vegbeth

One more thought.
I think it's important to realize that everyone who is a "vet" and is posting on this board is very likely doing so because they want everyone on this board to be successful. I have yet to meet anyone here who has even a shred of malicious intent. Most of the vets are far enough out that they aren't really here for their own support. They're here because they made friends that are important to them, and/or they are trying to "pay it forward" for the help and support they got when they were newbies.
It's also good to remember that they've answered the same questions, or posted the same content, hundreds of times. So sometimes their answers may seem short or impatient, but it's really just that they've typed it so darned many times. They're trying to share their experience and knowledge, period. They're not here to lord it over anyone, because trust me there's easier ways than spending time on this board to get a superiority fix.
As someone who's only a little ways down this path, I deeply appreciate everything the vets share about their experience and how they're making this work. I believe it would be very short sighted and more than a little idiotic for me to blow off what they have to say. I give serious consideration to every post that a vet makes about successful WLS. Not all of it applies to me, but I consider it carefully.
Assume good intentions, is all I'm saying. Because that is seriously all I've ever seen here.

Some advice from someone who's been on the internet practically since Al Gore invented it (that's a joke).
Don't try to read "tone" into online postings. When you do, it's more about the voices in your head and your attitude than the intent of the person who actually wrote it.
We get a lot of people on here who have been given incorrect information, and we try to set it straight when we see it. I'm a nurse, and my nurse educator hat is on constantly when I'm on this board.
It's not a slam, or a lecture, or a "dressing down". It's sharing information, and trying to make sure the information out there is correct.
A LOT of people keep calling the sleeve a "pouch" and while it seems like it doesn't matter, there are structural differences between the two. A pouch with a bypass is left with more of the stretchy tissue that can expand and stretch. A sleeve procedure cuts away most of the really stretchy tissue from the stomach, what is left will have some stretch, but nothing like an original stomach.
A LOT of people have been given scare tactic information about carbonation, saying it will burst your sleeve (or pouch) or stretch it and make the surgery useless. I don't know as much about the pouch structure as the sleeve since I had the sleeve surgery, but I do know that the sleeves don't stretch much if at all. And carbonation will not burst the sleeve or stretch it. AT ALL.
As for the soda question:
Carbonation, especially early on, can make you bloody miserable. Some people never are able to tolerate carbonation.
Then there's the empty calories if it's a sugared drink, which IMNSHO should be treated like candy. Once you're in maintenance you can probably do it occasionally if you budget the calories, but even then there's no nutritional value.
And there's plenty of evidence that sugar free drinks drive hunger and cravings, so they're not a great option either, but better than full sugar if you just have to have a soda and the carbonation won't make you miserable.

When you plan a dinner, already plan a second dinner with the leftovers. Example. You have Beans and rice separate. Plan on refried Beans and Spanish rice the next day and already tell yourself you need to save half the food for tomorrow night. It should help you get smaller portions to start with
Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

Hope you are feeling better. So sorry you are on your own. I'm pre-op so don't have any specific advice but wanted you to know that someone is out there thinking about you.

Already loosing...Surgery was Dec 1st and I am down 9 lbs. Blowing my mind! Pain is real... only pin the staple side... went and walked the dog today and I was winded. Dec need to use the spirometet.

Hi bariatric fan... surgery was done yesterday. The gas pain was awful yesterday and kept me nauseated. I was feeling really bad. But I walked and used my incentive spirometer for breathing exercise and I feel a lot better today. I thank you all for your prayers and support during this time. I desperately needed both.

Just wanted you all to know my surgery went very well today. The afternoon after I didn't get the right dosage of pain meds and nausea meds so I was miserable. Once the Doctor came to see me he adjusted my meds and it's a night and day difference. They kept trying to insist it was the gas but i felt that and a different pain around my incisions. Once they gave me better meds, the incision pain left and so did the nausea and I've been up walking which has made all the difference in the world. The more i walk the Better I feel.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So I have a senoma under the skin that is draining and I just have to wait till it stops draining no infection and everything else looks great!!!
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Mine is December 28th and I too am completely terrified. I'm excited for this and have prepared for the past 6 months but the reality is so scarey. How soon will I be able to get back to normal activities? Will I have complications? Will I be able to do this on my own? I live basically alone, caretaking for my elderly mother who lives downstairs. Will she be ok, will I be ok? I know this is what I want but it's hard doing this so much on my own without much for support. No friends who understand and really not much for help. I almost can't wait for this to be over as the next month of fears seems overwhelming.
Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

@@JupiterinVirgo
As a person that has lost over 170 lbs and has to deal with skin every day. You are really ignorant as to what living with excess skin is like.
My need to remove skin is not just vanity. The skin I have is painful. If I don't clean my belly button very carefully multiple times a day it gets infected.
Skin is something worth worry about. I spend a lot of money on Shapewear to hold it in so it doesn't hurt when I move. I have to be careful and spend a lot of $$$$ buying bras so they work with my skin issues. I have to deal with balancing wearing shapewear all the time and not ending up with constant yeast infections.
Vanity come dead last in my concerns about my skin. I wish I had thought about the skin issues and considered them long before I let myself sit at over 300 pounds for half my life but now I am paying the price.
It isn't a frivolous concern, the health benefits far out weigh the skin issues but there still are skin issues and they are serious issues.
Next time post your rants, in rants.

Surgery went well yesterday. Still sore and a little nauseous. Hopefully it gets better so I can go home today. One of my incision is very indented almost looks like I have a second belly button and that spots hurts the worse . Hope everyone elses' surgeris went well yesterday and good luck to all those comin up

This topic is right up my alley. I think I'm going to miss my baths more than food right after surgery!

This topic is right up my alley. I think I'm going to miss my baths more than food right after surgery!

This topic is right up my alley. I think I'm going to miss my baths more than food right after surgery!

Here are some of the things I wanted to know:
1) what kind of meds pre-op? (this was a good time for me to drive home about my severe nausea from inhaled anesthetics...led to me getting a scopolamine patch in pre-op area plus anesthesia was able to use primarily IV agents for surgery to reduce the nausea)
2) would I have a urinary catheter placed during surgery, and if yes, would it be removed before I went to recovery?
3) how do most patients feel immediately post-op? (this ended up being a very important question for me...I woke up in the PACU in very severe pain, right at my sternum. But I knew it wasn't abnormal and was able to stay calm until I got some dilaudid on board)
4) would I have stitches or staples or skin glue on my incisions?
5) what kind of pain relief once I got to the room where I'd stay overnight?
6) expectations for mobility/showering while I was in the hospital?
7) would I have to meet any benchmarks in order to be discharged? (ie, have to be able to urinate, have to be able to drink 'x' ounces without vomiting, etc)
8) what meds should I expect to go home on? what should I do if the meds aren't doing the job?
and then I made sure I had a VERY concrete understanding of the first month's post-op instructions were...what EXACTLY I was expected to eat/drink during that period of time.
Good luck!

It's funny that you say that about the skinny Manhattan chicks you're around. I've been watching a lot more tv than I usually do bc I've been tired and weak post op, and I've noticed all the real housewives of OC are super into low carb and barely eat. See? We're just fancy now
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm Samantha, I'm 16 years old and I just underwent the gastric sleeve. I'm feeling great, and although I'm extremely young I feel I truly was ready for this huge milestone in my life. Im so ready to continue this weight loss journey. I've lost 20 lbs in total and had my surgery on November 18th, 2016.
Today I start purée.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am set for December 28 2016. 3 days after Christmas.

Question everyone! Would you all like if I personally inputed your dates into my calendar and kept track of them and then day of your surgery made a personal post about you to were everyone can write you wishes and good luck and show how much we care and so on? Instead of responding so that this post doesn't get crowded and can just be for the dates so they are easy to find, if you like that idea could you just give this post a like please? Thank you everyone!

@@vegbeth yes the group is an actual group, this thread is just on main page, groups can only be access on a desktop version

You're definitely not the only person who has experienced this.
Our society attaches moral values to appearance. We want to believe that thin, attractive people must be good people. We believe overweight people have moral failings, like gluttony and sloth.
Thin people are much more likely to be hired than fat people with identical credentials because of the baggage we attach to body profile. The effect is much more pronounced in women than men.
For men, height can be a deal breaker for finding work when competing against taller but equally qualified candidates.
I lost 100lbs several years ago, and the attention I received from men was brutal (I'm a lesbian). I suddenly had men trying to invite themselves into my relationship with my wife, and had 1 stalker who took it upon himself to become my new "protector." I am generally a warm and friendly person, but I quickly realized that being friendly with men when you are attractive is always perceived as flirting and I opened myself to heaps of abuse from them when they found out I was just being nice (and not in any way, shape or form interested in them.)

Bufflehead thanks for the tip. Don't know why I didn't think of it myself. I actually have a profile at care.com. Unfortunately don't think the cats will accept the clumping litter. I'll start looking for a cat sitter asap. Thanks again.
Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I'm three weeks out (HW 260, SW 240, CW 225). Today I had the thought that I don't care about food! I had to force myself to eat?? This is a shocking thought for me because I've suffered from binge eating disorder for over a decade. I've been in therapy for two years to work on all my causes. The sleeve is part of my attempt to finally make the changes I've worked so hard on. I told myself the sleeve would help, but I couldn't really believe it because I couldn't imagine ever having the strength/willpower to overcome my beloved food. Even as I write my brain is saying that tomorrow I'll probably go back to my old self????
Please don't read me wrong, the past few years have been so hard. This surgery and all these changes haven't been a cake walk and I know I've only just begun...
I just needed to tell others that can relate to me that I'm just happy in this moment. In this moment, even with my doubting mind, I feel good. Like I can actually do this.

Hi wilson06 I don't really have a preop diet to follow. I meet with the nut on December 19th but from what he has already told me the only preop requirement is 1 day Clear Liquids. Oh and my date is a definite. Are you as terrified as me?
Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Tentatively December 28th. Got my insurance approval and date at 8:15am. Nice way to start the day!