You Are My Sunshine

It's pretty common. So much so that my team actually starts everyone on a bowel regimen a week before the preop diet even starts.
They had a flow chart and used little poop emojis. (Which I personally thought was a bit much.) It was also the very first tining in the preop PDF they sent me. The idea was if you don't have a soft BM every 1-2 days, then you take progressively more stools softeners and stimulants.
I asked why it was the very first thing in the PDF and they said it's one of the most challenging things people deal with both pre-op, and for the few weeks post-op. It's also one of those things that you're better off staying ahead of, meaning once you realize there's an issue, it's can be difficult to get back to "regular"

Congrats!!! We've got this!!! 💪 Shine, on girl!

Just got ready for surgery...IV in, monitors on and just waiting

I just had RNY Oct 3

I just got sleeved yesterday. If I could give one piece of advice it would be they are not joking when they say walking will help with the gas pain. For me personally the gas pain was worse then anything else. It was hard to start walking at first but once into it I could feel the pressure start to feel lighter. Good luck to everyone that has their surgery coming up in the next few days! And I hope everyone that is already done is recovering well. Here’s to us taking our lives back. 🥳

2 days to go- gastric sleeve here we come!

Just try to breathe. I was sobbing and anesthesia was hooking me up so stressed about my 8 year old being okay if anything happened.
Keep pushing through!

My experience, and mine alone. I had the lapband in 2008. Had it for 7 it 8 years. No WLS restriction is more miserable compared to what I had experienced with the lapband. The pain in my chest, the having to void in a public restroom because the pressure in my throat. When I had the lapband restriction, it was THE most unnatural feeling. With the RNY, you will live a much smoother and normal life. As long I chew well, I literally have zero side effects from the RNY. It has been over a year. Hard to explain, but for once, I feel so normal now. To me, when I get full, it's very similar to getting full before any WLS. You just have to learn your body's clues. If one doesn't want to dump, you stay away from those foods. One stays away from foods when they are allergic to them. Most do not dump anyway.

As far as safety. This may help you out. RNY is not the same surgery as it was many years ago. It is laparoscopic, so much safer, so much so that many surgeons now do the RNY even as an outpatient procedure now. I was released within 24 hours.
https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/metabolic-and-bariatric-surgery-blog/2019/may/is-bariatric-surgery-safe

Do yourself this favor and stick to your pre op diet until surgery day anyways so you can really think this through. I think you are just having last minute jitters. I had sleeve so I can’t really speak to dumping other than only about 30% of bypass patients dump to any degree and many of them who do can still have sweets and fat just in much smaller portions.
Once you are back to regular food, traveling and eating out shouldn’t be an issue (it is also doable during the staged return to eating it will just take some planning). You will eat smaller portions, but you will be able to eat most of the same foods you eat now (I can tolerate everything I ate before). You will of course make healthier choices the majority of the time and eat smaller portions but I eat at restaurants all the time.
In terms of catching up with friends over dinner I think you will be an even better dining companion because you will be less focused on the food and more on the conversation. I go out with my best friend now and I have noticed that our conversations tend to go deeper and our lunches run longer but I actually think that’s kinda cool.
As for the glass of wine, teams seem to be all over the map about when or if they allow alcohol again. My team was fine with it after 3 months but of course it’s empty calories so everything in moderation.
I honestly think you are starting to morn the loss of food a little and that’s not uncommon. If you find that you really have a hard time with all this you may want to consider a bariatric therapist. As I’m sure you have heard, the surgery will fix your stomach but it takes some work on our part to fix our brains and that’s a very important part to being successful with all this.

And if you really aren’t ready, there is no shame in rescheduling. This is a major surgery and only you know if you are ready.

I get it, major surgery is scary! I think it’s important to examine all the reasons you want to do it. If it’s for a quick fix and quick weight loss to look better, it’s probably not a great idea. If you are tired of being overweight and have health issues that you want to overcome, then this is a great option.

I say this because you definitely have to be in the right frame of mind to be successful. This surgery is a tool to help you get healthy, it’s not a permanent fix. You will eventually be able to eat whatever you want again, so it’s up to you to keep with it.

As far as dumping, as long as you are following your plan, it shouldn’t be an issue.

just my two cents! Good luck with whatever you decide!

Hi! First time poster here. It's a bit long but I really need help.

I had gastric sleeve on 6/22 in Mexico. It went well, passed my leak tests and left feeling good. A week after I got home, I had severe pain and went to the ED where they discovered a leak. They did surgery that night but were unable to reach the leak as it was "too high on my esophagus. " they also discovered 2 abscesses that were between my stomach and spleen. They were unable to remove the abscesses due their location. I spent 28 days on a feeding tube in the hospital. The plan was to wait for the leak to encapsulate/close which it eventually did.

I came home on long term antibiotics and 4 days later I ws in severe pain again so back to the ED where I was diagnosed with a complete bowel obstruction. I had a my 3rd surgery in 3 months that night.

Went home and a month later (2 weeks ago) I had pain so bad in my left lower side that made breathing/coughing/vomiting extremely painful. Back to the ED where I found out the abscesses had infected my spleen and it is now half dead/ dying. It will be removed but the surgery team is holding off due to the inflammation and scar tissue in my abdomen. I was discharged a week later with a PICC line and I receive IV antibiotics at the hospital daily.

My question is has anyone heard of this many/similar complications? I'm considering getting a second opinion at a different hospital but I don't even know where to start!

Thanks for reading.

I had a moment as the swelling went down where I was annoyed because I still had two bumps on my sides. Upon further examination I realized this wasn’t fat or skin rolls, it was actually my hip bones sticking out. I had never seen that before and wasn’t aware of the possibility 😅. Post bariatric and/or plastic surgery body changes are weird, y’all.

I’m mostly confused on the Lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.

THIS! I never will be able to, it will always be like that.
As far as the OP, I did not know that you could revise RNY in a sleeve-like manner. I had to google it, and apparently it is a thing. Learn every day! Ha.
The other thing you said about liposuction, though, I've been wondering about that. The occurrence of regain in those that have had some of their fat removed (through Lipo or tucks). As much as I don't want to do more surgeries, I'm open to the idea of removing some of these fat cells when I'm at a maintainable weight as part of this process in keeping it off.

Hmm. Good thoughts, ladies. It looks like whey Protein isolate. I have a few different ones I rotate to keep some variety. A lot of the flavored s/f stuff also has citric acid. I just don't understand how I can be so FULL and so EMPTY at the same time. It's weird.

Hmm. Good thoughts, ladies. It looks like whey Protein isolate. I have a few different ones I rotate to keep some variety. A lot of the flavored s/f stuff also has citric acid. I just don't understand how I can be so FULL and so EMPTY at the same time. It's weird.

Fear of the unknown is real & an understandable reaction to something like this surgery. Mine went all so quickly, that I really didn’t have time to worry about anything: 6 weeks from initial GP’s appointment to meeting the surgeon, the dietician, doing the pre surgery diet & then the surgery.
Though I’m also not a big worrier. If I have questions I’ll ask or research it myself. Knowledge is power. Think I was more concerned about telling my mum. Lol! A friend had recommended her surgeon & on meeting him I was confident about his ability. I was going to a good hospital. I had a supportive GP. And, after years of watching my father suffer with cancer, treatments & complications, I sort of learnt you can’t worry about something that MAY happen. It’s a waste of effort & emotions. Be aware of possibilities but you can’t be certain of what will happen until it does & then you can plan to move forward.

Thank you everyone. My biggest concern honestly is going under and not waken up. I got 3 babies so I guess that's what I am worried about.

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Same.
i was worried that i was going to go under and never wake up. I remember even trying to fight the anesthesia, lol (was not successful obvs…counting down from ten, i think i only got down to 6 or 7 ,ha)
When i did wake up in the recovery room, my first thought was “YES!! I’m alive!”

Haven’t heard of that. Maybe have a sensitivity to something you are eating?

What type of Protein are you consuming? whey protein concentrate messes up my tummy. I have to stick with the whey protein isolate.

Today is the day. Just got to the surgery center and signed in. Waiting to get this day started. Good luck to everyone else have surgery today.

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Hello, this is my 1st on here; however, my surgery date is Monday Oct 31 2022 I’m having a Revision surgery

Tomorrow 😍😍😍

October, here we are! This is the month we all change our lives!