Disney

That is so great, Lara! Half-way there, WOW And size 14...woohooooo!

Congrats and keep it up. You are gonna be to goal in no time at this rate.

Hey, you are doing GREAT!!

I have heard of Crossfit and would love to do it. There just isn't one in my area. Too bad because I have a friend in Nashville who does it and loves it.

Maybe your stall is not really a stall but that you're just putting on more muscle?

Anyway, keep it up!

Great job, you are really doing great!!!

You DO look so much younger!

Ohh, that's so sad. What a terrible waste. Maybe you can finish it off later. Or is re-heated salmon tolerable?

Just now seeing this.....

You look freakin' awesome. I can't believe the difference. Great job!!!

I always wanted to be a runner, too. I should get it in gear

WOWEEE! You look great! We are about a week apart with almost the same stats!

GREAT job! You really look like a different person. Keep it up

Great news! Hope your recovery is a smooth one!

What happened to it? Did they nick it or something during intubation?

Edited....posted right after your explanation...

That is too bad. I hope it does heal. That would drive me nuts.

Have you been to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr. about it? I think it might help to get their opinion on whether it should have already healed on its on. Good luck

I haven't seen anyone say you shouldn't share your experience here. But it does need to be made clear that Renee is a special case. There are people already scheduled to go to Mexico that are now thinking about canceling their surgery because of this thread and IMO that's a HUGE disservice when MX might be their only option. Comments that one was lied to by someone they trusted need to be explained and put into context.

Also, future fibro/cfs patients on narcotics for pain management need to be sure they consult with their own pain docs and get them in the loop as much as possible to eliminate any further suffering, no matter what doc is chosen.

I agree, and this is exactly what was said in my posts.

To Renee, I did not call Lynn (even in a round about way) a liar. You stated that you were telling YOUR experience as it happened to you. I was stating MY experience as it happened to me. I know for a fact that they do administer opoids at Almater. Now whether you got a nurse that could not understand you, or Dr. Campos or Aceves misunderstood you, I am telling you I, and many others I have talked to had them while there. It is just a fact that I was stating. Maybe Dr. Campos was saying they don't administer as much there, I don't know. I don't call people liars. And I am not running to Dr. Aceves' defense. I had a good experience while there and I will share that as often as it comes up.

and to Lynn, no one, including myself said Renee should not share her story here. In fact, quite the opposite. I have said that her story is a good example for other patients in her situation to maybe think twice about going there if they are in need of heavier doses of pain meds. Where do you get that anyone wants you to hide your story? Y'all are being defensive for no reason. You keep saying that everyone should be free to express their opinion, good or bad, and I am assuming you are talking about Renee, yet you get defensive to me and others when we share what happened on our visit there, which just happened to be good.

I will not post again on this thread, I have said all I have to say, and obviously more than you wanted to hear. You have stated your position and it is unfortunate that you had such a hard time. Most others have not, and this is the reality. But, AGAIN, no one is saying or ever said Renee should not share her story. So, in closing, even if the few that keep getting mentioned (including those that contacted some here via "private message" at times) had horrible experiences, let's just round up and say 5, well that would be a pretty safe bet in my book for Aceves' track record.

Have a great recovery, Renee. You deserve to be happy.

Great job and I hope you meet your goal by August!

There have been 2 posts in this thread about pain not being managed. One just happened and the other was not sure if the wreck she had the day before surgery might have had something to do with her pain. Out of the hundreds, probably more here and on obesity help that have had surgery with Dr. Aceves, these are the only examples I ever remember with unmanaged pain. I have read repeatedly about patients here in the states and elsewhere having lots of pain. And they did not even have the issues Renee had. Are those Drs being chastised here? And we will keep in mind that Renee's case is special, no? Fibro issues and the fact that she has to take high levels of pain meds to keep it under control. That is not the case for the majority of patients. I mean, it IS major surgery, so pain will occur. But, if you have special circumstances this thread serves the purpose of warning other fibro/pain med patients, as AutumnLily said. I don't want a potential patient to think this is the 'way it is' there. If I recall, Crosswind was so happy with her pain meds, she was floating. And they DO use opiates. Fentanyl is used and they also use morphine. This will more than suffice 99% of the population. And I never had a moments pain except for some co2 gas pains.

We all are different and we will all react differently to post-op pain, but if you are special, please check into the pain med situation and know that Mexicali might not be the right fit for you, but for most of us, it was the perfect place. The posts on this board speak for themselves in that regard.

Crosswind's post

Hey! Add me to the list. I would love a watercolor painting. I think it's a great idea, great incentive for you, and also very generous of you. Thanks for even offering it up!

Good luck to you!

See- that is a similar thing- making the issue YOUR problem due to a "low tolerance". That is BS. This is major surgery- there are incisions into your abdomen through muscle- there may be intense pain and it needs management. Addiction? Baah- more BS. Pain management after surgery is not something to withhold due to fear of addiction. That is absurd. I am starting to wonder if there is actually access to the medication needed for surgery of this type. Expecting you to just bear it is barbaric. The chemical changes your body undergoes while in pain are harmful and can affect your recovery.

This situation is serious IMO and needs addressing.

Meggie, with all due respect, what do you mean exactly when you say 'I am starting to wonder if there is actually access to the medication needed for surgery of this type"? Again, I ask this respectfully.

Nancy, YES! Make sure they know how medications react with you. INSIST on a one on one meeting about the medications you're on now and demand to know how your pain will be dealt with once you wake up. What medications do they use to control pain, etc. Seriously, it matters a great deal. I was by no means the only one in pain and vomiting during the night.

Also, I was so out of it from the anesthesia that I couldn't communicate how much pain I was in. I also noticed when I got home that my paperwork said I weighed in at 250 when I got there. This isn't true. I was 287 on that day and I think 281 2 days later. How much more pain meds would I have received had they gotten my weight right? I don't know, I just know this is something I wish I'd known the truth about.

When Lynn told Dr. Aceves "I thought Renee was going to have an epidural?" he looked at her like she was bonkers and said he doesn't know why she thought that because it's not something he routinely does. Well, she thought that because this is what we were told lol

At any rate, ask those questions! Hope this helps you

XOXO Renee`

Renee, I asked Nina about the epidural because I had read here that it was sometimes given. When I got there for all the pre-op testing, and met with the anesthesiologist, I asked him about it and since I had a blood clot after having my daughter, he said I would not be getting it. Can't remember why, but people with blood clot history can't. Anyway, 2 friends that were there at the same time as me, both had an epidural. Sounds like some miscommunication going on. Sorry you had this train wreck of events happening to you. Almost as if every person that has a good experience down there, you in contrast had the opposite effect. I hate that for you.

Glad it is all over with and you can start down the road to recovery

It needed to be told Meggie, even if it meant possibly being banned from here. Not everyone has wonderful experiences. If, by posting this experience, it helps just one person to ask the right questions it will have been worth it to have them benefit from Renee's experience.

Big hugs to you!!

Lynn

Why on Earth would you be banned from here? Most people here (you can just take a tally) have a great experience with Dr. Aceves, et al. But when someone here has health problems that require extra attention that they do not get, then it SHOULD be brought out for people to see. Someone else with Fibro might be considering surgery there and they need to know. I think this forum is PRO truth, not just PRO Aceves.

Thanks again for sharing Lynn.

Ok, I am going to post this since it has been quite the trip being here with Renee. As is with most surgery patients, Renee doesn't remember the first day and a half of her hospital stay, which is probably a good thing. We said that we would tell the good, the bad, and the ugly. Renee and I have talked at great length about this post and she is aware of everything that will be posted and is in full agreement with what will be put out here. When she is feeling better and can get around better she plans on expounding on things.

Renee had a really rough time with the surgery for a couple of reasons. 1) She has a hard time with anesthesia and 2) because of the fibro/cfs she had developed a very high tolerance to narcotics and lastly 3) anxiety.

Our biggest concern going into the surgery was how was Renee's body going to respond to the surgery with the fibro. Was she going to come out of surgery in a full-fledged flare and be in uncontrollable pain? Fortunately for everyone, the fibro did not play a part other than her high tolerance to pain meds; which ended up being a detriment, but I will go into detail about this later.

Renee came back from the recovery room in pain, but it was normal surgery pain, nothing more. Renee gets very emotional coming out from under anesthesia, and this time was no different. There were a lot of tears; she didn't want to stay in the bed. As a matter of fact she hadn't been back from the recovery room much more than 10 minutes when she sat straight up in bed - on her own, with no assistance, put her feet on the ground and announced to God and country that she was hot and then "FLASH!" She took both edges of her hospital gown and whipped them up as high as she could and started flapping! Fortunately, her son Logan wasn't in the room. It was at this point that I decided it was probably a good idea to put her shorts on her. This was something she was absolutely convinced she could do on her own...NOT! We got her shorts on her and got her back into the bed.

If any of you own a dog, you know how they will circle, circle, circle trying to find a comfortable spot? Well, that is what it was like watching Renee after surgery, and it started right after Renee returned from the recovery room – around 5:45 pm. She was in a lot of pain and we had to ask for pain meds every couple of hours. She’d be able to sleep for 45 minutes to an hour at a time and we’d start the process all over again. At around midnight, Renee started dry heaving. Nothing was helping. When I went out the last time and the nurse said there were no more meds to give Renee, I said to call the doctor. The doctor made it in quite quickly, I was very impressed.

After looking over everything, he came in and gave Renee a strong dose of nausea medication and then stated that part of the problem was that Renee had a very high tolerance for narcotics and that in fact he had only known of one other person that had as high a tolerance as she had in the 8 years he had been in bariatrics. I asked him at the time if we could be dealing with an addiction and could she be going through withdrawals. He said it was very possible. At that point I was actually more concerned about the Lyrica and Effexor. He then gave her a healthy dose of something and said it would make her sleep for 3-4 hours. Remember that circling dog thing? Well, I had walked out to talk to the doctor in the hallway. In a split second Renee managed to do a face plant on the floor, she had fallen out of the bed. It only took me a few seconds to get in the room with the doctor on my heels. Renee had managed to end up halfway under the hospital bed. She must have hit the IV pole full on and had a pretty good cut on her ear. I don’t know how he managed it, but the doctor was down on the floor and had gotten Renee pulled up on his lap and was cradling her head on his shoulder. I have never seen a more caring physician in my life. They finally managed to get Renee back in the bed and she was down for the count, but only for about an hour.

It was when she woke up dry heaving again that the doctor explained the difference between dry heaving and nausea/throwing up. Dry heaving is a reflex action that can be controlled by deep breathing, the new stomach flexing its muscle if you will. Nausea/throwing up are mechanical, the stomach contracting, the contents coming up, etc. It was at that point that Renee made a turnaround and started getting better.

From my standpoint, we were worried about how the surgery was going to affect the fibro/cfs, more from a flare perspective. In the end, it was her high tolerance to narcotics that was the actual problem and that came out of left field, something that wasn’t even considered. Withdrawal symptoms of all three medications she takes for the fibro/cfs – Lyrica, Effexor and Loritab have the same withdrawal symptoms – nausea, vomiting, high anxiety. All these things combined made for the ‘perfect storm,’ if you will. This had nothing to do with Dr. Aceves’ surgical abilities; I have the highest respect for the man as a surgeon and still feel he was the best surgeon for Renee. This is about things to be aware of, nothing more. The hospital staff, Dr. Acevas and Dr. Campos, and even the hotel staff were fantastic!

So if anyone out there has the fibro/cfs issues please keep this in mind so that this same situation can be averted. The withdrawal symptoms combined with anxiety attack = the pain not being able to be controlled and ensuing dry heaving/nausea. Just my opinion.

Thanks Lynn, for sharing this with us. I feel so bad for Renee but am glad she had you there with her!!

You could not be more right about Drs. Aceves and Campos. Just outstanding. Was that Dr. Campos that helped her after her fall?

How long was she off of her meds? I just wondered why she couldn't take them after surgery? Or are the kind you cannot crush/dissolve? Maybe a liquid version? So sorry she had the withdrawal symptoms.

Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound, Renee. Sorry you had such an awful time of it. I hope every day is an improvement

Hi again, Bert!

I can honestly say I am never hungry. Truly hungry, that is. Head hunger gets me sometimes, but then it's over as soon as I eat a couple bites of something. I am still amazed at how full I get after only a few bites.

Every doctor is different, but my Dr. had me go low carb, but not liquids only. Not really sure why they are all different, though. I lost 10 pounds in a week on mine. The only thing I can think of is some doctors might be using the logic that they are getting you ready for the brutal post-op liquid diet.

Hang in there!

Well, I won't be much help, because I go through the same things as you. My family loves to eat (who doesn't?) but it is sooo hard on me sometimes.

All I can say is, in time, you will be able to eat more and from my experience, even if I only get a tiny bite (all I can really handle) I am satisfied. It gets rid of the urge. I know you can't really do that only 6 days out, but it won't be long. That's easy for me to say, but honestly, it will fly by.

I wish they would be more considerate to you, but in reality, no matter WHAT they eat, it's going to be tempting right now. Sometimes my DH asks me to pick something up on the way home, and I feel like I will scarf down the whole bag of food before I get home. But then, when I do get home, I just take a bite of his and I am completely satisfied. Really. Then I eat some Protein. Just to get it in.

I hope you feel better soon. See if there are any support groups you can go to in your area. Or, I have found that this board is great for venting or just reading about other's problems/successes. Hang in there, because it really is true, like everyone says, it WILL get better.

Good luck to you

I was on Nexium before (suffered from GERD for 20+ years), but the nexium controlled it. Doc said I wouldn't need it post op after the sleeve. After the first week Heartburn was terrible, I started with some TUMS and then finally I was crushing up Zantac and called the DOC to get my nexium refilled (still just on Water and Slim Fast, I'm two weeks post op yesterday). after I took it, the heartburn is right back under control. I don't think I'll ever live without the nexium. I'm a little disappointed that the surgery didn't solve my pre-op GERD but I'm OK with just taking the Nexium.

I was told before surgery ( and read on here) that the sleeve can cause your reflux to be worse or cause you to have reflux even if you have never had it. For me, I never had it before, but do now.

When I was having surgery, there was a lady from Canada that wanted the sleeve but suffered terribly from reflux and so she decided along with her surgeon to have the bypass which is known to not cause reflux. Hard decision for her, but she is happy to be rid of her reflux now.

Wishing you both the best.

Thanks for the update Sarsar.

Hang in there Renee. I hope you are feeling better every day.

I am 2 weeks post-op and have had aspargus Soup and pea Soup. I was feeling lethargic so I figured it was because I needed food. They both were mashed up in the mixer and went down fine. Also, I find every morning when I come to work and have a Protein shake, I feel ill for about 10-15 minutes and then I'm fine. Today, I actually started sweating from it and then I felt fine 15 minutes later. Is this a sugar rush?

This happens to me, too! And I am 11 weeks out. EVERY single time I drink a Protein Shake or eat a Protein Bar, it happens. BUT it also happens when I eat certain yogurts. Just like you, it lasts about 15 minutes, sweats, heart racing and all, then it's gone and I feel fine. Sometimes, I'm like Kelly and get serious diarrhea from them. Who knows, but I hope this fades as time goes on.

Thank you Disney!!!

Wow! Your sister's story is amazing! I'm assuming the pregnancy was a surprise! My two kids are grown up as well and it's hard to imagine a baby again ... but... how cool is that!!! :-) I mostly worry about the first couple of weeks after surgery. I fear I won't be able to get anything done, which is not good. I am prepared for a lighter load but not zero work. Each term is hefty. There just wasn't a "good time" or better time and I didn't want to keep postponing the surgery because I would have to have waited till I graduated.... then post doc stuff ...so when? I really wanted to get on with this. There's always a reason to put myself off. You know!

I really appreciate you reaffirming my decsion. Thank you again and my congratulations to sis!

Yes! It was a surprise, but a happy one. As far as the first couple weeks after surgery, you will be feeling physically ok after a few days and certainly will be able to do any school related work then. Of course you will have the typical brain fog for a few days, but should be good to go after that. Now, I won't lie, sometimes it seems all you are doing is remembering to drink, eat, take Vitamins, repeat....lol but just set yourself a timer and you will keep yourself on track. Plus, that won't last forever. It will become second nature pretty soon.

Congrats on your decision to do this. You are so right, we can talk ourselves out of things so fast. Just do it, get it over with, and feel better than EVER! Keep posting here, you will only grow more confident, I promise

Hello Gang,

My surgery date has been set for June 6th and I am excited but I have been having lots of anxiety! I wake up at night thinking I'm crazy to do this. In the morning when I look over the entire journey and how I came to this decision, I am comfortable and convinced and positive it's the right thing for me at this time!

Is this normal? Did others have these pre-op fears?

I also worry I will not be able to think clearly. I am a doctoral student (don't attend regular classes weekly) and fear I will not be able to do my work for too long. I think this is contributing to my anxiety.

Any help, support, ideas are greatly appreciated! Best wishes to everyone on the board in their journey!

MNB

Yep, crazy like a fox. Probably the best decision you could possibly make for yourself.

Good luck!

BTW, my sister is working on her doctorate, too. She found out she is pregnant last November. She is due in July. Oh, and she is 43!!! With one child that just graduated a week ago. So, this surgery isn't gonna make you get behind. If she can do this, you can too!