butternickles

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

According to my OCC surgery report, the skin incisions are closed with 5-0 monocryl Subdermal sutures and dermabond. As for the dermabond, Dr. So said to just wash the areas like normal with soap and Water in the shower (don't submerge in a bath or hot tub or pool yet). The adhesive will flake and peel off over 5-7 days and you just let it. I think the last of mine was gone in about. 9 days.

Hello Madam Reverie, I love your screen name, very clever. Thank you for your response, I thought it might be something like that. When I first read your post, I don't know why, it registered with me that something more than just the string would reveal itself and drop off, like, gosh I don't know, whatever an exit wound might extrude. And I was thinking, wow, how did I not read about this part? Something coming out and falling off. But yeah, I shall not fiddle as per your directive.

P.S. Still interested in hearing others' stories about wound healing phenomena. When I was first researching, I didn't find much in particular about the incisions.

Hi Carol my date is also April 4th in mexico. I'm getting sleeved by Dr. Illan at Florence Hospital and staying at the lucerna hotel.

For all you upcoming Mexico sleevers: before heading home to the US go to the pharmacy and get pantozol and B Vitamin injections if you're a woman (not associated with surgery) and have any use for Retin A get that too. (Might as well look skinnier and younger, ha) you don't need a prescription for these meds and the pantozol is the same as Nexium and the B injections you will need once a month and if you do it your self it's way cheaper. Not to mention swallowing those pills daily is painful. This is B1, B6, B12 all in one injection only needed once a month. Gives you lots of energy. The Dr.s and nurses will advise and help you with what to get, it will save you $$ in the long run.

butternickles what an awesome story. thanx for sharing. i also have kaiser as well and when i was thinkin of gettin the surgery i was told i'd have to go through all these hoops to PROVE i needed the surgery and i cant just be plain ol' fat. i'd need other complications along with it...which i dont have! i think its unfortunate they hold ur past against u for a better life. im bypassing kaiser and just heading to mexico myself. April 25th with Dr. Q in TJ!! im soooo excited (yet nervous) at the same time.

Hello All!
I'm Carol, and I'll be sleeved at the OCC on Friday, April 4th. So I'll be coming in Thursday and leaving the next Monday, April 7th. Just took the obligatory before photo, though most of my photos lately have been before photos. I wish Flickr had instead of a delete option, a "tear up, burn and bury the ashes" option, because that's how I feel about my reflection right now.
I've been doing the research I believe we've all been doing. I decided on the sleeve but was denied by the psychologist who works for my insurer. She said, in a somewhat condescending, whispery talking-to-a-child voice, that my history of depression and past use of alcohol make me a bad candidate for the procedure. I take Effexor for my depression/anxiety, and it works well for my anxiety and for the bulk of my depression, but I don't think it will ever go away completely. And I have had bouts of excessive drinking, but for the most part I've had that under control for years now. I know exactly why it would be a bad idea to drink with the sleeve, and I know I wouldn't put myself in that position-but how would I prove that to her? To her I'm a statistic, she says I have a higher chance of "suicidality", which apparently is a word, because my brother died that way. When in reality, I would never commit suicide, because I know exactly what it does to a family, and how it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
I appreciate life all the more for having been close to someone who gave theirs away. I understand that statistically that's not the case. But I'm not a statistic, I'm a person; a nice person with quirks but also a logical mind, a person who has learned from her flawed but nonetheless valid journey of self-discovery. I've gone from being a young single mother with a high school diploma all the way through graduate school to where I can now support my little family. I shook my demons off one by one, but I can't shake off this weight. I've tried and sometimes succeeded for a time, but it always comes back, plus 20% more. Now my back and feet hurt, even my fat clothes aren't fitting right, and I'm having trouble appreciating all the things I've worked so hard to achieve. I won't let Kaiser tell me what I can't do. I will take their reasoning into consideration however, that if I drink with the sleeve, the alcohol will be absorbed faster because of my smaller stomach, increasing my blood/alcohol levels and putting additional stress on my kidneys, pancreas and liver. I know that people have destroyed their health by drinking too much after WLS, and I don't want that for myself.
I don't think I'm ever going to fit into their mold though. I can't change my family history, so I'm going down to Mexico.
Who else is coming?

This is not a competition, this is each of us saving our own lives. We are getting in touch with our bodies and our behaviors, learning to stop beating ourselves up and to make healthy choices. If people create stumbling blocks to our happiness we need to really look at that. Why? Because finally, finally it's time to choose ourselves first and foremost. Choosing health and happiness means putting your own feelings at the top.

Hello,
I had my sleeve gastrectomy done on February 26,2014 I had been preparing for surgery since September of last year. I had all the pre op testing done including the echocardiogram and stress tests. I passed all the tests with flying colors and was assured that I was healthy enough for the surgery.
I started out at 333 lbs at 5'7. I felt great before surgery. I went into this surgery thinking that I'd do fine as that is what all my tests indicated. I woke up the day right after surgery with extreme pain in my left shoulder and under my left breast. I panicked a little wondering why this was occuring and thought maybe it was my heart. The nurses told me that the pain was from the gas accumulation and was from the pressure on the phrenic nerve as they have to fill the abdomen with gas for the laparascopic surgery and that gas will cause much pain and discomfort after surgery. The tiny insicions on my abdoment were sealed with skin glue and my abdomen didn't hurt at all at first because the doctor I have uses long acting injections in the abdomen surgical sights that numbs the pain locally for up to three days post op.
I was given morphine in my IV for the phrenic nerve pain which was intense. They said I had all the pain med allowed while I was in the recovery room and after waiting for hours in recovery, I was finally taken to my room bed and all. My back was hurting so bad from laying in the bed flat for so long and from the time I spent in surgery as well. I wanted to get out of bed immediately when i got to my room (they let me sit up in a chair) My back was killing me by then. I asked for pain med and they gave it to me as it had been enough time now to have it again. I had Iv's in my arm and went back to bed after the pain subsided. To my dismay I was told that my blood pressure was dangerously high and so was my heart rate. They had to give me blood pressure meds through the IV and still it was hard to stabilize my Blood pressure and heart rate. I had extreme nausea and could hardly even drink Water without intense nausea. I was given a sugar free popsicle (in place of ice chips) with my Clear liquids tray. The popscle was the only thing that i could tolerate without nausea and even that was hard to finish. My face was flushed and red, my head was hurting so bad and my heart was racing. I've never been on Blood pressure meds so this was new for me. I felt feverish yet they said my fever was not high at all. I remember ordering chicken broth, a Protein shake, and Jello. I took one spoon of the broth.... it was horrible. Then i took one bite of jello.... i felt nauseated. I couldn't even look at the Protein Drink. The next time I ordered hot tea ... I drank a few sips of that and it stayed down. I tried some apple juice diluted half and half with Water. I immediately vommited that up. I did get the test for leaks in my stomach and had to swallow this nasty white solution ..... Good News... I had no leaks.
The nausea never got better in spite of three different nausea meds I was only able to drink my one ounce of water down every fifteen minutes on Day three after I was given Reglan IV.... Then the horrible part came. they made me take my pain med in a liquid form to drink. It was a red liquid version of Hydrocodone..... OMG It was the most discusting thing to try to take especially with my nausea. I fought with every ounce of strength I had NOT to vommit this horrible stuff. I was only able to keep it down if they gave me two anti nausea meds before the medication. The doctor told me that nausea is common after the sleeve gastrectomy and that the sleeve patients seem to suffer with it more than the other sugeries..... I wonder why?
Finally to my delight i was able to go home on Day 4 but I still felt so sick and my blood pressure was still high but now I was told that i had to be on blood pressure medications but that I probably would not have to stay on them as he said that many patients blood pressure stabilize after a few weeks after surgery but I'd have to see my primary care physician to determine that. First day home, I felt so bad... but I was able to keep my water down as i was still on Clear Liquids and Protein drinks which still I wanted no part of at all. Since then I've gotten a lttle better every day but still very weak I lost almost ten pounds in the first week after all this I went through.
I had my one week post op visit and Doctor said i was doing well. I was able to start my Protein shakes finally and did well with the liquid diet ... now he said I could progress to soft foods that were given in a list.... plain yoghurt, cottage cheese, soft scrambled eggs as tolerated, laughing cow cheese, oatmeal and creamed Soups and then mashed potatoes ..... no more than one half cup of one item per meal...... Had a hard time with soft foods at first but now I'm doing better except with the scrambled eggs. it's a struggle getting all my water in though.
I am so happy though I had this done. I finally feel free from my food addiction. I no longer am tempted to eat fast food or things I'm not supposed to have as I know that I CANNOT eat them.....as it would cause me great discomfort. I am doing well with measuring my food and can't wait to my next visit in ten days from tomorrow when they will let me add Protein foods to my diet so I will feel like I finally can eat some REAL food. ground beef or turkey, white fish.... but I'm worried if I will be able to tolerate this or not. I am still drinking at least one Protein Shake a day but need to be drinking two.... It seems so very hard to get all my liquids in since i have to wait before meals to drink and then afterwards.
I just wanted to tell anyone that wants this done that please don't think this surgery is going to be a piece of cake.... it's not. And make sure you do everything the doctor tells you to do. I was upset at all the pre op testing that i had to do but now I understand that it was for my own good and still wonder why i had such a bad reaction to surgery while others do not. My surgery in itself was a success and I have very little scarring on my five little incision lines..... My doctor is excellent and I'd refer him to anyone but my reaction to surgery was a stress reaction to surgery that cause my blood pressure to skyrocket. so any of you with Blood Pressure issues out there please get it under control before surgery..... I am looking forward to seeing my weight drop and for the first time in my life i feel so free...... I won't even try to overeat..... it's not worth it. I am sticking with my diet one hundred percent....... I didn't go through all this and risking my life for nothing. I plan to use this tool I have suffered for to my greatest advantage that will help me to get healthy again. I am taking all my Vitamins and Calcium faithfully........ I am getting better everyday......

Haha! Yeeeeeah... I'm a bit apprehensive about that myself. If you hear anything on the news about a chick in MN on a hungry homicidal rampage the week after next, it's just me on the pre-op diet.

is everyone anxiously anticipating April? i feel like i should gather a pile of my fat clothes since they will be temporary lol