Tatt

It's ok to go back and forth as much as you need. You are in control of what happens to your body. Until you are 100% sure that surgery is what you want...don't do it.
I have thought about bariatric surgery for over 10yrs. Each time I convinced myself I could lose weight without surgical intervention. My last attempt was on a Dr.'s lead weight loss program. I lost 20lbs then went thru a really bad emotional rough patch and gained back the 20lbs and found another 25lbs.
The only time you can't change your mind is after the surgery is done. You are doing what is best for you.

Congratulations!!!🎉🍾🎈🎊 to you . And best wishes on your journey!
my experience has been similar. This is without a doubt one of the best things I have EVER done for myself!
fourteen days post op and I feel like I’m 25 years younger (I’m 67).
dr. Pilati (WakeMed) ordered my meds 3 weeks prior to surgery. My hospital experience could not have been more amazing! Anti nausea patch, nerve block on both sides of abdomen, non narcotic pain meds one hour prior to surgery: I NEVER needed any pain meds. Nerve block lasted 3 days. No gas, just nausea and I was immediately given a steroid/anti nausea cocktail (decadron) that was a miracle drug. My bp is normally 156/99….in the hospital it was 188/96. This morning at my pcp visit it was 104/65! My bp meds have been halved. I’ve been on them for 22 years since my twins were born…post partum hypertension.
I start puréed foods tomorrow. I am perfectly satisfied right now on liquids. I’m not hungry, I am down 23 lbs, I feel fabulous. Right now, I am remembering how little food mattered to me most of my life and I am ecstatic.
I wish that everyone could have the same experience I’m having.
this is life changing.

This was the best thing ever! I am 9 days post op and tbh kind of feel guilty how easy my recovery has been. Dr Fuzz, my Dr, actually teaches bariatric surgeries, did the hiatal repair/vsg robotically. Honestly I read the surgery report cause I am nosey. Plus really strange to get a test result notice and find out your old tummy was checked for any and all possible underlying medical conditions. Good news everything is normal. He made sure I had all but my pain meds 10days prior to surgery so if possible I wouldn't have to go to the pharmacy. As soon as I woke up I got an antinausea patch behind my ear good for 3days. I had no pain, no gas, no nausea. I started walking asap. I went in at noon on the 13th I was discharged by 11:30am on the 14th. As my tummy heals my incisions small and a straight line. I always said I could see life before surgery but I didn't know what it would be like after. It better than I could ever dream.

I am so happy for this thread. I got opurity chewables w/45 Iron (I was anemic before surgery so yay iron) and no just no. The smell the taste makes me gag. I was gonna try to finish the bottle cause I hate wasting money, but I can't do a full 90days of these things. I think I will try bariatric pal.

Ring your team just to be on the safe side. It might be nothing but It could be a blood clot or cellulitis, just check it out. Better safe than sorry

You're not weird or crazy. Surgery is life altering...tbh it's life before surgery and life after. You had plans in place and were mentally prepared for it to happen on a specific date. Now you have to push back those plans. It's ok to be upset you have worked hard to get a surgery date and now you have to wait a smidge longer. Take a deep breath, cry if you need to, then regroup mentally. You are still having surgery and everything is still fine.

My Dr's ofc carries a wide range of products everyone from Unjury to Bariatric Advantage and gives out sample bags of everything they stock. I went thru them. However the unjury website has where you can get samples not too costly.

I had my sleeve yesterday. I woke in extreme discomfort. Today however, barely any pain, no pain medicine needed since 11pm last night. Getting ready to be discharged.

After my sleeve surgery, I drove about 30 miles to visit my sister for holiday dinner (I didn't eat much of course) and it was fine, spent most of the time sitting on the couch but I wasn't in pain or anything.
After my revision I think I was able to get out of the house by myself a few days later too.
I don't know if either of mine were done robotically or not, I don't think it really makes a difference, whatever the surgeon feels most comfortable with is probably what you want to go with. The procedure is the same either way.
I had no exterior sutures, the incisions were closed up with surgical glue and it all came off within a month or so I think, maybe less.

My WLS surgeries were done with Divinci and a couple of my other ones. The surgeon has controls at a desk and operates everything from the scalpel to the stapler from there. I believe it makes visuals with the laparoscope easier to navigate. Healing was easy with minimal scaring and no stitches or staples on the outside just some surgical glue.
Good luck tomorrow!

I wasn't given this option. Sounds like if the surgeon is still ultimately in control of the procedure but it minimises the amount of rummaging in your insides that's required then it can only be a good thing. Best of luck for tomorrow OP!

Hello,
I am having surgery tomorrow (June 13th) and was going over all my paperwork to make sure I do everything correctly. When I went to look at the appointment in my Dr's patient portal, I discovered that instead of being laparoscopic, I am having robotic hiatal hernia/gastric sleeve surgery. This is fine as I told my Dr ( who I researched and have had friendss use him with wonderful results) to do whatever he feels is best. I have a copay and my insurance is paying everything else.
My question has anyone else had robotic surgery? I have been reading up on it and it sounds pretty cool. I also watched a youtube video on it...looks like the Dr is playing a video game tbh. LOL

My surgeon used the Da Vinci robot. He was oddly insistent that he (the surgeon) was performing the surgery, not the robot; I guess some people misunderstand the concept of robotic surgery and picture R2D2 cutting them open. He said he does the surgery both with and without the robot, but he prefers using the robot, and I was in favor of anything that made it easier for him to do the surgery.
My understanding is that the advantages of the robot are that it is more dexterous than human hands, and it allows for smaller incisions. My incisions were certainly quite small and healed quickly, and the scars are barely visible now (2 years later).

Hello,
I am having surgery tomorrow (June 13th) and was going over all my paperwork to make sure I do everything correctly. When I went to look at the appointment in my Dr's patient portal, I discovered that instead of being laparoscopic, I am having robotic hiatal hernia/gastric sleeve surgery. This is fine as I told my Dr ( who I researched and have had friendss use him with wonderful results) to do whatever he feels is best. I have a copay and my insurance is paying everything else.
My question has anyone else had robotic surgery? I have been reading up on it and it sounds pretty cool. I also watched a youtube video on it...looks like the Dr is playing a video game tbh. LOL

I have been on preop diet since May 23 and have dropped roughly 16lbs. At first, I too thought ya know I don't need surgery after all. However as the days have gone by..no way I could live on this diet in my current tummy situation. I would kill to eat a piece of steak.

Hospital just called my surgery time is 12:45pm EST on Monday...is it bad that now it's hitting me that this is no longer a hope it will happen but an actual it will happen thing? Oh boy...

Woo hoo! I’ll be coming out as you are going in! I am so ready to get this over with and start living a new and better life!

Hospital just called my surgery time is 12:45pm EST on Monday...is it bad that now it's hitting me that this is no longer a hope it will happen but an actual it will happen thing? Oh boy...

WTG on not cheating. Have you tried spacing out your meals? My preop is 3wks long and the only thing stopping me from killing anyone is having a meal every 2-3hrs.

Congrats! We are surgery buddies. Mine is June 13th as well. Can't wait to get the call tomorrow with the time of surgery. I am like a kid on Christmas eve lol.

Congrats! We are surgery buddies. Mine is June 13th as well. Can't wait to get the call tomorrow with the time of surgery. I am like a kid on Christmas eve lol.

I feel like I am posting a lot on this thread lately, but I feel like in the past month I've noticed tons of changes that make me say: wow, I have lost over 100 lbs!
I have found myself crossing my legs. I don't do it often, but occasionally I find myself doing it and I am like WTF!
I tried on a pair of boots that never quite zipped up, and I managed to get them zipped even with leggings on! Granted they are still super wide boots because my calves are really sturdy, but I will take any boots zipping up as a huge win. This would not have happened a year ago.
I also managed to fit back into some concert shirts from the early 90s - looking at you Pink Floyd, REM and U2! They are not quite able to be worn out of the house, but they are now getting much closer and I think they will fit by the end of the summer. So freaking happy about this!

I know this is a common one but im particularly excited about it because I distinctly remember being 340 lbs and watching these "progress" videos of other women with towels wrapped around their body, showing how they gradually start fitting into bath towels as they lose weight and I remember feeling so sad and discouraged...like I didn't have it in me to get there too. I'm traveling and in a hotel right now and to my surprise this is the first time a regular "hotel" towel has wrapped all the way around my body without a humongous gap exposing my side and stomach. I am so happy about this I can't even explain it. It just confirms it for me that I can have the things I want, that I deserve them too and am just as strong to fight for them.

Photo: the first picture is from just a week preop, the second is from today. Yes...I had to censor my booty cheek lol that whole blue part is the towel that didn't close and that towel is bigger than this one I have here.

Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Congrats I am sure it will all go well.

*trigger warning if you are scared about gastric bypass this is not a good post to read also it is a long * (admin if I shouldn't have posted this please delete)
I debated long and hard about whether or not to talk about my dad and how he died. I never want to scare anyone and tbh his death wasn't so much because of the gastric bypass he had but rather the prejudice and malpractice of his primary care Dr and the hospital he went to for emergency care.
My dad came into my life when I was 28yrs old. I didn't know I needed a dad honestly. He started dating my mom and considered me part of the package. He protected her, he protected me...no strings attached totally unconditional regardless if I wanted him to or not he was going to be there for me. Turns out even at 28 I needed a dad.
He was 6ft 5", almost 500lbs, tattoos, beard, and a biker. Dad never talked a lot, he preferred actions. If he agreed with something he'd say "No doubt". If he didn't well he'd just shake his head and turn away. He had had 4 heart attacks by the time he had his gastric bypass surgery in 2009, He went down to 190ish lbs.
Everything was great. He did everything he was supposed to do. Crushed his meds, no alcohol, watched his food ..he followed all the rules. Fast forward to July 2021. Dad and mom had split a few years back but he was still my dad. Around July 30th, he started having abdominal pain and couldn't go to the bathroom. He did something he hated to do.. he went to the Dr. The Dr filling in for his Dr took one look him..biker with tattoos wearing a leather jacket and on Medicare and immediately ignored him. He told dad if it was so bad go to the emergency room. So dad did. Hospital er looked at dad...biker with tattoos, wearing a leather jacket and on Medicare and assumed..drug seeker! Told him there was nothing wrong with him. They did no test and sent him home. About 2am on July 31, Dad was in horrible pain and call EMS, they weren't part of the hospital he had gone to earlier, in the ambulance they did an ultrasound on the way to their hospital. One of the paramedics picked up his cell phone and called the first number on it...my mom. They told her to meet them at the hospital, it was bad real bad. She and his biological daughter got to the hospital about the same time. Dr told them there was 3 options...1 take him into surgery immediately ..he would most likely died on the operating table 2. try to get him strong enough to have surgery he would most likely never wake up or 3 give him morphine and let him die. They chose option 3 and less than 30mins later he was gone. So what did a simple ultrasound find? Dad's large intestine had twisted so badly that while he ate, food couldn't get past the twist. Imagine making a balloon animal and twisting the balloon then keep blowing up one side.. the inevitable happened. The food side popped filling his body cavity with food and stomach acid. He didn't have to die. Had the Dr listened, they could have found it and done surgery to fix it. The hospital and the Dr, naturally, claimed no responsibility it was obviously the 12yr old gastric bypass that killed him. I wish I could say they were sued til they cried but dad's biological daughter refused. Me, I wanted their heads on a silver platter but I don't look good behind Iron bars.
My mom isn't very happy that I am having bariatric surgery less than a year after my dad died. She is trying to be supportive but she is scared. I often wonder what advise would he have given me. I got my insurance approval letter in the mail today and said to myself "so this is really going to happen". I swear I heard "No doubt"
Sorry this was so long.