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

@@jessica2014 I will be praying for you. Hang in there because it really does get better :-) :-)

@@mizzjaejeff I was shocked by how anxious I got about 72 hours before surgery. In retrospect for me it started with a "Jimmy Johns" commercial. I thought that I never had one of their sandwiches and now I never would. Then I mentally made a list of placed I never ate, followed by why am I voluntarily allowing myself to have major surgery done on my body. BUT THEN I THOUGHT ABOUT WHY I AM DOING THIS AND MY GOALS FOR A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE (I was yelling at myself not you :-)) I was relaxed the night before and day of my surgery, but I still had some concerns. However, I knew in my heart that when I looked at the risks vs rewards, then I had to move forward. There's a saying, "Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is being fearful and anxious, but still doing what you know you have to do." You will be fine and we'll be waiting to hear the good news about your new life. Good night....

New Jeffrey

@@carriekos It's great to hear how well you are doing!! It really does get better everyday. I went to my support group meeting tonight. I've lost 16lbs since my surgery two weeks ago (November 4th). I've lost 80lbs since my first surgical evaluation in April. I've still got discomfort in my lower left incisions but else wise everything is great!! :-) :-)

I can't sleep. I'm so anxious about tomorrow. I have to be at the hospital at 8am. I'm a complete ball of nerves...

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

My calves were really sore too! I was too tall for the hospital bed and realized I kept pushing against the bottom of the bed with my feet. That meant my calves were tense constantly, even while I slept! I also thrashed a lot when it wasn't quite time for my pain med yet and rubbed my skin raw on the scratchy sheets and the leg massager things. Geesh....I was a hot mess! Lol.

Surgery went well yesterday. The night was hard. They have you up every two hours to walk, for real. Was nauseous and dizzy from the pain medication. So I stopped taking it. Being nauseous and dizzy was worse than the pain. Going for a upper G.I test in a few and be able to go home by 1pm today. Glad that part is over

Surgery went well yesterday. The night was hard. They have you up every two hours to walk, for real. Was nauseous and dizzy from the pain medication. So I stopped taking it. Being nauseous and dizzy was worse than the pain. Going for a upper G.I test in a few and be able to go home by 1pm today. Glad that part is over

Good morning!! Sounds good. Try to jeep that walking up when you get home and thanks for the update. :-) :-) :-)

Glad to hear everyone's updates on how they're doing! Sounds like it's going well for most of you! On day 9 of 14 for the liquid diet, and proud that I've followed it to the letter! Interestingly, I've been trying to time my drinking water to stop 30 min before/start 1 hr after shakes or meals and one of the certified bariatric nurses at the hospital orientation last night said that was unnecessary! I told her I thought it was so the protein would stay with you longer and make you feel fuller, but she poo-poohed it and said "You're trying to get back to a normal way of eating. Do most people time when they drink and eat or not drink with meals? NOPE!" That was interesting. She also said she wouldn't recommend more than 60-65 oz of protein because you don't need more than that and it will just constipate you. And they don't really watch carbs I guess because the shakes they use in the hospital are just Carnation Instant Breakfast which I would think have too much sugar/not enough protein. It was kind of surprising.

She was great though and very smart and down to earth about everything. I was glad to hear they don't use catheters and they let you drink water the same night of your surgery. They also make you walk a lot and do some sort of heavy breathing test every hour to help get the anasthesia out of your lungs/system. She told everyone not to expect to do a lot of sleeping in the hospital!

Can't believe there's less than a week to go!

I'm finally home from the hospital! I'm not complaining though. The pain was a little worse than I expected but it is well managed with the meds. Hopefully I'll get some rest tonight and update everyone later. Good luck to those coming up. You really can do this

@@BigDude hey man try to get some rest tonight and welcome home :-).

@@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!

ready2B is right. We all have been right where you are today. Once you actually get to the hospital your entire focus will change.

I did fine after that first day after my surgery. The pain subsided some and I stopped feeling nauseous. Once I got home I was so much more relaxed and that helped everything seem less overwhelming. I only took my pain meds at night before bed for the first 3 nights. After that I was fine with a couple tylenol.

You'll do great. Stick with this bunch and you'll get all kinds of support. Good people.....

My calves were really sore too! I was too tall for the hospital bed and realized I kept pushing against the bottom of the bed with my feet. That meant my calves were tense constantly, even while I slept! I also thrashed a lot when it wasn't quite time for my pain med yet and rubbed my skin raw on the scratchy sheets and the leg massager things. Geesh....I was a hot mess! Lol.

Ouch!!! I hope you get home quickly so you can sleep in your own bed.

hang in there.

@@BigDude

Glad everything went smoothly. Nothing like that first night in your own bed. Especially if you took you pain meds so you could sleep a little better.

Tomorrow starts a whole new day. And hey, now you have a bunch of groupies....

I've been home since the 9th. Thank you though!

Good morning!! Sounds good. Try to jeep that walking up when you get home and thanks for the update. :-) :-) :-)

@@Ldimples I'm with Jeffrey. Keep on walking, even if it's just from room to room in the house. The first couple days I was home it was so cold here even the dog didn't want to go out. I literally walked from one end of the house by the bedrooms down the hall to the kitchen (it's a straight shot) and counted laps....