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Somehow I have managed to get myself in a BIG mess. My incision sites are still red, hard and one incision (near my belly button) is still draining quite a bit at over 2-1/2 weeks out.

To top it off, my "fog brain" got EVERYTHING messed up and I have been

eating food. I thought my doctor said I can have soft veggies, soft meat,

oatmeal, Beans. Maybe I read it on here from down the road.

I have not thrown up, not once but I have had some discomfort. I am getting quite a bit of liquids down, but have started having a lot of heartburn that I did not have in the beginning.

A week ago, I had a doctor appointment *GP, who sent me immediately over to the hospital to have CT tests run on abdomen and pelvic area and ran some blood work and swabbed my incision. I found out I have elevated WBC, and plateletts, 2 gallstones and "sludge" in my GB. I do NOT want another surgery now since this is the first time I have not healed fast and wonderfully. My GP referred my reports to a surgeon, I have not called yet.

I am at a loss what to do . Should I turn back the clock, go back to pudding, applesauce, mashed potatoes and Soup?

With this situation, I NOW wish I had my surgery in the states... I would at least have the ongoing help I am needing.

What do you think? I've lost 13 pounds, but lately I am not losing, now looking and reading more on here, I see why!

I'm a mess! I am so down now. I don't know what to do. Thanks for being there sleeve family...

Hugs. :001_huh:

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Do what you should have been doing all along: LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTORS!

We can give you advice and support, but ultimately if you want to get healthy and succeed at weight loss, you have to do what your doctors tell you, including getting surgery if you need it, eating what you're supposed to, and following up with your doctors on a regular basis.

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Don't panic it's still very early days, and remember we all heal at different rates. I was told not to attempt soft foods and especially not meat for at least 6 weeks after surgery. Right now you'd be best on mashed and blended foods little and often until everything has healed properly.

Do follow up with your GP, I'm sure everything will be fine just give yourself and the surgery time.

love

Sandra x

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Thanks. I have been beating myself up ever since I looked over the website stuff. the list they gave me was something different than they use. I was suppose to have had a talk with them, but it all ran late so I was pretty much going off of what I read on here.

I am going to turn this around. I did this for my health and I am going to make sure that I do my body justice by not only slowing down but by doin all I can to heal healthy.

I REALLY appreciate my family on here. I am BIG at looking at myself and beating myself up when i mess up, however, this situation I know calls for less battering and more nurturing both body, mind and soul right now.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs.

Jen

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Aw Jen,

You're doing so well, you've got the best outlook. It's so easy for us to be down on ourselves, especially early on. Learning what can and can't be eaten takes patience and time.

hugs back to you

love

Sandra x

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Never too late for a U turn. Take care Jen!! Take a breath, listne to your doctor and treat yourself like you would treat your best friend.

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Definitely go back to the eating plan prescribed by your surgeon. I had to stay on mushies, and heck even today I still eat mushies for a couple of my 6 meals per day.

You can do this, and I truly hope the infection at the incisions heal quickly. Get some greek yogurt, and try to be gentle on yourself.

On the gallbladder, I had mine out in February. I know it's scary and frustrating, but my gb was causing a lot of abdominal discomfort and made it difficult for me to eat and drink. You don't want the gb to get infected, and you definitely don't want it to turn into pancreatitis. There's a couple of members here that had to be hospitalized for the their gb and pancreatitis, so take care of yourself, and hopefully your GP can take care of you.

Feel better soon Jen.

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Sounds to me, honestly, like you are not thinking clearly. You cannot risk your health by making your own decisions at this point. It sounds like if you continue to go this route you are going to get very sick. Do not risk this.

Things have not gone perfectly in your recovery, so please do not be in denial about that. You have developed complications at your incision site and also with your gallbladder. Do not deny it!

Get back to that doctor and call the surgeon! I know you do not want the surgery, but honestly, you are not in a position to call the shots here. Do not risk your long term health because you do not 'feel 'like having surgery again.

I'm just trying to tell you this based on what you wrote. I am not a medical professional, but I think you need one to respond.

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I agree with the last post. It would be so unfair after finally getting sleeved to then sabotage yourself by making your body sick or sicker then it is right now. Please call your doctor and let him make the best decision that will promote a healthy recovery and the best overall weight loss which was the point to begin with.

xoxoxo take care and feel better.

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I think you will be alright because you went to your doctor and are reaching out for guidance and from what I see you just got some sound advise. I hope you will try hard to keep calm and take one step at a time. I'm not so sure you should eat some of the foods you've been eating this early out. I'm curious to know where you had your surgery? It's not often that a person starts eating soft food so early after surgery although I have read posts where some people have. I wish you well and hope you stay connected to this message board.

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Hey Jen. I too am sending good thoughts your way. The great thing about this forum is that when we post the problems we're having, it forces us to think more logically about what we have been doing. Clearly you're already doing that now.

In terms of the gallbladder surgery, it might actually be a positive thing. Assuming you have insurance here in the US, there could be some difficulty with getting sleeve complications paid for since it was done "off-insurance". So, maybe if you proceed with the gallbladder treatment as a totally separate issue (with your PCP's cooperation and creative documentation), you can probably get treatment on the side for your incisions and any other sleeve issues you're having during that treatment. Just make sure all of your visits are documentated as treatment for the gallbladder and then get those incisions taken care of and monitored. Let us know how you're doing.

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I am grateful to all of you for your responses and your concern. As some of you have seen on my posts, I decided to have the VGS on my own without support or criticism from my family. I am not feeling regret, I am just wanting to get back to being "me" again.

I agree that putting the words down, definitely helped me to see the situation and the need to be proactive in handling it. I need a few days to ponder it. I did NOT mention that I am in the middle of an insurance change, going from Humana PFFS to Humana HMO. I am going to call the surgeon's office tomorrow to see if they will take my HMO, and if not... I am going to find another surgeon to move forward.

This journey is an ongoing lesson, and I am determined to get "healthy" and doing whatever it takes to do that, is my ultimate goal right now.

Thanks to all of you for your comments, suggestions, imparted wisdom and most of all your kindness and caring. I am grateful beyond words.

Hope your week ahead is the best ever! Hugs to you all!

Jen

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I believe that even if your insurance is in flux, you can just get the surgery done (if your doctor decides you need it), and work out payments. Then you can fight with your new insurer to get them to cover it.

That's better than living with a bad gallbladder!

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As a last resort you could go to the Emergency. They have to take you, and maybe they can fix you up.

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It's very common for people who have had WLS to need their gall bladder out. I am glad I had mine out. I have never had that kind of pain in my life, when I had that gall bladder attack that sent me to the ER.

At 2 1/2 weeks, I was still on liquids. I wouldn't eat pudding and mashed potatoes. Is there a Protein drink that you like? If not, at least make soupy tuna or egg or chicken salad. I am sure there is post op diet for somewhere on here. There is a search feature up at the top and you could look for it that way.

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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