colormehappy

Yay! Welcome.

In my experience working with kids (therapist here) it’s better to tell them closer to the time it’s happening. Maybe 1-2 days before. Then she won’t be stressed out the whole month. Good luck! My kids are younger but I left the weight loss part out of my explanation. I told them I was having surgery on my tummy that would make me healthier and let me play with them more.

Congratulations! That’s so exciting. Are you at goal then?

I might be misunderstanding your question but I’ll give it a whirl. My symptoms of the GI bleed was stabbing pain in my shoulder when I moved a certain way, and I just had to ride it out while the muscles spasmed. Same for my side down to my hip. I could only take super shallow breaths or the pain I felt in my chest was excruciating. I thought I was going to hyperventilate in the CT machine since I couldn’t get any good breaths going. Once the blood was removed I was only left with mild soreness. I feel like I did 1000 sit-ups today but I can handle that.

I’m not sure... is gastric fluid like stomach juices? It was definitely blood. He didn’t call it a leak, just a GI bleed. They checked my staple line an the arteries in my stomach 3 times before closing, so we’re really not sure where it came from.

I’m back and alive guys! But man, not smooth sailing! I had my sleeve done at 730am yesterday. Got to my room and felt great. Got some fluid and protein in with no problem, and walked walked walked. Around 5pm I started feeling terrible. Sharp pain in my shoulder an left side, straight down from my armpit. Pain meds wouldn’t touch it. Everyone kept saying it was just gas pains, but I was dubious. I couldn’t even breathe without these stabbing pains through my chest. At midnight my nurse came in to help me go to the bathroom, and I straight up blacked out and fell. Didn’t get hurt at all thankfully, but was told to take it very easy. This morning my nurses tried to help again, first by having me sit on the edge of the bed. Blacked out, hearing went, totally weird and scary. My labs were all over the place, super low blood pressure, and my heart was racing even laying down, so my surgeon suspected a GI bleed. CT confirmed it, but didn’t show where the bleed was. Back under the knife just a few hours ago, Wherever the GI bleed was, it had stopped on its own, but they suctioned 1500 cc’s (almost 50 ounces) of blood out of my abdominal cavity. I also got a blood transfusion. I feel brand new. Labs are coming back good, heart has slowed down. Whew! What a wild ride. But I tell ya I’ve been living off of ice chips and water for 2 days, and I haven’t had one single hunger pain. Looking forward to getting out of here. Don’t let my story freak you out! My surgeon has done 6000 surgeries and said about .025% of his patients have complications. I’d still do it again even knowing what was lying ahead for me.

It’s getting so close! Also I love your username. ?

My surgeon has people drink 12 ounces of full sugar Gatorade 4 hours before surgery. He said it greatly decreases the nausea in recovery. ??‍♀️

Oh my gosh, that dream would freak me out. But I totally understand. I have 4 and 5 year old boys, and I haven’t had surgery since I had kids. I keep going back and forth between feeling selfish for taking the risk of surgery, and feeling selfish for staying heavy and unable to be active with them. Ah, parenthood...

My surgery is tomorrow morning at 730am. I have to be there at 5 to check in, about 45 min from my house. I also have to be up at 3 for the Hibiclens shower and to drink a Gatorade. Between that and nerves I’m not sure I’ll be sleeping tonight!

Same!! Good luck tomorrow!

A lot of it depends on age, too. People in their 20s and even their 30s to some extent still make a lot of collagen which makes the skin more elastic.

Same! Well I had my COVID test Saturday. I’m not nervous yet, I wonder if I won’t be until I leave the house in the morning. How about you?

You should follow the list that your doctor gave. If you have questions maybe reach out to the nutritionist? I would not recommend something like popcorn at 5 weeks out.

My liquid diet was only a week, thankfully, and I’m on Day 6. I want to chew something but I’m not hungry per se. I’ve been up a few hours already and have yet to drink my first shake (need to get on it!) Day 3 and 4 were by far the hardest.

Dr Brown at Parker Adventist. Are you in CO too?

How long did you stay? My surgeon said They used to do 48 hours but almost all his patients are ready at 24

I love her too! Very honest about the process. I’m 37, 5’7” and 285. I’d like to get back down to 160, which I maintained with ease in my 20s (before kids and a crummy thyroid). The pre-op diet sucks, to be blunt. 5 protein shakes a day while I still cook for my kids and husband has been a true test of my willpower. Only 3 days left and I’m proud of myself. I drove home yesterday with an order of mozzarella sticks on my passenger seat (for husband) and my brain was literally screaming at me to eat them. ?

For reference, I’m in Colorado. But I had my first appointment with my surgeon on May 15. I’m self pay so my only requirement was a nutrition class on pre and post op diet. Did that, and I’m having surgery Tuesday! (6/2) The scheduler at my surgeons office said that May was crazy for them (when elective surgeries were allowed to start back up) but that June was pretty empty at that point. I’d been researching WLS for about 3 years and had met with surgeons back then too, so the quick turnaround didn’t feel too crazy.

I’m 6/2! So close!

I’m on Day 2 as well. I’ve found that using salt has helped me with the headaches. I add a little to my broths. I’ve just been trying to keep super busy to keep my mind off hunger. What kind of shakes are you drinking? Premier Protein are the best IMO.

I fee like the pre-op diet would be a breeze if I didn't live with my two young boys and my husband. I don't expect them to change their diets and I do the cooking, so I've just been trying to keep super busy to keep my mind off food!

Please consider whether your alcohol use has become a problem. You wouldn’t be the first person to self-soothe with alcohol once food is off the table.

6/2! I start my 7 day pre-op diet tomorrow. I’m surprised that I really haven’t been having a food funeral. I’ve been using up some food already in the house that I don’t want to toss, and I plan to have a send off burrito tonight. Lol. But otherwise just keeping up on my walking and water.

I think the difference is that thin people think that if fat people worked hard enough (or at all) they could lose the weight. No amount of work will make your boobs bigger.