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I can't wait to see myself.



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I am 16 days post-op from VSG and it has recently dawned on me.....I have no idea what I look like. My bone structure has always had extra fluff on it. I have never been slim, and early on in life I realized that husky wasn't just a breed of dog. I don't posses chia-pet like facial hair, so I'm hoping the structure isn't too terrible. Below is a brief synopsis of who I am.

P.S- dealing with some major bloating. I think my doc made my sleeve really tight (had to stay an extra night because I couldn't get the barium cocktail to pass through my esophageal sphincter. My surgeon follows a (2 weeks full liquid, 2 weeks puree, 2 weeks mechanical soft and then regular). Puree is proving tough for me, so I may give full liquids another week. Any recommendations?

I am a 28 year old athletic fat-kid from Ohio......living in Alabama. I moved away from home after graduating from pharmacy school in 2011, because I felt my friends and family were enabling me and that was the main reason I gained weight. Well after being on my own for a while I did lose weight, but once I made friends in this area the weight came back. They weren't enabling anything. This problem laid square on my broad shoulders. I am a social guy and food has always been a medium for me during those times. I realized that this might be the one thing in my life I need to ask for help on. It definitely isn't the easy way out as some people look at it.

I have always been able to hide behind my athletic build (even though I was a big guy). I always kept pace with my smaller friends and never really had it hamper my life. As I get older, I feel pains and creaks in my bones and I can only imagine what that will be like in 30 years (if I made it that long).

Luckily other than some mild hypertension, I dont have any other co-morbidities that are related to morbid obesity.....and I want to keep it that way. For most of my twenties I have hovered around 315-335. Yo-yo dieting and killing myself in the gym. I have always been a gym rat, so that has helped me have a bad diet and "maintain" my 300 lb plus physique.

As I am typing this I am 16 days post-op and bloated as hell still (vertical sleeve). I am trying my best to adjust to the new life and hope that this forum will help with questions and eventually I can help other people as I continue.

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Good for you! I'm sure you're gonna be a success and yeah, its exciting to watch you "emerge" from yourself.

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I have this sensation of needing to burp and then right as im about to, it alllllll fizzles out. It is super frustrating. Papaya enzyme seems to help.....any recommendations?

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I Can't wait for you to post so pictures 6 months from now :)

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    • Aunty Mamo

      Iʻm roughly 6 weeks post-op this morning and have begun to feel like a normal human, with a normal human body again. I started introducing solid foods and pill forms of medications/supplements a couple of weeks ago and it's really amazing to eat meals with my family again, despite the fact that my portions are so much smaller than theirs. 
      I live on the island of Oʻahu and spend a lot of time in the water- for exercise, for play,  and for spiritual & mental health. The day I had my month out appointment with my surgeon, I packed all my gear in my truck, anticipating his permission to get back in the ocean. The minute I walked out of that hospital I drove straight to the shore and got in that water. Hallelujah! My appointment was at 10 am. I didn't get home until after 5 pm. 
      I'm down 31 pounds since the day of surgery and 47 since my pre-op diet began, with that typical week long stall occurring at three weeks. I'm really starting to see some changes lately- some of my clothing is too big, some fits again. The most drastic changes I notice however are in my face. I've also noticed my endurance and flexibility increasing. I was really starting to be held up physically, and I'm so grateful that I'm seeing that turn around in such short order. 
      My general disposition lately is hopeful and motivated. The only thing that bugs me on a daily basis still is the way those supplements make my house smell. So stink! But I just bought a smell proof bag online that other people use to put their pot in. My house doesn't stink anymore. 
       
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Oh yeah, something I wanted to rant about, a billing dispute that cropped up 3 months ago.
      Surgery was in August of 2023. A bill shows up for over $7,000 in January. WTF? I asks myself. I know that I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and verified this and triple checked that, as did the surgeon's office. All was set, and I paid all of the known costs before surgery.
      A looong story short, is that an assistant surgeon that was in the process of accepting money from my insurance company touched me while I was under anesthesia. That is what the bill was for. But hey, guess what? Some federal legislation was enacted last year to help patients out when they cannot consent to being touched by someone out of their insurance network. These types of bills fall under something called, "surprise billing," and you don't have to put up with it.
      https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises
      I had to make a lot of phone calls to both the surgeon's office and the insurance company and explain my rights and what the maximum out of pocket costs were that I could be liable for. Also had to remind them that it isn't my place to be taking care of all of this and that I was going to escalate things if they could not play nice with one another.
      Quick ending is that I don't have to pay that $7,000+. Advocate, advocate, advocate for yourself no matter how long it takes and learn more about this law if you are ever hit with a surprise bill.
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Some days I feel like an infiltrator... I'm participating in society as a "thin" person. They have no idea that I haven't always been one of them! 🤣
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    • ChunkCat

      Thank you everyone for your well wishes! I totally forgot I wrote an update here... I'm one week post op today. I gained 15 lbs in water weight overnight because they had to give me tons of fluids to bring my BP up after surgery! I stayed one night in the hospital. Everything has been fine except I seem to have picked up a bug while I was there and I've been running a low grade fever, coughing, and a sore throat. So I've been hydrating well and sleeping a ton. So far the Covid tests are negative.
      I haven't been able to advance my diet past purees. Everything I eat other than tofu makes me choke and feels like trying to swallow rocks. They warned me it would get worse before it gets better, so lets hope this is all normal. I have my follow up on Monday so we'll see. Living on shakes and soup again is not fun. I had enough of them the first time!! LOL 
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Still purging all of the larger clothing. This morning, a shirt that I ADORED wearing ended up on top. Hard to let it go, but it was also hard to let go of those habits that also no longer serve my highest good. Onward and upward!
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