Czuck1983

I've yet to try full on fried chicken, however I did just the other day have some lightly breaded chicken cutlets. I had two small pieces (measured at about 2.5oz) and had no problem with it. I even got a little daring and dunked it in some buffalo sauce... I've been seriously craving something spicy.

19 minutes ago, AshAsh1 said:

I'm so happy for you! I think you should try shopping again soon! You've already lost a tremendous amount, shopping could be the icing on the cake.

I will be hopefully this coming weekend, the following week is the first of 2 pride parades that I'm going to be marching in, so I'd like to go while showing some pride. Lol.

I've become much more comfortable in my own body these last few months. Even my therapist has been amazed at how much more positive and outgoing I have been, and in turn it's also helped my marriage a bit. There was a point where we were struggling a little, and I realized that my own personal unhappiness was weighing me down in many ways and effecting our relationship.

The loss of inches has also helped me a lot with some other issues, I've been very open on here about being transgender, I have noticed recently that my dysphoria has subsided a lot, although much of that is also from being on hormone replacement therapy as well.

My journey to surgery actually began because of my issues shopping for women's clothes. Back in October, I went out shopping with a good friend, and I couldn't find a single thing that fit and looked good on me. We went to Torrid, Lane Bryant, Avenue, all places that are made often for plus sized girls, but at 6'2" and 325lbs, there wasn't a single thing for me. I absolutely lost it, and cried out that I need a store called "Fat Fucks R Us." While I haven't been shopping for new women's clothes as of yet, I feel much more comfortable and positive about the idea of shopping.

My doctor prescribed me this after surgery as well. He explained to me that after gastric surgery, the chances of gallstones go up exponentially and that it will help reduce the chances of it happening. If I recall, he said it's only for a few months or so, but he made it sound like it's pretty common to take. But he also admits to being very conservative in his treatments.

1 hour ago, Kay07 said:

Hi! He is doing great! He is really down about not being able to build his fire pit this year lol. I think he was hoping at 6 weeks he would be cleared to lift, but he found out at his 2 week Post op that from 6-12 weeks he’s restricted to no more than 20lbs, so he is really bummed about that.

Other than that, he is healing up very nicely!

Well I'm sorry about the fire pit, but glad to hear he is doing well. His health and well being is obviously more important... does he have any friends who might be able to help him?

That's great to hear.... I did mean that question for Kay to be honest... but again, good that your husband is also doing well.

I'm glad to hear everything has been going well. Hope it keeps up that way.

On a different subject, How has your husband been?

2 hours ago, dillydog said:

That is a lot of weight for 3 months, good job! What does a daily meal plan look like?

To be honest, my meal plan has been a bit sporadic... I've struggled with the infamous foamies on and off, so there was a period of almost 2 weeks where I maybe had one meal every 2 days and spent the rest of my time drinking as much as I could. I drink a 12oz Powerade every day and also keep a water bottle near me at all times. I have a 40oz bottle and usually get through 2-2.5 fills a day.

2 weeks ago, as detailed in a previous post, I got really bad and for about 4 days or so was barely able to drink half a bottle a day... I ended up in the ER with 2 bags of straight saline and a banana bag. Since then, I've been doing really good and in all honesty, been eating small quantities of just about anything I wanted. This past Sunday, I had a bunless hotdog for the first time since surgery; Wednesday I caved to a deep craving and hit up Taco Bell. I ate just over half of a beef burrito (should have stopped sooner but it was so good I lost control... not going to do that again). Today I had 3 raviolis with a little bit of shredded cheese and Pasta Sauce (that was my third time having ravioli since being approved to try anything).

I don't drink Protein Shakes anymore, honestly, I haven't had one since surgery, I couldn't stomach them at all. Also, obviously those were not my only meals through the week, just the only ones that might not necessarily be bariatric approved. I guess it hasn't effected me much on the scale, I weigh in twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays... Monday I was 236.2, Thursday I was 231.4. So I guess the Taco Bell didn't kick my ass as bad as it could have.

So just a small update on my numbers that have me super excited. This week I made it down to 230lbs, that's a 95lb drop from where I started the year. I actually got a little teary eyed when I saw that number on the scale yesterday.

The most exciting part isn't just the number on the scale, but what that number says about my health in general. When I started at 325, my BMI was 41.7, which classified me at "morbidly obese." And while I hide my weight well (most people were shocked that I was looking at surgery at all because they didn't realize I was quite so heavy) it definitely had it's effect on my physical abilities and the way I felt in general.

Now, at 230, I'm down to a BMI of 29.5, which is classified as "overweight." I don't recall exactly how long I would have been considered "obese," the earliest I can remember of being very aware of my weight was in 98-99 when I was in 10th grade and wrestled in the 275 weight class. So I know that it's at least 20 years that I was quite that large, but not sure how much earlier then that I was doing that poorly with my body.

My next goal is my primary goal, at 194 I will no longer be considered overweight at all... so that's only about another 36lbs from where I am now. Which shouldn't be too hard considering how far I've come in such a short period of time. I think I would like to make it down to 185 as a standing weight, putting me at a potential BMI of 23.8.

8 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Wow, that's a lot of transitions to process all at once. Best of luck on your journey.

Thank you. It's all been a long time coming. I ignored and hid that other side of me for way too long.

23 hours ago, AshAsh1 said:

Although my relationship isn't struggling, we've both noticed a change and have had to embrace the differences. I hope you are doing OK and it will only make you stronger.

I can certainly relate to some of that myself... between the surgery and starting hormone replacement therapy very close to the same time, there was a little bit of tension in my house. My wife was terrified that I would gain more confidence with the weight loss and want to find somebody else; while simultaneously fearing that as I begin the gender transition, that I would decide I wanted to be with a man (even though she knows that gender and sexual preference are two different things). She still struggles a little, but I do everything I can to make sure she realizes that she's the only person I have eyes for.

That looks delicious... I've been hesitant to try some of these meatless products... I'm too much of a meat person...

How did everything go? How are you feeling?

Best of luck tomorrow, I'm glad things worked themselves out and you didn't have to postpone anything. I know how nerve racking this stage can be, you're well prepared and seem to have a good mind about everything. Now it's time to take a deep breath and try to relax a bit. Tomorrow will go down seamlessly and before you know it, you'll be up and about and feeling amazing.

Best of luck to you and to your husband, I'm glad to read that he's doing well and recovering.

No new rxs as of yet. If it continues then I will ask about alternatives. I actually have since nausea meds at home from an unrelated issue a few months earlier. I'll have to see if it's still good and maybe I'll give it a shot.

Sent from my VS988 using BariatricPal mobile app

I've definitely followed every instruction, as listed above, very meticulously. If anything, I've been even more cautious then that, I very carefully measure all of my food out and cut everything up very small before I begin eating. I pretty much time myself as well in order to best follow the 30/30/30 rule of drinking and meal time. Many of my meals do end up being a little less then the instructed 3 oz, because I haven't had much of an appetite and I don't enjoy most anything that I have eaten, even things that I used to love pre-op.

I have been doing some research and if things don't improve with the dehydration after this week, I will reach out to a few of my doctors in order to determine if some of my medications may be the problem. Aside from the bariatric prescribed multivitamin, Calcium, protonix and gallbladder medication, I also take anxiety medication, cholesterol meds, and I recently also started hormone replacement therapy. One of the hormone medications, spironolactone, aside from it's use in helping with transgender patients, is that it's primary a Water pill. Due to this, it is possible that the medication is partly at fault for my dehydration, although it would not account for the repetitive nausea, as I was already getting that just before I started the new medication.

I guess time will tell and we'll see what happens as I progress a little and hopefully I can start keeping things down more often.

This past Monday was my 6 week anniversary, and overall, I feel really good about my progress. I'm down 40 lbs since my surgery date, and a total 85 since I started dieting on New Years Day. The problem is the last 2 weeks, my stomach has not been very receptive to just about anything. Just about every other meal has either quickly come back up or stayed down but left me with heavy dry heaves and the infamous slimies (although I prefer the other term of foamies... sounds slightly less disgusting.)

Recently it got exceedingly bad, as I spent the entire weekend without the ability to take anything in. I became so nauseated that even Water would make me feel ready to run to the nearest toilet or garbage can. By Monday, I had become so dehydrated that I hit the terrible catch-22 where I was more nauseous from the dehydration, but if I tried to drink, I felt more nauseous still. Called my surgeon and he instructed me to go to the ER where I spent 5 hours on IV fluids, 2 liters of straight saline and a banana bag (saline with thiamine, folic acid, magnesium sulfate, and a Multivitamin mix.) I felt really good afterwards, but today, I've been feeling a bit nauseous again and threw up a little this morning even though I hadn't eaten anything yet.

Hopefully this all passes soon, it's driving me crazy.

On 5/3/2018 at 8:12 PM, Kay07 said:

Another update: He is being discharged tomorrow morning! Since they took out the drainage tubes, he has been doing worlds better. He can get up/down on his own, and is walking about 500 steps per walk (according to fitbit). The doctors are thrilled with his progress

Feels like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am so ready for him to come home!

Just wanted to check in and see how everything is going? Hope your husband is doing well and you're still on track. Please keep us updated.

16 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Hope it wasn't me! I do think everyone tries to be helpful and supportive, but some of us are diplomatically challenged.

No it wasn't you... no worries.

Unfortunately not all of them are that way... When I was in my first few weeks post-op, I got a bit of an attitude from one member because they felt I wasn't doing things properly... I also noticed other posts by them that were very "do this and that." So I just stopped paying attention to some things and posting as much when I was struggling with the deep ketosis.

6 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

It's amazing how different they all are.

Absolutely... when I told my surgeon the week before surgery that I joined this site, he was a bit hesitant and warned me that he's a bit conservative with his post-op instructions and that I should limit the advise that I take online because what somebody else's surgeon might have given them instructions that widely vary from his.

2 hours ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Luckily, my stomach doesn't mind Flintstones.

My surgeon suggests against flintstones, he and his staff feel there isn't enough nutritional value in it. I'm half tempted to just go to the vitafusion gummies that I used to take pre-surgery.

That's been happening to me semi-often as well. Last week I tried a BBQ hamburger for the first time, not sure if it was the dryness of the burger (my dad sucks at BBQing) or the acidity of the ketchup... today it actually happened very mildly after taking my Vitamins. I take Centrum Orange Burst chewables and sometimes I feel they make me a little nauseous, the taste is horrible; havent taken them in a few days and today I took them and 5 minutes later was running to the bathroom. I definitely need new vits, problem is all of the good bariatric recommended ones are expensive.

3 minutes ago, Kay07 said:

Hi everyone,

Once again, please accept my heartfelt thanks for your well wishes and responses. I will wait until the end of this week to make a decision on whether or not to pursue my own surgery. I agree that my husband's care certainly trumps my surgery at this point, but at the same time do not want to cause undue hardship on my employer after having paid for the coverage.

In regards to support, I have multiple family members that are close by to offer assistance, but for me the deciding factor will ultimately be my husband's comfort level on having my family step in and assist. I purchased multiple products on Amazon (this morning as I am still hanging in the waiting room) to make bathing and sleeping easier on my husband. Despite this, I want to make sure that my husband is fully comfortable with the assistance before I confirm my surgery.

On the most important note, my husband made it through surgery and is now recuperating in the ICU. I was able to see him for a minute, but they were trying to regulate his pain so I couldn't stay. I am still hanging out in the waiting room. Surgeon said he did great! We also learned that she is the Chief of Cardiac Surgery, so that made me feel pretty good

Again, thank you kindly for your words of encouragement and support.

Kind regards,

Kay

I'm glad to hear everything went well.... Best of luck going forward.

Best of luck with everything, I hope your husband is doing OK and his surgery today goes perfectly.

How long does your surgeon estimate your hospital stay for? I was in for 2 days, but could have left after one (I chose to stay just to get some more rest before heading home. I think with 2 weeks til surgery, it might give your husband enough time to recover and you the time to take care of him in the meanwhile as you prepare for everything. I assume you have somebody who can help him out while you are in the hospital?

There are definitely a ton of pros and cons, as you've obviously been waiting a long time for this, and the delay may cause an even more significant delay because of the stupid insurance guidelines. Seems like a really tough call, and I honestly don't think anybody else's advice will do much for you, as ultimately it comes down to an extremely personal decision for you and your family. I agree that it will definitely be best to wait until after your husbands surgery is complete and see how he's doing.

Again, I wish you both all the best and look forward to reading about not only your decision and resulting journey, but his recovery as well.