momto3girls

2 1/2 weeks post-op and the past 5 nights or so I have been awakened sometime between 3am-5am with the WORST pain in between my breastbone as well as the worst burning ever that seems to go from my mouth all the way down. The pain feels like I have swallowed a ball full of spikes as the pain shoots straight through to my back. This morning was probably the worst. I started salivating really bad and had to constantly swallow. OMG! It was horrible. Then I started to gag. I quickly chewed up 2 TUMS to no avail. I called my doc about this a few days ago and she put me on Pepcid AC. She told me to take it 4 times per day but the box says to not take more than 2 per day so that is what I am doing. She says the heartburn is VERY common but will go away eventually. But what is the spiky pain that comes with it? And the salivating? Wow! That was just weird! Have any of my sleeve sisters had experience with this? I am currently taking one Pepcid in the a.m. before breakfast and then again after dinner before bed (hoping that it will last me through the night). Apparently it is not working. The nausea seems to be getting worse as well. Just can't tolerate the vitamins much. Waiting for the capsule form to arrive as the chewables and me just end up in a vomiting marathon. Ugh! HELP!!!!

I agree with your husband. I am a nurse myself and this sounds like completely negligent physician care. How long have you been in there and tonight was the first night he made an appearance? And I would be putting a bad review of him and his office on every possible WLS website out there to warn others of his behavior.

Do NOT let yourself get upset over this weight gain. You have been in the hospital for several days now and no doubt with IV fluids being pumped in 24/7, right? I gained 6 pounds in one day being in the hospital! It came off very quickly once off the fluids. Any new updates from the docs on your condition? Did you surgeon ever come by to see you and if so, what was his excuse for not coming over the weekend? I am thinking about you daily.

Well, 2 weeks ago today I was on the OR table. I am still hugely regretting my decision. I am becoming more and more depressed with each passing day. The tears are a daily thing. I have no energy. I am still very weak and shaky and just don't feel 100% mentally with it. Will this ever change? Oh, and haven't lost a pound since the day of my 1 week post op appt which was last Wednesday. In fact, I have gained 1.5 pounds! How is that possible when I am eating next to nothing and not even getting all my liquid or protein in? I am so irritated by all of this. I just see no way that I can return to work feeling this way. I would love to do more walking but I am very nervous about going out alone because I am so shaky. Is that why I am not losing? It still seems that with no exercise beyond normal daily routine that I would still lose weight seeing how I am eating NOTHING. Any advice and/or encouragement needed....

Well then, I would really like to know why he is not coming to see you. Hmmm. How far out are you post-op?

@Toyaboo22: Oh wow! You just made my heart sink reading your post. I guess I shall stop complaining right now. I have NOTHING on you my friend. I am so sorry you are having to deal with your health PLUS family issues. Very sad on the family stuff...wow. Did you go to the ER where you had your surgery? Could this be why he is not coming to the hospital? Are you at a different hospital or one that he does not have privileges at maybe? If you are at a different facility maybe you can ask for a transfer to a facility he attends at? He NEEDS to see you! That is ridiculous. I hope they can get everything straightened out. Keep us posted.

Yay! A fellow Houstonian! So nice to hear your positive experience. Dr. Turnquest was on my list of possible surgeons but I never actually went to a consultation. I ended up using Dr. Marvin in the Med Center. I am on Day 12 post-op and maybe a little better each day but wow, it has not been easy! If I could just get over the shakiness that I feel and weakness then I would feel much happier. I have not figured out how to get my protein in without shakes to be honest. It seems very difficult to do so when you can only eat 2-3oz at a time. Give me some tips please! Oh, and do you attend any support groups? Dr Marvin has one once a month but it is quite a haul for me to get into the med ctr as I am in Magnolia. If you know of any in The Woodlands or somewhere closer can you fill me in? Thanks!

@Peggylou: I think a little depression is par for the course for people like us. I am Day 12 post op and it seems like every other day I have a more emotional day with tears and regret. Everything you read also states that this is normal. We have had just about everything we know as "comfort" taken away from us. We have to re-train our brains to think about things outside of the realm of food I guess. It is definitely an adjustment and so not the "easy way out" Hang in there. I am operating on a day to day basis myself.

Well, as of this evening I learned that refried beans are NOT my friend...sigh..not yet anyway. I heated up some fat free spicy beans with a wedge of Laughing Cow Chipotle cheese and OMG so yumm-o....until....they got stuck. So I got up and walked away. Came back later and took another bite and the same thing. So I guess my body isn't ready for that one. Oh well, the taste I had was great!

OK friends, just tried this protein shake recipe: 1 cup skim milk, 1 scoop Jay Robb chocolate protein powder, and 2 Tbs creamy peanut better (oh yeah!!!). Pretty darn good! I can't just eat peanut butter yet on day 10 but my doc said I could blend it into my shakes. I am feeling pretty shaky this afternoon so decided to drink a shake. I just can't drink it fast enough before it gets separated and warm. Oh well. Anyone else feeling shaky in the legs???

When I make my egg salad I just mash up the hard boiled eggs and then mix with low fat mayo, mustard to taste, and a tad of salt. Let me correct my previous posting...the kids got sandwiches and Mom only got the eggs. Boo. I miss my bread like there is no tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and I just got off the phone from ordering my new set of scrubs (I'm a nurse) for work. I have been wearing a 3X but I ordered a 2X..and only one pair. They are expensive and I am not sure how long I will be fitting in each size so I would rather do lots of laundry. Ha!

I am with you on the egg salad. I made my kids egg salad sandwiches yesterday for lunch (they love them too!) and the rest of it was for ME. It did sit heavy on my stomach yesterday but probably because I ate too much of it. It tasted so good though I couldn't put the darn spoon down.

So today I tried Cream of Wheat made with skim milk and 2 packets of Splenda. Next time I will only use one packet of sweetener though. Much prefer oatmeal though. And all I can say is that our grocery bill is going to be SO much cheaper with me not eating. One serving of anything lasts me for days on end. It sure is weird. This afternoon I heated up some Campbell's Tomato and Sweet Basil Bisque. The container has 2 cups in it but I just poured out 3oz into my little Dixie cup and ate that. Oh, and I spooned out the tomato chunks since I am not supposed to have those yet. It tasted so good! Also, today I drank my first glass of plain ol' skim milk. Poured one cup at breakfast and split it between breakfast and lunch. I tasted funny this morning but I think that is because I was also chewing my nasty vitamins. I really need to order the pills next time. These chewables are so big and gritty. At lunch the milk tasted much better. Having a better day than yesterday. Day 10 post-op....

GREAT weight loss! Congratulations!

Just wanted to give y'all my one week post-op visit update. I am Post-Op Day 9 and my weight loss was 16 pounds for this first week. It was weird though because I wasn't all that happy or excited while standing on the scale. I am attributing that to the fact that it is still too fresh in my memory how absolutely miserable and tearful this past week has been. I had to apologize to the staff and told them upon leaving that "hopefully I will be happier in 3 weeks when you see me." Anyway, she was happy with my progress and took my steri strips off..yay! She spent a ton of time with us (close to an hour) and answered all my questions. I am positive that I probably am her most annoying patient. Haha! She told me to relax a bit and that I am overthinking most everything. She told me that my weakness and shakiness-especially in the mornings-is more a dehydration issue than protein deficiency issue. She told me that I can't become protein deficient in 2 weeks. So she really wants me to concentrate on hydration more for right now. And as for eating and drinking at the same time which I thought was a big no-no, she told me that I need to be more concerned with that when I get to "the real world" meaning I guess after 3 months or so when I am out of main ketosis and healed. She gave me some food tips and corrected several misunderstandings on my part. I felt better about it all after leaving. Now, tonight I can't decide: refried beans or mashed potatoes. Who would ever thought that a girl could get so excited about a small choice such as this.

And I am a nurse too! I am Day 9 post-op but won't return to work until sometime after Oct 20th. I work in ER. Not sure when I will feel ready to pump on someone's chest (CPR) but I know for darn sure that it is not now. Ha! Yes, I am worried about that first 12 hour shift. Hard to get drinking time. And having to eat every 3 hours will be a joke on those days. Most days (pre-op) I would skip breakfast and then I am lucky to even get a lunch by 3pm. Not sure how I am going to handle it all now. By then I will be on solids again so hopefully it will be easier. Where do y'all live? I am in Houston.

I too have had some back pain. Yesterday was pretty bad but it was also my first day of soft solids so eggs, cottage cheese, applesauce. Most everything felt stuck and when that happens it radiates to my middle upper back. I am assuming this is normal.

Holy moly! The bad breath has begun.. I just about blew my husband away with it. I told him about it and he didn't believe me so I breathed on him and whew! Haha! I was warned about this by a friend who had the sleeve a couple years ago. I guess I didn't think it would happen this quickly (I am on Day 8). It is from ketosis (fat burning). I am assuming I can't chew gum because of the extra air it might cause going down so I bought some Altoids yesterday and will start using those. Wow, this is going to be difficult when I have to go back to work. I might scare all my patients away. I will also start using mouthwash too I suppose. Anyone else have this yet and if so, have you heard how long it will last?

Well, friends, today was the first day of soft solids and wow, it is hard. I made a protein shake at 9:30am and still haven't finished it. I have no idea how some of you can drink 2 of those in a day. And I have been so full that I am not even drinking my water. Hardly going to the bathroom today which concerns me (and my kidneys!). Then this afternoon in my quest to get more protein I scrambled my first egg at about 2:20pm. I melted one wedge of Laughing Cow Queso Fresco and Chipotle cheese in with it to make it more mushy. OMG! Heaven! It tasted so good but still at 4:23pm can't finish it. I have given up after heating it up twice in the microwave. it just feels like it is sitting in a lump in my tummy. But now I am trying to drink another 8oz of Powerade just to get some liquids in. Who knew this was going to be so dang hard?

Yay for skinny sex!! LOL! But I am not ready to venture there yet...my incisions are still causing too much pain. Although I am positive my husband would LOVE for me to be ready...BTW, how much weight do you need to lose because your profile pic doesn't look like you need to lose ANY....

I used to live in Carrollton and used to work at Baylor Carrollton when it was Trinity Med Ctr. I remember that name Dr. Veninga. At least it sounds familiar. Now I am in Houston....

@mommeof3: You are not alone in your feelings. How far out are you? I am 8 days post-op today and OMG there have been SO many tears this past week. I can't even tell you the number of times that I have literally said "I would rather be fat and happy then have to deal with this." I just keep relying on the (hopefully correct) knowledge that each week will bring improvement in our symptoms. I keep telling myself that everything has to probably still be swollen inside of there and once it heals things will be better. My doc said I would feel like crud for 3-4 days however it was much longer than that. But I will add that a staff member in his office who had the sleeve 2 years ago said that it will be at least 3 weeks. I believe her more than him at this point since she has actually gone through the surgery herself. I posted an update earlier today and said that I have been 100% regretful of having this surgery up until today and now it's backed down to about 90%. Hopefully by next week it will be better. I started a protein shake at oh 9:30am and still at 12:45pm I have not been able to get it all down. I am bloated and miserable. Trying to drink water too but it ain't working too well today either. Oh, and I have had reflux from my hiatal hernia for years. They fixed my hernia while in surgery but you know I still have had reflux since the surgery. Yeah, wondering about that too. Anyway, hang in there! Try to stay positive. I know I have been saying LOTS of prayers this week!

Hallelujah for this day! I am post-op day 8 (sleeved on the 17th) and today I got to start stage 2 soft solids. Still very shaky in the morning-definitely not back to my normal energy level and still not completely comfy with driving my kid to school at 6:00am. But anyway...this morning at 5:30am I started with about 2oz of no sugar added applesauce. Took a couple sips of H2O with it which I know is a no-no but wow that is going to take some serious retraining. It went down OK for the most part but didn't taste that good to me. I did feel kind of warm and sweaty after eating it though and I am not sure why. Between then and about 8:30 I drank 14oz of H2O. And then I mixed up a protein shake (my first one!). I used 1 cup skim milk, 1 scoop Jay Robb brand vanilla protein powder, and 1/2 of a mashed banana. It said to mix the powder with 12oz of milk but I can't do that much. Anyway, it does not taste half bad. I am happy to report! My question is when using a blender what do we do with all the foamy stuff? Do I have to wait and let it settle before drinking it? It seems like that could cause problems? I am keeping it in the fridge and sipping on it when I walk by to the laundry room (yes, finally doing some laundry myself). I am keeping very strict track of my intake today of liquids and solids because I have my first post-op appt tomorrow and want to run it by them. I am still dealing with bloating/diarrhea issues but not as bad as a couple days ago. Hey, no tears so far this morning so we are on the right track I hope. I have been 100% regretful of my decision to have this surgery but now I might scale it back to 90%. LOL! Hopefully once I get my energy level back and feel like a somewhat normal person again that will be scaled back some more. I will not return to work until sometime after Oct 20th as I am an ER nurse. My job is very physical (lifting, turning, doing CPR, running all 12 hours) so I think it is best to wait as long as possible. I have not told people at work about my surgery since gossip is so hurtful. How have all of you handled that? I am also in school right now continuing my education and I started back to classes yesterday. Granted most of it is online but I do have to spend several days in the hospital shadowing a manager in the coming weeks. Not looking forward to that so am postponing as long as I can to get my energy level back up. I am VERY worried about returning to work though because we are so busy and physical. I just don't want to be in a patient's room and get the dumping syndrome, you know? OK, this is turning into a novel. Gotta get to my school work...Later....

Newgrandmother: How far out are you (post-op days)? You sound like you are doing so well. I am so jealous of all that are not having bloating, gas, pain, etc. I am very much an instant gratification girl so this being patient and giving my body time to heal is NOT WORKING FOR ME. LOL! I wake up every morning hoping that it will be a better day but so far the changes have been so minute that I just can't count them, you know? I just want the bloating/swelling to stop after every drink. Really? Is that asking so much?