CubsWinCubsWin

"My 600 Pound Life" on TLC is my current guilty pleasure. I think I have watched parts of the show before in the past but now that I am getting ready for my sleeve surgery the show makes much more sense now. I am nowhere near 600 pounds, halfway there so I'm proactively stopping the weight gain madness. I've tried to watch as many episodes as I could find on Netflix and the Internet, I still have not seen any with guys at this point. I did find on Netflix, "The World's Fattest Man" which was a little disappointing because they dragged out the pre-surgery process to the very end and basically with only a few minutes left he has the surgery. I was thinking were they actually going to show this guy die. Fortunately he survived and he is doing well according to the Internet. Another show I have found recently was on HBO called "The Weight of the Nation". That show is more geared towards the entire weight loss industry and obesity crisis in America. It's a little long-winded but informative. I find watching these shows are therapeutic and help make this process a little more real as I complete my required steps to surgery.

A week ago I was just getting my bearings on what I had just gone through. I asked myself, "Did I just agree to have 2/3 of my stomach removed, who does that?" The pain last week was pretty unbearable and I think the worst part was them making you try to cough to open up your lungs. Don't these nurses know I was just stabbed 6 times in the stomach, the last thing I want to do is cough. The week has been going well. I have been home since Sunday afternoon and I am getting used to this new lifestyle. Beforehand I was under the impression I could just pick up and go back to work on Tuesday. I figured a 4-day weekend was plenty of time to recover from major surgery. I'm a little dumb. On Tuesday the alarm went off and I couldn't move. I could reach for my phone and pecked a short message to my boss saying I might not make it today. She may have thought I might not come into work but I honestly felt I just wasn't going to make it, period. I went through the day trying to figure out the best ways to maneuver my body to minimize the agony of recovery. Wednesday was much better than Tuesday but I still called off just in case. I talked to my boss earlier in the week and told her that I should be ready to go in order to pull reports and crunch numbers on Thursday in anticipation of a Monday morning deadline. I told myself this was it, I have had 5 days off, get back to work. Did I mention I am a little dumb. On Thursday morning I logged onto my computer and started to catch up on what I had missed over the past week. I got a call from my boss checking to see how I was doing. After a few minutes of talking she stopped me and told me to listen. She wasn't convinced I sounded in the right mind to get back to work. I had told her previously that the doctor's office recommended 4 - 6 weeks off from work in order to properly recover. In an email right before "stomach surgery" (I did not tell her what the actual surgery was) I told her that the doctor had recommended 4 weeks and I told the doctor he's crazy. She wisely read between the lines of that earlier email and told me I should seriously take the time I need in order to properly heal and be in the right state of mind when I return. I took her advice and contact my surgeon's office to complete the FMLA forms. They did it immediately and I am scheduled to be home from work till April 7. Late yesterday afternoon I realized that I was not in the best shape physically and mentally to take on the daily grind of work even from home. I feel very fatigued and at times a little dizzy. I am trying my best to eat when i am supposed to but that has been a challenge when you feel like taking a nap for 4 hours, which is through 2 meals. I will get there but I have never had such a desire to start eating blended tuna with a little mayo in my life. I have 7 more days before I hit that reality. For now it's a steady diet of Kefir and Soup.

Thanks

I have found I have become rather lactose intolerant since I started this process. The gas was unreel (room clearing) until I cut out the milk.

Your top is too big

That is exactly the reason I told very very few people. You still lose all the weight through diet and exercise, the surgery just allows you to do it in a more efficient and effective manner.

"Easy way out", HA, that's gotta be the funniest thing I've heard in ages.

Welcome

It's day 7 for me and it's rough but it will get better. I keep having pains in my stomach but I think it is more gas and indigestion rather than hunger. I have been eating cream of chicken soup that I have run through my mini-blender and am trying to cram in as much Protein of any kind when I can and that is suppose to curb any hunger. Also what I remember the doctors and reading told me that they cut out the part of the stomach that generates a hunger hormone. You can do it. Good luck.

Things to look forward to, keep up the good work.

Look who I found waiting for me when they took me back for surgery.

MorganO87, can't give a good reply right now but look up my posting on the matter. Search... "Vicodin Haze" and you should find it.

They are most likely doing the 330 question evaluation you do on the computer before you see the shrink. It will ask the same questions over and over again in a slightly different way. They are looking for patterns in your answers to see if there is something odd going on with your personality. Some of the questions you'll think are nuts and they pretty much are. Don't worry about it too much, the shrink is not the final authority on whether you'll be successful after surgery.

The name is dumb but I like the concept. I'm a big fan of containers. I am keeping WLS on the down-low so I'd rather not advertise I might have had some work done. Otherwise it's a good idea.

Looking good!

Damn Girl

I had surgery on Friday and so far so good. Most of my pain at the moment are in the six spots where the incisions were made. I have been trying to go longer and longer without pain meds, mostly taking them before I go to bed. I may actually go and log-in to get some work done so I do not burn up any more vacation time. Getting up and walking around the hospital made the process of dealing with the pain a little easier. There are certain ways if you move will feel really bad so I learned the best way to get out of bed and do other things. At this point, now that the pain is subsiding I am trying to figure out how to eat again. I used to guzzle and gulp Water, juice and soda all day long, now I can only sip and do my best to limit how much I drink at one time otherwise I get air bubbles that inflict instant punishment. I think I am catching on and on my way.

I am glad to hear what the next 3 weeks have in store for me, I'm in the middle of week one. Keep the updates coming, we all appreciate them.

The way they have you hooked up to all those machines how in the world would you not have sleep problems. When they did my sleep study they said I had zero minutes of REM sleep the entire night. I remember that night as being quite miserable. At first I didn't like the idea of using a C-PAP machine but at this point I don't want to sleep without it (or I can't sleep without it). It has given me much better quality of sleep and has actually helped in improving my overall health since I've had it going on a year and 3 months of use.

You look good and only after 3 and half months, that's very encouraging. Keep up the good work.

I ordered a case of BeneProtien powder on Amazon and am adding it to whatever I can. They said you could add it to juice but I quickly found out that it just turns into a glob of grossness so I need to be more creative in my approach. Isopure might be a little expensive because it is a ready to drink product but it is vital we get in as much Protein as we can especially in the early days on the liquid diets.

Looking good

Good luck to you!!!

Just stay out of the "Guy's Room" I made the mistake of reading something in the ladies room and I fell off my barstool in horror.

I cannot believe surgery is tomorrow. This came really way too fast but not soon enough. The 14 day Bariatric Advantage diet was terrible but manageable. Surprisingly I have not been that hungry nor have I craved all the old food I used to eat. I think doing a farewell tour of my favorite food and analyzing why it was my favorite really help me understand what I ate and why. Today I am going the pre-surgery cleansing routine that starting with downing a full bottle of Magnesium Citrate. It hasn't hit me yet but I plan to bolt to the bathroom at any moment because this puppy is about to blow. I'm a little excited and a little nervous. What happens, happens and I have every confidence in my medical team along with my family and friends. So who else is getting sliced up tomorrow?