quietcougar

Congrats on the weight loss! I've found the tickers here to be, for lack of a better term, horrible. Your best bet may be to use an external ticker, like one from lilyslim.com. That's what I've resorted to, because even as a professor of computer science, I can't figure out the magic key to get these ones to work.

Only 2 weeks? Wow. That seems really quick to me. The general rule of thumb is 6 weeks, to allow time for your incisions to fully heal. It also depends on whether or not you had a drain in. That can take a little longer to heal. If your wounds are healed up, I'd say go for it - but if you still have steri-strips on your incisions, it's a definate no go. The last thing you want is an internal infection from swimming too early. Good luck!

You'll probably end up taking it. It's pretty much standard procedure from an insurance company's standpoint. In my case, I went in for a sleep study 2 years ago. The first half of the night I could hardly sleep; the second half, they strapped the mask on me. I spent 22 *minutes* in REM sleep. Yes, that's minutes. Normal people get about 11-20 seconds of REM sleep in any given night. I woke up feeling like a tiger and the best I'd felt in years. I can't imagine life without my CPAP. Having said that, it's not for everyone. Good luck in your Quest to refuse the test - you would think that they could use other criteria to base their decision on.

Before surgery, I mentioned to my nutritionist all the various 1,2, and more week liquid diets I've noticed that people are on pre-surgery. She said that of course every doctor is different, but it didn't seem very healthy to her to only be consumuing liquids so far in advance of surgery - it's not necessary to shrink your liver (the point of the liquid diet), all that's required to do that is high Protein content. Her recommendation was to eat protein, cut out soda, alcohol, etc. The surgeon told me after surgery that I'd done a fabulous job shrinking my liver prior to surgery. So, everyone's mileage may vary, but we should always do what what our surgeon/nutritionist recommends. Then if something goes wrong, it's not my fault!

My postop diet progressed a little faster than yours; 1wk clears, 1wk full liquids, 1wk puree, 1wk semi-solids, then introduction of solids at 4-6 weeks. I'm in the puree stage at the moment. If I ever see another jar of baby food it'll be too soon.

I'm almost 2-weeks out and I've been fortunate so far - only thing I've done is gulped my water once, felt a little pressure, and stopped immediately. A few moments later I was fine. No nausea or other unpleasant side effects. Hopefully I never have problems, but this was an interesting thread!

Just my opinion - every plan is different, and every surgeon/bariatric program is different. Some focus on carb balancing, introducing cereals and such quickly to keep your energy up. Some (many) focus on high protein and low carb. Personally, I believe that's the best route. We need a lot of protein for the rest of our lives; the sooner we get used to eating it, the better we'll be. Also, for a lot of us, carbs are what got us to where we are. Carbs aren't evil, but we need to put them last in our diet.

I was sleeved on May 29th; immediately after the surgery, when I woke up in the recovery room, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and I was *super* tired. The nurses set you up with a pain pump quickly, though, so your pain goes away soon. The problem is, each time you hit the pain button, you get sleepy. Like really sleepy. That was pretty much only overnight, though. And they had me up and walking a couple hours after surgery; it wasn't bad. Awkward, with all the hoses and pipes coming out, but not bad. By the next morning, I was in much better shape. Now, 6 days out, it's all just a memory. Good luck!

Congrats! I agree with others - harness the power of your local Goodwill, St. Vincent DePaul, Savers, or other local stores for your wardrobe. If used clothes aren't an option, cheap new cloths can (sometimes) be found at places like TJ Maxx, JC Penny (sale/clearance racks), or some local department stores. If you have a Dollar General or Family Dollar, they may also have something. Best bet, bottom line, though, is the thrift store. Best part is, you can buy it for $5, wear it for a couple weeks, and re-donate it. Our local support group here also has a clothing exchange once a month; maybe yours does as well?

Thanks, everyone! I feel better now.

That? That's the sound of my full signal. Except it isn't. I'm 6 days post op and although I do feel pressure sometimes, it's usually just because I'm gulping and not sipping on my Water. I've been staying hydrated; lots of fluids and I'm feeling good. However, tonight, I'm trying to add some yogurt into my diet (I'm allowed 2-4 Tbls. of it). I ate the whole container. Now, who could blame me? I've loved key lime all my life, and Greek yougurt was a new one for me, and it was so delicious, and....yeah. Gone. The package says it contains 6oz. of yogurt. By my calculations, that's about 3 times what I should have had. But the sleeve was ok with this. No foaming, no bubbling, not even a tiny little burp to let me know that capacity had been reached. And I ate it slowly, about 30-40 minutes. Right now, between my confusion and guilt of my transgression, I'm just going to concentrate on sticking to my diet. Meeting with the dietician tomorrow, probably will have to confess. But does this have ominous implications? Did my stomach really get smaller, or did they just harvest one of my kidneys? I guess I'll just have to see. I suppose I could have made a worse choice.

I was sleeved on May 29th - went home on the 31st, was off the pain meds on the 31st. I've been very active, actually. Scales vary, but it looks like I've lost about 17 pounds so far. Going in to the doctor tomorrow, hopefully will get this drain out, and get a more accurate wait.

I've noticed that, too. I suppose that some of it is cultural; it's more acceptable socially for men to be overweight than women. Also, I think often the reasons vary why men become overweight vs. women. Men (not all, of course) tend not to be emotional eaters; we like *big* quantities, because we're big strong men. We've worked hard for that trip to Outback, and we deserve their biggest offering. A full plate of spaghetti? Yes, please, with seconds. A 12-pack of beer in the summer in a day? No problem. And years of this made us who we are. It's a quiet killer, though. In 2009, I took a 2-week trip to China to visit friends. I was lucky to fit in a single seat in the airplane. They were amazed at how much I ate, and the choices I made. There is a lot of street food in China; you can get corn on the cob, steamed dumplings, fried dumplings, scallion pancakes, and a host of other things like fresh fruits and vegetables. I consistently chose things that were fried, or were bad for me (like eating at KFC there), despite my friend's advice. You can see pictures in my profile of what I looked like then. None of them ate the way I did, and I didn't see a lot of overweight Chinese people. Those of us who are sleeved, or pursuing the sleeve, have pulled back from the edge of the funnel. This really is the last station of the diet train; we get off here. Good luck to everyone!

It's interesting that some had problems and others didn't. They did put a cath in me, which I wasn't thrilled about, but like others they did it while I was under. They did tell me ahead of time they were going to do that, and said it was to monitor my urine output for both proper hydration as well as potential leaks. It came out the day after surgery; it burned a little coming out. When I went to the bathroom later, it was like I was forcing acid through - it burned so bad it nearly brought me to tears. I kept trying, and each time it burned a little less, but it took me 2 days to feel "normal" again. Tell you what, if I never have another catheter again it'll be too soon! Loving the weight loss, though. In the end it was worth it.

I also liked the "productive flatulance" term. That got me laughing. I'm 5 days post op and everything just got going again Friday. Started with a good amount of gas and non-productive flatulance, but then Friday evening it hit. Just like you, I was tricked into thinking it was some simple gas, but no - it was actually a productive flatulance laying in wait. After some grumbling I decided just to trash the underwear. I'm getting thinner anyway, so they'll need to go sooner or later. I'm still dealing with this. My body makes sounds now like the Titanic did as it was sinking, I never know what to expect. It's cheap entertainment for the kids, I guess. Good luck!

I understand IADM. I have teenage kids at home who have grown up on, and grown to love, dad's cooking. Fortunately for them, they have very high metabolisms and exercise all the time. Unfortunately it didn't work that way for dad, and dad had surgery, so now we're at a quandry. They want the foods I always make and they love, like spaghetti and meatballs, baked Beans and hot dogs, Chinese food, tacos, and a whole host of other foods that if I keep on typing will drive me over the edge. I can't say that I *crave* them, and usually I can distract myself and make the hunger go away. I know very bad things will happen if I even attempt to eat that stuff at this point. Keep your spirits up, though, it'll get better.

I was sleeved on May 29th. Had some BP issues before the surgery (what do you mean 210/118 isn't normal? ) Feeling pretty good now. Right after the surgery was the worst - I felt like I had the flu, yuk. I haven't saddled up on the scale yet, but I know it's easier to do some of the things I had trouble with before. Follow up on Monday. Good luck to all the other May sleevers out there!

Hi Disneyteach, You posted in the pre-op forum, but doubtless some post-oper's read it. Even though I haven't been sleeved yet, I've studied it to death. A few common, basic guidelines: 1. Don't drink anything at least 1/2 hour before eating and 45 minutes after eating 2. Chew your bites at least 25 times; it should be mushy. 3. Eat Protein first, then vegetables/fruits, and lastly, carbs. 4. Your stomach can't hold much - measure your portions carefully. 5. Eat s l o w l y. Your meal should take at least 30 minutes. HTH!

May 29th for me, Midwest Bariatrics with Dr. Kevin Wasco.