bullymama

Dec 3rd here! When I got the call this morning to schedule I thought I was going to vomit! Feels real now!

Dec 3rd here! When I got the call this morning to schedule I thought I was going to vomit! Feels real now!

Goddardgo congratulations on your surgery! I would love to hear your story and see your progress! I live in North Scottsdale.

Dec 3rd here! When I got the call this morning to schedule I thought I was going to vomit! Feels real now!

As I was preparing for my surgery, I combed these forums night and day trying to imagine what the experience would be like. While I realize the real journey is still ahead of me, I thought I would share my experience for those seeking answers. Please keep in mind that everyone's surgeon, requirements, and experience is different. Here is mine:
Pre-surgery
I had my first consult with my surgeon in April of 2014. I weighed in at 242. Since I was self-pay, I was not required to spend months on a supervised diet. A round of blood work, a medical clearance from my general practitioner, and a week long pre-op diet of full liquids w/ the day before surgery being Clear Liquids was all that was required of me. I did have to stop my Meloxicam (arthritis meds) before surgery, and that was the most difficult part.
I chose to wait until June to have my surgery while I was on summer break. Like most, once I had my surgery date set, I felt as those the next couple of months would be my last chance to eat all the things I loved. Then I realized I was only adding insult to injury by doing so; I decided to start making small healthy changes in my diet. My ultimate goal was not to gain any weight before surgery. On surgery day, I weighed in at 235, so I was very proud of myself.
Surgery Day
Since the doctor I chose was four hours away; I arrived a day early. The day before surgery was busy with a nutrition class in the morning, and pre-op appt. in the afternoon. I felt prepared and had no last minute questions. I was told to arrive at the hospital outpatient area by 5:30 a.m. the next morning. Everyone was very nice, but I was not prepared for the fact that outpatient services are not as "posh" as the inpatient hospital room. My husband and I were taken to a room where they started my i.v., took vital signs, and gave me a blood thinner shot in my stomach. I don't remember getting the "relaxing" shot to take the edge off, so I was quite apprehensive at this point. My only thoughts at this point were "I can still back out..." My husband must have had the same thoughts because he whispered, "You do not have to do this." About 20 minutes before they took me back, the doctor came in to speak to us and eased both of our fears. By 7:20 a.m., I was being wheeled back to the operating room. As I entered the operating room, I was surprised to see a large window, and I wished I was outside (anywhere but there). The room was full of people hustling and bustling getting things ready for my procedure. There was lots of busy chatter as I was slid over to the operating table and strapped down. At this point, I was thinking, if they indeed has snuck some medicine in me to take the edge off, it wasn't working. Every one of my senses were on heightened alert, and I wanted to jump up and run. That was my last thought. I do not remember being in recovery. The next thing I remember was waking up back in my room. It was around noon, and my husband was offering me ice chips. The nurses helped me up to go to the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror in the bathroom, there was blue stuff around my mouth where they had check my new tummy for leaks while I was in the operating room. There was no pain; it was more like being very uncomfortable. Once back in bed, I dozed most of the afternoon and do not remember much else about the hospital. Around 3:30 p.m., I was wide awake and able to get dressed. We were allowed to leave and return to our hotel. The doctor came in before we left and gave us his cell phone number in case we had any problems. All was well, and I had no pain other than being uncomfortable until the middle of the night. It was then that the nausea came crashing through. They prescribed me zofran for nausea, but it was not working. I should note that being put to sleep always has this effect on me, and I do not think it had anything to do w/ the type of surgery I had, but it was still misery. I finally fell asleep around 5:00 a.m.
The Next Day
At 9:00 a.m. the next morning, we returned to the doctor's office to have my drain removed (which was absolutely painless; do not worry about that if you are having it done). I explained about the nausea, and they prescribed me phenigran, which did the trick. We left the doctor's office and headed out for our four hour journey home. I slept comfortably the entire trip home. We did stop along the way, so I could get out and walk some. Before the surgery, I dreaded the ride home, but it was a piece of cake!
The Weeks Following Surgery
I am nearly eight weeks post-op now, and I must admit that time has flown by! The first few days it was difficult getting liquids down, but I did not stress about it and did the best I could. I ran a fever off and on for a couple of days, but it never reached 101, so I just tried to push more fluids, and it worked. I slept a lot the first week and tried to get as much rest as possible, so my body could heal. (Remember to be kind to yourself and don't push yourself.)
In the beginning, the weight seemed to fall off quickly. I stepped on the scales every time I passed by them, and it seemed I lost weight every time. After a couple of weeks, the weightless completely stopped! I was patient for a few days, but when the days turned into a week, and then that week turned into two, I started to get discouraged. I was following all of the rules, but the scales would not budge. That was when I decided this surgery did not make the scales my friend, so I stopped weighing and focused on getting my Protein and fluids in. After all, I could feel myself getting smaller and my clothes getting baggy. Finally, the number started going down again.
At almost eight weeks, I am at 216, so that is 26 pounds down, and I am pleased with that. I am still not exercising because of the pain in my knees and other joints. The knee and joint pain is getting some better. I am hoping that after a bit more of the weight comes off, it will continue to get even better, and I can start exercising and speed up the weight loss.
I have never once had a regret about the surgery. I am thankful each day that God gave me the courage to follow through. I already see great improvements like: I can breathe easier and get less winded; I sleep more soundly and wake more rested; my husband compliments me all the time; even though I eat less, I enjoy my food more. I am excited about the future.

This made me happy happy to see.
ME: day of surgery vs current
I still have some work to do, but this makes me feel amazing!!!

Menina, you took the words right out of my mouth! I too always and still do feel that if God forbid something happens because I wanted to do something as selfish and vain as WLS that God might punish me and I would be leaving my children! These thoughts are what have kept me from ever moving forward. Not anymore though. I try to fight those negative thoughts as best as I can. Good luck to you!

Reading everyone's stories, life's journeys and pain touches me. I have a little part of each of you inside me, I just never realized it before. Always thought that my thing was eating.....now I'm thinking maybe it shouldn't be. I need to make something new and exciting my thing. Thank you everyone for your courageous good and sometimes sad/bad stories!

I was SO excited this morning to weigh in and see that I passed my goal of 145 pounds. I am about 10.5 months post-op and down 133.6 pounds. I could still stand to lose a few more pounds, but I am super proud of myself for reaching my original goal in less than a year. I'm also super proud of my non-scale goals that I've accomplished like improving my health, training for a 1/2 marathon, and working on my emotional eating issues. I've done a lot of hard work this year, and I wouldn't trade the changes I've made for the world.
For those of you just starting on this journey, hang in there! It's so worth the effort!

All of my attempts at weight loss have been in good faith and with, what I thought, was a fairly educated mind about how to do it - yet I always failed. What I didn't do, until I was getting ready for WLS, is to address the emotional part of HOW I GOT to 330 pounds. I mean, how does that happen to someone? How can I be college educated, seemingly successful in other areas of my life and be squarly on a path to an early grave at my "own doing"? I had never really let go of my ego. I always had that bargaining voice in my head that rationalized and minimized dieting and weight loss. What this site did was to help me see that I AM NOT ALONE! There was power in that for me. I can't explain why, it just was. My parents are both alcoholics. My mom has 30+ years of sobriety and has dedicated her adult life to helping others with addiction. My dad has never gotten free from his addiction. I was exposed to the tennant of AA and the 12 steps a long time ago. As a teen, the foundations were laid but I NEVER really embraced the concept of accountability. I think this surgery MAKES me be accountable. It also gives me a control I have never experienced. That concept of "control" is one major difference between food and alcohol addiction. It is not a one size fits all. It's not like there is a perfect recipe for how to be successful in this BUT there are similarities of how people become successful. For an alcoholic, you don't go to bars, you don't take the first sip. For a food addict, it's not as simple. But there are lifestyle changes that support my goals. Again, I had NEVER, EVER considered the emotional side of weight loss (except for attending one, solitary OA meeting at age 23 in which I was so full of shame I could never go back). This time, at 45 and in a very different place in life, I was able to say "I am a food addict and the data (weighing 325+ pounds) supports that. I can't run from it." And all of that self realization brought a huge amount of shame in the beginning. I am coming up on my one year anniversary for my first doctor appointment (mid August). It's gotten easier to think about my failures in the past without shame. It's still there but it's less and less. I do know that if I get too far away from this site, the voices in my brain that tell me "it's okay to cheat today" start to creep back. This site, belonging to a community, helps me stay focused and accountable. I am far from perfect (I ate a half piece of cake yesterday) but I have come so far. People tell me how great I look and I minimize it. Not because I am not proud of myself, but because it doens't support success. When I say I have so far to go, they say "but you've come so far you should be proud". I have started explaining to people that I can't "celebrate" in the same sense of before. Celebrating tells my brain that it's ok to reward myself with an extra calorie or two or two hundred. It's a slippery slope and always will be. I still have a LONG way to go to get to a goal of "normal". The hardest work lies ahead. It scares me but I have some tools for success and I am going to keep coming back here checking in and being accountable. Thanks to all who commented - it helps keep us going!

I was sleeved 7/28 After watching several friends evolve into thin healthy people who work out everyday, they still go out to dinner with friends, family they just eat less on their plate.
Tonight My family is ordering Chinese for dinner, I'm having miso Soup broth instead, but, I remember clearly that firm salty texture of lomein noodles, I use to sit on the couch with the noodles resting in my chest with my chopsticks expertly in place. I felt I was eating healthy because I ordered chicken and vegetables with that as well. I ate till I was stuffed. Then several hours later I ate again because we all know what happens the Chinese food.
food was heaven but, the weight gain was hell.
Hell on my diabetes, Hell my cholesterol, Hell on my ankles, knees, back and heart. Food was making me feel BAD.
I'm craving food even as I sit here writing about how bad it has hurt me. It's a habit I need to break and like most things will happen in time.
My recommendation is to follow your heart.
Tammy

The mall was exhausting, we only went to 2 stores and all I wanted was to be home again. I managed to get 60g of Protein in yesterday and a pretty decent amount of Water. Moving up in leaps and bounds. I'm pretty good about drinking more.
So for those of you who are dying to know...I'm down 10 pounds exactly!! My starting weight was 274.8 on the day of surgery and when I just weighed myself I am now 264.8, I haven't weighed that little in 2 years.
The glue lifted off of one of my incisions so one is completely uncovered, another one is half uncovered and the other 3 have a tiny amount of lift. Once the glue is all lifted I will be putting on scar be gone adhesive Patches to see how to get rid of the scars.

Goddardgo congratulations on your surgery! I would love to hear your story and see your progress! I live in North Scottsdale.

Hi Everyone I'm new to this site but so happy I found it! I'm in the early stages of preparing for surgery (got all paperwork just waiting on consult and date) so not sure if there has been anyone who posted these feelings so forgive me if I missed it.
I'm a single mom with 2 kids, 8 & 13 and they don't have a good relationship with their dad. I'm so freaked out about dying from the wls and leaving them alone and them ending up with their father! I understand that being 41, with a 50 BMI and on blood pressure meds is not a good place to be either but I feel ok. Has anyone else been in this position?
I'm also very nervous about my future relationship with food. I'm a devout foodie..love good food and wine. My biggest issue is quantity. I may be fat but I don't eat crap. Will I be able to still be a foodie? It seems silly but I'm scared of losing that part of me.
With all this being said I am excited. I don't want to be the fat girl anymore.
Any and all comments would be so greatly appreciated!

You will be fine. I can understand the concern. I was a lucky one and the surgary was not bad at all. I felt almost like normal by 2 1/2 week. Mainly the food portions will be changed. I know before I had surgery I had all the same emotions. Excited scared. I have not had wine yet. My dr wants me to hold off for at least 6 months or longer. Hang in there. This is a great tool.

Welcome! I am pretty much in the same boat as you, about to turn 39 with a BMI of 50/51. I am also a single mother to a child who wants nothing to do with his father, but he has an awesome relationship with my parents and brother. But I am excited and feel as thou my weight and health will kill me before surgery would! At my consultation my surgeon told me I was a great candidate and probably more healthy than any patient he would see that day. Make sure you have a surgeon you are 100% comfortable with and will answer any and all questions you have. Make sure to do lots of research on this website along with other research online. Ask around, you'd be surprised there may be someone in your circle who already had the surgery and can be your "buddy" thru the whole process. I was extremely surprised to find out 2 people I know had it and I had no clue!
As for the foodie in you, you will till be that same person who loves all kids of foods! After a while you will be able to have just about anything, you just have to learn Portion Control.< /p>
Good luck to you and welcome to this wonderful site!!

Good luck sounds like you have everything work out and plan now just relax and breath lol, I know the night before my surgery I wet to bed early because i wanted the day I have waited for so long to hurry up and come, sounds silly but that was my thinking. I know your going to do great and your going to love the new you. I am almost 9 weeks out and I am loving love, the recovery was great and right after surgery I was up and walking and like my doctors and nurses say I was burning rubber on my IV stand. This new opportunity to be healthy and prolong your life is so worth it and I would do it again 100 times over. Good luck my friend we are all saving a seat for you on the losers bench. Keep us posted.