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Arts137

Gastric Sleeve Patients
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  1. Like
    Arts137 reacted to MWilliams42 for a blog entry, They FIT!   
    OMG...they FIT, they FIT, they FIT!!!!
     
    The JEANS, that I have had in my closet forever...FIT!!! Skinny, yet curvy(curvy is GOOD people!!)
     
    SO...I was in the closet, I decided today was the day I was going to try them on AGAIN...thinking to myself, "oh these didn't fit 3 weeks ago, they will fit in about a month from now". WELL...I put them on, because I always love denim, and I buttoned them, smile began to surface...zipped them, BIG cheesy grin by this time, AND...I AM STILL BREATHING!!! So you better believe I did NOT take these suckers off!!!!
     
    I've been doing a little jig, with a little song that just makes the big cheesy grin, not so cheesy...they fit, uh-huh, they fit...oh yea!!!!
     
    It's the little successes that are HUGE!!! Just made my day!!!
     
    Have a blessed day!!! Keep up the good work everyone and remember to be FABULOUS today!!!
  2. Like
    Arts137 reacted to gamergirl for a blog entry, The Problem with a Weight Loss Stall   
    The problem with a stall is not just the lack of weight loss at a time you expect the weight to be peeling off–although that would be bad enough. The problem with a stall is that it comes with baggage.
    All those times when you thought you’d found the “perfect” diet. All those times when there were hundreds of others boasting of their success with something that you were now trying. All those times that you were filled with hope that THIS was the thing that was going to work.
     
    All those times that you failed.
     
    We’ve been stuck at the same weight for 11 days, and it’s very difficult to focus on the now, instead of trying to think of what this means for the future. If I focus on the now, it tells me that my body is changing, my clothes fit differently, and even at 25 lbs, people see and comment on the difference all the time.
     
    If I try to project for the future and imagine that this is the way it will always be, then I focus on the fact that this could be another thing at which others have succeeded, but at which I seem doomed to fail. Which of us has not believed, both before and after the surgery, that we would be the ones who would be the exception to the rule? That we would be that medical marvel that simply could not lose the weight despite doing everything we were told?
     
    That we would be that singular failure while others around us kept posting their amazing before and after pictures?
     
    And that’s the problem with a stall. Even knowing what we do, that every day is a different adventure when sleeved, that recovery, weight loss, and changes happen seemingly overnight, we still believe that this is the time, and we are the one that will fail. A very egocentric world-view if truth be told, but justifiable given our histories.
     
    So if you thought this journey was just about eating your protein and drinking your water and not challenging your sleeve, I’ve got news for you my friend. It’s about battling your inner demons, about having faith in the unknown, and about believing that we are not that special after all.
     
    And in that normalcy and mediocrity is perhaps where salvation lies.
     
    (Follow my journey and my recipes at www.sleevers.wordpress.com)
  3. Like
    Arts137 reacted to DianaPrince for a blog entry, Modesty goes out the window   
    So I'm sitting here post op day #5 reflecting on my journey so far. So far I have jumped through some mighty big hoops to get to this point. And trust me, my fat ass jujmping through ANYTHING is a feat!! Since I decided to have sleeve surgery I have had to get medical clearance from a Cardiologist, Pulmonologist, Endocrinologist, GI doctor,Psychologist, Nutritionist , have a sleep apnea test done ( really sucked!!!) and have an endoscopy. Not to mention the pre op blood work and chest x-ray. Then after all that go to my primary and have his blessing before I could finally have surgery. I was very motivated. From first counsultation with bariatric surgeon to surgery was about 7 weeks. Pretty impressive if I do say myself.
    Went on a full liquid diet for 2 weeks prior to surgery. Then the day finally arrived. Was told to be @ hospital by 9am Couldn't drink anything since midnight. Got to the hospital, got registered, was brought into the surgery bay to wait. Was told there was one sleeve before me and then I would go in. Then the waiting began. Every hour hat went by, a different nurse would come out and tell us a different reason why I was waiting so long. As a nurse myself, I appreciate **** happens, but when you're the patient it's different!! Finally @ 1:30pm the anesthiesiologist comes out and tells me I will be brought in in a few minutes. I put on my "do you want fries with that" little cap and walk into the surgery room. I am immediately put @ ease when I see one of the techs is wearing a Mets scrub cap. I'm told to lay down on the table and put my arms out on the boards where a nurse straps them down. Another nurse starts to remove my gown now at this point I should mention I am a very modest person and that just doesn't happen in the OR. I;m laying there, arms strapped down, boobs exposed for all the world to see and just when the nurse tries to get a blanket on me as she removes the gown that still is covering my va jay jay another nurse leans down in my face and says" Hey how you doing? Its Angel I worked with you a few years ago" Are you f**king kidding me!!!?? I kept telling myself who cares abpout being naked you never gonna see these people again BAM a familiar face. Just proof God has a sense of humor!! Thank God right after that, I get knocked out.
    I wake up in recover, quick wave of nausea comes and goes. I slowly begin to realize where I am amd come out of my drug induced slumber. I'm there about an hour then am brought up to my room where I see my family waiting for me.
    I'm hooked up to a morphine pump I can hit every 10 mins if I need to. I still can"t drink ANYTHING til the next morning so I begin the ritual of rinsing and spitting that was a godsend. I wish I could say I rested but thats not the case. The nurses got me out of bed every 2 hrs all night long to walk the hallway to prevent clots. Just as I'd drift off to sleep, they would come into the room.
    Next morning I was brought down for a barium swallow to make sure no leaks were present. As nasty as barium tasted Iwas just happy to drink something. Got the thumbs up, no leaks, went back up to my room and started swallowing 1 oz of fluids at a time. First it was water then apple juice then jello then applesauce. Tolerated them all No nausea/vomiting. Around 1pm I was discharged. Came home and proceeded to sleep on and off for the next 17hrs.
    Have to continue the full fluids for 1 week, have my first post op follow up appt tomorrow with surgeon. Fingers crossed I can move to puree at least
  4. Like
    Arts137 reacted to joatsaint for a blog entry, Beans Beans...The Musical Fruit...or Green Beans, Mother Nature's Broom   
    Ok, in the interest of full disclosure, the 1st part of the title isn't true about green beans - at least not in my case, they don't give me gas. But the good news is, they do make me "regular."
     
    Garden season has sprung in Texas and my dad's green beans are coming up like weeds. As usual, he planted waaaaaaay too many green bean plants and is complaining about having to get out there and pick them. And when I say waaaay too many, I mean just that. He has 3 rows of green bean plants - each row about 40 feet long. That's a lot for just my mom and dad.
     
    I know that he secretly loves the fact that he has too many. He enjoys giving away the extras. But is always complaining that no one wants to come and pick. I try to tell him, "Grow something that people
    want and they'll come. No one wants to come dig turnips!"
     
    Now a normal person would just pick what they could use and let the rest rot on the vine. Not my dad. He grew up at the end of the Depression and can't let anything go to waste - even if he never uses it.
     
    So they will pick and can fruit and vegetables until the garden dies. Then, a year later, he's throwing out the old canned and frozen stuff to make room for new.
     
    Mom, dad, and me picked about 5 gallons of green beans off one row, and that was AFTER they had already picked the row two times previously! So, they gotta lotta beans left to pick on the other rows.
     
    Now I have a freezer stocked with fresh green beans.
     
    Cooking them is simple: put in water, bring to a boil, add garlic, salt, and onion to taste.
    Boil for about 15 minutes.
    Poke with fork to test tenderness.
    Grab one with tongs for taste test.
    Blow on green bean to cool it off.
    Taste.
    Hold ice cube on burned tongue.
    Eat meal with green beans - not being able to taste anything because of burned tongue.
     
    I've eaten a cup or two every evening for the past 4 days and I've gone to the bathroom once a day since I started eating green beans. My normal schedule is once every 4 days, until now. So I'm crediting the fiber in the green beans.
     

     
    A cup of green beans has about 40 calories - 2 grams of fiber - 2 grams of carbs.
     
    All varieties of green beans are low in calories and contain healthy nutrients: dietary fiber, calcium and iron.
    One cup has 200 milligrams of potassium, plus beta carotene and vitamin A.
     
    Next month: One potato...two tomatoes
     
    Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!
  5. Like
    Arts137 reacted to lizrox for a blog entry, First entry post op   
    It is official, 85 percent of my stomach is gone. It's hard to wrap my mind around that. To walk through some some events of my hospital stay. 5/22 I went and got a new haircut and my legs and brows waxed. Then went home and drank the horrible bowel cleaning drink and waited. I felt bad the rest of the day and received a call that my surgery time had moved up, I needed to check in at 5:30 am. I fell asleep easily and my parents drove me to the hospital on time. Checked in, was weighted in, answered some questions and the IV was started. I met a slew of nurses, doctors, my surgeon and quickly enough I was in the operating room. I remember only a sliver of that room then I was waking up. I just said pain and nausea and quickly feel asleep again. I guess my potassium levels were too low and they started potassium through the IV. It still burns just thinking about it. Then I fully woke up and remember everything around 1pm. I got to my room, it was private thank goodness. My parents were in there worrying about the delay. My mom is a nurse and has seen it all, but just the potassium was holding me up. Then quickly the nausea set in. Horrible, listless feeling I wouldn't wish on enemies. I didn't realize the nausea the directly linked to my pain meds. I rarely take any pain meds and just couldn't handle them. My husband visited that night and I remember him just holding my hand while I drifted off to sleep to soothing music. I really love that man!
    Next day more potassium burning, nausea, a change of pain meds, and swallow test. When my nurse walked in and said I didn't have any leaks I lost it and started balling. I had no clue how worried I was about that. I just felt like I had too much nausea not to have a leak, so to hear I would be taken off of IV pain meds and some of the machines I was so releaved. One more step closer to freedom! That night my IV site was burning that I rang my light at 3am asking for a new one. By 4am and a few tries I had a new far less painful site. They gave me some benedryl to sleep and let me go to 9am!
    All that was left was the need to pass gas, then I could go home! And I woke up and tooted, again happiness. I told the nurses immediately and they were pumped for me. Unfortunately my blood work came back with low magnesium and potassium. Fortunately I only needed the magnesium through the IV and to drink the horrible potassium. I kept telling myself this was better then a burning vein and powered through. By 3:30 my mom was taking me home.
     
    I want to tell others that your pain meds may be linked to the nausea.
    Walk as soon as possible. I was up and moving as soon as I hit my private room. The gas will come out far more quickly.
     
    This is the first time I have had the mind and focus to read, go online, watch tv or even talk. It took a lot out of me, but if it helps me get this damn weight off it will be worth it. The memories of pain are quickly fading. I really hope to see the scale move down fast!

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