ellie123

Awesome response,thank you so much @@FrankiesGirl! Had to wait to get to a computer to answer. Congratulations on your weight loss! Makes perfect sense and I've heard of this Fat/hormone connection before but I'm having such a hard time finding more information about it online. I'm hanging in there! I called my docs office about it, and they said drink more Water to flush out the hormones and toxins that are burning away with the fat...hmmm...I do seriously struggle with water intake. It hurts to chug, and I get so busy at work...

Thank you so much @@FrankiesGirl! And congratulations on your astounding weight loss! What you said makes a lot of sense. I've heard of fat storing hormones and that would explain my mood swings. And don't even get me started on how intense the mood thing gets once a month! OMG!!! It's like the hormones all get drunk on steroids and do whatever the heck they please with me. Well, knowing this and understanding it, is half the battle, because then I can be more objective with how I'm feeling and try to reassure myself that on a clearer head, sans hormones, things are much better than they seem at the time. All in all not such a big price to pay for a new lease on life and the hope of a healthier future

Wondering if anyone else has experienced changes in their countenance since surgery. Following my Sleeve surgery I think I'm doing great. It is very exhilarating and I am so grateful for this tool and all that it is doing for me, BUT, without the comfort of the foods I used to love there for me as I deal with life;s stresses..I have found myself, more tired and I definitely have a shorter fuse. I'm way more irritable than usual, and I am especially disappointed with myself when I am not as patient as I could be with my little ones I'm learning new coping mechanisms, such as exercising (which is the best mood lifter ever), but it's not an instant cure that I can just take. It makes perfect sense when I think about all that my body is going through and the adjustment not just in what I eat, but that entire relationship with food that has now been minimized from BFF for all occasions to daily sustenance. I religiously work out for at least 45mins daily and religiously take all my Vitamins. I think I'm doing okay with Protein but getting enough Water remains a challenge. Anyhow...just reaching out to see if anyone else has experienced mood changes and how you coup with them!

To all reading this post, quick update, throat is 100% healed. Was the pain worth it...absolutely! My progress is nothing short of phenomenal and I am daily grateful to God for blessing me with this surgery Sending everyone love and happiness!

Has anyone heard from @@ZombieQueen??? @@ZombieQueen everyone has rallied around you... We want to know how you are doing. Folks have taken the time to pour their hearts out to you and I hope that our efforts have reached and helped you.

MZb, thank you for the stall warning. I think one of the greatest things about this site is the fact that we collectively help each other set realistic expectations. Without that everyone feels isolated in their experience and has unnecessary stress wondering if they fall into normal. Thank you!

Thank you for the concern, but indeed this is per doctors orders. Aleve, Advil and Ibprofen are all fair game post surgically and were in discharge instructions. Odd that post op instructions vary so much from doc to doc ...:/

Hydrocodone helps the most...but it hurts like the dickens going down I have to dilute it in apple juice and Water and ice, so it's a lot more liquid, and then takes me like 40mins for it to go down! I went to see my PCP today (because ENT's take forever to get to!). She looked down my throat and said "Honey, i don't know how to fix this!". I was running a low grade fever, so she did a swab and will send it out for culture to see if it's getting infected. In the meantime insurance is trying to assist in getting me to an ENT asap. My surgeons office has only suggested I see an ENT if I feel I need to. I guess when you sign away that you understand all those risks of surgery, this is probably one of them. I read that once they put you to sleep, they have seconds before you stop breathing on your own and then establishing an airway is critical. In that regard, I'm happy to be alive I will keep you all posted!

Hello My Dear Bariatric Beauties (and handsome Dudes) in the Making! If you are reading this, you are probably trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for what is to come. I know, because I was in your shoes a few weeks backJ I found the mental preparation way harder to do than the physical pre-op diet. I’m a week out of surgery, and in great spirits considering all, I’ve been through and the considerable trauma to my throat (which is making drinking over excruciating at this time). If I was not mentally and emotionally as well prepared as I was…I think at this point, I would have fallen into depression as is quite common at this stage. But…I am well girdled to deal with this and I thought I’d share the 10 most important things YOU can do, to prepare yourself for what is to come J These are not in any particular order, and I think they are all important, but I don’t want to spend too much time tweaking them because I want them to be as fresh from my experience as possible. Also as a disclaimer, this is my list and what helped me and is not to be substituted for any medical advice…there…I think I’m covered, so let’s step to it! So here we go, in no particular order. 1. Ask your Surgeon LOTS of questions right up until the wheel you away into the OR. When you think of them, write them down and make sure you cover them. Understanding what is going to happen and his/her expectations of you and how you can partner with them for success is key! 2. Determine who you will tell about it and what your emotional support is going to be, and not a person more! Telling someone that will not be supportive will emotionally drain you as you try to educate/justify/explain etc. If your mind is made up, you don’t need to subject yourself to that. 3. Watch lot YouTube videos to get a broad idea of what you can expect. There are tons of them out there. The Before and After videos are particularly helpful in building moral, and giving you a sense that you too can do this. 4. Join and participate in Bariatric Pals (a given J) 5. Make a dry ran. Visit your surgical facility before surgery day (see the pre-op and recovery rooms). I did that and it really helped with the anxiety as on the actual surgical day, it was a familiar place, I had even spoken to recovery nurses prior to my actual surgery. Saw the pre-op areas, and the recovery rooms. 6. Invest in a FITBIT or other tracking device and start walking! I think this was single handedly one of the biggest things I could do to prepare myself. I worked up to 12 K steps prior to surgery. By day 4 post surgery I was walking 6 K steps a day and the past two days I’ve hit 10 k steps a day (albeit slow steps…I’m like a crooked question mark, slowly haunting the streets of my neighborhood J). But walking as soon as I was lucid enough was key to help with gas, AND to get the Serotonin levels going! 7. Visualize yourself on the other side. This for some reason was harder to do for me, but seeing myself make it through surgery somehow strengthened me. 8. Write a journal of all the reasons you are doing this. Read them often leading up to the surgery, especially on those times when you get cold feet. I chose to divide mine into the following categories. a. Physical b. Emotional c. Mental d. Social e. Health 9. Minimize distractions and noise that could emotionally destabilize you. See less of negative people that leave you drained and cravey. It’s hard enough dealing with pre-op diet as it is! I personally stopped watching the news (too depressing), and decided to mentally give myself as much focus as I could! 10. Pray about it with all your heart, cry it out if you must, and then trust, let go and Let God see you through! The night before surgery after my prayers, a very odd calm came over me…and I knew He was with me and that I would be okay J Hope this is helpful in getting you ready for your big day! Blessings and Green Lights! Ellie123

Hello My Dear Bariatric Beauties (and handsome Dudes) in the Making! If you are reading this, you are probably trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for what is to come. I know, because I was in your shoes a few weeks backJ I found the mental preparation way harder to do than the physical pre-op diet. I’m a week out of surgery, and in great spirits considering all, I’ve been through and the considerable trauma to my throat (which is making drinking over excruciating at this time). If I was not mentally and emotionally as well prepared as I was…I think at this point, I would have fallen into depression as is quite common at this stage. But…I am well girdled to deal with this and I thought I’d share the 10 most important things YOU can do, to prepare yourself for what is to come J These are not in any particular order, and I think they are all important, but I don’t want to spend too much time tweaking them because I want them to be as fresh from my experience as possible. Also as a disclaimer, this is my list and what helped me and is not to be substituted for any medical advice…there…I think I’m covered, so let’s step to it! So here we go, in no particular order. 1. Ask your Surgeon LOTS of questions right up until the wheel you away into the OR. When you think of them, write them down and make sure you cover them. Understanding what is going to happen and his/her expectations of you and how you can partner with them for success is key! 2. Determine who you will tell about it and what your emotional support is going to be, and not a person more! Telling someone that will not be supportive will emotionally drain you as you try to educate/justify/explain etc. If your mind is made up, you don’t need to subject yourself to that. 3. Watch lot YouTube videos to get a broad idea of what you can expect. There are tons of them out there. The Before and After videos are particularly helpful in building moral, and giving you a sense that you too can do this. 4. Join and participate in Bariatric Pals (a given J) 5. Make a dry ran. Visit your surgical facility before surgery day (see the pre-op and recovery rooms). I did that and it really helped with the anxiety as on the actual surgical day, it was a familiar place, I had even spoken to recovery nurses prior to my actual surgery. Saw the pre-op areas, and the recovery rooms. 6. Invest in a FITBIT or other tracking device and start walking! I think this was single handedly one of the biggest things I could do to prepare myself. I worked up to 12 K steps prior to surgery. By day 4 post surgery I was walking 6 K steps a day and the past two days I’ve hit 10 k steps a day (albeit slow steps…I’m like a crooked question mark, slowly haunting the streets of my neighborhood J). But walking as soon as I was lucid enough was key to help with gas, AND to get the Serotonin levels going! 7. Visualize yourself on the other side. This for some reason was harder to do for me, but seeing myself make it through surgery somehow strengthened me. 8. Write a journal of all the reasons you are doing this. Read them often leading up to the surgery, especially on those times when you get cold feet. I chose to divide mine into the following categories. a. Physical b. Emotional c. Mental d. Social e. Health 9. Minimize distractions and noise that could emotionally destabilize you. See less of negative people that leave you drained and cravey. It’s hard enough dealing with pre-op diet as it is! I personally stopped watching the news (too depressing), and decided to mentally give myself as much focus as I could! 10. Pray about it with all your heart, cry it out if you must, and then trust, let go and Let God see you through! The night before surgery after my prayers, a very odd calm came over me…and I knew He was with me and that I would be okay J Hope this is helpful in getting you ready for your big day! Blessings and Green Lights! Ellie123

Girl, what you are feeling is so normal! It's a brave new world. You are probably off your meds and the anaesthesia and pain and doing a number on your mind. There is life...a much better life awaiting you. the pain WILL be more bearable in a few days... On day 1 I could barely have an ice-chip and here I am a week latter doing cream Soups with no problem. Also watch out for that gas! Walk walk walk, to get your Seratonin levels up and to get that gas out. I'm going to include below a post I just posted in another chain...that might help make you see how my first week went and hopefully give you an idea of how much progress you can make in a short while if you set your mind to it! To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

Thank you @@lorri716 I know time will probably sort it out, it's nerve wracking to wait it out but that's about the only choice I have I guess. At least when I take the pain meds it makes swallowing much easier. I'm going to hang in there!

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…Sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…Sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…Sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

To My dear Bariatric Pals! I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in. I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis. First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent. At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad). After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven! I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now. I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine! I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve. Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse. The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight. I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts. And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek. I hope my account is helpful to you. Sending you peace and love, Ellie123

Okay, so I guess, it's food out of a can then for me. thank you for the response!

Thank you @GabbyF! I had a rather long surgery. Lapband removal, gallbladder removal, hiatal repair and sleeve. Your case albeit unfirtunate, offers me great hope in this time of great adjustment. I really appreciate you chimming in to share your experience !

I know how you feel Des! With my surgery postponed twice getting all ready twice the third time around had me quite unnerved. What helped was writing and then re-reading all the reasons why I am doing this the most important of which is that my previous weight-loss attempts have not in endured. The problem was never the weight loss and always the regain with ferociousness. My Lapband failed which is why this time around I told no one of the sleeve not even my immediate family. Just my husband Surgeon one friend and one coworker who just went through it. Des, you must realize that this is a mind thing more than anything else and spreading yourself thin trying to appease the doubts of others is the quickest way to lose your own wind. Do some more introspection write down some more things and decide for yourself where you want to draw the line in the sand. You are looking for a permanent solution for a chronic problem. The one regret I see from people who get the sleeve is that they did not do it sooner and missed out on so much of life that they could have enjoyed in better health. The fact that you have lost all this weight means your surgery will be much less complicated and you will recover faster all bonuses that we all strive for prior to our surgery. The real question is is your weight-loss sustainable with you being hungry right now and will you eventually break and turn back to food and regain every single pound you work so hard to lose. I cannot answer this question for you but I think you can for yourself and once you resolve it within yourself you have got to get your mind straight and at some point in time and never look back! Hope your torment is soon resolved

Thank you dear. I pray yours is a smooth surgery with nothing like this! Perhaps you call tell your surgical team and post op nurse your concerns so they will be prepared to deal with anything. By Murphy's law, things you prepare for don't tend to happen

Which part am I right about? A little confused :/. Could you please explain.

I woke from my Sleeve anesthesia 5days ago with blood in my nose and thick blood running down my throat. I was nauseated and in pain...but eventually by evening that wore of some. But, swallowing (aside from the usual first swallows post Sleeve), was beyond excruciating! I then I looked back there in the mirror to see my throat it looked like something from a horror scene. And it hurts like crazy too! So aggravated, I've never seen my throat look like that. Beyond even a Strep Throat swallow. My surgeon even took a picture of it to show to the Anesthesiologist, who I know has over 30 years experience so what's the deal? Needless to say, the liquid Hydrocodone has been nightmarish to take, just burns like crazy. And whats more, I have a constant feeling like something is stuck in there when I swallow. Like a piece of throat is flailing in there (sorry, I know TMI), but I really wanted to know if anyone experienced this, and how it was resolved. It is interfering with my Fluid intake, which is already a challenge. My surgeon said it will probably resolve, but gave me some ENT numbers just in case. Was wondering if anyone experienced same and how you dealt with it. Your responses will be so appreciated at this unsettling time :/