March 2015 Sleevers

[sharirose67 2]

I too had surgery on the 9 of March and felt the same way! Thank you for posting this! I was able to have some cream Soup yesterday as well as cottage cheese and yogurt and did very well. It's definitely scary when you start eating again because you don't want to over do it. My gas pains are finally gone and I'm feeling much better today.

[TREVORSMOM 20]

March 24th here also with Dr. Nicholson!

[HawksFan 12]

Enjoying reading all these. Mine is a week from today so I'm definitely feeling nervous and anxious (and really hoping that I don't have more than 1 night in hospital since I'm self pay!...maybe since I'm early 30s it will be okay - at least that's what I tell myself).

Excited to be on the losers bench soon!!!!!

Good luck. Hopefully you'll feel surprisingly good the first day like I did. Just don't overdo it and expect that the discomfort will be worse day 2 than day one when you're still under some of the influence of anesthesia and IV pain meds. Just take it easy and try to get a lot of rest.

[ElleTx 14]

Had my sleeve surgery on Monday: 03/09 & definitely I was super nervous and anxious about this whole decision and procedure.

Pre Op: I was lucky... I was only out in a liquid diet for 3 days before my surgery.

Day 1: I have the worse collapsing/ rolling veins! I was told that the doctor prefers to draw blood the morning of the surgery to insure that the patient is not pregnant. Drawing blood and trying to put an IV was the worse! I'm bruised up all over my arms.

After surgery I couldn't keep my eyes open or complete a sentence. I was able to walk for a moment, use the restroom, and the nurse informed me that I only pressed the morphine pump 2 times. I wanted to sleep all day and no lights on in my room. I had the worse nausea Zofran through my IV didn't help, and I figured out that the morphine was making me nauseas.

The only thing that helped with the nausea was a shot of Phenergan.

I wasn't informed about the no liquids for 24hrs after the surgery (until the morning of), the Heparin shots every 12 hrs, drawing blood every 12 hrs, and the worse cotton mouth!

Day 2: Still in pain, nauseas as ever, getting a lot of walking done to try to move the gas out, and barely able to get my 15ml of fluids in. Just wanted to sleep, and some reason refusing assistance for he nurses. ????

Day 3: Not as much pain as I thought I would be in; nurses realized I wasn't going to use my morphine after looking at the counts of me pressing the button... The removed it for me. Tiny bit of nausea, but got my hourly walks in, and excited about going home to my kids & husband!

Day 4: Very little pain, no pain meds in stock at 6 pharmacies around my house (told the wait would be 2 days), and I decided to walk around Ikea for a couple of hours to insure no blood clots. I've realized I hate the vanilla Protein shake mix! Very gassy though... Trying to get all the medications in without heartburn/ gas issues (the chewable Vitamins are super sweet & definitely not to my liking).

Day 5: Today seems to be going well. I did an hour of walking and I switched to Orange Cream Protein Shake for my Breakfast Protein intake, and I think I'm going to try to mix the unflavored Protein Powder with my chicken broth for later today. I need to figure a better way to get my 64 oz of Water in per day without pain.

This may seems weird, but I'm really scared of returning back to my old habits and gaining my weight back. It may not help to watch 600lbs Life... There's a young man who got the sleeve but has gained all his weight back after 1 year!

[marlina51 3]

Getting ready....my surgery I'd March 18th. Thought I'd check on what to expect post op and how everyone is doing

[chicklit72 8]

My surgery is scheduled for Monday (3/16) at 11:30am. I am very excited with a touch of nervousness. I am glad I found this site as I will need support.

[Cancelme@msn.com 3]

Had my surgery on 3/10.

The hospital stay and recovery at home went / is going well.

Still taking a pain med and a stomach spasm med every now and then but each day is less.

Yesterday was the first day that I was able to almost meet my nutritional requirements. I’m supposed to take in 118grams of Protein a day. Basically I’m on a diet of Protein shakes (GNC Lean shake 25g Protein) Beef and chicken broth Soup, sugar free Jellow, and a little diet cranberry juice. throughout the day. Its coming out to be close to 800 calorie’s a day. And so far I’m dropping almost 2 lbs. a day.

My first Doc visit will be on the 25, interested to see how that will go.

Interesting thing with me I think (maybe not), starting yesterday not having a hard time getting liquids down. I pretty much eat everything now bowl and spoon. I able to put a cup of chicken broth down in about 10 minutes. Thought it would be harder then that. I’m finding that if I spoon everything it goes down easier. Definitely a little pain or comfortableness if I go to fast but it goes away fast and haven’t had the urge throw up or anything yet.

Only thing worrying me now is that urination is often enough and easy but haven’t had a bowl movement yet. I guess Constipation is an issue with this kind of surgery.

[Grateful_Love 114]

I was sleeved on 3/3. The first two days were the worst. The dilaudid medicine they gave me made me so foggy brained that I couldn't make sense of the pain to tell if it was gas or incisional or muscle, etc. When I switched to liquid pain meds it was a little easier and I was more clear headed.

Day 3-returned to my home. No need for nausea meds--didn't really experience any. Did take some of the narcotic liquid med. started sipping from medicine cups. Got my protien and Water in, just had to remember to sip.

Somewhere in day 4/5/6-I got over the need for medicine cups and just sip slow. Maintained my Protein and Water each day. Just sippin and sippin. A little tired through out, but not overly fatigued. Walking a lot around the house--doing too much--folding laundry, bending to put the leash on the dog. Walking the dog and balancing not being pulled over or falling on the ice. Feeling absolutely NO restriction with liquids and getting pretty scared that it "didn't work."

Day 8--so constipated. I had been doing okay with regular BMs with the help of the prescribed stool softeners--but I must not have drank enough water on day 7. So constipated I saw a little blood in my stool! So scary!

Day 10 (today) I was able to eat 2oz of very puréed chicken and ricotta cheese--felt SO FULL. I had been waiting to feel full! ...then I didn't really like it lol.

I was so scared I wouldn't feel full/that id broken it before it could work/that something was going to go wrong. Welp, looks like I've got nothing to worry about as far as restriction goes. Now just to figure out how to get 75 grams of Protein in without entirely relying on shakes.

Good luck everyone! I'm so glad you are all here!!

[HawksFan 12]

How long has it taken for the tapes on your incisions to fall off? My incisions are itching and I'm nervous I'm going to scratch them in the middle of the night. 7 days post surgery here.

[duffslove 6]

How long has it taken for the tapes on your incisions to fall off? My incisions are itching and I'm nervous I'm going to scratch them in the middle of the night. 7 days post surgery here.

I still have a lot of the tape/sticky clear stuff around most of mine, but everyday i shower and i can tell more of the stuff is coming off around the edges and on most of them it is barely covering the actual cut now, but the cuts seem to be healing well..my 2 week post op is Tues. my surgeon just said to care for them by washing with mild soap and Water daily and pat dry, but im sure everyone is different on this. I have read forums where people have used neosporin (or similar) on theirs and its been ok, and also answers where people have said their surgeon said absolutely dont put anything on them.

[HawksFan 12]

How long has it taken for the tapes on your incisions to fall off? My incisions are itching and I'm nervous I'm going to scratch them in the middle of the night. 7 days post surgery here.

I still have a lot of the tape/sticky clear stuff around most of mine, but everyday i shower and i can tell more of the stuff is coming off around the edges and on most of them it is barely covering the actual cut now, but the cuts seem to be healing well..my 2 week post op is Tues. my surgeon just said to care for them by washing with mild soap and Water daily and pat dry, but im sure everyone is different on this. I have read forums where people have used neosporin (or similar) on theirs and its been ok, and also answers where people have said their surgeon said absolutely dont put anything on them.

Thanks. Don't know why I'm impatient. And I have a 1 week follow up with my surgeon on Tuesday so I should sit tight til then. I think it's that I want to put neosporin on there for itching. But I'll ask instead. Good luck with your followup. Hope you're feeling good!

[Madmax68 227]

Hi Folks! I had my surgery March 4 - hiatus hernia repair too. i was having problems the first day after surgery getting down liquid, and had to spend an extra day in hospital. Ever since then, I've been feeling fabulous and counting down the days until I can get back in the pool.

My only concern is that I'm not really losing weight. I've been reading of people dropping 10-15 pounds in the first week and I only lost 2 lbs. I'm following the nutritionist's directions to the letter, but find it was coming off a lot faster pre-op.

Anyone else having similar problems? (Although I am happy to be losing anything at all )

[Crha 1]

Sleeved 3/3 and I'm feeling great...returning to work on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to my daily routine going back to normal. food is the only downer for me at this time, once I head back to work I don't think I will be as focused on all the things I can't have yet and gagging in my mouth with the little options I do have! I miss food with substance, so tired of drinking all day long...can't wait to chew!

[deej36 20]

I was sleeved on the 9th... had a small hiatal hernia repaired at the same time. Only pain I have is at the sure where the stomach was removed. Going back to work tomorrow (one wk post). Trying a variety of high Protein Soups and Isopure. Not sure when to start drinking after my shakes are finished, but just going by how I feel. Still can't sleep on my left side. Looking forward to puree after one more week on liquids and soups!

[Joey Jackson 12]

3/3 surgery date - Went well without much of a problem. The gas build up in your shoulders and chest hurt, pretty much everything hurts that first day, but no unbearable. Lots of medicine and fluids, lots of sleeping. I was walking the hotel hall that night.

3/3-3/10 - Liquids liquids liquids. Very little pain after the first couple of days, but mostly tender. Hunger was GONE, couldn't believe how much I didn't want food. Lots of Water. Water water water. I was not a fan of broths, had a little chicken and a little beef and just stuck with the water.

3/10-3/15 - Protein shakes went down well. I used premier shakes, mainly vanilla. Have a bit of a chalky after taste but they all do. Tried some Jello, not bad. Lots of water. Started walking a mile and a half or so every day with my GF.

3/16 today - Was told by my doctor to give some softs a try. I had a slice of Colby Jack cheese. Tasted good and went down fine. Going to eat a little cottage cheese tonight. He told me to give an egg a try tomorrow, so looking forward to that.

So far so good guys.

I started day before surgery at 435

I weighed 413 this morning.