DogMom3

I just posted some before and current photos too

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't checked in for awhile. Everything is going great here. Hubby and I are mending the marriage and I am so happy about that. I didn't want to throw away 18 years. I have stalled off and on with the weight loss and am currently at 234 lbs from my top weight of 331 and the 328 from surgery day. I am so excited to get to under 200 as it's been approximately 17 years since I have been under 200. I have not had any complications (other than the GB surgery) but that was bound to happen. I have sold all my 4x and 3x clothing on Ebay and made a good amount of money on them. I too have not been exercising as much as I should. My 12 hour shifts at the hospital and selling Avon has me really pooped lately, but hoping to get my motivation back. How is everyone else doing?

Sorry everyone....yes, I am doing great. The soreness is almost gone and I go back to work tomorrow. My only restrictions are to limit what I lift for the next 2 weeks. It was a nice simple recovery and I am so thankful again that I won't have to deal with that pain, it makes me more sensitive to the patients that come into the ER with gallbladder pains.

Hi everyone....Thank you for all the well wishes. The surgery went fine, I am really sore but so glad that I won't have to deal with that pain again. He also went ahead and took out my appendix at the same time, so very thankful for that too! I have not been able to figure out what triggered it because it would hit out of nowhere and sometimes I had just eaten and other times I haven't eaten at all, so no rhyme or reason to any of it. I still find it crazy that I can go from a beautiful empty gallbladder to one filled with stones in just a short time.

Unfortunately, yes it is 100% due to the sleeve. I had a gallbladder ultrasound just prior to the sleeve and my gallbladder was beautiful, no thickening, no stones....nothing! It amazes me that it can fill up with stones so fast. Joni, you were lucky to be put on that medicine to help prevent them I would normally put the surgery off until it's more convenient but having that stone get stuck in the bile duct causing inflammation of my pancreas rates up there with a kidney stone if anyone has ever had one, you know what kind of pain I'm talking about. Not something I want ever again. The surgeon doing the gallbladder surgery is going to take out my appendix while he's in there too. Gotta love that! I work the next 3 nights so will check in again after the surgery. Thanks for the support...am so not ready to go back into surgery again.

Hi everyone, Kellie so sorry to hear about the issues with your reflux and hoping they get you back to normal soon. Happy Belated birthday Sheila I just got out of being in the hospital for 2 nights and have surgery scheduled July 30th to have my gallbladder removed. I had a lot of pain Thursday night so went from working in the ER to being a patient only to find out that I had Pancreatitis due to a gallstone passing.....I had a gallbladder ultrasound prior to bariatric surgery and it was perfectly clean without a single stone, well now my gallbladder is full of stones. Not looking forward to another surgery already but don't ever want to go thru the pain of passing another one.

Colorado Springs is actually where I had my surgery..... I live 30 miles away so thankfully we have not been personally affected. My husband & I have friends and coworkers that have been evacuated. We are seeing alot of evacuees in our hospital that were first evacuated from thier home, then the motel they were at so they decided to come here so they could put some distance between them and the fire. I have a lot of First Responder/Medical/Law Enforcement friends that have been helping and my coworkers that commute to work are monitoring the evacuation notices and some have had to leave mid shift to go evacuate or help eldery parents get out of the area, it's devastating. Thankfully it wasn't as hot (90's instead of 100) and so they have been able to contain it to 15%. I haven't watched the news today yet, you can only watch that so much ya know? Thank you for your prayers!

Sooo good to hear from everyone. Sounds like we are all experiencing the same things. I find that sometimes I can eat a lot more than I thought I should be able to at only 2 months out and I had a stall for about 2 weeks but am now at 58 pounds lost and have went from a snug 4x to a nice 2x. I'm not sure of everyone's starting weight but I think I may have been the heaviest of' our group. Starting weight at the pre-op stage was 328 and I am happy to report that today I weighed in at 270. My 50 pound loss reward was an inexpensive $20 Walmart maxi dress that I feel so wonderful in. It's been a long time since I bought something that I LIKED rather than something that FITS and it's been a long time since I have been able to buy a dress here in our small town because nobody carried my size. It's amazing how this $20 summery dress makes me feel I know I have a long way to go, but I am feeling great! Take care and please pray for Colorado....the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs is still only 5 percent contained, 32,500 people have been evacuated and 200-300 homes and numerous businesses have been lost. We have had historical monuments burn to the ground and there's no hotel room available for miles. This fire with the winds and heat is burning out of control and we currently have over 800 firefighters risking thier own lives, It's absolutely devastating. Thank you in advance for the prayers

It was the soft food stage that finally made me feel normal again......Mashed potatoes, tuna or chicken salad (only the canned meats at first since it's softer), applesauce, cottage cheese, eggs.....I was sooo looking forward to a scrambled egg only to find it didn't sit right with me, so I made a poached egg and I still think that was the best tasting egg I ever had

Why even comment if it's gonna be patronizing?? Not everyone will feel the exact same effect as the next person and if someone needs support that's what this forum is for and not for comments like this! Melissamae, it's okay to feel how you feel girl....just be strong and it does get better. Most of us know that the hunger we experience after the surgery is our head reminding us of the lifestyle we lived for so long, it gets easier to deal with and to change as time goes on. I am 2 months out now and I know it was so hard the few 3-4 weeks but it got easier, thank God! Hang in there and be strong

Hi everyone....sorry again for taking so long to check in. Hubby & I are dealing with some tough issues and had decided to take a week apart. He's back home today but things are shaky so will be starting counseling soon. I am so happy to hear that you are all doing so great. I hit my first goal of 50 lbs lost and am really starting to feel the difference especially when I was taking out my marital anger on the yard work....my stamina really surprised me. Yard looks great too I had quite a scare yesterday that sent me to the ER....thought for a minute that I was having a heart attack. Thank God I wasn't but that was pain I have never felt before, it felt like some grabbed me in the middle of the chest and was twisting my diaphragm...called my ER friends and of course they made me come in but it turns out it was an esophageal spasm probably caused by my having a cup of coffee first thing of the day and not eating a bit of something or taking my antacid first. I knew that our stomachs still created alot of acid and that coffee is acidic too but I didn't think about it that day, but I will from now on. Congratulations to everyone on thier achievements...we are all doing so great and should be very proud. Arre any of you doing special rewards for goals you meet? If so, I would love to hear your reward ideas, trying to come up with some for myself. .

You are a strong woman Melissa....so you can do this! I know I don't know you, but I think that any of us overweight people that love food and has this surgery has to have some amazing strength. When you get to have that fruit and yogurt you will enjoy it 10x more since you know you are having it at the right time. Good Luck

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't checked in lately. All is well here in Colorado. I am on my 8 day off stretch and it feels so nice to not have to go to work this week. I have been doing some yard sale-ing, going to the gym and trying out some new recipes that I have run across on Pinterest. One of my favorites is: Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes 1 head cauliflower 2 large eggs 1/2 c cheddar cheese, grated 1/2 c panko 1/2 t cayenne pepper (more of less to taste) salt Cut cauliflower into florets & cook in boiling Water until tender about 10 minutes. Drain. Mash the cauliflower while still warm. Stir cheese, eggs, panko, cayenne & salt to taste. The recipe says to put them in the skillet with the olive oil, but I put the mixture into the mini muffin pan and baked them instead...they were Awesome!! Glad to hear that everyone is doing well....Janet, nice to know your name, mine is Naomi. Joni, so glad to hear you are feeling better, that burning sensation had to be miserable.

Congratulations!!! Will see you on the losers bench

I am about 5 weeks post op and all of a sudden these past few days I can't seem to tolerate milk either but cheese goes down fine too....doesn't make any sense to me, but I do remember my Nutritionalist saying that if something doesn't agree with you, try it again in a few weeks. I have switched over to Vanilla Silk milk light in the meantime and it goes down fine. Strangest thing. Good luck to you!

Patrick Curl nailed every single reason for me as to why I chose the sleeve over gastric bypass. I work in an ER and have seen several complications for Gastric Bypass and the Band, but have only seen 1 complication of the sleeve and that was a truly non compliant patient who didn't feel you had to be accountable for the amount you can eat after the surgery. Another HUGE factor for me was again exactly what Patrick said: I want to be able to enjoy my favorite foods in smaller amounts of course. I'm not one that can handle the "you can never have that again" mentality. I know some nutritionalists are telling people that there are certain foods you can never have again, but I belong to a group of Nutritionalists and they all same the same thing.......moderation! Second: the mortality rate is much higher with gastric bypass Third: The weight loss was the pretty close to the same as Gastric bypass And last but not least.....recovery time (bypass is 6 weeks...I was back to work in 10 days after my sleeve) Do your research...write down all the pros and cons to both surgeries and see what you feel is best for you! Keep coming back here for any support you need, this is a great site. God Bless and good luck to you!

I work in an ER as a secretary so not very demanding for me. I went back after 10 days. For someone with a demanding job, I would say at least 4 weeks. Good Luck to you

Great information Sandi...Thank you for sharing

Congratulations Mike! Looking forward to watching your vlog.

Congratulations on getting home so fast...I had to stay 2 nights! Keep moving around and you will feel better soon

I had to have a gallbladder ultrasound before my surgery to see if it was functioning ok and it was, so I did not have my removed. Your surgeon may require the ultrasound just to see if it shoud be removed or not. I would think if you're self pay, it would definitely not cut the price down, but could go up a bit or just stay the same depending on the surgeon.

I actually have moderate sleep apnea and wear bi-pap everytime I sleep or else my oxygen drops to the 70's. My surgery date was 4/23/12 and I did just fine with the anesthesia. Remember, there is a team of professionals monitoring every aspect of your vital signs when you are under anesthesia, so no worries.

I say GO FOR IT!!! Who cares if there are people out there that aren't supportive....one click of the "delete friend" will take care of that. I have absolutely no space in my life for unsupportive judgemental people. You did this to give yourself a new life....this was not an easy way out and you should be very proud of yourself. Tell the world girl and best of luck to you!!!