elfnow

Didn't know we could take Imodium... Good to know. Hope you are feeling better now

If you're having a specific viral diarrhea and your doc OKs it, then yes.... But not all diarrhea is the same - if you might have food poisoning for instance, Imodium isn't a good plan.

Definitely check with your doc first!!! I didn't go for about 48 hours, then finally am back on track.

Does the hospital, or even a nearby hospital, have a Bariatric support group?

I think it's important to have someone close to you to encourage you in person, but that person absolutely doesn't have to be "family"!!!

Can you sign on with a counselor, psychiatrist or psychologist, etc? Or maybe sign up for personal training and tell your trainer everything?

I understand not bringing certain friends/ family / coworkers into the loop - a lot of those people contributed to the stress and food-comfort in the first place! And your ex isn't a good option (even if he's a nice guy now that you aren't married) and your daughter doesn't need that burden.

You're never alone here! And where do you live? Maybe you're close to one of us here. You could also ask the nurses at the surgeon's office to put you in touch with a support group... Or even see if you can start one yourself!!

One other thought would be to search meetup.com - especially in big cities there are LOTS of interests represented - you might find folks that way too!

Oh dear heavens that sounds awful! And I totally sympathize with ALL of it!!

The simultaneous puke-and-pee is one of those "blessed miracles" that came with my bundle of joy.

We're the shots at least tasty the first time? Idk what I'd do if someone handed me a buttery nipple shot. Probably be a wet blanket and sip it all night, LOL.

*hugs* I hope you feel better!!

Hahaha that sounds like a "friend" of mine.... In December, he decided it would be a good idea to lecture me at length about how I REALLY NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT.

I mean at length.

We were on Facebook on text.... And I said look you're right, I'm actually eating better now and actually was losing weight (at the time I was on low-carb while I waited for a surgery date)... And so in addition to healthier eating I would also be having surgery to remove part of my stomach, I just didn't have a date set yet. But once I have surgery it'll help me lose a lot.

He kept right on at me, saying I'd be so much prettier, and I wouldn't be killing myself. I was like "dude I know. I agree. Surgery won't totally fix it but I'm hoping for good results."

He kept going!! Finally I was like OK you are REALLY hurting my feelings, I was putting up with you because I thought you could shut up but apparently you haven't got the memo, this topic is officially closed, do not ever speak to me about my weight again, unless it is to say something f**ing NICE. Surgery is MY decision and I think it'll be good for me.

Actually he didn't stop picking at me (in the nicest ways, right? Because maybe I just hadn't noticed how fat I am?) I finally asked if he was drinking, we had a big argument because he's been sober a long time....

A month later, I said something about my pre-op appointment, immediately bracing myself thinking he was gonna start in on me. "Pre op? You're having surgery?"

"Yes.... On my stomach, remember?"

"For what? Ulcers?" (Well with people like you telling me my life, that wouldn't be far off!!)

"Dude, for weight loss! Remember how you went on and on at me and I kept saying to stop picking on my weight because I'm having surgery to help? I kept saying I didn't have a surgery date yet but I'd have one soon? Well it's feb 10."

Oh no, we'd /never/ had such a conversation, he was sure he'd have remembered it. I'm like okay must have been someone else using your computer and Facebook talking to me then....

He hasn't seen me since my surgery... I bet he'll freaking take credit, like his telling me how unattractive my body was is what really got me thinking. Because prior to his lecture I probably just hadn't noticed how "outrageously obese" I was, you know, if we ever HAD such a discussion....

*sigh*

Oh also I got a truckload of little one-oz cups from the hospital but I prefer my little lidded 2-oz "midgets" from tupperware. When I sipped fluids? I seriously barely got my lips wet. I mean I SIPPED. Gulping was right out!!!

Surgery was on a Monday and I came home Tues eve (36-hr observation).

My first few days home were pretty reasonably foggy with dilaudid. I am still nursing my toddler and she likes to put her cold little babyfeet on my belly... I was SO glad I was not sent home with a drain tho!!! That would have bothered me so bad.... I had to keep her from kicking my incisions.

I wasn't sent home with a belly-support so whenever I stood up I felt like I had to hold my belly up a little with my hands. It helped, and eventually after a few days I didn't have to do it anymore.

I have tegaderm Patches and carefully covered up each incision with a waterproof barrier so I didn't feel like I was messing things up by showering. I took a LOT of showers in the first 2 weeks. I think partly it was boredom and partly my skin felt crawly from the dilaudid. I sorta just weaned and stopped using dilaudid within 4 days, tho I had enough for a week. I just didn't hurt. Showers probably help there, too.

I tried to go to the gym with my partner and just sit and watch the baby on that Wednesday morning... That was epic fail. Total epic fail. I felt like someone had run over me, and I was in pain, and chasing a toddler whose ENTIRE GOAL IN LIFE was to climb the center staircase at the gym was the worlds worst idea.

As I started getting back on-schedule and stopped hurting so much, things got easier. Also being able to wear jeans on Saturday (5 days post) felt good. I just kinda focused on drinking things and mitigating pain. I stopped using the nausea meds and scopolamine by the next Monday.

There were MANY issues where I found that too warm or too cold fluids would make me hurt. If I wanted "cold" it needed to be at least room temp, and if I wanted "hot" it needed to be no more than body temp. One little tub of SF Jello was like an hour-long three-course meal.

But by 10 days I was like "ok now I need food!! When does food happen??" LOL

Walk as much as you can, stay upright as much as you can! Can you sleep propped up? I'd still suggest a Tums just to quiet down any residual acid and see how you feel.

There have been a couple times I've swallowed too fast / too soon and got a bubble trapped in my stomach under the food... Once I half-barfed but then it all kinda rearranged and I burped and that was that. Felt much better.

Hang in there!! You'll get through this!!

I read a few threads where people were worried about cravings for sweets. So I was thinking, "hey I was a total carb addict, why don't I want sweets...?"

ITS BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS SWEET. Let me explain:

For two weeks pre-op and two weeks post-op, you drink fluids and try to get Protein in but it's almost all liquid. So you drink Protein shakes, which are sweet. You get Protein powder, which is sweet and made with sweet flavors, and you mix it into milk. You drink your Decaf coffee sweet, and as you slide into ketosis, even veggies start to taste sweet. Don't like Water plain? Well here's an exhaustive list of sweet flavors you can add. Oh, and Greek yogurt is sweet too!!

Everything is sweet, made for people who have an uncontrollable sweet tooth and still want to be healthy.....

But....

I JUST WANT SOMETHING SAVORY AND SALTY PLEASE. Oh sure, I can sip chicken broth. It's not very fulfilling. Now that I'm eating soft foods, I absolutely adore some pulled pork, or some good rich chicken Soup.

Do I want a Protein shake? F* no. I don't want dessert, I don't want any f*ing Jello, I want something that tastes like food.

I am so sick of sweet things. A surgery-buddy called me today to ask about the self-pay stuff for a friend of hers, and I was like "do you still like chocolate? "

She said, "oh hell no. I am so freaking sick of chocolate flavored everything. I want a steak!! With SALT!"

Anyone else wanna chime in on this? Now I HAVE heard there's savory-flavor Protein Powder out there, and I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to.... But is anyone else sick to death of "SWEET" for this reason?

Are you sure it's gas pain and not acid reflux? Lately those two feel almost the same to me!! Try to walk and take a Tums, see if that helps

Have you tried calling them yourself? Cigna has different plans in different states!!

Coughing is pretty normal after general anesthesia, but you don't want your lungs to be compromised for this surgery.

How bad is it? Do you wheeze when you breathe?

My advice is that you dose up on mucinex (just the plain mucinex, not -D or -DM) all weekend and see how you feel Monday. If you've cleared up on Monday, just keep tabs on it. If you aren't clear or are worse on Monday, call the nurse.

*hugs*

It probably just slid through - and yeah that sucks to kind of "wake up" and realize that... Some old habits are so tenacious!!!

I bet the toasty crispy bit reminded your brain to chew thoroughly - more so than with plain bread - and that made it easier to go through.

Breathe, forgive yourself (but don't forget), and face tomorrow. Calorically it's not the end of the world... And you know the rest.

*hugs*

My biggest frustration is not even getting TO the stall! I've been working towards this surgery now for many months, and since Group Health in Washington is so freaking cheap, they have my psych evaluation nearly four months out from when I called for it. Now today I learned that instead of looking for a June surgery (previously they said May) now after the psych eval is scored i'll have to wait another 3 months for a pre-op with the surgeon, and then another two months for the actual surgery date. It's making me NUTS. I love you all, and love the boards here, but please, please, don't anyone tell me this is a process and to be patient. I really do know that....but right now I'm just upset and frustrated. Maybe tomorrow I can embrace the #$%^&* process. sigh.

I'd be beside myself irritated!!!! What you're going through may be "a process" but it's not on the same timeline as a lot of other people!! And the fact they keep changing dates on you .... How completely obnoxious!! I mean, you'd think they'd have told you in advance that there's 3mo between psych eval and pre-op; it sounds like you've talked with them enough that they've had plenty of opportunity to explain the timelines...

Ugh !!!! I feel for you!! This sounds so much like their attempt to weed out people who can pay for it themselves or something.

<p>No disappointment. I have stalls but refuse to focus on the pounds lost. Instead I watch the inches come off. The surgery is merely a tool. There will be times you think nothing is happening. Don't give in. I don't feel I have lost what I should but we are all different. I see the changes and it's not always in pounds. I have dropped from a size 24 to a size 16 misses in pants and a 1x or 18-20 in tops. Don't be discouraged. </p>

I'm a 28 to start... I've always said I don't care what I WEIGH I just wanna be a size 16 again... and I think some heartburn is worth that final result.

The heartburn / chest pain is a minor "regret" but a totally acceptable trade-off.

I miss being able to drink liquids with meals. I understand, I do my best to adhere... But I miss it.

It's last-minute nerves!! I was also really jittery and wrote up a living will a couple days before my surgery... It felt better to get the morbid thoughts in my head out of the way, to have a little control over it. I emailed my wishes to my partner and my sister, and to my psychiatrist and our trust lawyer. I don't know if it would have been legally defensible but it still made me feel better.

WLS feels like a threshold!! On this side you're status quo, obese and failing with diets... On THAT side you're losing weight and embarking on a whole different "diet" that you can't just give up on if you have a bad day. It's a different world, and it's scary. You're giving up overeating, this old comfort - these insulin crashes that put you to sleep like a security blanket, that cozy full-of-Cookies tummy - in favor of hoping to be a healthy normal weight again.... and we didn't get to this place in life by hating food and hating to eat.

Recognize it as a threshold, a step you can't take back. This is like being a new mother in a way.... There's this whole new life you've got to take care of - YOURS!!!

Probably Norovirus.

Good news is Noro is about 24 hrs and then done, but it can take 3 days for a healthy person to get back to normal Fluid levels...

I'm doing the diarrhea thing now (well actually my doc ok'd me for an Imodium pill and that's helped a ton!) .... When I was 1 week postop my kid was throwing up, and again at 3 weeks postop so it was pretty much inevitable that I'd get it. She's a toddler and goes to daycare - it's like a bioweapons testing facility, for serious.

Call your doc and notify - this soon after surgery they may want to check you out... Or do you have an appointment tomorrow? If I had been sick in my first 2 weeks they'd have had me on an IV right away, after ONE bout of either diarrhea or vomiting. Since now it's "just" diarrhea and I am well into my 4th week, it's a little different.... The nurse called me back and said to take one Imodium and call in the morning if I was still having problems.

I've been majorly nauseated all day but I've managed to not puke (YAY!) but BOY did I want to a few times...

Hang in there!!

Hang in there!! The first 24 hrs was the WORST PART EVER. It gets better, I promise. You are doing great!!

Just don't tell them. And when they see how much weight you're losing, tell them they were right, you just needed to "try harder."

Okay that's mean, and certainly doesn't spread the positive non-shame message of surgery...

Maybe then say, "try harder to ignore the $=!+ you say and do what's right for ME. If you have a problem with it, we don't need to talk about it."

I'm amazed at how many - women especially, it seems - look at WLS as "the easy way out". When you get down to it, it's not one iota easy! It's a lot of hard work, a lot of crazy changes in your body, a lot of careful planning, and YES a person can backslide!!

As for people saying "best decision EVAR" versus "OMG the pain and hell", take it with a grain of salt while you look at how far post-op they are. If you had asked me within my first 24 hours I would have been like "WTF DID I JUST DO OMG" and now I'll say "ugh this is hard with a stomach virus" (1 mo out), last night I would have said "what the hell is wrong with my stomach I feel like a pile of acidic poo and It sucks!" and in 3 months I might be like "awesome but wtf with the hair" or something totally different. It's like having kids, I think - there are these points (newborn stage, growth spurts, etc) where you are like "WHY DID I AGREE TO THIS" and other times you are like "OMG most magical thing ever"

Lady you look awesome!! You know what I noticed, probably you did too, and it's a good thing!! is how loose they are in the legs, not "painted on" like a lot of my clothes feel (less and less tho!)

It's got to feel just great wearing cute clothes!! I say GO FOR IT and send a pic of you out and about in them!

I just use tupperware midgets - 2 oz each.

You've described me, too! I had my surgery at 355 lbs (I started the pre-surg diet at 375)... I'm 5'6" (I used to be 5'7" but my weight made me shorter!!) I was miserable and sorry for myself and angry with myself!!

I'm not quite a month past surgery (2/10/14) but I am really hoping my path keeps looking like yours. You're an inspiration and role model!!

So glad you feel confident in your decision!! Atta girl!!

I'm gonna buy my own single-seater kayak. And not sink it.

So how are you doing now? Thank you so much for sharing!

Hey I'm doing great!! My partner and I went out to dinner - he totally took the croutons off his salad and only ate half of one roll, I am so proud of him!!!

I shared my baby-back ribs with our daughter... I ordered a half-rack; I ate the meat from two ribs (minus a few bites that she took), chewing carefully and thoroughly and was TOTALLY perfectly satisfied!! It felt really great. The waitress even commented, "aw I guess you're just not that hungry huh?" And I was like, yep, I did fill up quick.." Haha

Before surgery I'd have ordered a full rack, sucked down every one of those ribs, eaten all the sides, two pieces of bread with butter, a salad, washed it down with iced tea, then put away a full-size dessert!

this is good stuff.