Hi.

I'm Deb from N. Carolina. I started this whole process back in August after a visit to my regular doctor. After way too many years of yo-yo dieting and never getting the job done, it's all caught up to me. Now I'm heavier than I've ever been, my BP is on the rise and so is my cholesterol. My arthritis is terrible in my knees and ankles. I retired a couple years ago and I hate it because I can't do any of the things my husband and I talked about doing at this time in our lives. It's time to move forward.....

My surgery is scheduled for Nov.11th. I'm excited and scared at the same time. I'm hoping that others that are getting ready to have their surgery in November might be interested in connecting to create a support group. Let's make this journey together and be there to support one another no matter where we live or what our ages may be.

I've been looking at many of the other discussions and some are great, but I have a hard time keeping up with all of them in different places. I'm wondering if a group like this would make it easier to keep tract of whatever we want to talk about.

What do you think????

I look forward to hearing from folks.

Deb

Thanks for all the well wishes and also good luck for those having the surgery.

I had my surgery at 11am today and I am finally starting to feel a little better. I was SUPER nauseous after surgery, but then again this always happens to me. They gave me meds for it and the pain is now tolerable. I felt sore but when I first woke up and like my new stomach pouch was on fire, but I feel so much better. It's just soreness and a little bit of naseau. Thank goodness for medication!!

Oh yea, I am sooooooo thirsty and I can't have anything - no water until tmw. My lips are so dry even with lip balm and I am wetting the inside of my mouth/tongue with a wet hand towel.

It all feel so surreal. I wasn't scared or anxious. Just really happy that I finally did the surgery and I still feel like I dreamed this. I waited so long that it felt it would never happen lol

Tomorrow will another day, tomorrow will go smooth sailing as well

Again good luck to those having surgery and quick recovery for everyone. We are so strong for doing this right before the holidays lol

@@jessica2014 - Good luck tomorrow! Let us know how you are doing when you feel up to it. :-)

@@kelseycakes20 - Good luck to you too! I didn't sleep at all the night before but didn't worry too much because I knew I would sleep a LOT after! Hope all goes great for you.

My doctor's diet schedule sounds really different than most of yours. We only had one day of full liquids pre-op, then after we got home. Then the following day we start on pureed foods then at one week, we advance to soft foods for the rest of the first month. They told us that if we got in at least 25 gm protein and 40 oz of liquids the first week, we were doing great. And protein drinks can count towards half of our liquids. So, when I went for my 1 week checkup today and had an average of 45 gm protein/day and 60 oz of liquids, they were thrilled. I was thrilled too, because it was hard enough doing that! I really feel for you guys who have a much harder diet plan to follow. I have no idea why they are so different from doctor to doctor.

That said, after the praise I got, I came home and got overly cocky! You would think I set out to learn as many things the hard way as I possibly could in one day. I drank too big of a gulp of water and that hurt like HELL as my stomach went into a cramp that lasted about 5 minutes with no relief. Then for dinner, I had a veggie breakfast sausage patty (allowed) that I had cooked too dry, a soft scrambled egg with pepperjack cheese. I ate it sitting in a recliner instead of fully upright at the table and I ate it too fast! Lots of things wrong with that picture! The dry sausage was something I should have said no to after the first bite. It was not "soft" by any definition. The eggs were okay, but pepperjack??? What the heck was I thinking? Way too spicy for my first day of solid food! And it didn't go down well because of half-reclining and eating too fast. So - of course it set off another 5 minutes of very painful cramp before it all came back up. SO - lots of lessons learned the hard way!! Hopefully you guys can learn from my stupid example here and not make the same mistakes. I know I won't again!

Well right now I am on a full liquid diet phase, and tomorrow is 2 weeks post operation. I have to get in 80 - 100 grams of protein, and 64 ounces of water a day. I literally have to force myself to drink and/or eat soups. I'm never hungry. I've been drinking a lot of water the last two days because I was constipated. Thankfully some Miralax fixed that, but I'm never hungry.

I'm LOL Jeffrey, because wasn't it you who said to always be near the bathroom when you pass gas or you might get surprised??????? I started feeling kinda yucky yesterday. Really bloated and miserable. I had my 1 week post op appt. this morning, and my doc said I definitely should have pooped by now. He went on to tell me how serious it can be to not go regularly especially with all the extra protein. He made me stop at the pharmacy on my way home for some Miralax and told me to take a double dose when I got home. I'll be trotting to the can all evening I bet.

Otherwise appointment went good. I've lost 21 lbs. since my pre-op appt. which is the weight my guy starts from. He said that if I had pooped like I was supposed to I probably would have lost several more. Next week when I see the nutritionist should reveal a nice loss.

@@ready2B

Take it easy on yourself kiddo. We're all bound to make mistakes along the way. I would have been all over the pepperjack cheese. I hope that I can still eat spicy things as time goes by. I don't think I could stand not having a little hot and spicy guacamole on a little cup of chili.

I can't believe that you were allowed to actually eat something so soon. To be honest with you I don't think I could even try to eat real food yet. Right now everything seems to be unappealing. You must really feel overall great. I still have some pain getting in and out of bed or a chair, and my incision sites are very tender. Just had my staples taken out today.

Just take it slow. We don't want you doing any damage to your pouch, or making yourself sick. OK?

@@Dabliss111114 - Did you have your surgery done robotically? Mine was, don't know if that makes any difference. I have superglue instead of staples and it is itching like crazy!!! I can't put anything on it to make it stop either. Hope this stops soon. Hope the Miralax works for you soon. I've been terrified of getting constipated so I've been taking milk of magnesia every other day.

I am feeling really good! Today I realized I don't hurt anywhere! Just yesterday, I still hurt quite a bit here and there - so what a difference a day makes! You are only one day behind me so you may have a MUCH better day tomorrow too. I think the last remaining air pocket in my shoulders finally worked themselves out last night.

I thought I wouldn't be able to handle the soft food stage so early either but except for that one meal, it's been just fine. I made some tuna salad tonight with hard boiled egg, light mayo and some low-fat cheese. It was really good and my pouch handled it all like a pro. I ate a heck of a lot slower than last night and sat up straight at the table, which I am sure helped too.

@@bluedreams86 - how is your new day going? Are you home? I am constantly amazed at how each day I feel so much better than the one before. Everything still feels a bit surreal to me!

I had my surgery last Tuesday. Lost 10 lbs preop and am down a total of 15 lbs. I was only told to eat when I was hungry. Ur liquid intake with the protein. Drinks includes the 64 oz a day. U don't have to drink 60 oz of water on top of it. I eat maybe once or twice a day. And have advanced myself to soft foods saturday. When I did I had my first bm. So don't worry.

For exercise anything is better than nothing but you need to do something each day.

Good luck for all of those having surgery!

@@ready2B and @@karebearr100,I'm so happy to hear that you're both feeling so great. Keep it up. There's no doubt that all our docs have a different approach whether it's the diet itself or the surgical procedure. I guess it just goes to show all of us that there's different roads to take on this journey. The good thing is that we all are headed in the same direction for the same reason. Now that we've had our surgeries we can begin to focus on our successes and all the clever meal ideas we come up with. This is a great group!!

OK, so as for me today..... HAIL TO THE MIRALAX!!!! With the exception of being up several times during the night, I feel so much better today!! It's amazing what a good bm can do for the system. Everything hurts less, no more bloating, and more energy overall. I may go out for a walk in spite of the cold. Only 17 degrees here in Charlotte,NC this morning. We set a new record for low temp this time of year. We rarely see anything below 25 or so all winter as a rule. I hate it.....even though I grew up in the north, and lived a number of years in Chicago.

Everyone have a wonderful day!!

@@ready2B and @@karebearr100,I'm so happy to hear that you're both feeling so great. Keep it up. There's no doubt that all our docs have a different approach whether it's the diet itself or the surgical procedure. I guess it just goes to show all of us that there's different roads to take on this journey. The good thing is that we all are headed in the same direction for the same reason. Now that we've had our surgeries we can begin to focus on our successes and all the clever meal ideas we come up with. This is a great group!!

OK, so as for me today..... HAIL TO THE MIRALAX!!!! With the exception of being up several times during the night, I feel so much better today!! It's amazing what a good bm can do for the system. Everything hurts less, no more bloating, and more energy overall. I may go out for a walk in spite of the cold. Only 17 degrees here in Charlotte,NC this morning. We set a new record for low temp this time of year. We rarely see anything below 25 or so all winter as a rule. I hate it.....even though I grew up in the north, and lived a number of years in Chicago.

Everyone have a wonderful day!!

Hail to the Miralax and the November group said, "Amen" :-) :-). I'm going to need to cut back on the Miralax, but you are so right, nothing beats a good BM. I started to walk outside yesterday and today, but we got the same cold weather here in Southern New Jersey.

My Bariatric Center has its own support group that meets tonight. I'm excited about finally going and being post operation. I started going in June, and I always learns new things at meetings, but this should be different now that I've actually had the surgery. I'll also get weighed and see what progress has been made.

Have a great day November buddies!!!! :-) :-)

Ok so my surgery is coming up on November 24th at 7:30am and all of a sudden I am sooooooo terrified! Im not even sure of what! I'm hoping that I'm just a little anxious and by Monday I'll be just fine, but I don't know. HELP!

Got home today. All is going well. No gas pains like when I had the lap band. What a huge difference in recovery. I'm not as soar either. Only take a percocet before bed. Had dry heaving directly after the surgery. Hope everyone else is doing as well as I am.

@@mizzjaejeff - I think we were all terrified before surgery! It's normal. But really - the surgery is not that bad at all and it will be over and you will be home before you know it. A few days of light discomfort mostly. For me, I was also very nervous about what a HUGE life change I was getting myself into. But in that too, I had nothing to worry about. I am 9 days out and everything is going great. I feel great, I've lost 9 lbs so far, eating has gone really well (except for the one meal where I tried to break every rule at once!) I am already so HAPPY I did this!

@@carriekos - Congrats on being on the other side now! Sounds like you are doing great. It's amazing what a difference each day makes.

Hopefully last night... Day 2 wanted to stay because we tried liquids today and still a little pain now calves are in pain almost like there swollen..doesn't sound major will get a ultra sound tomorrow hopefully just fluid or maybe sore because my muscle don't walk this much? My job I stand for long hours so pray for me I wanna go home