jenpa

I’m only 5 days out of having the sleeve after having had the band removed. Pain after surgery and recovery have been much harder than the band. I’ve been really hungry and able to drink a lot of liquids. However compared to the band the immediate effects are more noticeable.

I had the band placed in 2012. I developed a hernia on my esophagus and needed surgery a year later. During that surgery, they replaced my band. I had 5 years of throwing up, sliming, and finally my stomach prolapsed. I was miserable. A year and half ago, I had a revision and a sleeve. I have never felt better. No more heartburn, throwing up, sliming. I feel normal again.
My current struggle is to get back to my good eating habits. I am on a plateau and have been eating junk. I am thinking of going back to my pre-op diet to get back on track.

I just had the band for so long I knew what to expect and how to handle it and it worked for years until it didn't anymore. This is new and I just hope I do well and learn what to expect from this surgery without always comparing the two.

I had the band in 2005. It was good in the first couple of months, but after my gallbladder decided to go bad, my banded life was never the same. I suffered with chronic reflux and could not tolerate a fill. The reflux was directly related to laying flat, so I slept sitting up for almost 5 years. When I had my band out, my bariatric surgeon offered to convert me to the sleeve at that time. But I didn't know enough about it and wasn't comfortable permanently changing my anatomy.
8 years later, after I gained all of my weight back, I started seriously looking into being sleeved. Was finally sleeved on 4/10/18.
Here's the differences I've experienced: Because I couldn't tolerate any fills in my band, I had very little food restriction. I had limitations in the AMOUNT of food I could consume, but I had no food intolerance with the band. The only thing that kept me on track was faithfully following the banded rules. I'm now almost 6 weeks out from being sleeved. I have more restriction than I ever did with the band. My stomach gurgled a lot at the beginning, but not so much now. I have very little appetite. In terms of food intolerance, I have noticed that I don't do well with bread. That's bread that's gone through the rising process. I don't vomit or anything, it just doesn't feel good or comfortable whenever I eat bread (even if it's toasted). I'm good with tortillas and crackers, but not bread. I've had Pasta and rice with no issue, although I must admit that I can't eat very much of it and I certainly wouldn't make a meal of it. At most I can eat a half cup. If I try even 1 more bite after I've hit my limit, I suffer for at least a half hour. It feels like I have to burp but nothing comes out other than slimy bubbles. (sorry if that's TMI, but it's the truth). Also, with most of my meals I am forced to eat very slowly. If I eat too quickly I get an uncomfortable feeling, not quite pain, but my sleeve reminds me very fast that I am eating too quickly. EX: it takes me about 20 minutes to eat a single serving of Greek yogurt.
Hope this helps.

A little liquid diet humor!!

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I’m also going to be a secret sleever with the exception of my husband knowing. I agree 100% with your decision to keep it quiet. We’ll be under enough stress without dealing with negativity.
The idea of the baggy clothes is genius. I’m going to start that myself although I don’t anticipate a dramatic weight loss at all. I’m starting at a BMI of 33-34 (being sleeved in Mexico) so I am prepared for a slow weight loss. Good luck and please keep us updated.

Good news my friends. I received a call from OSU Bariatrics this afternoon. I have a firm 2 hour appointment with their staff psychologist Dr Kramer Wednesday April 28th. I am tearful as I write this for my dreams may not be in vain, my hopes will not be trampled underfoot. underfoot. My journey may still have A bright brilliant culmination. And from the ashes I will rise victorious!

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I remember being pre-op and my favorite thing to do was look at progress photos and dream
I am 6 months, 10 days post op and I am down 128 pounds total. This isnt a very great pic since I have been sick, but i still took it because anything is better than my before!!

I'm confident that we all have that though, even if we never admit it. I mean, we have gotten to a point where we are talking about surgical intervention to help us with our already failing habits. So, it's 100% natural to have some doubts or be scared. But this is where you get to take the reigns and decide that you won't fail. Failing, is a choice. Failing is when we decide to give up. If you try and don't succeed, as long as you keep trying, you aren't actually failing, you are just figuring out what actually works for you.
So, decide that you won't fail. Choose to not give up this time. Choose to take any and all missteps as learning experiences and ONLY as learning experiences.
This is your time to mold yourself back into the image you wish.
You got this!

And if any of you feel like doing missionary work, I'm over with the RnYers waiting and waiting also. The next chapter in the Frust8 Saga takes place May 24th when I have my trifecta appointment with nurse practioner Valerie, the dietician and the case manager, that day they set up a care plan tailored to me and I hope things start moving really fast. I want to be a Junie-Roomie with all of you. Keep getting ready and I'll do the same!👉😝👍

I’m less than 11 hours from the operating room. I’m so excited but it’s also a time to do some reflection. I’ve spent my whole life overweight and I’ve let it keep me from living my fullest life. Tomorrow will be somewhat of a rebirth for me. Looking forward to it!

I am on June 5th as well as Sheena78. This is getting soon ! [emoji5]

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I am very jealous of anyone who didn’t experience the weight loss. I lost a lot of hair. It does grow back though. I’m 9 months out and I have one and a half inch strands growing out all over my scalp. It pushes my hair up into a weird looking teased 1980s like hair do.

I am June 5th with dr mustafa Hussain in University of Chicago

Don’t forget the gut bugs and feeding them. Make sure you are taking Probiotics (some commercial ones are worthless so vary which ones you take) and eating some resistant starch to feed them. They are an important part of digestion and doctors forget to mention them.
One soil based probiotic that saved me once when I had chronic d, is called Prescript Assist. Amazon has it. I take it daily since surgery too, just to make sure, because I can’t eat as much. If you can’t take pills, there are kids probiotics in powder form. And you can eat raw fermented veggies (find at Whole Foods etc). Of course there is yogurt, always good to eat high Protein plain full fat Greek style.
Resistant starch is found in lots of foods, but since we can’t eat much, best to choose one of the root veggies that has a high population. Potatoes both white and sweet. Highest resistant starch is after they’ve been cooked and cooled. Like potato salad. Or bake a bunch of potatoes and keep them in the fridge, add a part of one to each meal (feel free to warm it up for your meal, that doesn’t ale away the resistant starch content to be reheated). If you are too close out from surgery, there is another way. Use a powdered resistant starch like potato starch or inulin (NOT INSULIN, inulin comes from artichokes and tastes a bit sweet). Put a teaspoon in your smoothie or Protein Drink. Work up to a tablespoon.
Our gut bacteria population takes so much care of us - from our immune system to our moods to our digestion. It is a shame not to take care of them even if we’ve had WLS. They are still in there and we do need to keep the good ones happy. If you can even get 1 tablespoon of cheap and tasteless potato starch into one of your Protein Drinks today, tomorrow you will feel much better on the potty.

No.
I have Hair loss as a result of 4+ hours swimming per day.
The chlorinated Water at the swimming centre seems to 'eat' my arm hairs and most of my chest hairs.
Surgery itself has not been responsible for hair loss. My swimming hair loss happened in other years long before gastric sleeve surgery.

Not everyone experiences hair loss--a good number of people on here have though, including myself. I think it was post op month 4 I noticed it and by month 5 it was in full swing. Talking like pulling large chunks out in the shower and after brushing my hair Thankfully I have a thick head of hair and you can't tell at all. I'm 6 months post op on the 28th and it's actually slowing down significantly, so I'm hopeful I can have my strong hair back soon!

I’m at 3 months post op and have lost none. I have tons of new growth already from the Vitamins.

I’m June 4th, too. On my second day of the long 14 day liquid pre-op diet. Do you have a pre-op diet plan? I’m trying to keep myself busy so I don’t go nuts with cravings. I do have some anxiety about getting sleeved, not the surgery really just what life is going to look like after this huge step!

It is about a month away I will go on liquid diet June 11th, have a pre-op appt June 21st and Sugery on the 25th? Any helpful suggestions or information is appreciated. Thanks yall.
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I'm scheduled for May 24th and am deep into the two-week preop diet. To be honest, I found it harder at the beginning and then I think my body figured we were starving so quit sending hunger signals!! I'm feeling a bit nervous about the recovery now...odd because I haven't been nervous through any of this..but hoping it goes smoothly!!

Good luck to everyone having surgery this week! I guess hotdogs for Memorial Day is probably out?

Colleen

Hello, I am currently 56 years old. I started this journey to Bariatric Surgery 1 yr ago when I was told that I had Chronic Kidney Disease. I never thought of myself as a big guy, but people all the time said to me that I was a big guy. When I was told that I had CKD my kidney GFR was only 28. The Dr told me that I would be on dialysis within 5 years. That's when I started taking my health seriously. I looked into my options and found that Bariatric Surgery had a lot of health benefits besides weight loss. I also have diabetes, high blood pressure, in addition to the kidney disease. I had also had a stroke when I was 50 years old and was determined to resolve my health issues so I applied to the Bariatric surgery program at UPMC in Pittsburgh. UPMC is 2 hours away from my home in MD, but it is so highly rated that it was worth the effort to have my surgery there. I received pre approval from my insurance to get the surgery but I had to do 6 months of supervised diet and take every test that you can imagine (I know that people who have done this surgery know what I am talking about) after doing an endoscopy the Dr told me that I also had Barrett's Esophagus which was another health problem that the gastric bypass should help to resolve. I did my 6 months and my Dr submitted my paperwork to the insurance but a question came up because during the 6 month diet I had lost slightly too much weight my BMI was a point to low, so the approval took 2 months, but they did approve the surgery on that first submittal letter. My Kidney DR had helped my cause by also submitting a letter saying that this surgery was medically necessary. I got the call that my surgery had been scheduled for the end of March 2018, but I had to postpone because of my work schedule. The surgery was rescheduled for April 26, but the surgery schedule slipped and I had the surgery on April 27. The surgical team at UPMC is first rate and everything went smooth and trouble free. They said I would be in surgery at 7:30 AM and I was there at 7:30 AM, they said I would be in recovery at 12:30 and I woke up at 12:35. I think that is amazing! I was to my room at 5:30 and was up walking at 11:00 PM. My surgery was on Friday and I was released on Sunday at noon. Everything went like clockwork. Now I will say I was in pain. When they first gave me Water I panicked because it would not go down but the nurses said that it was normal and I had to keep trying and eventually water would go down. My recovery I think is going extremely well. I had a blood test 4 days after my surgery and my GFR was 63. My kidney Dr says I can live the rest of my life with a GFR between 45 and 48 so I already consider the operation a success. I only wish that my diabetes and blood pressure had been resolved, but I am still on some of my medicine. My surgeon says to give it time and it should resolve in time. I can say that my health is already better and I am looking forward to the future after all it has only been 3 weeks after surgery and I am still eating puree as of May 21, 2018.
BTW, I am in technical sales. I love my wife who has supported me all the way, my motorcycle, and traveling. My motto is keep on going the best is yet to come!

So just had my procedure done on Friday and right now I'm halfway through my first shift at work. No problems! Before coming in I felt a little weird but then realized I was just overheated. Once I got in the AC that cleared right up. Was kinda worried I wouldn't make it but it looks like I'm good. Does seem like it's dragging but that's ok, don't need any excitement tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed for the next 6 hours!
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Mine is June 5th to:) congrats!

Frustr8 - as a lifelong Wolverine, I can tell you that everyone looks pretty nasty in scarlet and gray! You will actually make it look kinda good!