My name is Becky and I just turned 21, I'm a nursing student and am engaged to the love of my life. I started my WLS journey in November of 2012 and got the gastric sleeve at the end of December 2012. My starting weight was 260. From the moment I woke up, I had a stricture and had pain with swallowing. We decided as I healed this would calm down and eating would become less painful. Well, that never happened..I've had roughly 10 endoscopy's and they have dilated the stricture each time hoping to help ease the pain. I've been hospitalized for pain and malnutrition roughly 5-6 times and it's been a tough journey. Now it's July of 2014 and I haven't eaten solid food since my surgery in 2012. I am in constant pain and have been taking the liquid Vicodin on and off this whole time. Living life has been a real struggle because I can't get in enough Protein or Water to stay energized or hydrated so I sleep a lot. I was a relatively healthy (besides some comorbitities) full time nursing student and now I'm barely staying afloat in school. I've pushed back my clinicals which pushes back my graduation date because I just don't have the energy to start them; plus I'm in the hospital so often that I miss class which is not allowed once I start working in the hospital. I went back to my surgeon two months ago and they ran all sorts of tests, he told me if I didn't get this fixed I was heading in the direction of Barret's and esophageal cancer which scared the crap out of me at 21. He said the only way to fix the severe esophageal spasms and the swollen inflamed stricture is to revise to a bypass which would stop the bile reflux and change the anatomy of the stomach which will hopefully help the irregular pressures in my esophagus and let the stricture heal. I agreed since that seemed to be the only option AND I haven't lost any weight...ZERO. It's because I can't eat what I'm supposed to eat, I can barely get down pudding and ice cream much less vegetables or protein so my metabolism is basically shut down and I'm stuck. We are hoping the bypass fixes my pain but it would also be an added bonus to lose the weight like I originally planned.

We had set a date of 7/11/2014 which is today but I got a call on Wednesday saying the insurance retracted my approval because they want another EGD done. He did the EGD on that same Wednesday and came back out to talk to me about what he found. He said it's significantly worse than it was two months ago, my esophagus is eroding from the bile that keeps irritating the already swollen stricture. I asked about Barret's and he said not YET...so scary! My surgeon himself called the medical director of the insurance company to tell him how badly I need this surgery. He said he would be very surprised if we didn't get it approved and set a new date for next Friday. Here's to hoping I suppose.

I will keep you guys informed when I have a date and I will update on how I'm feeling. Hopefully in a couple of months this will be another success thread, I'm crossing my fingers and toes! I already have all of my Vitamins and Protein shakes from the last go around and have tried a ton of stuff and have a ton of experience with all things bariatric that are soft. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has and am thankful for all of the support that you guys provide.

My current weight is the same as my starting weight at 260 but like I said, I'm more concerned with the pain stopping than the weight gain although I'm hopeful that this will help me with both. My surgeon wants to keep me 2 nights in the hospital and saying the surgery will take 2-3 hours. I'll post pictures soon and update the title with the date we select..hopefully it will be 7/18.

Pictures:

Pre-Sleeve 2012:

Pre-Bypass 2014:

Recent Face Shot 2014:

UPDATE: Surgery is approved but won't happen until August 1st because my surgeon is out of town I'm keeping my head up and am thankful that it is approved at all even if the date is farther out than I had been hoping. I will keep everyone updated and am on a cancellation list so maybe I'll get in sooner.

Edited July 15, 201412 yr by Beckyyb93

Wow, what a crazy ride you've been on! I hope you have nothing but smooth sailing this time around! You certainly deserve it!

Thank you! I feel amazing today..the hardest part is going to be not to push myself too fast because I just feel so good for the first time in two whole years. I just keep thinking I'm going to wake up and have pain again, it's so crazy to stop eating when I'm full versus when the pain gets too bad! Everyone is so happy and so am I I'm even functioning fine on my own at home..my mom took off today and helped out but I feel 100% confident in my ability to be by myself going forward. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner!!

I had a little pain at my drain sight and called the nurse (who I have become friends with) and she said it's totally normal and from the incisions and the healing of the whole and just to take medicine and use ice. After 15 minutes of the ice being on, the pain was pretty much fully subsided, it hasn't come back yet today which is good.

I'm still not exactly sure what being full actually feels like but I'm only 3 days out so I'm sure I'll figure it all out with time. Patience is the name of the game we are going to a big family dinner on Thursday night at a mexican place so I'll probably just order Water or maybe try their gumbo Soup and just drink the broth..I'm not sure yet but I'm sure it will all be fine. They all know about the surgery so won't expect me to be at my full best but I'll enjoy getting out, I hate sitting around doing nothing!

Yesterday I got in 45 grams of Protein and 45 ounces of Water without too much trouble and that was my first day home!! I'm so happy and impressed with my new stomach I'm sure each day will keep getting easier! I'm so glad I decided not to scrap this whole semester because (knock on wood) if I keep feeling this good I'll have no trouble keeping up and starting clinicals in the fall! I never thought I would be saying this and you guys have no idea how happy I am to have my life back again, these results are just AMAZING!! When I see my doctor on Friday I'm going to hug him which will probably totally freak him out since he's not very friendly and doesn't have that great of a bedside manner but he fixed me and that deserves a whole lot more than a hug! Maybe I'll get him and the nurse I've been working with a card telling them how thankful I am that they helped get me fixed

Also, my mom is cracking me up. She calls my spirometer a horn and texts me from work constantly asking if I'm blowing my horn enough LOL! She is so worried about Pneumonia but I can get all the way up now and am not coughing as much so I know I'm fine! Just thought I'd share a funny with you guys

Great news!!!!

Keep up the good work my dear, I am so happy that you are on the path of healing! Focus on getting better, take it slow and enjoy being healthy again!

I'm happy for you and glad that everything is working out in your favor! Wishing you much success on your NEW weight loss journey

I LOVED reading your posts!! I'm so happy for you! Here's to the new YOU!

Carol

Thank you guys for all the kind words! I just can't believe how amazing I'm feeling I feel like I got a fresh start and actually have a shot at getting it right this time! I felt like a failure for not losing weight but I just couldn't eat anything but super soft foods like pudding and ice cream so it was nearly impossible to lose weight. You have no idea how excited I am to eat salad, that sounds like the most amazing meal ever!! I'll be really really happy when I can start adding real healthy food into my diet! I've gotten so much support here and honestly don't think I would have ever got the bypass without all of you, reading other people's stories and getting advice from all the folks with more experience was such an important part of my journey. All I can say now is I'm SO glad I took a chance and did this and I hope to be able to help anyone else who went through something similar to what I went through because you can get relief, you just have to be patient and keep pushing!

Hopefully in a year from now this will all be a small bump in the road to me being healthy and I'll look back and know that it was all worth it!

glad to read all is well! My surgery got changed to 8/13-going form band to GB! Im excited!!!

Hi @@Beckyyb93, how are you doing? I hope you are healing well, and things are looking up for you!

Hi @@Beckyyb93, how are you doing? I hope you are healing well, and things are looking up for you!

Yes, I'm doing AMAZING! School started last week and it's a little tough to be in class and labs for 3 hours straight but it get's easier every time. I'm walking a lot and eating with no trouble..it's wonderful! The pain is nearly gone, like 95% gone..YAY!! I'm so happy I did this, plus I've lost 20 pounds so far

That's awesome Becky!! Are you eating solids yet?

That's awesome Becky!! Are you eating solids yet?

I'm eating more solid food than I have in two years since the sleeve!! I eat salmon and tilapia and Babybel cheese..it's so exciting!! I'm still supplementing with shakes but it's so fun to be able to chew food, the things we take for granted sometimes are astounding. I'm just so so happy, this was the best decision I have ever made and I know it will permanently change my life, it already has!!

Becky...happy to hear you are doing so much here! Loved reading about your experience. I am still waiting for RNY but am on this forum to hear what REAL people experience..not just what the textbooks say...if that makes sense!?! You referred to a drain and a pain ball that had to cone out. Do you mind explaining more? If it is not something you are comfortable with...no worries! Keep up the posts...keeps me hopeful for the change I want!

Becky...happy to hear you are doing so much here! Loved reading about your experience. I am still waiting for RNY but am on this forum to hear what REAL people experience..not just what the textbooks say...if that makes sense!?! You referred to a drain and a pain ball that had to cone out. Do you mind explaining more? If it is not something you are comfortable with...no worries! Keep up the posts...keeps me hopeful for the change I want!

That makes perfect sense and is a very smart idea! If you know about all of the risks before you have surgery, you will be able to make a more informed decision and know what to expect both best and worse case after surgery.

I don't mind explaining at all, the drain is very common in WLS patients post-op. It's put in while you are under and is basically a long tube that drains excess Fluid from your tummy. Not everyone has it but if you do, you generally don't even feel it until it's time to come out although some people dislike them if they have to stay in when they go home because it makes simple things like changing, sleeping, and walking around a little more difficult. So, the tube comes out of another small "incision" and has a little bag connected to it that get's emptied regularly to drain away all the fluid. When it comes out it's a tad bit painful but more gross/fascinating depending on your outlook of medical stuff it's a pretty long tube so when they pull it out it takes 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on your nurse and then it's over. I had them give me my last iv pain dose right before they took it out and didn't really feel anything painful, just a little weird. So, drains suck but they have an important purpose and the pain is over quick, not anything to fret about really since it's not something you can control and it's not THAT big of a deal. The pain ball is something specific that my surgeon uses, I know a few surgeons use them around here and it looks kind of like a jellyfish. It's a ball with long skinny "tendrils" coming out if it, it's also placed while you are under and the "tendrils" have little holes in them that release numbing medicine. They lay them over your abdominal muscles under the skin and then you wear the little ball in a fanny pack. The idea is that the numbing medication (think lidocaine) will help with the muscle pains you have when recovering from surgery. I'm not sure how much it helped, I've heard people say they love them and others say they didn't do anything at all. I was pretty sore for the first two days then got better very quickly so it's hard to say how much the ball helped versus other factors. Taking that out is not painful at all though, they just pull on the ball and all the little "tendrils" (tubes) come out quickly and they basically numb everything on their way out so all you feel is a little tingling.

Neither the drain nor the pain ball are too scary though, I promise! Kudos to you for being well informed and keep lurking the forums, you'll find tons of interesting information to help you along your journey! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask..I'm a nursing student so can probably get as technical and detailed as you'd like or can try to break it down a little and give you the most important information only. Good luck!!