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Thanks!!! Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

So today I was looking at my pictures from last summer. The one picture that got my attention the most was a family photo of me my son and husband at one of our camping trips. I remember during this photo I smiled because I knew it was going to be my last summer feeling so helpless with my weight. I cant wait to see what this summer will look like. I cant wait until summer comes and I can compare photos from last summer to this years summer. Is anyone else looking to compare photos from last summer to this coming summer?

I'm rooting for you! I hope everything turns great and you can soon experience all the benefits of WLS.

I'm scheduled for March 26th. I start the liquid diet on the 12th. I'm from Vermont. My surgery date is coming up quickly and I'm excited.

Sandee, congratulations on your upcoming surgery. I don’t have pics yet but I will say I carried my weight in my butt and thighs mostly so my legs had allot going on. They were horrible! I started in a women’s size 34/36 pants and I comfortably wear a misses size 14 pants (even in jeans) and a medium in tight fit leggings (Academy BCGs). I hope that gives you an idea. Additionally, according to my surgeon, I am still considered early in my recovery and I still have swelling in my legs. I was shocked at how helpless I was. I am very independent and just “knew” I would be able to do everything....NOT! First of all you will have 4 drains and you will need someone to strip those for you. Mine came out in a week. I had to have help standing for about 4 or 5 days. I have a recliner with a handle and could not raise or lower my legs for a couple of weeks. You cannot reach or pull or push up to help stand. Build up your core muscles because you will need them. I had to have help lifting my legs for about a week to get in and out of bed. I had to have help cleaning myself after using the bathroom. Again you cannot reach. I mean physically cannot. That was probably about 5 days or so. I couldn’t wash or brush my own hair for two weeks. Showering is a production, because after you shower, there may be a solution that has to be put on your incisions as well as any open blisters that you may get have to be doctored and dressed. You won’t be able to do all of that. Obviously I needed help dressing. I went home with the legs and arms wrapped and they will have to be kept wrapped except while in the shower. At my one week visit, I was put in an upper body compression garment that I could not get in and off by myself for over a week. I also needed help getting the compressions on and off my legs. Remember you can’t reach or pull. The biggest shock was the limitations of my arms and how swollen my hands got. I couldn’t even hold a fork. Not that I could reach my mouth anyway. I could not feed myself for about 4 days. But I got inventive. You need a spoon and or fork with a long handle, like a wooden spoon. I also used an ice tea spoon as I became more able to grip. By about the 5th day I could use chopsticks for some things. The most frustrating thing was not being able to drink without help. I couldn’t reach to get my water and I couldn’t even hold it. So my suggestion is get a long straw. Like one of those yard drink straws. Then you can sit you drink container (with a lid) in your lap or beside you with your straw right there. Drinking water is important. Keeping a T.V. tray beside me helped. Keeping my arms propped on pillows was essential. Meal prep as much as you can for at least a weeks worth of meals. Do a walk through of your daily routine and notice how much you reach. For everything you have to reach for, move that stuff to waste level. That will help allot. Things you wouldn’t think of , for instance my vitamins are kept in a basket on top of my frig. Every two weeks I fill my daily pill box that stays on my counter. When it came time to refill my pill box, I couldn’t reach up and get the heavy basket from the frig. Things like that need to be thought about. I know this seems like allot, but the more you are prepared, the easier it will be. It will go by faster than you realize. By two weeks I was back working from home and getting around great. Days 1-5 are the worst I think. You’ve got this! When is your surgery? I am having a 360 lower body lift in April.

Thank you for the welcome. I'm going to try to get into being in here. Sometimes I'm not that good about it. But I can't always get to my support meetings so I want to get support any way I can.

I have one week to go! I’m excited!

Shopping sucked!!! I never felt like I looked good in anything. It's hard to look good when your belly is hanging over your pants and pushing them down. It was like my tummy was fighting a tug of war with my belt and my tummy won every time! Nothing was ever comfortable. Selection sucked because the "cool" designers do not design clothes for horizontally challenged people. I could never find a dress shirt that fit me right because I had to get a shirt with an 18.5 inch neck. You can't find those off the rack. At a B&T store, you can find them, but then I had the opposite problem because they were cut for an person even heavier than me so they were too big on me and made me look even heavier than normal. Being a normal weight opens up a whole new world for shopping. Finding something something to wear is no longer a challenge---well, not the same challenge. I now never know what size to buy so I have to try everything on. No problem---but that's not a great thing for shopping at costco (which I where I have been buying my clothes since you can get decent pants there for $20 a pair and they only last me a couple of weeks. It will be nice to reach a healthy stable weight so I can actually buy really nice clothes. I am just going for cheap and passable for now.

Offense??? No way!!! I know what you meant. I was an overstuffed teddy bear. I used to be the first one to make fun of myself for being fat (sort of a defense mechanism I guess). Today, I still make those jokes (but only in my head). It's starting to sink in not the fat guy anymore. Btw, my mom said I look 15 years younger too!!! It finally feels like i have the old me back from when I was in my twenties and early thirties when I was in good shape.

Thank you, girl!!! Starting to notice it myself. It's taken a while to feel like I look different in the mirror!