M2G

I must admit, I'm slightly jealous of people who are talking about the since incision VSG surgery that is new. It really doesn't matter, as I'm not looking to wear a bikini any time soon. lol So I wondered how many scars everyone has... I have 5. All above my bellybutton. Two that are about 1.25 inches long, then 2 itty bitty ones, and the one sort of oval shaped one where the drain was (ugliest one of all since there were no stitches, etc.) Also wondered how some of the vets feel about their scars, have they faded considerably, are they "noticable", etc.

I'm going to be lazy and repost what I wrote on my blog: Two weeks ago today, I made a decision to change my life forever. I decided that I didn't want to life live in this larger body, that I wanted to do something, to make a radical change for the better. I know having surgery is just not for everyone, it is very much a personal decision that certainly is not to be taken lightly. I did SO much research on this type of surgery, the life you need to live after surgery, and all the necessary steps it takes to have surgery, that I am confident I did the right thing for me. Many people warn that you have times of "buyers remorse" when you go through a sort of mourning period about having made the choice to have surgery. I may still have that at some point, but right now, I'm not looking back at all. I truly try to live my life with no regrets. And so far, even though it has only been 2 weeks, I have nothing to regret regarding my decision to have surgery. Having said all of that, I am not happy to report that I am in the midst of my first stall, or plateau (as some people call it.) Anything you want to call it, is fine, it all means the same thing. It means my scale is stuck. Now I have read hundreds of posts from people who experience this throughout their weight loss journey, and usually people are mad, alarmed, sad, and left to wonder why in the world when they are doing everything they can to lose weight, and their scale does NOT reward their efforts. And yes, it sucks. I'll admit how fun it is to watch the numbers on the scale go down, and when it is stuck, how frustrating it can be. I've told others "stay off the scale" which is always such good advice to give, but not so easy to follow. But sometime during this last week (yes, I've been stuck a week, as soon as I started mushies, the scale quit moving) I decided this is a journey. There is no starting line, there is no finish line, and there certainly won't be ribbons handed out to me as I inch down the scale. So even though the scale hasn't moved in 7 days, I still am climbing back up on that scale and letting it give me those numbers. This is my journey and I don't want to miss a second of it. Good, bad, up and down, the scale will not rule my world, just measure it for me, one day at a time.

Totally agreed Chilo!!! While is un-nerving to actually CHOOSE to remove part of an organ from our bodies, I am totally amazed at our ability to HEAL and FUNCTION without organs, or parts of them. In doing my research I found a very ANTI-SURGERY site that had horrible stories of death and horrible pictures, etc. There was a photo of a stomach after VSG, and yeah, it was un-nerving to see. But I agree that the risks of being morbidly obese outweigh the chance that I might someday need that 85% back... As a 10 year old kid, I had part of my front tooth chipped off accidentally. I wore a "cap" for about 12 years and then at my parents urging, in college I got a crown. I did NOT do my research and picked a horrible dentist who did a sloppy job (front teeth crowns need a TON of critical work and care to look right.) I didn't even know what a crown meant (they ground my perfectly normal, albeit chipped tooth, to a stub and the stuck the crown over it.) I wore that horrible crown for another 14 years. I fought and fought and fought with my current dentist about re-doing it. She wanted to remove part of my gum tissue AND redo the crown. I was terrified that I might "need" that gum tissue later (I have tons of it, but my mom had to have tissue moved from the top of her mouth to her gum line...not in the front...in the back...receeding gumline). Anyway, after 5 years of going back and forth, I finally caved and let her do it. She did an AMAZING job. To this day I cannot believe I had such a horrible front tooth for so long and that I fought her so long on the re-do. I love my smile today, but it took the RIGHT dentist, using the RIGHT tools, and taking her time (she sent me to a lab for color matching, etc.) Sorry for the long-winded story, but I guess what I'm saying is when you do your research, and are confident with your surgeon choice, then it can be easier to let go of the fear and the what-ifs.

Thankfully I didn't have a pre-op "diet" only 2 days of Clear Liquids prior to surgery. And nope I didn't cheat, but 2 days is hardly a test. I feel for those of you who have to endure weeks of dieting before surgery. Are you not to have carbs? Because when you say turkey sandwich, I'm thinking there is bread involved in that ...but maybe I'm wrong? I would think that 10 days you will probably have a chance to undo any "harm" caused by a serving of Pasta...BUT I am not a dr. This is something that helped me (again only 2 days of clears) but I envisioned the dr. cutting open my stomach and finding some undigested food in there....I know that is yucky, but it helped me mentally stay on plan.

Oh! I forgot to mention there is a lady named Michelle (can't think of the last name) who writes a blog called theworldaccordingtoeggface and she is a bypass patient who does all sorts of WLS-friendly recipes. I haven't tried any of her recipes (she has a TON on her blog) but she is AWESOME about pictures and details. Really great blog to check out when you need some ideas. She has some great ways of using leftovers from a restaurant meal too...can't say enough good things about her blog!

I have Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery too! (written by Patt Levine) I bought it at Barnes & Noble. I like it because she has a very easy to follow chart at the bottom of each recipe on how much to serve and when depending on the type of WLS you have. (She does NOT have anything specific for the sleeve, I think because it is probably too new, but she has the band, RNY, BPD-DS) but she has great recommendations for pureeing food, etc. She also has the complete nutrition breakdown including calories and Protein content. I believe the author herself has had a band since 2003. There IS a lot of fish recipes, and admittedly I'm not much of a fish fan beyond salmon and tuna. Hopefully her recipes will inspire me to eat more fish. The one drawback is there are absolutely NO pictures.

Hi Sharrin! I was told by my bariatric case manager, that UHC gives themselves 15 days from the day they receive your case to give an answer. I didn't ask, but I am assuming that is 15 business days. I thought that my nurse was going to be out of town the week after my case was submitted (it was submitted on Tues. Oct. 5th and by the 8th I called wanting to know how things are going and that is when I found out about the 15 day rule and that my nurse was going to be out of town.) I still don't know what happened but I recieved a phone call on Wed. Oct. 13th that my case was approved. Is your case already submitted? If so it sounds like you will have an answer by the 22. My surgeon wouldn't even schedule a date until I was approved (that drove me crazy but I totally understood.) Thanks for the kind words, I am so thankful every day for this site, it has given me tons of insight, inspiration and help too!

I only work sporadically (I'm a contract graphic designer for a cable training company) and I've had LOTS of time off this year. WOuldn't you know it, as soon as I had surgery, I got a call...can you work? lol. My boss knows about the surgery, and was kind enough to tell other team members ONLY that I had surgery, not what kind. So I'm thinking by next week (hopefully later in the week as that will put my close to my 3 week surgiversary) I will be working. At least it is a sit-down job and I'm sure I won't be working full 8 hour shifts. I'm feeling almost normal...I still get a twinge when I bend over to remind me of my "wounds" but overall, I'm feeling very good...I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks!

Hang in there, it DOES get better, surgery of any kind is tough on our bodies. Keep sipping, walking and drinking your Protein. Don't worry about the "big" stuff right now, laundry, cooking, cleaning, all that can wait. Focus on getting enough rest, and just doing what you need to be doing. The pain gets better by the hour, each day is a new day and each day you will start to feel more normal. Hugs!

That is awesome! I'm so excited for you...I can hardly wait to get there myself (it will be a while...lol!)

Awww, hugs. I know it doesn't help, but probably giving your body more time to heal will end up with a healthier pregnancy in the future. It's okay to feel sad...hang in there!

Maybe I'm an odd one, but I didn't have hardly ANY gas after surgery. Even the nurses were like "any toots?" lol, nope. But I will say that I was the burping queen. For 10 solid days every single sip of water = 2 burps. I gave up "excusing" myself after every burp around my family. Finally, it subsided. But when I eat the first few things that happen are a couple of burps. It keeps getting better, so heres hoping.

Great post 6... I have found that calcium citrate (in chewable form) is much harder to find on the store shelves. Most of the "chewable" forms of calcium are the carbonate. I am thinking of ordering from Bariatric Advantage online. I ordered a sample pack and most of the chewable calcium flavors were okay tasting. However, my surgeon doesn't want us on calcium until we are 6 weeks out. So I guess I have time (will be 2 weeks out tomorrow) but need to get thinking on this. My surgeon also said don't worry about Vitamins the first couple of weeks, your body has enough stores to get you through. Anyone else get that advice?

Glad you are on "the other side" and welcome to the losers bench (you will lose those 8lbs of fluid soon!) Hang in there it all gets better!

There is just no way to sugarcoat it (pardon the pun)... STALLS SUCK. But they happen, they are normal and EVERYONE goes through them. Do not let negative thoughts or negative self-talk come into your world. You will continue to lose, stay the course, dig in your heels and you will eventually break the stall. (I'm in one right now, and only 13 days post-op...lol!) Hang in there!

I started mushies today! I am so happy! I had an ounce of greek yogurt about 3 hours ago. All went well. So now I just had an ounce of cottage cheese. I sprinkled in a bit of seasoning to give it a bit of savory flavor. I'm am soooooooooooooooo happy that all is going well. I never would have thought I would be so excited to eat ordinary food. My NUT cautioned to keep the new foods to 2 a day and go really slow. So those are my 2 for today. She said do eggs/egg beaters last because those are the things that most people have the hardest time with. Does anyone echo that about eggs? Just wanted to share my happiness!

So far I had: cottage cheese greek yogurt refried Beans egg beaters SF pudding Without any problems. I haven't had REAL eggs yet, but the egg beaters are fine for now. I do love eggs normally, so glad to know that didn't change. It is getting a little repetitive, lol, but I've got one more week with these before moving to the next stage. The one thing I don't do (except once to try it) was the SF pudding. I ate half the container, the put it away in the fridge. And it didn't keep real well, (sort of watery) plus it doesn't have any protien in it, so why bother? I need to probably buy some unflavored protien to add to things to boost my protien in certain foods.

I totally agree with Tiff. Her recommendations are excellent. As far as being scheduled so far out, I had a 6 month insurance-imposed wait time, and while I did enjoy "eating" during that time, it was a little hard to have a "food funeral" everytime I ate something. So basically I didn't lose any weight, but I didn't gain a single pound (oops, except for I did gain 2lbs when we went to Hawaii in Aug. on a family vacation, the macadamia nuts where everywhere, I lost it when we got home.) I think just my mind-frame was that I was in "transistion" to a new life and I really did NOT want to gain any weight. But then again I wasn't faced with Thanksgiving or Christmas. So I feel for you. Hang in there!!! It is not the last time you will eat a particular food, just the last time you will eat it in THAT quantity.

I don't know what adipex is, but I think every surgeon is different. Mine only required a 24 hour clear liquid diet prior to surgery.

Those sound like a ton of NSVs! Great job!

YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats! I'm so happy for you. And really like your idea of a cushion, makes a lot of sense!

You are doing great!!! Congrats and keep up the good work!

Congrats!!! Such a great milestone! Last time I visited the 70's was in 1990!!!

Hang in there! I think everyone is naturally nervous, this is a huge life change, and most people don't do well with change. Surgery is a big deal too. Going "under" is scary and it is hard to explain to people why we would 'elect' to do this to ourselves. Even 2 days before surgery, my 9 year old daughter said "so, you aren't sick, but yet you are having surgery?" exactly sweetie. Take some time to reflect on how far you have come, the changes you have already made, and don't let a TV report jade what YOU know to be true, that this is a ton of work, made harder by the fact that we are ASKING for help. We don't get a magic wand, we don't get 100lbs cut off during the surgery, we don't get to wake up "skinny"...you know all that, even if other people don't. Try to go in with the attitude of greatfulness. Be grateful that you are being given an opportunity to make permanent changes, that will affect your health and life. I too had a hard time with the "removal" of 85% of my tummy, but thankfully I had gall bladder surgery 11 years ago and realized how super-incredible our bodies are. How we can keep living and functioning even with organs missing or portions gone. Yes, I will never have a "normal" stomach again, but I don't want to go back my way of "normal" eating either! I think the days leading up to surgery are the hardest (well and the couple right after too, lol). But be confident that you have done all your research and that you are doing this to improve your life!

Love this! Thank you. I've been frustrated the last 3 days because the scale hasn't moved, (I'm only 12 days post-op) and I had to have a big heart-to-heart with myself about this being a journey and trying not to get in that love-hate relationship with the scale. So for me, it was well-timed!