Lateese92

YAY! I had my surgery yesterday. It occurred at Des Peres Hospital in Des Peres, ( St. Louis) MO. I know everyone will have different experiences based on where they have the surgery, but here's what I experienced:
10 AM REGISTRATION: Registered (even though I pre-registered the day before on the phone) and made a payment on my portion after insurance 10:45 PRE-SURGERY PREP: The nurse took my vitals, reviewed my medical history, took urine, and had me change into a gown. 11:30 HOLDING: I laid in a bed in an area called "pre-surgery". It was kinda awkward because there were 7 other people in the room waiting for various surgeries. Some were staring at each other. You could here all of their machines beeping. Some were moaning. I asked for magazines to avoid getting nervous. The anesthesiologist came and asked me a bunch of questions and explained the process to me. Then Dr. Minkin showed up and answered any final questions I had. 1:30 SURGERY: I was wheeled into the OR. I was given some medicine via IV and was out cold within seconds. 3:00 RECOVERY: This was the worst experience ever. I woke up and though I was having a heart attack. (I must state that I was not aware that they put gas in your stomach to make room for the surgery.) The gas was all up in my chest and I truly thought I was dying. My throat was so dry that I was begging for someone to help me. They finally gave me some wet gauze to suck on.: 4:30 ARRIVAL IN ROOM: I arrived in my room ( all rooms at Des Peres are private). My nurses got me all set up, took my vitals, and gave me pain meds, nausea meds, and pepcid. They also hooked my legs up in some cuffs that would help with circulation and prevent blood clots. NIGHT TIME: It's impossible to sleep. Nurses and techs are in your room all night checking on you. MORNING: I went for my swallow test where they give you shots of dye and take X-rays to make sure there are no leaks. 11:00 food: My lunch arrived. It consisted of a bombpop, broth, crystal light lemonade, Jello, and an Optifast shake. I took it very slow and ate the lunch over 2 hours. I took very small sips. 1:30 ROUNDS: Dr. Minkin made his rounds and told me everything went great with surgery. He answered any more questions I had and gave me verbal post-op instructions. He then released me. 3:00 DISCHARGE: The nurse came by with my discharge paperwork and instructions. TIPS:
Walk as much as you can. That's the only way to get rid of the gas. It's almost impossible to fart (odd, I know) so I mainly burped a lot. The gas is no joke! Don't forget to take something to wear under your gown the next day (sweats/undies) to make you more comfortable while cruising the halls. I gained a couple of pounds while in the hospital. I think it was from all the fluids being pumped into me. Overall, I had a GREAT EXPERIENCE! I am so proud of myself for taking this step to improve my health and life. I am also so proud of all of you for making this choice too!

Wow, Jen~79, Outpatient sounds nice. Good luck. I look forward 2 hearing from you.

Welcome chellatubbie, I know exactly how you feel.

First of all, kudos to you on your decision to have weight loss surgery. You've taken an important step in taking your life back.
Second of all........it's really hard to screw this up. Like.....you have to try, physically TRY to screw it up, especially in the first three month, and trying will hurt more than just doing it the way it's supposed to be done. Especially in the first few months, your sleeve will bear the brunt of the work. You'll be eating a reduced amount of food and your body won't know what the F is going on. After awhile, you'll see the 'natural loss' start to slow down and that's why building healthy habits during pre-op and as soon as you get clearance from your surgeon is important. You'll need to take over once your body gets used to the reduced calorie intake and the expenditure of energy just to stay alive.
I was SURE I was going to be the one patient that WLS doesn't work for. If you follow the (very simple) rules, the Sleeve works. Protein first, HYDRATE, watch your cals, move your body. And don't forget your Vitamins. It works like a charm!
Important thing to remember is that you can't always weigh your success by the number on the scale. You could be a slow loser like me, who sees so much more loss in inches and ability to do things I couldn't do before, than I saw on the scale. I can wear a size 4 dress and size 6 slacks but I still weigh over 170. There are people that weigh much less than I do wearing larger sizes. It's all individual. Concentrate on you and your individual results and you will do just fine!

There are those folks in this forum who can expess the need for counselling with your doctors and nutritionist much more eloquenty and clinically than I can, so I will move on to what my original thought was when I first read your post.
Perhaps you need to think of the next phases not as a pre-op liquid diet and a high Protein diet bereft of your former culinary favorites, but as war! You are literally in a fight for your life (and your quality of life) until you reach your expiration date. Those of us who are in our sixties can attest to the fact that excess weight which is inconvenient and embarrassing in our thirties turns into arthritis, joint replacements, high blood pressure, strokes, immobility, heart attack, etc etc and the list goes on.
You are at a point where you can make so much more of difference now, and have a much longer, healthier, happier life. You will be more able to travel, enjoy family and social activities and become more present and involved in the world around you. At some point, the excess weight that is inconvenient can turn you into a shut-in as I am now, due to a stroke brought on by high blood pressure brought on by excess weight brought on by lack of control over my stomach's desire to hijack my brain.
If I can encourage you to do anything, it would be to find a private moment alone with your thoughts and without distraction. You are grown and no doubt smart and capable in many ways. Take on the devil on your shoulder and you be the one in control of your health and your future by being in control of you dietary choices, against all odds.
How would you encourage someone else who is two weeks behind you in this journey? This is one time in your life where you MUST NOT get tired of being strong. You deserve to be healthy and happy and active, but good health will not come knocking on your door. You are going to have to chase it down and put your name on it.
Please don't think of the pre-op liquid phase as a burden to bear. It is a right of passage and will be over in a few days. After you have your surgery, you will learn by doing and become quite adept at making smart choices and weighing and measuring and tracking. You can look forward to becoming a champion at this, well able to encourage others with confidence.
I cannot believe that come Christmas, I will pass my first year since my sleeve surgery. There were rough spots to be sure, and times when I thought I am not losing fast enough, but the scale keeps going downward, and I will take that as a good thing. Keep your chin up and trust in yourself to do a great job at this. You can always come here for encouragement when you are having a dark day.

Sure no problem

I'm October 1st two more weeks I'm so excited and nervous

Thanks guys.
When I was reading posts before my surgery I found most were made by the people in America and found things differed vastly to over here. I also found most sadly didn't keep the updates going after their operation so I wanted to do an update so people knew what it really was like months down the line from someone who had undergone a sleeve operation in the UK.
Not everyone will have the pain or discomfort I went through or the burping situation I faced but I wanted to let them know that in the early days is common to think "Oh hell, I have made a huge mistake" but that it does come good and it is worth it. If it can help me it can help others too.

Congratulations Ladies, yeah I'm sure it will go quick, just can't stop over thinking on what I'll need and how much of a huge step this is, so exciting. Good luck to you both, I'm going to add you both if that is okay for support?

I have an October 1 surgery date and like you, I'm having these food funeral feelings as well. I wasn't nervous until I got a date, now, I'm anxious, nervous, excited and everything else.

So I have my surgery date for the 6th October 2014, sososo excited! Yet strangely nervous. I'm kind of in the "food funeral" stage at the moment, feel sort of guilty. So I have 2 months to slap myself into gear. Anyone else with an October date?

October 1 - in the home stretch

You should take what you need and leave the rest! for sure, there are a lot of people who need to vent and very few people that have complications. I have not had any complications or issues and I had surgery on July 3rd. No issues for me, I am not saying there are not risks or those individuals didn't follow the rules. Just keep on track and pay attention to your body as you go through phases. I followed the rules my Dr. gave me and researched the risks and new that the risk for me not having it was much higher. Good luck, it's okay to be nervous.

Tomorrow will be 1 year. Loving the new me I started off with weight watchers @ 266. The Bariatric center started me out @ 245. I am down 122 pounds. I am now 144 pounds I have 10 more pounds 2 go but I am so happy.LIFE IS FUN AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!

@@emttina
hap, hap, happy surgiversary
wonderful pics
great transformation
"so happy, life is fun again!!"
aint it the truth
continues to get better and better while you maintain
122 lbs lost!!!
(don't look at me, i didn't take them!! )
keep up the good job while you are enjoying your healthier, happier, longer life
kathy
congrats

Well guys, I've got three days left before surgery. I turned 40 3 weeks ago and promised myself the next chapter of my life would be better than the first. I started researching 3 years ago. I was scheduled twice to go to Mexico and chickened out. I just wanted to feel more comfortable that I had a surgeon who was closer at home for follow up care. I'm 5'2, my highest weight was 212 and currently while on pre op I'm 204. I have all the damn co-morbids ( high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, GERD and hiatal hernia), except for diabetes but I'm sure I would have been well on my way. I started my US insurance journey 6 months ago and now I am here. Who knew I was a mess and had to face reality, lol. I just want to feel healthy again. The last 7 years of my life have been miserable!!! I am looking forward to a new, healthy life style. I want to run again and be able to sleep without this damn mask. I feel like a super hero with this thing stuck to my face every night. Not to mention, it's just not sexy, lol. I guess I'm ranting as the nerves are setting in a bit. I just wanted to introduce myself and say hey to all. i look forward to supporting you all as well as receiving support. Im Gonna journal daily for those who have not been sleeved yet. It sure helped me to read the post of others! Later all.....

Count me in! I weighed in at 154.4lbs this am! I have gone from the bottom of the obese bmi scale to the top of the normal scale in just 5.5 months! Wow! Love my sleeve!

The liver really does shrink considerably with a low-carb diet in a short amount of time. My surgeon explained that when our body consumes carbs, it first goes to the liver. When the liver is "full" it is THEN converted into stored fats. The opposite is true as well. When our body needs carbs, it takes it from the liver storage first before it touches the stored. SO, if you aren't adding carbs into your diet your liver will shrink because your body will use up all the stored carbs in the liver. I actually did low-carb for four months before my surgery and my surgeon said that my liver was "tiny and perfect"... about the only thing that can be said was tiny about me lol!
Shrinking the liver is important because it makes it easier for the surgeon to get to your stomach. In really big people the liver can completely cover the stomach. When it is easy for the surgeon there are less chances of complications. I know some surgeon's don't bother with the pre-op diet. I'm not sure if they are just exceedingly confident in their skills or they don't think it will help enough to make a difference, but I was very glad I went through with mine in the end.

I missed chewing so badly on the pre-op diet that I took to making Jello Wigglers... you know... cut the Water by 75% and you get hard little Jello squares (I mixed two large size Jellos with just 2 c. boiling Water then poured it into an 8" sq, pan. Sets very quickly, cut into squares) Gave me something to chew on & I lost 14 pounds on the 3 wk. pre-op. You might try that!
The very best wishes to you! I am 6 days post-op and have lost 21 pounds total. Into a blouse I've not worn for at least 5 years. Hang in there, you can do this!
Sincerely, Mary