rhoste

Hi All,
 
I'm leaving on a jet plane....tomorrow morning and will be at Marriott by late afternoon.
 
Was it this forum group where someone kindly posted a list of medical questions/phrases in Spanish?
 
If so could someone tell me what page it was one?
 
Thanks and I will update as I can.

My check in report is that I am doing really well overall! Learning to eat small bites and chew slower is the hardest part. Never had a bit of nausea, and very little pain overall. I'm able to eat small amounts of soft food and mix it up with at least one 30g Protein Drink a day. So for me it's been runny oatmeal with Protein powder mixed in, Soups, stews, eggs, soft cooked veggies etc...I feel good and was back to work day 7 post op. Work keeps me busy and mind off food, and I find head hunger is much harder on the weekend.I'm loosing slowly and other than rashes from the incision steri strip glue, I've had no big issues.I'm so grateful for the opportunity to finally have a fighting chance to shed the extra pounds for good! Let's hear from the rest of the 14ers

My check in report is that I am doing really well overall! Learning to eat small bites and chew slower is the hardest part. Never had a bit of nausea, and very little pain overall. I'm able to eat small amounts of soft food and mix it up with at least one 30g Protein Drink a day. So for me it's been runny oatmeal with Protein powder mixed in, Soups, stews, eggs, soft cooked veggies etc...I feel good and was back to work day 7 post op. Work keeps me busy and mind off food, and I find head hunger is much harder on the weekend.I'm loosing slowly and other than rashes from the incision steri strip glue, I've had no big issues.I'm so grateful for the opportunity to finally have a fighting chance to shed the extra pounds for good! Let's hear from the rest of the 14ers

Hi Covatila,
 
I was just recently sleeved and saw a lady from Louisiana there at same time that had an arm lift and breast augment and lift.... She looked amazing! Arms were so tiny.... And boobs so big!
Lol!!
Of course I didn't see her before so can't comment, but the end result looked very nice and she was thrilled! Dr Medina is the plastic Surg.

Oopps accidentally pushed send...
I had a great experience at OCC and having the whole team wait on me hand and foot because I was the only patient was great!!
So I'm sipping and walking and have had no pain, just taking the meds prescribed and doing well.
Went out in the sun today to get a little more Vit D
Hope everyone else is doing well
Rhonda

Reporting in from the Marriott TJ Mex.
All went very well with surgery and the one other surgery scheduled with me could not have hers done as she didn't loose the req amount of weight!

Hi Curvy and HappyGirl!
We will be sleeve triplets as I am also scheduled for the 14th.
Where are you both having surgery?
I hear you on the jitters part , thinking all day long and a bit of worry about two weeks of liquid pre-op diet. I am going with premier Protein ( easy to get ) and I am also allowed lots of green veggies to give me Fiber and nutrition. I can have wishbone salad spritzer on it.
This week I have been detoxing off sugar and caffeine ....yikes I still have a headache
I am all booked for flights and preparations are mostly done.... It's really starting to sink in about getting 80% of my stomach removed ... But the results on my two cousins that had it done are soooo awesome! Just hope I am able to achieve the success they have!
Let's keep encouraging each other through the pre-op liquids ..... I hear it's so crucial !

Hi all,
Back at hotel today ... Ended up having surgery yesterday instead of 14th as planned due to a few emergency 's that took up OR.
 
Funny thing is I ended up being the only surgery yesterday, as the other patient didn't lose the appropriate amount of weight, so they cancelled her.
 
Talk about 5 star service. ..... Made me feel like a million bucks all the attention on me
 
The IV was the worst part as I have very crappy veins.... The rest has been awesome!
 
No pain, nausea, and I am walkin around well.
Just a terribly dry and sore throat from intubation.
 
Didn't see Ortiz once.... But doc Martinez was absolutely a GEM ! Gave me such confidence in their knowledge and experience!
 
Also .... Best new yet I FEEL NO HUNGER!
 
Hope you managing ok Socalmom...

SoCal mom,
 
I'm right behind you.... Head out Sunday for Surg on Monday. PLEASE, if your feeling up to it keep me up to date on what's going on with you.
 
My text number is 604-618-0661
Please PM me as well.
 
I want to try to meet up with you at Marriott.
 
ALL the very best and good luck with everything!

Hi all,
Back at hotel today ... Ended up having surgery yesterday instead of 14th as planned due to a few emergency 's that took up OR.
 
Funny thing is I ended up being the only surgery yesterday, as the other patient didn't lose the appropriate amount of weight, so they cancelled her.
 
Talk about 5 star service. ..... Made me feel like a million bucks all the attention on me
 
The IV was the worst part as I have very crappy veins.... The rest has been awesome!
 
No pain, nausea, and I am walkin around well.
Just a terribly dry and sore throat from intubation.
 
Didn't see Ortiz once.... But doc Martinez was absolutely a GEM ! Gave me such confidence in their knowledge and experience!
 
Also .... Best new yet I FEEL NO HUNGER!
 
Hope you managing ok Socalmom...

SoCal mom,
 
I'm right behind you.... Head out Sunday for Surg on Monday. PLEASE, if your feeling up to it keep me up to date on what's going on with you.
 
My text number is 604-618-0661
Please PM me as well.
 
I want to try to meet up with you at Marriott.
 
ALL the very best and good luck with everything!

Will pray for you today and it will be over soon...
And on to the new healthier you

SoCal mom,
 
I'm right behind you.... Head out Sunday for Surg on Monday. PLEASE, if your feeling up to it keep me up to date on what's going on with you.
 
My text number is 604-618-0661
Please PM me as well.
 
I want to try to meet up with you at Marriott.
 
ALL the very best and good luck with everything!

Green eyed ... Please stay with us, and we can all still check in and support each other ..... This is our little group if 14ers and even though you will have a few things different, recovery will still be tough on all of us and we need to stick together.
Mokamami... Hang in there, I can't imagine a completely unsupportive family. My mom has started doing shakes in the morning...lol! She is already worried if she doesnt try something she will be soooo much bigger than me in a few months.... My kids are very excited as they have seen photos of my "thinner self" and can't wait to see me healthier and happier as I look when smaller.
We are all going through different challenges, but it's nice to know we can reach out to this group.
Getting excited .... Keep up the pre-op and take your Vitamins, we want to be as healthy as possible going into Surg
Rhonda

Congrats and best of luck to everyone with Surg coming up! I really hope we find each other at the Marriott:) praying that all goes well for all of you, my day is 14th and it is exactly a week... Yikes!

A great big THANK YOU to Briangie!
For all the great info on OCC
I feel so prepared now for my surgery

Hi Everyone,
Yes new member today and first post hehe
Really want to contribute as I read each post I felt a special bond with each of you. Had my sleeve done on March 12th so am only 2 weeks and 3 days out. Can't really say that I am an expert now but I wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences for you all with the caveat that as my Doctor always tells me each person is different so these may or may not apply/help you.
Protein
I had a hard time my first week to week and a half with consuming enough Protein so my incisions didn't seem to be healing well. My dietician recommended Isopure Water, 20 oz with 40g of protein. I also tried 4 different brands of shakes. It actually helped me to drink premiere protein 30g protein, strawberry when before my surgery I was a chocolate fanatic. So if you can't stomach the shakes like me try different ones and different flavors, that may help as well as drinking flavored protein Water (icky aftertaste but it went down)
Gas
Gas-X was a lifesaver, I recommend it from around day 2 or 3 onwards and ohy yes my stomach and intestines and who knows what else rumbles and speaks to me in some foreign language from time to time.
Pain
Well let me try this:
Day 1: Surgery at 7:45 am, woke up at 11:00 am in Hell
Day 2: Appears the Devil didn't like me and kicked me out of Hell and I found myself in a hospital room, bad pains!
Day 3: More pain, sent home at 9:00 pm, slept poorly, Roxicet pain medicine my new friend
Day 4-7: Yep more pain but not so bad, still needed help getting up from couch and bed.
Day 8-13: Replaced Roxicet with liquid Acetemitophin (sp?) Now just sore.
Day 14: Less sore, went back to work, stopped all pain meds, most of the last two weeks of pain forgotten after weigh in of 30 lbs less than when I had my surgery.
Day 15-17 (today is day 17): Minor sore if I bend the wrong way, healing nicely and feeling very sorry for those of you stuck in the two week time capsure of recovery from Hell.
Weight Loss
Saw a show called "My 600 lb Life" on TLC I think and talked to my Doctor about it. Gal named Penny lost 40 pounds pre op on liquid 1200 calorie a day diet but then stayed 490 lbs for the next 3 months then gained 5 pounds on month 4. I asked how it was possible. He indicated that water weight can be an issue and that is why he only weighs his patients every 2 weeks during our recovery visits. My advice to anyone not losing fast or staying static is to weigh in once a week at max or even only every two weeks at first due to the water weight and look for long term results not daily results.
Diet
It seems there are a lot of different ones out there. I have a very strict one from my doctor. Days 2-14 were liquid only with creamy Soups (strained!) allowed. I am on my last day of semi pureed and then tomorrow start a pureed diet. I do miss chewing but for those newcomers the early introduction of strained Soup really helped me get past the 'water and Protein shake blues' So try soup to help with taste...
Taste
I seem to have aquired the 'sweet' bug. Everything seems too sweet to me now. This caused me some grief cause before my surgery I was a gatorade, soda, juice or anything flavored kind of guy instead of just water. Even the dasani water drops I bought left a 'chalky' aftertaste in my mouth. My solution was to just go pure water. Use to the soup and Protein Drink or shake to break up your day with different tastes.
food Tolerance?
Every thing still smells good except... My wife brought home some teriyaki chicken and rice. I swear to the almighty himself that to me it smelled like some small rodent had died and was covered in used motor oil. I had no problems with the food before my surgery nor any problem with nausea but I was sure I was going to heave and let fly if it got any closer to me than a few feet. I am not sure but I think I can't eat teriyaki chicken anymore.
sleeping
I use a cpap set at the G5 tornado force winds setting and felt fine before my surgery. Now my mouth dries out and I have to wake up and sip water several times a night to alleviate the symptom and it is getting better but I used my cpap at literally 100% of the time and now it's a bit harder to use so be prepared though this could be just common to me. Also FYI I found the first few days I could sleep much better in a recliner or semi sitting position instead of lying flat. After about 12 or so days despite being sore I can sleep flat now w/out much pain in my abdomen region.
Vitamins
I found some Bariatric ones, easy to chew not to bad on the taste and designed just for us via Amazon. Be sure to take the Iron supplement away from the Calcium as it interferes with the Calcium absorbtion (or so I'm told)
That's all I can think of for now. I am in a bit of shock at how some people were home so fast. Hopefully you are being well cared for. I hope we keep our little sub group intact since we are all going through the same thing at around the same time.
I also want to say that my first few days I really had regrets for doing this but that was me just being in pain, being sore and missing the psychological impact and relationship that I had with food. Now I am feeling that this is the right decision and that getting past the first two weeks was the critical part of the operation. My sister had the classic bypass Roux done about 10 years ago and she prepped me well so that I understood that the surgery is just a tool and like any tool it can be abused so the exercise, eating healthy and taking care of one's self is still important and can't be neglected as I have done for too many years.
So in summary for those of you thinking of doing this or just done it hang in there the first two weeks will go by and indeed I went from thinking death was a pleasant option to embracing my life now and I have a lot of work to do still.
Have a good weekend everyone!

Pre-op diet killed me today!! I was starved all day... Caffeine headache withdrawal on top...
But... Staying strong.... Tomorrow's gotta be better!
Thanks for the nice words HappyGirl .... And I can totally relate Kat...
How's the low carb pre-op going green eyed girl?
It's great we have a diverse group getting sleeved all over the place on the same day.... So nervous and excited.... I have been quite emotional ( which isn't like me) at the thought of the post op negatives, but also in a good way also thinking this light finally be the tool that helps me get to a healthy weight!
Hope you all had a great day...
Rhonda

I agree with everything the above posters said, so I won't repeat their sentiments. I'll instead address the part about binge eating and suffering. I'm almost 30 and remember binge eating as far back as 3rd grade (so what's that, 8?)
This time last year a normal day for me looked like this:
Breakfast #1: 8oz five pump vanilla lattee and Danish from Starbucks
Breakfast #2: French Toast/Cereal/Sausage bisquit (they provide free breakfast for teachers and students at my school)
Lunch: a Big Eat sandwich from 7 - 11 with a 20oz cherry coke and big bag of cool ranch doritos (plus a snickers if I felt like treating myself),
snack #1: Bag of skittles
Snack #2: 2 double cheeseburgers, large fry and Powerade OR Applebee's/Red Lobster with mom
Dinner: Chipotle or pizza with husband (I'd lie and say I hadn't already eaten since he got home after me)
Snack #3: Share a pint of chunky monkey with husband or eat some by myself
Snack #4: Munch on a couple Cookies (I used to order 2 dozen of these awesome lemon cranberry Cookies and would go through the entire thing within 3 - 4 days)
I remember eating two burrito bowls from Chipotle in one sitting then hiding the remnants of the second bowl so my husband wouldn't see them both in the trashcan. I remember throwing away a bag of Utz white cheddar popcorn determined not to eat anymore,then going back in the trashcan and pulling it out and finishing the bag I remember the rush I would get when I could be alone so I could shovel random food in my mouth without anyone seeing me (a couple slices of cheese, a few bites of pepperoni, several spoonfuls of ice cream, a glazed donut, a big cup of milk, half a bag of chips, etc)
I felt just like you. After each binge, I would tell myself never again and to hold on to that feeling of pain and shame from a binge so I wouldn't do it again. But I did keep doing it over and over until I went from 150lbs to 245lbs in ten years. I became resigned that I would never change.
My weight was up and down, then back up. Weight watchers, phentermine, starving myself, working out 3 hours a day, Medifast, Slim Fast, Atkins, none of it worked for me.
The sleeve has been a Godsend. That sounds dramatic but there was no way I could have overcome 20+ years of conditioning myself to pack in so much food on my own. The sleeve felt like it rewound the clock to my stomach back before I began to abuse it with my endless binging. It's still hard sometimes, but it's gotten easier. You're doing the right thing to work on the mental aspect and to come on this forum.

March 11th marked my 1 yr anniversary. I haven't been active on these boards For awhile but wanted to come back and share my story and success because I know when I was preparing for my surgery reading about other peoples experience was a comfort. I had my surgery with dr. Garcia through Ready4Achange at mi doctor. (I believe if you look through my old posts you can find a. More detailed posting of my experience) I have lost 75lbs, which is ALL the weight I wanted to lose ( yes I was a "lightweight"). at about 8 months out I had reached my weight loss goal and have been easily maintaining my weight since. Never once have I regretted this surgery, in fact I have made many, many positive changes in my life since (from career changes to relationships) and feel that my weight loss was a positive catalyst to me living a better life! I actually have fond memories of my trip to Mexico, albeit there was some difficulties while there (some last minute confusion. With the coordinators and mi doctor was pretty bad, but heard dr Garcia has since moved hospitals. Aside from that the marriot was awesome and so was dr Garcia and his team). but overall it was actually a fun experience, yes I said fun I truly enjoyed being there, everyone was so nice and accommodating (plus I went with my mom so it was nice to have a mini vacation with her). I honestly wish i was having my surgery again so I could go back for another trip! Lol I hope to some day go back for an actual vacation. I am attaching a picture of my before (which was taken in the hospital immediately after surgery) and after. To anyone having the surgery I say take a lot of before pics, I unfortunately didn't take many pics of myself at my highest weight and wish I had because when I look at the few before pics I have I can't believe I was the size I was. Always nice to have those visual reminders. Here's to living a better life!

Hi Kate2014,
I sure hope to run into all the surgery patients at Marriott while there.... I guess we will be the ones running around with drains attached to us
Are flinstone vits approved??? That would make things easier ....
I'm going with Premier Protein for convenience,
But may look into others if they are available for me and recommended..... So far the highest recommended all have to be ordered online.
Good luck to us all with liquids.... They say the hunger can be really hard to take
Rhonda

Do
1. Follow all post op directions to a T. Measure. Sip. Track all intake. (& output to some extent.) Take your ppi, Multivitamin. Hydrate. Don't let a leak be partly your fault from inappropriate food intake. You can eat anything again eventually.
2. Eat Protein 1st(when u do start eating solids again) which u will!
3. Ask others to be your support circle. Teach them how to be supportive, don't bring up trigger foods, be a walking buddy, ask me why I'm doing certain things, instead of complaining that I'm living off of powders& shakes, etc.
4. Head hunger was crazy the first couple of weeks because you may feel deprived. food is not your life.

I'll be at Marriot from April 12-18, will be sleeved by Dr Ariel Ortiz/ Martinez

Wow. ... Two curvies getting sleeved! That's so cool. What support you will be for each other. I think it will make your rough days so much more bearable.
I am a Canadian opting for the Mexico experience. I am a failed Lapband conversion to sleeve and am so excited about the opportunity to finally "do this". My surgeons and Lapband placement were excellent, but I now believe ( as others on these forums have verified) that the Lapband was just a poor tool for most and did not work as advertised!
I have learned so much about things like eating and chewing slowly, head hunger, and slider and high calorie drinks and junk food that can defeat ANY bariatric procedure!
I hope to be active on this forum as well and support others as much as I can, as that was another thing I learned..... You can't do this alone!!
Good luck to all reading this! Our lives are soon to change forever
Ps I don't know how to PM, and am using the iPhone app....which doesn't seem to allow direct posts to people...??

Hi Curvy and HappyGirl!
We will be sleeve triplets as I am also scheduled for the 14th.
Where are you both having surgery?
I hear you on the jitters part , thinking all day long and a bit of worry about two weeks of liquid pre-op diet. I am going with premier Protein ( easy to get ) and I am also allowed lots of green veggies to give me Fiber and nutrition. I can have wishbone salad spritzer on it.
This week I have been detoxing off sugar and caffeine ....yikes I still have a headache
I am all booked for flights and preparations are mostly done.... It's really starting to sink in about getting 80% of my stomach removed ... But the results on my two cousins that had it done are soooo awesome! Just hope I am able to achieve the success they have!
Let's keep encouraging each other through the pre-op liquids ..... I hear it's so crucial !