Search the Community

Today is day 97 after Gastric Sleeve surgery and I am down 80 pounds since I went under the knife. I fee; good, but not great. Still haven't gotten back my energy. To be fair, I spent a month on antibiotics for a post-op infection. This week I plan to start an exercise regimen that hopefully help with boosting my energy. My iron is a bit low and my B-12 is off the charts high. Vitamin D also low. I began using the MD patch for my vitamins a month ago and I believe it's working well. My blood tests were done only after 10 days on the patch. That's my story and I'm happy to stick to it.

I am soooo frustrated. I finally hit my first real stall, and I'm fluctuating between 199 and 200. I'm in Onederland, I'm not in Onederland, I'm in Onederland...no I'm not in Onderland. For the past two weeks! I could pull my hair out! (no, it hasn't started coming out on its own yet)

Hi all, Surgery April 13, 2015 and today (April 18) the pain continues. Advised to take benifiber (12 gr a day) but it is producing gas which is very uncomfortable. Today is day three of puréed foods. Can only get down about 2 oz at a meal. How long will the surgical pain continue?

I just read over this post and this sucker is LONG!! Sorry!! But here it goes!! I'm just going to post everything that I did and hope that some of it helps. My DD was 2.3 yrs when I had surgery in August. I had a 10lb lifting restriction for six weeks!! DH is a fireman and works a 72hr shift every week, so when he's gone, I'm a "single" parent for 3 days! We had to figure some things out! Once I knew that surgery was going to be fairly soon [didn't have a date yet but knew it would be within a month] we started working on things. I talked to DD about having surgery and that mama's tummy was going to hurt for awhile. We were going to have to be careful and she was going to need to help me as much as she could. She got in to that! :scared2: [Kept it basic, of course.] She's tall for her age and we had taken the side-rail off her crib awhile before that so I didn't have to deal with that. [The mattress was as low as it could go and standing, the top of the rail was just above her belly button! It's supposed to be no lower than nipple level!! :thumbup:] We moved the carseat from my truck to DH's car so that DD could climb in herself and get herself in to her carseat. Once she was there, I could then buckle her up. DH went with me to grocery shop before he went to work and I just made sure that I didn't need anything while he was gone! No way could I get DD in and out of a cart or carry a bag of groceries. A gallon of milk is 10lbs so a grocery bag is too heavy. Laundry, it's downstairs in the garage, no way could I get it to and from. DH did all the laundry [and still does actually!]. sleeping, DD crawls in with us sometimes. I took a little pillow and would sleep with it against my stomach in case of any bumping during the night. Keep the pillow handy. Take it in the car with you to put between you and the seatbelt. Keep it handy for when you need to sit and your kids want to climb up to cuddle, place pillow over stomach to keep elbows and knees away from your port area. That's what's going to hurt the most if it gets bumped. DD loves hugs. I had her climbing on to a chair to stand and give hugs. She loves it and it's something we still do. If you MUST carry a kid, have them get up on something so all you have to do is TAKE them. You're not LIFTING but moving from, say a chair, to your arms. Be aware there are going to be things you didn't think of that all of a sudden, something happens. DD was sitting on my lap in my desk chair, started to get down but fell instead, I went to catch her but all I was able to do was slow her down. It HURT!!! She was fine but it startled her, and me, for that matter. Another time, DD was playing with her fire engine. It's a wooden, rocking fire engine. She was driving and climbing over it and playing with it in general when she sat down on the back of it and slipped into the compartment at the back. It's big enough for a few toys or stuffed animal or doll. Well, she was stuck and she couldn't get herself up and out. I had to pull her out! There was no other way. It HURT!! There are just going to be things that happen that you aren't prepared for. That's just the way it plays. Just like if something's going to break, it's going to wait til DH is at work and I'm going to have to deal with it. Things like that! LOL! One of the things I did before surgery, was go through my day and analyze everything I did as I did it. Thinking, is this going to work when I'm sore, can't lift, moving slow, whatever? Another thing is to get specifics from your surgeon about lifting restriction, carrying, whatever questions you have about daily movements and how long things are going to have to be different. He may say no lifting for 6 weeks but you can carry after 4. Something like that. That's why you want to analyze your daily movements. One to make changes and another to ask your surgeon questions BEFORE surgery. If you can have help, get it, take it, beg for it if you need to. It will just make things SO much easier on you and the kids. Between my DH and my mom, I was blessed with help for 3 weeks. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Best wishes!!

Last Friday, they scheduled my surgery for Friday, November 2nd. Today, I got a call this morning from my suregons office stating the operating room overbooked (and the assisting surgeon wasn't available anyway) and they had to move my surgery to 11/13. Not too disapointed, but that is almost a two week delay. On 11/13 I am the first surgery of the day, so I have to be at the hospital by 5am. THIS WILL HAPPEN!!! I can do this! Thanks to all of you who posted kind words to my previous post. One month to go... The countdown has begun. My surgery date will be here before I know it.

Hi Everyone! I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas to spice up the pre-op Optifast diet. Where I am getting my surgery done, they only allow us to have 3 chocolate optifast shakes a day and 2 cups of veggies. I have been trying to drink the shakes for the last week but I am really struggling to finish them due to the taste. Luckily, I haven't cheated at all but I am worried about how I will do in the second week. The only suggestion the clinic could give me was to add coffee to make it like a mocha (not that great). I have also figured out the peppermint covers the smell but its getting old fast. Any help I could get would be great. Cheers!!

It all sounds pretty normal. You need to take things very slow when drinking anything the first week. GAS is horrible the first couple of weeks and will give you the pain you were describing. It will pass, I promise.

Hello everyone, I'm at day 3 post op, and been dealing with the infamous shoulder pain and starvation feeling. I believe this is due to me being swollen and not able to drink as much as I'd like to make me feel full. At any rate, my wife and I are both now on the other side. She was banded over a year ago at Christmas time and has lost 90lbs. I'm hoping to do as well as her. I'm starting out at 240, and set my goal at 160, although I'll be happy with anything below 200. For anyone else out there who is post op, I can tell you my experience has been more painful that I thought it would be. I just didn't think I'd have this much pain. Although, from what feedback I read here a lot of my issues are not uncommon. I keep thinking, hey, I've lost 11 pounds already! It's going to be worth it! I can't wait for cottage cheese week 3! LOL Good luck to everyone out there!

Thanks for all the + feedback! I have less shoulder pain today than previously. Almost none really. I'm actually able to take larger sips of liquids today, and next week it's going to be pudding time! LOL

I have a week before I have to get back to work, I've been told that that should be plenty of time.

My wife, will be heading down next week. She is already nervous!!! It's going to be a long long week. We will arrive a week from Saturday.

Well, we don't know your doctor or his protocol so who knows? It will depend on how you answer questions about your eating habits and how much weight have you lost overall and lately? I'd say most docs fill around 4-6 weeks so you've got a 60% shot at a fill, IF, you need one? tmf

I have my 4 week post-op doctors visit coming up. At my 2 week visit, the Dr. removed my stiches (well most of them) and told me to start eating mushy foods. Besides removing the missed stiches and starting on solid foods, what else can I expect? Will I get a band fill?

Just wanted to share because it made me soooo happy. My DBF lives about an hour from me so we generally only see each other on the weekends. And you know how it is when someone doesn't see u for a week they can really tell the difference. So anywayyyy....we are driving and he keeps looking at me, with this silly little grin on his face, finally I'm like "What, why are you staring at me?" And he says "Well I was just thinking to myself, Wow she looks great and she's my girl":wub: Did I mention that I think I have the greatest guy EVER!!! That comment was better then ANY number the scale would have given me. He went to grab for some boobage later and he says "Uh-oh my assets are dwindling" :rolleyes2: Like the chick in that Slimquick commercial where her husband loses weight all over and the only thing that happens to her are her boobs shrivel up. Hehe--he also has a silly sense of humor.

I am not a Dr, only a patient, but I do not think that decaf coffee would do that to you. Do you take BP meds? It could be a drop in BP, which would need an adjustment to your meds. It's fairly common after this surgery, from what I understand. I am almost 8 weeks out and drink full caff coffee with no issues. I would check in with your Dr. as far a blood pressure goes. Good luck to you!

I agree with the others. I am 4 weeks out and drinking Click Espresso Protein mixed with milk in the morning for Breakfast, which has about 55mg of caffeine (roughly equivalent to a cup of black tea; far cry from my usual 2 cups of fully-leaded coffee pre-op!) Those symptoms sound like dehydration, a Vitamin deficiency or something more sinister. Let us know what they say!

Abbie - for me, the surgery was the easiest surgery I have ever had. I didn't have any gas pains (proactively took GasX just in case), the pain wasn't even pain - it was soreness, which goes away completely within 2 weeks. I was literally up and cleaning my daughter's house (stayed with her the first two days post surgery) and doing her laundry and feeling fine. For me, it was a breeze and I know it will be the best tool I have ever had, along with the hope and knowledge that I will one day be thin and be healthier. Again, keep in mind, the first several months post surgery, most people don't feel any restriction and even question whether or not they actually have a band - I did. I have had one fill of 5cc in my 11cc band and still don't have any restriction. I can eat anything and everything i want - which is good and bad. Good because I have more time to convert to a new life style and become more focused about loosing weight and eating healthier, but bad as I have only lost 10 lbs. in 6 weeks. My next fill is April 2nd - hoping to start filling restriction so that I can eat only 1/2 cup of food and be full. That is my dream. I say go for it - I don't the only regret many people ever have is not doing it sooner. Good Luck girl!!

Ugh. So I've been thinking about lap band for years. Last May I decided I wanted to actually look into it and see what I needed to do. The doc gave me a whole bunch of things to do before I could qualify with him for surgery. Loose 15lbs, (I was at 360, 6' tall) which, I've lost 10, then gained it back and now I'm at 360 again. Heart clearance, sleep apnea tests, sleep studies, nutrition counceling, psych test, plus assembling lots of info. I've done everything except loosing 15lbs and the barium swallow. I can't schedule that because I need to be 330lbs to get the barium swallow. I feel like every time I make a move, there's another road block. I commit to go bike riding to get active and loose weight - I get a flat tire. I suck it up, do it again. Get another flat tire. Now I finally schedule the barium swallow and I find out I need to loose 30lbs before I can even do that. I'm starting to get super defeated here. I'm dragging my feet as it is because the idea of the surgery scares the heck out of me. It's just so frustrating though. I haven't been 330 in about 5 years. I feel like if I could diet down adn loose 30lbs, I would have done it already. I did it once, about 10 years ago. I went from like 310 to 260 but I didn't have a child, I had a lot more cash flow for healthy eating and I was way more active. It slowly crept up, then I got pregnant, then my son had some medical issues - that's when the stress eatting really kicked up into high gear. The doc wont' do the surgery if you weigh more than 350lbs. Which doesn't really make sense either, since I know other people who weighed more than that who've gotten the surgery - just from a diff doc. This is the only one in my area though, so, I'm kinda stuck! I'm not sure what I'm looking for here. Just a bit of a rant. I'm not telling anyone except my hubby about the surgery so I don't have anybody to rant to really. I'm just feeling emotional too because I turned 30 this week and this is not what I wanted to look like on my 30th birthday.

My drs office faxed everything to my insurance a week ago today, and they told me they'd hear something in 7-10 days but my insurance is usually awesome about approving. Should I be worried that I haven't heard 'yes' yet, or relieved cos there hasn't been a 'no' yet? How soon did you guys all hear?

Everything is being submitted to the insurance and I am waiting on approval. Does anyone have Cigna PPO and have any problems? Does Cigna take a long time or no my doctor said up to two weeks. I am dying I want this over with and know everything went through ok. I have a tentative surgery date for August 24th[emoji16] I am so scared that something goes wrong!!!

I am always hungry! Will a ton of walking make me more hungry? Will it hurt if I do liite walking until I can eat something? My doc has me on 3 weeks of liquids. I was feeling hunger pangs post op. Then some kind soul told me it very likely isn't really hunger though it feels exactly like it. They were right. It was acid. I take my antacid on schedule and dilute it with Water when I still feel it. Helps everythime. Hope this helps.

I had trouble in the first week or two with the immediately gurgling/gas sensation and some esophageal constriction after every single sip I took. I can still get that now if I drink too much too fast, but I get it much more with food now than I do with liquid.

Chris...I recently noticed all the sodium in my Sf waters (propelle, nutrilite) and started just drinking plain water. I was stalled for a few days, and since just drinking water..I lost a few lbs more...I know its hard, when all you can have is liquid. Im in the same boat as you. You get bored easily. I think you can get some low sodium broth as well...

Chris, I'm on my 2 week pre-op liquid diet and when I got weighed the other day for my pre-op I nearly fell on the floor because I actually gained 4 pds. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why since I have been on liquids for about 10 days. It finally clicked when I got home that it was from the sodium in the soups and some of the other liquids I have been drinking. I do have some of the low sodium soups but the cheddar brocolli is my favorite and it's loaded with sodium. I'm going to be careful from this point on. I thought it was just me! Jenn

@@soonergirl619 I don't mean to criticize your husband, but I think you need to set some expectations with him about your eating timeline after surgery. Three weeks after surgery, your diet is still pretty restricted (pureed), and you could hurt your pouch (or throw up) by eating foods too advanced too quickly. Just the facts. Eventually, you should be able to eat a wide variety of foods and going to restaurants will be easier. But early on, I think the expectation should be that you can't eat in restaurants very easily if at all. I would hope he can support you with that at least during your early weeks after surgery. I would agree with the others: soup (with all solid stuff removed if at a restaurant) or take your own foods. If you do eat at a restaurant, be careful of hidden sugar and fat.