Miss Mac

Keep it and wear that gorgeous hair down......absolutely smashing. Love the scoop in the back.

Call your doctor, especially if it looks inflamed. The biggest incision takes the longest to heal. Please do not do any lifting beyond your doctor's recommendations. Let someone else do the laundry lifting, and you can do the folding. Make adjustments like that where you have to. You deserve to take it easy until you feel up to it. The soreness, itching, and burning take a while to resolve. But call your doctor. He/she may want to see you at the office.

Some friend. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I am 8 1/2 months out now and it's still there. I call it my tupperware burp.

I agree....let the surgeon know now so that the anestheolgist will be prepared to help manage your anxiety. My bariatric physician changed my med from Sertraline to Buproprion and doubled the dose of that by my third visit pre-op. is this your first time for surgery? Here is what happens: Take that first bold step and show up. Then you will change into a hospital gown and go to a pre-op area where a nurse will place you IV so that they can have a place to give you fluids and insert meds, relaxers, and anesthetic as needed. You will feel a little prick.. (My first ex-husband was a little prick!) That is probably when they will give you a little "somethin' somethin') to help you mellow out kind of like a California high. When it is time to roll out out to the operating room you will get a hug and/or kiss from your support person, then off you go for an excellent adventure......cause now you are a little loopy and don't really care. You are rolled next to the operating table and the nursing staff transfers you over. So there you are staring at the ceiling lights and the anesthesiolgist will ask you chit chatty questions or ask you to count backward from 100. So you count 100, 99, 98, 97...........wake up, hello, wake up...hey you're done...you did just fine! Then you are taken to your room and transferred to you bed. Then hard part is over. You made that decision to take control of your health and are now committed to becoming a healthier happier you. And you have a new birthday where you get that second chance to start over. Congratulations. Now, here is a quote that has helped me get through hard times and critical decisions. It helped me to leave a horrible diagnosed psycho-sociopath who had taken control of my life. It helped me decide to go back to collage at the age of 54 to finish a degree program that I had started in 1971. And it helped me decide to investigate bariatric surgery and go for it. Here it is, and I wish you good luck and good health: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can.........begin it. For boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." Wolfgang Von Goethe

Uh oh...........I have a 12 oz cup of sugar free powdered apple cider mix sitting next to me on the table. I am looking into the cup realizing that even 12 oz. is a lot of volume, even if it's liquid measure or weight measure, let alone 14 oz. O K.....Thank goodness that pudding is liquidy (is that a word?) and will pass through quicker than if you overate cheese or meat. My experience has been that if I give Miss Tummy more than she is designed to hold, she will make me hurt MISERABLY for at least four hours while she figures out what the heck to do with all that food. A couple of times she has given it back by upchuck and diarrhea so bad that I pass out. The last time, I ended up in the hospital getting IV fluids and an event monitor for a month just to make sure that I don't have heart or blood pressure issues contributing to or from being that sick. What I have to do after an episode like that is to go back to basics for a couple of days, holding back on solid food and just drinking Protein shakes and eating easy stuff like scrambled eggs. So, you are not too far off mark by backing off with liquids for a few hours. From this kind of stumble, we learn how to nourish our new tummies by pacing ourselves. You should be allright. Just take a deep breath and keep on doing the best you can.

You can go to this link for a thread dedicated to the topic of stalls........it may help you to realize that you are not alone. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/312685-great-new-single-location-for-stall-talk/

You can go to this link for a thread dedicated to the topic of stalls........it may help you to realize that you are not alone. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/312685-great-new-single-location-for-stall-talk/

Well said. One time there was a thread about that very thing.........someone was looking for justification for a damaging behavior, and they called those of us who are doing our best to maintain compliance "Goody Two Shoes". Whatever. Let's just do our best to attain good health.

Yes...what she said! I was in the hospital for a couple of days earlier this month for a diarrhea /nausea / passing out issue. In two days I gained seven pounds so frustrating. There was so much Fluid in my body that I thought I was going to pop like a balloon. I went in to the ER about 5 p.m. and a guy from dietary came to my room before bedtime, and asked me to fill out the menu thing for the next day. I explained to him that I had weight loss surgery 8 months ago and am on a high Protein (80 grams a day) and maximum 800 calories. My Breakfast was that fakey a** scrambled egg s**t, a large muffin with cinnamony streussel top, toast, oatmeal, and sweetened apple juice. I foget what lunch was but it was starchy and unremarkable - geeze louize!

Thanks......just paying it forward.

I have been following this forum since last August or September when my primary physician referred me to the Bariatric Clinic at Loyola University Medical Center. I was a scared to death newbie, but more afraid of dying like my mother did (abdominal aortic anuerysm at an age not much older than I am now) than I was of getting the sleeve. Sure, my questions were the typical newbie questions, and my fears were the typical newbie fears, but the only place I could really find comfort was with the people here who had gone before me down the weight loss surgery path. Of the thousands of posts I have read, very very very few had any kind of mean or judgemental tone about them. Even when I was having a crying jag day and felt that someone had hurt my little feelings, I could see that most of the time they were right even if I had to look past how they were saying it. We have to consider that everyone here comes from a different place of family upbringing, childhood drama, marriage, divorce, babies, tragedies and triumphs. Someone posted something early on to the fact that her marriage was in turmoil and she was not being treated well. I responded back with this question: Instead of thinking "I love him, so why would he treat me this way?"....start thinking "Why would I love someone who treats me this way?" I was coming from a place of domestic violence and escaping from a diagnosed psycho-sociopath who kept five loaded weapons in the house, and had escalated his anger from verbal abuse to physical violence. Someone responded back that people are so mean on this forum, and why would I (Miss Mac) want to break up someone's marriage? Well, no doubt that person came from a place where marriage is forever, no matter how miserable, and a couple just needs to work out their problems and stay together. I am only bringing up this example to show that both of us meant well, but we sorely disagreed with each other. So, I believe what others are saying. When you put a post out there, it is only reasonable to expect very different and polarized responses. You can't take this stuff personally. Get what you can out of each comment and move on. Weight loss surgery can leave you anxious, scared, and emotionally vulnerable. Sometimes you just get tired of being strong. So...keep coming back to the forum, keep posting your questions, and hang around for a while so that you can be supportive for the newbies coming behind you. In 2006, Hillary Clinton released her book It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. That concept is so appropriate for the weight loss community. We need each other to get each other through this so that any one of us can come back with the next success story to lift someone else up out of a slump. Sorry that this post is so long, but sometimes it takes me a few paragraphs to explain what I am thinking.

If I don't track, I lose track.......just sayin'. Congratulations on making that decision that saved your life, and welcome to the forum.

1. I agree with the folks encouraging you to let your doctor know ASAP. 2. Congratulations 3. I am the 3rd of 6 kids. Mother was 44 and severely obese with she got pregnant with my youngest brother Steven. She thought she was going through the change until about the 5th month she was getting belly kicked like crazy. I was 14 when Steven was born, and my younger sisters were 9 and 7. Although Steven was not expected, he was certainly welcome. Even though we are all in our 50's and 60's now, I cannot imagine how my life would have been without him. Keep in mind that Bethovin was the 13th child in his family. 4. Do the best you can to keep you and Little Precious happy and healthy. Congratulations!

Same here. My belly sounded like a dinosaur fight for the first three months, and then it mellowed out.

Dearest elpasovet........Some night, when you are up thinking when you ought to be sleeping, go to http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/ and start reading the comments there. It is a long thread with over 660 responses so far, It will give you a good overview of why so many of us finally took the plunge and had weight loss surgery, and may put your concerns into perspective. Also, I am one of the fortunate few who did not have overwhelming hair loss. I had very similar doctor instructions like everyone else, but the only thing I can think of that was radically different is that I found a 10,000 mg Biotin capsule at Walgreens, and I took two of them every day. That's 20,000 mg a day. Either it helped or was expensive pee. But I must say that I am now eight months out and only had minimal thinning - just a few strays around the house, no fistfuls or clumps in the drain. I am so glad that you are holding off until you are convinced that surgery is what you really want. In the meantime, there are a few things you can do that will make a difference in your overall health and give you a head start on weight loss. These are the basic steps that most of us had to take in our clinically supervised diets: Drink Water (or non-caloric) beverages until your eyeballs float - 80-100 ounces per day Get your 8 hours of sleep Eat dense Protein and plenty of it (60-80 grams a day) At any meal, eat your protein first, then non-starchy veggies, with one serving of fresh fruit per day. Like switch out cherry pie for fresh cherries changes like that. Bread, rice, noodles, potatoes, crackers, etc...are not your friends. The fewer carbohydrates the better. 50 grams of carbs is good, 30 is better. Take a good multi-Vitamin. If exercise is difficult or painful, then just do what you can, but do it every day. I hope all of this has helped. Please continue to come here for outeach and support.

About twenty years ago, I got fired from a job for being "too nice" to my employees, even though HR was always spitting out paperwork about how important it is to be nice to the employees. Many of my staff were shocked and sorry to see me go, They took a collection and signed a card with words of encouragement. The one comment I remember more than any other was "It will all work out in the long run." So, apply for unemployment, see if you have grounds for a lawsuit, and enjoy the unexpected time off to heal. I wish you good luck (well at least better luck) and good health.

If I get a response that feels mean-spirited, then I don't answer back and just move on. I learned from having such stress that it maxed out my blood pressure and hit me with a stroke in 2010. Now if I think someone is bullying me on-line here, I just walk away and leave them unresponded. I am not going to give them a chance to hit me twice. I have been on here since September 2013 and have received awesome advice that carried me though many dark days. The 80/20 rule of life works here, too. Let's say that 80% of the comments here are intended to uplift you and sail you over the rough spots. Don't let that 20% of roadkill slow you down. There is a lot of valuable support on this forum. Please feel free to ask us questions. As you procede through your own weight loss journey, you will be able to look back and help other newbies following behind you.

Ineresting about the Bariatric Advantage AE Vitamins making you sick, Chasingpolaris321. I am eight months out and was recently switched from chewable to the Bariatric Advantage AE's because of the extra Iron. They are stinky horse pills. I could not swallow them whole, I couldn't even swallow them cut in forths, so I started to mash them up with a mortar annd pestle and put them in blueberry applesauce to mask the taste. I have had a couple of episodes of extreme nausea and diarrhea, and one day last week, I got so sick that I passed out twice before I could get back to bed. Both times I hit my head on the bathroom floor, and both times I was out for over an hour. When I came to, I just climbed in bed and slept for hours. The next day, my daughter convinced me to call my primary physician, and he put me in the hospital overnight to replenish fluids and take a CT scan of my noggin. I got scolded from my daughter, my doctor, and the E R doctor that I should have called an ambulance right away. Lesson learned. Anyway, now I am wondering about those particular vitamins. I wil ask my bariatric physician.

62 5'4" 235 lbs 40.1 BMI Both Knees replaced Spine collapsing (14 herniated discs) High Blood Pressure Post stroke etc, etc, etc, BC/BS Federal with three month clinically supervised diet, once packet was sent in, I was approved in two days. Surgery 12/23/2013 Have lost 65 pounds Currently in one of those hateful stalls where I am battling gram by gram to keep losing.

Were you losing 1/2 pound a day before your surgery???????

Passed out twice one night last week. Crashed to the bathroom floor both times and hit my head and was out for at least an hour each time. Ended up in the ER with an over night stay and fluids / electrolites overnight. Now I am wearing an event monitor for a month. I had experienced fierce nausea and diarrhea for a couple of hours prior. Given renewed prescriptions for Carafate and Ondansetron. If I start to feel "whooshey" again, I am supposed to press a button the monitor, and the four leads attached to my chest will start recording data to help determine what is going on with my heart rate and blood pressure at the time. I asked the nurse, well if I am passing out, how am I going to be alert enough to press a button, and read a drop down menu to specify what kind of event I am having? Also my meds are being looked at to see if I need to change dosage on anything. I had balance issues prior due to being post-stroke (2010).

I had suffered with diverticulitis for three years prior to my sleeve in December 2013. On October 29, 2013, I was hospitalized with ischemic colitis for eight days. My primary doctor told me after my recovery that he thought he was going to lose me. Wow. I was so glad my sleeve was coming up soon after that. So, after being used to a restricted diet, the changeover to the high Protein diet was not as hard as it would have been. My gastro doctor already had me off caffein, carbonated beverages, and those foods that won't dissolve easily. I love, love, love the difference Miss Tummy makes in my life. The restrictions aren't so bad, because the trade-off is more years to enjoy my grandkids and my awesome and supportive boy friend. I want to go into our golden years together in good health, not dragging myself around or staying shut in because of my disabilities, most of which are brought on by my previous obesity. At 65 pounds down, I am now at a 29.9 BMI - overweight, not obese, and I have had no gastro problems since my sleeve surgery. If you look at your sleeve as a blessing that will give you your life back, instead of an anvil around your neck, you will do alright. Losing a large amount of weight can be emotionally liberating as you become more bold and courageous about being in control of your own life. Losing weight will expose who your real friends are, and how you relate and function with your significant other. I think the hardest part about getting my sleeve was those couple of hours that I was under anesthetic and not in control of my body. If you can release yourself from the fear of all the "what ifs" you will have enough peace of mind to get through it. Just think of surgery as a nice nap, and when you wake up you will have a new birthday. Every year you will have a surgiversary to Celebrate taking back you life. I wish you good luck and good health.

At eight months post-op, I can eat what I want in portions so small that I think my six year old granddaughter eats more than I do. But here is the difference from my pre-op appetite: I do not want the same things. I used to eat six pieces of toast with a big Breakfast. Now the smell of bread make be sick to my stomach. If I came around a pizza I would eat some, but now I would scrape the goodies off the crust and just eat the sauce, cheese, and toppings. Not that I wouldn't want the crust, but I just do not have the tummy real estate to hold it. If I give Miss Tummy more than she can hold, she WILL give it back. So, that is one reason the sleeve is so effective for me. It limits me in quantity, and the fear of going back to where I was bigger around than I was tall, is incentive enough to make better choices. I am not 100% perfect wth this, but Miss Tummy keeps me in line.

Divorce can be so liberating and empowering. Don't let it bring you down.