Kymmie713

No, not "end of discussion". I didn't say I was going to block newbies, I said I was going to block newbies and ANYONE who comes in guns blazing and name calling. I am here to support people, not to watch someone give good advice and be called an a-hole for doing so.

People are killing police officers. Police officers are scared and some are trigger fast. Terrorists are gunning down people in nightclubs and running families down with trucks. College campuses are under attack, high schools are using metal detectors.
Innocent people are losing their lives around the world because of senseless hate.
Yet here we are, on this forum, worried about who is eating crap, drinking and smoking four days post op? People are fighting about straws, about carbonation, about f'ing popcorn? People are pointing fingers, cyber stalking, name calling, accusing, getting defensive, cursing at, reporting, conspiring against... All because they don't "like" someone they never met?
I'm not crying innocent, I'm certainly no angel, but I am tired. In light of all that is happening in this world, is a post that can easily be skipped, or a poster who can be ignored, really worth all this nonsense?
Personally, I'm done. Have at it, folks. Do what you want to do. Live your life, eat what you want, ask for advice and love it or hate it, take it or leave it. It's your choice.
While you're doing all that? Hug your kids, call your mother, text your best friend, smile at a stranger, give a homeless guy a gift card for a meal, take Cookies to a neighbor, pay the toll of the lady behind you...
Tell your loved ones how much you care about them and take a minute to care about a stranger, too.
Spread a little love. Please.

lol, are you serious? I honestly am curious if this is a prank topic. I can't think of anything that would cause dumping faster than those particular candies. If you are seriously asking, sorry I can't help you. If you are pranking, good one!

I'm just going to say it like it is! ......so take it or leave it.
I don't represent this site
The members on this site helped me to be successful. I am just another bariatric patient. Most people ( newbies and vets) have been giving great support. Anyone who has been here for a while can see a definite decline on BariatricPal. Can we get this community back together? I would like to think so....
What does support mean to you? Is your participation in the negative posts working for you or anyone else?
Support: to give help or assistance
Enabling. Promoting self destructive behavior by denying, minimizing, or ignoring its harmful personal effects or outcomes.
Confrontation. To bring together for examination or comparison.( I'm not talking personal attacks) urging him or her to commit to their program. Asserting your compassionate perception that the person is slipping into behaviors that will have harmful effects or outcomes.
Without confronting personal self destructive behavior, you greatly reduce odds for long-term success.

Ho everyone. It's been a wild ride since surgery on May 9th. Here are the stats.
HW - 380
Started process at - 365
SW - 351
CW- 298
What I've learned:
Surgery was tough but not nearly as bad as I feared. No pain ever really but had bouts of nausea and acid that were pretty trying but well worth it.
This takes time! The exhaustion for the first six weeks was pretty bad but I learned to just plug along. Rest when needed!
My sleeve is the boss of me! A couple of times I ate compulsively and I paid the price! A good learning tool to eat thoughtfully! Plan meals and sit down to eat.
I've learned to eat when I'm hungry and not when I'm not. Focus on Protein first!
I can do so much more even though I've suffered a pretty severe knee injury. I walk a minimum of 10k steps a day. Take a longish walk every night and ride a bike three miles per day.
Weigh yourself as often as you like but don't obsess about numbers! The three week stall sucked but after two weeks of stall - whoosh! Five pounds gone in a day!
The scale can suck! One day at the end of my stall I actually went UP 10 pounds. Then a few days later was down nearly ten! Could be Water weight or Constipation just ride it out!
The constipation can be a killer! Take Miralax, stool softener a or whatever surgeon recommends if you suffer from this!
Tell people if you want don't if you don't! This is a personal process and sharing can be good sometimes but not so others.
Get help when you need help! Come here to BP and don't be afraid to call surgeon or NUT for support!
All in all I feel great! I can do things I never could have done before!
Being under 300 is like being a kid again and I'm going to enjoy every moment.
I wish I'd have done this when I was 30!
Best to all of you. This is truly life changing!

Hello everybody,
Never posted on this forum before, but like I'm sure many others are, I'm a long-time lurker
Decided to have bariatric surgery in December 2015, after having switched PCPs and going through a full physical with my new doctor.
I'm 5'4", 32, have 3 young kids, and at the beginning of this journey (and actually also my preop weight) was 285lbs.
Essentially my new doc told me I'm 100% healthy. Great blood work, excellent blood pressure, no problems at all. I expressed to him that I was concerned about being so overweight, and having been this overweight for more than 5 yrs without any success keeping it off. He suggested I look into bariatric surgery. I told him I was not comfortable with the idea of rerouting my digestive system, and then he brought up vsg. He showed me some research and numbers that proved, in long term studies, vsg patients are as successful in keeping the weight off as gastric bypass patients. I was intrigued and began my own research into vsg.
In December I decided to have vsg at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Matthew Kroh. After going through the countless pre approval appointments and meetings in order to get insurance to cover the surgery, I was finally approved and given my June 22nd surgery date.
Honestly my main concern before having the surgery was not the procedure in itself, but what would my life be like afterwards?! How would my recovery go?? Would I be able to take care of my kids, since my husband could only take a week off of work to help out. I was stressed about it.
The 2 week pre op diet was not too bad, I cheated a little bit and had a bite here and there of things, and then went completely liquid 5 days prior with no cheating. I lost 10 lbs before my surgery day. (Prior to that I went on a total eating bender during the month of May, skyrocketed up to 295lbs, since I had convinced myself that I would never be able to eat again - ha!)
Day of surgery (Wed) I was nervous. Mostly about anaesthesia and the normal surgery worries. Everything went smoothly and my surgery took a little over 2 hrs.
When I woke up in pacu, I was suuuuuper nauseated and throwing up. But I was also super foggy and medicated and it was all just a blur of throwing up and being given ivs and anti nausea medicine, going in and out of sleep etc.
By the time they got me to my room in the bariatric recovery unit that afternoon, I was less foggy but still nauseated and with a pounding headache. My nurses said they thought it was from the anaesthesia. I pretty much slept all day, got up to walk the hall in the evening when my husband came to visit, and then crawled right back into my hospital bed and slept again. When moving around it felt like I had really sore abs, not much else. I had a lapro procedure and the incisions were covered with surgical glue. No drain. The large incision where they remove the stomach was the most tender. Really nothing bad at all though.
The next day (Thurs) I was allowed to drink Water and it went down fine. My horrible headache was still there but not much nausea. I also ate a sugar free popsicle, which was a little relief to my headache for some reason.
Because my head was hurting so bad I was just taking the wimpy way out and asking for pain meds just so I would be knocked out and wouldn't have to deal with it lol. They were giving me percocet every 4 hrs since the liquid oxy that is initially prescribed was making me nauseated and gagging. It cut the headache but never really made it go away entirely. They also gave me immitrex for headache but that didn't work either. I walked the halls a couple times but mostly just laid in bed and tried to sleep. The nurses would check on me with how much Water I had drank, and I was able to drink a couple oz. every hour, so I met the requirements. It really wasn't hard like I expected - I thought I would have to take these TINY TINY sips, but I was able to take a medium sized satisfying sip without a problem.
On Friday, the 3rd day, I was able to go home. They told me I could start a full liquid diet (phase 2.) I wore an abdominal binder, which is GREAT, I highly recommend you ask for one before you leave hospital. My husband drove me home, we stopped at cvs for prescriptions, and then I crawled in bed again. It was a rough night, still dealing with ridiculously awful headache and nausea, taking percocet so feeling foggy etc. At about 5am I asked my husband to grab me a premier Protein shake from the fridge and I sat up in bed and drank about half of it: HEADACHE GONE!!! #hallelujah!
Once my head stopped pounding, I was able to stop taking the pain meds so frequently, and by Sunday I was completely off of them.
Honestly my experience has been a dream. I went in on Monday for a post op checkup and I drove myself, I seriously forgot I had had surgery only 5 days prior. I was told by my docs that if I tolerate phase 2 perfectly fine, I can slowly start integrating real foods in like flaky fish, soft cheese etc etc. I tried mashed potatoes: nope, felt like a rock going down. Little pieces of cheese, thumbs up! Salmon, went down great. Just have to chew chew chew and remember to take small bites of everything.
It is AMAZING how little I need to eat to feel full. I mean like 3 bites? Maybe? It's unbelievable really! I was always somebody who could put down a large pizza, no problem. I couldn't finish a slice of cheese yesterday
Anyways this has been an amazing experience so far, and like so many other ppl, I only wish I'd done it sooner. I went for a long walk this morning and can't wait for longer walks, and maybe even long runs!
So far I'm down 12 lbs from my original surgery weight of 286, and just 12 lbs makes a difference in how my clothes fit. Now I'm just impatient for the rest to come off!!
Will update on progress. Good luck to you all!
Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

My teeny, tiny little doodle was all uncovered and stuff...
Open to not only the howling winds (perhaps a slight overstatement), but also to the mockery of others (not an overstatement - it really is mockable)...
As a fat man with a meagre member, this was the most confronting thing I'd ever had to deal with...
Of course, that all paled into insignificance when I was approx 2 hours post waking up...
What happened then?
Well, I'll tell you...
I was laying on the gurney, wondering where/who/what/why the f*ck I was, when the lovely nurse says "Oh Mr Familiar... You're awake."
I replied with a barely conscious "Flmsrgthdbn.."
"Mr Familiar.. I'm just going to get a couple of wardsmen to give me a hand. I've a couple of things to do before we get you into the recovery chair."
"Smfgrudcjk.."
When I opened my eyes again, two of the biggest units I've ever seen were standing over me. I immediately assumed I'd been thrown out of a nightclub and beaten, but apparently they were simply there to roll me onto my side.
I'd come to my senses (relatively) by then, so I said, "On my side? Like this?" - and I rolled onto my side.
Gigantor and Behemoth seemed impressed with my strength and agility, despite my state, so they left me to my own devices.
At this point, the nurse was somewhere behind me, preparing all sorts of things which I knew nothing about...
Then came the instructions...
"Mr Familiar, I want you to breathe in as deep as you can, then hold it for five seconds."
Pffft... Easy!!
"Mr Familiar, now I want you to stretch your legs out as far as you can."
This was a little trickier, as I was laying on my side, bare arsed with my tiny todger poking out from under my fat bellii (the plural of belly - don't Google it, I made it up).
Nevertheless, I stretched to the best of my ability and managed to not fall off the gurney.
"Thank you Mr Familiar. Now if you'll just draw your knees up to your chest as far as you can."
"Huh?
You know where I've just come from, right?
You know I've just been gutted?"
Ok, that's what I thought, not what I said...
Being eager to please, and still somewhat off my chops, I did as the nurse required...
"Very good Mr Familiar. Just hold it there...."
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where sh*t got all kinds of f*cked up...
All of a sudden, without warning, without a heads-up, with even a 'get to know me' drink, Nurse nice had turned into Nurse Nasty and was jamming SOMETHING in my doot..
So here lies me - all naked, groggy and vulnerable, being anally probed by Nurse Nasty, without so much as a hint of foreplay!!
Of course, my immediate bodily reaction is to shut up shop, which means I'm now laying on my side naked, with a medical swab poking out of my tightly clenched buttocks, with Nurse Nasty tugging on said swab, trying to remove it.
I'm not really sure what happened next - I was too busy wondering if this was normal or if the nurse just liked/disliked me especially...
Anyway, the point of my story is - don't worry about being all exposed and stuff on the table. You sleep thru that stuff.
just be careful should you encounter Nurse Nasty and her henchmen - and her penchant for a surprise
dooting!!

*follow your eating plan
*eat your Protein
*take your Vitamins
*drink your Water
*go low carb
*low to no sugar
*exercise
*as you lose weight & get into better shape - keep revamping your exercise, don't sweat it if you don't lose every day or every week - it's gonna come off so don't dwell on it
*enjoy the journey because it goes fast
*don't obsess over losing the weight
(try not to anyways)
*enjoy other things going on in your life
*Celebrate weight loss with non-food things
*if you do go out to eat at a restaurant - don't get too anxious; you're gonna have healthier options but even if you do choose unhealthy you're only going to have a small portion so it's not gonna hurt your progress (just don't make it an everyday habit)
*stay away from your trigger food(s) - they can get you into trouble... mine is popcorn. (Or aka crackcorn)
*enjoy the compliments - don't turn around with a negative comment like "yeah but I have loose skin or I still have X amount of weight to lose"
*just smile and say thank you - you know you deserved that compliment and know how hard you worked to get to where you are...
*don't let anyone get you down with saying shitty things like "I knew of someone that lost all the weight only to gain it back" --- you are not that person they are referring to.
*really push yourself with exercise (later on) - you won't die even though you may feel like you are.
See what you're made of!
You'll feel so good afterwards knowing that "I just did that!"
It's addicting. You'll want to continue to push your own limits.
*try new exercises and such
*your incisions will be tender, red and sore. If they are oozing pus then get them checked out - otherwise they should be fine
*that left (or sometimes right) shoulder pain is the leftover gas/air they pumped up your stomach with from surgery - it'll go away
*that extra painful area (left quadrant) on your stomach is where most of the work was done. It will be sore longer. (Bypass patients anyways) - the pain will go away eventually
*do what your doctor says about eating, drinking, exercise, everything. Follow the rules!
*Just remember why you had this surgery.
You want to be healthy and happy.
***No food or drink will make you as happy as how that new dress or pair of jeans fit. ***
- Or when you are able to walk or jog without being so out of breath
- or when you can fit in an airplane seat comfortably and not need a seat belt extension.
- or when you don't have to worry if that plastic chair will hold you
- or you can bend down to pick up that pencil you dropped and get up easily
- or having that social anxiety anytime you go out in public
- or looking around a crowded room only to be mortified that you're the biggest one there
- or taking the elevator up one floor and being ashamed of it because you know what people are thinking
Don't let the food control you anymore.
***Nothing tastes as good as being fit and healthy feels.***
*Don't think you have to have a certwin food because you'll never have it again; it will always be there. It's not going anywhere. You're just choosing to not have it now - you're in control. McDonald's will still be around 100 years from now, so don't fret.
*Breathe.
*You can do this.
It's easier than you think. You will have a tough time at first because everything is so new and you're most likely withdrawling from carbs, sugars, junk etc. But once that is out of your system - it does get easier, honest!
And when the weight starts dropping your priorities and cravings change.
You'll crave more successful weight loss then you will carbs! You'll think to yourself "that *insert food of choice here* isn't worth it!"
You'll crave exercise. Your body will anxiously await to move!
*Weigh and track your food. It helps a lot. I use Myfitnesspal. And I have a fitbit. Friendly competition is motivating
*Take one day at a time, again, try not to obsess and have your weight loss consume your mind. There are other things to your life right now too.
*Every few weeks or month - go thru your closet and try on smaller clothes - this is a huge motivator! I forgot to do that so many times and totally bypassed clothes and then never even got to wear them. (Brand new clothes, dammit!)
Gave them away with the price tags still on them.
Anyways, you can do this!
If there's any other questions - just ask
Heather
**if there is anything someone wants to add -- please do!
Let's all help each other be as successful as we can possibly be!
Surgery date: September 21 2015
Starting weight: 273.4
Current weight 168.4
Loss of 105 lbs so far.
18 to go

Hey there I was sleeved May 5!!!
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Imagine someone who has had open heart surgery, or a hip replacement, or an ACL repair. Do you think the way they feel the first month or two postop bares any resemblance whatsoever to how the will feel at six months or a year or 5 years? Absolutely not. WLS is no different. You just had 85% of a major organ removed. Of course it's gonna suck for awhile. Not sure why you thought it wouldn't.
It Took 4 months before I felt "normal".....suffered through diarrhea, then Constipation, struggled to eat cause I was always "full", needed IV fluids 3 times for dehydration.....but I still never regretted surgery for a second. I knew these were all just part of the process.

I did do a before pic from like the week before surgery and then I do a pic every month because I deal with the whole body dis morphia thing and unless I see side by sides in pictures I don't see the change in me despite losing over 100 lbs now. I make sure to take one straight and on side shot each time. I also stand in front of the same doorway so that I can see the difference in how I fit in front of the door. I will attach my most recent comparison shot for you.

Hi my surgery is May 5th

I don't work for the company -- completely non-biased here. I just wanted to share with y'all that my 3 month labs came back with everything in the normal range after using the Patch MD transdermal Multivitamin the past 2 months instead of chewables. I take calcium chews and B12 shots. My Vitamin D was in the lower range of normal, so I'm going to supplement that separately, but it's actually gone up since the last time it was tested. Here's hoping my 6 month results hold steady. I'll post if they don't.

I finally get to post, saying "I got a surgery date"......Yay!!!! My auth request to my insurance was just sent in this morning, but the surgeon's office feels confident that it'll be approved, and I'm a retiree with the insurance company so I have a contact with the insurance company and they've agreed to expedite the auth for me and said they'll process it within 24 hours......So I have pre-admission testing and a final visit with my surgeon on May 2nd and surgery scheduled for May 16th!!!! I'm excited and nervous at the same time!!!

I have a surgery date for May 17th. I'm so excited!!!!
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My surgery date is May 9th. I'd love to find a few buddies if anyone is interested.
Beth

April Fool's


gotcha!!!!
your turn
don't be shy
kathy

@@leahhindi Nice to meet you! My name is Kathy. Not being able to gain any weight prior to surgery is crazy. I'm glad mine doesn't have that requirement! Why do they think we're having this surgery? I only have to make sure my BMI doesn't drop below 40. My BMI is the only thing I have that qualifies me for surgery as I don't have any other health conditions.......I am so ready to get this show on the road! I've never been the type that can wait.....so this is killing me! haha Once I make my mind up to do something I'm ready to get it done! Feel free to add me as a friend and we can stay in touch......Once I get an actual date I'll be screaming it from the roof tops...hahaha

Hi there...I am likely going to be given a May date. I have done everything for the process for my insurance except my final drs appt and nutritionist appt which are both early next week. Then they submit to my insurance and hopefully, fingers crossed, approval and then scheduling. I am in NYC and would love to have a great support system in place throughout this process. I am just doing a calorie restricted diet right now because my insurance prohibits me from gaining even an ounce during a 3 month pre-surgery period and this has even been hard for me bc I need to retrain my brain (ex. stop using food to both reward myself, punish myself, as distraction, when bored, etc). We have quite a journey ahead of us. Great success and good health to all of us.

Hi my surgery is May 5th

Hi my surgery is May 5th

Hi my surgery is May 5th

My date is may 13. Going to texas. Really want this to be done already. What are you all focusing on 6 weeks out. I am trying to focus on drinking Water. starting Protein. eating slower. So far knowing I am having the surgery is causing me to eat more not less.

Hi my surgery is May 5th