kalí̱ ygeía

I've read a lot about food progressing slowly down your esophagus and the feeling of it getting stuck or about to get stuck. Ugh, hate it. I wonder if it's just part of the process or if I'm not chewing well enough, taking too big of a bite, or that particular food isn't agreeing with me.
I was feeling so blessed when everything was going down smoothly, but the more I inch towards regular food the more it's happening.
Everything else is going great. I hit my stall at 3 or 4 weeks just like everyone says it happens. I lost fifteen pounds beforehand. I really wish it had been more. Oh, well. Still happy with the loss. I haven't started working out at all, so maybe once I start my walking it'll help with the stall. My goal was to start lifting arm weights at 4 weeks. I'm now a week behind schedule.
I need to FOCUS!

We did it y'all! Congratulations! Our surgeries are behind us.... time to double down on our efforts as we go through the ups and downs that come with this drastic change in our lives. It's well worth it and we're going to be fine. It's not easy for everyone, but the veterans on this site tell us that it does get better.
My experience has been relatively easy. I've had some moments where the food didn't settle well and caused me heartburn, but fortunately no major issues. The incision sites do bother me from time to time, but I feel that soon enough I'll be able to lay on my tummy. I've been cleared for exercise, but haven't yet started. My arms are looking rather flabby, so am going to do arm weights! I'm in the soft food stage and am looking forward to getting to solid. I have noticed though that food isn't calling me like before. The family had pizza, but I didn't feel deprived. I didn't feel bummed out.
Although I did get annoyed and frustrated at all the changes (e.g. wanted to gulp down my water), I didn't have buyer's remorse. In the short term, it's already helped me with my health issues, so am grateful for that. I think we're all so blessed that we got to have our surgery this month considering that Covid cases are in the up everywhere.
@CelinaLambeth Sorry that you had such a crappy experience. Hopefully the rest will be much more smoothly.
@MommaJay Was your surgery outpatient? My surgeon didn't have me do a fanny pack. He just had me on pain meds, but fortunately by the second day didn't need any so never touched the ones at home.
Does anyone have a specific take on how often to weigh yourself? Do you do it daily, weekly, monthly?

We did it y'all! Congratulations! Our surgeries are behind us.... time to double down on our efforts as we go through the ups and downs that come with this drastic change in our lives. It's well worth it and we're going to be fine. It's not easy for everyone, but the veterans on this site tell us that it does get better.
My experience has been relatively easy. I've had some moments where the food didn't settle well and caused me heartburn, but fortunately no major issues. The incision sites do bother me from time to time, but I feel that soon enough I'll be able to lay on my tummy. I've been cleared for exercise, but haven't yet started. My arms are looking rather flabby, so am going to do arm weights! I'm in the soft food stage and am looking forward to getting to solid. I have noticed though that food isn't calling me like before. The family had pizza, but I didn't feel deprived. I didn't feel bummed out.
Although I did get annoyed and frustrated at all the changes (e.g. wanted to gulp down my water), I didn't have buyer's remorse. In the short term, it's already helped me with my health issues, so am grateful for that. I think we're all so blessed that we got to have our surgery this month considering that Covid cases are in the up everywhere.
@CelinaLambeth Sorry that you had such a crappy experience. Hopefully the rest will be much more smoothly.
@MommaJay Was your surgery outpatient? My surgeon didn't have me do a fanny pack. He just had me on pain meds, but fortunately by the second day didn't need any so never touched the ones at home.
Does anyone have a specific take on how often to weigh yourself? Do you do it daily, weekly, monthly?

Throw your favorites in the dryer for one or two cycle until they shrink.
I was doing laundry and freaked out to see one of my favorite tops which I normally hang dry, in the dryer. I thought "Oh no, my favorite top almost shrank" The light bulb went on! After my surgery and the weight starts to come off, I'm going to give this a try!

@TracespaceCongratulations! I was sleeved on the 6th and so far things have gone well except for issues with BM. It's so interesting how surgeons/dieticians due post-op differently. There is no one blanket approach. My dietician had me on liquids for two weeks post-op and I'm now on to soft foods. I was annoyed hearing of people who went straight to soft foods after a week or less, but I trusted my surgeon and his team. I'm very fortunate that I was able to handle the stages okay so far. I might have had uncomfortable moments, but they were few and far in between that I don't remember specifics. Except for one, I was having my first bite of soft food that was too dry and apparently not chewed well enough, it was horrible. Felt like the food was going to get stuck with each bite. I then purred my food and I was perfectly fine. I suppose the food wasn't soft enough yet.
Everything does keep getting better. Listen to your body and follow it's cue. Don't push it if it's feeling uncomfortable. After reading these message boards and may others, I realize that following your body's cue are sometimes the best approach.
By the way, I read on some post that for some hiccups is when they know that they're full.

@TracespaceCongratulations! I was sleeved on the 6th and so far things have gone well except for issues with BM. It's so interesting how surgeons/dieticians due post-op differently. There is no one blanket approach. My dietician had me on liquids for two weeks post-op and I'm now on to soft foods. I was annoyed hearing of people who went straight to soft foods after a week or less, but I trusted my surgeon and his team. I'm very fortunate that I was able to handle the stages okay so far. I might have had uncomfortable moments, but they were few and far in between that I don't remember specifics. Except for one, I was having my first bite of soft food that was too dry and apparently not chewed well enough, it was horrible. Felt like the food was going to get stuck with each bite. I then purred my food and I was perfectly fine. I suppose the food wasn't soft enough yet.
Everything does keep getting better. Listen to your body and follow it's cue. Don't push it if it's feeling uncomfortable. After reading these message boards and may others, I realize that following your body's cue are sometimes the best approach.
By the way, I read on some post that for some hiccups is when they know that they're full.

Hello I’m back to report that I have been sleeved! Coming out of surgery was rough! I threw up two or three times which I’m told is very normal. I wanted to sleep most of the time, so I wasn’t immediately up and walking. I had this terrible ache in my upper stomach that was not incision pain, perhaps hunger? It was strong but the pain meds and sleep helped with that.

Eventually, I got several walks in and used my lung breathing thing. Can’t recall what it’s called, but it helps your lungs expand and avoid pneumonia.
So far, I can tolerate liquids well. I went a whole night without pain meds and feel great. Your first two night may be a lil rough, but just remember that it gets better.

I'm home now and doing great! Still doing fine with my liquids. Sometimes I get a mild discomfort probably because I forget to sip instead of gulping it down like a horse. I'm on phase 1 of postop restrictions...two weeks doing 1- 2 ounce liquids every fifteen minutes with the goal of getting to 64 oz of liquid in the day. I'm allowed my Protein Shakes, broths, diluted apple and grape juice, crystal light, Decaf coffee and tea and some other drinks. My surgeon also allows for watery yogurt and apple sauce. I'm also on 4 medications. One (muscle spams) I'm suppose to take for 2 weeks, second one (stomach acid blocker) is suppose to go for 4 weeks. The other two is an as needed basis since they help with pain and nausea.
Fortunately, I didn't need the pain or nausea medications yet. Crossing my fingers it continues this way.
I am not hungry, but do feel mental desires. However, while going through the pharmacy nothing made my mouth Water or ache to have it. When I got home and saw the food I normally eat, I did have a moment of " I wish I could eat that" but I overcame it very quickly. I don't have a choice, but to keep going forward and there's no turning back which I'm quite happy with. Besides in time, we'll be able to eat again just smaller portions.
I'm moving about, but I have to remind myself that a few days ago I had surgery. My body has so far handled it well.

Wow, you did exceptionally well to go home so quickly. You seem to have everything under control. I hope that your pain is manageable. Did you get any pain meds? The day of surgery and day after I was feeling pain, but the meds helped. By night fall on day two, I didn't have any pain.
Congrats on all the walking and the BM!

I'm home now and doing great! Still doing fine with my liquids. Sometimes I get a mild discomfort probably because I forget to sip instead of gulping it down like a horse. I'm on phase 1 of postop restrictions...two weeks doing 1- 2 ounce liquids every fifteen minutes with the goal of getting to 64 oz of liquid in the day. I'm allowed my Protein Shakes, broths, diluted apple and grape juice, crystal light, Decaf coffee and tea and some other drinks. My surgeon also allows for watery yogurt and apple sauce. I'm also on 4 medications. One (muscle spams) I'm suppose to take for 2 weeks, second one (stomach acid blocker) is suppose to go for 4 weeks. The other two is an as needed basis since they help with pain and nausea.
Fortunately, I didn't need the pain or nausea medications yet. Crossing my fingers it continues this way.
I am not hungry, but do feel mental desires. However, while going through the pharmacy nothing made my mouth Water or ache to have it. When I got home and saw the food I normally eat, I did have a moment of " I wish I could eat that" but I overcame it very quickly. I don't have a choice, but to keep going forward and there's no turning back which I'm quite happy with. Besides in time, we'll be able to eat again just smaller portions.
I'm moving about, but I have to remind myself that a few days ago I had surgery. My body has so far handled it well.

I should probably change the name of this post from I’m doing it to...I did it!

Cant believe that I’m on the postop side now. I’m looking forward to seeing how this journey progresses. The preop liquid diet was not my friend. I messed up here and there but fortunately the surgery went well.

I’m mobile and no pain as of right now. I’m super excited of what’s next. I do have gas that comes and go, but I think the medication really helps with that. After surgery my stomach felt like a balloon! I was sooooo bloated. Now it’s feeling much better. I’m feeling really great except for my energy level going up and down which is expected after surgery.

I don't have any bruising just yet, but I still have the bandages on, so maybe I'll see them when they come off. Your bruises will be gone before you know it!

Hello I’m back to report that I have been sleeved! Coming out of surgery was rough! I threw up two or three times which I’m told is very normal. I wanted to sleep most of the time, so I wasn’t immediately up and walking. I had this terrible ache in my upper stomach that was not incision pain, perhaps hunger? It was strong but the pain meds and sleep helped with that.

Eventually, I got several walks in and used my lung breathing thing. Can’t recall what it’s called, but it helps your lungs expand and avoid pneumonia.
So far, I can tolerate liquids well. I went a whole night without pain meds and feel great. Your first two night may be a lil rough, but just remember that it gets better.

Thank you to the 1st week of November people that have posted! I appreciated reading your posts. Hopefully you're having a smooth recovery and acclimating to the new change effortlessly. My day is coming tomorrow. Whoohoo! I'm super excited! I'm all packed and am finalizing stuff around the house.
I haven't been exactly the best with my preop diet, so hopefully my doctor won't take one look at the liver and send me back home. 😜
I lost only a few pounds, but I'm happy with that! As long as the scale is moving down not up, it's all good. My surgery is early, so I'll probably get zero sleep tonight. The hospital had me come in earlier in the week to get the paperwork done and they provided me with soap to wash the night before and day of the surgery.
Wow... I can't believe it's happening! I'll do my best to keep y'all posted. Hopefully I can do so asap when everything is fresh in mind.
Good luck Friday, November 6th day sleevers!

I was 37 BMI on surgery day, am now 20 BMI at 12 months post surgery. I lost 100 pounds in 9 months, and have been maintaining the loss for the last three months. Generally people who start at lower BMIs have better results than those who start higher, according to the research on previous patients my surgeon is tracking. I didn't start at the gym until at least 6 months out of surgery, I was too tired and my food intake was not high enough to sustain exercise. Now I go to the gym and do bodypump 3 days a week, and Pilates once a week, and I feel amazing. I lost he majority of my weight doing no formal exercise.

Hello I’m back to report that I have been sleeved! Coming out of surgery was rough! I threw up two or three times which I’m told is very normal. I wanted to sleep most of the time, so I wasn’t immediately up and walking. I had this terrible ache in my upper stomach that was not incision pain, perhaps hunger? It was strong but the pain meds and sleep helped with that.

Eventually, I got several walks in and used my lung breathing thing. Can’t recall what it’s called, but it helps your lungs expand and avoid pneumonia.
So far, I can tolerate liquids well. I went a whole night without pain meds and feel great. Your first two night may be a lil rough, but just remember that it gets better.

Thank you to the 1st week of November people that have posted! I appreciated reading your posts. Hopefully you're having a smooth recovery and acclimating to the new change effortlessly. My day is coming tomorrow. Whoohoo! I'm super excited! I'm all packed and am finalizing stuff around the house.
I haven't been exactly the best with my preop diet, so hopefully my doctor won't take one look at the liver and send me back home. 😜
I lost only a few pounds, but I'm happy with that! As long as the scale is moving down not up, it's all good. My surgery is early, so I'll probably get zero sleep tonight. The hospital had me come in earlier in the week to get the paperwork done and they provided me with soap to wash the night before and day of the surgery.
Wow... I can't believe it's happening! I'll do my best to keep y'all posted. Hopefully I can do so asap when everything is fresh in mind.
Good luck Friday, November 6th day sleevers!

I hope what I wrote on our surgery list made sense! LOL Anyone is welcome to fix it if you find a way to explain it in a less confusing way.
I decided to tell only a handful of people about my surgery. If I told everyone, some will be very supportive and a few will give me a million reasons why I shouldn't. At the moment the only people I've told are, hubby, 2 siblings, and about 3 friends. For now am keeping kids in the dark about it.
I'm expecting plenty of upset people when they find out that I didn't say anything to them, but I just don't want to open myself to opinions and possible injections of doubts. Once I've done it and gotten over recovery, then I'll be more open.

Throw your favorites in the dryer for one or two cycle until they shrink.
I was doing laundry and freaked out to see one of my favorite tops which I normally hang dry, in the dryer. I thought "Oh no, my favorite top almost shrank" The light bulb went on! After my surgery and the weight starts to come off, I'm going to give this a try!

Hi Ladies,
This is what I have done to get ready so far.
1) Purchased my pre-op liquid diet shakes called Optifast and I will be starting them on Oct. 19th
2) Bought the required Vitamin supplements recommended by my bariatric team for the 1st two months after surgery.
3) Purchased Premiere Protein for my Liquid Protein supplement for after surgery
4) Purchased a small single serve blender "Ninga Bullet" to help me with making my shakes yummy and my pureed food yummy (I'm hoping)
5) I'm telling my office on Oct 19th that I will be having surgery on the 10th of November
6) Joined a very local WLS group so I can connect with people in person. I think I am going to initiate some group walk events so we can meet outside safely. We are in a rural area so that will be easy for us.
That's it so far....

November is rolling in and the weight rolls off! Good luck to everyone having surgery this week!
Surgery date: Monday 11/2 (Tropico78)
Surgery date: Monday, 11/2 (VickieRenee)
Surgery dare: Monday, 11/2 (Neller)
Surgery date: Monday. 11/2/2020 (caitmarie)
Surgery date: Monday, 11/2 (Giveitmyall)
Surgery date: Monday, 11/2 (2xacharm)
Surgery date: Monday, 11/2 (sassytigris)
Surgery date: Monday, 11/2 (Cindydt)
Surgery date: Tuesday, 11/3 (Meredith25)
Surgery date: Tuesday, 11/3 (Chelsealauren09)
Surgery date: Tuesday, 11/3 (Momswithamaster)
Surgery date: Wednesday, 11/4 (futureshrink)
Surgery date: Thursday, 11/5 (drake)
Surgery date: Thursday, 11/5 (Love_thatgirl)
Surgery date: Thursday, 11/5 (Timonty.fleischer)
Surgery date: Friday, 11/6 (Kali ygeia)
Surgery date: Friday, 11/6 (BoyMama)
Surgery date: Friday, 11/6 (Esther20)
My thoughts and prayers are with you. May God work through the surgeon's hands and everything turn out to perfection! May you heal and recover with God speed.
Please check in with us as soon as you feel up to it. 🤗

I just want to post a little food for thought (lol). This has little to do with most of the posts on this thread, but I cringe when I hear people talk about others as “toxic”. People are not toxic. Nobody is toxic. It is a label assigned to someone that redistributes the power balance. These days instead of saying “this person does not respect my boundaries” “this person’s comments are constantly hurtful to me” “I don’t know how to assert myself when this person triggers my self-consciousness/self-hatred” “I am too sensitive to handle this person’s honesty” “It feels awful when I freeze instead of telling that person their actions were not ok with me” etc, etc, etc, people just say “that person is toxic”. Saying someone is toxic makes assigns the work to that person and then dismisses the issue (which is usually one of boundaries). We are not constantly fending off toxicity. We have all probably been called a toxic person by someone. In parenting right now (I have a 5 yr old) it is very popular to take on the idea that “my child is not responsible for my anger/anxiety/reaction when they __________”. If my daughter has to try on 6,000 pairs of shoes while telling me “duh” and having a meltdown, making me late to work, and I yell at her and am crabby at my meeting - that’s not her fault. I can work on this reaction, I can work on this routine, and I can find out why 6000 shoes were (duh) not enough and was so important to her. My kid is not toxic because I am crabby in the morning and late to work almost every day. I think this is true in any relationship - the other person is not you, not in your head, they have other priorities, and most of the time we don’t tell people how we need them to react to feel supported. The OP could have talked to her friends before surgery and told them what she needed from them - it might have changed how they supported her. Or she can set boundaries now (e.g. If we are going to go out, we are not talking about x,y,z, because __________”). Call someone rude, mean, dishonest, unfaithful, blunt, jealous - something specific that helps you and them learn from the relationship. If the person means something to you, give them something meaningful back. Calling them toxic will only lead you to more toxic people, because you will have the same reaction. My advice to the OP would be to be honest with the friends you still want to have. You won’t always react perfectly (or even well) to all of your loved ones’ life-changes either, so give them the chance to not handle it perfectly either. If they still suck after you are honest and set boundaries, then good riddance. Sorry - had to preach! Not meaning to offend! Somebody totally blew my mind about “toxic people” not existing a year ago and my relationships have been so much better.

Hello! Newbie here!
I received my insurance approval a week ago. My pre-op appointment is on the 21st and I'm scheduled for surgery on Nov 6th. I have read hours upon hours of people's experience. I have devoured this site and others as well. I want to believe that I'm mentally ready for what's to come, but the reality is that I won't know if I am until I'm fully into the process.
Thanks to all of your contributions to this site, I have a clear picture of the many possibilities. The gas pain, the incision sites, the stalls, the liquid stage, the emotional roller coasters... the list goes on and on. I'm praying for the best, but preparing myself for anything. All I hope is that I won't regret it. I've read enough to know that there is a regret phase that most go through. I just hope I don't stay there! LOL
I am 5'5 with a BMI of 34. I tend to fluctuate between 200-210 for the last 7 years and at most have never weighed past 213. I am a Type 2 diabetic. My A1C climbed to 7.4. My body responded well to a low dose of metformin so after 3 months I'm at 6.6. I DO NOT want to travel down the road of medication and I also want to do away with fatty liver. My stomach looks as if I'm 8 months pregnant, because my weight is mainly distributed towards my stomach. I've slowly stopped living life to the fullest. I am holding on to the thought that the gastric sleeve surgery will help me move towards a healthier self.
I look forward to the support from those who are walking this journey.
Please share the greatest and most important thing to keep in mind while going through the journey.

I hope all of you come back and give us a full report of the experience!

That's a good mantra. I'm going to start using it as well. I wonder if my new stomach is going to like eggs. I use to eat eggs almost every day. It's so strange to me that we have to discover our stomachs anew.

How long do you have to do the straight liquids?