Daisee68

Try to look at it this way - you aren't actually taking anything away from them. You are actually giving them a gift - YOU! I felt the selfish feeling too and I don't even have a husband and children. Totally normal. Just use the sacrifice as motivation to make sure you do this the right way - see a therapist, work with a NUT, exercise. All those things help immensely and are a recipe for success! Best Wishes!!

So sorry you are having this trouble but given it is this soon after your surgery, it seems likely you already had undiscovered gallbladder issues prior to surgery. I know how horrible and depressing it feels to feel so bad but you cannot live on liquids forever and I think you will feel so much better after you get the gallbladder out. I keep thinking I have issues with mine but 2 CT scans later, they keep saying everything is fine and not to worry until the pain gets bad. (Doesn't seem like best advice to me but what do I know. I can promise I will let them know if I ever get the horrible pain you have!) Look at it this way, at least you are getting it over with and not having to be sick for several more months and then go through another surgery and then have to recover again. Now you are getting it all done very quickly and then you will be on the road to recovery! Best wishes to you! I know you will do well and be on your way soon!

@VanessaVSGforme - It's pretty soupy. You should be able to eat it as it comes. If you aren't sure yet if you can handle spicy or grease, you might tell them to leave off the red sauce and don't add hot sauce, but luckily spicy has never bothered me even post-op. @ - Taco Bell Pintos & cheese is something regularly told by many NUTs that we can eat. The nutrition stats are pretty good and really help if you are stuck out running around and don't have something with you. It is a little high in carbs (21g) as are all Beans but it also has 11g protein and only 7g of fat. Plus most at the puree stage won't eat the whole thing. A relatively good choice all things considered.

​I did not have a catheter (or at least if I did, it was out before I woke up in recovery) and I still had the same issues. I am 3 months out and still don't seem to get the urge. I asked my urologist about it (I have chronic kidney stones and have for years) and all she could come up with is that maybe my body was using Fluid differently? She said as long as I was drinking enough and my labs didn't look bad (and they didn't), then she wasn't worried about it. I saw a post about it here a while back where several had the same issue. Someone said their dr told them to just try to go every 2 hours and remind your body. Good advice, but can't say I remember to do it!

@@VanessaVSGforme - Hummus is basically ground chickpeas with some spices. I bought Athenos brand - Roasted Garlic flavor. It has 2 g Protein per 2 Tbsp. And girl I just ate it with a spoon! Desperate times, desperate measures. Once I could have some more vegetables, I eat it with cucumbers. http://www.athenos.com/products/hummus/roasted-garlic

​The real food will definitely help! Have you heard of the Ricotta Bake from The World According to Eggface website? It is wonderful and was my first food! I ate (still do) a lot of fat free refried Beans with some onion powder, garlic salt, cumin and then shredded cheese on top. I also mix in vanilla Protein powder into my greek yogurt (generally using only half the container). I also ate a lot of hummus (not too high in protein really but was a nice change of pace). And I ate pimento cheese mixed with unflavored Protein Powder. Just some ideas. Good luck! Keep up the great work! http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

Ok, wait I have one more thing to say. As I was saying, I was telling my sister today about my milestone of 75 pounds and she asked me if I had a goal weight. I don't so much other than my surgeon told me on my first consult that she would like to see me get under 200 pounds (I am 5'10") but I would have to work hard for that, so that has sort of been my goal. Then I realized that to not be classified as "overweight", I would have to be more like 165 pounds. So I shared that with my sister who is a 5' 6" bombshell with a killer body and she said "NO WAY! I weigh 142. 165 is way too thin for you!" Now I am not going to let her dictate that but nor am I going to let my scale dictate that. I don't care what any of my drs say about BMI. As long as it gets close, I am going to be good with that. (I know, I know I say that now....) But my point is, I really appreciated the perspective she gave me on weight. I have never been thin, so I don't know really what "weight" would be an ideal weight for me. But if I can assume I will have a shape similar to my sister (hourglass with an amazing BUTT! )​, then I can see that realistically, 165 may very well be too small for me. That is still a ways off, so I will worry about it later, but meanwhile, I just wanted to share the perspective I got on weight today. Have you ever been on mybodygallery.com? It is really interesting. You can plug in your height and weight and body shape and see others shaped similarly. It definitely gives perspective. (It will also tell you how many women either lie about their clothing size or just wear the wrong Damn size, but that is a post for another day....)

Yep, and I had RNY and got the stricture. The picture they gave me from the endoscopy is AMAZING! Seriously, it was a tiny pin hole left open. I don't know how anything was getting through. @@bellabloom - I am glad you are seeing a therapist and working through all this. I hope you didn't hear judgement in my tone at all, because it certainly wasn't meant that way. I too know that I will struggle with this. I was just saying to my sister that while I know the scale says 75 pounds down, and I know I am thinner (I can see it in the mirror, not just in my clothes), but it is still very difficult to comprehend. Mostly that I am down 75 pounds and still am as big as I am. Just keep seeing that therapist and talking about it. You are a beautiful girl! It will click someday - I'm just sure of it! But please, get the stricture taken care of. I truly understand you not wanting to have one more procedure, but as I am sure you know, it truly only takes like 10 or 15 minutes of being under and then it is done. You do not want to end up unhealthy. That completely defeats the whole purpose of the surgery - which was to get healthy. If you are not keeping in your nutrition (which you are not if you are vomiting protein), then you will lose muscle mass, bone strength, all kinds of things. The "ideal" number on the scale just isn't worth that. I will stop nagging and leave you to decide on your own now, but just please keep in mind that HEALTH is your number 1 priority. Please do not become a sad statistic of this gift we are given with WLS.

​I have had the dizziness too - especially after exercising. (Though I had it today while shopping and there was no exercise involved.) My NUT said it was likely not enough carbs to be exercising for an hour at a time but that doesn't answer why it happened so much today. Not enough fluids? Not enough salt? I don't know. It does scare me a little because of what has happened to @djmohr. BP doesn't seem to be low. I am trying to remember to stand slowly and move my feet and arms a little to get the blood flowing before I stand as suggested. Ah the trials and tribulations of WLS! Down 75 pounds today (almost halfway) so I am certain somehow it will all be worth it in the end!

I am so sorry. I completely understand! Do not get dehydrated. Maybe try sticking with just liquid for a day or two and see how it goes? Use a medicine cup if you have to sipping only 1/2 of it (i.e. 1/2 ounce) and sit and sip every 5 minutes. If you can do that for an hour or so a few times a day. If you get where you are not holding anything down, go to the ER. You can tell them you think you have a stricture and maybe they will do an EGD. When I went they just did CT scan which showed no stricture (WRONG!). I knew there was something wrong. I felt so justified when they found the stricture. I said "SEE?! I knew there was something!"

I don't have this (yet - hope I don't) but I was going to say I haven't seen @@Djmohr comment yet and I am pretty sure dr's decided she had same. I think they said more electrolytes / salt - i.e. G2 or Powerade Zero.

You are so welcome! I too fear dumping but @@Djmohr encouraged me not to be afraid to try new foods, so I am trying to follow that advice now that I seem to be tolerating better. PS - Great job on the weight loss so far! Clearly you have worked hard pre-op! That is a great start and you are going to do great!

The FEAR of regain is real. I get that. In fact, just this morning (before reading this post), I was thinking I needed to talk to my therapist at my next appt on Tuesday on how to beat this. We have talked about it before, and she just keeps reminding me this is one day at a time. Fear has controlled my life for WAY too long and I have no intention of allowing it to continue. I want to enjoy a new healthy life, not be in fear of losing it. That is no better to me than the trap of this unhealthy body and running to food for comfort that I have lived in most of my life. This journey is about becoming a new healthy person - mind ad body, not about a diet and getting skinny. Eating disorder is also very real. We can easily shift from overeating to undereating. Do not fall into that trap. Please go see a therapist. FYI, stricture occurring this late is unusual; however; it can occur. There was someone else that just posted in the last week or so about getting a stricture at 18 months out.

@@VanessaVSGforme - Welcome! I just want to add that I am not at all a proponent for going against your individual team's advice. So please don't read in to my post that it is ok to ignore them. I just wanted to say that it isn't quite as overwhelming as it may seem. And as far as eating in a restaurant, that is a tough one. And you will need to wait a while before you try that. Best advice is to stick with a restaurant for which you can find a nutrition guide online first so you can see your best choices. I went to hibachi grill last night for the first time. The specific restaurant didn't have a nutrition guide so I looked for similar restaurants who did (i.e. Benihana). From that I decided shrimp would be the best choice. NOW what I should have done is ask the cook to leave off the butter, but I didn't. I sort of wanted to "test" how I would respond. (Stupid, I know. What is it our parents used to say? Do as I say, not as I do?) Anyway, I was able to eat 4 shrimp, 1 mushroom, 1 piece of onion, a little broth and a couple of bites of lettuce with dressing. And luckily I did fine. The fact is, the butter could have caused me to dump but I wanted to know if it would or not and I was close to home and it was a Friday evening, so I knew if I was going to get sick, this was as good of time as any. Some people don't dump at all. (So far, so good for me but that doesn't mean it won't happen.) I will not make it a habit to eat this way (i.e. butter laden foods), but I am still so low calorie/fat the rest of the day, I could afford it. I track every bite I put in my mouth - including micronutrients - and as I good to dinner, I look and see if I can afford to eat more carbs or more fat. If I can, then I may have full-fat cheese instead of low-fat cheese or I may add a cracker or two. I am only 3 months out and have recently had a complication (stricture) that they have fixed, so I am sort of experimenting with new foods finally to see what I can tolerate. PLEASE be sure you follow your NUT program as best as you can. I think it was @@toasty that said to me recently that once you start blatantly avoiding your program rules (such as using a straw which is what I wanted to "cheat" with), then it becomes a slippery slope. I hope that helps!!

Unfortunately every plan is different - even within each individual insurance company. I had Cigna. They told me approx. 50% of their plans covered it and 50% didn't. You will have to read the exclusions in your policy to see. Even if someone here had BCBSTX cover their surgery, it doesn't mean yours would as they likely have a different plan.

​I have just been thinking this week that I would like to try casual bike riding again. I don't even know if I remember HOW to ride a bike but I would love to give it a shot! And if we are talking true bucket list, I think maybe possibly I would like to do a zip line. I think someone would have to push me off the platform, but I think I might really enjoy it once I tried it! My sister took this "trapeze" class here in town recently and said I HAVE to put that on my list. I don't know about that one, but it is cool to think I might be able to. Then again, maybe that would be a good precursor to a zip line.

I agree with @dhrguru. Those are really guidelines for how to determine what is "low fat" or "low sugar". You aim for it, when you are buying something but it isn't always realistic. Now it is a good guideline for your Protein shakes for sure, but otherwise, it is just a goal. My NUT said to always try to target foods with less carb than protein. Eventually you will know which brands you like and which work and you will just buy those and not have to check every time. Dumping is generally related with RNY though it can sometimes happen to those with sleeve. Luckily, I have not encountered it yet. It is a reaction to food to high sugar / high fat foods that your new stomach just cannot process (or in the case of RNY does not get absorbed correctly) - sweating, vomiting, stomach pain. It can occur from 15 minutes to 3 hours-ish after you eat that specific food. You will know once you have had it and you likely will not choose that food again.

​Ouch! I would try ice or heat maybe? If it gets worse or doesn't subside by Monday, call your dr office just to be safe since you are still so new out.

Wow Dub! I am so sorry this happened. But just wanted to say your determination and faith is such an inspiration to me! You got this man! Can't wait to see your progress and continue to watch your journey!

I agree with all here - chapstick, biotene, gas-X strips, flip flops for walking (easy to put on). The 2 things I wish I had taken were ear plugs (to cover up my snoring momma in the corner chair and the incessant beeping if the machines) and a heating pad. The hospital did provide a heating pad eventually but it took them 5 hours to deliver it! I was quite annoyed. They did bring me earplugs rather quickly. ????. Only good sleep I got was the 2 hours I was able to wear those darn things.

Go get the second dilation! I had 2 about 1 week apart and I cannot even begin to express how much better I feel. You are potentially losing nutrients if you are vomiting. You will still have restriction. You just won't have food backing up in to your esophagus. You are at goal which is amazing! Get this physical complication behind you so you can focus on eating a healthy diet and not fear of what you can keep down. I understand you are tired of this! No wonder if you have been dealing with this so long! I'm just 3 months post-op and was tired of dealing with it so I can only imagine how hard it is to be so far out and dealing with it. So very sorry you have had so many issues but Girl, you made it to goal which is to be celebrated! You did that! You can absolutely make good choices once you are healthy. Best wishes! Hugs! And promise you will call Monday to schedule your next dilation. ????

Had the same issue here and it was also a stricture so small that nothing would get thru. I didn't figure it out until 3 months post-op when I vomited everything (food, liquids, vitamins, etc) for 4 days straight. Even a visit to ER and CT scan didn't find it. They finally did an EGD and that's how they found it. They dilated with a balloon twice (about a week apart) and I am feeling so much better and almost feel like I am eating too much now! I'm sure I am not. It is just so much more than I was. All to say, please call your Dr and press them for an EGD to check for stricture

Gas-X strips help a lot (take several). Also try what I think my sister called a children's yoga pose? Kneel down and lay down with your stomach touching your knees, arms stretched out in front of you, butt up in the air. I know it sounds strange but it did help. Otherwise you just have to wait it out. It will subside in a couple of days. Today through 5 days is generally the worst so just e sure it as best as you can. Sip, sip, sip and walk, walk, walk. Don't get dehydrated. And don't be afraid to take your pain med if needed. Congrats on getting to the other side!

Fingers crossed for you!!

I think there are 2 types of gas. Will it help with what they pumped in? Nope. Only walking and sometimes heating pad (especially if your shoulder is hurting). HOWEVER, you will have intestinal gas and believe me Gas-X helps. I am 3 months out and still use it quite a bit. My surgeon said "whatever works". They won't hurt and it's great when it does help....