doxieville

7-up is what got me here, so I am staying clear of all sodas. But i have to say, 7-up is the only thing I've craved since starting this whole process (pre-op & up to now.).

Lol! I misread your post, you aren't a teacher. But wow, your schedule is brutal! Hang in there!

cheese sticks! They can go several hours not being refrigerated. Or little tuna cups. I think Starkist makes tiny 1 serving cups to go. Look in the tuna aisle, they don't have to be kept cold. And it's not the kit with the crackers & maio etc, it's just a tiny container of tuna. I keep one and a baby spoon in my purse. If you need maio w your tuna, have a friend pick up little packets of maio at a fast food joint. Good luck. Teachers are aweome & underappreciated.

I need to get an updated one now that i have the sleeve. Mine is from MedAlert and is ancient. What's Laura's Hope? And what exactly are you putting on your braclete for the sleeve? Somehow I think 'The Sexy Sleeve' isn't appropriate. :-) Thanks!

24 is young!! You have your whole life ahead of you! Are you going to have WLS?

Where is your pain? You can lightly massage around your incisions and use a heating pad on your tummy to relax the muscles. At 3 days out you SHOULD have pain meds & anti-nausea pills. Please take them. Now is not the time to be a hero and suffer discomfort. Call your doc if you don't have any meds. Day 3 was my WORST day. I was so uncomfortable & miserable. I got through the first week by sleeping, sipping and reading this forum. I gained a LOT of strength from all these wonderful people on this board. Hug yourself!! You'll be better soon.

Hi! I strongly recommend that you make an appoitment with a Pain management doctor. Make sure you check the credentials & other peoples experiences before you go. A good pain doctor will actually have a team so that someone is avaible 24/7. There are MANY options for pain, you just need to work with a doctor to find what works for you. Good luck!

PLEASE do not take any offense to this comparison!! A good way to look at stretching the sleeve is comparing it to the practice of creating holes in ones earlobe. You need to start with a small circle, and then slowly move to a bigger size as the earlobe stretches. If anyone knows the correct terminology and process for this, please let me know. Thanks! I lived in the Amazon as a child and the Indians native to that area would stretch out their bottom lip. They start with a small one as a child and over time would put in bigger ones until the lip is fully extended. So, it does take a lot of work to stretch the sleeve. It IS doable, but you'd be pretty darn uncomfortable for a long time! Dr. Duperier said empahatically that he has seen very few people actually stretch it so that the size stops being a tool. When it doesn't work it's always been because of poor diet choices, and snacking continually. Hope this helps!!

Hi Everyone, I had my Two week checkup today. It was great! I've lost 12 pounds post-op. It was only 2 pounds of muscle that I lost, the rest was all fat. I love getting weighed at the office because they have a machine that breaks it all down. I've been cleared for exercise, so hopefully next month I won't have lost any muscle. Dr. duperier, the wonderful doc that he is, spent time with me, as always, to answer some questions: Stretching Your Sleeve: it is possible to stretch your sleeve, but you have to work hard to do that. One or two meals that are too big won't stretch it out. Constantly overpacking it for months will stretch it. Gaining Weight or 'Cheating': The Sleeve will fail if you drink sugary liquids. He has seen it happen and it saddens him. That is why counseling is such an important part of this equation. Losing Weight & low carbs: I thought once I was sleeved that I will always have to eat low carb. Not true. Once I'm at goal weight, I can eat freely, within reason, and Protein always first. No food For 3 Weeks: The reason is because the stomach needs to heal and not strain itself by processing food. So I was wrong. I thought if any food was pureed, I could eat/drink it. Not so. It has to be full liquids with nothing the stomach sees as 'food.'. So my pureed oatmeal, pureed Soups (other than creamy & broth) are no-no's. There is no such stage as 'pureed stage!'. It was a very interesting visit. They did my leak test in the office and he spent time letting me drink & watching my sleeve fill up. I even got to see what happens when I overfill my sleeve. I am a renegade! I asked him if I could and he said 'sure.'. It was really cool. No wonder it is uncomfortable. I hope other August sleevers (and everyone else!) are getting good news from their docs! Judy

Hi August Sleevers! I was sleeved 8/21. Total weight lost about 33 pounds. I lost it all pre-op though. I'm one of those who stopped losing weight after the surgery. But I'm not frustrated. I haven't read anywhere that this surgery doesn't work, so the weight will come off eventually. I'm on full liquids till 9/11. For breakfast, lunch & dinner I drink the vanilla Premeire Protein drink. In between i'll have hot chocoalte, or a creamy soup. I also like sugar free puddings. My sipping drink is Pomegrante Crystal light. I haven't had any hunger pains but I am looking forward to adding more variety next week. I have very litte surgery pain or nausea. No acid reflux. Energy so-so but I've got auto-immune diseases that fatigue me, so i think its a combo of everything. Good luck this month in the journey of weight loss!

I just got bio-oil from Costco at a great price. Contact me in a month or so and I'll report in on how it works. :-)

3 weeks post op and you can eat like that? Wow! I'm still on full liquids. (surgery 8/21). Next Tuesday I start puree foods for 2 weeks then soft food for 2 weeks, THEN I can eat 'normally.' My surgeon is pretty strict and doesn't mess around. He says leaks are pretty darn awful and he'll err on the side of caution rather than risk leaks. Are you getting enough Protein in? From what I've learned, getting your protein in is the key to continued weight loss.

Have the ultrasound. That will give you a baseline on what condition your gallbladder is. The doc may just decide to put you on medication. The last thing you want is a gallbladder attack and need to go to the ER.

I think I read that it was developed in Europe about 20-25 years ago for people with stomach tumors. People were losing weight so they started to experiment it as WLS. It was so successful that about 10 years ago it was brought to to US specifically for WLS. But it didn't really become popular until about 3-4 years ago.

Thanks MilkD! My husband bought me baby spoons yesterday. That might help, but my mantra needs to be EAT SLOWLY. :-). Btw, your stats are great! Congrats on all the weight loss. It does seem that slow an steady wins the race.

Try putting a heating pad in the area. You may have pulled a muscle. And call your doc tomorrow. It's really important that he is aware of whats going on with you.

Sarahmoni- i'm glad I asked this question too! It's going so smoothly for me that I was starting to wonder if something was wrong! So i just need to slow down my intake and i'll be fine! :-) I do feel really bad for people who are having a hard time. My thoughts are with all of you.

I think the problem w eating and drinking at the same time is that you won't be able to get all your proteins & nutrients in. I also, and this is just my thoughts, don't think that the sleeve can be scretched that easily. Those who fail with this WLS have probably found ways to cheat & go back to their own ways. It's sad, but it does happen.

It's hard to eat slowly, isn't it? And i've always been a slow eater, but this is painstakingly slow. I just had some cream of brocolli soup and I sipped it too quickly. Darn it, now I feel icky. This is a whole new world!! Anyone have any tricks to remind them to eat/sip extra slowly? Thanks!

Ms Dimples & Usadukes, At the 3rd day, I still wasn't getting enough liquids & I felt like crap. The 4th day onward was better, but I did have to start forcing myself to drink because universally I read on here that people felt worse when they didn't get enough fliuds.

Gosh, it's just so weird how everyone responds differently to this surgery!

I have no idea what size he used. i'll ask on Thursday. :-)

Yeah, I haven't gotten the opps feeling. But like Zino said, this is the time to retrain my brain, so I kinda wish that I DID have that negative feedback from my body. Thanks!