warrior68

Ok So I was sleeved on 3/1 at 7am, things have been great so far, no problems at all. I have noticed that since the surgery when I go to the bathroom it is very watery diarrhea, and I for sure will not even think of passing gas without sitting on the toilet. I'm just wondering if this is normal for most, some, or even a few others? Does it get better once I go back on to regular food?

I just want to give a HUGE thank you to my surgeon Dr DiBenedetto of Western Bariactrics of NY, this guy has been spot on 100% perfect with everything. Honestly the only painful day I had was day one right after my 7am surgery, and a small portion of day two was a bit uncomfortable, I stopped even using the night night button (morphine drip) after day one, and have taken no pain killers since then. Dr "D" and his staff know there stuff, and do a amazing job. Dr Dibenedetto and his partner do the sleeve with a slightly dif process than most, and had a surgeon that is known in the sleeve surgery as a pioneer of the process flown in to observe during my surgery, long story short this other "pioneer of the process, or guru" is now going to be doing his sleeve surgeries the way Dr "D" and his Partner do it now. I feel very lucky that I had three well trained surgeons in the room during my surgery, and I am sure the three of them all shared knowledge on each portion of the surgery, which may be why I have had very little pain since the surgery, and I am pretty much pain free at this point unless I move the wrong way. I have not had the bad gas pains people talk about, I did have some small gas pains that went away with a couple burps, and farts, then I was fine. I can already sleep on my side with no pain whatsoever, and I move around extremely well. I am still on the clear liquids diet, but will be moving to full liquids in two more days, then about 10 days until I get some mushies. I feel like I could do mushies right now, but Dr "D" says its best run the full course on liquid diets portion before moving to mushies, he is very matter of fact in everything he says, so I feel he must have his reasons.

I had my Surgery the other day, one of my buddies with had by pass 4 years ago stopped to see me, he was down to 190 lbs, at 6'3", he looked great! I asked him about the extra skin, he said it was there for a while, then he lifted up his shirt, and but if you work out and keep at it, it goes away! Of course he said this with a huge smile because he has no more extra skin, and did not have surgery to remove it.

I had surgery on Tuesday March 1st, and was released Friday March 4th, I think if I had pushed it I could have been released sooner. I think my surgeons thoughts on this are, if Insurance will cover "X" amount of days when no complications are addressed, lets use those days and make sure you are well along on you healing process, with no problems of any kind before we let you go.

I find it hard to believe that on day 5 of Post op I feel Incredible. If you have read my previous postings, I quit smoking after 32 years a few weeks, maybe a month prior to surgery, took the nicotine patch off the day before starting the liquid diet, and went through the 5 day liquid diet with no, nicotine, or food, and did not cheat, it sucked hard core! However, on the liquid diet I was allowed to have my oh so precious coffee, once I had surgery they did not give me any coffee at the hospital, only deface tea, eww nasty stuff, wouldn't drink it if you paid me. So now I am 5 days post op, no smoking, no Patches, no caffeine, and no food for 10 days and I have never felt better in my life! I am home since yesterday evening, oh how great it felt to take a full shower rather than washing myself down with wet wash clothes at the hospital, oh how great it felt to sleep in my own bed ( those hospital beds were killing my back), Oh how great it is to pee in the toilette rather than the pee jar, followed by applause, "oh you Pee'd, Great for you!, How much did you pee?" I will address this in another post that is more fitting, but I need to make a very strong shout out to my surgeon Dr DiBenedetto of Western Bariactrics of NY, this guy has been spot on 100% perfect with everything.

Ok I had surgery Tuesday morning at 7am, everything has gone even better than expected, so no complaints in that area. I will say that after the leak test I was so excited to get some ice cubes, I mean I have never been so excited over frozen water before! Now today they forgot my breakfast tray, which was probably similar to last nights dinner tray, some kind of broth that could not be indentified by taste, SF jello, a cup of tea, and a glass of water with lemonade crystal light single on the side. Needless to say I didnt really miss the breakfast tray, but I did ask to make sure they didnt skip my lunch tray, well the nurse took pitty on me and hooked me up with two Sugar Free Popsicles, I scarfed those things down about as fast as my new little tummy would let, they were so damn good, and flavorful compared to all the other crap I been getting in the hospital. All I can say for sure is, I'm supposed to be able to go home today, and on my way home I will be stopping at the store for some Sugar Free Popsicles.

Ok so today is the begining if day 3 after surgery, I was checked for leaks yesterday, and all is good there. The pain is not to bad, or at least to me its not, I mean yes I am sore, but its not killing me. Everything has gone very well so far, thanks to DR "D" and the staff here at the hospital.

I had surgery yesterday at 7am so I'm about 24 hours out now. The pain is not that bad, I have been about 5 walks, and I am looking forward to them getting this leak test done so I can have sip of water, WOW am I thirsty! I have been feeling a bit nauseous, but the keep giving me more anti nausea shots so I'm all good there. hopefully I'll be cleared to leave the hospital soon.

I didn't sleep much last night due to being so excited, I'm waiting for my parents to come pick me up, and take me to the hospital for a 7am surgery. I'll post again when the surgery is done.

I am scheduled for surgery in the morning. too! I have to be at the hospital at 6am, for a 7am surgery. Good luck!

OK I know the answer to these questions are diferent for each person, which is partially why I asking them, even though I have seen the answers in peoples personal post. Im going to be currious tomorrow to see where I fall as far as getting up and walking, drinking fluids, pain levels and so on. How long was it before you were up and walking the halls after your surgery, and how long was your first walk? How much pain were you in when you first came out of the anesthesia? How long was it before you were able to sip at some Water? When was water first offered to you? How long were you in the hospital for? Would you have stayed longer if you could? Once you went home how long was it before you could drive? How long did it take to get to a point where you could move around fairly well with only moderate discomfort? Thanks in advance.

I could hardly sleep last night, dozed off on the couch, went to bed for a couple hours, came back out to the couch, dozed off for a couple more hours. I finally gave up on sleeping and started doing more chores around the house to keep busy. The lack of sleep is not due to being nervous, but rather because I am so damn excited about finally getting to this point. I took me a lot of denials, appeals, arguing with my insurance to get to this point, gave up smoking, and have spent the last 4 days on nothing but liquids, Jello, and broth. As I sit here writing this I have less than 24 hours b4 I need to be at the hospital at 6am tomorrow for a 7am surgery. I am down from 306 to 292 from the past four days of the liquid diet, so although the liquid diet has not been easy at least it got me a head start on the weight loss. I have but one last hurdle to jump before tomorrows surgery, drink that damn Magnesium Citrate this afternoon, and deal with the effects of it. I am bringing my laptop to the hospital with me, so I will post as soon as I get out of post op, and into my room.

Ok so I quit smoking weeks ago, stopped the patch last Wednesday the 23rd, and started the liquid diet on Thursday the 24th. For the past four days I have been sitting around bored silly, I have been trying to keep busy with taking the dog for walks, cleaning the house, shoveling the driveway, roof raking, visiting Family and friends, and so on. I find that when I sit still I have this feeling of have I forgot something? or What the heck do I do now?, Cant eat, Cant have a smoke, already been for three walks, talked to everyone I wanted to, went shopping, read over my pre op papers again. Even as I sit and watch TV, or drive my car, I feel like something is missing, or I have forgotten something, I know a lot of this comes back to making the changes of not eating or smoking just to have something to do, but how long does this feeling last?

Stick with it, dont give in! I am starting day 4 of my 5 day pre op liquid diet, 3 atkins shakes a day, broth, Jello, that's it, nothing else! I'm not gonna lie it sucks! With me its not so much hunger pains as it is in my head. Last Wednesday I gave up the nicotine patch, and on Thursday morning I gave up food for the liquid diet, so its kind of a double whammy for me. I will say at least for me, that day 2 was the hardest, and most stressful so far.

Thanks for all the replys! I'm on the beginning of day four now, it has not been easy, I want to cheat so badly, however I dont want to get busted cheating, with my luck I would get busted. As far as things go right now, it seems to get easier each day, three atkins, a couple cups of broth, and a couple SF jello singles. I think at this point I have convinced myself that I can make it through all five days without cheating, although nothing is certain. I keep dreaming of a Bacon cheese burger, on a perfectly grilled roll, with lettuce, mayo, Jalapeno's, cheddar cheese.

I'm on day three of the liquid diet, 3 atkins shakes a day, and i have survived so far. I would be lying if I said I have not thought about cooking up a turkey burger, or even a 95% fat free Hamburger with no roll. I really cant see the harm in it, as long as its all Protein and no carbs what could it hurt? MY Sugeons office is closed for the weekend, so I cant really call and say, Hey can I eat a turkey burger with no roll? Did anyone here cheat on the liquid diet? Did the dr know? What kind of cheat did you do? Im loosing my mind here!

Day two was down right miserable, but now I'm on day three and trying to be optimistic about it. I keep saying, its only for a few days, just make it to Tuesday then everything will be ok. As I sit here reassuring myself every hour that I only have to make it till Tuesday I happened to mention that to a buddy of mine last night on the phone, he was quick to point out, " Yep on Tuesday you'll have your surgery and then you can be on the liquid diet minus the Protein shakes!" I saw the one post where the person said they were a bit constipated from the protein diet, and I have heard others say constipation is normal. I'm wondering if maybe there is something wrong with me, I have actually been having diarrhea, I wish I could feel constipated. Ok here I go to start day three, wish me luck, hopefully I dont yell at anyone today.

OMG I Gonna kill someone!! Today is day 2, day one went OK, why not day two? Up state NY is getting hammered with snow, my plow guy is as unreliable as ever so I got the snow blower out, Snow blower broke, so then I had to shovel the friggin driveway by hand, and my driveway is loooongg. Called the plow guy and told him off, called sears and told them the snow blower was a pile $hit, now I gotta figure out who else to tell off! There has to be something that I can eat that wont be considered a cheat, Jello, shmello, it sucks, Soup broth is not filling! I am trying to work through this, but I feel that if I dont find something to at least chew I'll ruin the whole thing bye going crazy on a pizza or something. Maybe if I were to just eat a turkey burger with cheese, no roll, no carbs, would that ruin the surgery? Im going out of my mind here

Ok so day one of five is behind me! Day one, while it was not fun, it wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. My Dr has me on 3 Atkins Advantage shakes a day, plus broth and Jello. I did the three shakes, two cups of broth, and two single serving sized sugar free jello. It was not a very difficult day, yes I was hungry, but I was able to quickly dismiss the hunger and move on. I kept busy all day long, took the dog for three walks of more than an hour a each, and I chewed a lot of gum. Over the next few days I'm going to keep myself busy by working getting everything in the house done that needs to be done so when I get home from surgery I wont have to do anything. Hopefully keeping busy will prevent me from wanting to eat, I wonder will today be as easy as yesterday? What will days 3, 4, and 5 be like? How did everyone else keep on tract with the liquid diet? I can only do so much cleaning and dog walking before I get bored and turn my focus to food.

I start my 5 day liquid diet on Thursday, 3 Atkins or Slim fast shakes a day, and as much sugar free Jello as I can eat. I'm not sure how I'm going to do on this liquid diet, it seems a bit strict to me. I do know for a fact that Wednesday night is going to be NY Strip steaks, Mashed potatoes, Corn on the Cobb, and ice cream for dessert. in the past week I have eaten some of the foods I will miss the most after surgery, Garbage plates, chicken wings, Natural casing hot dogs, Submarine Sandwiches, cheese burgers, and so on. Starting Thursday morning, no more of that junk food, Liquid diet for 5 days, then surgery on the 1st.

I have not been sleeved yet, but I have had a NG tube in the past due to my Crohns disease, it wasn't fun, and I'll leave it at that.

Could I have a copy please? adjustertom@gmail.com Thank you.

Just because I do not want a catheter does not mean I am not Committed to this surgery, If you knew half of the fight I had to go through to get to this point you would understand that. I spent over a year battling Insurance for a approval, and finally won, and that's the short version. I asked who else has had a catheter so I would know if it was 100% medically necessary, seems as though some say they had it, and some say they didn't, and there were some great post as to why they use the catheter. With all that being said, I have spoke to my surgeon, he says its not negotiable, and it has to happen. I'm going to let them do it, but the last thing I will say before I go under will be, be careful and please no catheter if it can be avoided. Just remember that what one person fears, the next may not, some people are afraid of heights, some are not, some people are afraid of spiders, others are not. Stop and think about what you say before you start to judge someone you dont even know, what their level of commitment may or may not be, and how successful they will or will not be.

Honestly, I am much more afraid of the catheter than the surgery at this point. I truly do not want a catheter, period end of conversation. I would much rather struggle to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom than have a catheter, no matter how bad the pain is. To respond to catheter or diaper question, give me the damn diaper! Its only for a couple hours, and I probably wont have to pee anyway. I think maybe this is a much more touchy subject with men than it is with women, almost all women I talk to are like, oh so what, no big deal, but all the guys I talk to are like, hey dont be sticking that damn tube in my junk. I just flat out do not want it, and if it MUST be done, I want it taken out long before I wake up. I really think this could become a deal breaker with me. I cant see where people would say its doesn't hurt, it has to hurt, not to mention is there bleeding and scaring in there after? No, No, Im in pain just thinking about it.

I went for my pre op, and a three hour eating class today, as March 1st approaches I get more and more excited to start my new lifestyle. I have only one problem with the whole thing, I just found out today that they will be inserting a catheter for my hospital stay! This is not something I signed on for! I was told I would have to talk to the surgeon about it, and believe me I plan on it! I can not think of a single medical reason to catheterize me? Has anyone else been told they have to have this done? Its a good thing they told me today, rather me waking up with tube coming out of me . I am not nervous about the surgery one bit, I have a great surgeon who I completely trust, however I am terrified of the catheter. The lady that told was like, oh its no big deal, you'll be out when they put it in anyways. I was like, yeah but are they gonna put me out to remove it? I am not happy about this at all.