kwikwits

I am sympathetic to your discomfort. Immediately after surgery and then again even one to two months post surgery I was having a lot of pain, nausea etc from eating. Here is what I did and it seems to have worked for me. Check with your surgeon, nutritionist etc.
First 6 weeks I just drank Protein shakes, sucked on ice pops, ate sugar free Jello. That was all I could tolerate without feeling awful. Remember they removed 85% of your stomach and you have a long staple line that needs to heal. Other people may be able to eat soft foods etc BUT I COULDN'T EAT ANYTHING THAT WASN'T liquid (SHAKES), FROZEN Water (ICE POPS) OR THICK WATER THAT COULD DISSOLVE IN MY MOUTH.

Stop trying to rush eating. You will get there and have less issues if you just move very, very slowly. I am 10 weeks out of surgery (sleeved on 6/1/11) and still do best with broth, sashimi (rice and seaweed are hard for me), cooked fish, tofu, poached eggs, hard boiled egg yolks, soft cheeses in little bites. I still get sick from egg salad with lots of mayo and tuna salad etc. Those people who claim to eat a steak days after surgery are either not telling the truth or they stuck the steak in the blender. Oh, after you get totally crazy from the sweet shakes, try marinara sauces, cottage or ricotta cheese, and some melted mozzarella cheese together. GO SLOWLY -- EVEN SOFT FOOD TAKES UP MORE SPACE THAN LIQUID FOOD.

Be patient. You will heal and unswell. You had major surgery -- drink the liquid Protein Shakes. Food will come when your stomach is ready. Your mouth doesn't call the shots anymore.

I am down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight, 50 pounds from my surgical weigh in, and 31 pounds from the day I was sleeved. I don't huff and puff when I walk. I have enormous amounts of energy and for the first time in years my cholesterol is below 200.

Please know you will be able to eat more soon. Hang in there.

Now that is a great NSV!

For all these years assuming I have girly parts has
been a huge leap of faith! I can't wait to meet my va jay jay!

Fortunately, there have been persons in my life willing to perform
reconnaissance missions and verify.

My two cents...meggie is right...your sleeve isn't a magic pill that makes you skinny.
You and your sleeve are a team working together to learn new eating strategies that
will not just get you to lose weight but insure that you keep off the weight you lose.

Please I am not chastising or blaming. I am a compulsive, emotional eater who may
even be a food addict I am not sure. I was sleeved a week ago. What I suspect you
are doing is TESTING YOUR SLEEVE to see if it is going to protect you from your
self sabotaging. It won't. It may make you vomit and make you feel ill but you are
ultimately deciding what goes into your mouth not your sleeve.

Yes, if the medical profession could only fix our crazy self defeating brains!
My poor stomach was sacrificed for the sins of my brain. My brain desires
food. I want prosciutto, fresh mozzarella on a crusty bread with balsamic
vinegar and roasted red peppers. I am not physically hungry. The idea of
this sandwich plopped into my head yesterday. I wasn't hungry. I am
sleeved for one week. I have been on thin liquids for 3 weeks. Two before
surgery and one since surgery. I know in a few weeks I could have a taste,
bite of such a sandwich. It would not be a good decision for me to have a bite
now. I even believe I would be able to eat a taste of this sandwich now and not
die -- maybe not even get so sick. Ah, my first of many food behavior dilemmas.
Yesterday I asked three different friends to order or make this sandwich -- not for
me to eat but for me to eat it vicariously while they ate it! They didn't even have to
eat the sandwich in my presence just eat it and tell me about it. I call this 'FOOD
PORN". My sleeve cannot prevent me or keep me from eating prosciutto, mozzarella
etc. At best it can restrict how much of I eat or how I feel afterwards if am able to eat
the whole sandwich.
Does this mean my sleeve isn't working? Of course not. It means my desire for food
has nothing to do with physical hunger and it never has. I love food. I use it for many
things. It is my oldest and most reliable coping mechanism for so many feelings, and
eating when I am not the slightest bit hungry is a habit I have had for nearly 56 years.

My sleeve isn't capable of stopping these behaviors I have about food and eating.
I am going to have to learn new ways of coping that don't include eating as a recreational
activity. Will I be able to do this 100%? Of course not. But if I learn not to eat for recreation
40% of the time -- I will be accomplishing a lot. I worried so much about whether any
WLS would work for me. So what a surgery is going to make me feel less hungry --
I never ate from only hunger! I eat because it is sunny, or it is raining. I eat because
it feels good. Food is my drug. When I went to meet my surgeon the first time I asked
him "if you only do this surgery on patients who eat because they are hungry I should
leave right now"...I said the same thing to the shrink who had to evaluate me before
I could have this surgery or before my insurance would pay for it. The shrink was more
insightful than I expected him to be -- he said to me -- "WLS is the only tool the medical
profession has now to help the morbidly obese. It isn't a CURE for obesity or for compulsive
emotional recreational eating. But it is the best tool with have right now. Then he said
to me "be realistic, what are the chances you are going to lose a significant about of weight
and keep at least a majority of it off if you don't have WLS?"

I am 56 years old. I have always been overweight and with each and every failed diet
I went on starting at age 9 years old I have lost weight only to regain it with interest. I
was a chubby kid who dieted herself to an obese (my starting BMI was 54. something).
I chose to do this before the co-morbidities I didn't think I would develop made me very
ill and possibly immobile. If I am successful in reaching my goal or even less than my
goal I will still be obese only less so. My parents lived to be in their 80s. I would like
to live at least as long as they did. I would also like to be able to do the things I enjoy
with the people I love. I don't want to be house bound or need a walker, scooter or
a pony & a cart to get around and that is where I was headed.

The sleeve is one tool in my new arsenal. I started seeing a therapist when I made
the decision to have WLS. I am going to have to work on making better food and eating
choices. I discuss my fears of failing at yet another weight loss attempt with my therapist.
Only this time I paid money for someone to remove 85% of my stomach -- this failure would
be a BIG failure. I will need to exercise because maintaining a significant weight loss increases
if I do cardio at least 30 minutes no less than 5x a week. I am a COUCH POTATO. I will spend
$ on a trainer if necessary to drag my lard ass outside to do some cardio. Do I have the money
for a trainer -- not really -- but I have pissed away lots of money on getting this fat without blinking
an eye. Spending money to save my life isn't an extravagance it is a necessity.

I am just like you. My sleeve can only do so much. It can remind me that I can NOT EAT EVERYTHING
I WANT ALL AT ONCE AND NEVER STOP. But it can't stop me from chugging down real milk shakes,
malteds, coca cola, pepsi, real non-diet ginger ale, ice cream, etc. If I chose for my sleeve to fail that is
what will happen. It won't be my sleeves fault...first because it is just a mutilated stomach now shaped
like a skinny banana and second because I am still driving this bus -- not my sleeve. I make all the decisions
and all it can do is follow my lead.

Your sleeve can work if you work with it and show it how to work with you. Not every single time you eat
but try for 30% of the time, build to 40% of the time, and see how you feel. I am an old fat hippie who
believes in harm reduction. If you change the way you eat for just tomorrow -- you have accomplished
something. If every time you eat you make a better choice 4 out of 10 times you have accomplished
something. Take baby steps. Travel only as fast as the slowest part of you can go.

Hey Day Dreamer!!! Always GREAT hearing from you!!!
Hard to believe June has come and gone!!! Time flies when you are SLEEVED!

Surgery date: 6/1/11
Weight loss: 33 - 38 pounds (depends on which scale)

Pros: no longer huffing and puffing, arm openings in clothes magically roomier, can withstand heat/humidity better, knees hurt less, back hurts less, I feel YOUNGER, started dressing like a teenager, feel sexy (damn that is WILD), more confidence, more stamina, feel more positive about EVERYTHING, normal blood pressure, normal blood sugar

Cons: watery diarrhea, food stuck in my CRAW/esophagus, that tightness in my upper stomach when I eat too fast or eat & drink at the same time, food often tastes funny (not like I remember), I can eat so little it doesn't seem worth it (former volume eater can't accept limitations), frequent nausea, frequent "sour stomach", bad taste in mouth, easily dehydrated

Eating can be a challenge. When in doubt, have Soup or sugar free ice pops!
Would I do it again: Yes, but I would have had a longer "goodbye to food" week!

KB,
I was on morphine via IV on demand. After the second day, Thursday, my pain was much less
and really didn't need the morphine. They also give you anti-nausea medication via IV there are
three anti-nausea drugs. The most effective anti-nausea drug is compazine and they administer
that by injection.
After surgery while you are in the hospital they will also administer an injection of heprin to prevent
blood clots. While you are at NYU they will give you Clear Liquids - they kept bringing me sugar sweetened
Jello rather than diet. You get broth, tea, juice that I diluted with Water.
Now that I'm 12 days post surgery I can say this -- three weeks on thin liquids after two weeks on mostly thin
liquids is driving me crazy. I don't get mushy foods until June 22nd. By then I may need a straight jacket.
Tonight I stopped a Japanese restaurant in my neighborhood and picked up some miso soup and a spicy
miso soup because I needed some taste other than SWEET. I am not sure why NYU has sleevers on thin
liquids for so long. Dr. Fielding said it is just to make sure the sleeve staples are holding and that your stomach
is very healed when you start introducing more solid food into that tender tiny tummy.
They sent me home with 3 different anti-nausea medications. I picked the one I felt worked the best with the least
amout of side effects. My nausea comes and goes but it is never very bad. You will also take a PPI=proton pump inhibitors
which just is fancy talk for drugs that reduce the amount of stomach acid you produce.
For someone who had most of her stomach removed less than two weeks ago I feel fantastic!
I suggest going to Tiffykins pages and check out all her information links. She has a great list of questions to
ask your surgeon and you and always add others. Tiff is two years into her sleeve and has lost 145 pounds.
Tiff is pregnant sleeve and all. I find her to be one of most knowledgeable members of VST.
I think you are making the right decision about procedure and hospital. Dr. Ren is a world class bariatric surgeon you will be in
great hands.
Best wishes....
EJ

Welcome!
It is never too late to change your life in a positive way like getting sleeved!
I am 20 years older than you and was sleeved ONE WEEK AGO! If I did this 20 years ago I wouldn't have gotten VSG and that is the absolutely right WLS procedure for me. Maybe that is why I didn't do this 20 years ago. I never liked the idea of gastric bypass surgery. I don't need or want my intestines rerouted. My food leaves my body fast enough and I sort of thought that intestinal adaptation issue was going to be discovered. Our bodies are pretty, pretty clever at finding ways to grab calories if they are feeling deprived. So if I had surgery 20 years ago I'd be trying to get a revision without an intact pylorus!
I am happy I decided to do this just as co-morbidities were looming large but before they destroyed my health! You are young and vital...this is a great time to rock your sleeve!
Plus VST is the absolutely BEST PLACE for information, advice, pep talks, support, encouragement, recipes, you name it the folks on this site will try and help you out or just listen sympathetically.
Good luck and let us know if we can be of assistance!!!