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Anyone from Southern Tablelands/Canberra region?



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Hi! I live in a country town in southern NSW near Canberra. I am planning on having gastric sleeve surgery at Canberra Bariatric in a couple of months. I would be doing it now, but I just had my gallbladder removed two days ago by Dr Mosse (who is lovely) and it has to heal first. Dr Mosse,

Dr Peake (anaesthetist), and the surgical/nursing staff at Calvary John James have all been awesome so far. Would love to make contact with anyone else in the region who has done it, will be doing it, or still thinking it through. Best wishes, Cathy.????

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Hi I'm not from your region but I am from Ipswich Queensland and I'm 4 months out from my op if that's any help. More than happy to be a contact or support. Its been the best thing I ever did. Good luck with it all.

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Hi Catherine, how are you feeling after your surgery?

Charlie Mosse is a great surgeon, just had my sleeve done two weeks ago and very pleased with it. I had mine at Calvary Bruce.

You're in good hands with Dr Mosse

Hannah

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Hi Catherine, how are you feeling after your surgery?

Charlie Mosse is a great surgeon, just had my sleeve done two weeks ago and very pleased with it. I had mine at Calvary Bruce.

You're in good hands with Dr Mosse

Hannah

Hi Hannah, I have a few questions for you. How much pain did you have after surgery? I was surprised with how much pain I had from the incision in my navel (much more pain than I expected). I'm feeling quite apprehensive about further surgery at the moment. How did you cope with starting to drink? Did that hurt much? Do you have any regrets at having the surgery? If you have to cook meals for the rest of your family, do you have trouble doing it knowing you can't eat what they are eating? Are you back at work yet? How much time did you need off, and how did you go when you were back at work? Anything you didn't expect, or wish you had been warned about? Sorry about the "20 questions"! ???? Cheers, Catherine.

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Hey guys, Charlie is lovely and a great surgeon. Careful and cautious, and also very personable.

Unfortunately when I reply, I can't see your post anymore, so ill try answer your questions :)

Very little pain afterwards, I think I could have managed with panadol or forte if I'd been able to swallow. I didn't get shoulder has pain, just nausea. You can get up a few hours afterwards. I got hiccups EVERY TIME I sat up, that was a bit painful, so you will need a pillow to brace yourself. I slept for a few days and was up about walking around regularly on the 2nd afternoon.

I was on a drip the whole time in hospital, and was sipping ice chips night of op and the day after. I had Apple juice that night, so day 2. Take home any extra poppers if you don't drink them. They'll be handy in your liquid week.

I took a week and 2 work days off, personally, I probably could have gone back after a week, being generous. Desk job, drinking liquids was fine and no probs.

Hot tip, wear your stockings afterwards and don't forget to take your clexane anti clot meds. I got sick last week after being lazy with it. They're not just being overly cautious.

I'm sure I haven't answered a heap of questions!

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food wise, I spent my whole week off drooling over food and reading about my overeating food addiction lol. This operation is definitely not an easy fix, it's not brain surgery, but 3 weeks down, food is getting easier. In my week off I cooked up a storm with Soups and casseroles, veg bakes, curries etc and ended up throwing most of it out as it's just myself and my daughter. I wasn't hungry of course.

In the liquid phase I had tea, coffee, milky Milo, opti, thin custard, yogurt, clear Soup from Asian noodle soup, thin home made soups. Laksa soup didnt sit well..

So I've relaxed a lot now in the puree phase and happy with yogurt, thin porridge, mash potato gravy, refried Beans, scrambled egg. Soft cheese, smoothie shakes, tea and coffee. Chew thoroughly to mush anything that's not pureed.

I dont like pureed chicken, the texture is very grainy. Pea ham soup pureed is nice.

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I'll be very honest here because you asked. I had extreme regrets the first night. The nausea was so bad, I couldn't relax, sleep and literally was thinking what have I done and wanted to die. I promise you all that every day after the other gets even better. I promise.

There has been minor regrets about food and WANTING to eat. And eat a lot. But that is all due to the addiction and wasn't because I was hungry. That has gone now.

Other regrets was not wearing Ted's as advised and forgetting to take the clexane religiously afterwards. I got chest pain 2 weeks after op and surgeon sent me for scans. I have a blood clot on my lung, and had to also do dvt tests. It was expensive $700, dangerous and could have been prevented. I wish someone had told me that.

Im wishing you all the best. In the long run, I know you won't regret it and the health and weighloss is worth it! I RAN with my dogs for the first time in years today! It's worth it!

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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.
      · 0 replies
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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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