#BirdDog

Congrats, good luck! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I'm only a week post op but have been having the premier shakes for quite some time, I found some Peanut Butter powder and have tried adding it to the chocolate shake for the first time just tonight. It adds 6 grams of Protein to the already 30g shake, but gives it a little different taste. So far I like it, but I'll probably only use half of the two tablespoon serving next time. But it did give my taste buds something a little different. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I purchase it at GNC. It's about $5 a bottle, but totally worth it. Watch out for the green tea flavor, it stinks so bad I can't stomach it. But all of the rest are MUCH better. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I wore the same clothes home, left my wallet, wedding ring, watch, heck everything except my id and my insurance card at home. My wife hung onto my cell phone and iPad until I was in my room in case I wanted to read or text. Oh and I also brought my bipap. I even went as far as to wear glasses instead of my contacts. Easier to deal with. Never did use my iPad, slept most of the time. But I did get some text messages from people checking in on me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Took about 4 or 5 days for me, then I went a couple days without going. And I went again today. It's slow, but things are getting back to normal. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Mine got easier about the 4th day. It's a difficult diet, really you just have to keep your eye on the ball. I did my best to stay busy, keep full of liquids, avoid situations that might tempt you to go off plan. It's only temporary. I also took that time and wrote a list of all the things I was looking forward too after losing my weight. Every time I was having a hard time I looked back at the list and remembered just what I was working toward. I keep the list in my wallet still. I'm only a week pre-op but I look at the list almost daily. As far as the headaches and body feeling like Jello. Yes I did have some times like that. Especially in the beginning of the two weeks. Basically your body is detoxing. It will get easier as time goes on. Try and get a variety of Proteins in so you don't get bored or tired of certain shakes. I have started drinking Isopure pre mixed drinks. They are a lot thinner and are easier for me to drink. Don't get me wrong I still can tell it's loading me up with Protein but they taste more like a regular drink to me. (Steer clear of the green tea one, it stinks so bad I can't stomach it) Anyway I hope some of that help. Good luck on your journey and keep your eye on the prize! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Day 8, I woke up feeling pretty good, which is surprising because I didn't take pain medicine last night. Got a shower and got dressed, with limited help from my wife. Had my medications crushed up and put into some sugar free pudding. Ate about half the serving of pudding. We then went out and took care of some errands. Since I hadn't taken any pain medicine I decided to drive. Stopped at the state surplus store, then an army surplus store, Bass Pro, and finally a grocery store. By the time we made it home I was pretty tired and a little sore. So I took half a dose of my medicine and relaxed the rest of the evening. Got in an easy 64+oz of liquid and 40g of Protein. Tomorrow I'm shooting for 80g of protein. Hopefully that will help a bit with my energy. Finally today I started to feel human again. I was sore but not in a lot of pain. Looking forward to what tomorrow holds. May even make it to church service. I forgot to mention, my watch slid down my arm today and rotated. Had to cinch it up a notch! Seems silly but it was a big deal to me.

Day 7, the pain was a bit better, coughing still hurt but not nearly as bad as it had been. Getting into and out of bed wasn't too bad either. My wife had a horseback riding lesson so I went along and walked around the barn and arena with her. Got in all of my liquids yesterday but was still shy of my Protein goals by about 40g. The Isopure drinks are starting to get a little easier to stomach. Still taking it slow and trying to let my body heal. I had a 1/4 cup of tomato soup again. Since my medications have to be crushed I put them in some sugar free pudding. Still awful but tolerable. I haven't had Jello since before my surgery, decided to give some a try. Went down fine and I was able to stomach it alright. Problem with jello was I ate a little too much too fast and ended up in pain. It subsided within 20 minutes or so. Now I know I can't eat any more than half of the cup of jello. Blood thinner shots still suck. No way around that though. I'm certainly ready to start the purée stage. Hopefully on the 14th. We'll see what doc says. Until then, liquids and Protein Drinks. Last night I only took half of a dose of pain medicine and I slept through the entire night. That's progress! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

If something does come up just jump through one hoop at a time. Have to get all the stars aligned before they roll you into the OR. It really is exciting. I'm just a week post op, have had some pain but nothing that couldn't be managed. Just have to keep your eye on the ball, it's all worth it!

My father had to have a 5 way bypass and he's not anywhere near as heavy as I am. Heart issues run in the family and a have taken many family members of mine. The path I was on was a short one. I want a long and happy life with my wife. Diet and exercise have failed me more times than I can count. Just needed one more tool on my belt for this battle and the surgery is it.

Sounds like you're pretty squared away and ready to be back on track! You got this!

Day 6, got a full 64+oz of liquids in today. That included an Isopure drink that was 40g of Protein. I had another quarter cup of tomato Soup. My wife wanted to go to some antique stores so we went and strolled around a few of them. Got in quite a bit of walking. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it has been, at one point today I had gone almost 9 hours without pain meds, but my dog put an end to that. He's been pretty bummed that I wouldn't let him lay on me while I was in my recliner. So he decided to just jump up there. Landed right on the large incision. Good thing he's just a Chihuahua but still hurt like a bugger, gave in and took some pain medicine. No leakage or anything from the wound so all seems to be well. Just hurt quite a bit there for a while. Blood pressure and blood sugar are still not being treated with medication and are both well within the normal range. I'm really happy to be off of some of the pills and am excited to come off the rest. Today was the first time I got a little depressed and was questioning what I had done to myself. After a quick pep talk from my wife and a review of my lists, I was good to go. Come to think of it I don't think I've shared my lists with you guys. Basically I have a list of the pros/cons or having the surgery and a list of things I want to accomplish that losing the weight will allow me to do. I keep them with me and it's a good motivator when I'm down. Anywho, here's to tomorrow being as good or better than today

I did not have a catheter. At one point they came into my room saying it had been at least 12 hours since I last urinated and they were saying if it didn't happen soon they would be giving me one. I went, so no catheter for me. I watched one YouTube video where the gentleman said they gave him one once he was under and removed it before he woke up.

Yup a few years ago I started the process, ended up deciding I can lose it on my own. Made a good run but alas it ended like every other diet I'd tried. But today I am almost a week post op and have no doubt I made the right decision.

I shared it with anyone who wanted to talk about it. The surgery was no more of a secret than me being fat. In the end I just ended up with a huge group of people supporting me through my journey. Others differ in how private they keep this kind of stuff but for me, I'm an open book.

Everyone has to choose their own path. I took a picture showing the number of medications I take each day. It was awful, thinking about what those medicines are doing to keep me alive was very scary. I told my surgeon, I don't plan on being skinny, I plan on being healthy. I'm coming up on 7 days post op and I have cut the number of pills down by 4. pizza was my food, it was the most difficult to give up. But I did a lot of research, I can still have pizza once I'm healed, I just have to modify it for my sleeve. I've found there are a ton of recipes out there that are directly for bariatric patients. We have this new tool, now we just have to master using it! As for telling people at work, I am a supervisor and have a lot of people that look to me for direction, so I feel I need to be totally honest with them at all times. It's no secret that I am obese? Anyone could see that. I was totally honest and open about my surgery and the journey I'm on. Surprisingly I have found that all of them are extremely supportive. They appreciate the honesty just as I appreciate it when they are honest with me. I think they respect me more for it. But not everyone's situation is mine and not everyone is okay with being that open. I will say that once they all knew, potlucks were adjusted, instead of doing big group lunches they would wait until i was out of the office or at a meeting. They were very respectful of the challenges I was having. Now that I'm post op they are all checking in on me and wanting to know I'm alright. It's a good feeling to have people that care around you.

Awesome!

I was 370 pounds when I began my two week pre-op liquid diet and was sleeved on September 2nd.

What a crazy night of dreams... Dreamed that I ate three slices of pizza and tore open my sleeve. Then that I caught a couple rodents and this guy was cooking them up. That was disgusting. There were others but I just can't remember them off the top of my head. Woke up about a half dozen times last night with weird dreams most of them involved food in some way.

Day 5, getting better every day. Today I finally got in a decent amount of fluids 60oz so far. Still not much Protein, but I'm working on that. Got some Isopure drinks today, those should help. Did a little pacing in the house. Then around noon my wife and I went and saw a movie at the theater, I got a 20oz Water for $5 and sipped on that throughout the movie. Luckily our local theater has some comfy recliners so I wasn't in pain at all during the movie. Except for the occasional laugh, that smarted a little. Came back home and I rested for a bit, then we headed off to GNC for some isopure drinks and non-flavored Protein powder. We also hit the grocery store. Since my surgeon allows strained Soups at this point I picked up some tomato Soup. Once we got home, my wife warmed up a quarter cup of it and I worked on that with a baby spoon. That little bit of soup was plenty. No pain and it didn't try to come back up. So all went well with that. Sure felt nice to get something other than water in the system. Oh and in other big news, had my first bowel movement since September 1st. Good to know everything is still working. My wife has been a angel throughout this process, I have no idea how people get through this alone. If you are going through this alone or have already done it my hats off to you, you are obviously tougher than I. I would be lost and in a lot more pain than I am now. She is doing everything she can to make sure I'm comfortable and doing everything she can to keep me from injuring myself where they operated. Goal for tomorrow is to get in my recommended amount of water and my protein. Oh and walk walk walk. These shots of blood thinner are getting old.

Bad form. May get more views and responses if you start your own thread.

I was told to steadily increase my walking. The afternoon of my surgery they had me up and walking. Walked from my room and did one lap around the floor I was on, said hi to the nurses at the nurse's station. Then later when my wife got back we took another walk. Two laps that time. Now that I'm home, I get up every hour or two and walk around inside the house. Mostly pacing between the living room and kitchen. Or if I'm upstairs from the bedroom down the hall. I walk for 20 to 30 minutes each time. A couple days ago I tried to walk to the mailbox about a block away. I was in a fair amount of pain by the time I got back. Just doing my best to keep the blood flowing, don't want to get clots.

Must.... Have.... Pics.... Love seeing the successes, such motivation for me as I started my journey and now that I'm post op it helps keep the eye on the ball.

Day 4 is done, a little more Water down, actually got in 45oz of water and half a Protein shake. Did a lot of walking, well, pacing in the living room and hallway. The pain is getting better, the large incision still hurts some. The nurse from the surgeons office checked in on me. She said my large incision is where most of the action was during my surgery, and that there are actually some stitches in there closing everything up, so that pulling sensation when I cough or go from sitting to sanding is more than likely the stitches that I can't see. She went on to verify I was having my pain managed, was walking and getting in fluids. Wanted to make sure the gas was coming out and wasn't giving me any pain. Morning temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar we're fine, I have noticed terrible dry mouth in the mornings. I haven't taken blood pressure medicine since the day of surgery or metformin since the beginning of the pre-op liquid diet. In the evening everything was good but my blood sugar had dropped to 90. That's pretty low for me so I'll be keeping a closer watch on that today. Today my goal is to get in 64oz of water, at least one whole Protein Shake, do a lot of walking, and try to go to the movies with my wife. Our theater has comfy recliners and I don't expect anyone to be there during the day so if I need to stand up and walk around a bit I can.

My insurance just wanted to know I showed up and participated for six months.