momof3_angels

I donated ALL my clothes as soon as I was small enough to not fit in them! I did this each time I was firmly the size below. Surgery in September. Donated my XL in November. Bought workout stretchy clothes first that were a little tight and I shrank more into them quickly. In December I had to buy a few Large outfits for work... but I bought Tunic style with stretchy pants to hold me until I was firmly in the Mediums. By January I was in mediums and got rid of my Larges. Now my closet only has 2 XL sentimental sweatshirts, 1 t-shirt, and 1 pullover that was tight and just fits loose. I also have 1 size 12 dress that was cut small that my husband bought for me and would be upset if I ever donated, even if I can't wear it lol. Everything else in my closet is small or medium! I don't foresee me getting rid of my medium shirts, but if I get small enough to wear the next size pants down I might get rid of my size 8 pants. My "normal" skinny was always size 6 pants and small-medium shirts. I do have some medium shirts that look a little too big, so I might donate those... but most are styles that won't look too big even if they are a little big. It's funny because I took 9 weeks off work post op (1 was a bonus week because they don't count fall break that everyone gets off). A week later I found an XL polo with our school district log on it sitting in my cabinet that I didn't know was there. I had ordered it before deciding to do weight loss surgery. It was a mans cut and was HUGE on my already, so I was able to trade it for a medium women's cut shirt that was too small for me. That day, I wouldn't have dared to wear it. A week later I tried it on again and it fit perfectly! And now here I am, a few months later, and dare I say it looks a little too big on me Anyhow... I refuse to allow myself to ever be bigger than a medium again! So no point in keeping the big clothing. BTW, while shrinking I only bought clothes from discount stores (TJ Maxx, Bealls, Ross, and such)... but now I am willing to shop anywhere again. And having a LOT of fun while I do it! And wearing styles that I would NEVER have worn before, even when I was skinny before. I think I took for granted that I would always be skinny once I lost all my baby weight. I was afraid to try new styles though. Now I am loving it!

Yep! And bonus is when these things happen, he is just so much more generous that I don't even have to ask lol BTW, did I mention, those "I had a cancer scare" clothes I bought were size SMALL?!?!?! And I went to buy 1-2 pairs of "I don't have cancer shoes" and wound up with 7 pairs lol. Which is good because my feet are smaller than pre-op... I had been building up my professional work shoe collection and these will fill that need, but are more playful and can be used as fun summertime shoes too.

LOL. I got those! This is the kind of trip where you where 1 outfit, carry one outfit, and MAYBE a spare and do laundry every day or every other day. Since you carry all your belongings every day for more than a month you don't want the extra clothes with. That said... I will definitely do some "Post Camino" shopping after I finish the walking portion of my trip in Spain! I should have 1-2 "touristy" weeks where I will want more clothes for sure. Shopping in Lisbon or Barcelona will be fun!

Thanks! Yes, I am definitely relieved. I will still be "tentative" until I get confirmation from the Urologist... but I feel so much more confident already. And we all know even if I have a bad kidney disease, you only need 1 good one to have a good quality of life. I have 1 good one for sure! I was telling my bosses... after the first report my husband and I went out and he bought me some cute new "you have cancer" outfits lol. You have to know my husband to know he is a cheapskate and hates buying new clothing.... but he was trying to help me feel better and distracted. After I got my CT results we were looking for shoes for me, and now because he encouraged me... I also have several new pairs of "I don't have cancer" shoes lol. And of course now the novelty has worn off so I don't get to go shopping (with his approval) for quite a while lmao. Don't get me wrong... I buy what I want, when I want to... but not when he is around because he is such a cheapskate lol. For him to buy me nice clothes and shoes means he was very worried and then very relieved.

Update: CT Scan done with and without contrast. It APPEARS that the tumor like mass that is the size of a golf ball (round too) is some ugly scarring! I still need a Urology consult so the urologist can look at both scans closely to confirm, but I am no longer thinking Cancer (YAY!). But again... if he looks and decides it IS Cancer afterall... I now also know that it doesn't appear to be a problem anywhere else. I do have some "prominent" lymph nodes... but small enough to not be alarming. So... I have bad scarring on my Left Kidney and some kidney atrophy indicating kidney disease... but my kidney related labs are pretty decent so it is probably a mild form of kidney disease (but with lots of scarring). I am guessing it was caused by many frequent UTI's throughout my life. Still, I don't know what kidney testing my mom had me do as a kid, she somehow doesn't remember me going for some testing (I certainly do). But she is a person who doesn't "remember" anything negative lol. I guess I will never know if I was diagnosed with a kidney problem as a kid or not. And the CT scan did get a look at my heart... and everything appears normal from a CT scan perspective, confirming my cardiologist view that my heart is much healthier already!!! And again... my liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, Right Kidney, and what they could see of my digestive tract etc etc etc all look good.

Glad you feel better! I still fight dehydration, 6 months out. I do ok with fluids, but I need to do better consistently.

Protein shakes, broth, jello to start. But dont stock up too much on anything... what you liked before you may not like after!

Glad yours turned out OK!

I sort of did... I had thought about it for a whike after a friend had success, but I didnt think I qualified for it. Gast forward a bit and I had an abnormal EKG, was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, and then had an echocardiigram that confirmed my left heart ventrical was enlarged. I left my cardiologist appointment determined to lose weight anyway I can. So when I got home that day I reserarched WLS and decided I mush have it. I made an appt with my PCP and requested a referral. Saw my Cardiologist in March, my PCP appt was in the beginning of May, and started the process from there.

Had my stat CT scan yesterday. They said my results should be sent to my PCP within 2-3 hours. I waited 6 hours and stopprd at the PCP's office and they didnt get the results, so now I have to wait until Monday. I left and was so upset that I cant find out for 3 more days. *sigh* And of course now I cant help but wonder.... were they just too busy to finish the report? Of are the results more complicated and they need more time to review the images? Yes, head games have begun. I woukd have been much better off getting the resukts now, good or bad.. . So my imagination doesnt get carried away. *sigh*

In case anyone else needs to know... it has been 1 hour and I feel like if I drink any more I will begin vomiting. Yuck! Not done with the first bottle... will try to finish it in 20 minutes or so. Did I tell you it is nasty? Yep. Gross lol

Thanks. Just dont want suboptimal images because I couldn't get it in.

Had anyone here had to drink 450 ml of barium for a CT scan AFTER bariatric surgery? I have to drink one bottle tonight and one in the morning. Do you remember how long it took you to get it down? I am nervous that I wont be able to get it all in. And since it was just prescribed I cant time myself to see how long it takes to get water down ahead of time. Just trying to figure out what time to start drinking it to ight and in the AM. They do assign a time, but it will take me much longer. I didnt get help when i asked at the radiology office. The people just didnt get the problem lol

10 pounds in 3 weeks is great! I didnt have nausea or vomiting either. You are doing fine, relax.

Glad yours is doing OK!

Thanks! Just so you know, I really am not panicking. I am still hopeful that even if it IS cancer, I strongly believe we caught it early. I really am not (very) symptomatic. There are a couple things that this could explain... but when I go through the symptom list I don't have almost all of them. I also figure the U/S didn't show other masses, so there is a good chance that there is no metastasis, but they will look for that with the CT scan. And the size of the mass is large and very suspicious... but it could still fall into the "Stage 1" category. Meaning surgical removal only... and I am cool with that. I mean, obviously I would prefer to keep both kidneys, but I know I could live a long and healthy life with just one. But I am glad I could vent here... not really ready to talk to real life people I know (well, you are real people... but I don't personally know you so that makes it easier to express my frustration lol)

So, yesterday was my 6 month gastric surgery anniversary. And Holy Crap. Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I started the day feeling pretty good. Went to the Cardiologist. He was so happy for my weight loss. He wanted me to lose weight, but didn't know about the VSG. He was impressed with how much weight I lost so fast. He also commented I look great and was shocked I don't look "sickly" at all due to the rapid weight loss like many patients he sees. He was thrilled with my increased physical activity and my plans to hike the "Camino de Santiago" in Spain this summer. (It is a "pilgrimage" where you walk literally across Northern Spain or another route to Santiago de Compostela). We discussed my tachycardia and sometimes low blood pressure. He is having me reduce my dosage to half a pill (YAY!). We discussed my cholesterol and medication for it. I told him of my desire to attempt to go off it for a while to see if I can keep my lipid panel numbers in check without it now that I lost all my excess weight and am eating much healthier. We agreed that I will stay on it for 6 more months and then do labs. If my numbers are good, he will let me go off them and see how my labs hold up. I acknowledged to him that I know if they do go back on them, then I will have to take it for the rest of my life... he was happy with that compromise. On top of all that already great news... I asked him about my EKG which I had already looked at myself (I am a former trauma nurse, I know how to read them). He confirmed what I already knew... my EKG was NORMAL!!! Now this is HUGE because the reason I decided to look into WLS in the first point was because I was worried about my heart. At my appointment with him in fall 2018, my EKG showed that I had an enlarged Left Ventrical for the first time. I had an echocardiogram several months later that confirmed the EKG findings. THIS is the reason I insisted on getting weight loss surgery in the first place. My heart was working too hard and was beginning to enlarge. This was unacceptable. This was my reason to stop "trying" to lose weight and for making sure I "did" lose weight. So here I am... 1 1/2 years after identifying that my heart was enlarging.... and all my excess weight is GONE and my enlarged heart is GONE TOO! OMG, I left the cardiologist office on such a high note, I practically floated home lol. And I called my husband with so much excitement. It was a great day. Until..... During the drive home from my cardiologist I got an e-mail from the radiology office. I saw the e-mail when I stopped to exchange some pants at Old Navy. Some of you may recall I posted recently that my bilirubin levels had been rising since surgery. I normally have a high normal to slightly high bilirubin level. It is something that I have monitored my entire adult life. But since surgery, my bilirubin keeps getting higher. I saw my lab results before my bariatric surgeon did. I printed the results, wrote a note to my regular nurse practitioner, and dropped them off at her office. She called a couple hours later and agreed that we need to do an ultrasound to check my gallbladder and liver out. I did that Tuesday and was told that the results would not be available until Friday. Except now it is Wednesday, the next day, and I get a text that my results were available online. Again, I saw the results before either my general nurse practitioner or the bariatric surgeon. And what I read was devastating. My liver and gallbladder are just fine (weird... so why is my bilirubin elevated?). But I have a fairly large mass in my Left Kidney! I have a flippin TUMOR in my kidney! And they recommended on my report that I get a CT Scan or an MRI to further assess it. They used 2 terms to describe what kind of mass it appears to be. Both terms used, are the kind of masses that are cancerous 85% of the time. And even if it ISN'T cancer.... the mass is big enough that I know the first line of treatment is either a partial or total nephrectomy. Holy Crap. Add to that, I know that my grandfather wasn't much older than me when he had kidney cancer and had HIS left kidney removed. And I figure out all of this within 5 minutes, because as a Registered Nurse I already know too much. Still... I keep my **** together and calmly (but unnerved) drive home. I get home, I refill my water, I sit for a minute quitely before I call my husband over to talk. He is a Registered Nurse too... and I told him there is a mass on my Kidney and he made the same assessment I did... only he is much more panicked about it than I am. He wants to rush over to the nurse practitioners office NOW. I told him I want to wait a little bit so she can have time to look at the report first. Then I noticed a missed call from her. How I missed it, is beyond me... but she must have called in the 1 - 1 minute dead zone on my way home. What luck. And BTW, she doesn't make patient phone calls normally DURING her work schedule... she calls after she sees all her patients for the day. I know this because that is when she ALWAYS calls me for results. This was unusual for her. I knew she was worried before I even spoke to her. I called back and got a voicemail. (husband still panicking and wanting to rush over). I called a couple more times and got through to her. Instead of waiting for her to slowly break the news... I let her know I just saw the report and I know I had a mass on my kidney and that my liver and gallbladder were fine. This helped speed up her getting to the point... I needed a CT Scan and a referral to a specialist. She was at the same conclusion I was... it is a tumor and there is a good chance it is cancerous. I don't think she was going to say the "C" word yet... but after I mentioned it, she agreed. Now... my referrals always take a week. ALWAYS take a week to get back so I can schedule an appointment. So, I asked my husband if we can go for a walk somewhere. Well THAT was a disaster lol... because I got several calls from the referral lady and within an hour or so of my phone call to the NP about the results... I was running to the radiology office to pick up barium to drink for my CT scan on FRIDAY. Friday. The day I was supposed to be getting these results back, and now I am going in for a CT Scan already. Talk about FAST RESPONSE! The fact that she rushed this so much and managed to get me in to the radiologist office so soon just confirms how worried my NP really is, so that is totally stressful! Still don't know what specialist I will be seeing, but by the time I get that referral I will have results in hand from the scan, so that is good. On the plus side... I already know the rest of my abdominal organs are fine according to the Ultrasound. The CT scan will look more closely at all of it... but I don't have any reason to believe if it IS cancer that it metastasized. But now I have to gear up to drink a ton of barium (um... no clue how I will get this all in... I am only 6 months post op!). And now I have to deal with a tumor that could be cancerous and I might need a kidney partially or completely removed. Chemo is very unlikely, but radiation or other treatments might be needed. And on top of all that I still need an MRI for my L Knee because I might have a torn meniscus that might need surgery and definitely need physical therapy. And I am SUPPOSED to walk across Spain starting May 25th. Yay me. I thought I was THISCLOSE to being healthy again and all this **** happens! And how much you want to bet the Coronavirus hits my city hard right about the same time I need 1-2 more surgeries! Not afraid of the Coronavirus... except my immune system will be already under attack if I need a kidney removed!

Less pain with sleeve than with c-section.... but I actually had a lot less energy after the sleeve. I was able to get up and do a lot of walking after all three c-sections, whereas with the sleeve I had to go to a store with shopping carts to lean on to do a lap. Weird, right? But then again... I had a brand new baby after each of my c-sections to provide a wonderful distraction.

Definitely stay the course. I am right behind you with a Sept 4 surgery date. I lose VERY slowly now... but every once in a while I will suddenly drop. Have you seen your nutritionist lately? Track your food and go see him/her. They can look at your log and help you determine if you need to make any changes. Sometime we need to get back on track and stick to the diet. Sometimes we need to increase our calories a little bit. But your nutritionist is the best person to help you figure out what you need. In the meantime, water and protein first... veggies/fruits next... stay away from carbs and fatty foods as much as you can (or as prescribed by your nutritionist)

I was allowed to eat anything that didn't have too many little seeds (rasberries and such). I also struggled with fresh oranges because of all the fibrous layers. I had no trouble with things like broccoli/celery... but couldn't eat lettuce for the longest time. Honestly, I get fruits in best when I make a smoothie. I usually try to make a green smoothie with spinach and/or kale and add whatever frozen fruit mix I buy. I like the frozen fruits because it is easy to pick my portion size and not waste anything I don't want.

It's normal! No, it will not trigger "starvation mode". Your hormones and metabolism hit a "reset" with surgery. Your body won't recognize it is in "starvation" mode for a long time. And by then, you will be eating more. Drink your water. Eat your protein. Don't worry about anything else! But... if you do meet your protein goal you can add in a few healthy veggies that are on your plan. (although at 10 days it is a bit soon for veggies).

I do a lot of beef/other meat sticks/cheese sticks. I also do the little snack bowls with nuts/cheese. I just buy a bunch of this stuff and put it in my cooler in the work fridge. I also like hummus, bean dip, fruits etc. Can you not eat ANY beef? I did quite well with ground beef in some sort of broth (Lived on homemade chili a month post op). I still can't eat steak or roasts.

I went on my stomach quite early on. Like maybe 1 week? The trick was getting on and off my stomach. That hurt a lot. But once I was on my stomach I was fine!

Yes, WALK WALK WALK! The first couple days I just walked in my house, but then I would go to the grocery store or other store... grab a cart for support, and slowly circle the store! And don't be afraid to take your pain medicine if it helps you to be able to move more. You don't want to be dependent on it for very long, but the first week or two it is fine! Then switch to a non-narcotic pain medication as recommended by your doctor. I also loved a heating pad.

You could do oatmeal or cream of wheat... but they overfill me way too fast! I say don't do any cereals! Eating protein first should be your goal anyway.