Back~To~Amy

Congrats on making your decision and best of luck to you in your journey!

Oh, that sounds good too. By the time I get to postop day 22, I will probably have a list as long as my arm of foods I wanna eat!

Thanks y'all. Now that my pain is less and less, my outlook on life is so much better. I'm so excited to be on this journey that I've really just begun.

People like you are a huge inspiration to me. Congrats on your success so far. You've done awesome!

Great information Tiffykins. Especially helpful to us newly sleeved. I love the kitchen sink analogy. I count myself lucky to be able to get my liquids in so easily. The nurses had me mark off on this chart every time I drank a medicine cup (2 ounces) of water. When she came back later, in a surprised voice, she asked "you drank all that?" I told her she that she told me to drink one cup every 15 minutes. She told me yeah she tells everyone that but most people can't do it. About that time an aide came in and she had to tell her about my drinking. I've always been the type of person who drinks a lot. Obviously, I can't drink as much postop yet, but for where I am I guess I'm still a drinking champ. :-)

Obviously, there ate a lot of differences in the two procedures and the decision of which is better is a very individual one. One of the things my doctor said in the initial seminar was if you are a big sweets eater and you think you may cheat the sleeve by grazing on sweets all day, the RNY would be a better choice because you will have dumping syndrome with that Of course, he went over all the other things you can find on line or by attending a seminar. This is just another thing that you may not know or find in your research so I thought I'd mention it. Best of luck to you in your decision.

Flavored chicken broth seems to be my meal of choice at only 5 days out. I can drink 8 ounces pretty quickly with no problem and it fills me up quite nicely for a little while. I haven't been worried about it since its a liquid and liquids are supposed to go right through our pouches.

I'm thinking retried beans with cheese and my favorite restaurant salsa might be my first food too. Man, just talking about it makes my mouth water! Come on postop day 22!!

I was sleeved last Tuesday, the 5th. It was a rough first few days but I'm feeling better and better each day. I've had no real significant issues with gas and absolutely no issues with reflux or constipation. It feels like a full-time job, but I'm doing great getting my fluids in. Protein, however, is another story. If that were my job, I'd have been fired by now. :-)

Good luck to you! I just had surgery at Forest Park last Tuesday. The people there are wonderful. I couldn't have asked for any better! Well, except maybe that they didn't wake me up so much. But hey, I guess that is part of taking such good care of their patients.

Personally, I'd take the multiple incisions with good follow up over the other. I had 1 good sized incision and multiple small incisions from my gallbladder surgery in 2007 and the only one that you can really still see is the larger one. I really have to look to find the smaller ones. From my VSG surgery, I have 4 really small Incisions and 1 larger one. I suspect they will heal similar to the gallbladder ones.

I was thinking of calling you earlier but time got away from me and I don't like calling people late. I told you I pinned so many food things on Pinteret last night that I could feed myself for quite some time. Have you been thinking about what your first food will be? I did have a Popsicle tonight and you'd have thought it was gourmet the way I was enjoying it! Nice to see you on here.

I'm only 5 days postop and 5 days into my 21 day liquid diet. But I can't help but "dream" of the feeling of getting to chew something on postop day 22. That leads me to my question, what was your first real food, not liquid food, postop?

Yup. Best site and support ever!

I had a drain and didn't even feel it. Actually, I think I was 2 days postop when I discovered I did. The nurse pulled this little fluid filled bulb out of the pocket of my hospital gown and I asked what it was. And, that is how I found out about it. It didn't hurt while in me. Others said it didn't hurt coming out, but mine hurt big time. I was never do glad to have it out.

I just has surgery last Tuesday. I got out of the hospital on Thursday and have been staying with my parents until today when my dad brought me home. When I went to get dressed, I put on my bra for the first time since surgery and it just wasn't fitting right. There were these little gaps in the front. Ya know, like I wasn't filling it out. I didn't give it much thought though. I just kinda figured it wasn't on just right. After all, it didn't go on as smoothly as preop since I was trying to make sure I didn't mess with any of my incision areas. Anyway, when I got home I weighed and found I'm down 21 pounds since my preop diet. It all the sudden occurred to me that is why my bra isn't fitting the same. So yeah, I know I'm losing weight. The numbers on the scale say so. But, my first glimpse of actually seeing it is in my bra. Not a big NSV, but for me a special one because it was my first one. I am so excited to take this journey I'm just beginning.

Be careful about purchasing too much of those. They only sell them by the case and they rin anout $25.00. My 3 friends I met here who all had surgery on the same day and by the same doctor as me all used the shakes from costco -- Premier Protein during our preop diet. However, postop we all find them quite heavy and none of our sleeves like them. If you are on the Dallas side of the metroplex, I'd be happy to meet you and bring you a few of the chocolate ones that you can try after surgery. Then, if you like them you can have someone get you a case of them.

You said it! The support here is top notch. These people have been so much help to me preop and since my surgery last Tuesday.

You are quite welcome. Oh, and don't freak out if you are pulled and searched. It is a random thing and the few times it's happened to me, it was done very respectfully. If you think of any more questions just ask. I'm sure either me or someone here will have an answer for you.

First of all, gallbladder attacks are more often than not brought on by high fat foods. Please do see a doctor soon. I kept having "the worst attacks ever" like someone above posted. They were usually in the middle of the night (typical, but not always) and they would last about an hour and a half. Then, I had THE attack. That one was 10 times worse than the other ones I thought were the worst attacks ever. I lived alone and after puking more than I ever had and enduring the pain and all the other symptoms for almost an hour, I knew this one wasn't going away so I called my sister and told her I was calling 911 and to meet me at the hospital.prior to this. I kept saying I was gonna see a gastroenterologist but I kept putting it off. BIG mistake. Gallbladder pains can radiate and cause pain in many places. There is usually pain at the location of your gallbladder too.....on the right side pretty much straight down from the breast nipple at the bottom of your rib cage. Please, if you think it may be your gallbladder, don't do what I did. See a doctor soon. It will not get better. It only gets worse and the pain is off the charts and unrelenting without some good narcotics. And, if it ruptures, it can be dangerous. Oh, and for me, recovery after surgery was a breeze. My recovery now from VSG is a lot more painful. I guess after THE gallbladder attack, surgery pain was no where as painful. Take care!

Nerves are completely normal. I think we've all had them. Come here for support as much as you need!

I drank all my protein in one sitting over time. I like the idea of breaking it down to smaller portions that are mixed in each hour with my water and/or other liquid. That way, I'm not just drinking my protein all at once. It was so heavy on my tummy and let's just say, I had no constipation issues today. Thanks for the awesome idea. I think it will definitely be a keeper for me.

I've had and continue to have very little issues with gas after surgery day. However, when I do have an issue, 2 Gas X strips do the trick. Hope you blow your hubby out of the house soon! :-)