cajun

Way to go Nick. You're a great loser!!!!:thumbup1:

I have suffered terribly with gas from the CO2. I've only been sipping Water and even the smallest sip hurts going down. Is this normal?

Yep, normal. Congrats on joining the loser's bench. Just keep on with tiny sips, burp between each sip if you can, to relieve the pressure. Your tummy has been cut on and it will be objecting for a few days...just be kind to it and it will get better real soon. Warm liquids sometimes feel better than cold ones.

AWESOME! Way to go! Have a great time in Barbados...you deserve it!

I agree. My insurance would not cover it so I just saved up and went to Dr Aceves. It was so much simpler than jumping through insurance company requirements anyway.

Dr Aceves' program is fantastic.

Dear my friends, I am 3 months and one week out, being sleeved on 29 October 2009. I lost so far 50.4 pounds. I am feeling great. But I still have to lose 42 pounds to have a NORMAL BMI which is my dream? Do u think this is possible? and from your experience what do u suggest to make my dream come true? I Love you all.

I eat almost everything by the time being but little. I do cheat sometimes unfortunately but nothing to be compared with pre-surgery era. I can take a chocolate snack once a week:thumbdown:.

ABSOLUTELY. In fact, at the rate you are going, it is 99.99% CERTAIN at the rate you are losing! Keep up the great work!:thumbup1:

There are 30 cc's in one ounce. Those little plastic medicine cups that they give you medicine in are USUALLY one ounce cups.

I'm getting rid of what I "undergrow" as I go down. I did "take up" some things that could have seams sewn up to make them last longer, but not am saying bye bye to them too as I approach onderland. 204 this morning...getting excited to see 100.

Hey Tiff,

Thanks for that and so glad you're feeling better. A question for the board; what's this about raw veggies? I mean, I get it, I understand why we should stay away from raw cellulose overall but... really? I wasn't a veggie maniac "before" but I hate to think I'll not be able to have salad and/or most raw vegetables from here on out. Any thoughts?? Thanks guys.

Carol

I've been eating spinach salad. Chew well. Not having any problem. But it's so soft...not like carrots or broccoli.

There was one poster quite a while back who ate coconut, and ended up with it stuck in her stomach in a ball. She had to have it surgically removed. So I would say, I'd try only small amounts at a time, of any tough veggie, and chew chew chew.

Continuous spinal anesthesia has been studied and found effective for about ten years. See:

Continuous spinal anesthesia/analgesia for periope... [Obes Surg. 2000] - PubMed result

Also:

" A recent abstract (133) looked at patient-controlled

thoracic epidural analgesia after gastric bypass sur-

gery and found that it provided adequate postopera-

tive pain control with few side effects and no serious

complications. Most of the patients were able to start

oral intake on the second postoperative day and were

discharged home by the fourth postoperative day.

Another study on thoracic epidural analgesia (134)

found distinct advantages over morphine patient-

controlled analgesia (PCA) in providing a superior

quality of analgesia and shortening the duration of

postoperative ileus. Continuous spinal analgesia has

been used for postoperative analgesia after open VBG

with demonstrated safety, efficacy, and a small inci-

dence of morbidity (116)."

source: According to the National Institutes of Health,

Dr Aceves uses this, and I was so glad to have it...I had immediate pain control, no side effects.

Tiff, thanks for the great reference. sleep well tonight!

Have you tried Jay Robb Whey Protein Shake? I like it, no aftertaste. You can buy a single use packet at GNC, to try it out instead of buying a huge amount. I mix it in lactaid fat free milk, and add a splash of banana extract.

Great news Tiff. I knew you would do great...you are a strong woman! And all the love and support you've received is just a return on all you have given!!!

Take good care of yourself!

I had this happen about two weeks ago when I tried to take my Multivitamin horse pill for the first time since surgery. Now I take a crushed version of the Multivitamin prescribed by my pcp. The tummy just did not like that pill. I've taken tylenol with no problem. Vitamins are nasty though, and I guess the sleeve knew that.

The acid in your esophagus leaves it irritated for about 24 hours so it is recommended to "back up" the "diet" for a day or so, and since I was on regular food, I "backed up" to mushy foods for 24 hours after I vomited. In your case, you should only be on clear fluids anyway, and NO solid pills at all, as the others have said. Your sleeve is freshly done, and you could cause a leak by putting anything else in it. My surgeon recommends clears for 10 days, then full liquids for 10 days, then mushy foods for 10 days before going on regular foods. Be sure you are following your surgeon's recommendations, so you don't end up having a leak, re-hospitalization, and other severe consequences.

I know some surgeons allow their patients to have pills and regular foods sooner after surgery, but my personal opinion is, I'd rather be careful than sorry afterwards. I'm glad my surgeon is conservative about this issue. Complications are not only VERY expensive, they can also cost you your life. So be careful!!!

Thanks everyone ! ! !

I went today and had my pre-op labs and paperwork done.

I check in at 6:00am, and then surgery is at 7:30am. I'm the first one in due to my latex allergy. They want to make sure the OR is latex-free and that they get me done first so I can have as much time as I need in recovery.

I'm really hoping to be home by tomorrow afternoon sometime. I truly appreciate all of your well wishes and prayers. I don't know what I'd do without y'all ! ! !

I'll text someone as soon as I can to let y'all know I'm okay.

Tiff,

You're probably all done and in recovery room by now...just wanted you to know I've been praying for a smooth surgery and recovery today, for you. Hope you are back home and resting well soon!

Steph:

Nope, I'm not a hypochondriac. I'm kinda the opposite...what, me worry? type of person.

Thanks for your post.

Hey Tiff!

So sorry to hear about your gallbladder... :-( I just found your post tonight. I will be praying for you. Hope the surgery goes well and that you have a quick recovery...

Believe it or not I just returned from the doctor and he had me do a ultrasound on my gallbladder and said that mine is almost totally full of gallstones... :drool5:

I don't know what I should. :thumbup1:

The doctor here in Nicaragua says that I need to have it. The sooner the better. I don't know if that is what I should do or wait until I am having problems... I feel fine. I haven't had any pain or anything...

Oh well... I guess I'll have to figure it out.

Let us know when you get back from the hospital. Praying for you!

Charity,

It is so much safer to have it as elective surgery, instead of waiting until you get all inflamed and in pain, with abnormal lab values and possibly pancreatitis. I'd schedule it asap if I were you, and get it done while you are stable.

Congratulations to you! I can totally relate to the light headed and blah feeling, nothing hurts but man do i feel blah. . .i've been doing the Vitamin thing, the Protein thing, the Water thing, and still feel really light headed. . .noticed however my pulse doesn't go over 48 though, could be a problem huh? It was over 76 whenever i was fatter, now that i've lost some weight it's back down to my earlier years. . back when i was younger it never went over 50 . . . lowest in the high 30's, highest in the high 40's . . . probably something to tell the doc about you think?????

THINONEDAY:

A pulse under 48 with the kind of symptoms you are having, when your normal is in the 70's, is an emergency situation and you should seek medical attention immediately. SOMEONE ELSE SHOULD DRIVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL...YOU COULD PASS OUT. Please let us know how you are doing.

Nikki:

YOU GO GIRL!!!!

AWESOME JOB!

YOU WILL BE SKINNY IN NO TIME FLAT!

Youknowit: Hooray for you!!! Welcome to the loser's bench! Keep on sipping and walking and burping...things will just get better and better.

All of my pain went from below my sternum, in my stomach, and then it shot across my left rib and up to my left collarbone and hit where the collarbone and shoulder meet. It's a sharp, gnawing, constant pain. Not throbbing or thready.

Yesterday, the pain started radiating under both sides of my abdomen/ribs, and then up to my left collarbone and shoulder again.

Tiff, be sure they've checked out your pancreas too. Pancreatitis can result from gb inflammation and it causes more left sided abd and left shoulder pain. GB pain is predominately central or to the right.

A P-amylase test is what you need to evaluate the pancreas.

Another update:

Went in saw Dr. R this morning, and did another ultrasound in office this morning, and my gallbladder inflammation and irritation seems to be significantly decreased. He attributes this to the fact that I haven't eaten anything other than Soup, crackers, and some sliced chicken breast for the last 5 days. So, he thinks the surgery will be a bit easier.

Surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning. I go in tomorrow for labs, pre-admission paperwork, chest xray, and ekg.

Thank you all for your well wishes, and prayers. I feel better knowing that Dr. R is going to be doing the surgery, and that he is confident that I will okay through this. He's happy with my weightloss thus far, and even told me I could lose more if I wanted to. I just giggled at him, and said, I'm happy where I'm at.

He said just the fact that I'm 122lbs lighter than I was will definitely make surgery and recovery easier on my body. He seems to think that I'll be able to go home late Thursday as long as I can keep fluids down, and there are no complications.

Many thanks and I'll update once we get home or on Friday.

Great news, Tiff. You have already proven that you are a Wonder Woman. I'm sure you'll do great. All will be well.

@TiffanyIsMajor ~ Please do not let me discourage you. I have developed some of my old habits back and it slowed down my weight loss. I can still lose weight easily and I am still easily satisfied. As a matter of fact when I started back exercising I lost 3lbs the first week. You are the decider of your own fate when it comes to losing this weight. Like I said, I went back to some of my bad habits that I'm trying to break again! You WILL BE FINE TRUST ME! Just when you don't want bread or sugar, don't make yourself eat it. It's been almost 2 yrs for me, so when it gets easier to eat, you have to control yourself more. I am still going to lose weight, but do to poor eating choices I have slowed the process down. Just stick to your guns! I'm so sorry to scare you and NO I am not offended. I have lost and gained more than weight throughout this entire ordeal. I've changed completely as a person and as that happened, the weight didn't matter to me as much. It took me almost a yr to eat a hamburger again after surgery, something I should have left alone completely, but poor choices!

@cajun I think that's what I am going to start doing. Cooking all my food on the weekends and then freeze it. I use ziplock bags alot. I think it has alot to do with my will also. LOL! Thanks for the help love!

"give me art and no one gets hurt"...???are you an artist?

I oil paint some...love it!!!!!

It is good to have different people share their varied experiences, thanks for sharing yours.

I sure did not have that kind of pain, and am sorry that you did. I was a little sore, about a 4 /10 on the pain scale, but was given epidural pain meds regularly. Maybe that masked the pain and it would have been worse without it. I just love toradol. No narcotic side effects and better pain relief than demerol in my personal experience.

I did get really tired about day 3 in the hospital, and when it was time for the next pain med dose, got all teary and had a sort of "melt down" with the combination of fatigue and discomfort...but got "juiced up" fast and recovered. As you say, it was all worth it, especially as you see the pounds melt away!:laugh0::scared0:

I bought a small food scale at Walmart prior to surgery. I still use it at times.

I use small saucers to eat off of and tiny appetizer forks. Especially at first, this helps keep the bites small.

I already had a mortar and pestle to grind up my pills. I still use it daily for my Calcium horse pill.

I had a regular sized blender and use that for my shakes...decided I don't need to buy a single serving blender since my regular blender works fine.

It's helpful to have a lot of the small plastic gladware containers for storing food/lunches. They hold about 3 ounces, perfect for a meal.

Make good use of the freezer or you'll be throwing away a lot of food!

I did not have a lot of bruising. Just 5 small suture lines on my abdomen. They healed fast. Nothing to worry about in my book.