Schmincke

Yes it has been quite a trip...lol
But I know more about who I am and who I can depend on as well. And since I almost died I have no time for crap from any of the so called friends I had...
The pain meds should help a lot. Try to stick with it Ana. The longer it is in the better chance you have of it healing over. Foaming and throwing up while that was going on I think I invented it!!!LOL
I am so hoping that this will be the end of it for you and you will be on your way to a happier healthier you!
Keep me posted...K

Panty liners or pads!

Ana.....So you have to keep the stent in for 6 weeks. That is the standard time frame for this. Look you are not sore from anxiety. Your sore from the damn stent. It hurts like the devil. I know like I told you I had 2 one on top of the other. i felt like my chest and stomach and back were on fire.
I did get addicted to 2 different medications while going through the stents. Now I am only allowed Tylenol for the rest of my days...
Tell them not to float you when they take the stent out but to put you under. When they took mine out I woke up as they were pulling them out and I groaned. I heard swearing and then I did not see light for 7 hours after that. Night mare....lol
It only takes a second to remove it...Trust me!
Hopefully your leak will have healed by then. most of them do. Mine did not....But like I said most of them do.
I told you not to stick your fingers down your throat to gag...You could cause another stricture and they could end up doing the next surgery if you are not careful. I threw up constantly when the stents were in....They were always wiping my face with a cold towel and helping me a long the way. No one knows how uncomfortable this can be until they put it in your stomach.....
I was able to suck on ice and even bite it but could not swallow it. it helped with the dryness in my mouth. But I got used to not eating and when everything was finally over I had to spend time with my Nut to learn to chew again. It is amazing how fast your body forgets to do something that is natural for us....
Attitude is a big part of getting better. And you are going forward! Keep us posted..your journey is somewhat like mine so I understand the pain and frustration of all of it and more....
Chin up and remember one step at a time. One day at a time!!! K

I will be getting a stent also. I am talking to a lady on FB who has a stent because her stomach twisted. She may have to live with it. She told me her dr said the stent feels this way because its doing its work, protecting a leak. Every day you will feel better and better. I am scared, girl, I understand. We gotta hang in there, thats all we can do. Every day there is a new challenge and I break down then pick myself up. Its hard, I know but somehow we make it through. What was it like getting a stent in? Thats the part I am terrified about
.

Go ahead Ana...cry...But never give up okay..I had 14 surgeries while I was in the hospital and 2 since I came out....It is quite a trip for both of us....I know I will not give up and neither will you...Your a strong woman and need to trust in your health care provider..Tell him your fears and concerns......
I came through it so will you...one step at a time girl...one step at a time....Each little NSV will mean so much to you.. I know it does for me because I paid a huge mental, emotional, and physical price for it.....
Soon you will be able to encourage others. And give them hope and when they think nothing else can be done..You'll know better.......
Come on Ana...show me what you got eh!!!!!!

AnaBanana, please do not give up. I am getting ready for my journey and I come here regularly to check on those people who's are having rough time with their sleeves. My heart goes out for all of you... You will do this, you've got this, you have to believe in this. Do not worry about your house,in fact I wish I could clean it for you but I am far away from you, I am sending you virtual hugs and I have you in my thoughts!
RJ you are truly a blessing. Every time somebody is going through complicatins you are the first to give advise and say it in such lovely and respectful way, I just want to hug you and tell you how important you are for all of us, sleeved and pre-sleevers.

Hugs Ana - do you have anyone support around you to help you and support you? It sounds like you need it right now.

RJ, you are truly an inspiration. You story has always been touching to me. Anna, while I can't even imagine what you are going through I urge you to try and change your way of thinking. Thing are not hopeless. You will get through this and I just know that in the near future you, too, will be a great inspiration to someone in need.

Ana, listen to me....You will get through this....I know from my own experience what a stent feels like and there is a chance that it will help the leak to heal. The stent keeps the liquid away from the hole and helps the tissue to grow over it...Now in my case it did not work..I had another one put in on top of that one. It did not work either. But most people they do work....
They can clamp it together if this does not work or do a hook up to your sleeve with your intestine....It will be fixed one way or the other....
Don't stick your hand down your throat to gag. You can cause a lot of problems doing that.. Thus making matters worse!
5 months I went through hell over complications and crying and yelling and losing it does not help. It just exhausts you and makes you feel even worse.
10 months I had extra nursing care at home.....One step at a time Ana....one step at a time......You WILL get better and you will be stronger and you will be successful in this WLS.
15 months later I still have problems with my bed sore...it never ends it seems....But I want to think I am a strong girl who will not stop fighting and working for the goal I chose to pursue.......
You really have to let things like the house go you will get to it when you are better. Try not to get so down Ana....You have to remember why you did it......And work inch by inch to repair it......There are more things they can do to fix it..But they need you to be on board as well....
Please....I know this is not easy for you! It wasn't for me but I am here to tell you it will get better. You will heal and you will be like all the others a successful weight loss surgery patient.......

Sending well wishes your way. Please keep us updated. Kind regards, D

Thinking of you.

I'm so sorry!, sending healing wishes

You women have it made with all your choices. Us commando guys are screwed.

AnaBanana, it sounds like you are having a very rough time. Sending warm healing wishes your way! Feel better soon.

I remember hearing for the first time at the seminar that having this procedure removes hunger hormones. I assumed it must be a myth, even a "sell" on their part. I thought, there is no way I will ever not care about what's next to eat, when I'll eat it, how much I'll have, and how long I'll regret it before repeating.
That was four months ago. Today I absolutely believe it!
I'm a month out. Weight is falling off me, and I have zero appetite. I moved to solids about a week ago and they are "nice" and all...but I literally DO NOT CARE ABOUT food. I still prepare it for my family, go out to eat a few times a week....but I have NO interest in food whatsoever!
Honestly - I've been waiting for this feeling all my life.
I know in time I'll get my appetite back, but right now I'm just really grateful to be experiencing this. I am so, so happy I had this done.
The downside is what you'd expect - I have very low energy about half of the day. I'm managing to get most of my Protein and supplements in. Water is no problem. Most days I get an hour of exercise (walk or swim) at an easy pace. Too easy...70 year olds pass me constantly. I would love to make my workouts harder, but don't have the power to push through for long.
At any rate, I'm easily fatigued and really hope this changes in the near future. All in all, I'm loving the great benefit of not having an appetite; of not obsessing about food. Amazing!

I'd say after the first 3 small mouthfuls, a good minute - 1 minute 30 seconds. A good bit longer when you start to hit the solids. Because those beasts hit like a brick. Save 30-40 minutes to eat your food. Even if you only get a few bites in, give yourself a wee bit more time and a bit more notice. Listen to your sleeve. (Or in my case, it was listening to my sternum)
You knew what went wrong today- in that you got too hungry and ate it a bit too quickly. We've all done it.
Trial and error until you find your groove. I'm approaching 6 months and I've only just found my groove and even then, I can try something and think 'Whooooa.. no baby, no more of you is going into my mouth!'
This is largely fatty and sugary stuff, so I'm lucky in that respect.
I know that at 7 bites (of pretty much most things), I'll be nigh-on full. So i stop, mull things over and if I want more, I'll wait a little bit more then give it a try. More often than not, the last bite is most definitely the last one!!!
Don't worry about the 'full feeling'. It will be with you presently!!!
What you need to focus on right now is making the right choices for the small capacity you have and sustaining your energy, Water and Protein levels.
Listen to your body and you'll get there.

His decision opened the door for me to be brave enough to discuss weight loss surgery with my DH. I finally chose the sleeve not the band. Even though I am not a fan of Christie politically, I must credit him with getting me moving on what has become one of the best decisions of my life. Bravo Gov Christie.

Maybe she knows you are busy losing weight and just wants attention? Mine used to throw a tantrum every time I got on a long distance call to my mum.

His decision opened the door for me to be brave enough to discuss weight loss surgery with my DH. I finally chose the sleeve not the band. Even though I am not a fan of Christie politically, I must credit him with getting me moving on what has become one of the best decisions of my life. Bravo Gov Christie.

His decision opened the door for me to be brave enough to discuss weight loss surgery with my DH. I finally chose the sleeve not the band. Even though I am not a fan of Christie politically, I must credit him with getting me moving on what has become one of the best decisions of my life. Bravo Gov Christie.

You know that you will never hit your goal weight if you intentionally try to cheat on your diet by sneaking bites or deciding not to log certain foods. But what if you think you are doing everything right and are still not losing the weight you expect? Hidden calories may be to blame. Figure out the sources of hidden calories in your diet, and you just may have a weight loss breakthrough!


Overeating is Possible after WLS

You got WLS so that you could lose weight, but it is important to remember that WLS is only a tool. To lose weight, you need to use that tool properly. If you fall into the trap of thinking that WLS automatically leads to weight loss, you might never hit goal weight. As a reminder, these are how the lap-band, vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), and gastric bypass can help you lose weight.
Lap-band: The lap-band creates a small pouch, or stoma, to help you fill up faster so that you eat less.
Vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG): The surgery removes most of your stomach and creates a small sleeve out of the remaining portion. The gastric sleeve restricts the volume of food you can eat and it reduces hunger by reducing the amount of ghrelin, which is a hunger hormone.
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: The surgery restricts food intake by creating a small pouch, and reduces nutrient absorption by having food from your stomach bypass much of your small intestine.

Your weight loss surgery will not work for you if you cheat in these ways.
You eat more frequently – and take in more calories – than your surgeon suggests without feeling the restrictive effects of the adjustable gastric band.
You eat sugary, fatty high-calorie foods. The lap-band, especially, is unlikely to cause you to develop dumping syndrome. That is good because you will not get the unpleasant symptoms, but it is bad because it does not prevent you from eating sugar, starch or fat. Even with a stoma size of just 4 ounces, or a meager 1/2 cup, you could fit in 400 calories’ worth of M&M’s in with room to spare.
You drink fluids when you are eating solids so that you are able to consume more at a single meal or snack. Drinking fluids while eating solid foods can also cause your stomach, sleeve or pouch to empty faster so that you get hungrier sooner.
You sip on beverages that provide calories but do not fill you up.

How Hidden Calories Might Be Throwing You Off

What if you think you are following your weight loss surgery diet diligently? You measure your food whenever you can, you use your dietitian’s food list when you go grocery shopping, and you order chicken and vegetables when you go out to eat. You get Protein at every meal, and you drink plenty of Water each day.

Hidden calories are the ones that creep into your diet. You might not know you are eating them, or you might think that you eat so few “extra” calories that they don’t matter in your diet. But, they do impact your weight loss. An extra 20, 50, or 100 calories here or there really affects your weight loss. Remember that a pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories. That’s an average of 500 calories per day to lose a pound a week. If you are getting hundreds of hidden calories a day, that could easily be a pound a week that you’re not losing.

Where Are the Hidden Calories?

Good question! They can be almost anywhere.
Starches are not necessarily unhealthy, but they should only be part of your meal after you eat your protein and vegetable or fruit.< /span>
Protein is the first thing you should eat at each meal and snack, but it is also a source of calories. Fatty meats and poultry with the skin can have 100 or more extra calories per 3-ounce portion compared to lean meats and chicken or turkey breast.
Healthy foods can be high-calorie. A handful of nuts or dried fruit or a big spoonful of Peanut Butter can have 200 to 300 calories.
Condiments can wreck your diet. A tablespoon of Mayonnaise has 100 calories, a tablespoon of jam has 50 calories, and a tablespoon of Salad Dressing has 80 calories. ketchup, teriyaki sauce, and marinades can have 15 to 20 calories per tablespoon.
Restaurant foods can be tricky. Vegetables that you think are steamed can have butter in them, and chicken, fish and other Proteins that you think are good choices can come in sauces with 100 or 200 calories per serving. Portion sizes can be several times what you need: a 12-ounce steak is 4 to 6 WLS-sized portions, and a 3-cup plate of Pasta is 6 to 8 WLS-sized portions.

o Examples of each of the below. Carbs: toast, crackers. Eat celery. Smaller pasta, more protein meatballs.
o Protein. It’s a nutrient, but it’s also a source of calories. Esp. if with sugar/carbs in supplements, or hi-fat protein foods. Bacon
o Healthy hi-cal foods: nuts, pb, dried fruit (fresh). Portion sizes. Avocado.
o Condiments. Fatty dressings (choose low-fat), use less (use herbs), sugary
o Portion sizes. MEASURE. Nibbling without measuring, eyeballing. You get 60 extra calories every time you take a piece of cheese that is the size of your thumb (1.5 ounces) instead of weighing it to make sure that it is only 1 ounce.
o beverages
o Restaurants: salads, fat added to “grilled” foods or steamed vegetables, beverages, “healthy” bagel instead of low-cal doughnut
o Eating too frequently. Tips for if you’re starving (protein, no Fluid with meal); tips to make meal smaller (if you’re eating so many meals, don’t need to be big)

The Good News
The good news is that small changes add up to big calorie savings.
Have an ounce of low-fat cheese instead of full-fat, and save 50 calories.
Have a quart of regular or sparkling water instead of a quart of a sports drink, and save 200 calories.
Skip the bite of cookie dough after you finish baking for your children, and save 100 calories.
Have 3 ounces of 95% lean ground beef instead of 85% lean ground beef, and save 70 calories.
Rinse the spoon instead of licking it after you serve yourself peanut butter, and save 30 calories.
Spread peanut butter or tuna on 3 large celery stalks instead of 6 triscuit crackers, and save 90 calories.
Have one-third of a cup of pasta with your meatballs instead of a full cup, and save 120 calories.

This works for exercise, too. Every little bit helps. When you walk for just an extra half-mile, or about 10 minutes, you burn 50 extra calories.
Start to think about where extra calories may be coming into your diet, and see what you can do to limit them. You’ll be happier with your weight loss results!

RJ, I thought I could never do those moves when I started. Within a couple weeks I could and they just got easier every time. I weighed about 220 at the time. I never, ever thought that exercising could be fun, but after a while it was - and I missed it if I could not! So hang in there, you can do it.

What is your heart's desire - the thing you want so much that it takes up most of the room in your heart? A partner, child or friend? A job, home or vacation? Or is it weight loss - the thing that brought you to BariatricPal in the first place?


YOUR HEART’S DESIRE
What is your heart’s desire? Be honest now, with yourself if not with me. If your heart’s greatest desire today isn’t weight loss, that’s OK. There are lots of things in our lives that are just as important, or even more important, than weight loss. After a lifetime of dieting and weight problems, my mother’s dying wish had nothing to do with her weight. Her greatest wish was that her grown children (both in our 50’s) would stop fighting with each other. Maybe your heart’s desire is that your partner will love you more (or better). That’s OK too, as long as you understand that weight loss probably isn’t going to achieve that. Maybe your heart’s desire is to become a neurosurgeon, and you somehow believe that weight loss will make your studies easier or faster, or it will ensure your acceptance to medical school (but think twice about that last one).
What if you don’t know your heart’s desire, but you hope that weight loss will help you find it? That’s entirely possible, but it may not be revealed to you in a sudden, blinding flash. You may have to go groping around in the dark for a while before you find it.
JUST WANNA BE THIN?
Is your heart’s desire simply to be thin? Are you sure of that?
Before I ask you a question, I first try to answer it myself, and it’s not easy for me to answer this particular question. For much of my life, it’s been fairly easy to talk about what I don’t want. I don’t want to be fat, I don’t want to listen to another doctor lecture me about my high cholesterol, I don’t want freak-show breasts, and so on and so forth.
When I decided to have WLS, I focused on the desire that burned most brightly in my dark life: weight loss. Intellectually I knew that things in my life other than my weight would change as a result of the surgery. My surgeon and nutritionist made it clear that I must change my eating and exercise behavior. I didn’t especially want to change those things – who doesn’t want to effortlessly lose 5 pounds a week while sitting on their butt eating potato chips and Cookies? – but I nodded obediently and gave myself a stern self-improvement lecture for perhaps the 200th time in my life. I thought that weight loss was the most precious prize I could ever win. Everything else paled in comparison to it. Weight loss has indeed been a precious prize, but it has turned out to be the ruby instead of the diamond in my crown.
We tend to believe that weight loss will cure all our problems. While it will indeed solve some problems (especially health-related), it also introduces us to some brand-new ones. Like my friend Joni, who after getting her heart’s desire (a baby), was astounded to realize that caring for that baby was going to be her 24-hour-a-day job at least until he turned 18, we discover that maintaining weight loss is a lifetime job. It may not require all 1440 minutes of our attention every day, but it’s still there and it’s still work. On the whole, I’m OK with that. I’ve come to realize what a precious gift my body is after decades of despising it, so I’m willing to give it the attention and nutrition, the relaxation and pleasure, the exercise and rest that it needs to in order to carry me onward.
I discovered something else after achieving my heart’s desire. As soon as it was in my eager hands, I started looking around for another heart’s desire. Identifying that and figuring out how to get it has taken me longer than I expected, and I’ve changed my mind a few times along the way. I usually make decisions quickly, preferring to make a bad decision over no decision. What do I want now? Do I really need something else, or am I a compulsive seeker of experience and sensation? Am I still trying to fill the bottomless hole that I used to stuff with food? Or do I already possess my heart’s desire – such as a personal relationship with God – and just don’t recognize it?
Sometimes I wonder if naming my heart’s desire is so hard because I wrongly persist in thinking of it as a thing – something as tangible and solid as a book or a chair or a car. Perhaps I should look instead for a place or even a state of being.
OK, OK, don’t go to sleep quite yet. I’ll stop my philosophical meandering and tell you my secret heart’s desire.
I want to live.
After decades of self-punishment, frequent despair, and several attempts at total self-destruction, I want to live. And I want to live well, in a way that celebrates life. No more hanging back, no more wasting time. No more time spent counting the minutes until mealtime, or how many cookies are left in the Keebler package. I’ve got to stop fearfully dismissing new things because “I’ve never done that before,” or because “I don’t know how to do that.”
SO HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE IT?
How do you recognize your heart’s desire? How do you envision and name it? Are you living your life like a shopper who doesn’t know what she/he is looking for, who says, “I’ll know it when I see it.” I know that feeling, but I wonder if a gut “that’s it” reaction always sends us in the right direction or helps us make the best decisions. No big deal when choosing a color of nail polish, but is it safe when choosing a career, a partner, or a medical treatment? While my analytical skills are overdeveloped, I also know that my built-in danger detector tends to sound the alarm when I’m facing something unfamiliar or unknown. With the alarm blaring in my ears, I back away or even beat a retreat from whatever adventure or challenge I’ve glimpsed.
About 10 years ago I spent a long weekend in Honolulu when on my home from an overseas business trip. While there, I stood at the edge of a cliff and watched other visitors snorkeling in incredibly clear Water, only inches from coral, shells, and undersea life so vivid I could see it easily from my distant perch. I was filled with envy. I knew that in a tourist town it would be easy to find a way to join a snorkeling expedition, but my inner alarm sounded, and it scared me off by blaring, “You can’t do that. You don’t have a bathing suit. You’re too fat to find a bathing suit to buy, never mind wear it in public. You’re afraid of the water. You’re a lousy swimmer.”
So some of the questions I try to ask myself now when contemplating something new include:
1. Is this opportunity likely to arise again?
2. What’s the worst thing that could happen if I do it?
3. What’s the worst thing that could happen if I don’t do it?
4. Does the cost or risk outweigh the potential benefit?
BITTERSWEET
And that brings me to my final (for now, anyway) point. As I wrote in Bandwagon, saying goodbye to the excess pounds and problems can be bittersweet. We lose some beloved companions (such as our edible comforts) and discover new things about ourselves, not all of them lovable.
For example, I discovered that I am a far more selfish person than I ever would have admitted when I was obese. When I was supporting my food addiction, I believed I was the only one affected by it, but I was wrong. It saddens me now that I gave my relationship with food more time and energy than my relationships with my friends and family. I can’t go back and change that, much as I might like to. All I can do is give those people (including me) the love and attention they deserve as I go forward.

I have to share a funny NSV I had Friday night. It is 10 at night my phone rings and its my 14 year old son calling to tell me he has fallen while ice skating and needs to go to the emergency room. I throw on my coat and run out the door and pick him up at the skating rink to drive him to the ER. The main office at the skating rink had cleaned him up and releases him to me. Well fast forward 3 hours later we are leaving the hospital driving home (he needed 9 stitches and fractured his nose) and he says to me "Mom I didn't even recognize you when you came into the skating rink office to pick me up because you looked so skinny to me". Well is it wrong that this is the thing I remember most about the evening? Believe me 14 year old sons do not ever notice their moms figures so this was a huge compliment.

It could be low blood pressure. Are you on BP meds? If so, maybe you should talk to your doctor about reducing them. Otherwise, it can be dehydration and/or you are not getting in enough food.
Call your doctor!
That's all I've got.