gr8ful1

I believe I was told that 2 nights is the "standard," but I asked to go home after one night, mainly due to financial concerns, but also because I was doing well after surgery. Fitzer said he would only release me the next day if I met all of the criteria, such as being able to drink enough water, no complications requiring a longer hospital stay, and understanding the discharge instructions. He visited my room to give me a quiz to make sure I knew what to do on my own, and when he was satisfied I was ready, he discharged me.

Stayed one night and went home the next day. Everyone's experience is a bit different. The nurses and all of the staff at Reston were fantastic and took care of my every need. Not that I needed a *lot* of help. You are actually up and walking shortly after you are out of the OR.

I'm also going (back) to Fitzer's office in 2 days! It's been 2 years since my surgery with him, and it's time for my annual follow-up. As @SampTheChamp said, Fitzer is the best. He may come across as a bit over-confident, but he is not wrong about how good he is and how relatively few complications his patients have. 😄 I had to work a bit to get him to recommend which type of surgery was best for me, but when I finally asked him if he were in my shoes, would he choose sleeve or bypass, he said bypass all the way. He explained why, and that's why I went with the bypass. Best decision I've made in a long time.

Dr. Fitzer's office also runs a very good support group that meets at Reston Hospital the first Monday of every month: 6:00 p.m. Pavilion 2, 2nd floor, Classroom A

Fitzer is fantastic. I had my gastric bypass with him almost exactly a year ago. I would recommend taking at least 2 weeks off from work, including telework. It's not that you can't manage things like e-mail and phone calls, but you will want to focus on your post-op routines during that time, and that includes drinking frequently, as well as eating different types and quantities of foods as you progress through the green sheet.

Since yesterday I’ve only been able to eat 1/3 to 1/2 of the portion sizes that I’ve been able to eat for the last 5-6 months. 1/4 cup and I’m done. No pain, no acid, just a very full feeling. I haven’t changed what I’m eating (firm oatmeal, rotisserie chicken breast, cauliflower, broccoli...). I simply can’t eat as much of it at one time. I don’t think this is anything as serious as a stricture because I have no difficulty swallowing water or my giant Citracal calcium pills. Yes, I called my surgery team. The PA will contact me when she isn’t busy seeing patients. Has anyone experienced anything similar months after gastric bypass?

My program requires all solid foods.

I had no problem taking the huge Citracal pills when I got home after my bypass.

My surgeon's post-op dietary plan imposes no coffee restrictions on gastric bypass patients. And I am so thankful for that! 😁

Considering your relatively low starting weight, you are doing very well! Keep it up, you're almost at goal!

I thought I'd share some of my own "fun facts": Weight lost after surgery (7/25): 67# Inches lost since surgery (abs): 8.25 Inches lost since surgery (waist): 7.5 Inches lost since surgery (neck): 2 Lost since 2-day pre-op clear liquid diet: 75# Lost since April: 89# And my favorite stat is total weight lost since my highest weight (around 10/2015): 102#

Please call your surgeon's office for advice and to rule out any possible medical complications. In the meantime, try standing up straight whenever you get that feeling while drinking water. My surgeon recommended this as a quick remedy when water seems to get "stuck."

So I can eat much more than the "around a half-cup of solid food" that I was told I could at this point in my post-op journey. Not that I try to each and every time, but I noticed that I was not cognizant of any signs of fullness after eating the obligatory half cup of food per meal. I wanted to have an idea of the real capacity of my "egg-sized" pouch, as well as get an idea of my body's signs of fullness and how to recognize them. I was able to eat a full cup of meat sauce (mostly meat which was ground beef). I didn't feel any fuller at one cup that I feel at a half cup. For my next meal, I could eat an entire 500-calorie slice of lasagna. Again, no sensation of discomfort, fullness, hiccups, sneezing, flushing, or any of the other commonly-mentioned "bariatric fullness" signs. I did *not* test the capacity of my pouch. I stopped at a cup. But I expected to find my limit at somewhere between 1/2 and one cup. Has anyone else experienced this? I don't doubt that my surgery is working well for me, and I am satisfied with half a cup of food, but I'm a bit concerned that I can eat much larger meals than I was led to believe I would be able to eat. I wonder if the surgeon sleeved me instead of bypassing me. I also have some acid reflux again now. He assured me that I received the bypass, however. Please note that this question regards RNY gastric bypass only. I am looking for feedback from gastric bypass patients, not gastric sleeve patients. Thanks!

Oh wow. So 1/4 pound of chicken is really a lot of volume!

Sooooo thankful that when I tried chicken breast (on a Panera salad) yesterday, it went down well. I've also got chicken thighs at home. I have at least 2 more meals left from my leftover salad, but I'm tempted to eat a chicken thigh for lunch to see if it fills me up. I also want to know if 4 oz (by weight) of chicken thigh is anywhere near 1/2 cup by volume. @FluffyChix, I will chop up 4 oz of chicken, put it into a measuring cup, and report back with the results later! LOL

Oh, I also read somewhere about a study that found almost no correlation between pouch size and weight loss success after bariatric surgery. So consider your bigger pouch a gift! :-)

I’m not going to worry to much about it. Bottom line is that this surgery is helping me to control what and how much I shovel into my face, and so far it is working! I like the way you think with regard to the vitamins. That is the reason I don’t take vitamins in pill form. I want to take my fat-soluble vitamins with food, and I don’t want to drink water while eating. So I have my chewables with breakfast.

I haven’t been allowed chicken until now. Chicken salad sounds pretty good. I’ll have to add that to my diet soon!

I hear you, and the thought did occur to me. Tonight I had chicken for the first time since surgery, and I must admit I did seem to have more of a full sensation after eating that.

Well, the dietary instructions from the bariatric practice say that, after 7 weeks, bypass patients should be eating around 1/2 cup per meal while sleeve patients should be eating around 2/3 cup per meal. I assumed that meant that sleeves generally have more capacity than pouches.

The day after I got home from surgery. Everything from the tiny Protonix pills to the huge Citracal pills have been no physical problem to swallow for me.

Wow, you're doing great, @Roxine!

6:00 p.m., Pavilion 2, 2nd floor, Classroom A. Hope you're doing well and hope to see you there!

Keep following your plan and you'll break out of it, as will I. Frustrating when I'm still above a 1-month goal I have in mind, but it is what it is.

How's it going now, @PopsFury? Have you broken out of that stall yet? If so, how much weight did you lose the day you broke out of it? I love seeing how @Russ D clearly broke out of his stalls with a 3# 1-day weight loss! My bypass was on 7/25, which is 4 weeks ago today. I have weighed in at 277# each of the last six days. I go about a week or so between bowel movements, but don't notice a dramatic loss after them. In fact, I had one this morning and thought that would have helped me break out of the stall, but I still weighed in at 276.7. Frustrating. When I was on an 800 calorie per day Opti Fast diet a couple years ago, I lost almost a pound a day for 12 weeks. Now that I'm eating <500 calories per day, I'm losing slower and stalling. The body responds in mysterious ways to weight loss surgery!