AllThatGlittersIsntGold

It’s my one week sleeve-aversary! How I can go from laying in bed in severe pain, throwing up on myself, miserable, convinced I had made a huge mistake, to happily cleaning the house, easily drinking my Protein and Water, and feeling great is crazy. What a difference a week makes.

I have lost 8 lbs since surgery, and 65.8 lbs overall!

You read this correctly! I wanted to show my list of questions so people may add on any questions that I missed that may be beneficial for me

November 13th for DS...anxious not worried...ready to do this...started the process with another surgeon last year but my insurance changed the first of the year and I had to switch surgeons and go through the whole process all over.

also ask about any tests that you may have to "pass" to discharge. I had to complete a upper GI study with contrast and that may also affect breast feeding.

I read this as a request for feedback on her question list.

Really, all those questions are best directed to your Doc who can provide actual answers that apply to you and your situation.
Good luck,
Tek

Surgery
How long will surgery be? For me it was a little over an hour, but it really depends on the surgeon and if everything goes to plan. With surgeries you never know and every person is different.
How long will I be in the hospital? For me it was three days and two nights, but again, it depends on the person.
Will I have a drain? I didn't. But again, everyone is different.
Conditions that need to be met to be discharged? For me it was having my pain under control, making sure I was up and walking, and drinking enough. I stayed slightly longer because I wasn't drinking enough to where they could at least keep track. I was more comfortable chewing ice, but they couldn't keep track of that so they eventually took it away from me and gave me a bunch of these little 1oz cups so that they could track how much I was drinking.
Recovery
When can I give breast milk? Ask both your surgeon and your child's doctor when it's safe.
What does pain management look like post-op? It very much depends on the person and their pain tolerance. I have TN so I have a very HIGH pain tolerance and so I basically took four of the 30 Norco pills my surgeons office gave me. I mostly stuck to tylenol. It's not a walk in the park by any means, but it was bareable.
When to return to work? How much time off? They gave me 4 weeks off. I, however, was only back at work for two weeks and then went on leave again due to different health issues. Non-surgery or weight related.
What do you think about vitamin patches? When can I take pills post-op? I was told not to use Vitamin Patches for the DS or Loop DS and to stick to pill or chewable vitamins. Maybe your surgeons office is different? They're super expensive though if you do the patch thing for the amount of Vitamins you need for the DS/Loop DS so it's not the way to go imo. As to vitamins... I was told to take chewables for the first month, but not to start them until day 7, but your surgeons office may be different so ask.
What is normal for the first 6 weeks post-op? I'm 9 months out and my memory is a little shaky when I think that far back but I remember being really sore and hurting from both the gas and the incision from where they removed 85% of my stomach from. I had low energy for three or four weeks. I also had to sleep on the couch for the first several days after I came home because my bed was too hard to get out of and it hurt. I needed help showering for the first week or so as well. And getting up hurt because of that incision where they removed my stomach. Sitting hurt also because of it. Once I was up though it wasn't so bad.
Post-OP
What is my goal weight? You're goal weight? No idea. My goal weight is 180 pounds. I have low standards I guess lol, but my surgeons office said it was a good and realistic goal weight. They want me to get to 160 if I can, but I'd be happy with 180. Heck, I'd even be happy at 185 as both take me out of obese and into simply being 'overweight' BMI wise. I have low standards lol. It comes from being over 300 pounds for 15 years. I'm 215 right now and that's smaller than I was when I started HIGH SCHOOL! (I was in the 230's then) I was 32 when I had my surgery btw. I'm 33 right now.
How long does it take to digest food? I think that depends very much on how much you eat. If I eat a little snack I feel like it digests faster, but sometimes when I eat a meal I have on occasion eaten too much because I ate too fast and it took a while to process that it was too much for my stomach and felt full and nauseous for about an hour or two.
What will my stomach capacity be at 3 months, 6 months, 12 months? I think I was eating about 1/3 cup at 3 months (about 3 oz), 1/2 cup at six months (around 4 oz), and now at 9 months I can eat about 3/4 cups (about 6-7 oz). But I feel like it's probably different for everyone.
I hope this is helpful in some way...

Getting ESG November 6th! So excited and nervous. Nice to meet you all:)

My surgery is Nov 23!!!

I have been scheduled for November 12th for my sleeve. I am ready to finish what I have started. If you have any tips for the first few weeks after surgery.

sure ! SIPS= Stomach Intestinal Pylorus Sparing
It's a modification and similar to the duodenal switch.
I will be a revision surgery from a gastric plication

Surgery Gastric Sleeve scheduled for November 24th. My doctor told me to start liquid diet on the 17th of November, just one week prior to my surgery vs the 3 weeks I've seen some posters say. Also I was told I had to stop smoking at least 4 weeks prior to the surgery, any smokers with help on this?

November 18th! Bypass

I went back to work after a week and a half, I have a physical job so I was on light duty. I was a little sore, but otherwise okay.

I went back to work after a week and a half, I have a physical job so I was on light duty. I was a little sore, but otherwise okay.

As a person who takes adderall readily, I only used half a dosage of a phentermine for a few days and absolutely hated it! (Didn't combine adderall and phentermine)
I felt anxiety/panic, racing heart, and yes my hunger was blocked but it was uncomfortable and returned with a vengeance!

I went back to work after a week and a half, I have a physical job so I was on light duty. I was a little sore, but otherwise okay.

I went back to work after a week and a half, I have a physical job so I was on light duty. I was a little sore, but otherwise okay.

No. Gray hair is caused by children and husbands.

So yesterday, my family and I went to beach. I put on my swimsuit then a nice sundress cover up. I had no intentions of taking the dress off. However, when I put my swim suit on I glanced in the mirror and thought I saw a reflection that just didn't seem to be me. She was attractive, young, and vibrant. That was an image that I had not seen for a while staring back at me.
Fast forward to the beach. We were taking pictures of the kids as they enjoyed their afternoon. Something came over me. I took off my sundress, jumped up and asked my friend to take a picture of me. I was so nervous as to what I was going to see. You see, often times when I look in the mirror and see one thing, when i see a picture of myself, I see something quite different. But this time, when I saw the pictures. I was amazed. The person I saw staring back at me in the mirror, was the same person in the picture. The young, beautiful, vibrant me. Maybe she is not what society defines as young beautiful and vibrant but screw you society. I love me and that's all that counts.
Here's to 83 pounds in 6 months and 40 more to go!

So I posted before and after pics back in March when I was down 50 pounds. But now that I'm actually below goal, I'm submitting this as my "official" before and after pics. 8 months and 92 pounds later....
December 4, 2013
August 3, 2014

Allthatglitters....
http://www.obesitycontrolcenter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Ortiz-Proctored-List.pdf

You need to get RID of ALL the BAD CARBS, foods, Snacks from your cabinets... NOW! Go RIGHT NOW and THROW them AWAY!!! Because if they are there, you already know that you'll eat them. Many of us on here are carb addicts or recovering carb addicts. To this day I battle my addiction and that's why you will not find ANY in my house. Because I know that I will submit to my addiction in a moment of weakness. Part of this journey is recovering from our addictions and bad habits, as well as adapting new ones; which include: eating right and exercising, or becoming more active. Eating right...the sleeve gives you Portion Control, but YOU control the QUALITY...you know what to do. Exercising...look at it like a job; we need to work to make a living/we need to exercise to extend our lively hoods and our health.
You CAN do this!!!!

Just a quick post to sing my praises to Dr. Ortiz and the OCC once more. As of yesterday, I reached the goal that Dr. Ortiz set for me of 100 lbs down - weight is 150 lbs and I feel amazing. Went from a size 24 to an 8 in jeans and I can honestly say that there were lots of times during this journey that I thought I wouldn't get this far. I'm running a 10 K this weekend, and signed up for my first half-marathon in the spring. This is a far cry from the old me, by a long shot! I have been working hard, but if my surgery hadn't been performed as expertly as it was my Dr. Ortiz, I doubt I'd have the success I've had thus far. I am planning on maybe losing another 10 lbs or so - just as a buffer, but I think the marathon training is going to take care of that on its own. My life is pretty much normal, except for the shopping for smaller clothes all the time thing - I really don't mind that change. For anyone on the fence, I encourage you to just take the plunge and go for it. I used to read before/afters before my surgery and I always thought "that's nice for them, but it's won't work for me"....and it did. And it will for you too. Just take the chance on yourself. You are so worth it.

Two weeks to go..