Tiffykins

Hi Yolanda and welcome to VST. You've been through a lot and the sleeve will give you the life you really love living. At least that's been my experience thus far. Good luck with your surgery, and keep us posted on your progress.

I am definitely a meat eater/lover, but when I had a couple bouts of meat not working for me, I talked to a vegan friend of mine. She introduced me to seitan and tempeh. I tried the tempeh didn't like it that much. The seitan was much easier for me to tolerate, and gave me good Protein. At first, I was really hesitant to even try it, but it was a good option for me temporarily. I bought all the stuff, and waited on trying it for a long time. I did eat the seitan for about a week here and there to help with my protein. I know I could never get my steak/potato husband to convert so I didn't stock up on it, or even attempt to trick him into eating it.

Hi Brenda, and welcome to VST. I agree with the above poster about the band. I had one as well, but it only took a few months for me to develop severe complications. Life with the sleeve is fabulous. I'm just over 9 months out, and am loving life. I weighed 270lbs pre-op, and had zero health issues as well, but knew they would be creeping up on me in a few years. Today, I'm weighing in at 130lbs, and that's only the physical improvements. The mental and emotional improvements are astronomical. If my insurance would have not paid for my revision, I would have found a way to finance a trip to see Dr. Aceves. The facilities alone, and accommodations that are provided helped me make my choice when I was waiting on insurance approval. I wanted a full service hospital with a full ICU, blood bank, and emergency services in the event of a complication. I have high standards in care, and outpatient or surgical center is not enough for me. Best wishes in your research. Keep us posted as things progress for you ! ! !

As I approach my 9 month post-op mark, I am trying to maintain my current loss. I won't deny having trouble maintaining, but I am doing my very best to quit losing as I am in the normal BMI range, and I feel great at my current weight. I'm technically 20 pounds below my goal weight, but my ideal weight for my height and frame is anywhere between 114-129 pounds. Living life post weight loss surgery has changed me more than just the physical stuff. Mentally, I feel better, emotionally, well that's debatable because of the hormone flux that we endure when we lose large amounts of weight, but for the good news, I no longer seek comfort in food. I literally eat to live instead of living to eat. I eat anything and everything I want just in moderation. I still eat Pringles and Snickers, but instead of eating the entire tube of Pringles, 5 satisfy me, instead of a King-size Frozen Snickers, 1 little Fun size bar cures my chocolate fix. It's really pretty fabulous. With the surgery I had, they removed about 75% of my stomach and with removing the stretchy part of the stomach (fundus) the hormone that causes hunger called Ghrelin is removed as well . I eat about 1 cup of solid food per meal, and I eat 4 times a day, with some snacks on some days. I honestly eat between 1100-1200 calories, about 65grams of carbs, and over 80 grams of protein per day without the use of protein supplements. So, by no means am I malnourished, or starving myself. My post-op lab work has been perfect, my resting heart rate has now dropped to normal levels, and I am more active. If I wasn't "healthy" or if I were "so sick", I believe my labs, and energy levels would reflect that. I've had several comments of what I would like to believe is genuine concern such as "I've never seen your face so thin" "you look sick". Well, no one has ever seen me under 200 pounds for the last 12 years. However, I recall so many comments from family and friends such as " you're such a beautiful girl, now if you could just lose that extra weight you'd be gorgeous." or "she's got such a pretty face" or " it's not too hard to just work out, and push yourself away from the table." "no one is going to marry you with as fat as you are" (boy were they wrong on that one, I married an amazing man), so what gives? Either you love me fat, or skinny, or keep the insensitive comments to yourself. Some of you may wonder why I'm posting this, honestly I'm just tired of the comments from people that are supposed to love me the most. Not to mention, the fact that they seem to forget that they made just the opposite of their comments to me for many years. Literally, I was 185 when I graduated high school, 237 pounds the day I delivered Caysen in June 1998, so of course, I'm not going to look the same 15 years later, and 140 pounds smaller from my heaviest weight. I started the weight loss surgery journey at 270 pounds, and today I'm weighing 130 pounds. I've literally lost another human being or a little more than half of my former self. I'm not bragging or gloating by any means. I am damn proud of my success, and I am not ashamed of my choice to have weight loss surgery to use as a tool to get me to my goal weight, and help me maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. No one can honestly know the struggles of obesity until they have been there. No one can tell me that I made the wrong choice, and no one will bring me down. I haven't ever felt this amazing in my life. I can run around the backyard with Lil C, I can work out for over an hour without my entire body aching, I can walk through the mall for hours without getting winded, I can wear normal size clothing, I can fit into a doctor's office chair without worrying about if I'm going to have trouble getting out of it. I can fit into a booth at a restaraunt without having to scoot the table over closer to John and Caysen. So, whether you like that I'm not fat anymore, or you're concerned about my health, I wish you would of cared about my health when I was morbidly obese instead of worrying about my pretty face. If you have a friend or family member struggling with obesity, don't tell them it's easy to just workout and eat less, don't tell them they have a pretty face, tell them that you love them, and you want them to get healthy so you can have them in your life for as long as possible. Encourage them, educate them on good nutrition, be an example not an enabler, and above all support them if they choose to make the very life-changing decision to have weight loss surgery. When they lose weight, celebrate with them, when they struggle because believe me it's still a struggle even with surgery, encourage them, and reassure them that they can successful. Just my thoughts for the day.

Best wishes on your surgery, and good thoughts for you ! ! !

Honestly, the long term risks of being fat, and dealing with co-morbidities, and poor quality of life got rid of my fears of the sleeve. I had a band, and it's not reversible either. It's removable, but once it's wrapped around your stomach, suture to your stomach, your anatomy is forever changed. As far as the long term risks, there are tens of thousands of patients that have gastrectomies, partial or complete meaning they lose some or all of their stomach due to cancer or ulcerative conditions. I found that most lived very normal, functional, healthy lives. They did have other nutritional issues because their stomach was diseased before surgery. So, we really can't compare these situations completely, but it gives some perspective on how people live without their stomachs. I wouldn't want to live another day being fat knowing what I know now. I swear I could hear my arteries hardening before my surgery because of my eating habits. I knew I would increase my years on this Earth getting healthy, and avoiding obesity related health issues.

I absolutely love reading your updates. I'm at a pivotal point in my journey. While I'm ecstatic with my results, and how I look now, I'm really tired of talking about it. I'm just ready to live life and kind of forget talking about it with people who want to be supportive, but I want to scream "there's so much more to me than weightloss". It's weird time in my little world. I hope the next 7 months bring you much joy and success ! ! !

Best wishes for an uneventful surgery, and smooth recovery. Post an update when you can.

Be safe in your travels, enjoy yourself, and we'll all be waiting for an update from you.

She developed a leak that still hasn't healed at this point, and is still under the supervision of her surgeon and medical team.

Personally, childbirth was way worse than my band or revision. My revision was probably the least painful surgery I've endured. I had the normal gas pain, and a little bubble got trapped up near my collarbone. But, abdominal pain was honestly nothing. I was up walking, talking and laughing with the nurses. Now, for my gb surgery, that one had the most upper abdominal pain. The main area for my pain was where the port was located. During my revision, my surgeon took down and removed tons of scar tissue and adhesions so I'm shocked it didn't hurt more. Everyone's pain threshold is different, and it really varies. Most of Dr. Aceves patients refer to having little discomfort, and mainly gas pains from what I can remember reading. The drains come out before they discharge you from the hospital.

Yeah it's been working lately. John got called in to investigate a major accident on base. He got home and had to finish the report on the computer until after 3am this morning. So, I went to bed before midnight last night. I'll probably be in later tonight, around 10pm CST unless my shows are repeats then I may be in earlier.

Usually the staples line just heals over, and is covered by scar tissue. I would call my doctor today that is too odd. Where did you find the staple? Did it come out in the drain tube?

I'm honestly not sure why it's recommended to go off the time-released meds for a short period of time. I also had a very different recovery than the average sleeve patient due to a complicated. I just know that I've read on here from several different patients that their surgeons required that their meds be switched from time-released to the regular form for a period of time.

I know I shared with a few of you about the low blood pressure issues I've been having for the last few weeks. I finally broke down and went to my PCP yesterday because honestly I having up to 6 episodes per day. My PCP believe I have developed orthostatic hypotension, but it's source/reason is unknown at this point. He order a huge panel of labs, and the results came back today. Everything is normal there is not one bodily function that is not within normal limits, or even low normal. He said my bloodwork looked really great. He also did a urinalysis, and pregnancy test. Both were negative. I have a follow up next Thursday, and for the next 6 days I have to keep a diary of when these episodes occur in attempts to find a trend. A referral to a cardiologist is in the future if the episodes increase, or don't decrease over the next week. I have been instructed to increase my Fluid intake, add full sugar gatorade/powerade, and to stop limiting my sodium intake, but to not go overboard. I had been watching sodium intake to avoid Water weight/retention. The episodes I'm experiencing are almost fainting spells, dizzyness, and fatigue. I can sleep for 9-10 hours a night, and still feel drained. It's getting warmer here finally so I think that I'm going to start going to walk around the track or soccer field just to get out of the house, and increase my activity. I'm not allowed to take any type of cold/cough medication. This all started a couple weeks after my gb surgery on Feb 4th, and I just kept thinking it would get better. Well, I had to finally break down and tell John because the episodes started occurring more frequently, and I couldn't ignore the danger I was putting myself in being home by myself.

These episodes are almost a fainting, passing out moment with dizzyness, and confusion. My BP was 90/60 when my average BP over my last 3 visits with my surgeon was 115/78. The episodes mainly occur when I get up from a sitting to a standing position. I start walking and bam I almost pass out. It's pretty unnerving because they happen randomly. I've had it happen a few times in Wal-Mart, and I am just walking around the store, no bending over, no sitting/standing. Cheesy poofs are Cheetos, not the crunchy kind, but the puffy kind. I actually prefer the off-brands to the Cheeto brand. They are the best. My favorite is when I leave the bag open for a couple of hours and they get kind of stale. Gross, I know, but it's true.

Not possible. You may not have as much swelling as other patients post-op. Keep sipping, drinking fluids, walking, and resting when needed.

Thought I would chat a bit tonight.

Time released capsules are not recommended immediately post-op. I was able to take pills as long as they were no larger than a regular M&M. I was sent home with liquid Lortab for pain. Definitely talk to your surgeon and pharmacist regarding your meds, and your new tummy.

I use rubbing alcohol on my tense calf and thigh muscles. I can't remember if I had this issue post-op early out, but I do get crampy, charley horse things now. I just stick my leg over the tub and dump some rubbing alcohol down my leg and massage it. I always follow up with a bunch of lotion to prevent itchy, dry skin.

Aleve has been fabulous for me. I take the Aleve liqui caps without issue. I've also taken the liquid adult Tylenol, but that didn't settle with my stomach very well. Not sure why, but the Aleve has never caused me any issues. I have arthritic knees, and when it gets cold, or super rainy, I have to take something, and Tylenol doesn't cut it. One of the big reasons I chose the sleeve over RNY for my revision is due to my knee issue. I wasn't supposed take NSAIDs with my band, but I did take children's Motrin for pain when I had the band. I was cleared for Aleve at 6 weeks out when I had a mild UTI, and I needed to take something.

Hey Fluff, and welcome ! ! ! Congrats on taking those first few steps to a new and healthier life. I absolutely sleeve, and I had the band. I'm a little biased because the band was literal hell for me. I'll probably bash the band until my last dying breath due to everything I went through. Anyways, many cheers to you. Keep posting, and let us know how things progress with UHC. Best wishes ! ! !

Ohhh, I'm not sure, I'll have to ask when I see him on Thursday. Thanks for the tip. So, far today, I've had zero episodes and yesterday I only had 3. I worked out pretty vigorously yesterday, and today was pretty active this morning. I refuse to work out on the weekends, but maybe the working out yesterday helped me today. I'm not sure. I found Sobe lifewaters at Dollar General 10 for $10, so I loaded up on those because regular Water is just crappy lately. I've been tanking up on Gatorade, and grape juice. I ate A LOT yesterday, and felt really great. I hit close to 1500 calories which is the first time. Grant it, I ate a lot of nutritional empty calories, but cheesy poofs are my new sleeve crack addiction. It was a good day today. I hope tomorrow is just as good.