BlessedBeyondMeasure2012

So today has been a rough day and we haven't even hit 1 PM yet. This morning, instead of having my normal 3 turkey sausage links for Breakfast (100 cal, 13 gm protein) I decided to have a ham, egg and cheese croissant with only 1/2 the croissant from our local donut shop. I have done well lately and have been seeing the scale move which has made me really happy. I have been craving one of these croissants which I haven't had since before surgery so I figured this morning I would stop and get one and then do REALLY good for the rest of the day. I don't mean skipping meals, just getting the most out of what I would eat for the rest of the day. Anyway, things got hectic at work and I didn't get in a morning snack, by 11 I was so stinkin hungry and with no end in site for lunch I grabbed what was easiest and closest, 1/2 a donut... and then the other half. I haven't eaten a donut since well before surgery. Then the boss went out and bought hamburgers and fries from Burger King for lunch. I ate mine with only half the bun, and only one fry but still, not my good planned lunch that I was counting on. He also bought me a chocolate shake and I can't remember how long its been since I had one of those. One drink of it and I knew if I kept going I would feel bad because of all the sugar. It went down the drain. I haven't had a drink out of a straw since surgery and I even drank the drink of the chocolate shake through the stupid straw. I know better. I know better than all of it. I'm disappointed in myself that I let myself fall off the wagon like I did. I'm a food-a-holic, I have to watch myself just like an alcoholic does. I feel like I have failed miserably today. I also feel like I missed the good feeling of the "drunk" and went straight to the hungover feeling. None of what I ate made me feel better. In fact I kinda feel gross right now. I know it is a lesson in learning. I've been really proud of myself with how well I have done over the past 5 months. I thought I was getting to the point where battling these food demons was getting to be second nature and it wasn't so hard anymore. I don't want to do anything to screw this up. I don't want to start gaining back what I've lost... I've worked too hard. Nothing about this journey has been easy but I have been living it. I've been making it and making it work for me. I just feel really defeated. I told my sister about all of this (she is in the process of getting approval for the sleeve) and told her that tomorrow would be better. I can't wait until tomorrow, starting from this minute the rest of today has to be better.

Sorry for the vent/whine. Praying for a better rest of today and for better decision making...

I was sleeved 3/25/13 and started out as a 46DDD/F. Today, I am 106 pounds down and a 40/42 DDD/DD. My boobs are way less full than they used to be and sometimes I think I still need that third D just to have room for the skin lol

I call them "my fat girl camera tricks" lol! This double chin is slowly going away but not nearly as fast as I'd like it to even with 105 pounds gone!

I was off for two weeks. I could have gone back after a week but I was also on mternity leave and I had two weeks left of it after I had surgery. It was nice to be back to eating some regular food when I came back to work. I was off of full liquids by then. Anyway, I would take two weeks and then ask for help with the lifting. I think you'll be good.

I don't see it.

You can search the site for A Walk with Irene and it will pull it up for you. I couldn't find it just by looking either.

I had 4 plus one drain site that is more noticiable than the rest. I had none in my belly button. I am almost 5 months out and all of the scars are fading nicely. I had my gall bladder taken out so now I have 4 more incisions from that. I had a different surgeon and he didn't use any of my previous incisions. 6 months ago I had no scars on my belly, now I have 9. Buckshot sounds like as good a story to me as any! LOL!

Do any of y'all use Kaiser insurance? My sister is in the process and lives outside of Denver and was trying to get some reviews on surgeons there.

Thanks kb88! I appreciate the info!

My sister is looking into VSG and has Kaiser insurance. She lives outside of Denver. Now I have no clue how Kaiser works but does anyone have any experience with any surgeons there? She is nervous but excited and I'm just curious for her. Thanks for the help!

So I just had my gall bladder taken out two weeks ago. I went in having pain, they put me in the hospital that day and took it out the next. It wasn't making me sick, just hurting. The ER doc told me that it was only going to get worse until I got it out. Apparently the stones I had were small which made them more likely to get in one of the ducts and cause an obstruction. The best treatment would be to get it out. There is a medication called Actigall that can help with it if there is a reason that they aren't going ahead with getting it out. Talk to your regular PCP. Yes doing low fat and relatively bland will help but you need to get it out of there. I didn't realize that losing a lot of weight can put you at risk for gall stones, then there are the 4 F's (fat, forty, fertile, female -- and I fall into all but the forty catagory) that put you at an increased risk. Apparently I was just asking for my gall bladder to go crazy!

I hope it gets better for you! Don't forget... breathe in, breathe out, repeat. This too shall pass...

8-9-13 lap band to sleeve in Shreveport! Dr. George Merriman is my surgeon! Excellent care, followup, and staff! Any other north Louisianians here?

I'm a Shreveport girl. Dr. Merriman did my sleeve on 3/25/13. Having great results so far, no regrets!

Me too! I broke mine yesterday and I'm so sad! Hopefully we will both be able to replace them soon!

So yesterday morning, after I weighed I was moving my scale back to it's normal spot on our bath mat (I have to move it to the tile to weigh) and I dropped it on it's corner. Not it was a really nice scale, the Aria by fitbit, and it shattered. I am so sad! I almost felt lost this morning without it! I've always been a daily weigher when I'm in weight loss mode, now no scale. This is gonna be tough lol!

Thanks y'all!

Wow did the same dr do both procedures? My bariatric surgeon removed my gb. He used 2 of my old incisions and 1 in my belly button, so no new holes! Lol

I just found out today that I have gallstones- I have had a few attacks over the past two weeks, but mostly nausea 24/7. I am also having a swallow test in the morning because my surgeon thinks I might have a stricture as well. Definitely not what I wanted to hear, but it was a side effect that I was prepared for. I did not realize that there would be four more holes in my abdomen though

I had a different surgon do my gall bladder surgery. I was hoping that he would use some of the same incisions as my VSG surgeon but nope. I'm thinking that buckshot sounds like as good of an excuse as any lol

I had surgery on 3/25/13 but lost 30-25 pounds in the month before that. I've lost a total of 101 pounds as of this morning. I had my gall bladder taken out on Monday but other than that, I've had no problems/complications. I have really got to get some pictures linked in here to show some progress. My weight loss has really slowed down over the past month but seems like it has picked up since my gall bladder came out. Hopefully it will continue on down. I'd love to be below 200 by Christmas. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it goes!

That was originally my plan but a month before I was scheduled for surgery last year I found out I was pregnant. I had my sleeve done while I was off on maternity leave and haven't looked back. I just had to have my gall bladder taken out on Monday but otherwise, I've had no problems.

You look great! Keep up the good work pretty lady!

The Extra dessert gum is great! I love the lemon pie one!

I usually cut mine as I go. I don't cut it all up at once for the reasons you listed above. I can just bite into things but I find when I do my bites are usually bigger than I intend for them to be and then I eat too fast. I probably cut my bites about half the size I did before I had surgery.

So I now have 4 new incisions to go with the 5 I had from my VSG. I didn't get to eat or drink anything for over 24 hours by the time I finally had surgery. I am amazed at the restriction I have now with my sleeve. I had good restriction before. I could eat 5-6 oz of meat/food and feel satisfied. I had no trouble getting in my calories or Protein. Now I have no idea how I'm going to do either. I'm happy that I have this new restriction, maybe it will kick start my weight loss again. The suckiest part is that I can't work out for at least a week. Will have to get back at it next week...

Statistically' date=' the occurrence of a gall bladder issue after significant weight loss from VSG is much higher for women then it is for men. I am not sure why this is the case. Does anyone know?[/quote']

Gall bladder disease has a higher incidence in women in general. The "4 F's" are a pretty good guideline to figure out who is most likely to have GB problems. Fat, forty, fertile, female. Other than not being in my 40's I fall into all the other categories. Even though there is much less of me now, I'm still fat/overweight. Pregnancy also increases the risk for GB problems and I had a baby 4 weeks before I had my VSG and then the VSG which also increases the risk and I was just asking for it. Wish I would have thought of all of this before now!

*wasnt planning on this

You're gonna feel so much better once you get that puppy out!! I was miserable until mine finally got yanked.

I sure hope so. Totally want planning on this when I came to the ER today lol