Little Green

Same, except substitute pantoprazole, lol.

Yes! I would like a foot tattoo of a molting snake to commemorate my adventure. I have an inspiration photo from google that is somewhat loosely similar to what I would like the artist to design - particularly the intertwining and the white, lacy molted skin. But I'd like a much more colorful snake and obviously the size and shape of the two snakes would have to be fit to the top of my foot. I really prefer to let the artist take over as much as possible, I feel my pieces are truly unique and a sort of bond of trust between me and the artist. I know most people are way too a-n-a-l (sorry, trying to avoid filters haha) and want to control what it looks like which I totally understand, cause it's going to be on your body forever, after all! But anyway, yes, I definitely want a tattoo in honor of this huge life change. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/471611392210692236/

150 grams is 600 calories a day and Creekimp eats fewer than 1200 calories. So her carbs are over 50% of her diet which makes her... decidedly not a low-carber.

Stacy, I know this is weird to say but I'm just so happy to hear you talk about that pain in the bold. That's the same pain I had and it was rough being in so much pain when everyone else is feeling great by a few days post-op! So what I did to help (I'm 10 days post-op now) was to avoid doing anything that would cause that ripping pain to see if I could help it heal instead of irritating it. So I dialed back my activity for a few days and did whatever I could - going as slow as I needed, putting my hand over my belly to splint it when I moved, etc. to help not get the pain. After a day and a half or so, the pain was much better! Good luck!!

Today's been my most normal day since pre-op life. It is SO NICE TO BE HOME OMG. We went out and ran errands earlier... for the most part I was ok, a little tired and overheated at one point, but feeling pretty good. However, about halfway through our trip to Home Depot my belly started screaming at me. Maybe the combination of walking and pushing a cart? I'm actually not convinced it's the same pain I was feeling before - I think my plan to help heal that deep, ripping pain really did work. This is in the same area, but it seems closer to the surface and it's almost like a fiery, burning, stinging pain. I don't think I've ever had nerve pain so I don't know if that's what it feels like but that's kind of what my brain wants to call it. The pain, when it happens, tracks along a narrow curved band of numbness that I have from my belly button to the left side of my waist. So maybe something related to those nerves coming back? No idea. As of last night I do know that I cannot bear to inject Lovenox on that side because it sets off the fiery pain in a very intense way. So there must be something going on there. I'm not sure the office is open tomorrow for the holiday but I'll call Tuesday and get some counsel. I have so much more movement than I did before - sitting and standing are both almost completely pain-free. Bending over is easier as long as I facilitate the movement with my legs somehow - like widening my stance or kicking my left leg back. Bending over at the waist with feet in normal stance is still not okay. I'm much more able to stretch (my back is thanking me) and make quick movements. So I know that it's 10 days post-op and I'm still talking about my pain but I truly have made a lot of progress and I'm pain-free most of the day. Yesterday I had one small dose of pain meds after the vacuuming issue but today I've had none and don't plan to. Yay! I'm a little nervous because I plan to try and sleep in the bed tonight. My mom's recliner was much more comfortable to sleep in than mine, lol. Sleeping in the bed last time (I think it was last Tuesday) was, I believe, how I set myself back so far pain-wise because every position and change of position made my belly feel like it was ripping apart. So I'm warily trying again and if I can't get comfortable in a reasonable amount of time I'll try something else so I don't cause a flare-up again! So, surgery-wise... I have been bad today - I've only had half a premier protein shake to eat. Gah, I know! Don't flay me! I have been hydrating well, though. I'm going to catch up on the shake with another shake and some protein water. I just have zero interest in eating for the most part. Interestingly, last night while we were watching TV I caught the "munchies" (drinkies?) and had some jello and broth which helped a bit. I'm getting a little tempted to weigh myself at this point, mostly because I bought a new scale that measures body composition, but I really want to hold out until Friday morning to get a true 2-week reading. I'm nervous! It could be something small like 8-10 pounds or it could be something massive like 25-30 pounds, I just have no idea! So exciting!!!! Eeeek! Hmmm... everything else is still the same. No nausea, no vomiting, pretty regular BMs (almost daily at this point), no gas, no issues with incisions, no problems taking in fluids. My RNY seems very happy.

Thanks everyone! I've got a plan for carbs, I'm just curious about how others define them and draw a line in their own diets. I really appreciate the discussion!

So just to be clear - you would avoid all examples on the list except beans? Or would you also exclude beans?

What's a carb to you? In the context of "avoiding carbs" or "low-carb" as a bariatric patient? Fries, pizza, ice cream, cookies, etc. - of course (although most of those foods are actually 50%+ fat so it seems weird to call them carbs). Bread? White bread seems obvious, but what about whole wheat? What about the gross, "healthy" kind with all the seeds and grains? Pasta? Again, refined white pasta seems clear enough, but how about the kinda gritty "meh" whole grain version? Potatoes? Beans? Oatmeal, rice, quinoa, corn... all whole grains, so which ones do you avoid? Thanks for any discussion you can provide! I'm just curious about how real life post-op folks make their decisions about what's acceptable to eat when it comes to carbs.

Not to derail the thread, but this was my experience and I was so excited when the surgeon's assistant said everyone had been talking about my smooth, shiny pink liver. I brought it up later with my surgeon and she was like, "Yeah, you must just be genetically not susceptible to fatty liver. Some people aren't." Uhhhh..... Girl............ can you not at least give me the credit for it???? I suffered through 21 days of the liquid diet! I only lost 15 lbs (10 pounds the first week - I started at 358 so expected to lose way more) and I was so worried and on edge about my liver those last two weeks that I wasn't really losing weight. Don't tell me it's just genetics!!! Rude!!!

I had seen so many people say the pain wasn't a big deal, they stopped pain meds on day 1 or 2 post-op, etc. So I was not prepared for the level of pain I had, which was tremendous. I could not walk until the afternoon of the second day post-op because simply standing made my belly feel as if it were literally ripping apart, and once I did start walking, I used a walker for the rest of that day (I was able to walk without it by the next morning). Since then, the surgeon and I have figured out that the pain was coming from my abdominal wall where the fascia had been cut and dilated to allow the passage of tools in and out - so not an abnormal pain necessarily, just an abnormal amount of it. I have a very large belly because I carry most of my weight there - so this was likely a factor for me. I know you are concerned about using pain meds so I'll just be honest and say that I've used a dose (usually half a dose) at least once every day since surgery - and I'm post-op day 9. But the majority of people based on my reading are able to stop narcotic pain meds quickly and just rely on Tylenol, or not need any meds at all. So my post-op pain story kinda sucks, sorry... but on the other hand, I have had very little, almost NO gas pain whatsoever. I've had a bit in my gut like when you have to pass gas, but I didn't have any of the little pockets of gas pain in shoulder, chest, side, etc. that people talk about. And I've had no incision pain, either. I also have no constipation, no vomiting, no nausea, no discomfort when taking in liquids and shakes... nothing. So I feel like maybe because I got the short stick on the pain thing, the universe blessed me with an extremely smooth recovery otherwise.

Home now! I can definitely see why I wanted to recover at Mom's. It's so difficult to stop myself from taking care of my husband and stuff around the house just by second nature or unconsciously. Unfortunately despite not helping with unloading the car, I did enough running around - including unthinkingly bending over to vacuum with our little handheld vac - that my belly started protesting again. Not quite as loudly or painfully as a few days ago, so I'm still happy about my progress, but enough for me to know I need to sit down for a bit and keep taking it easy. So my husband (I guess I'll call him Mr. Green for ease of readability in the future) is unpacking as best he can and loading up the fridge with my shakes and protein waters. Love him It's so good to be home! Thanks to the holiday, Mr. Green and I have the next two full days to be together in the quiet - no one working from home, no cats running around. Just the two of us. So happy! Sorry for the endless posts. I'll just keep shouting into the void here, it's nice to journal and maybe it will help someone some day.

Going home in the morning! And you guysssss... it's working! I took some Tylenol and moved very cautiously today and did the best I could to avoid any ripping pains. And it's working! Tonight I was able to stand up twice without any pain at all! I'm still going to take it easy for another day or so but YAY! I'm on my way to being pain-free!!!!

Pain was worse overall today, although I took smaller doses of pain meds to see how I would feel, plus as I said earlier I showered which involved some painful twists and turns. (After I go home I'll be in our accessible shower with a seat and handheld showerhead which should eliminate those movements.) This evening I spoke with my surgeon on the phone - she called me! I felt like I was talking to a celebrity! - about my pain and she feels confident it's coming from the "G-J" (gastrojejunostomy) area, which is where the pouch is attached to the intestine. According to her excellent explanation--that I'm sure I will butcher--the nearest incision, which is the largest one, allowed access through the fascia to the pouch, and that opening in the fascia was dilated repeatedly during surgery as they brought tools (particularly the stapler) in and out. In layman's terms, the muscle they went through to get where they needed to go took a beating along the way and now the sutures (staples? not sure) where they closed it up are getting tugged on and it's painful. This probably also explains the tenderness and bruising in that area. My belly is very large (yay for guaranteed need for plastic surgery) and hangs and pulls with gravity which doesn't help, and every time I have one of those sharp, stabbing pains, I'm likely irritating it a bit, which is why it talks to me a lot after I do something that causes me to have a lot of those in a row. She wasn't blasé about it like it's nothing, but she wasn't scared and didn't ask that I come in. She said as long as I don't have a fever or chills (nope and nope) and that the pain is with abdominal wall movement and not from walking or being jostled (yes to the former, nope to the latter) then I'm probably ok. I see her in a week for my post-op appt, and I'll certainly call if anything changes. So here's my plan. Still walking and doing for myself to the extent that I can, I'm just gonna baby the hell out of it. I've experimented and found out certain tricks that help - splinting it with my hand when I sit or stand, raising my left leg behind me when I bend at the waist, etc. so I'm going to use those and probably wear my abdominal binder more often for some extra support. I'm hoping if I give it 2-3 days of TLC it'll get to a point of being healed (presumably, like the rest of the situation in there) where I can do those normal movements without much pain. I plan to continue with the liquid pain meds (oxycodone in my case) but perhaps at 3ml instead of 5ml, which is what I did today. And I'll alternate with Tylenol--once I get some that's not infant formula I figured that out today; I had stopped taking it because it didn't help (and it was sweet as f_ck and disgusting) but because it's infant formula it's only 160mg lolol. So, in summary. 325mg of Tylenol for inflammation alternated with 3-5ml of oxycodone for pain, and try to avoid any of those big stabby ripping pains, and hopefully in a day or two it will advance in healing and I can finally put the "OH HOLY F_CKIN BALLSACK, THAT HURTS!" pain in my rearview mirror.

I wasn't allowed to do any hair removal from the neck down for seven days prior to surgery so make sure it's kosher with your surgeon!

What are your recommendations for post-op progression diet? I'm on clear liquids until 2 weeks out, so the thought of pudding with fruit at 3 days out seems crazy! But I know there are many different protocols. What do you think it was about the meal that upset your belly? Just the volume?

Having a pretty good day today. Pain might be a bit worse, I showered this morning so there was some twisting and turning and bending that was pretty painful and might have riled things up. I'm in a much better mood and looking forward to going home on Saturday! Tonight I am going to get that pedicure I've been wanting and tomorrow evening my SIL and niece are coming to visit. Hopefully those things should help the rest of the time before I'm home pass swiftly. I got my psych to call in a liquid formulation of my antidepressant so I'm hoping going home and taking that will help me stabilize my rather dark moods. Other than the belly pain, everything is pretty much smooth sailing, recovery-wise. I've had a bit of "whoa" feelings a couple times when swallowing a pill that didn't quite feel right (I'm still working on the right balance of liquid to take them with), but otherwise absolutely no protestations from the new plumbing. I'm not hungry and everything I eat tastes fine (except Premier Protein cookies & creme... did NOT like that one) so I'm happy with my diet. One product that I am really enjoying, funny enough, is the Premier Protein clear protein water. I originally said I thought it was too sweet and artificially flavored but found that if I diluted it with water and drank it ice cold, it's quite delicious. That is probably the only animal-based protein I think I will keep in my rotation until I have enough volume to get protein from food. PP shakes have served me well but I'll be glad to see them go. My plan for pureed food is to focus on nutrition as a whole rather than just cramming as many high-protein foods into the blender as possible. Fiber and nutrients are important to me - to health and recovery - and taste and variety will hopefully help me expand my post-op palate and avoid food aversions and dietary imbalances. Of course, I plan to supplement as needed with the protein water (also counted as a fluid) or one or two of my plant-based shakes per day to appease the doctor's wish for 60g of protein. But, if my food-based protein only totals 35 or 40g for awhile, I'm not going to sweat it. Pureed foods I can't wait to have are BEANS of every kind, hummus, oatmeal, peanut butter, mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes, green beans, maybe some corn, guacamole, mushrooms in gravy, fruit (especially in sorbet form!), and my delicious homemade marinara sauce. I wish we didn't have to avoid fibrous veggies like broccoli and asparagus, as those two are my favorites! I'm soooo damn excited to eat plants again, even if they will be in funky applesauce form

Compassion and balance... you are speaking my love language!!! Thank you for sharing.

I talk to my mom and my husband and took some pain meds and I'm feeling much better. I am going home without the cats on Saturday, and then my husband will drive me back up next Friday for the 2-week appointment and we'll stay a night or two then my parents will help us move the cats back in. I'm going to text my therapist tomorrow for an appointment next week (yay for calling an Uber to take me there & back) and I might see if I can get my antidepressant in a liquid formulation. With this plan in place I'm going to focus on the positives, keep my eyes on the prize, and focus on my health and recovery. I'm getting stronger every day, I have no issues with vomiting, nausea, or difficulty getting liquids down, I have a great support team, the pain meds help me feel better, I'm sleeping well, lots to be thankful for.

I'm extremely unstable emotionally right now. I don't now if it's hormonal, situational, anti-depressant not absorbing correctly, or a mix of all of these. You're not alone. We're here for you.

I know this is stupid but tomorrow I'm one week post-op and I just realized today I haven't sneezed yet. Ever since I thought about this I'm terrified that I'm going to and that it's going to be so painful! So, tell me about your post-op sneezing experiences

I think I'm going to go home on Saturday. I'm so depressed and lonely that I think it's causing my pain and energy to be worse than it reasonably should be at a week post-op. I want to be able to get a hug from my husband when I'm feeling sad, and he'd be more than happy to drive me around even if it's just to go nowhere. I could also take buses in our city - there's no buses in the very rural area where my parents live On a related note, crying post-op is quite painful, from the belly-bouncing during to the nose-blowing afterward. Ouch.

Honestly I think the key issue is lack of driving. I am VERY INDEPENDENT lol. My mom has a super stressful job and I've been wanting to go get a pedicure since Sunday but we haven't been able to find time. The fact that I cannot get into the car and take myself somewhere just makes me frickin insane. Ugh. This will pass.... only 8 more days until my appointment.... this will pass......

Ok Fluff I think I can safely say I've read every page of your thread now! It was so funny (sorry) watching you go through those first few weeks of experimentation post-op! I'm going to be taking pretty much the opposite path in terms of nutrition and philosophy but I'm so thrilled to have you as a guide along the way! I "sparkleheart" you, my friend!

Another day, about the same. Belly pain, no energy, lonely. I did have a BM on my own this morning without having had smooth move tea or Miralax recently. That was nice, good to know all the plumbing is functional.

Feeling much better than this morning. I think I was definitely close to being dehydrated but I've been sipping all day, about 30 oz of water and 12 oz of (extremely delicious) broth plus a premier protein, and resting with brief walks here and there. I'm still having increased pain in my belly - there's one area in particular that protests with extreme prejudice when I move certain ways (which I unfortunately cannot predict). It produces a very sharp, intense "seam ripping" sensation, like I'm stretching something that's been tied tightly. The pain doesn't directly correlate with an incision, but the surgeon explained that incisions are often done at angles or even stretched depending on the needs of the ones running the show, so I could have damage/bruising in muscles underneath my belly despite not being directly under an incision. I had a LOT of this type of pain overnight because I tried sleeping in the bed on my side and it seemed like no matter what I did, I would constantly pull at this one spot and get the awful knife-like pain. So, that's why I've been taking it easy today. It's still sore but I think it's getting better. Honestly if it weren't for that one spot I don't think I'd have any belly pain at all. My incisions are a bit tender if I touch them and I'm bruised and beaten-looking (and worst of all, despite not having any pain when I administer my Lovenox injections, over the course of a few hours the sites bruise and get tender ) but mostly my belly is comfortable. Mentally/emotionally I've been feeling pretty down, mostly from loneliness. My husband had to go back to our city so he can work, my mom works from home during the day so she's here but inaccessible. My parents' house is out in the boonies, I can't drive, so trying to convince people to come all the way out here to visit when they've got work and kids and activities is pretty futile. I'm very much a social butterfly and even just sitting around doing nothing is better if someone else is around. Maybe I'll find an adult daycare to put myself in for the next week or two Sorry for the long updates - like I said, I'm very lonely! Just shouting into my own personal void over here.