Bryn Dawson

sf Kool-Aid, huh? What the heck, it's worth a shot! Thanks for the suggestion!

I had my surgery on 7/12 and I did have the same issue you did with Water (and other things). Today at exactly two weeks out my tastebuds are pretty much back to normal except that I am even more sensitive to bitter things than I was already. Everything else seems like it is the same as it used to be. Dunno what causes it. It's weird.

Two weeks of liquid is hard, no matter which way you slice it. Are you on full liquids or clears? One thing that can help if you are on full liquids is to do a low-fat cream Soup - if you are on clears, your Protein is your best bet for satisfaction. If it helps any, the hunger and obsession with food usually die down some in a few days. I JUST got off liquids myself for post-op and I know how you feel.

Almost all of us go through this stage where we second-guess our decision and question the surgery. It is normal to feel this way. Don't let it get you down! Just breathe through it and keep in mind all the GOOD things that will happen in your new sleeved life.

I'm at exactly the same point as you - things still look appetizing because I remember enjoying them from my old life and now I want that, even though I can't have it. I keep trying to distract myself with stuff I CAN have. IE See an ice-cream commercial and want ice cream? - Have a SF pudding. Steak craving? - Have some tuna salad. Things like that - and once I eat I feel physically satisfied, but my mind is still mourning that bad stuff I can't have. I hope it goes away for both of us soon.

I have to say, I had a Jackson-Pratt drain in and it was not painful to have it removed, but it was the WEIRDEST sensation I have ever stood still for. Yuck. It's kinda icky feeling, but it truly did not hurt.

Yep, totally normal. I have one too and was sleeved on 7/12. My surgeon said it is where the internal stitches were on the incision from which they removed the part of stomach. He said it would go away.

Even though I'm only 8 days out from surgery, I have already had a small victory - today I weighed 299.4. This is the first time I've been in the 200's in over 3 years. I am thinking that I am going to love this sleeve.

Last Tuesday was Surgery day. I got to the hospital with DH at 8:15am and was checked into the surgical prep area. They let him come sit with me which is good because otherwise he would have fallen asleep, poor thing. After poking around for a while they finally found an IV site in the crook of my right elbow (bad placement but better than nothing I guess.) I sat around and had nerves (they wouldn't give me anything) until it was time to go back at 11:15. They walked me into the operating room and had me lay down on the table, then started positioning me. The anesthesiologist said he was going to give me the 'top shelf starter' which must have been Versed, because I remember grinning and saying 'Okay' and the next thing I know I'm waking up in recovery when they're handing me my on-q pain pump button. The first day after that was pretty much a breeze of dozing, wetting my mouth with the little sponge on a stick, doing my inspirometer toy thingy, and having nurses and techs run my vitals and various other meds. I had no pain or nausea at that point. The second day they pulled my Foley catheter at about 6am and told me I could start walking - before that I was wearing compression wraps on my legs. At 8ish they took me for my leak test - it was more Fluid than I thought I should be having but by that point my mouth and throat were so dry I took it down without complaint. Everything was fine there so I was cleared to start bringing in fluids which also meant liquid meds - oh yay. (insert dripping sarcasm here.) They also took out my pain pump at this time. They started me on 3 different anti-nausea drugs and then started me on my meds. Some of my meds are uncrushable, so I had to take them liquid, which started to make me nauseated, which started to make me retch. Ouch! That hurts a lot now! The worst was the liquid Lortab pain medication - it literally made me retch for 10 minutes straight, all dry-heaves becaused I refused to let it go. I kept telling them they needed to switch me to something else, and they kept telling me to keep trying. I tried to tell them the surgery wasn't the problem, it was the medicine itself, and they kept not listening until finally, the next day, my surgeon came in and said we would try something else. Most of the second day was a blur of nausea and pain. It was really bad - I was completely out of it and couldn't get comfortable at all. I managed to snooze a little but that was about it. The third day was an improvement - I was supposed to go home on this day originally but my morning blood draw showed high WBC so they decided to keep me an extra day to monitor it. I had my pain mostly under control at this point with the new pain med (crushable pill not liquid) so I did a lot of walking around the surgical floor and visiting with the PAs in the central work area (the surgical floor is a big circle with all the computers and meds in the middle). I actually ordered a liquid meal for the first time on this day and couldn't get through it; I just wasn't hungry. It amazed me; I couldn't even finish the Jello, much less the 6 oz of broth. That was about all I did all day - walk, sip, take meds, and sleep. I went off all nausea medications and have stayed off them so far - yay! I was really worried about nausea cause I hate it. The fourth day my WBC was back to normal so they decided to let me go - my potassium was a little low so they hung a K-drip but had it turned down slow so it didn't burn. And then I got to come home! Since then it has been sip, walk, rest! I was happy to start full liquids yesterday because I was missing Protein shakes - now all I can think about is purees. I wish I could start them early because GRR I am dying for semisolid protein. No cottage cheese for me on full liquids - I have to wait. Tomorrow is my first follow-up appt with the surgeon. I gained 14 pounds back of Water weight in the hospital! I was so mad! But as of today it has all come off so now I can start actually paying attention to weight loss. Sorry for this being kinda stream of consciousness... I'm still a little bit out of it from being on pain meds to sleep for my afternoon nap. But I'm sleeved, and happy, and doing pretty good getting in all my fluids, so woohoo!

Woman, I sincerely feel for you. That Lortab elixir is something else.

So here I sit at a quarter till 5am with not a darn thing to do because I am too excited to sleep... I keep waking up every hour or so... finally I just decided to give up. My surgery is at 10:30am, have to be at the hospital by 8:30am. I'm mostly packed (just a couple odds and ends to toss into the bag yet, and then pack up the CPAP for travel,) and am as prepared as I think I can be. I'm not even feeling nervous... I just can't sleep. How stupid is that? Insomnia the night before surgery. Oy. This is my brain, let me tell you. I guess I'm basically writing for lack of anything better to do. Bad night to get insomnia. I already took some melatonin and don't want to take any more. I got a really touching e-mail from my Dad saying he was with me in spirit and that he loved me. My Dad is not given to displays of affection like this, even in e-mail, so this was a big surprise for me and made me tear up a little. My Mom sent me a little care package to take to the hospital (chapstick, a mini-lotion, a bar of cinnamon-scented soap) and a card that said how proud of me she is for being brave enough to take this big a step. I am so lucky to have supportive parents. It's amazing how much their approval still means to me. The cat is playing with his toy bird that chirps and driving me nuts. Also, this big 1-liter bottle of Water is calling my name and I can't have anything by mouth until tomorrow morning after my leak test. It's going to be a long day, but hopefully a good one. Wish me luck!

I am feeling pretty cold - even our house, which was usually comfortable to me, feels a few degrees chillier than it should to me. It started for me on the 2nd day after surgery. Glad to see you posting and to see that you're doing well!

Well here we are at 5am again. This time it's cause I shifted position in my sleep and the pain of moving woke me up. It's been 8 hours since my last dose of tylenol so it was past time anyway to wake up and take more. Had a little nausea as well so took some phenergen. Or however you spell it. So now I'm sitting here waiting for the meds to kick in before I go back to sleep. The cat is dying for my attention - he doesn't understand where I was for four days, poor little dude. It's funny, when I get up to walk my laps of the apartment he follows me the entire time. We're both getting exercise, LOL! So far so good on the buyer's remorse aka none yet. I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. Getting liquids in is... interesting. It's hard to sip when I want to chug, and hard to have tiny spoonfuls of broth when I want to drink it straight, but I'm afraid of hurting myself. I'm a big wimp and don't want to deal with pain. Plus, the LAST thing I want to do is start retching again... I had a half day of that in the hospital and man, it is way worse right now than it was before the surgery. I'm avoiding it at all costs so - teensy spoonfuls, teensy sips. So far I've had 5 oz of Water in 30 mins, which means it's time to slow down for a little while. Throughout all of this I have tried to keep to the positive side and know that it is for the best and that this recovery phase will not last forever. It is easy for me to get negative, so I'm really trying hard not to let that happen. All of your support and prayers and thoughts have been very helpful. Also, giant dancing banana macros. Off to sleep again for now... talk to you all later.

Home from the hospital. I have had some nausea and the pain level has come up to what was expected, but still isn't that bad. I do not anticipate having to take pain meds for it. Nausea is mostly gone. Very wiped out; going to go sleep. More later.

I'm sleeved! YAY OMG! I'm still in the hospital, probably until this time or so tomorrow while they make sure I can get all my fluids in and am having normal bowel function. So far I have walked 4 laps of the surgical floor. I had some beef broth and red sf Jello for lunch and couldn't finish either of them... just didn't want to. OMFG that is AMAZING to me. I am sipping 2oz every 15 mins. No difficulty and very little pain. I can honestly say I have no regrets at this stage. My drain doesn't even hurt. My love to you all, especially my fellow firecrackers!

I'm still preop but I know I get this feeling when I'm having a bad bout with acid. Maybe taking an acid medication (PPI) would help?

I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Surgery's on Tuesday. Thinking about what to pack and considering going to the bookstore to get something to read. Good luck to all of us!

I was told that I could drive as soon as I was comfortable and as soon as I was no longer taking narcotic pain medication.

Guess I phrased it badly. It was enlightening to me. I'm aware I was suffering from fine print syndrome. I still think this is a good thread and appreciate that it was posted. Water under the bridge. I'm not one to hold a grudge. We both took exception, both explained it, and I, at least, have gotten over it. I'll admit I don't have much time for You Tube videos, but maybe I should check some out. I'll start with yours. I do find this to be a relatively warm and accepting forum - certainly much nicer than I was expecting. Thanks for your response.

I didn't say I had no idea before this thread - I said I had a much better idea after this thread. I was seeing the serious long-term nausea and fatigue and general malaise as the exception rather than the rule - now I know differently. A failing on my part, I'm sure, not to have known sooner. I was also trying to be kind and get the argument to stop by bringing in a different perspective. I've been reading the post-op board threads for about a month. Sorry if I missed your struggles. I've also browsed the complications support group. Trying not to feel sort of attacked here. Guess I should've stayed silent.

Most of us know the great success stories of the boards (Tiffykins, LilMissDiva, etc) but we couldn't have gotten such a clear snapshot of the first month or so timeline without this question being posted, so kudos to Karelia who had the intestinal fortitude to ask. This whole thread has been very enlightening. I now have a much better idea of the kind of difficulty I will be facing for the first month or so. I am still going to go forward with the surgery, but in a weird way I feel better knowing that I will feel bad so I can prepare for it, if that makes any sense at all. For those who are still struggling, I am sorry. For those who are not, congratulations! Let us ALL hope to have success and comfort in our futures, regardless of approach.

NSV stands for Non Scale Victory - something like getting into that pair of jeans you've been hanging on to for years, or stuff like that. Don't feel bad, I didn't know either.

I used to do dressage, clear-round jumping and western pleasure competitions when I was younger - mostly now I would ride for pleasure were there a horse on this planet that could carry me, but there's not (at the moment!) I'm hoping to get down to a reasonable weight and get back into riding at some point, even if it's just the occasional trail ride. I've always wanted to own my own horse but don't have the room or the fundage right now.

Good lord. Diva and Tiffykins, you look like entirely different people! I am so proud of both of you! I hope that I can make as good a show of it and transform the same way you two have.