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Newbie In Maryland Ready For A New Life For Herself And Family!



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Hi My name is Marina and i had my sleeve done on May 10th at 9 am and was finally able to come home the following night! I am 5 days post op and really felt alone until i stumbled across this forum!! For the past 3 days i have just been stalking everyone's chats... but now i'm ready to tell my own story. I am 35 years old , married with 2 children. I am 5'81/2" tall and before i started the process in nov '11, i weighed at my heaviest 335 pounds. My decision to make a change? 2 reasons 1. Well,, my best friend had bypass done a few years back and after a year of healing she is now running marathons and is the happiest i've ever seen her!! However, she did have difficulties with Iron deficiencies and had to have transfusions for a few months. So i did my research and decided i would pursue the sleeve ! 2nd reason.. one day while i was driving home after picking my son up from daycare, my son asked me.."mommy , all my friends in school say you are fat?" I know , i know, kids are brutally honest even at 3 years old... but it hurt like hell. I grew up all my life with kids tormenting me and i just let it roll off my back.. or just went and grabbed a burger to make the hurt go away, or better yet.. chimed in with the kids and made fun of myself for being fat .. but hearing it from own kid.. i knew right there that i had to make a change. I started my journey Nov 7 , 2011 with all the nutrtionist visits, meetings etc.. and May 10th was the big day! I went home weighing in at 303 #s.. mainly the weightloss was because of the 2 weeks preop of liquid diet i had to do.. that was hard!! I just want to tell everyone that i am excited to be on here and be a part of a group who have had the same struggles as myself! I go to the doctor on may 18th.. so hopefully more weight has fallen since then!! ( we dont own a scale in our house!) I now understand what head hunger is.. I am not hungry but i find myself wanting to just taste everything .. becuase i cant have it.. or more than likely becuase i've been on a clear liquid diet since april 26th!! I'm sick of the clear liquid diet. lol.. Well thank you everyone for listening to me and again I love that there is so much support from everyone!! Oh.. for those of you pre-op wondering what to expect.. soreness on my right side.. doctor said it is because that is where they took out the stomache .. dont be a hero take your pain meds when you are supposed to , it'll help you function better and walk more.. walk , walk , walk... sip .. sip... sip... lol... thats what i'm doing now.. Good luck everyone!!

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Congratulations on your procedure. Hope all works out for you. Hang in there.

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Welcome Marina,

I can certainly relate to much of your story. Its great that you did this while still so young. I wish this would have been available when I was 35! Best of luck to you.

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Welcome Marina! Thanks for posting your story! Sounds like you are doing great!!! For me, this has been the single most valuable thing I did for myself. I am so happy I cannot tell you. I am coming up on one year on June 6 and have lost about 92 pounds - about 103 since my highest. And all and all it was not that difficult - in the sense that before my VSG I did the same as now: eat healthy and work out like crazy. Yet NOW it seems to pay off and before I often felt like I was just treading Water and any little blip I would go back up. So even though I have been one of those that stalls and drops, stalls and drops, it's been steady down and I am THRILLED!!! :-) Best of luck to you on this incredible journey!!!! Looking forward to reading more about your progress!!!!!

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Thank you everyone!!! I really am excited not only for myself but for everyone elses' success stories!! I love reading them , it is what keeps me going!!! Soon , i'll be a success story too!! I cant wait!!

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Congratulations! I'm in the pre-op process currently with Johns Hopkins. By any chance, did you do your surgery through them? If so, I'd be curious to hear about your experience with the staff and hospital. It has been hard for me to pin my surgeon's patient coordinator down...

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Congrats and welcome!!! What part of Maryland are you in?

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Good luck with your journey.

You will find lots of information and support on here, even a little inspiration when you need it.

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Congratulations! I'm in the pre-op process currently with Johns Hopkins. By any chance' date=' did you do your surgery through them? If so, I'd be curious to hear about your experience with the staff and hospital. It has been hard for me to pin my surgeon's patient coordinator down...[/quote']

Hi, I'm a Marylander, too. And am curious about who you used for your surgery like Alithinos. Welcome to vst

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Welcome! And thanks for sharing your story!!!

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Hi Marina, welcome. It does help to have this great big wonderful group all dealing with similar issues. I will look forward to hearing more from you. I can relate about the kids, though, my children have all voiced similar "concerns". Hopefully, all that will change for us! ;)

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Welcome to the club. Remember the hard part is over.

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Hi My name is Marina and i had my sleeve done on May 10th at 9 am and was finally able to come home the following night! I am 5 days post op and really felt alone until i stumbled across this forum!! For the past 3 days i have just been stalking everyone's chats... but now i'm ready to tell my own story. I am 35 years old ' date=' married with 2 children. I am 5'81/2" tall and before i started the process in nov '11, i weighed at my heaviest 335 pounds. My decision to make a change? 2 reasons 1. Well,, my best friend had bypass done a few years back and after a year of healing she is now running marathons and is the happiest i've ever seen her!! However, she did have difficulties with Iron deficiencies and had to have transfusions for a few months. So i did my research and decided i would pursue the sleeve ! 2nd reason.. one day while i was driving home after picking my son up from daycare, my son asked me.."mommy , all my friends in school say you are fat?" I know , i know, kids are brutally honest even at 3 years old... but it hurt like hell. I grew up all my life with kids tormenting me and i just let it roll off my back.. or just went and grabbed a burger to make the hurt go away, or better yet.. chimed in with the kids and made fun of myself for being fat .. but hearing it from own kid.. i knew right there that i had to make a change. I started my journey Nov 7 , 2011 with all the nutrtionist visits, meetings etc.. and May 10th was the big day! I went home weighing in at 303 #s.. mainly the weightloss was because of the 2 weeks preop of liquid diet i had to do.. that was hard!! I just want to tell everyone that i am excited to be on here and be a part of a group who have had the same struggles as myself! I go to the doctor on may 18th.. so hopefully more weight has fallen since then!! ( we dont own a scale in our house!) I now understand what head hunger is.. I am not hungry but i find myself wanting to just taste everything .. becuase i cant have it.. or more than likely becuase i've been on a clear liquid diet since april 26th!! I'm sick of the clear liquid diet. lol.. Well thank you everyone for listening to me and again I love that there is so much support from everyone!! Oh.. for those of you pre-op wondering what to expect.. soreness on my right side.. doctor said it is because that is where they took out the stomache .. dont be a hero take your pain meds when you are supposed to , it'll help you function better and walk more.. walk , walk , walk... sip .. sip... sip... lol... thats what i'm doing now.. Good luck everyone!![/quote']

Thanks for sharing your story Marina. My surgery is tomorrow....

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Congratulations! I'm in the pre-op process currently with Johns Hopkins. By any chance, did you do your surgery through them? If so, I'd be curious to hear about your experience with the staff and hospital. It has been hard for me to pin my surgeon's patient coordinator down...

No I didnt have mine done at John's Hopkins, i had mine done at Sinai with Dr. Cynthia Long. My experience was great, i loved my nurses! The only thing i didnt like was that when my surgery was over at 1 pm, there wasnt a room available for me until 9 pm. Dont expect to get too much sleep once the anesthesia wears off, because you are constantly getting checked on. The only uncomfortable thing for me was when they took the drainage tube out. It doesnt hurt, it's just weirdly uncomfortable.

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Hi, I'm a Marylander, too. And am curious about who you used for your surgery like Alithinos. Welcome to vst

Thank you! I went to Sinai hospital and used Dr. Cynthia Long. She is wonderful and caring!

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Doughgurl

      Hey everyone. I'm new here so I thought I should introduce myself. I am 53y/o and am scheduled for Gastric Bypass on June 25th, 2025. I'm located in San Antonio, Texas. I will be having my surgery in Tiajuana Mexico. I've wanted this for years, but I always had insurance where bariatric procedures were excluded. Finally I am able to afford to pay out of pocket.  I can't wait to get started, and I hope I'm prepared for the initial period of "hell". I know what I have signed up for, but I'm sure the good to come will out way the temporary period of discomfort and feelings of regret. I'd love to find people to talk to who have been through the same procedure or experience before. So I look forward to meeting you all. Hope you have a great week!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      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. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      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.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

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

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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