Ames here =) I was sleeved on Monday June 4th 2012... I was freaking nervous going in but hey.. I made it!!

I was rolled into the surgery room by these tiny Asian women.. I swear I thought they were gonna bust out dancing like the ones in Gwen Stefani's Videos lol. It's very true when they rolled me into the operating room the doc with the Anesthesia told me to inhale and all i remember is inhaling 4 times then waking up in recovery lol A Snap!! The nurse that was watching over me kept asking me if I felt any pain and if I wanted some meds for it.. I remembered reading on a lot of posts that if they ask if you want meds SAY YES!! I never said no haha.. I swear he injected me like 10 times and it kept making me doze off. I was in the recovery from 12:30-7:30 pm since there weren't any rooms available for me booo.. Its okay I got a lot of rest and sleep after the surgery that as soon as they took me into my room I was asking to get up and go to the restroom I NEEDED TO PEE!! I finally pee'd and went out to the hallway for a walk. I felt all this pressure in my chest from the gas. I was in the hospital for 2 nights 2 1/2 days. After having my Barium swallow the doc said he thought my esophagus was too tight and needed me to wait on the liquids until later that afternoon to check if the swelling would go down. Two days without drinking anything was tough but I was strong and didn't let it show that I was freaking dying haha.. Well after the second Barium Swallow which was nasty as hell... He released me.. I had my first sip of Water like BAM!! lol When my surgeon went to go see me on Wednesday morning he released me. He said since I had a lot more weight to drop he had made my esophagus a little tighter but I was able to keep my liquids down and the jellos and juices. All in all.. It wasn't that bad =) for my first ever surgery and first ever being in the hospital. I was a TROOPER!!

1/4/2012 STARTING WEIGHT 393

6/4/2012 DAY OF SURGERY 377

6/9/2012 FIVE DAYS AFTER SURGERY 364 --- 29 LBS DOWN =) YAY!!!

Fantastic! Well done you.

I feel great! Thank you =)

Nicely done chicka!

Congrats! Sounds like you did very well. Good luck, the worst is over.

thats awesome!, my surgery is on june 26th.. im super excited and a little nervous lol anyways Good luck on reaching your goal weight!

Good Job! Won't be long and you'll be doing the happy dance...

Thanks ladies.. I did a high goal weight.. I can't imagine hitting Onderland.. but hey.. You never know huh lol

Awesome job Ames! I was also sleeved on the 4th - today I'm completely exhausted and I feel like I'm going to burst from the liquid I'm trying to take in... but it's all a learning experience.

Great Amy!

Also sleeved on 6/4, I am officially on the "full" liquid stage. It took me 2 days to drink one chocolate muscle milk. Instead, I have been drinking water and G2, with the occasional jelly/pudding/popsicle. Totally worried about my protein intake in the future, regarding drinks....hopefully I can get them down this week.

Great Amy!

Also sleeved on 6/4' date=' I am officially on the "full" liquid stage. It took me 2 days to drink one chocolate muscle milk. Instead, I have been drinking Water and G2, with the occasional jelly/pudding/popsicle. Totally worried about my Protein intake in the future, regarding drinks....hopefully I can get them down this week.[/quote']

I'm worried about my intake as well. I took a few sips of the muscle milk this morning & omg, that was nasty. I absolutely hate Protein Drinks, I don't know how I'm gonna do this.

I'm worried about my intake as well. I took a few sips of the muscle milk this morning & omg, that was nasty. I absolutely hate Protein drinks, I don't know how I'm gonna do this.

I'm doing pretty good using the unjury chicken broth and the Cytosport whey Isolate (ready to drink) in the Tropical flavor-this is a clear Protein Drink and tastes better to me than Isopure. Both of those will count as your liquid and your protein. So 8oz of the chicken broth is 26g and the Cytrosport drink is 32g so I'm almost up to 60g of protein. The cytosport can be found at the Vitamin Shoppe and taste better to me than anything else I have tried.

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum & have been reading the posts and enjoying the WEALTH of information that I've been reading as a whole. SUPER congratulations to Amy on her surgery, thanks for giving all of us who sit 'pre op' a glimpse into your life pre & post op.

My story & journey is that I am (currently) a bander, and am scheduled to be sleeved on July 5th. What an a hard toad traveled to have gotten to this stage of FINALLLY having the opportunity of breaking from this confinement that is my weight. The lap band TOTALLY failed me, only I thought 'I was the failure', & it put me in a depression when I gained all of my weight back. I started a new journey this past January at tackling my health once again and scheduled a visit with my lap band doctor and was surprised to find that I was NOT alone, & more importantly I was NOT a failure! My doctor said something that resonates in my mind & gave me hope again. He said: "your band failed YOU!' He ran tests to confirm this (including an EGD). My dr then suggested having the band removed & having the Gastric Sleeve. I was surprised, I didn't know this was possible either, but I was all for FINALLY getting a tool that would not relapse as long as I did what I was supposed to do nutritionally & physically.

Sooo began the long six month road to getting to where I am today: pre op with a surgery date of July 5th. The process to get approved was fairly quick, I did the Nut & psyche eval in the same day, had the EGD done, sleep study whih revealed my mild apnea, I attended classes, and my dr submitted everything to my insurance co which was the same insurance I had 5 years prior. Hitch in the giddy up: my surgery was denied on a technicality, my surgeon anticipated 3 hours or more to do my surgery, but the insurance code would only allow for 2 hours. Even though it was anticipated, it was devastating none the less.

I was then told by my insurance company about the quick appeals process, what letter to expect, etc. they were VERY nice and showed humanity in speaking to me. Last week, I received 'the letter' regarding the decision on my appeal. I stared at the envelope, cried, prayed that God would continue to see me thru...it took about an hour before I opened the letter and automatically my eyes 'zoomed' to the words 'approved'!

I cried uncontrollably, my face flushed with tears of joy & thanks.

I was able to schedule my pre op appt & surgery date very quickly & have a stress test scheduled on June 20th, then I begin my liquid diet 2 days later prior to my surgery on July 5th. Having surgery is not new to me, but having and living post op with a 'successful' surgery (my sleeve) has me so excited I can barely stand it!

Thanks for taking the time to read my very first post, & I look forward to reading more about all of you :-)

Vikki H.

I was wondering what insurance you have, is it Oxford by any chance? Also, what did you mean when you said he made your esophagus tighter?