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Hey all... Well, I am home safe and sound and SLEEVED!!! I promised all of you a detailed update of how everything went for me in Mexico. From as much as I can tell, everything is going great. I am progressing normally for post surgery and am working through all the crazy feelings and thoughts..lol So to start off I chose to schedule my surgery with Dr Ortiz at the Obesity Control Center in Tijuana Mexico. I got to meet Dr Ortiz before my surgery and he was very nice. He spoke to me allot of what dietary changes I would be making post op and he talked to me about what to eat to have long term success with the surgery. Because as all of us know it is a tool to use to help us achieve our goal. Its not going to do it for us PS. This is going to be kinda long, I have a few friends who wanted to know EVERYTHING that happened. I flew in a day early (on Sunday) because I didn't want to deal with travel and surgery all in one day. When we got to the airport I got a text from my driver Joel (very nice guy). He told me where to wait for him, that he was driving a gold colored van and that my name was in the window. He unfortunately was running a little late because the boarder was backed up (which is understandable) but he would be there soon. After he picked me and my sister up we drove around to pick up another lady. Loren (Ren) my new bestie and her husband Tom were waiting at another airline. We were all driven to the border together and had a great time talking to each other about ourselves and our goals for after surgery. At the border we had to get out of the van and walk through customs. Piece of cake... They didn't even want to see our passports. Just X-ray the bags and we were through (not sure if this is how it is all the time but it was really easy for us) Once we walked out the door on the other side our driver was waiting for us and drove us the rest of the way to our hotel. Apparently they don't care who comes into Mexico, just who leaves...lol We had a nice night just relaxing by the pool, having dinner in the restaurant. Yes... I had soup, but I did splurge and have the last piece of bread I will probably have for quite a while... Monday morning we were up by 5:30am. Showered, dressed and fasting for a 6:40am pick up. We drove to the hospital and were there by 7am. There were a total of 5 people having surgery that day and we all just waited in the waiting room. One by one we were brought back to start our pre op testing. I unfortunately got to go last... yay! Oh well... Pre op testing included; blood work, ekg, dental check up (not kidding... i even got a tooth fixed before surgery! awesome!) and a interview with the nutritionist Dr. Miranda (who is supper nice! ). I went in for surgery at about 3:30pm The different thing about the OCC is that you walk into surgery yourself and lay down on the table. Kinda strange and just a little scary, but I was knocked out pretty quick after that. I woke up in my hospital bed with my sisters there. Between 4pm-6pm all visitors have to leave and go back to the hotel for the night,. The night nurse was really great and got me extra pillows and more pain meds when ever I needed them. I did have a rather unnerving drain hanging from my side when I woke up. I hear that it is quite common. Its dose not hurt at all, its just really disturbing to think about..lol.. I was up and down all night not sleeping very well, but I guess its good to keep walking. It helps move the gas around and out. I didn't have any bad gas pain till day 3. Tuesday morning we were up and discharged by 9am. We got some prescriptions to take with us. I would suggest bringing some extra pain pills like extra strength Tylenol or something stronger if you have it, just for back up. We were driven back to the hotel for the day. I laid out by the pool for just about an hour and got the perfect sun burn. (You know, the kind that looks bad and red but never hurts and turns into a good tan Then at dinner time I had a couple ounces of chicken broth. The hotel makes if fresh, but it seemed to be really strong (salty) so i diluted it in half with water. I think I might have had about 2 oz and was done. I drank the rest an hour later... The hotel also has something called "green juice" its so great! It is fresh juiced fruit and veggies and tastes great! Wednesday; We were all picked up again at about 9am and taken back to the hospital for a check up. We again waited in the lobby till they were ready for each of us. Loren and I both hopped that they would take out the drain but no luck. That was for tomorrow. When I was called back in for my check up. The nurse weighed me, I had gained 7lbs after surgery because of all the fluids they pump into you during surgery. I think its a good thing too because you really don't drink allot the first couple days. She took me and checked all my incisions changed the bandage around my drain tube, emptied out what had collected in the drain (SO GROSS!) and took my blood pressure. After my appointment I took a short nap and felt good enough to take a walk so my sisters and I went shopping. We took a cab over to Revolution Ave and got some cool things to take home. After that I was exhausted and went back to the hotel. Later that night a friend of mine Kasey (from the forum) had just gotten back from her surgery and was ready for a visit, so we spent the evening chatting in her room till we were both to tired to keep talking... Love you Kasey Thursday morning I was back to the hospital again about 9am for my last check up. They took out the drain (which didn't hurt, it just felt like something moving inside me for a moment, totally nasty) Changed my bandage again and took my vitals. After that I was on my way. We (Me my sisters, Loren and her husband) were picked up and drove to the border where we had to get out again to walk across. The only difference is on this side of the border, there are like 1000-2000 people in line waiting to get into the states. It takes hours! So our very smart driver pulled out a wheal chair and said... One of you in the chair and look very sick. The rest of you go with and help push and carry the bags. You can go all the way to the front of the line and get through stay together!. Well apparently this worked EVERY time, except for us. We somehow got Mr Ass Hat patrol guard who who was on some power testosterone trip and made us split up and only Me (i was in the chair) and one person pushing me was allowed to go through... He was a major jerk! Well, once we were on the other side we were able to find a higher ranking guard and he was very kind and helped us get everyone else across. From there it was smooth sailing to the airport and home! I really hope this helps some of you. I know that another lady laid out all the details for me before I left and it helped me so much!!! Thank you Shelley And I wanted to pass it on for those of you who were going after me. You are welcome to ask me any questions. I would be happy to share anything else that I may have left out. Also, I am proud to say that 5 days out I have lost all the water weight from surgery and am down 1lb from pre surgery weight! Oh ya... I am on my way Love you guys! Best of luck to you all on your journey. Remember! You deserve it!

Please don't listen to the idiot troll Awanda, she/he/it is hitting every thread on here talking complete BS. Overcoming emotional eating and grazing is hard. I know that's something I've always struggled with too. I find distracting myself helps. I know this is going to sound weird, but night is my hardest time, so I've kinda "trained" my brain. Every night I brush my teeth and take a hot bath when I feel the urge to graze. Now, it's like a signal to my brain "oh it's bath and clean teeth time, we're done eating for the night". I know it sounds weird but it's worked. I also find keep safe food around for when I just have to have something. I really like both dill pickles and cucumbers. Both are zero calories, so when I need something I grab one. Hang in there.

So last night my hubby and I stayed up watching sleevers on YouTube and it got me excited, scared, but excited I bought a bunch of 'goodies' on Thursday. It's amazing how 'goodies' have changed I bought fresh sweet Kale, protein powder, coconut milk, greek yogurt and ground flaxseed. My hubby bought me the Ninja for Christmas in preparation of the is day coming so I thought no time like the present I put two leaves of Kale, 4 fresh strawberries, 1/2 banana, three spoonfuls of greek yogurt, one scoop protein powder, a handful of blueberries, some coconut milk and ice cubes. All I can say is YUCK!!!!!!!! I don't know if it's the whey powder, the Kale or let's be honest just the whole thing but it SUCKED!!! I'll try a new one on Monday

Try less items to start off with

Thank you for sharing. I was sleeved on the 13th. Gas is a killer no matter what I do. I have 10 burps for every sip of water. I hope it gets better soon. Keep us posted on how it goes. I too have no hunger though miss food but I know it will hurt me so can easily abstain. Take care!

After the shopping Friday, I cleaned my closet out Saturday. I got rid of a lot of clothes that I could no longer fit or sew to fit. I gave a lot away to ones who needed them. But man do I have so much more room in my closet, but enough shopping for now since I plan on losing another 50+ pounds. I'm excited about where I am today. And excited about where I will be in 4 months on my surgiversary in July. A Month before surgery 8 Months Post-Op

You are such a loser

I shop at Value Village every few weeks as I move between sizes. I have probably donated 20 bags of clothes in the past 10 months and bought 15 bags! Overall, a net drop (got rid of years of "fat" sizes I'd been saving). It's crazy how much room I have in my closet now! I can actually see each shirt, pair of pants, etc.! And I'm ready to wear most of them now! I buy some that are a bit small (some deals just can't be passed up!), knowing they will fit in a couple of weeks. Other "favourites" get to be too loose or tent-like fairly quickly, and off they go to the donation pile! I am much better dressed now, and spending 10% of what I used to! I could only shop in 1 store (Penningtons) as I was too big for the other "plus" size stores we have here in Canada (Additionelle, Laura Plus, etc.). I HATED having only 1 store to choose from.......if they didn't have something I like, and in my size (4-5 x or 26-28), I was stuck wearing the 2-3 shirts and pants I had. Terrible! Now I have about 10 dress shirts, 6-7 pairs of really nice dress pants, some jeans, T-shirts, sweaters, etc. All from nice top quality brand names, and they all fit! I'm about a size 16 now, in most things. I depends on the style and brand. And I usually pay about $6-7 per item.........and often they are brand new with tags on still! I LOVE shopping now.

So... my daughter got married last month. It was a beautiful, intimate, very romantic and meaningful wedding. We had it at church in our smaller sanctuary - about 75 guests, we all sat at the reception tables for the wedding. My dad said a prayer. We had dancing and a dessert bar and a lovely cake baked by our friend and beautiful decorations (anybody want tips about a wedding on a budget... ask me!). Our brilliant photographer donated her time to us because she loves my daughter so much... let's just say blessings abounded... everywhere you looked and even when you weren't looking... a very joyous day. One of the things I didn't have to worry about was camera angles. You all know what I'm talking about. When you aren't at your ideal weight (or are very far from it as I'd been for so long) the camera is not your friend. You try to find ways to hide behind other people, try to figure out the right angle... or just plain hide all together - you are a bobbing head from behind a group of people. That is not the case for me anymore, and I'm so thankful for my sleeve. I loved every picture, kept looking at myself like... hey - i look pretty good! I wasn't holding my breath as I scrolled through the pictures, afraid of what may be next. Now i'm not saying every picture is a keeper... they never are, but I wasn't embarrassed or ready to put any through the shredder... that's a first If you aren't where you want to be for 2013 and are ready to make a change for the better and get back on track to a healthier you... you can email me at lori@obesitycontrolcenter.com or call 1-866-376-7849 ext. 81. Whether its a first time weight loss surgery or a rescue/revision surgery - we can help! Make 2013 the year when you don't hide anymore!