for when I need to buy a few staples...and I found this really cute black and white printed maxi dress in a size 22/24...only one they had. So I bought it. Came home, tried it on..just to see how much more I needed to lose for it to fit...and holy balls it fits!!!!! Have to wear a smoothing garment under it...but it fits!!!!

Hi everyone!
I wanted to touch base with you all... because I can! On Thursday I will be 18 months post op. One and one half years exactly. Yay! I'm happy.
Yup, that about sums it up right there.
Here's something I've learned and I think by sharing this bit of knowledge it might help some of you who might be struggling mentally with figuring out how - when - where - what - why's with the Post Op life of a VSG patient.
Notice the word "patient"... because seriously, you will never find this more of a virtue than after you have your surgery. This journey IS!! NOT!! EASY!! You're going to have so many ups and downs you won't know where you're headed sometimes. It's ok, and it's normal to feel confused by a lot of things! That's why this forum is so valuable, all of us pre-oppers and post-oppers coming together to offer support and some great advice.
Here is something to look forward to though... rather than become fixated on how much one will lose on the first month out, or for that matter 6 months... concentrate rather on how your life will look IN ONE YEAR from the date of your surgery.
You're going to have a Santa's List worth of NSV's, likely you will have cleaned out your closet and replaced all your clothes 2 or 3x over. Some people (for example my own Mom) will pass you right up and not realize that you're YOU... You're going to be bombarded with folks coming up and either congratulating you and/or asking you how you did it. You will probably get a little embarrassed by some comments. You won't need to buy your clothes in the Bigs & Talls anymore. Your shoes are going to fit like they should. You will be able to walk and workout with the greatest of ease and without much pain. Likely you will begin to feel more comfortable in larger crowds... and (if you're single) you might feel more empowered to flirt with others. You will fit nicely in stadium seats, in an airplane without extenders, chairs with arm rests... you will also be able to cross your legs like second nature. Your Before & After photos won't even look like you!!
These are only a handful of all the wonderful things you WILL experience at one year out... that you will still be dreaming of at one month.
Patience. It's THE #1 asset to have in this whole process.
Have a great day everyone!

The weather is so gorgeous today, warm and sunny. I've been feeling really flabby and wanted to get some exercise in. I took an exceptionally long walk today (relatively speaking) since my walks have been short the last few days. I also got permission from my nurse to do 5 pound weight exercises. Wow, what a difference! I feel so good right now it's not even funny. Considering this past weekend I was crying over intense acid reflux, today it a total turnaround.
I know I have nothing to add for people who are looking for better fitness advice months out, but I wanted to share how my baby steps today have really helped my gas, my mood, my energy, you name it.
Can I shout this out? Please?
I FEEL FANTASTIC TODAY!!!!!

I had a horrible night and morning because the pain meds made me puke, but I really wasn't puking because I had no food in my stomach. It was more like dry heaves. It was awful.
Then, this morning, at the barium test, I puked while still standing on the machine. I felt so bad for the tech. I don't think he was prepared for it. I felt worse than right after surgery. I was crying and thinking "Why did I do this to myself? What was I thinking????"
Then my new nurse came by, saw how horrible I looked and when I told her about the nausea she said "Oh, we'll just put you on something else." She gave me new meds. I slept for about an hour or two and I was a new woman! I walked around the floor, came back to the room, opened my laptop, ordered some food, you name it. She came back in and did a doubletake. I did a complete turnaround. I ordered 4 ounces of broth and ate it all no problems. Had some Jello, drank some Water. I was fine.
So, to make a long story short, I did so well today that they sent me home a day early. I'm feeling a million times better than this morning. And to think, all my problems were because of the wrong meds and NOT the surgery itself.
WOO HOO to the new me!

I had a horrible night and morning because the pain meds made me puke, but I really wasn't puking because I had no food in my stomach. It was more like dry heaves. It was awful.
Then, this morning, at the barium test, I puked while still standing on the machine. I felt so bad for the tech. I don't think he was prepared for it. I felt worse than right after surgery. I was crying and thinking "Why did I do this to myself? What was I thinking????"
Then my new nurse came by, saw how horrible I looked and when I told her about the nausea she said "Oh, we'll just put you on something else." She gave me new meds. I slept for about an hour or two and I was a new woman! I walked around the floor, came back to the room, opened my laptop, ordered some food, you name it. She came back in and did a doubletake. I did a complete turnaround. I ordered 4 ounces of broth and ate it all no problems. Had some Jello, drank some Water. I was fine.
So, to make a long story short, I did so well today that they sent me home a day early. I'm feeling a million times better than this morning. And to think, all my problems were because of the wrong meds and NOT the surgery itself.
WOO HOO to the new me!

I had a horrible night and morning because the pain meds made me puke, but I really wasn't puking because I had no food in my stomach. It was more like dry heaves. It was awful.
Then, this morning, at the barium test, I puked while still standing on the machine. I felt so bad for the tech. I don't think he was prepared for it. I felt worse than right after surgery. I was crying and thinking "Why did I do this to myself? What was I thinking????"
Then my new nurse came by, saw how horrible I looked and when I told her about the nausea she said "Oh, we'll just put you on something else." She gave me new meds. I slept for about an hour or two and I was a new woman! I walked around the floor, came back to the room, opened my laptop, ordered some food, you name it. She came back in and did a doubletake. I did a complete turnaround. I ordered 4 ounces of broth and ate it all no problems. Had some Jello, drank some Water. I was fine.
So, to make a long story short, I did so well today that they sent me home a day early. I'm feeling a million times better than this morning. And to think, all my problems were because of the wrong meds and NOT the surgery itself.
WOO HOO to the new me!

I had a horrible night and morning because the pain meds made me puke, but I really wasn't puking because I had no food in my stomach. It was more like dry heaves. It was awful.
Then, this morning, at the barium test, I puked while still standing on the machine. I felt so bad for the tech. I don't think he was prepared for it. I felt worse than right after surgery. I was crying and thinking "Why did I do this to myself? What was I thinking????"
Then my new nurse came by, saw how horrible I looked and when I told her about the nausea she said "Oh, we'll just put you on something else." She gave me new meds. I slept for about an hour or two and I was a new woman! I walked around the floor, came back to the room, opened my laptop, ordered some food, you name it. She came back in and did a doubletake. I did a complete turnaround. I ordered 4 ounces of broth and ate it all no problems. Had some Jello, drank some Water. I was fine.
So, to make a long story short, I did so well today that they sent me home a day early. I'm feeling a million times better than this morning. And to think, all my problems were because of the wrong meds and NOT the surgery itself.
WOO HOO to the new me!

I was wondering about this myself. I ususally go to the all you can eat sushi place but they also have a to go tray. I think I'd buy the to go plate and fill it with sashimi and vegetables instead of the stuff with lots of rice or the fried stuff. I'm certainly not happy that this happened to you but I'm happy that you posted about it as a warning to the rest of us. I'll either take it easy my first time back or wait a little bit longer than you did.

I just got my liquid diet kit to start on Wednesday. It seems like such a small amount of food for two weeks. But I knew this was coming, so I cut out diet cokes, sugar, and caffeine about 2 weeks ago and I've been eating smaller meals. I'm hoping that if I go through the food and caffeine withdrawals now that's one less thing to worry about after surgery.

I just got my liquid diet kit to start on Wednesday. It seems like such a small amount of food for two weeks. But I knew this was coming, so I cut out diet cokes, sugar, and caffeine about 2 weeks ago and I've been eating smaller meals. I'm hoping that if I go through the food and caffeine withdrawals now that's one less thing to worry about after surgery.