sasicas

My surgeon said I might have an issue and need to be seen during my TOM post-op since I will be on blood thinners for 30 days. Normally he would discontinue blood thinners upon discharge from the hospital but I had a clotting issue in pregnancy so he doesn't want to take any chances. What had me a little concerned to is that I hemorrhaged twice after having my twins as well. Any words of encouragement? Did anyone need to be seen during their TOM because of the blood thinners? Thanks ladies

Bumping this as I was researching what is going on with me. I'm about 18 months out. Lately having increasing issues where I get super jittery. Seems to be when I've had too much caffeine and/or not enough to eat. This morning I had a cup of coffee then a small pancake and then another cup of coffee. Jitters came, dizziness came, headache started. Sat down ate some chicken and I finally going back to normal. At this point I know my labs have been fine other than being anemic, which my doctor thinks describes a lot of the dizziness I get now. No matter how slow I get up I can get a few feet away and everything goes black. I'm ok to just stand there while everything is black, then vision goes back to normal and I'm good to go again. We know that my bp seems to drop quite low if I don't eat enough too, found that out after my last surgery, they wouldn't feed me with my bp being dangerously low. My bp didn't recover until I was allowed to eat again. Just when I think I'm finally getting to some kind of normal my body decides to go all crazy. I suppose it's time to go see the doctor again and see what, if anything, needs to happen next.

From what I have seen the larger sizes lasted a lot longer than the smaller sizes. Initially it took awhile before the clothes started to fall off because my clothes were tight to begin with. Once I got down into a 12 I was changing sizes every 10-15 lbs.

It depends on a lot. Age, sex, genetics, exercise, etc all come into play with loose skin. I am in my 20s as well. My arms do not look bad, most ask me what exercises I do, until I lift my arm and let them see the wiggle My boobs, totally deflated, just skin is left. It's gross. My thighs, loose skin but not nearly as much as you would expect after losing 120 lbs. My stomach, well that is another story Now it did shrink back a whole lot. Way more than I expected. I carried a TON of weight in my stomach plus 3 c-sections and having carried twins meant it was all kinds of gross I did resort to a panniculectomy for that though, there was just no way it was going to shrink on it's own.

YAY! What a great update! You look wonderful

You look great!! Congrats on being so close to goal On pregnancy, well any surgery is hard on your body so that could be a factor in it. Personally, I can't have any more children but if I did I don't feel that at this point (15 months post op) that I could get enough in daily to keep my health going during a pregnancy but I do know people that got pregnant early out and were fine.

I've always gone straight to my bed, even after c-sections and the panniculectomy. What helped me is having a few big pillows under my head and a few under my knees.

You cannot compare yourself to others. We are all different and lose at different rates. Age, sex, height, weight, activity, genetics, size of your sleeve all play into weight loss. About how much do you need to lose?

Thank you all so much for voting for me and helping me to win the Progresso Souper You makeover. I am still in shock that I actually won and was able to have such an awesome experience We flew in Sunday night and stayed in a really nice hotel in Beverly Hills. We found an amazing "swag bag" full of goodies including two Biggest Loser cookbooks, once of which was signed by Dolvett! There were even Snacks and Water in the bags and a duffle bag to get all the goodies home in, they really thought of everything Monday morning we were up bright and early for Breakfast and shopping. The other two winners and their guests were wonderful, and the ladies from General Mills were just amazing! We had a $1,000 shopping spree at a store nearby and let me tell you, I have NEVER paid so much for clothing in all my life, definitely something I won't experience again. ha. We had a camera crew taping and photographing us during the events so that was beyond weird but after awhile we just got used to them being there. We had a personal shopper that had spoken with each of us prior to the trip so she had pulled a bunch of clothes to try on before hand and after we tried all those on we were free to roam the store for more goodies. We were surprised with a rack of Progresso blue dresses in each of our sizes and we got to pick one as an added gift, as well as a pair of shoes! After shopping we took the limo back to the hotel and found a SOUPER yummy lunch planned for us and we did some more interviews, then had the rest of the day free. Hubs and I wandered around Rodeo Drive for awhile just window shopping (we had a cash card given to us too but tried not to spend it all in one place lol) and talked about missing the kids. ha. Life of a parent Tuesday morning was the big day. We headed to a wonderful salon in Beverly Hills for our makeovers. We started off with an amazing breakfast and then it was time for the hair to be done. I LOVE my hair! Quite the experience to be getting a mani and pedi while having my hair done too, guess it's all that fancy stuff I'm not used to hahaha. We had our makeup done as well and had a wonderful lunch brought in. During the hair and makeup, our guests were taken back to the hotel so they could be surprised by our new look. After we were all done up we all put on our Progresso blue dresses and went back to the hotel. Lets just say my husband was shocked. He has never, in 10 years of marriage, seen me so made up. I really felt like a princess getting the royal treatment. After the big reveal, pictures and interviews we headed off to the Biggest Loser finale! It was so neat to see the show live, of course it was SO loud that we hardly heard anything Allison or the contestants were saying There is a half a second shot of me in the first 30 seconds, you can definitely see my husband more clearly though. Quite a few shots of our backsides If you watch it, look for the sea of dark blue on the floor of the audience, that is us and I am the only girl with short hair After the Biggest Loser we grabbed dinner and headed to the after party. We met so many wonderful people there, it was great to just meet the past contestants and just listen to their advice on keeping the weight off. Unfortunately my regular camera sucks. Plain and simple. It takes awful pictures and at that point my cell phone was dead so many of the pictures came out blurry. Thankfully a few people did take pictures so hoping for some good shots from them. We headed home the next day and I still feel like it was a dream. When I hear about contests like this, I always think that real people don't actually win. But they do! I'm proof of that. It actually happened to me It happened thanks to the many wonderful people who voted for me. And it happened because having the sleeve done and losing the weight gave me the confidence to go for this. Even my husband told me to not bother applying because he figured it was such a long shot. And it was. Out of 13,000 entrants 3 of us were chosen and got to enjoy this wonderful, once in a lifetime experience. Moral of the story....GO FOR IT! Don't let your fears hold you back. Don't doubt yourself. You might not always "win" but it never hurts to try. Again, thank you so much to all who voted for me. I did post a short video after the makeover to show off my look, so if you go to my youtube channel in my signature you can watch it. I did post the video twice, the first time the sound cut off half way. You can also view photos from the trip via the Progresso facebook page. They will be posting more pictures and video over time

Thank you everyone! It was an amazing experience I lost half my starting weight, started at 240 lbs and now I am 120 lbs

I do feel like I am now complete. I would like to get a boob job but after the last several surgeries I have had ending in complications, I think that is a sign that I need to stop. Unfortunately my boobs are down to a 34 A which is a huge disappointment but I guess as long as my husband is ok with it, I will adjust over time. I am glad I went through with the panni, it really was needed and I'm ok with the scars from it, which I know would bother many my age. I am definitely not trying to lose weight still. I'm struggling to stop the weight loss, I officially hit half my starting weight this morning, something I thought impossible. Documentation wise, I had to have proof of rashes or other irritation, back pain, and mental distress over it.

I am 4 weeks out from an insurance approved Panni. I have a 12 inch cut across my stomach and 4 inches up the middle. I will likely need one slight repair in a few months. The very top of the incision up the middle has tucked in, so when I sit up it looks like I have two belly buttons. Creepy. My actual belly button is healing nicely, thank goodness because I have heard of many that had theirs die off. ICK! SO my long experience (and I really need to make a new update video on youtube). Went in for surgery expecting just the side to side incision but my surgeon warned me that I might need the cut up the middle. Once they got me prepped and started to cut they realized that I needed the middle cut to prevent the "dog ears" on my hips. I was told they basically cut along my ribcage and removed all the skin below it, pulled in and down. I had stretch marks ALL over and very high up so I still have stretch marks but now they point inwards towards the middle incision. Sounds weird, right? I had 3 c-sections prior and that incision is gone. After surgery I remember waking up in a lot of pain in the OR, I was told I might remember it because they bring those with reflux and those with sleep apnea (I have both) out of the sleep to make sure we get to breathing on our own again. Then I was out again and woke up in recovery in pain, more drugs were given and next thing ya know I was in my room and don't remember getting there. ha. I had a morphine drip and just hit the button anytime the pain hit. Later in the day I got up and got moving. I did this on my own and if you have had a c-section, this surgery is LESS pain, a lot less. So I walked as much as I could handle. My sleeve gets very cranky if I don't eat so the dizziness kicked in and my BP plummeted. So they wouldn't let me eat or drink. Boy was I mad at only being allowed ice chips. Labs were drawn and I was only allowed to get up if I had someone with me because the BP was so low they thought I would fall (I was running 60-70/30-40, normal is 120/70 for me). I kept telling them I just needed to eat but at that point the labs came back and my blood count was low so they were concerned I was internally bleeding so no food or drink still. I slept horribly, because as you know, nurses like to bug you every 2 seconds, and it's a million times worse when you are in a room with FOUR people in it. And because my bp was so low, they kept coming in to check it. Lame. So labs were drawn again at 4 am because they are butts like that. Docs rounded and I got to see my icky looking incision and said my blood count was lower again. And bp was still low because hello, I NEEDED TO EAT. I kept getting up and walking as much as they would let me. Labs drawn again. This time they were stable so they FINALLY let me eat and drink. And guess what, my bp started to come up. So I was allowed to walk alone and finally go get whatever I wanted out of hte snack room ha. Normally people go home the next day but not me. I stayed another night to be pestered. The next morning more labs were drawn and magnesium was low and let me tell ya, if you haven't had that lovely little drip, it BURNS like crazy, even when they run the saline stuff through it too. Unfortunately for me, my IV was in the side of my wrist so if I moved my wrist it burned a bajillion times worse. Finally I got the go ahead to go home. Thankfully my doctors are pretty cautious with me considering the past complications and hospital stays I have had. SO as annoying as it was, they were right to keep me. I was doing great, felt fine, got around fine. Of course I had to take pain meds but if I stayed on those I was fine, I took a lower dose of Percoset than what was suggested because I really felt ok. I had two drains, probably an inch below my side to side incision. Apparently they normally get you in 1 week out to get them out. Uh yeah. Whoever scheduled me, did so scheduled me 11 days post op. Day 7 I had the worst migraine ever. I took my normal dose of meds PLUS the rescue does which I have only had to do one other time. It got worse, hubs took me to the ER and it took 2 IV meds and a shot in the butt to get it under control. Day 9 post op I was feeling sluggish and pain was setting in more than before and swelling increased. I drugged up and took a nap. Work up with a 101 fever and just feeling like crap. We decided to wait it out til the morning because another dose of Percoset brought it down some. Fluid from the drains increased too. So in the AM I called the docs. I was told to come in. My doctor who had left for a family emergency the day before I was discharged was not happy that my drain removal was pushed so far out. He decided to go ahead and pull one drain and see if it was just my body being angry over the drains. That night I felt worse and worse. The next morning they called to check on me and see if hte pain and fevers were gone, nope it was worse. So they said to get in there. I went to take a shower while I waited for hubs to get home and when I took my binder off I noticed the drain site they had pulled the day prior was VERY red, swollen and lots of icky stuff was draining from it. I get there, have labs drawn, then the cultured the drain site (OW! They stuck a q tip thingy in there) and took the fluid from the drain I still had. They decided it was probably Cellulitis and sent me for a CT and hubs off to get antibiotics and more pain meds. CT showed a small pocket of fluid but they were not too concerned over it. Over the weekend I was feeling better, fever was gone but still pain was worse than it was right after surgery. Monday came and I went back in and had the other drain pulled and lots of icky fluid leaked from that for a 5 or 6 days. Found out I had a resistant Staph infection. New antiobiotics were ordered and I was sent on my way. Felt a lot better each day but still had to take pain meds. I just went in again a few days ago, the redness is gone but things are looking good. I have a pocket of fluid above the middle incision that we are watching to see if it is anything. Praying it's not because I have my makeover coming up in a few weeks. I have to wear my binder until Friday and I can finally take it off! YAY. It's annoying only being able to take it off for showers. I'm getting around fine, energy is still low because those staph infections take a lot out of you, a lot more than I expected, so my body is still working to catch up to where I was. I have a lot of swelling but it's not horrible. My natural waist is still 1 inch wider than it was preop and my waist is still the size it was with the fat gut too but it takes awhile for that to go away anyways. At least I'm still in the same size I was before instead of having to go up a size for swelling. ha. Wearing jeans is a pain in the butt too because they hit at my incision and push into the binder and it's just uncomfortable. SO, that has been my experience so far and yes I would do it again,e ven with the infection.

Don't set yourself up for failure by stressing over that stupid scale. This surgery is about getting our lives back, getting our health back. A number won't make you happy in the long run. You HAVE to remember, you JUST went through MAJOR surgery, seriously, it's that major. You just had the bulk of an organ cut out of you. Your body will be angry and might hold on to weight until it gets with the program. You will retain Water from the surgery too, it takes time to work that out too. Please, do not let yourself stress over your weight. And do NOT compare yourself to others, we are all different, we all heal different and we all lose at different rates. STress can destroy your health so just give it time and roll with it. THese surgeries are so much more mental than physical and it takes a long time to adjust so hang in there and smile.

I think you need to stop before that, if I feel that, it means I way over did it.

Hehe, I will make it in a few hours, I'm off to our Church to get some work done Total weight loss 119 lbs, from the panni they took off 2.2 lbs but I lost another 2 lbs on top of that. Well long story short, I was approved for a panni long before considering WLS because of my stomach hang over and I made sure over the years to have issues with the skin documented. Had WLS, went to plastics and was told by a new doc that I wouldn't be covered (the new doc is a jerk, I was warned about him). So I went back to my general surgeon that did my sleeve and he got it approved. My WLS was fully covered as well.

I can't even tell you all how beyond excited I am for this It's been making me crazy trying not to go crazy announcing it before the voting time actually started haha. Sooooo I follow Shelly, aka the world according to eggface, blog. Well a couple years back she was a grand prize winner in the Progresso Souper You contest. Well she posted about it a few months back, encouraging people to enter. Well I did and GUESS WHAT! I was picked as a finalist!! WOW! Crazy right? This time last year, I was laid up in bed, in pain, miserable and 115 lbs heavier than I am today at just over a year post op. The 3 grand prize winners get an amazing trip to LA, a full makeover, cash cards, clothing cards, and the best part?! Tickets to the finale of the Biggest Loser. PLEASE, please, please go vote for me. You can vote daily from today through March 25th. I would appreciate it so much! You can either search Progresso Souper You to find the site or use this link http://www.souperyou.com/Finalists.aspx And so you know who to vote for...look for this picture of me holding up my formerly tight size 20 pants Thank you

Like others have said we are all different. I eat far less than anyone else I know from my support group, but my sleeve is small and very tight and I am 13 months out. So you can't go off of what others eat. You need to remember too that it takes awhile for all the nerves to get back to normal, it will take awhile before you can actually feel that full feeling. I would suggest early out that you scoop out a small portion and just eat that and stop. If you are getting that choking sensation, you are overeating and really it's best to be extra cautious until you have that feeling back and learn to know when to stop.

I'm struggling to decide if I want to move forward with a panniculectomy or not. I am having issues with the excess skin, which I was well before even considering WLS. I have had 3 c-sections and carried twins in the last pregnancy so I am sure you can imagine the state of my stomach. My surgeon has been trying to find a way to get the insurance to cover it yet they would not, even though long ago I had been approved for it and had been a wait list which some random idiot dr pulled me from the list :/ And a friend with NO issues from her small amount of excess skin was recently approved and had her surgery two weeks later on the same insurance. Ugh! So anyways, my surgeon called the other day to discuss all my issues lately and said he actually found something in my medical record that can likely get the skin removal approved. The problem? Well now I am having serious issues with my husband and I do not think we will make it out of this mess. So of course I start thinking that I would like to have more kids some day, something I have always wanted but he had a vasectomy after the twins against my will. So here I am in my 20s still and thinking what if our marriage doesn't make it and what if I find some guy crazy enough to take in a woman with all these kids that wants more kids?! Then of course I think, what guy would want to see all this loose skin either. I do have a friend who had a tummy tuck and a year later got pregnant but do I really want to undergo this surgery to have my stomach possibly destroyed again a few years down the line?! AHHHH! And I'm on a time limit now too before this insurance ends....so any opinions? What would you all do? Thanks in advance ladies.

Thanks! It's looking better by the day, hopefully the infection issues are under control now. I plan to make a new video with another tummy shot tomorrow

Thanks! Clearly I am very stubborn and my body does not believe in following the rules