peppercma

HI All, it's been a long while since I posted, but I'm back with a quick question for you. I had my surgery in July 2011 and just had my first "tummy baby" on Friday. Are there any VSG moms out there who found they couldn't breastfeed? I'm having trouble with getting milk and was wondering if the lack of nutrition from the surgery could be part of my problem. Thanks

I am 38 yrs old, 8mo post op and just found out that I'm pregnant. How in world am I going to eat all the food I'm supposed to? The food guide says 6-11 servings of grains per day!! I think my sleeve in kinda on the small side so I still can't eat much at one sitting so I eat about every 2-3 hours. To get all the grains I'm supposed to I'd have to eat it at every "meal", which means I wouldn't have room for any thing else. Is it OK to sacrifice the grains so that I can get everything else in? I'll be able to do all the others, but only if I sacrifice the grains.

Thanks

Thanks. I'm gonna try and start tomorrow. Hopefully it will work as well for me as it did for the others. Of course alot of it has to do with will power and self control, of which I have trouble with both

Why only green veggies and not other colors?

Not so good this week, just down 0.4lbs since last week. But, my goal is losing 1.5lbs per week & I've lost 3.4lbs over the past 2 weeks, so I'm right on track. Yipee!!

Starting ~ 225.2.....Current ~ 221.8.....Goal ~ 215.....Lost ~ 3.4.....To Go ~ 6.8

Yeah!! Down 3# this week. I'm not officially at one week until tomorrow morning, but I was super happy this morning and just had to share!

Starting ~ 225.....Current ~ 222.....Goal ~ 215.....Lost ~ 3.....Still to go ~ 7

I don't know about the FSA card would work for surgery in Mexico, but just using ours in our local area has been a total @#$%^&*()_!!!!! We won't be using that plan ever again. The insurance company sends us our EOB, then about 2 months later we get a letter from them saying they need a copy of the EOB to show that it was right to be paid out of the account. If we didn't get it to them in time they froze the account. This happened about 4 times this past year. I hope it works well for you. Good luck!!

I stopped taking the pain meds when I got home, 4 days after the surgery. I had no pain until about a week or two later and it was near the big incision. It was just a soreness that went away after about a week.

I, too, have 3 kids...ages 8, 4 and (at the time of surgery) 1month. My surgery was on a Friday and we came home from TJ on Tuesday. I think that you probably won't have too many problems considering their ages, unless of course the 3 year old are the "more loving" type who like to be in mommy's lap a lot. Even in that case they are are big enough to climb up to you and just keep a pillow between you and them for some cushion against the incisions. I think they are also big enough to understand that mommy has a boo-boo and they need to be gentle.

Hey All,

I've gotten tired of snacking on cottage cheese, cheese sticks, greek yogurt, and canned roast beef. So I decided to try and actually cook something a bit more hearty. It made 6 portions that have been put into small storage containers for easy grab, heat and eat Snacks.

1# ground beef (93% lean)

1/2 C ricotta cheese (simply kraft reduced fat)

3oz mozzarella, shredded (part skim)

1 C pizza sauce (ragu homestyle)

salt, pepper, garlic salt, italian seasoning to taste

Fry the beef and drain off any fat, and return to pan. Add the cheeses and pizza sauce, stir until melted. Add the seasonings to your taste preference.

A 1/2 C serving has about 29gms of Protein. I didn't calculate any of the other stuff, so if you want that part you'll have to do the legwork. Using spaghetti sauce would work well, too, I just didn't have any of it on hand.

I missed my Christmas goal, so I was a bit more conservative this time. Hopefully I'll do better this time around...

Current weight - 225

Valentine goal - 215

Pounds to go - 10

I missed my goal also. My goal was 220, I made it to 224 then went back up to 226 during the last 2 days (too many goodies around). Already looking forward to the V-Day Challenge. As this was my first challenge I didn't know how I'd handle it, so now I know to be a bit more "realistic" with my next goal.

I agree, starting the 26th gives us a chance to officially finish this one. Even though alot of us won't be meeting our goal we can be proud of how close we've come to it. And I'm not figuring how close I came until Christmas morning . I look forward to the new challenge. This was my first one and I like how it gives me a reason to work toward my weight loss instead of just letting it happen.

Woo-hoo! My stall just suddenly ended last week. I lost 4# last week. I now only have 6# left to go to make my goal. I still probably won't meet my goal, but at least I won't miss it by as much as I thought I would.

SW - 233.....GW - 220.....CW - 226.....# to go - 6

Not doing very well at all. I'm thankful that I gained no weight during the week of Thanksgiving, but it's not looking good to meet my goal. Just have to keep working at it, maybe something big will "break" between now and then.

started challenge at 233.....weight today 231.....goal of 220.....2 lbs lost, 11 more to go

I'm rather late getting in on this, but I'm gonna try it. This is my first challenge. I was always afraid to make a goal because I didn't want to fail. But, I'm coming off a one month stall so hopefully this will help to motivate me. So, here I go...CW 233...GW 220.

I'm 3 months out and have been eating fresh fruit since about a month out and salads since about 2 month out. They both cause great amounts of "rumblies in my tummy". Grapes actually make me burp, but everything else just seems to make the tummy very vocal. I never had this problem pre-surgery, so why is it happening now? And will it go away? Even some sliders make this happen also, like the greek yogurt. Thanks for any input y'all have.

As the original poster of this thread I am starting to regret asking for any opinions. I was really hoping this would be a "state your facts and get on with your life" kinda thing. But, this is really starting to sound like a bunch of kids fighting over who's right and who's wrong. Everyone has their own opinion and their own way of stating that opinion. Also, I believe that every one here is an adult and should starting acting like it. You will never get the other person to change how they think/feel about this topic. Maybe it's time to just let this thread die and everyone go on about their business

My husband came with me, and I would have been a total mess without him. He was more of a morale booster, than a keep me safe kinda thing. If he hadn't of been there I don't think I would have gotten up to walk around as early as I did, nor would I have taken the ice chips as often. That first day after surgery I just felt kinda crappy and he was there to encourage me and make me feel better. I honestly can't imagine how anyone goes thru it alone.

I wasn't given any driving restrictions that I remember. My surgery was on a Friday, we flew home on Tuesday and I was driving around town on Wednesday...so I guess that was 5 days. Honestly, I felt well enough on Monday and Tuesday that I could have driven then.

My surgery was done July 29th, so I'm almost 2 months out. I've lost a little over 30# and am very grateful for it, but I do miss the experience of eating. It isn't enjoyable to eat anymore. There is so much thought involved in every bite right now...small bites, chew slowly, chew 30 times, swallow, wait a minute to let it all settle, repeat and wait for "that feeling" to signal that your done. So, my opinion is to wait until after Thanksgiving. Use that as your food funeral and savor every bite and every different item you eat. Enjoy the experience and then get down to business with the sleeve.

I was sleeved by Dr. Kelly on July 29th. Here are my answers to your questions...

What hurt - about an hour after surgery I had extremely bad gas pains for about 5 minutes. The drain tube was uncomfortable, but not painful. You will have 5 incision sites, one low between your breasts, the other 4 are about 3" lower going across your stomach...1) under right breast "ish" 2) under left breast "ish" 3) left of the left breast (I believe this is where the stomach was pulled out) 4) sort of near your left "side" (this is where the drain tube is placed). If you really want a photo you can PM me and I'll try to send one to you.

Functioning again - my surgery was at 3:30pm and I was in and out of it until morning (except during that 5 minutes of gas pain). I was good to go the next morning, just tired. Barring any complications you will be just fine when head home.

Walking - I was walking 6 blocks to and from the hotel the day I was released from the hospital (surgery on Fri, released Sun). Really long walks I'd say about a week, just because of being tired.

In hospital - hooked up to the IV and the drain tube. Saturday afternoon they started to not be concerned if I was off the IV for a while after walking the halls. No catheter (yippee!)

If you want a bit more "in depth" you can check out my blog (link below). It's a bit behind, but I do have it thru my return home.

I would suggest actually speaking with the Dr's that you are trying to decide between. Having a conversation with Dr. Kelly sealed the deal for me.

My weight loss is going well, at least for me. My highest weight was 282, the day of surgery (July 29) I was 269, today I am 252. I know there's lots of ladies who've lost a whole lot more than I have in a month, but I'm happy with where I'm at. I just remember where I was, so where I am will be great, no matter where that is. As for the hair...I haven't been loosing it in clumps like some folks say they have, but I think that I have been loosing some. My hair is short, so it's harder for me to tell when I lose it since I don't have these long strings of hair anymore. But I do think that I've lost some. It just seems thinner than before. I think I'm going to up my Biotin from once a day to three times. I just pray there is no wig in my future!

I used Dr. Kelly also. Tylenol is the only choice. The paperwork we had to sign said the following...

"To protect your new stomach from ulcers you must never take the following medications: Aspirin, Motrin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Relafen or other similar drugs."