Justinh125

Hey, my surgeon's "first assist" had clearly stepped out to smoke a cigarette before my surgery then tried to blame it on me. I haven't smoked in years!!! No big deal. You'll be fine. People lie about smoking all the time apparently.

I got bored with the fluids too, but remember that soon it will be a distant memory, and you need to do it to help your body heal. Broth was probably the best at killing hunger for me.

Make sure to hold onto the awesome book they give you. It's got a ton of great info, including some really good recipe ideas for the various phases. Not to mention a food log that I copied and made so I can keep a daily log...helps me make sure I'm eating the Protein, etc., that they want. Also, the nurses there are all nice, but if you see a British nurse named Helen, tell her Justin with the beard said "hi" and he's doing well

The thing that helped me the most with gas pain (by far) was just walking. The more you can "walk it off" so to speak, the better. I was constantly hanging my i.v. cables around that hanger on wheels and doing laps around the "bariatric" floor. Funny story: the gown I was wearing was one-size-fits all, including patients whose starting weight was at least double my size. Therefore, I didn't notice that the back was completely undone, and ended up showing the entire floor my butt as I did my first set of laps! The nurses were cracking up when I inadvertently "mooned" every one of them!!!

At my fattest, it was frustrating to have to "take breaks" because I was so out of shape. As you get in shape, that sort of thing probably won't be an issue anymore.

Unless he has a thyroid problem or is leptin-deficient (see my earlier post,) I'm also confused as to how his parents weren't able to restrict his eating. I'm sure it's tough to deny your child food when he's hungry, but certainly the parents would have known that it was in his best interests, from a health perspective, to restrict his calories. Especially given how young he is/was, don't the parents basically call the shots about food then? I don't remember having much autonomy about what I ate until I was older....for the most part is was "eat what mom and dad put in front of you." As as a younger guy, I was fine because mom and dad only gave me reasonable portions of healthy food, plus I was growing, and that process requires an enormous amount of calories.

Not a doctor, but I worked in metabolic physiology research labs for many years, and I disagree with this idea. Children grow. It takes enormous amounts of calories to grow, especially during times like puberty. Not to mention nobody has studied the potential long-term consequences of this surgery on children. It's possible he had a genetic mutation that prevents his body from making the hormone leptin. If this is the case, injections of leptin would have been just as effective (if not more so) than any bariatric surgery. Note: leptin injections are extremely effective for people that are truly leptin-deficient. The results are usually more robust than any weight-loss surgery. Turns out that most obese people actually do make leptin, so the shots wouldn't help most of us.

Fred, you are in good hands with Dr. Pop. He's done thousands of bariatric surgeries--it's all he ever does. He took good care of me and I haven't had any complications. Except that I have to keep changing my wardrobe because my waist is shrinking so fast!

I'm sorry you're feeling lousy right now. But 5 days might be a little quick to determine this isn't for you. I wouldn't be surprised if once you start feeling better, you're thrilled with the results.

Your sleeve will "teach" you portion control, because you'll feel really lousy if you eat too much. So even if it takes some learning in the beginning, you'll figure it out.

I know it's hard, but give it some time. If you keep doing what they say, you'll lose weight. You are probably only eating less than 1000 calories a day, right? Your body undoubtedly has to burn more just to keep you alive. So by definition, your body must be burning its own fat to keep you alive or you'd be dead. In time, this will all be reflected on the scale/your clothes. Sometimes the number on the scale can go up because of levels of Fluid, but Water does not equal fat.

Every year I got a flu shot, I got the flu. Then I quit getting flu shots and I haven't had the flu since. So now I just don't get the flu shots anymore.

It's nice to be able to enjoy food and not feel like I'm depriving myself

Honestly when I get hungry I just eat a little something, and then I'm not hungry anymore, and my waist keeps shrinking. Even when I have one or two "snacks," I'm still getting less than 1000 cal/day, so I've been able to snack and remain in a negative energy balance anyways.

It's normal to be scared. Medicine is the "family business" so to speak, and back when I worked in research science, I personally conducted a variety of surgeries. Still, I was nervous--I think it's part of the human experience. Just remember that modern surgery is extremely safe, and complications are low, and healing is fast. Better to have the surgery now and hopefully avoid having to have some other surgery later in life due to weight-related complications.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/portion/portion2.cgi?action=question&number=1 For people interested, here's a second one with more "20 years ago vs. today."

Don't worry. Modern surgery is probably less risky than the drive to the hospital. And just think, by doing this now, you probably won't have to go back to the hospital later for some other serious problem like a heart attack or something. When I thought about it like that, it made it easier for me to get there. The night before it was kinda like when I used to be a kid waiting for Santa Claus though.

Check out this website called "portion distortion" from the Natnl. Institutes of Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/portion/portion.cgi?action=question&number=1 It's a rather shocking comparison so you can see just how much larger different foods are than they used to be.

Honestly, I just waited it out, and then I was fine once I got to move to pureed foods. I just kind of dealt with it...only had to do liquids for about a week after surgery.

Yep, I had a friend visit who has always been thin. We were eating and I was noticing that the amount of food on his plate looked absurd. I was thinking "wow, he must be extremely hungry, look at all that food!" In reality, it was probably less than I would have historically eaten in one meal. Certainly nothing that a "normal" person couldn't handle. What used to appear as a perfectly normal plate of food now looks like the giant buffet from stomach-pain hell. Amazing how our minds adapt and change.

Though my doc had me walking a ton right away (I started with at least an hour every day,) they didn't want me doing anything else for about a month after surgery.

Note: Imodium is an opiate that doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier. Basically it means that it has effects on the rest of your body similar to morphine but doesn't kill pain or get you high because it doesn't get into your brain.

I got bored quickly with the pre-op and the early post-op diet. I just got bored with liquids, but fortunately it gets better. Sounds like it's working well for you though, so keep up the good work!!

Call your doctor. I would strongly recommend against taking that stuff without calling your doctor. I don't take any pills that are designed to effect my stomach/GI tract without calling my doc. Too risky.

Here's another example of how I feel like the sleeve has changed things for me: This weekend, a very good friend on mine came to visit. We've known each other since we were about 12. As long as I've known him, he's always been extremely thin, and I've always struggled. In fact, there were times where he's tried to gain weight but couldn't do it. But what's interesting is that he never thinks about calories or which nutrients or anything. When he's hungry, he eats, and that's that. For the first time, I got to feel a little bit of what it's like to be like him--being able to eat when I'm hungry and not have to worry so much about over-eating a giant meal and dealing with the consequences. Per meal, I probably only ate a tiny fraction of what he ate, but I felt full and satisfied. No longer was I the one having to sit there and obsess over calories and portion sizes. No "diet" could have done that for me personally.