No amount of preperation

[lucy0911 58]

So I had my surgery on January 20th. I am a nurse and have researched this for years before finally decided on the surgery. I went to all the pre-op classes, did everything I was supposed to do when I was supposed to and i thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Holy crap was I wrong. No amount of prep could have prepared me for what was in store. Post op, felt great. a bit nauseous but ok. Went for a nice long walk, had my foley, i was Nothing by mouth and a dilauded pca with zofran around the clock. I feel asleep for a bit woke at 2 am and was super sick to my stomach. The discontinued my iv in the morning and asked me to start drinking. WHAT!!!!! I tried, please understand I tried...so hard....They gave me Roxicodone liqiud, which just made things worse. My Blood pressure went through the rood because of the pain and nausea so they gave me meds for that which sucked because my head was killing me. They ended up restarting my IV and i was a blubbering idiot, in tears wondering what the hell i did to myself. The nurse practitioner came in and gave me toradol. with the hour i was able to stand again, ate some Jello and cleaned up which allowed me to get out of the hospital that day. It is now 5 days later. I am doing so much better. Still have some staples in place and steri strips. Water is going down easier, Jello as well. Still not a big fan of broth. I know with all my heart and soul that this was the right thing for me to do but I had my moment of weakness. I felt guilty and stupid about it but the NP told me that no one, no matter how much you know, can anticipate how your body will react to the surgery. Be patient. Forgive yourself for the doubts you have because you will have doubts and remember....it will get better.

[ab123. 90]

I am a retired RN and going for my consult this Wednesday the 28th. I am 247# at 5'4". I guess I am worried that I won't lose enough weight after the surgery. Some of what I am reading is 185 pounds. I always gain it back on my own though. What are your thoughts?

[lucy0911 58]

I am only slightly taller than you. I was told that after standing on the fancy scale in the office that i have about hundred and twenty five lbs of my body is fat that can be lost. It was guessed that i will loose about 70 to 80 but can get even more with proper diet and exercise

[ab123. 90]

So that falls in with the 60% of excess body weight I have read about. I am also ready about 10 pounds per month. I guess I wish I could stick to a diet and exercise regimen on my own because those are the same numbers that could be achieved. However I hVe been obese for 20 years now with sleep apnea and other morbidities. The final straw is I have hemorrhagic polyps on my vocal cords that are not responding to treatment. They are from my severe GERD. So I have bleeding vocal cords now. Something has to be done.

[ab123. 90]

Sorry for all the typos. I don't have spell check on. I hate autocorrect.

[Babbs 14,680]

So that falls in with the 60% of excess body weight I have read about. I am also ready about 10 pounds per month. I guess I wish I could stick to a diet and exercise regimen on my own because those are the same numbers that could be achieved. However I hVe been obese for 20 years now with sleep apnea and other morbidities. The final straw is I have hemorrhagic polyps on my vocal cords that are not responding to treatment. They are from my severe GERD. So I have bleeding vocal cords now. Something has to be done.

I don't want to alarm you or throw a wrench in your plans, but you do realize that sometimes the gastric sleeve makes GERD worse? It did in my case...

[Jersrose43 837]

I am a retired RN and going for my consult this Wednesday the 28th. I am 247# at 5'4". I guess I am worried that I won't lose enough weight after the surgery. Some of what I am reading is 185 pounds. I always gain it back on my own though. What are your thoughts?

I was sleeved 6/24

I started at 240 and 5.5 and a half

It's been 7 months and I am weighing in at 165 right now. 15 more pounds to go.

[ab123. 90]

Jersrose43 I hope i have results like yours! I have heard that the sleeve can make Gerd worse. I am going to discuss this with my MD. I am hoping that the weight loss will help with the Gerd otherwise I will have to have surgery for that as well.

[ab123. 90]

I know that I have so many medical problems and seem like I am 70 instead of 56. I hope that this will work for me. My PCP is very conservative so for him to have thought it was a good idea suggests to me it is time to go forward with this.

[Pepper123 320]

I was type two diabetic...was on the verge of taking insulin...no amount of drugs could help me....no matter all the tweaking...and i had high blood pressure..since 12/2/14 i had my sleeve done..today am a size 10...am soo happy and am not taking any med and my diabetes is under control without any meds...But all this took work i now have permanent Resident status at the gym...i go 7 days a week..no matter the weather...I am now looking forward to the next 6 weeks before i go back to my doctor to see where my body will be...This was the second best thing i ever did in my life..and its totally changing my life...

Edited January 24, 2015 by Pepper123

[ab123. 90]

I'm really encouraged by everyones comments. When I go Wednesday I hope I can start the pre-op diet. I have an upper respiratory infection right now. I have 2 more days on Levaquin which doesn't seem to be helping. I am also afraid the polyps on my vocal cords may cause problems for intubation due to the swelling in my throat. It's one thing after another.

[Miss Mac 6,261]

Sorry to hear about the GERD. My sleeve solved that issue plus ischemic colitis, chronic diverticulitis, and pre-diabetes. I am a slow loser - 66 pounds the first year. My original goal was 100 pounds. At my one-year check-up my goal weight was changed from 135 to 155. The doctor said that if I can lose another 14 pounds, a panni should take care of another 12-15, which would put me close to my original goal weight. That is do-able.

Like almost everyone else, I was in a big hurry at the start too, but I have mellowed out about it now.

I was curious about the staples, though. Did you have a single large incision? I had the four little ones and was and was glued and taped back together.

[ab123. 90]

What is a panni?

[MrsSugarbabe 727]

My post-op experience was a challenge also. The surgery itself (on 11/10) and the 2 days in the hospital went fine. It was after I was home about 5 days that things started going south. I called my surgeon's office to schedule my first post-op appt. His nurse did not like how I was sounding on the phone so she had him call me later that day. He told me to go into the office the next morning (11/18) to see his PA (he was going to be in his other office so I wasn't able to see him) and have her check me out. After the PA checked me out, what she found was my O2 sat was 85 and HR 115, she conferred with my surgeon by phone and then told my husband to drive me to the hospital for a CT to check for blood clots. No clots were found, thank goodness. However, my hospital journey began as they admitted me in order to run more tests. Over the course of a few days, I had multiple CT scans, x-rays, blood work, etc. Ended up with a couple of drains for a hematoma in my stomach and for where bile was collecting under my diaphragm. These two things plus an infection caused my body to create "reactive fluid" in the chest area between my ribs and left lung which is what was causing me to be so short of breath. After draining off over 1400cc of Fluid, my breathing improved considerably finally. My hospital stay lasted 13 days with an additional 5 days in inpatient rehab to try and regain some of my strength and balance back. I lost a lot of weight and muscle strength during those 18 days. I could not walk without assistance I was so weak. Once I was discharged from rehab on 12/6, I continued with outpatient rehab through December. Today I'm doing so much better physically, have lost about 40 lbs. since pre-surgery days, and am working out regularly to lose more. All that said, despite the complications I experienced after the surgery, I would have the surgery again. It took me a long time to make the decision to have the surgery, and I'm glad I did. I may not be losing the weight as quickly as my surgeon is expecting me to, but I am doing all the homework to make it happen, i.e. Protein Protein protein, tracking food intake, ramped up my exercise routine, and staying away from the junk food. It will come off in due time. When you consider how small our stomachs are now, it makes it easier (at least for me) to make better choices about what to eat since I can eat so little before I'm full.

I encourage anyone considering having VSG to do it. I don't believe you'll regret your decision to do whatever it takes to improve your health. I'm no longer on my diabetes or blood pressure medications I will be very interested to see what happens with my fatty liver situation as I get farther down the weight loss road.

So I had my surgery on January 20th. I am a nurse and have researched this for years before finally decided on the surgery. I went to all the pre-op classes, did everything I was supposed to do when I was supposed to and i thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Holy crap was I wrong. No amount of prep could have prepared me for what was in store. Post op, felt great. a bit nauseous but ok. Went for a nice long walk, had my foley, i was Nothing by mouth and a dilauded pca with zofran around the clock. I feel asleep for a bit woke at 2 am and was super sick to my stomach. The discontinued my iv in the morning and asked me to start drinking. WHAT!!!!! I tried, please understand I tried...so hard....They gave me Roxicodone liqiud, which just made things worse. My Blood pressure went through the rood because of the pain and nausea so they gave me meds for that which sucked because my head was killing me. They ended up restarting my IV and i was a blubbering idiot, in tears wondering what the hell i did to myself. The nurse practitioner came in and gave me toradol. with the hour i was able to stand again, ate some Jello and cleaned up which allowed me to get out of the hospital that day. It is now 5 days later. I am doing so much better. Still have some staples in place and steri strips. Water is going down easier, Jello as well. Still not a big fan of broth. I know with all my heart and soul that this was the right thing for me to do but I had my moment of weakness. I felt guilty and stupid about it but the NP told me that no one, no matter how much you know, can anticipate how your body will react to the surgery. Be patient. Forgive yourself for the doubts you have because you will have doubts and remember....it will get better.

So I had my surgery on January 20th. I am a nurse and have researched this for years before finally decided on the surgery. I went to all the pre-op classes, did everything I was supposed to do when I was supposed to and i thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Holy crap was I wrong. No amount of prep could have prepared me for what was in store. Post op, felt great. a bit nauseous but ok. Went for a nice long walk, had my foley, i was Nothing by mouth and a dilauded pca with zofran around the clock. I feel asleep for a bit woke at 2 am and was super sick to my stomach. The discontinued my iv in the morning and asked me to start drinking. WHAT!!!!! I tried, please understand I tried...so hard....They gave me Roxicodone liqiud, which just made things worse. My Blood pressure went through the rood because of the pain and nausea so they gave me meds for that which sucked because my head was killing me. They ended up restarting my IV and i was a blubbering idiot, in tears wondering what the hell i did to myself. The nurse practitioner came in and gave me toradol. with the hour i was able to stand again, ate some jello and cleaned up which allowed me to get out of the hospital that day. It is now 5 days later. I am doing so much better. Still have some staples in place and steri strips. Water is going down easier, Jello as well. Still not a big fan of broth. I know with all my heart and soul that this was the right thing for me to do but I had my moment of weakness. I felt guilty and stupid about it but the NP told me that no one, no matter how much you know, can anticipate how your body will react to the surgery. Be patient. Forgive yourself for the doubts you have because you will have doubts and remember....it will get better.

[Garifab_VSG 122]

I am a retired RN and going for my consult this Wednesday the 28th. I am 247# at 5'4". I guess I am worried that I won't lose enough weight after the surgery. Some of what I am reading is 185 pounds. I always gain it back on my own though. What are your thoughts?

@@lynneanne re: the bolded from your post - If there's one thing that has been drilled into my head by friends of mine who have had VSG, it's that even with the sleeve, you can still gain it back. One of my friends is 2.5 years out, one is 1.5 years out .. one has gained back over 20 lbs, and is having a b!tch of a time trying to re-lose that 20.

Anyway, I keep reminding myself of that. I'm still pre-op, but from all that I've read and heard from friends, it's critical to go into this surgery with the right mindset, and not rely on the surgery as a solution. It's just a tool, and a tool we need to work faithfully!

Edited January 24, 2015 by Garifab_VSG