Grateful Heart

I have started a day-by-day blog on this site starting with the day of surgery. I thought some of you looking forward to your surgery may like to see a blow-by-blow if you will.

Why does liquid Protein have to be soooooo sweet? And the odor is sooooo strong! I guess the sweetness and the odor is there to mask something really bad. I am currently trying to ingest the LiquaCel Orange. Anyway I am a week post-op today and I am determined to get my 50-60 grams of protein simply because I know it's for my best. I am still limited to 1 oz of clear liquid every 30 minutes. I have tried chugalugging it out of my 1 oz little cup. OMG! I've tried mixing it with Water. That's okay but it would take all day long to get in my protein if that's all I drank! So I decided today I would just take it like medicine. Just grin and bear it! One oz of LiquaCel is 16 grams of protein. I pour it into a tablespoon (twice) and just do it! Done! Three to four times a day.

Today was my day to go back to work. Not really a bad day. Got really tired after lunch. No pain at all. I'm in Louisiana and it has been snowing all day! Haven't seen a flake since the SnowBowl Independence Bowl in 2000. So the temp started to drop and everybody panicked that the roads would get icy so we left about 3:00. Had a really good day. I would not have believed 3 days ago that I could go to work and feel good doing it!

I knew I had to go back to work tomorrow so I figured I'd better condition myself some. So I did not go back to bed. I showered and got dressed, got in my car and went out. When I got home I was tired, but forced myself to not go to bed. Just watched TV. I made supper for my DH (and my disabled sister-in-law lives with us). I sat down and said I'm done! It wasn't long and I went to bed exhausted. I have very little pain if any. I'm having no trouble at all drinking my clear liquids.

Pretty much like yesterday. Feel pretty good! Still just tired. Resisted to spend the day in bed. Watched a couple of movies.

Monday. Glad I have a few days off:blush:. Got up early and made my DH lunch. Hung around until he left for work and went straight back to bed! I got up and stayed up for awhile. Took a nap. Didn't push it. Took a nap. Felt good but just sooo tired!

Anxious and ready to go home. Only about a 25 minute drive. Got home about 11:30 a.m. My 2 sweet granddaughters (age 6 & 3) came straight from church to see me. That would make anybody want to get up and dance. (But I didn't). Pretty good rest of the day. Superbowl Sunday. Go Saints! Who Dat! I watched the first half with the fam and then went to bed to watch the second half. Woke up to see the final score! Yea Saints. Had shopped before surgery so had my juice and crytal light and broth and stuff so I began my 1 oz every 30 minutes. Feel good. Just tired and want to sleep all day.

Still in the hospital. Still very nauseated. Can't move for fear of dry-heaving! Doc comes in about 2 o'clock and tell me how well I'm doing:confused1:. He said nausea from anesthesia last from 12-18 hours for those people like me so it should be about done and it was. After nausea passed I really felt okay. They had those things on my lower legs that inflate and deflate. They plug into the bed so I could not get out of bed without help unplugging those stupid things. By evening I was just mad because I was tethered to the bed! I was feeling pretty good. DH stayed the night again (the sweet thing!)

So my surgery was on 2/5. Everything went according to plan. I did have a pretty good size hiatal hernia that my surgeon repaired. I have to be honest - the anethesia made me very sick for about 18 hours. Dry heaved a lot. Sorry if that freaks anybody out, but I have to say I knew it was coming. Every time I have had anesthesia in my life it has made me sick. But that is all behind me now. I spent 2 nights in the hospital. Came home on Sunday in time to watch the Superbowl. Wow what a game. I have not had any pain to speak of. Just really tired. Up a while and then a nap:) I am on a clear liquid diet - 1 oz every 1/2 hour. I have had no trouble at all drinking the 1 oz. Sometimes I am so thirsty I would like to drink a lot more, but know better. I am taking most of my prescriptions as before surgery. I just cut the pills in half. I haven't had any trouble getting the pills down. I'll post again in a day or two.:001_tongue:

My husband is freaking me out! (My surgery date is 2/5/10). His main concern is that I'll go through all of this and then gain all the weight back. Anybody got a good answer I can give him? Anybody got any statistics?:confused1:

Getting sleeved this morning! So excited! A little anxious about the anesthesia making me sick. Who Dat! GO SAINTS!

Thanks to all of you for the comments. To his credit dh has seen me go up and down so many times. And to top it off he told me of a women he works with that got "stapled" a few years ago and is now bigger than ever! I told him that his coworker's "stapling" was much different than the VSG. He's ok. Just knows I am going through some tough weeks ahead and wants to be sure it's worth it. I assured him it will be. And BTW I've been married to him 40 years so he knows me well:)

Thanks, Tif. That is really good news!:confused1:

Thanks, Cajun. That's encouraging.

dh = dear husband:)

Well, I am probably older than any of you on this forum. I am 59. I have my sleeve scheduled for 2/5 and I am telling most everybody. I don't want the stress of having to deal with lies or secrets. I guess you learn that as you get older. I really don't care what most people think, except my dh. I am hoping that my candor ab0ut my surgery may help someone else take that step for themselves.. I hope you can come to some kind of peace with the "announcement'. Just believe in yourself and know most comments are made in ignorance.

I am pretty new to this forum. I've been doing a lot of reading but this is my first post! My surgery was tentatively scheduled for 3/23/10, but my insurance authorization came back very fast (like 8 days) so I got anxious about doing it sooner. Talked to my surgeons office this morning and it's scheduled for Friday 2/5! I am so ready and so excited. Like others on this site, I went to the dr and told him I wanted the Lap Band. He went through everything about the band, but also went into the sleeve and told me a lot of people are now choosing the sleeve, but left it totally up to me without trying to influence me either way. I found this site and made my decision within 2 days. Looking forward to updating with many good posts in the weeks to come!