joatsaint

I was in and out in 48 hours.

My 1st visit was all about filling out questionnaires. Pages and pages of medical history and lifestyle questions. Then the doc spent about 20 minutes interviewing me - explaining the types of surgery he did and making sure I understood what to expect before and after surgery. He had to make sure that my insurance would cover my surgery and that I met the minimum requirements to be covered. He made sure I knew this wasn't a "miracle pill" and that I'd have to be ready to change my lifestyle and eating habits for it to work. The next visits were for nutrition counseling, blood-work, psychological evaluation.... I think I had 5 or 6 visits before surgery.

Congrats on your 1st NSV!

I'm at 15 months post-op and I am at my goal weight - not the weight I want to be, but the weight my doc said to expect. I've little trouble staying where I am or losing the extra lbs I gained over the holidays. I've never been one to write down my intake, but I've learned through trial and error how much to eat and what to eat during the day to maintain my weight. So it's an unconscious automatic habit and I'll catch myself saying to myself, "200 calories for Breakfast, 180 calories 9am snack....lunch...dinner... getting close to 1400 calories for the day, gotta be careful." And then there are days at work where I'll walk past the birthday cake in the break-room and suddenly, "I HAVE TO HAVE A PIECE OF CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!" And I let myself have 1/2 coffee cup (the 6oz cup, not those Grandes from Starbucks!) size scoop of cake. The problem is getting to and staying below 230. I seem to have gotten to a sticking point at this weight and it's really tough to eat any less than I currently am. I'm really happy with my weight and health right now, but like everyone, I feel I need to lose a few more lbs.

I'm not sure how fast mine started to fade, but at 15 months post-op, my 4 small incisions look like (dime sized) faded freckles. The big incision is very faded (compared to right after surgery) and just looks like someone made a 2 inch horizontal line on my stomach with a brown highlighter! :-P Here's the big scar, the small ones don't even show up when I try to take a pic.

When people at work started noticing my weight loss, I just told them the truth. I cut back drastically on how much I was eating and was walking as much as I could every day. Unless they flat out asked me if I had surgery, I never mentioned it. It was almost a year post-op before I was asked if I had surgery. By then, I was comfortable enough to tell them that I had.

At 7 days, I tried a variety of mashed foods. When I say tried, I mean 1/2 teaspoon full. My stomach felt like it was trying to grind rocks together when it didn't like a food. Besides the grinding sensation, I'd feel extremely full and some pain as the gas bubbles worked their way around the food. Prepackaged processed food (like Peanut Butter or Vienna sausage) seemed to be easier to digest than chopped meat or any kind of vegetable/fruit. It was about 6 months before I could easily eat tough things like pineapple/grapes/apples or salad. I tried some potted meat, Vienna sausage (beef and chicken), boiled egg, egg salad, creamy peanut butter - I think that was about it. I was really living on a diet of Protein drinks and Cream of Mushroom soup for about 3 months. Frankensleeve really didn't like real food for a looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg time!

I was never diagnosed with either, but pre-surgery I would have periods were I'd get these burning sensations in my heels, on the tops of my feet and on the outside of my knees. The pain would last for days or weeks and I'd be limping or on crutches. After I'd lost 60 or more lbs, I was having less trouble and the pain faded faster. Now that I'm down 145lbs I don't have the episodes of pain lasting for weeks. I still sometimes get pain in my feet, mostly after stressing my feet too hard on the walking track. But it only lasts a day or two at the most and I only have a mild limp. The days of being stuck in my chair for the weekend are long gone!

Welcome to the board, feel free to ask anything. Someone on here has probably experience it. :-P

I didn't drink till after 6 months. I never asked my doctor how long to wait, since I'm not a regular drinker in the first place. But I figured once I was on full foods again, it was safe. I thought I was a cheap drunk before, now 1 Mike's Hard Lemonade and I'm feeling good. :-)

I was only on each phase for 1 week before allowed full foods. But my new stomach didn't like real food for at least 2 months. The 1st week, I only ate sugar free Popsicles and drank Water. I mostly ate Cream of Mushroom Soup after the 1st week and for the following 3 weeks. When I moved onto soft foods, it was scrambled eggs\egg salad\refried beans\super finely chopped chicken. I stayed on soft foods for months and added in solid food here and there till Frankensleeve would tolerate more regular foods. Now my diet revolves around pork loin/lentils/black beans/turkey meat/chicken. I do go out and eat whatever I want for 1 meal per week. And I do eat the occasional snack at work. I haven't eaten fast food in 16 months and don't miss it. I don't want to come off as some kind of ant-fast food purist, it's just that my whole mental outlook on food changed after surgery and I don't have the cravings I had pre-surgery.

The info packet the doctor sent home with me said 75% protein 25% good carbs. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I stick to that, but I do try and limit myself to only 100 - 200 calories of sugar a day. During my 1st 10 months I stuck religiously to the guidelines. But now that I'm eating more than 1000 calories a day, getting the most nutrition out of every bite isn't as critical. :-).

I buy them too. I get them in a variety pack at Sam's club. I feel uneasy about having 300 calories per bar, so most of the time, I break them in half. I have found another brand that Sam's and Walmart carries that I'm finding myself buying instead of Premier. Pure Protein bars. 20 grams of protein/180 - 200 calories per bar. But they are a smaller bar. What I've discovered is that almost all the Protein Bar brands I've tried are 4 to 4.25 calories per gram, so of course Premier Protein is higher in calories/protein, since it's a bigger bar. The Pure Protein Bars I've eaten were - chocolate Peanut Butter/Chocolate Peanut Caramel/Chocolate Deluxe. They all tasted as good as or better than Premier Protein. I tend to favor the Chocolate Peanut Butter, but I like all 3 flavors. Now they are made with sugar alcohols, so if you can't tolerate them, stick with the Premier Protein - I couldn't find an old wrapper, but I think Premier is made with real sugar. I have to buy the variety pack at Sam's, but Walmart sells the individual flavors in separate 6 pack boxes. They all run me about .95 cents a bar.

Since you say you're not normally a snacker, my first thought is that it's your body craving carbs. I've come to realize that when I'm tired or feeling weak, I start craving carbs. I think my mind knows that I'll get a temporary energy boost by eating some sugar. I wasn't perfect on my pre-op diet, but I was able to stick to eating low carb. I never got carb cravings, but I did miss eating solid food and I ate some meat.

I got a sever case of the hiccups the day after surgery. I think it stretched my stomach sutures, cause it hurt like Hell for a few days afterwards. Fortunately that was the only time it happened.

I'm right there with ya. Pre-surgery I never understood why some people took reading materials into the bathroom - when I had to go, I had to go - no messing around. Post-surgery, I had to learn to poop all over again in order to stay regular and begin paying attention to the new signals my body was sending when I needed to go. Otherwise I'd wind up constipated. :-P http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31570-constipation-and-milk-of-magnesia-or-how-fema-declared-my-bathroom-a-national-disaster/

600 - 800 is the range my doc set for me, but it was weeks before I was able to get in that many calories. Everything cause stomach distress. I thought my sleeve was trying to grind up rocks with every bite! :-P

I can whole-heartedly say I'd do it all over again in a minute. Even knowing how much it was going to hurt afterwards, I'd do it again. My rating is a 1. I've had no long term complications. The only real problem I experienced was in the 1st 10 day post-op. The liquid pain medication made me gag so much that I couldn't drink it. So I just lived with the pain. And I went through the whole, "What the Hell did I do to myself?" phase. Would I do it all over again? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Good luck with your decision. When I made my decision, I mentally prepared myself for people that might try to talk me out of it. I was surprised at the support I got from friends and family. And you can use my standard line when people ask about the weight loss. I just tell them that I've drastically cut back on how much I eat and I get out and walk more. (they don't have to know every detail) :-P And here's a list of excuses to explain the surgery scars: http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31422-girl-you-aint-gonna-believe-this-or-how-to-explain-your-vsg-scars/ My personal favorite: "Oh, these?" *embarrassed face* "I know they look horrible, but the sex was INCREDIBLE!"

At 4 weeks, I was allowed full foods, but Frankensleeve didn't like full foods yet - especially anything fibrous like onions. If you haven't tried onions yet, be sure an eat only about 1/2 teaspoon of them to test how your new stomach will tolerate them. 1/2 tsp was enough to cause stomach distress if my sleeve didn't like a food. My sleeve always felt like a garbage disposal grinding rocks when I first started eating vegetables again.

I can't say they all do an EGD, but since so many doctors do perform it as part of the pre-surgery process, I wouldn't want to have a surgeon that didn't perform one.

I was never banned from drinking with a straw, just warned to be careful how much I drank in one swallow. It takes a while to learn how much you can safely swallow and get used to drinking smaller amounts and then make it an unconscious habit.

I pour mine over ice too. The EAS carb control chocolate shakes are a little thinner than Premier, and almost as tasty.

I can only say that the surgery completely turned my life around. It was the best decision I've ever made. Sleep apnea, gone, leg and feet pain gone, mentally I'm in a much better place. Even with all the pain I went through, I wouldn't hesitate to do it all again. I made my decision to have surgery after doing lots and lots of research. But I decided and committed to it before telling my friends and family. I wasn't expecting any support for my decision, so I had prepared for them to try and talk me out of it. But they were very supportive. I wish you luck on your decision.

I've only used Isopure. I mix it into my food after it's cooked. No real flavor, but it does have a little pasty feeling in my mouth.