Chatty

Well done Paul - you put it beautifully! It's an incredible achievement. If you're on Facebook, there is a 'achieving through sleeving' group you might like to join.

Congratulations

I can not believe it has been 9 months already. I am still incredibly thankful for the progressive I've seen. I can only equate my nine months with the much more famous 9 month period we all know, the progress towards birth. I feel that my journey has very much been a rebirth. I am no longer the person I used to be. Not only am I physically smaller, so many other things are different about me. I have a better attitude about life, feel more confident and resolute in who I am and what my capabilities are. I no longer look first for reasons I can't do something, rather now I'm wondering what can I do. My loss of the emotional crutch I had in food has caused me to be more emotional and deal with those emotions. It has been a wonderful and eventful journey. Here's a wrap up of where I am today:

Total weight lost since initial consultation (Nov 23, 2010) -256lbs

Weight loss since surgery (Jan 10, 2011) -220lbs

Current weight, lowest since 6th grade 236lbs

Current weight as a percentage of my beginning weight 48%

No longer taking blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds and no longer wear a CPAP. I have shed all the co-mobilities I had at the beginning of this journey.

Thank you all for reading and for providing me a very valuable outlet and support on my journey.

What a coincidence being done on the same day! How much weight have you lost already?

I don't seem to be having any problems in that department. I'm still a little sore and tender - but assume it's all part of the healing process. Are you sticking to your diet plan ridgidly? I must admit, I sneaked a little slice of bread and butter (well, by the time the crust was cut off it transpired to be about quarter of a slice) boy did I enjoy it

I am struggling to drink enough though - so maybe that's something to do with it? If it doesn't go off in the next couple of days, I'll ring the hospital and see what they think.

I had my surgery on 5th July - and in the last couple of days my stomach feels sore. It feels a bit bloated and as though something is cutting in. Not enough to make me shriek with pain - but enough to feel uncomfortable.

I am a little concerned - only because I'd had no pain relief since the day after the operation and wondered if anyone else had experienced this. I've never had an op before and don't know if it's normal.

Thanks for all your answers... I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

I'm sorry to be an old fogey - I'm losing who's who and who's had what done in this thread! Congratulations to us all!

Hi Jennifer

I had my sleeve done just three weeks ago... I managed to lose 11kg before the op - and since coming out, according to the scales I have only lost a couple of pounds in the three weeks. However, my body is going smaller. When I went to pick up my prescription earlier, I was talking to the pharmacist. I told her that I didn't think I'd lost (according to the scales) but that my body was definitely going smaller. She then began to explain that once you start eating again after the operation, the liver re fills itself and everyone gains a little weight immediately after surgery. It sounded plausable when she explained it to me... you will lose, be patient and watch it drop off!

Hi,

I had mine removed last week, I had to take a little staple remover the hospital gave me to the nurse at my doctors surgery. The first one gave me a little 'ouch' and I must admit I jumped, but the remaining staples came out without any difficulty...

You'll be fine

This might sound silly - but I'm 3 weeks post op - so still on the soft, mushy and tasteless foods - but I've noticed that I have been sneezing when I try eating. I'm still on tiny portions - but today found the sneezing quite painful. Is anyone else sneezing when they eat? aaatchhhhoooo

OK, I'm really confused now. Can anyone explain about DSers and GVS (I'm assuming the GVS is the Gastric vertical sleeve) but have no idea what the DS is. Nor do I know about the bougie and the different sizes. Please help

Yikes, I think I'll be taking more Vitamin supplements and carry on stimulating my scalp... Must admit, I'd not heard about this before and now dreading it. If it's temporary though it's no real hardship, I can hardly be vain after walking around so overweight for such a long period of time.

hair loss occurs due to the stresses on your body after surgery. Your body uses all the Protein it receives to keep your organs functioning. The hair is the lowest member of the food chain. Some people start taking a Vitamin called Biotin (aka Vitamin H) before surgery. This vitamin helps feed your hair, skin, and nails. Some people use Nioxin Shampoo, conditioner and scalp therapy to help stimulate the scalp and protect the hair follicles. I have five days before my surgery and are currently using both products to help combat Hair loss. As many people say, the hair will come back, but the weight will not. It's a temporary condition.

Hi Laila,

Can you believe, I've only just had the email telling me you'd replied to this post? or at least that's what I think - I'm struggling with this site still.

I had the op at the Spire Regency in Macclesfield... I can't believe how well it went! Mind you, I'm so hungry, I keep feeling the thighs of my little dogs

seriously though, after re-reading my 'gastric advice' sheet from the hospital - I noticed that it said it was imperative not to eat during the first week - so I figured that meant I could have the inner out of an egg custard! boy, did I enjoy it.

I managed to lose 11kg before the operation - and no idea what I've lost since, but I go back to see the surgeon on 19th August. I actually want to not weigh myself before then, to find out the 'huge' amount rather than a pound here and there. Showing off my culinary skills, I've just made three small egg custards for over the weekend and I intend to have some scrambled egg! I never thought I'd fancy scrambled egg - but I'm almost fantasising about it now.

Can I ask what the biggest and most noticable changes you've had are?

Catch you soon

Cathie

Hello, oh yeah i just noticed no one did reply to my post.. haha oh well, i did leave a personel message to you yesterday before reading this message from you... well good luck tomorrow.. where are you having your op done ? i had my done at Leicester royal infirmary and they were fab, the operation was fine the pain when waking up was not really bad at all, my main pain was my lower back , as i have hip problem they tried to adjust me before my op so all my weight was on my right to avoid it on my left.. so in that case you should be fine. My incisions are nearly gone.. its amazing i have lost a stone and half before op and the same in 3 weeks after op so total 3 stone in 6 weeks... its nearly a 1lb a day..which is amazing. Its normal for you to be nervous, but believe me its over in no time.. please keep me posted

Laila x

Hi

I had my sleeve done on 5th July...

Gotta say, on the second day I told the nurse I didn't feel I needed the pain killers - and I've never taken them since! I'm not being brave or foolish - I simply haven't needed them! I haven't been sick either, or suffered with wind. I can't believe I've had it done - it's incredible

I was wondering how long everyone had to take their pain meds post op. I'm on liquid loritab which is only for 3 days. The dr told me to call if I needed more, but I'm really hoping that I won't. What would you say are the odds of that?

OH MY GOODNESS... I've just heard about all this hair loss! Do we know why this happens, or if there is anything we can do to help minimise the effects? This is one side effect that I hadn't heard about

Hi Dawn

I had my sleeve done six days ago.

My pre-op diet, was six days of very low calorie diet, given to me by the nutritionalist - and eight days of the clear liquid fluids only. I managed to lose a staggering 11kg. Believe me, the 10lbs is do-able.

My surgeon praised me so highly - not the fact of the weight loss, but the results on my liver. He told me that the operation couldn't have been easier. EVERY HUNGER PANG WAS WORTH THAT. I'd seen on television a woman of a similar weight to me, when they finished the operation the surgeon was sweating profusely and told the camera's what a very difficult operation it was. She had many holes - and the operation had taken much longer than it should.

I look at my stomach now, the largest 'hole' is only just over an inch long - and I've a total of five incisions. It was worth sticking to the diet - I never deviated once.

I found it easier as my husband ate his meals at the local supermarket or my mums rather than eat in front of me! IF you can avoid any contact with food you can't have, my advice is, make it easy on yourself and avoid it.

Best wishes for your operation and hope that you make the same progress I have. Cathie

Hi

I had my surgery on the 5th July, just gone. As soon as I was round I wanted to be in my own nightie before my mum got there to visit - (it might sound silly, but my mum is elderly and I knew she'd be upset at seeing me) I thought if I was in my own nightie and not in a hospital gown, it would help her. The nurse stayed with me, whilst I cleaned my teeth, brushed my hair and helped my husband to put my nightie on (she helped with the tubes and wires coming from me). I felt better immediately. I had to wear another nightie the next day as my wounds had wept through a little.

It's personal preference at the end of the day - but how will pyjama's effect the catheter? I was fortunate enough to have mine out a few hours after my op as it was so painful.

I think whatever you wear, the hospital staff will have seen it all before... Hope your operation is as easy as mine was. :-)

Hi Escape Pod

I'm guessing we're a few days apart, I'm on day 5 after surgery and obviously will have another week on fluids before I can go pureed. However, I've been dreaming about that time

Could you try - egg custard (without the pastry) for your lunch? or maybe a cup a Soup, with bits sieved out. - stewed fruit and custard (that's something I've been almost fantasising about) - or if you don't want it to look obvious, how about a small banana and just chewing it really, really well - mushing in one's mouth, before swallowing? If you have a microwave, could you do scrambled egg?

Very simple basic ideas, I know. Hope it helps?

I'd been told that I should be able to return to work within 1 -2 weeks after my operation, however when being released from the hospital, they told me I wouldn't be able to drive for six weeks. I was horrified. I have to drive to work - there is no suitable alternative. A girl in the room opposite who'd had the gastric bypass was told she had to have six weeks off work and couldn't drive for two weeks.

I was just wondering what length of time others couldn't drive for - as I just can't imagine being off work for a whole six weeks.

Hi Debs

I'm very, very overweight and had my sleeve operation done on Tuesday. Two weeks before that I went on a very low calorie diet, it consisted of just a 3tblsp helping of Cereal (no added sugar) semi skimmed milk, for lunch I had two crispbreads with either a boiled egg or 10z of cheese - and for my evening meal I had a 2oz portion of either meat or fish with salad or veg - I was also allowed one pot of low fat yogurt, and two portions of fruit per day. I did that for six days and then I went onto the clear liquids only diet - which meant black tea, coffee, sugar free juices, I was allowed batchelor's (not that I want to mention brand names) low calorie minestrone Soup, with all the bits sieved out - sugar free jellies, and if I fancied it a stock cube made into a hot drink.< /span>

I was amazed to find I lost over 20lbs in the two weeks before the operation.

The surgeon was soooo pleased with me - he told me before the operation how well I'd done - and the following two days when he came to check on me, told me again how well I'd done and how me losing so much weight had really made the operation as simple as it should be! Believe me, the diet was well worth sticking to - just to hear him say it and know the operation wasn't as difficult as it might have been.

I've got five tiny little scars (I know they have to be tiny due to the size of the plasters) even the one they said was the largest is only about an inch and a half. I can't believe I only had pain killers for less than 24 hours - I had the catheter removed a few hours after the op and was sat talking to visitors that afternoon and evening.

I am so much better than I expected to be (although I did hear that I'd been quite a while in the recovery room) I haven't been sick - and I'm able to do everything for myself.

I do hope my story will fill you with confidence and that losing weight will make a real difference to your operation and recovery. I don't regret mine for a moment.

Like you, I couldn't go up a flight of stairs, my ankles and lower legs were full of Water and I feel more 'human' already.

Very best wishes and add me as a friend if you'd like to keep in touch

Thanks everyone for your comments, the swelling seems to have gone down in the last few hours considerably. I'm not worried about it anymore and remember one of the nurses forcing some pain killers in rapidly and my hand hurting at the time. I can't believe I have no pain in the stomach area, just tenderness.... I was expecting to be in agony. :-D

Can anyone answer me if it's normal for the hand that had the canula (all tubes in the back of my hand) to be swollen?

I just wondered if anyone elses was swollen and if so for how long..; I don't want to contact the hospital in case they think I'm a hypochondriac.

Many thanks

I'm having my surgery on Tuesday, but I wondered how you found the two weeks of Clear liquids beforehand? Also, are you in much pain? I was under the impression that this operation removed the ghrelin (hunger hormone) and wonder if perhaps more fluids would help you?

I had surgery 5 days ago and hadnt eaten 2 weeks prior besides for the liquid diet and I am just feeling sooo hungry . The broth and Jello are just not cutting it lol and this is miserable. How is everyone else doing with this?????

Hi Laila,

I just saw your post as I was browsing through the site and noticed nobody had answered you...

What rotters!

I'm due for surgery on Tuesday, and I'd love to be communicating with others in the UK - not that I've anything against anyone from elsewhere, it's more of a 'birds of a feather' type thing.

Enough ramblings - how did you get on with the operation? was the pain intolerable (I must admit, to being a wuss, so I'm dreading that side of it). How much weight have you lost?

It seems a little odd writing to people you've never met, but I hope with our ops only being a few weeks apart - that we can support one another.

Cathie

Hiya , im being sleeved on the 10th June and extremly nervous, im having my operation at Leicester Royal Infirmary, has anyone had theres done there ? Also am i expecting to be in ALOT OF PAIN WHEN I WAKE UP ?

Regards Laila

I just wanted to say how I have wondered and thought the same as you on the following paragraph

I want to tell you why this is a good thing. First of all, if you are eating the starvation calories you would need to eat to lose one hundred pounds in six months your metabolism would be shredded by the time it was over. The minute you stopped and tried to "maintain" you'd really be in trouble -- you might have to stay at six hundred for a year after that, and keep slowly adding calories, and be stuck for the rest of your life eating eight or nine hundred "maintenance" . Besides being trapped at a much lower metabolism, your nutrition would have to suck over time if you had to live that way forever.

I was trying to tell the nutritionalist at my pre-med this and that I didn't want my metabolism to virtually pack up (I have problems anyway as I have hypothyroidism badly) - so whilst I'm wanting to lose the weight - I want to do it on a healthy, tasty and varied diet - not just vegetables or salad.

I'm currently on day six of a Clear liquids only - my op is on Tuesday, and then only another two weeks before I can start on soft food... (I could actually eat my dog at the moment I'm so hungry) ;-D

The nutritionalist told me that your body tends to stabilize weight wise and that its a case of eating healthily for the rest of your life ! Like hell, I'm determined to have a little portion of rice and curry or lasagne once a week - assuming I can tolerate it.

It's been 95 days since my surgery, or 13 and a half weeks, or three months and three days. I have now lost 53 pounds, from an alltime high of 289 down to 236 as of this morning. I come around these boards but I haven't been posting much because I've been in kind of a little observation pod myself, testing out food, working the sleeve, and something else: pouting because my weight is in the 230's and not the 130's.

Usually when I come here I read people saying they're completely pissed about the same thing. So I wanted to put my spice into the pot here and tell you that even though it seems like it's coming off really slowly, and even though day to day you could measure your loss in eye droppersful the fact is it's pretty likely that when you get to three months, you will be somewhere around a fifty to sixty pound loss.

If the loss is faster than that, it's usually because you had more to lose to begin with. If it's slower than that it won't be slower by much. Maybe it will be 45 and not 55. That could be because you had less weight to lose to begin with, or you have some other condition that's comorbid, like diabetes or hypothyroid. It's all good, you're getting better.

If you are reading about somebody who lost seventy or eighty pounds in two months, they are losing the same *percentage* of weight you have to lose. And the prediction by bariatric surgeons for how much you will lose over a certain amount of time is pretty much uniform: *Most* of it will be gone at one year. Not in four months. Not in six months. One year.

I want to tell you why this is a good thing. First of all, if you are eating the starvation calories you would need to eat to lose one hundred pounds in six months your metabolism would be shredded by the time it was over. The minute you stopped and tried to "maintain" you'd really be in trouble -- you might have to stay at six hundred for a year after that, and keep slowly adding calories, and be stuck for the rest of your life eating eight or nine hundred "maintenance" . Besides being trapped at a much lower metabolism, your nutrition would have to suck over time if you had to live that way forever.

Also, when you lose slower, your skin has time to bounce back. Extremely fast weight loss means your outer layer looks like a stretched out sock. But extend that loss over time, over the space of a year -- you end up with taut, glowy stuff that's better than any fashion makeover. You might not ever get the skin of your childhood but the real sag and pucker will be minimized as much as it can be. You might have completely given up on bikini dreams at this point, but...consider the arms. Consider sleeveless. Consider the one piece. Patience can pay off.

I am not a calorie counter. I am not a lowcarber. My BMI was just under 40 when I went down to Mexico so I would say I'm an "average" candidate for this procedure. I've eaten taco bell, gone out for wine, gone on vacation, eaten Pasta and pizza and chips. What I've noticed when I do stuff like this though is that my body starts asking me for chicken and vegetables.

And the other thing I've noticed is that *no matter what* I do, the pounds are still coming off.

When I got back from vacation last month, I was starting to worry. When I left on May 19, I weighed 249. I hung out with my relatives and ate seafood and had wine spritzers, went out to eat every day and lived the life of riley for two weeks. When I got back I weighed 247. I thought I was slowing my loss and I probably was, a little but...maybe not as much as I thought.

So the month of June passes and my decision is not to freak out, not to go lowcarb, and to eat normally, work out a little while I push the Protein and the Water. I went out with my friends and had a couple glasses of wine with them but I'm worrying. Now I'm not losing that twenty to thirty pounds a month, that ten pounds a week. Now it seems like *nothing* is happening. June 15, suddenly it's 245. I'm still thinking maybe I need to lowcarb...maybe I need to push my calories down from 1200 to under a thousand. Maybe I need to do something.

But I don't. I walked a couple miles outside til it got too hot out, and I swam in the pool twice. Ate like I didn't care.

Now it's 236. In six weeks I lost eleven pounds. And I really did nothing at all but live normally. I did not scour the internet for lowcarb recipes, I did not get on some punishing regime to tweak my abs. I didn't do anything but eat and live.

So I just want to say that you *can* make this into a clean, disciplined Jillian Michaels experience, where you only eat cottage cheese and you run on the treadmill for an hour every day. You can force your calories down to five hundred and brutalize those pounds off of you in record time -- you can do that, it's possible and you have medical supervision.

Or you can NOT do it. It's coming off either way.

Hi Coops, thank you so much for your friendly reply. I started to have a little panic attack on Wednesday and thought about losing weight for once and for all, and when at a much lower weight have the POSE. Mind you, I know I'd be kidding myself.

I've read about a lot of people having Protein shakes and similar - and I hadn't heard of that over here. Did you have a special diet? How are you finding life now you've been banded? have you been to any restaurants - and how do you go on? I've never had even a minor op before and have no idea what to expect pain wise etc. So many questions, so little time left before I have it done - ahhhhhhh!

Hiya Cathie...

yep, I'm in the UK... south Wales!

There are a few Brits on here and they are all lovely! But in the minority... that being said, I have only come across positive and support sleeve friends on this site.

I am nearly a year out, I was sleeved 4th July 2010 so we are a year and a day apart. If there is anything you want to know give me a shout..=]