dupexi

So, I was up to a size 22, peaked at 277lbs just before surgery, Nov 6th. 3 months later I'm at 212lbs, and squeezed into a size 12. Here's a before & after, (after is at a dress up ball 2 weeks ago).

I had Kaiser and I thought it was terrible. I have Hashimoto's and my primary care gave me the runaround when I asked to see an endocrinologist because I believed she was under-treating me. I left for Anthem BC, and haven't had any issues with seeing whatever specialist I need. I had Anthem BC for the surgery, and paid $1400 out of pocket, when the total bill was $113K. Also, it was the easiest application. I just had to be over 40 BMI, did the psych consult, talked to the nut on the phone. My surgeon sent in the request. No 6 month physician monitored diet, no mandatory waiting period. They did require a center of excellence hospital which probably inflated the bill.

I did low carb for 3 years, lost about 70 lbs, and eventually went off because I was severely constipated and tired. I gained back the lost weight plus quite a bit more. Discovered I had a thyroid condition. I thought that by treating that I'd lose the weight but I didn't, and I put more on instead. Tried low carb again, never really able to make it stick. Plus being lactose intolerant meant no dairy. Right now, the mount of food I'm eating is too low to trigger much of a lactose response, so hey, cottage cheese! I am now about a month out with the sleeve, down 30 lbs, and I've lost all interest in food. I'm not hungry. I've been setting alarms to remind myself to eat. I had some early fatigue, a lot like going into ketosis (I attributed it to healing & meds), but that's gone. Right now it just feels like such a chore to eat anything, and none of it is great food, just boring mush. When I get past this stage, maybe I'll have more interest. I love food, and I can honestly say I have never experienced this level of being not hungry - to the point that I've been having trouble getting all my Water and Protein. I've never had trouble eating all my calories before! I've switched to unflavored Protein powder in broths, cause I can't stand the artificial sugar in the Protein shakes any more. And my one attempt at scrambled eggs make me throw up, not doing that again for a while. I'm still early, so maybe the hunger will come back, but I imagine this lasting quite a while.

Duplicate

In middle school, I was the smart bookish band geek, and shy, so a total target. I was also in size 10's, which is big for a 7th grader, but I wasn't the biggest. But the one kid, who was super tall and skinny (at the time anyway, now he's fat and bald), he would sing at me any time he got the chance, "I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky come tumbling down". He did it all year, despite my attempts at comebacks, ignoring, telling on him. Otherwise my mom is always a good source of outwardly polite, but actually quite nasty weight comments. That way when you call her on it she can look innocent and say, "What? I'm just trying to help!"

I've been "out to eat" a couple of times now, and since I'm so close to the surgery, I just drink water, and enjoy the company. No one cares.

It will be 3 weeks on Thursday. I'm allowed some soft foods, but man, the egg did not agree with me at all.

So far I haven't been able to eat much more then some cottage cheese. Tried a scrambled egg today, and it came back up.

I'm 5'7", highest was 277.5, currently 3 weeks out at 245.5. I was a size 22, now fitting into my old 18's.

I had my period the week before my surgery, a week of respite, then I got a second one. Very weird. I asked my surgeon and she said it's not uncommon. Apparently the stress of the surgery can do weird things to your hormones. I'm off it now!

My Dr was ok with Tums for calcium for the first several weeks. It's been really easy to get down.

I totally get hiccups, and that includes on just water. Also slightly nauseous, and just turned off by food.

I was a bit silly, I'll admit. I watched a ton of medical dramas on TV, and desensitized myself to the idea of surgery. I realized that just because I personally don't often see surgeries, or go to hospitals, doesn't mean there aren't lots of people who do, on a daily basis. Finding a great doctor with a great record helps. If medical doctors can bring people back after cardiac arrest, bypasses, brain surgery, and transplants, a little VSG should be a piece of cake. And it was!

I have a prescription for Omeprazole too. They found evidence of GERD on my barium X-ray, but I hadn't really had any symptoms before. They have me taking it for the first 3 months, then said I can switch to OTC. No symptoms yet.

I haven't had chunks with the Isopure powder, it mixes really well just by putting it in a water right container and shaking. It's reasonably tasty, and scored better then cheaper brands on protein absorption and no heavy metal contamination. Drinking so much, I was worried about both.

I'm 3 weeks out on Thursday, I've been mainly still on protein shakes and broth, but I've added some cottage cheese successfully. Tried a soft egg, no dice. Thinking about trying some yogurt.

So I have a strange tendency to pick doctors who are a little outside of mainstream. They're opinionated, but usually right, and they're great at what they do. That being said, my hard-nosed surgeon requires 2-3 weeks of Clear liquids post op. It's been driving me crazy. The first week I was fine, I didn't want anything more. But this week I can't stand the sight of the stupid Protein shakes. I've tried getting variety. I have 7 tubs of the stuff sitting in my pantry, and all I want is something solid. To chew. I want something that doesn't coat my tongue and make me want to scrape it every time I take a sip. I would even be happy blending some other stuff in, like almond milk, or berries, or heaven forbid a banana, but noooo. That's not in the plaaaaan. I might diiiiiiieeeeee. So I'm watching tv, trying to distract myself, and the pretty, petite actress on the show is shoveling down more food then I think I'll ever be able to have again, just incidentally. She casually has a hamburger, and fries, and then an apple-cherry tart to die for just because she's flirting with the equally beautiful chef. That's when I realized, I'm jealous of her. Not for being gorgeous, and on tv, and flirting with handsome men, and wearing the pretty clothes, and the expensive shoes. No no. I am jealous of her fake lunch. She's probably not eating any more then the bite or two I will eventually be able to have, but right now that's infinitely more then I get to eat. I don't get to socialize with food anymore. That's the main way I make and keep friends. It's probably also why I'm fat, cause I like my friends. My current friends will understand, but what about new ones? Seriously, what do I do if, say, I'm at a job interview, and they bring out the pizza lunch? I'm going to have to be that person who's like, no, I can't eat solids. I'll just sit here with my foamy watery chalky thing that I just pulled out of my purse, thanks. Do you have a blender? With enough Water, we may be able to get an ounce or two of something down the pipe. Yes, I am actually worried that I'm never going to eat a solid thing again. On the plus side, I'm down 25 pounds in two weeks. It would have been more I think, but I'm on my period. I'm off my pain meds, and all the others that were making me drowsy, so I can drive again. My Vitamins are yummy. The incisions have stopped itching, my surgical tape rash is gone, and some of the glue has even come off. My back is not hurting, and my skin has really never looked better. I even walked a hill today. Maybe my cranky-pants surgeon will let me eat some blended things by Thursday. Cottage cheese has never sounded so appetizing.

So they've let me move on to softish foods. The difference a little cottage cheese makes to my day! I feel 1000% better! Thanks everyone for the support!

Lots of little aches and pains adding up. More and more medicine, as I began to show signs of diabetes. Also knowing that with Hashimoto's, I would be forever struggling against a super slow metabolism. Hating the clothes I had to buy. Feeling too cramped in airplane seats, making me more and more unwilling to travel. Gaining weight on a Jenny Craig diet. Being last up any hill.

Just had mine 11/6/14. I'm at home, feeling really well.

So just prior to the surgery, I was super excited. People who I told were, like "Are you nervous?" and I wasn't. But after a while, everyone being nervous for me, was making me start to questions whether I should, in fact, be nervous. I finally decided no, I had done my research, found a great surgeon, and a fantastic hospital. He's record is amazing, with no deaths, and half the complications of average. At the hospital, it went relatively smoothly. All the nurses and physicians assistants would ask me what I was getting, my name, and my birthday. The hardest part for me was getting the IV put in. My veins tend to be small and deep, so they tried on my right hand, no dice, my left hand looked like it was working, but then I got a small bubble of saline, so they went back to the right at the wrist. Again, couldn't get it. No surgery without an IV, so I suggested my ankle. She was nervous to go there, because it rolls. At that point, the bubble in my left hand had subsided, and it looked like a vein had moved up on my left wrist. Finally, the IV was in. The nurse was very kind an patient for the while process, numbing my skin whenever she tried a spot, so it was only mildly uncomfortable, not super painful. After that, I walked to the surgery room, where I got to say hi to some of the people who would be assisting. They were really nice. I laid on the bench, and they helped position my arms. After a bit of adjusting, I was out. The next thing I new, I was in the recovery room. I fluttered my eyes, and the nurse saw that I was waking up. My back hurt, so I asked if I could roll to my side. She said that was fine, and helped me. She also asked if I needed more blankets, and I said no, I was hot. And thirsty, like - wow thirsty. They said I could get some Water when I got to my room, which was soon, they were just cleaning it up. So I kind of rested, and eventually woke up in the room, where they gave me a few sips of water, which tasted like the best water ever. My husband was there to give me a hug, and my friend. I was on morphine, and could give myself a small dose as needed every 8 minutes. It was nice and low-level, so I didn't feel any pain, just some mild soreness. They brought me a tray, and I was able to sip on some green-tea, and some broth. They saved the Protein shake for later. A little while later, I felt like I could stand up, so they helped unhook me, and we walked around the hallways for a bit. Whenever I had to pee, they had a little hat in the toilet to collect it, so they could see how much I was peeing. I did pretty well, that night, periodically walking, and sipping the Protein shakes. They nurses would come in for blood-pressure checks, and a couple of blood samples. My surgeon was a little disappointed at the size of my liver, he felt ti was too big, so my pre-op diet should have probably started a couple of weeks before.I had gained some weight before the surgery, my first weigh in was 263, I topped out at 270, and by that morning, I was 265. He was also concerned about my Synthroid dose, because my TSH is undetectable. But my endocrinologist has said before that the goal was to suppress the thyroid all together, because that stops the Hashimoto's symptoms. So as long as the T4 and T3 are in range, I should be good. I'll bring up my surgeon's concerns with him at the next appointment. I'll probably need lower and lower doses as I drop the weight anyway. Se I was discharged yesterday, felt pretty good for the ride home. We stopped at the Walgreens, and my husband went in to get the pain medication for me. The pharmacist wanted to call the doctor to confirm, but of course the number on the script was for the home office, so no one answered at 6pm on a Friday. My poor husband was like, what do I do? And the pharmacist was very rude, and was like, "You figure it out". So I ended up having to get up from the car, and bring all my paperwork in. Once he saw me, with all the paperwork, and the discharge papers, he went ahead and filled the prescription. I guess he thought my husband was a drug-seeker or something. So now I'm at home. I've taken some pain meds for today. It's not quite as nice as it was at the hospital with the IV drop, and metered morphine. My stomach area feels loose and stretchy. I keep imagining that wrapping it with a corset might help. My back also still hurts, but my husband is so sweet, and he's been carefully massaging it for me. It's a little hard to get up and down from my sofa and bed. If I wan tto be on my side, it's more of a 45 degree angle, with a pillow under my back. Anyway, I can still walk, go to the BR by myself, and I'm planning on taking a shower later today. Sipping lots of water. I'm also going to do one of the protein shakes they gave me. All in all, it's not too terrible of pain, and I believe this is going to be worth it in the long run.

I'm using the low or zero carb Isopure whey protein. Has 50g protein per serving, tastes good, and performed the best on trials that check for things like actual protein be advertised, and no heavy metal contamination.

Another note, my back had been hurting and the muscles were tight and knotted. Yesterday I had my husband massage it gently, then today I sat up in a desk hair with a heating pad on a low setting on my lower back. That helped a lot, There's not too much actual stomach pain, it just feels like a did a ton of crunches. It might be worth building up your core muscles before the surgery.

I'm in San Francisco, looking to get VSG.