Stacy160

I would think as soon as you hit the pureed stage, and then mushies if they're nice and soft and ripe. Heck, my favorite thing to eat on liquids was tomato soup. :biggrin0:

I couldn't really SEE the swelling, but I could feel it when I put pants on because it was much firmer, and didn't squish with the waistband like the plain old fat did. Probably took 2-3 weeks before I didn't feel that anymore. By then there was still some firmness around the biggest scar, but things were getting looser so it wasn't uncomfortable anymore.

Nope, no catheter...but at 44, being overweight, having had a huge child and now with a pretty significant pelvic floor weakness, when I gotta go, I gotta go! :scared0:

Me either, the entire time. They put anti-nausea meds in the IV, and I think I got shots of something too, I'm not sure. As far as actually waking up went, I was just really, really groggy and kept falling back asleep, but waking back up 'cause I had to pee so bad from all the IV fluids!

Not a DVD, but my doc copied my surgery to a thumb/zip drive for me. Yep, I've watched it and it's really cool... I just wish there was sound so I could hear the OR talk at the same time! :thumbup:

Good morning! HW - 258 SW - 246.4 LW - 194 Today - 191.6 (dang thing read 191 even two nights ago but I'll record today's)

I totally get ya! I just told my husband this morning that I think I've become obsessed with my collarbones. :scared0:

Isn't that the coolest thing? :scared0: LOL... YAY FOR YOU!!!

Well, that's just the way it works... the hospital, anesthesia, psychiatrist, etc., don't work for the doctor, so you pay them each individually. Not quite sure what there is to be angry about?? Just make sure you get receipts from them all.

Getting a what?

Good for you girl, way to be PROUD and STRONG!!!

Gooooooood Morning Everyone!!! It's a beautiful day here in mid-Michigan, let's get this thing started! HW - 258 SW - 246.4 LW - 196.4 (50 lbs. exactly since surgery, woo!!) Today - 194 even. Been straying a little too much lately, feel like I need to hit the 'reset' button and get my sleeve and my head back in the right place so I'm gonna try the 5-day pouch thing. Don't so much physically feel like I need to, but mentally just kind of want to so we'll see what happens. Have a great week everyone! :thumbup1:

Yep, looks like it's specifically excluded. Welcome to the club! Wheeeeee.... LOL. You should be able to apply your flex $$ to it.

Definitely! You shouldn't have any restrictions at this point. Have fun!

Thank you SO much for posting those, they give me hope! I was actually thinking of asking if anyone who looked like they were going to have batwings had some shrinkage further down the line. My arms also look like your first pic, at 5 1/2 months out and 62 lbs down (from my highest), with 36 - 48 lbs to go. If they skin was gone, they'd already be looking good but they're pretty not-so-pretty right now. Assuming you're doing the standard biceps and triceps exercises, but I'd be interested in knowing specifically what you've been doing too. Your arms look great!!

All I can offer is that even at only 4 months out, life is so totally normal... the only difference is that it's SOOOOO much easier to not eat bad things, and that we eat so much less than before. There are too many good things to list! As far as losing the stomach goes, what helped me was that I thought of my stomach as a toxic entity that needed to get out of my body. It made too much ghrelin, drove me to eat when I didn't need to, didn't tell me when I was full until I was stuffed so I was bloated and uncomfortable most of the time, and made me sick on a regular basis because of heartburn and reflux. Why would I miss that traitorous thing? Think of it as divorcing a cheating, abusive partner and move on to a healthy, productive life! You won't regret it. :thumbdown:

Good for you!! Doesn't it feel wonderful? It feels SO good to work hard and get just dripping-sweaty, then get cleaned up afterwards and feel fresh and energized. The hardest part is getting going and keeping it up regularly, but you're well on your way!!

I'm not sure if you were expecting anyone to not tell you the truth, but you've already answered your own question... the "truth" is different for different people. For me, I'd have been confortable sitting in class two or three days afterward, although would have been tired and not able to concentrate well. Probably at about a week it wouldn't have been a problem. My job is fairly physical and I went back 10 days later.

Mine's a 32, and at 4 months out I can definitely eat more than one boiled egg. I think he's talking about your initial capacity right after surgery (not that your stomach would let you eat a whole boiled egg at that point anyway LOL). Honestly, I wouldn't want it any bigger, although from what I've read the difference between a 32 and even a 40 is minimal. And no, there aren't any studies if long-term VSG in the elderly... but there are many, many people who have had full astrectomies for things like stomach cancer, who have gone on to live healthy, normal lives. If you search Tifffykins' posts, somewhere she's linked to studies such as those. :thumbup1:

I was still a little sore standing up at 3 days out, but was also out grocery shopping (just not lifting much) at that point also. Hard telling ahead of time how you'll feel, but you've got a good chance of being able to make it! :crying:

That's totally doable! I'd consider myself a moderate loser... not real fast, but not a slow loser either. I lost 20 lbs the first month and have been averaging about 10 a month since (I'm down an even 50 at four months and one week out).

I'm sorry again to be so blunt, but we've been through this before... your boyfriend's an asshead, you realize it, you know he's holding you back, and still you let him do it. Kick the jerk to the curb, get to know yourself, force yourself to be strong and take care of YOU, and then you'll have room in your life for a good, strong relationship (obviously, with someone else). Until then, you're enabling him to keep stomping you down.

Mark Pleatman, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Bariatric Surgeon Profile - Mark Pleatman MD His profile hasn't been updated, he's actually done closer to 400 sleeves. If you google him you can see his website too (it may be linked there on OH, I'm not sure). Self-pay price for a sleeve is $11,200. The $200 is for the initial consult, which my insurance actually paid for. The $11,000 covers his fee, the hospital fee, and anesthesia, all pre-op testing (the hospital stuff, he didn't require psych or anything), and two years of follow-up visits. I've been extremely pleased with the entire experience! :001_tt2:

With the possible exception of Ali, who's making a living hawking Biggest Loser products since the show and thus is probably able to continue her hours-long workouts every day and earn a living for doing it, every single contestant you see after the show, in subsequent seasons or whatever, has put on weight... some just enough to notice, some considerably. I would love to know how many of those people who stay out of the spotlight after the show do go on to have WLS... I know my surgeon has operated on a former BL contestant, but of course because of privacy laws, he can't say who. I'd LOVE to know.

My surgeon records all his procedures and offered to make a copy on a zip drive for me, which I took him up on. He also brought the removed part of the stomach out to show my husband when he talked to him after surgery LOL... not sure why he does that, but he does!