terry1118

Alex and Ani have a bracelet that says "It's not a sprint, it's a marathon". I am getting it to mark the start of my weight loss and to motivate and inspire me. :-)

I had a 'tight' painful feeling when I drank anthing. My surgeon said it would go away as things healed and swelling went down. That was four days ago. I have already noticed an improvement. Keep in mind you had major surgery only a few days ago. They cut, rearranged, and stapled things in there. Give it time to heal. Take it slow, do the best you can to get fluids first, then protein. No one ever died of malnutrtion in two weeks. Fluids are the most important thing right now. Drink, rest and heal! You will notice an improvement soon enough.

That liquid stool softener almost had me throwing up tonight. I fought it and won but, man, that stuff tastes foul! I'm giving up on it and trying the Citracel tomorrow. I'll try it the way you just said.

Good luck to you. That can be stress full, if not physical, work. You'll probably be okay as long as you eat and get your fluids. Rest during any breaks you get. I work in Credit Union on the teller line. I am out one more week because I'm not on solid food yet and I stand all day. I'm dreading it, but it'll probably be okay.

Lime Greek yogurt.

On one of the YouTube videos I watched a girl said they took almost twenty pounds of skin off. I would think it depends a lot on how heavy you were and for how long, and how much elasticity you have left in your skin. Some people bounce back amazingly well from some of the pictures I've seen here. :-)

Okay, what I am going to say is a case of "do as I SAY, not as I DO" and my thoughts on the subject. I will try to follow my own advice. :-) If you have lost all your weight THROW AWAY the damn scale. If you are eating healthy foods and watching portion size you don't need to weigh yourself. If your clothes fit use that as your guide. I have skinny friends who don't own scales and judge over indulgences by the way their clothes fit. A little tightness and they cut back. How wonderful not to be ruled by a scale! If you are losing, use the scale as only one tool to measure your progress. Another tool is body measurements, which can still change in stalls especially if you are working out as muscle weighs more than fat. Yet another is the fit of your clothes - a good indicator of change. Time and time again I have had my day ruined or in some way negatively affected by the dreaded scale. I do my morning 'business' and weigh myself naked, then get depressed if my doctor's scale is ten pounds more than mine (after meals, two cups of coffee, and wearing clothes and shoes - why am I ever surprised?). It has had the power to change my mood and affect my behavior. I have indulged in self-pity fueled binges on junk food based on what my scale has shown me. Why should an inexpensive electronic device have such a negative affect on my life? I resolve to start using my scale as a tool to measure real progress I resolve not to let it be my ONLY measure of success. I resolve to weigh myself once a week ONLY I resolve to throw the damn thing away when the tool has lost it's usefulness to me. I resolve to never let an inanimate object have power over my life again! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Yes. I can't use laxatives because the bowel reconstruction needs to be completely healed first. Only stool softener (but no pills till one month post op) so I found the vile-tasting liquid. Or natural Fiber drinks like citrucel that have phsyllium in it.

Ditto here. Deaddemmama, what do you use? I've developed a pretty irritating rash in the last couple of days... If this keeps up bcbs should okay me, but I'm not looking forward to suffering from these things for the next year or so. I'd rather just not have them and live with the skin. After all, as my daughter keeps telling me, "you don't have to look good, mom, you are married and... old". Lol

Or maybe it was Citrucel? Whatever. I haven't been in the mood to try it yet.

Thanks, I'll have to look for them. :-)

Had broccoli cheese soup and strained out the broccoli. Then I cheated on a tablespoon of hummus with spicy red peppers. Soooooo good!

I had my surgery 5/30. Had bm a few days after, loose, but I'd rather have it that way, as I tend to be constipated. Everything was good all week but today I'm... constipated. I got very nervous because I'm not supposed to strain. I'm supposed to take stool softener but I can't have pills that can't be crushed for a whole month. All the stool softeners at the drugstore were liquigels. I talked to the pharmacist and they had a liquid I could take that they keep behind the counter that doesn't require a script. Best yet it was $1.75 for thirty days worth. I'm hoping it'll do the trick. But is it NASTY! :-p. I'm going to try it in applesauce next time. Anyone have any tips to avoid it after I'm healed? I don't want to take something every time...

Are they comfortable? I hate constricting things.

It's so much easier to recover and get rest at home. I'm glad your doing okay. Don't worry about dehydration. At home it's easy to get what you need when you need it.