AmberFL

I have the same fear! I am down 32lbs pre-op and I sit and wonder if the surgery will work LOL

2 minutes ago, Helen of LaCroix said:

Hi.
I have the flu.
I was expecting to get a call some time in February for a surgery date in “April/May”.
Woke up to a call from Kaiser, saying they had a cancellation and asked if I wanted to have surgery IN 6 DAYS! After 20 minutes of freaking out and asking myself if I was ready, I called back and said yes.

1/16/24 is my official date! Let’s hope this bug goes away by then.

Freaking out because I don’t have ANYTHING ready. I’m combing through emails from Kaiser with lists of all the things I need. Thank god today is also payday.

Would love to find a buddy going thru VSG in Southern CA with Kaiser.

that is exciting!! I am having VSG in Northern CA with Kaiser! lol Let me know how your surgery goes, I am getting sleeved on the 24th!

1 minute ago, SomeBigGuy said:

I forgot to mention this ^^^

The gas pain was worse than the procedure. My incisions and insides never really hurt, but that gas pressure was super uncomfortable. If its available where you are, pick up some Gas-X or similar gas relief medicine to take with you after your surgery. It will hang around a couple weeks, but the more you can walk and move your arms while walking (think over head stretches and other movement) the more it gets dispersed in your blood stream and your body forces it out. The more walking and arm movement you can do, the more it will ease up. Very annoying when the gas would build up in my shoulder area. I wouldn't call it a pain, but it wasnt' fun lol.

okay, I have 3 kiddos and they wont let me lay down too long. So maybe we have a dance party with lots of arm flaying and walking in place LOL how long did you take off work?

13 hours ago, Sergeant said:

Yes, I had my surgery Dec. 4th and I was able to leave as soon as I came out of anesthesia and could have a conversation. The gas pain was brutal but the only way for it to leave your body is to move. And you heal much faster with more movement I noticed. You’ll be just fine!

yay!! I do not like hospitals- Even with my csections for both my babies I insisted on going on home the second day LOL I just rather be in my home and my bed, how are you feeling now that your a month out?!

@tiffanyb12211 its been a year out! how are you >?!

19 minutes ago, Vanessa Correal said:

Youre the main reason of my post, i was looking for people who have similar thoughts to mine and I wanted to know if I was overreacting since i'm sooooo anxious about everything. Reading you made my choice of the surgery a little easier and it helped me to believe that maybe it is actually what I need. The way I see it is that if I decide to change my lifestyle without the surgery, I'll have to make sacrifices but with the risks of falling back in my old habits. On the other hand, the surgery is my way to force myself to change my lifestyle because I know that my journey will make me not wanna go back to the past. Sometimes I need to put myself in situations to make me do things.. I don't know if that makes sense. But either way, i'll have to change my habits so I just have to decide if i want to do it with the surgery and have kind of a purpose of not making it worthless or without the surgery... Thank you so much for sharing your story..

Absolutely!! my inbox is always open! Surgery is scary, I am nervous and I overthink EVERYTHING in my life. Changing the habits is so hard- don't listen to people who say you don't need it or your doing it for the wrong reasons. You know your reasons and you stick to those! ❤️

1 minute ago, Tamika James said:

That puts me more at ease knowing the sleeve is best for those of us who take ADHD meds cause I know I can't get through school without it

girl my life! LOL! If I forget to take it before work- I can tell a huge difference! I am so spacey and cannot stay in my seat.

I take it! My doctor told me that the gastric sleeve was the best option for it I am in school as well, this is my last full semester! However, I have no idea if it takes longer to absorb or if my dosage will end up being too much. Right now I am at 20mg extended release in the morning before work then I take 10mg fast release after work for when I start my studies.

1 hour ago, SomeBigGuy said:

I had the Gastric Sleeve performed in November and I was back at the hotel by 7pm that night. I was able to walk several laps up and down the hallway that night without much trouble, just some gas pain. That trend seems to be more popular now since it is a lot less invasive of a procedure compared to the bypass or DS/SIPS/SADI procedures.

This is super encouraging! I want to go home that day. lol Hospitals are not comfortable!

Girl! I could've written this myself!!!! My life is insane, I work full time, am in school full time, and have 3 children.

I am 266lbs and 5'9 now. When I started my journey I was 297 and my highest weight was 325 at one point in my life. I have always been told the same, that I look good, I don't need to lose the weight or I can do it myself. I do not have any health issues but you know who does? My mom, brother who is only 27, my grandma. All high blood pressure, diabetes, unable to have the surgeries they need because they need to lose weight. I refuse to allow myself get to that point. I have been doing Weight Watchers on and off since I was 12yrs old, I have gotten down to 210 and I looked and felt amazing.

All of your fears are the ones I fear as well, but the outcome? being a HEALTHIER me for myself, children and husband. We deserve the best version of me! I have thought about how I will most likely get treated differently being thinner, I even confessed to my psych that I know being smaller will help me find a job easier once I graduate. He actually agreed. Its so unfortunate in our society but life is just easier for those who are thinner. I hate saying that out loud but its true.

So choose your hard- WLS and losing the weight once and for all? OR stay on the path of yo yo dieting, and just hope you don't get those health issues?

I chose my hard- WLS and lose my weight so I can be healthier and active for me and my family!

I am having surgery on Jan 24th! Day after my birthday!

I have Kaiser and when I talked to the nurse who booked my appt, she told me that with the sleeve I get to home same day, but the bypass you have to stay the night.

Anyone got to go home same day?

On 1/6/2024 at 7:58 AM, SleeveToBypass2023 said:

Mine met me at a heavier weight than I am now (I was 270 when I met him) and he absolutely LOVED it. He's a "chubby chaser" and likes girls between sizes 14 - 30 lol Fortunately I like my body curvy, just not like I was (or even am now) so he's lucky that I'm ok with getting to a size 14 or 16. Otherwise he'd be outta luck.

My guy likes me thicker but recently I showed him a picture before I had my daughter and I was 210, size 12 and his eyes got huge (like a hubba hubba LOL). So yes I think he would like my new body where I was smaller too. however I do get nervous he will think I am too skinny. But only time will tell!

We're about 6months out from your last post, how has your progress been?

9 minutes ago, Ashley Amari said:

Thanks Amber. I took the IUD out mid October. I went from spotting to bleeding. The plan was to go without bc for 3 months but I was over the prolonged bleeding and ended up trying a bc pill. It worked for 2 weeks then the bleeding returned. Now I’m attempting again to go 3 months again without anything and praying my body responds.

maybe the estrogen is not high enough?

On 10/23/2023 at 7:15 PM, Ashley Amari said:

I’ve now been spotting/ bleeding for 100 days straight. As I sit here in tears I’m really wondering should I just had stayed fat with hair or the alternative bald and bleeding. (My hair has now come out also) I’m so tired. I’ve seen 2 different gyno, had three ultrasounds, seen several NP and nobody has an explanation as to why I will not stop bleeding. Ok that’s my rant for today 😭 .

I would take out the IUD. your body needs to stabilize and just do its thing for a while. Just try no BC at all for a month or 2 and see if that helps you regulate.

my boobies are so sad after breastfeeding two kids. I wear a 42C and I imagine once I am 1yr post op I will be down to a B. I barely wear bras now I usually wear bralettes now. Once my weight stabilizes I am going to get a mommy makeover with a Tummy Tuck and breast augmentation.

OH YES! I am still pre-op and I HAVE to be at the goal weight the surgeon gave me of 275 on my surgery date, so I gotta make sure I stay in check! I went back to tracking, eating Proteins first and doing my 30min of activity 3x a week. It came back off but I still have 19 more days till surgery day!

I have people telling me this now! I told my bosses that I was going to do WLS because of the time I will be taking off of work and my male boss was like your SO is going to be so happy, your going to be a bazillion pounds lighter by summer. I literally was like you know my SO met me curvy? He backtracked, but he is pretty openly fatphobic. I was pretty shocked by that comment....

1 hour ago, Jimboc said:

Update: due to unforseen reasons(surgeon had foot surgery) my surgery date was rescheduled...I'm now having surgery on Jan 30,2024...pre-op visit will be 16th...guessing that's when 2wk diet will start....I already started doing Protein Shake for breakfast..light lunch like cup of broth and spinach frittata...then regular dinner....can't wait to get this healthy life started...thanks

yay! glad that your getting it soon! my pre-op appt is the 16th too!

3 minutes ago, ChunkCat said:

Please do feel free to reach out and message me!! Even if you just want to vent. LOL I have Discord and FB and Instagram too, if you prefer one of those platforms instead.

Thank you for the kind words. I really believe mindset shapes a lot of our experiences in life. **** happens and we can't always account for that, but we can to a certain extent control how we BE with it and that can make all the difference...

This is the only social media I have LOL but I will definitely message you.

Thank you for this, your words came seriously at the right time!

8 hours ago, FreeingMe said:

Thank you

God, it sounds like you have been through a lot, but that is a testament to you that you are here and still fighting, regardless of the horrible things others have put you through. You deserve better than all of that, so I am glad you got out and you have found love for someone else and for yourself.

I hope your surgery goes well! x

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Thank you!

15 hours ago, ChunkCat said:

You know, now that you ask it, I DID enjoy myself more!! LOL I had to be very contemplative with eating which translated into more thoughtful conversation while we ate. We've been married 17 years and sometimes you get lazy and end up in that zone where you just shovel food in and get out of there. But I can't do that now!! So I pick places to go more carefully, and we've committed to putting our phones away during our meals together, so we get more face time and I really connect not only with the people I'm with, but the food I'm eating too!

I'm two months post op now. I've eaten out at a lot of different places and we did a road trip to visit family for the holidays. That might have been a nightmare food-wise for some people, but I just packed Snacks and Protein supplemental food that I could eat if we hit a 3 hour mark and no one else was ready to eat. And we even ate at a pizza bar (not my favorite choice even before surgery) and I just got the grilled wings with a mild sauce. I've found that eating out is easier than I thought it would be. I even go eat pho---I just ask them to leave the noodles out and I eat the beef and bean sprouts and enjoy the broth. We still eat mostly at home but I was really relieved when traveling to see that our enjoyment of travel was not affected by my new diet! Also, we seem to share our food more because for me, satiety comes from trying a variety of things (always has) and now I just stick to a few bites of this and that while I meander my way through the meal and it is nice and relaxing and very enjoyable. You will still be able to enjoy yourself, it is all in how you approach it!!

I will definitely being reaching out to you if I need encouragement! I have been thinking about the "after life" of this surgery and how it will look like.

I am so proud of you having a positive experience with still enjoying all the things you can enjoy even if its smaller amounts or having to tweak what you eat. This makes me excited!

Me and my SO have 3 kids and been together 4 years so I totally get the shoveling food down to get it done. LOL

On 11/22/2023 at 12:13 PM, ChunkCat said:

@Arabesque I just want you to know remembering your posts about eating speed over the months have really helped me post op! I thought I was taking small sips and small bites but my body taught me that what I thought was small was not small enough, so to half it. That helped immensely. I also take my time chewing like you suggest, and put my fork down, and every bite or two check to see if I'm feeling any signals of fullness yet, which are hard to feel this early out so I really have to listen to them.

Yesterday was my first time eating out since my surgery. I got mahi mahi. I was worried I'd be bored while my partner ate this huge salad with salmon, but it turns out that the time it took them to eat that whole salad was the time it took me to eat a few ounces of the fish and a few green Beans and asparagus. I wasn't bored waiting for them, if anything I was bored of chewing because the mahi mahi turned out to be drier and denser than my post surgery taste buds like! LOL We were done at the same time! But it really made me wonder about all the posts I see here of not enjoying eating out anymore because three bites and you are done in 5 minutes. They must not be eating the way the dietician in my program has drilled into our heads. I felt completely normal eating out, I just didn't drink with my meal and I had more leftover than most people would. The server didn't bat an eye. It was a lovely experience and made me feel relieved I could still enjoy it post surgery, even in the soft food stage!

Anyway, all that to say thank you for the great advice you (and everyone else) give to us newbies. It DOES make a difference! I'm really grateful for it. I feel like I'm ahead of the curve...

this makes me feel so much better! The times that my SO and I are able to sneak away on a date night I was worried I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself. We have fun trying new food and were that gross couple that feed each other LOL! I still wanted to be able to enjoy myself but it sounds like since you were eating slower there might have been more conversation? Did you feel like you enjoyed yourself more?

11 hours ago, GMaJen said:

Mostly people will tell me how good I look, then basically say to enjoy it while I can because of the people they know who had the surgery and are fat again.

What in the actual eff! that is horrible! Very very select ppl know I am having this surgery because of the backlash.

Happy to have you!!!

I have been overweight most of my life, my first diet was at 12 with Weight Watchers because mom kept telling me that If I lost 20lbs I would be so pretty (it was never about health). My dad would tell me that I would never have a boyfriend because I was fat or I would struggle with acceptance because of my weight.

I did not have my first relationship until I was 20 because of my self poor image ( I was about 240lbs at this point). Ended up marrying him and he was the most emotionally, verbally, sexually, physically and mentally abusive human being. We moved across the country and that's when the abuse got worse. He would degrade me and tell me no on would want me because I was disgusting and he had to imagine other women while we were intimate. We ended up having a daughter together and she was the best thing that's ever happened to me, but after 10 long years I left with my daughter when she was 18months! When I finally left I was 325lbs.

Since then It opened me to a whole new world opened up for me and my daughter. I was able to focus on just us and my health was something that I needed to control- I started working out, eating right and got down to 240lbs met the love of my life and now I have happy weight. He is the best thing that has every happened to my daughter and I. Her bio-dad is not in her life, and we ended up having a son together and I shot back up to 297lbs. After some health scares with my family I decided WLS is the way to go!!

I am set to have the Sleeve on the 24th!