JRT Mom

You look fabulous! But I must say when I saw the second picture I thought, "Not only did she get skinny, but she grew about 3 feet and look at those killer abs!" ?

I didn't have to give up NSAIDs after my bypass--only because I gave them up several years ago! They were giving me ulcers even with a normal stomach. So when the doc told me "no NSAIDs" I just laughed. Have you tried sugar free popsicles? When I couldn't drink water I'd eat those, and they were helpful.

I read your post and was shocked, but then I saw your legs--DANG! It's obvious you've been working your a$$ off--literally! Great job! Oops-I read your thread title and thought maybe I shouldn't have commented on your legs, but I can't not-they are amazing. So Seriously, who are these people that freely make comments about your body one of them is me!

Yay! This will be both exciting and scary at the same time, but hang in there--it will be worth it!

Whoa, you musta felt like a train hit you when you woke up. I applaud your guts! (not literally?) It makes total sense to do it all at once as long as you can handle being under anaesthesia for so long. Glad it went well!

Welcome to the other side! 6 days was the magic number for me when all the gas was gone. Hang in there!

Welcome to the other side, Bill! The neck and chest pain took me 5 full days to get rid of, but it DID finally go away. Give it a couple more days and see if you feel better. If you are getting short of breath and feeling faint maybe you should slow down--are you doing too much too soon?

Ditto what lizza123 said. I used to love protein shakes and one week out from a bypass I can't get them down. But the Isopure zero carb proteins drink go down fine. Give that a try. The sugar free popsicles are a godsend!

Yay, Jake H! You RAWK!

I get to eat some watered down mashed potatoes, but I'm happy!

Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto.... I'm not sure how mine was done. I had seven puctured--the worst was an incision they had to do to retrieve my old lap band port. Then I got lovenox shots in my belly twice a day. When I see him in three weeks I'll ask if Gort did my surgery.

Do you see dead people? I want to hire you to talk to my mother and ask her for her pumpkin pie recipe that she took to the grave with her...

Hi guys- This is a long rambling post because I wanted to journal my story, so if it's of no interest to you you won't hurt my feelings!? I just got a lab band to RNY revision a week ago. I've an old band that was making me vomit quite often, and even though the xrays show the band to be perfect the surgeon said it still had to come out. I was lucky that he only requires a three day liquid diet since that was tough. When they admitted my the morning of my surgery the nurses asked if I was suicidal and I told them that it wasn't a good time to ask me that. When I got my band the nurses in the recovery room saw me groping my stomach after I awoke, and they asked me what was wrong. I told them I was sure that they had put me to sleep and then found something wrong and woke me right back up so I was checking for bandages. Nothing hurt-there wasn't any gas pain. This time I awoke in the recovery room to hear a woman moaning piteously and it took me a second to realize it was me. This hurt WAAAAY more than I expected. But the nurses immediately gave me a painkiller and that helped a lot. Part of the problem was when the surgeon actually got inside me, he found not only had my band slipped, but I had a hiatal hernia to repair also. Surprise! That added to the excessive pain. Then they get you back to your room and the drinking game commences. They line this little cups in front of you like shots at a bar and expect you to sip them down. This is while you have raging chest and neck pain from the gas and just want to sleep. The nurses where nice and not giving me a hard time about my lack of effort, but I sipped at a less than stellar rate. What I DID rule at was the walking. The first time they made a nurse walk with me but after that I was free to go as I chose. I walked long and fast (as I could, dragging an IV pole with me..) lapping other walkers in the hall. I wanted these gas pains gone!! So I walked and walked--even at 4 in the morning. And after lapping one lady twice she hailed me to slow down and walk with her. Her surgery had been two days ago, and she was astounded that mine had been less than 14 hours ago. But then back in my room all I wanted to do was sleep. They kept waking my up for vital signs, and even though I only had a small touch of the diabetes they kept doing the fingerstick blood sugars. But they didn't really hurt so I didn't mind. What I hated was they kept giving me all sorts of pills to take. Choking down a pill on a sip of water with raging neck pain was not fun. And my BP was only slightly elevated, actually normal for me, but most of those pills were for HBP. The next morning I got up to take a walk and then broke out into a cold sweat and felt faint and nauseated, so I rang for a nurse. They took my BP and found it as 90/50. So at least I didn't have to take those pills for a while. I'm glad my surgeon said I could stay two nights. I couldn't have left after the first night if they'd have kicked me out. But I was being able to drink an ounce of fluid in an hour finally. I was proud of that until they came back into the room and said "now we want you to drink 4 ounces an hour. By the next day I think I only accomplished this feat once, but they agreed to discharge me late the second day. Here's where it got interesting. I live 5 hours away from where my surgery was. One of the disadvantages of living in a rural area. My husband isn't in good health and we have three dogs, so he stayed behind while I took Amtrak to get to the hospital. After they discharged me I thought (correctly) that riding the train back the same day could be bad, so I laid up in a hotel 1/2 from the hospital until I went back the next day. I didn't want something to spring a leak while I was on a train. I should have known it was going to be a tough trip when the Uber dropped me off, and the Metro station was closed! Luckily there was a free shuttle to the next station down the line. I got on the train, and for the first time in my 20+ train trips, the dang thing lurches to a stop where they find a problem. So we were delayed 4 hours on a already 5 hour tip. At least we didn't have to switch trains--they brought a new engine to us. So my advice is if you can get surgery closer to home, do it. Of course it could have been worse--I understand many self-pay people have to go out of the country. I should consider myself lucky that it was only 5 hours away. I had the terrible "buyers remorse" that you read about here but think it won't happen to you. But in only lasted about 3 days and I turned the corner about two days ago when miraculously I could drink down amounts more than I could before. It's still not 64 ounces, but much better than it was. So I think I've lost the "buyers remorse", especially since I weighted for the first time and I'm already down 10 pounds... So read this, if you wish, and for all the griping I did here, it was worse than I expected but that feeling only lasted about 4 or 5 days. So if your considering WLS go for it, but don't have unrealistic expectations, prepare for the worst and you'll be happy if it isn't that bad! And hang in there if you are recovering..it WILL get better, I promise!

You are two days ahead of me (lap band to RNY) and you are right--it's worse than you expect but I now feel I have turned the corner and just might live...? But dang, your surgeon is really aggressive on your post op diet. I'm one week out and overjoyed that I get to eat cottage cheese and watered down mashed taters. I can add meat at week three, but since I'm a vegetarian that's no help. I can eat 1/2 an egg at three weeks, though...and I'm so happy I'm cackling!

I had two barium swallow tests that showed my band was in perfect position, but I was still tossing up most of what I ate, so my surgeon said I had to get it removed, and he would do an RNY in the same surgery. He likes to do it in one surgery if he can...less cost and one less chance for anaesthesia complications. He thinks the bypass is actually better to do than the sleeve on a one-surgery revision. Well, he got in there, and my band HAD slipped, and on top of that I had a hiatal hernia! When he cam to see me after the procedure I asked him why everything looked good on the xrays, he said it's not uncommon for slips and hernias not to show up on the xrays.

TV is a good distraction, but only if you are watching a DVR'ed program so you can fast forward over all the food commercials. I'm on my pre-op liquid diet and the food commercials are killing me. Even the dog food ones look yummy...?

I certainly wasn't saying I feel this way. I meant that society, as a rule, unfairly judges us by our outside appearances. Many studys support this--overweight people are definitely discriminated against, especially in the work place. You give that before and after picture of RussT to a manager and ask him which person he would rather hire? The manager is going to pick the thin one, every time. again, my post wasn't saying I felt any different about either picture--it was just a comment on the sad truth of how overweight people get stereotyped.

You ladies are Goddesses! Turn down the thermostat--it's gettin hot in here! I hope to look like that someday...

Save yourself the frustration of these daily fluctuations and DON'T weigh daily! Weigh once a week to see more meaningful results.

Tell him the truth up front. Any relationship that develops between you shouldn't start with duplicity. If he is truly interested in you he shouldn't care about what you eat...or don't eat. Charm your date with your dazzling personality, NOT your food choices! Go and have a great time!

I can't tell you yet, but that's exactly what I'm doing Wed Nov 20. I'll let you know!

Take the vitamin values off the Bariatric Advantage website and compare them to more generic and less costly vitamins. If you can find some that are really close in the RDA percentage you should be able you use those.

IMO it's counterproductive for the surgeon to postpone your surgery. Obviously your obesity is causing you problems and if they delay your surgery that also delays your weight loss progress. And chances are good that after you lose enough weight the apnea will resolve itself.

We need another reaction choice on the "like" button---OMG with a face palm emoji! That's HORRIFYING!!?

You don't look like the same person at all! Your before and after pics are a great example of how we stereotype people. The guy on the left looks like someone's crazy uncle that everyone loves but no one takes seriously. The guy on the right looks super smart and who everyone asks advice from. And yet you are the same person. Congrats for your hard work!