DoOver

Agree. Get checked out ASAP.

Surgery can wreak havoc on your hormones. Up to the point of saying you've been feeling unwell, I would have told you to ride it out for another week or so. Years ago when I lost a lot of weight without surgery my hormones were nuts. And I know a lot of doctors warn their younger women that they are ripe for unplanned pregnancies after this surgery. But, when you added the overall feeling of being unwell, then I get concerned. I'm assuming it's not the type of unwell a woman has when she's crampy and such. Do you have any fever? Are you staying hydrated? Are you getting nutrituion? Get back and let us know a little bit more. Thanks.

You'll be okay. You need Protein but you are not going to die if you don't have enough protein for a couple of weeks. Your body is far more resiliant than that. If all you were doing was walking it would not bring on the nasuea. Assuming that was the only physcial thing you did, it's good for you and would not cause damage. Have you taken any pain meds? Day two I took a percocet and it just about killed me. No more of them and only minor windows of upset stomach after that. If you can't go to your surgeon, can you at least call them for advice? Personally, I'd fall back on that old standard and get me some chicken noodle Soup, strain it through a wire strainer to be sure you are only getting the broth and take a day or two with the typical things you do with an upset stomach...broth, decaf warm tea, any liquid you can handle. Forget about the protein for a couple of days and settle your stomach down. Some of it might be anxiety. But really, as much as people preach protein, protein we often forget to remind you that a few days without it won't cause you to die. And odds are very good the stomach will settle down and once you get off liquid - not that far away - you'll have many more sources for the protein you need.

You have lost a huge amount! I was sleeved in early April and not even close to your numbers! I'm still happy with how I'm doing and the upside is that I have lost very little hair. Yours will come back. From what I've read here you'll start seeing some new growth as a New Year's present. We are to carry a medic alert card in our wallet (per our program ) with our license and, if you want, wear a tag on ourselves. I learned with a bad fall and broken collar bone, it's necessary. The alert has my surgeon's actual cell phone number and he answers 24/7 or calls back fast. The ER I was taken to was refusing me any narcotic pain meds. When I was saying I could not take large quantities of nsaids ( for 6 to 8 days it would have been a lot of pills ) they were rolling their eyes. My entire right side was a hemotoma, turning black as we watched it or break, but they still refused any narcotic pain meds. So you don't know what you are going to come up against out there and it helps to have a notice in your wallet. It won't change their minds if they decide that you have jacked yourself up to get 6 days of pain meds but you never know what it might keep them from doing if you are not conscious. I should add this was my first ER experience. I hope it's my last. But my knees are shot and tripping has become a way of life for me.

I have a heart issue that requires antibiotics before dental work and my doctor told me that after the healing process (first weeks only) of complete there should not be any issues at all. So I'd agree with the previous post that you should be fine in regards to absorption.

Every time I read something like this it makes me love my doctor so much more. He is great! He has stayed with me through the ups and downs of my weight. I think I posted here once before that he recently told me he will never judge anyone as long as they are willing to openly and honestly discuss their weight, not getting angry or defense since it's his job to make sure he has tried to educate. I hope you find someone who is willing to work with you and help you down this road rather than tripping you up. No one needs that. Sorry I can't help you out but I sure hope someone can...and I'm very glad you taking this step.

Thanks. I know I can get it. It's the price point that's the issue for me. I will continue to try but I'm doubting I will be able to afford it with the increase this area of insurance is implementing in 2012. I have a councilor through Edward Jones and he pointed me to the ones who rejected me. (Again, rejected at the price I could pay, not overall. If I had $1125 per month, one was happy to have me. ) Not too embarassing......

I hope this is true. But for me it won't matter since the 3 long term care companies have all announced they are no longer accepting new enrollers after 12/31/11. I was holding off applying until the last possible date so my weight would be as low as possible since that was why I was rejected last year. So I called them all and asked after reading this thread and they all said my having had the surgery now "would be reason to deny". And, of course, any company I find next year I won't be able to afford because I will be 55. Glad this thread was posted. It was in the back of my mind but I guess it's just as good I know now.

Wow. I can't imagine this happening and my having WLS was driven primarily so I would qualify for some different kinds of insurance I was being denied. I really wanted to get on with a long term care company before I turned 55 when the rates skyrocket. I will be applying again in December but, to be honest, it's occurred to me that they might reject me. I've given them another reason. Not logical, but a reason. This is why people hate the insurance companies. Talk about playing with a marked deck.

Another powerful sleeve here. I did hold off until after 5 months but I put almost all the same stuff I did before (all raw veggies) and aside from only being able to eat a small amount, no problems. And I still love my salad.

My "medical" carbs are in my Calcium chews. I take about 1/2 of my daily reqs in chews just because I like them. And in spite of not needing supplement with the sleeve, I feel like all I do is take pills so I like the break from calcium by taking it in a lemon chew. I agree with most of what you said. I am going to start the cycle routine, ultra low carb 1 day, healthy high carb the next. My place has very few dietary restriction on carbs and encourages their consumption. I think that for most folks carbs are needed for health. But the devil is in the details and I think that's where it's easier for some people to just think carbs are "bad" instead of sorting the healthy carbs from the bad one. Because 75% of the time when I crave carbs, it's the bad ones I'm craving. I rarely crave a green bean.

I understand. 10 years ago I used to work with a woman who was probably a size 4. She ate like no body's business. I can remember a week where she had baked a german chocolate cake and no one else in the family wanted it. So each day she came into my office (of course I was dieting) and sat down with a piece of this cake that was about 4 x 4 inches and ate it. That was between Breakfast and lunch and very typical. And she didn't work out. Now I know she is an exception to the general rule. But what irritated me was that *SHE* didn't get that. She was one of the first people to roll their eyes at fatties. The only excuse I could make was that people like her do not understand they are exceptions. If you could eat like her and were a size 4, wouldn't you assume that people who are a size 26W are eating all day long, 24/7? Of course, she knew how and what I ate. She knew because we were often together on business trips for long windows of time. (And man could she put a dent in a buffet!) But I don't think she was able to really see what she was seeing. Because then she would have had to have admitted that what she had was a gift. In this case, I can honestly say this woman -- if you believe calories in and calories out -- should have been bigger than I was. And she was a hothead, so she had more of a type A personality so maybe that's got something to do with how much your system burns. But I know she is now in her 50's and still thin. So whatever it is she's got, she's hanging on to it.

Everyone is different. For me it's wasn't the surgery but the inability to take calories. As far as the incisions and such, I could have gone back to that level after 3 or 4 weeks. But at that time I was only able to take about 350 calories a day and that was rough when I tried to add physical work. You will be at a major negative calorie level for quite a while. For me, I was shaky and weak. I have low blood sugar issue and they really raised up. I really think it could be 6 to 8 weeks before you are really strong enough to manage it all. But I'm also in my 50's so take that into consideration.

It's funny the things you come to realize are gifts. I have anxiety about eating out now. So the eating out days are very easy for me. I would do best if I ate every meal out! It's at home when I'm relaxed that I can eat the most. Luckily that's easy to control by not having any junk food here...and again, a gift, because I live alone right now so I don't have anyone else brining stuff in. I'm still not able to eat a cup of food most of the time. But I'm okay with that because I can eat a reasonable amount of about 3/4 of a cup most of the time. I think that once I was able to eat an entire egg and a couple of other bites of food I was happy. I had a food I was able to order when out at and actually eat so I wasn't so obvious.

I was very happy when I was able to get between 800-1000 easily. But I'm rare here. I guess I believe I need at least that much to stay healthy and if I stay fat at eating that little then I was meant to be fat. My fear for the first months was that I would be frozen at 350 calories. I had the same issues. I felt horrible until I finally was able to take a more reasonable amount of food. It will happen for you. To not fear it, remember to keep the healthy foods you love available to you. We all have them. Not all foods we love are bad or bad for us. I also do not fear carbs so I keep frozen homemade veggy soup in the freezer. I love it. There are foods like that I consider healthy and yummy that I make sure I have at the ready so that if I am having a moment where I want to eat "more", it will also be healthy. Good luck!

Out like a light, I didn't remember a thing. And that's not always been the case for me. I remember moving to the OR table and then waking up in my room. Not going to lie, my throat was wicked sore. But it wasn't swollen at all, just raw. I was able to sip water and warm tea right away and it was very soothing. I am very similar to you. This was a worry of mine but in spite of how sore my throat was, it was not a big issue and I didn't have any moments of extreme panic or concern and was always able to breath with no issues.

At 5 months out I had a change in what seemed to be overnight. I am still about 6 ounces at max, but prior to that 5 month shift I was more like 4 ounces. I have read several places that the sleeve "matures" and what you get at that point is pretty much what you've got. I think that advance from 4 to 6 ounces was my maturation. I'm glad for it. At 4 ounces I felt I had to rely on supplements too much for anything other than Proteins. Now I can easily get all of my Protein and still have the ability to have some veggies and fruit. Not a lot, but enough that I don't feel like I'm dangerously omitting them from my diet. About once every other week I have a "cheat" day. It's amazing how different that is for me now as it's typically a day centered around salad and veggies and I ignore my protein. I would not make any assumptions about things until you are 6 to 8 months out. Up until that time I think your capacity can change. Not a lot, but certainly compared to what we are used to. As a frame of reference, at 5 months out I could eat about 1/2 of a lean cuisine. At 6 months out I could eat about 70%. Big change in just a couple of weeks. It happens.

Protonix? I looked through with a search and that's the only item I saw mentioned I wasn't previously familiar with.

I love my compression garments. I do make sure to use a quality powder under it. For me, it keeps any rashing under control that could happen due to sweat. However, I am at BEST walking up a sweat, not running and certainly not 1/2 marathon distance. But I do love my compressions shorts and tanks.

I sure hope she gets better fast. Do they have any idea why this happened? I am also happy I was sleeved but since it's been 2 years for her, it also worries me that there could be future complications down the road.

I don't think the long term liquid should have anything to do with having a drain. My protocol post-surgery was the same as everyone else's. You know it's funny....at the time it was a big deal but now it's actually hard for me to remember but I think I was on full liquid 4 weeks. That wasn't bad. But 4 weeks on clear liquid would have been awful for me. Even w/ full it was hard to get in 300 calories and I was very weak on that little. I hope it's not too difficult for her to get that long out on so little. Frankly, it would have been for me. Pretty sure I was only 1 week clear, 4 weeks full liquid, 4 weeks mushies, 4 weeks soft, then slowly to full food. And that seemed a lifetime!

Why did your sister need a port? A port is typically needed for people who need a med administered to them over a long window of time. I don't think too many people have this issue for this surgery but I could be wrong. Hopefully her recovery continues well. I did have a drain called a penrose. I had my gall bladder removed at the same time requiring the drain. It was a bit more than I expected and did leave a considerable scar. Ironically my scar from that drain is actually somewhat elevated. Since I'm older I am not that worried about it, but it's pretty significant compared to the little lapro scars that are already barely visible. The place where the drain was (and that's an area that's actually left open to heal shut very slowly after the drain is removed) is about 2 inches long and very thick. Icky looking thing. Oh well....just a supplement to my stretch marks.

Everyone is different but I didn't have an issue with stairs. The only issue I had for about 3 to 4 days was getting out of bed in the morning. That sort of roll and pull up movement was ouchy. Other than than, anything else was mild. I should add I live in a two story house. There are about 16 stairs to get to my bedroom. I did take it slow and careful. Hopefully you'll have supplies so that after you are home, you won't have to go out for that first 3 or 4 days while you are getting past the first days when you would be most tender.

Best thing I took was a snap up the front duster. I don't know if it was because they allow for the largest of people but their hospital gown was almost dangerous for me. After almost tripping a second time I changed to my duster and was very glad I had bought it. Ditto with the baby wipes. They had a pack of similar things to wash with but they were not flushable and I wanted *my* flushable brand. In the US hospital I was in they discouraged anything on your feet but the gripper socks they supply. They only allowed slippers or shoes on you if you needed some sort of orthothic. Again, it was a safety thing. I took very little and was glad as with flowers and a stuffed animal delivered, things multiplied anyway. I was glad I didn't have to haul a lot out when I left. The time flew by and I didn't even have time to watch TV let alone read or write. Although it might have been funny later to have read some of what I wrote while the heavy meds were in full effect!

I smoked from 16 to 30. I tried to quit many times It finally worked when I started thinking of myself as a non-smoker before I quit. I wrote out a card and used it as sort of a mantra I'd start each day and instead of thinking that I was giving it up or quitting, I thought about how I wasn't a smoker, how good it felt to not stink, how much easier it was to breath. I did this while I was smoking with the idea that I would quit on a specific date in the future. I think I had the date set for 2 months out. Anyway, I never got to that date. Somewhere along the lines I just quit smoking. I have no idea exactly when except it was in the fall. (My goal was to be a non-smoker by the first of the next year.) That experience taught me how amazing the human brain can be if you are feeding it the right messages. So I know you might not have enough time, but for others who are facing this issue it's a suggestion. Apply it to our weight loss journey too. Sometimes the positive, assuming success, can do you a lot more good than lamenting your past. I love that I quit smoking and you will too. With this weight loss journey, start banking all that extra $$ you will not be using to kill yourself with cigarettes. Because in a year's time you are going to need a whole new wardrobe and maybe a nice fun away from home weekend. And you'll be able to do it without it costiing you a cent....just the money you would have wasted anyway!!