Hi all,

Finally the light bulb went off a few months ago and I just decided, "this is it." My insurance would not cover me so I took money out of my 401k, putting a serious dent in it; however, I'd rather enjoy my life now rather than later (or never, I could always die young!). I went to an informational seminar, listened to the options and made an appointment for a consult with Dr. Snyder (Denver, CO). He was great, talked to me about my options, asked me "why now?," which was good to know he cared about that, and wasn't just after another paying patient - he is concerned that you are actually ready to make this huge change in your life. After meeting with the doc, I met with a case manager that outlined all the steps I need to take to make this happen. After making the final decision to do this and after my initial appointment with Dr. Snyder on April 23rd, my surgery date is quickly coming up Monday, July 21.

I honestly can't wait - I've been very big for a very long time and I'm ready to start living my life - hiking, riding a bike, fitting in an airplane seat, wearing pretty underwear, etc. I'm not sure what my 'official' high weight was, but I would guess I was right around 390-400 pounds a couple years ago; my current weight is 373. I've dodged some serious bullets - for instance, I don't have diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, or hypertension - but I know at age 46 I'm a ticking time bomb, and have started having joint pains; and carrying groceries up the stairs to my 2nd floor apartment has become a major chore.

I have a boyfriend of four years that has overall been supportive and caring, and he's behind me 1,000% on this. He's been a little 'too' supportive, I have to say. He says I'm a gem, but I'm still not sure how we ended up together - he has two BS degrees in exercise physiology and molecular biology, and is fanatical about weight training; me? not so much, lol. I have made some strides in the gym thanks to him, but with the surgery coming up he's driving me crazy about preparation, in the gym and outside the gym. He wants me in the gym 6 days a week 1-2 hours at a time and to go 90% liquid diet now, adding arginine, glutamine and citrulline to my Protein shakes to enhance healing. I'm a little stressed about that, to be honest. Right now my stomach is the same big hole and he wants me to pour nothing but liquids in there - it'll be a lot different after my RNY bypass, my stomach will be considerably smaller and I won't be hungry (which I'm looking forward to, honestly). Anyway, has anyone else had a partner/significant other that is overly pushy?

Other than dealing with his 'support' I feel really great about this decision and am very calm about it all - of course, I may fall apart the morning of surgery, lol. I'll be in the hospital 3-5 days - what did you guys wish you had taken in with you? Fan? Robe? Book? Anything I won't need at all? How did everyone spend their time, other than walking every couple of hours? I'm hoping to be on the low end of the pain scale, but I'm also having a umbilical hernia repair done, so that might complicate things a little.

Anyway, I've been getting a lot of great information reading the various forums, and really appreciate how supportive everyone is. I'll post my before pic when I do that next week, and will try to keep up with monthly after pics - I have a lot to lose (about 200 pounds), so it should be a pretty drastic change for me.

Good luck to everyone out there who is thinking about doing this, and a big thanks to all of you who are so involved in supporting the newbies like myself.

Melissa

That's good ... I have had some pain and I hope to go home today. I am drinking water and mushing sugar free jello. But the procedure itself went great! Just having some bumps on recovery. I ran fever last night but it's gone today. Who knows! Yay to us!

I'm having RNY on the 29th. I'd love to hear (read) how all of your recovery is going.

Please remember that everyone's recovery is different. I am post op day 4 and I am starting to feel alive again. I had lots of pain and gas pains on top of fever. It's been a rough couple if days but it's all part of the journey. I am ready to see the scale start dropping!

I had RNY 7/21. Was fine while in hoapital. But wheezing, fever, shortness of breath 7/23 & 7/24. Went back to surgeon, had blood work & chest xray done. All signs point to pneumonia, but nothing prescribed. I can get fluids down but i feel like crap.

I know there is no way to predict how my surgery or recovery is going to go. I'm just one of those people who likes to hear all the angles. For some reason it calms me. I feel like it prepares me for the worst case scenario and keeps me hopeful for the best. hope you all feel better soon!

Hi all....

My surgery was Monday...I am on my 5th day out. Surgery went well.

The first night was rough, I cried and had a moment of remorse.

Everyday has gotten a little better than the day before. I CONSTANTLY am sipping something, Water, tea, broth, sf Powerade and am trying like hell to drink my Protein shakes. I was only able to get down 30 grams of protein yesterday. I ate 1/2 of a small Jello. I am taking my Vitamins and supplements. It is all very daunting but it is the only thing I am focused on.

The last two days I have been running a LOW grade fever. 99.2 - 99.9, the doctor said if it gets to 101.3 then I have to be seen. Woke this morning to no fever ...YAY! The gas pain has been bearable. I have moments where it settles in the middle of my back and doesn't move - NOT a good feeling. I am burping (a good thing) and passing gas (another good thing). I had a partial BM (sorry if TMI -but it is par for the course), when having a BM you do not want to push. I am definitely going on a stool softener today.

My incision sites are beginning to itch...good sign that they are healing. Second day home I showered.....oooh the best thing ever.

My only gripe and something everyone must be made aware of...my doctor did not discharge me from the hospital until 7pm! I was then given my prescriptions. This was unacceptable! I live 45 minutes from the hospital my pharmacy would have been closed and I would have had to spend my first night home without pain meds. So my mother and I scrambled to find a pharmacy on my way home from the hospital. I wasn't happy. Please ask for your RX's prior to being released and have them home waiting for you.

All in all so far it has been pretty good. A LOT of rest with intervals of walking.

It is a slow process right now, but one I am NOT regretting. I am looking forward to my future and a lot less of me!

Good luck to all ...and remember SIP, SIP, SIP your liquids!

I keep having moments of remorse and tears... Day 4 post op with a kidney and bladder infection.

Also... My hospital filled all Rx before we left. Make sure to ask if they will!

Oh damn Stacyann..... I am praying for you.

I couldn't imagine having this AND an infection (never mind BOTH infections).

Stay strong.....this is temporary and will pass.

Take care of yourself.

Thanks today has been long .. Keeping my chin up. Has anyone gotten on the scale yet?

Went back to dr again today. Had CT scan done. Dr called in antibiotiic to fight borderline pneumonia. If i dont get better soon, iim going to ER. Coughing fits, nausea, fever. Im sick of being sick.

Praying for you. I am struggling taking the antibotics .. The pouch doesn't like it!

I got on the scale the day after i got home (last Thursday) and was 16 lbs heavier than my surgery weight. I went to my doctor today and am back down to surgery weight.

I was not given any antibiotics (which I questioned).. do not get them.

I could not imagine coughing....with my stomach like it is...my heart.goes out to you though. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

7/21 was my surgery date, and everything went very quickly, very smoothly. I woke up pretty quickly and felt really good almost immediately (thanks, Morphine!) My surgeon used an On-Q pain pump - it's a subcutaneous line that constantly drips pain med directly to the sight of surgery; I had to carry around a little 'hand-bag' for a couple days, but it's totally worth it! Up several times the first day. Had the catheter out the second day and didn't have any problems urinating after that. Had an x-ray with contrast (yucky stuff) on second day to check how everything was running. Stopped using Morphine and went oral on pain med the Wed morning after surgery, and other than one right before they pulled the Q-pump and the Penrose drain, as well as the central line IV in my neck, the afternoon of discharge (Wed afternoon) I really haven't needed pain medicine at all! I have some soreness, to be expected, but nothing I would even want a Tylenol for. I still had quite a bit of drainage in my Jackson-Pratt drain (the one with the bulb) so I went home with that - it was finally removed on my post-op appointment this last Wednesday (10 days with drain). I'm healing up really well, still a little bit of oozing from Penrose drain site, really nothing from the Jackson-Pratt drain site, and I'm itchy itchy itchy. I got oxygen delivered when I got home, I was needing just 1 liter of O2 during exercise and 1 liter at night; now I'm just 1 liter at night for another couple weeks - I've been sleeping really well, so it's helping me heal faster. I was sent home with Enoxaparin, an injectible blood thinner, and had to do that twice a day - here's a tip: be sure to let the alcohol dry before you inject, and keep the fat pinched for a few seconds after you're done injecting, it eases the burning.

Prior to my post-op appointment I had to take a nutrition class, and there were several other people that had surgery the same day. I'm graduated to soft foods (yogurt, cottage cheese, scrambled egg, soft fish, etc.), and in another week or two I'll be introducing more soft foods, with solids in about 6 weeks.

The day of surgery I was down 5lb from the start of things, and at my post-op I was a total of 20lb down (10 days out). Definitely the first couple of days I felt like I was sloshing around with all the liquids they put in my IV and what I was drinking. I was warned that I could gain Water weight right after surgery and that the scale is not your friend right now! I have noticed a change already, not so much with my clothes, but I can walk down my apartment stairs now without my knees crying - and that's at 20lbs! I would seriously counsel you all to NOT WEIGHT YOURSELF the first few weeks. In fact, I don't think the scale is a friend at all - you should be trying to eat right, drink right and exercise; working the program will guarantee weight loss, but focusing so much on numbers might just discourage you.

I went back to work the Monday following surgery, I've been part-time this week but have had zero trouble driving (I have a 5-speed).

FYI - the three things I only used from home in the hospital were my small fan, my Android cell phone with charger, and an extension cord for both. With my phone I had relaxing music playing at night, and with the fan I really did rest well - when I wasn't being woken up by nurses! lol

Honestly, this exerpience has gone so smoothly and couldn't have gone better. I felt well educated going in, the doc and nursing staff were amazing and I feel a billion pounds lighter already! The only thing I'm pretty disappointed about was that I could not post anything on my cell phone! I have an Android and am using Bariatric Pal Pro, and everytime I tried to post I was kicked out - so annoying.

Anyone that is going into surgery, I wish you all luck and good health.

One thing I forgot to mention - for the last several days I've had a weird taste in my mouth, my tongue felt fuzzy, nothing tasted right, and had a little discomfort swallowing. The white tongue pointed to Thrush - yucky yeast infection, but only takes two pills to cure. I didn't put two-and-two together until my nutrition class this last Wednesday, but the nutritoinist brought it up thank goodness so I was able to jump on it before it got too awful. A couple days after taking the pill, be sure to replace your toothbrush so you don't reinfect yourself!