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Sometimes it's hard to see progress until you put pictures side by side. I really haven't seen a difference in the mirror, but I have definitly noticed in my clothes. Pretty much everyone who see's me now see's a difference and can't help to comment. I'm 4 lbs away from my first goal that I set with my doctor to be at the highest healthy weight allowable by my BMI which is 169 lbs (I'm 5'9). I haven't seen the 160's in years, and I'm so thrilled to be so close. My optimal dream weight is actually 145 but I'm nervous that might not be attainable, and really I'm just happy to be in a healthy BMI. I've put in a lot of hard work to get where I am, and I'm kind of taking it easy over the next month, not really swimming but just enjoying the holidays. I have a date with my eleptical in my living room every night, and I'm okay with that. After the first of the year I will definitly surge and try working out hard core again. I'm hoping to see my first goal weight within the next couple of weeks. Height: 5'9 Highest (Surgery) Weight: 216 1st Primary Goal Weight: 169 2nd Optimal Goal Weight: 145 Sleeve Journey: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 8/17/12- PreOp/Surgery Day w/Pics Posted in Blog Week 1 (8/24): 204.8 (-11.2) Week 2 (8/31): 200.6 (-4.2) Week 3 (9/7): 196.8 (-3.8) Week 4 (9/14): 193.5 (-3.3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 9/17/12- 1 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-22.5 lbs) Week 5 (9/21): 191.6 (-1.9) Week 6 (9/28): 190.1 (-1.5) Week 7 (10/5): 187.0 (-3.1) Week 8 (10/12): 181.9 (-5.1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 10/17/12- 2 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-11.6 lbs) Week 9 (10/19): 181.4 (-.5) Week 10 (10/26): 177.9 (-3.5) Week 11 (11/02): 176.8 (-1.1) Week 12 (11/09): 174.7 (-2.1) Week 13 (11/16): 173.3 (-1.4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 11/17/12- 3 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-8.6 lbs)

Hello everyone, Well, I DID IT! I was sleeved yesterday (11/16) at noon. I still can't believe it's over already. We arrived at the hospital at 10 a.m., where they checked me and took me back to pre-op area. The nurse there....Kathy, was GREAT. She was very attentive, talkative and interactive. While she was asking me all the health history questions, she asked me how I got to the point where I knew the 'sleeve' was what i wanted to do. I told her that between meeting with my PCP where he recommended it, attending the seminar held by the surgeon and his Nurse Practitioner, I decided it was the one of the 3 that had the best results without being the most extreme. (Yes, I know, taking 85% of my stomach is extreme, but...) Once pre-op was completed, and it took a specialist to get the IV started in my upper left arm, the surgery nurse came in and took me down to the operating room. There they inflated a new matress they have that when inflated, makes it so those who are moving your from your bed to the surgery table don't have to strain quite as much and it's much easier on their backs. After I was situated, the anesthesiologist started placing the monitoring pads on my upper chest. Then he said he wanted to put this mask on me to give me more oxygen and help calm me down a little. (I didn't think I was having problems stayin calm....but what ever). That is essentially all I remember. I don't remember waking up in recovery, and I don't remember being moved from recovery to my room. All I remember was that my hubby, sister, sis-in-law and mom-in-law were in the room chit chatting until I woke up. Then the nurse explained what everything was, and handed me the morphine drip button. I tried very hard to not use it any more often than necessary. Overnight, the nurses would come it to check my vitals, give me a shot for this, add another bag of something to the IV, ask how I was etc. I have to admit, I don't think I slept for more than 2 hrs at a stretch. At about 5 a.m., the tech came in and asked if I wanted to move to the chair. I did, of course, as I had been lying down since 11 a.m. the day before. My mouth was a dry mess, and all they offered were lemon flavored mouth swabs (YUCK). I would use that to get the most of the try out, and then I would dip it into a cup of water and rinse a little more that way, making sure I did not swallow. At about 7:30 a.m., Sydney (the tech) came in and announced we were heading down to x-ray where they could do a leak test. While I as standing there, they handed me this tall milk white container with the barium in it. As I stood there the x-ray tech asked me to take a couple big drinks (which kind of scared me with the sleeve!) so he could see it running through my esophagus and to my stomach to witness if there were any leaks. After 4 different views, he was done (it took all of about 10 min) I was sent back to my room to wait for the Dr. with the results. A couple hours later, the doctor showed up and said he was pleased with how surgery went, and that the leak test showed no issues. He would come back after noon and see how things are going and likely send me home. After he left, the lead nurse (Deanna) removed the catheter....(damned glad I don't have to do THAT very often) the nurses and my sister helped me shower and change into my street clothes (all but my t-shirt since I was still connected to the IV). Once they got the orders to remove me from the IV, I was able to put on my t-shirts. Dr. came in about 1:15 or so and asked if I wanted to go home. So, I asked him if he wanted to send me home. He said definitely. Everything is going well, and he wrote orders for the nurses and then wrote a prescription for vicoden for me. Deanna came back in with the final papers for me to sign, and then I got to leave (via wheelchair to my hubby waiting in the car at the door). We then took a trip to the closest pharmacy to get my prescription filled....they didn't have the dosage he was asing for...so we tried another...same issue. Then we tried a 3rd, and by then we realized the dr had added his cell number to the bottom of the prescription, so the pharmacist called to discuss the dosage and find out if it could be modified. He said yes, so we got the medicine and headed home. I have now declared where I will be the next couple of days while I recover (recliner in the front room). This first day hasn't been all that aweful, but it hasn't been a cake walk either. I have quite a bit of discomfort where the air bubble is sitting on my diaphram, and from the 1 - 1 1/2" incision at the top of my bellybutton to remove the stomach through. Other than that, the pain is rather minimal. I hope all that have an upcoming surgery date, will go ahead and do it. By reading all the posts on here, I know that day 2 will be better than today, and day 3 better than that and so on. I can't wait for the New Year and the new me!!

When i started my journey in July, I thought it was going to be a lifetime away from actual surgery time. Now I am looking at surgery being only about 4 weeks away!!! Wow how time has flown. All the doctor appointments and lab work is done. Now just pre-op and setting surgery date! I am so dang ready it is not even funny. I have so many questions to still ask. I know this is normal. This is so exciting and I am ready to change my life for the better and live a healthier life as well!! Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

I am still on liquids, (anything I can get through a straw) so tonight I made homemade potato soup and it was great!!!!! One cup filled me up for the rest of the day and the potatoes melted in my mouth. Get my stitches out the day before Thanksgiving and then on to mushy. If I can do this anyone can, its been really hard but with be worth it. I feel great

Hello Everyone and thanks for taking a moment to read my blog. I'm Zazilia, married, no children 33 years old. On December 2009 I decided to get the lapband surgery because I was 280 lbs plus I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycistic Ovarian Syndrome) And if I didn't lose weight i had big chances of getting diabetes (I was pre-diabetic) and heart disease due to family history. Anyways i went for it and got my band put in.... i lost 83 lbs (in about a year).. yay me! however back in that time i was single, lived by myself and had the right food at home at all times. When 2011 hit (married now) I, as well, hit a huge brick wall and i stopped losing weight. Eventually i started gaining the weight back and right before surgery (last week) i was 241 lbs. I was so frustrated with myself tried to do as good as i could, adjusted my band up to 7.75 cc's and i often got a pain on my left shoulder due to the lapband. I started getting everything together for my Sleeve surgery, spoke with my surgeon, and he saw how much i struggled and he approved of me getting the Sleeve, then went through a bunch of pre-surgical testings and sent it to my insurance , after a couple of months of waiting, my insurance finally approved it! (Anthem BCBS) When i went to my pre-op a week before surgery the nurse saw i was having high blood pressure for the first time which was another motivation to start losing weight again. She prescribed me dilaudid for pain, zofran for nausea and omeprozole for acid reflux to start taking them once im back home from surgery. The day before surgery (Monday nov 12th) i was on clear liquids and had nothing to drink after midnight. Then the day of surgery got here! (Finally!!) (Tuesday 13th) I arrived to the hospital, got registered did a pregnancy urine test then went up to talk to one of the surgical nurses about my health history, then they asked me to changed into my hospital gown and lay on a stretcher and a small room and they set up my IV and gave me an anticoagulant shot on my belly to avoid blood clots. Spoke with the anesthesiologist and my surgeon to make sure i was calmed and they explained everything that was going to happen. They took me to the OR and i changed from my bed to another one where they positioned me like a cross. The anesthesiologist gave me a shot through my IV to "get me high" those were his exact words then he gave me oxygen and then he said "ok now im going to give u the good stuff" i said ok guys ''have a goodnight" and i passed out. Next thing i hear is the nurse in the recovery room telling me to take deep breaths and the first thing that came out of my mouth was : "Holy Crap this hurts where's the morphine" lol they controlled my pain rapidly and took me to my room. The nurses were so nice to me, even though apparently the anesthesia gives me low tolerance cause i was being very "bitchy" to everyone (My husband made sure he made me aware of it once i was back to my self entirely lol) They checked my vitals every 4 hours, gave me morphine when i needed and i didn't have to wait. I started walking back and forth a couple of hours right after the surgery and i the pain stood minimal. They gave me little tiny ice cups (about 3 ounces each) and it tasted like glory! since my mouth was as dry as a shoe lol My biggest struggle after surgery was trying to pee! It was almost impossible because it wouldn't come out! and the nurses told me that was normal due to the anesthesia after that the whole experience wasn't bad at all. At the next day i felt good enough to go home, i was discharged at 2 pm and came home. I was instructed to be on clear liquids until today (Sunday) i drank water, diet snapple, sugar free jello and sugar free ice pops. Today i started full liquids and had a "EAS advantage protein shake" which took me about a hour and a half to chug down and some homemade chicken broth. Am I hungry? Absolutely not! Do i crave to eat everything even the inedible YES like my friend who had the sleeve done years ago and went from a size 22 to a size 2 told me, "they operate your stomach however the don't operate your mind" I weigh myself today and i am down 12 lbs in less than a week! So i hope i can continue being successful! I will continue to post updates of my journey as a "Sleever" and hope it helped someone out there! Thanks

Thanksgiving is next week and with that is the all too famous family dinner… I will have my band portion, 3-4oz of turkey, ½ green beans, sweet potatoes & carrots, ¼ cup stuffing. I will be first in line and first to sit down at the table (my family makes me go first cause it takes me longer to eat). I will take my small bite and chew chew chew, then I’ll wait about a minute. In the mean time I’ll watch as my family members take bites the size of Mt Everest, chew 3 times and swallow while preparing the next bite… “Did you taste that?” “Can you taste the juices in the turkey?” “What about the stuffing? Can you taste the pecans and bacon?” “Oh my, don’t forget to breathe…” Wow, do people eat fast? My family sure does! So, I eat and watch. Everyone is finished except me. I tell my mother to go ahead and serve dessert while I finish my meal. Again, they wolf it down. “Hey, savor the bites I spent hours in the kitchen making those pies. Enjoy them, please!” I finally finish my dinner as my mother and niece finish clearing the table. The men make their way into the living room moaning and groaning about how full they are….. Me I am satisfied! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

The closer January comes, the more nervous I become. I wish there were some other way to loose weight and keep it off forever. I am convinced that there isn't. The more I research, the more I believe this procedure are sound and will help me, even over the long run. Never-the-less I am scared. I'm sure almost everyone was feeling this, and are now healthier without all of the weight they were carrying around. (Deep Breath) Stay calm and Carry on. If anyone knows of a support group in Phoenix/Scottsdale that anyone can attend please let me know. The one that is offered by Banner is not feasable, as I just can't get there on time.