feedyoureye

How frustrating for you, best of luck finding out what is causing the hold up!

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through all this at this time...(or any time really!) Is this something your dad can help you with? I mean take care of mom? I don't think its a good time for you to have to take care of her on your surgery trip...Could you asking her to stay home be part of an intervention of sorts for her? A wake up call? I know you want your mom by your side, but is there someone else that might sit in for her and take care of you on the trip? best of luck to you...

I was just going to tell my immediate boss, but I needed a note for getting the days off from the higher up bosses... well I got the note and the header was from the Bariatric clinic... I guess they will all know now! oh well!

Even if you only count the 58lbs, thats 10lbs a month, what my Nut said I should expect to lose... you are only 6 months out, and still have 6-12 months in the "honeymoon" weight loss period left to keep up the good work! My count says you have lost 141 from your high weight so far...that is GREAT! Your just down in the dumps from your crumby plateau. How about posting what you are eating and how you are moving, and perhaps we can take a look and see if we have any ideas for you? Also, 238 is awesome! How are your co morbidities? I bet you feel a bunch better at this point. Don't let the numbers get you down, you and the sleeve are not a failure...you are still a work in progress, and your body will slow down and eventually stop losing when it wants to. Perhaps your fantasy goal is not your bodys goal... keep up the work and you will see when the time comes.

Congrats! I hope I get such great results! I am going to be sleeved tomorrow morning.

Fantastic feeling Irene! Good work, and you know, to cheat is human...

How about refried beans with cheese and a little salsa? Or an egg poached with some soft cooked broccoli mixed in. Also baby food fruit or veggies if your feeling timid about adding in veggies.

My doc says no acid foods including tomato soup for 8 weeks! And NO tomato juice or sauce, oranges, peppers, pineapple, grapefruit, hot sauce. ...also no skin or seeds, such as in strawberry or other berries.

Whos cute? You! And great work on eating healthy!

EKG I did laying down. The Stress test is something else... there are at least two types, one you use the tread mill, the other they inject a drug that makes your heart think it is exerting a bunch of energy like climbing a mountain. They then inject a radioactive isotope and take pictures with an MRI machine.

I am on tuesday AM as well... I just have to do Clear liquids for two days...

My Doc will only accept 6 weeks off. but might let me go earlier if I am doing well. I only have 3 weeks sick time saved up, so this is going to cost me...

Cinderella, I would not get too hung up on the names of meals... Theses meals do not look too out of line. Perhaps a little carby, but mostly everything on there low glycemic index foods. My nut does not stress low carb ether OR counting calories, just Protein first and avoid the refined carbs and sugar. If she is yelling at you about not exercising the right way, why didn't you just tell her what you had been told? She is just a person, perhaps she thought you were further out from your surgery. Of course you don't want to get stuck with a bit*h for PA but you are an adult... if she was uninformed and unprofessional, tell her boss. She might just need a heads up from the top. You know you were doing the right thing as far as exercising goes...at least it sounds like it to me. Take a deep breath and don't throw out the baby with the bath Water... Rants are good to let off steam, but I think there was some good advice given to you at your meetings, even if the delivery wasn't so pleasant. Just my 2 cents.

Sooo sorry, take care of yourself...

...and it looks great with the new hair cut! FABU dear!

I have very thick hair too... and to the middle of my back. When one hair falls out, it fills my brush! I really have relied on my hair to be the one thing that was "superior" about my looks at times...haha, oh well, I guess I will have to get over myself on that one now! I belly dance, and the long hair is sort of part of the costume. I have had my hair fall out in handfuls once before. It finally came back, and was pretty funny when I had short little hair sticking out from my longer hair where it was growing back again. At least it grew back! Looks like I will be looking for a good haircut soon. I have a friend who is getting sleeved in Feb, and is know to shave her head once in a while. I'm sure she will do it again for this! Good luck all, its sooo worth it! I want to see photos of solutions....

Originally the sleeve was the first stage of the Duodenal Switch.

Here is what I did on my last surgeons visit day 6 days before surgery. --I met with the before surgery nurse, She checked my meds, went over the steps I would have to take to get to the surgery. Talked about the self injected blood thinner I would have to take for a while and gave me some booklets on how to inject myself and the lists and maps of where I would have to go during the day and the day of surgery. --a "fellow" (Dr intern), went over the consent form contract for the surgery and had me sign it. Got my copy. Asked him if the center ever did sleeves... he said yes, that he had assisted on 5 himself and there were many other interns that were assisting at other times. He said that the bypass takes a ton of skill, and not just anyone can do it, they do a bunch of bypasses and have for years, he said the sleeve just needs someone who knows how to do it. I asked if I could have a copy of my surgery recording... and he said no, it was a liability for them. I asked him what Bougie size the Dr used and he said of all the questions anyone has ever asked, no one has ever asked that one. He said they use a 36 and staple it loose. He said they hand stitch the staple line or sometimes us a robot to stitch. There is no advantage they have found to one or the other. The surgery is 3 1/2 -4 hours long. I said that seemed long, and he said Teaching Universities are in no hurry. There is plenty of time taken for surgery, no need to rush. The hand stitching takes a long time. I asked him why I heard so little about the sleeve before my first meeting with a Dr. He said that California is way behind the east coast as far as sleeves go, not because the Drs skill or desire, but the insurance here is so screwed up that it has been excluded until recently by most insurance companies. He said he worked doing sleeves for three years on the east coast before coming here to California. --a research representative, asked me to agree to be part of an ongoing study of WLS as part of them keeping their "Center of Excellence" status. The want to do followups for 5+ years if possible. I signed that. --the during and after surgery head nurse, Anne. She went over much of the same stuff as the before surgery nurse, and we chatted about travel, and how 50 is the new 40. She wrote me a note to give to my work saying I need 6 WEEKS! off to recover. Ouch, I have sick pay/time saved up for 3 weeks, and one staff at work is going to try and give me some of hers... well see....She said the Dr (Ali) was at a meeting and couldn't see me that day, but he would see me on the day of the surgery. She decided what my med schedule would be before and after the surgery. She put a list into the pharmacy for the dissolvable meds I would need. She did a short physical to access my state for surgery, checked my heart, reflexes, flexibility and asked questions about arthritis and such. -- the Lab for blood work and a pregnancy test, and then I went next door and got my blood and urine done. They need a pregnancy test. I told the lab tech that if I was pregnant then she was witness to a miracle. (being menopausal) They took about 6 tubes for testing. --the surgeon I went back to the office to pick up my letter for work, and the after surgery nurse grabbed me and said the Dr was back and wanted to talk to me. I went in and had a nice 20 minute visit with him. He was really nice, and personable. I asked him about the bougie size and he asked me why I wanted to know, and i told him about wanting good restriction and not to leave much of the stomach that stretches out more. He said all the parts are stretchy. He said they use a 36. I asked them about the loose cut, and he said it has to be loose because they stitch the whole thing and the extra room is to do that. He also leaves a little bit extra by the pylorus end to avoid complications that sometime happen there. He said that even people that have a 60 bougie lose weight, that the main reason for people gaining weight is their own actions, not the size of the bougie. You have to make changes in how and what you eat for the surgery to be a success. He also warned that it is his opinion that more people will gain weight back from the sleeve than RNY. Even though the long term results are not in yet. I asked him if he thought the people who gain back weight do it more because they eat around the sleeve, or because the sleeve stretches out, and he said they are related, and the people who gain weight back are more likely to look for some outside reason for it than how they eat and exercise. Those who follow the plan and exercise into the future lose the weight and keep most of it off. He talked about leaks, and nausea. He said that nausea is the most common complication. It can last one day to months. In the case of months, some people need to be fed by IV. 20% of his patients have some amount of nausea. There are meds for nausea. He said he thought I would be a good candidate and believed I could find success with the sleeve. I asked him why I didn't see or hear anything about the sleeve in his lecture or literature, and he said that until recently the sleeve was not covered by insurance in California and so he didn't bring it up as a choice. --the anesthesiology offices. They checked my meds, asked again about allergies and such. About a 5 hour day. They will call me friday to let me know when I need to go in for surgery on tuesday. The day of surgery will be about 8 hours of check in, wait, surgery, recovery and to the room. They expect I will be in over night, there will be a leak test the next day. If all looks well, I can go home the next day. They want to see that I don't have a lot of nausea before I go home and will keep me an extra day if need be. There ya go. The rundown as well as I remember it. More later!

<b>I got the call, I need to show up for check-in at 4:30 AM on tuesday Jan 18th 2010 for 6:30 AM surgery prep. They expect me to be done and out of recovery by around 2PM. The recomended I write down any questions I want answers to, because its so busy then, its easy to forget what they are. They said wear comfortable cloths, and shoes. They said don't bring anything. Have your support person bring your bag later if you need anything. No nail polish on fingers...toes are OK, no deodorant, no perfume or lotions, no makeup, no jewelry, take any piercings out. They will cut off any rings you are wearing if you cant get them off. Take a shower/bath before you show up. Nothing to drink or eat after midnight. I am on a liquid diet for two days before. You will be informed what meds you can take in the AM before surgery. No Vit E. </b>

This is all very interesting. I know there are times... LOTS of times that if I listen to what my body wants, I eat too much, and of the wrong things. Now maybe this is not my body talking, its my head, but really they are connected at the neck, and have something to do with each other. I have spent quite a bit of time analyzing the cause and effect of what I eat - to how I feel... and I find that when I eat some kinds of food I may generally love how they taste, and like putting them in my mouth, and like the immediate feeling it produces... through my shoulders and chest of all places, but what is missing is satisfaction. I'm not talking about feeling full. There is something I am looking for that I don't usually get from food...satisfaction. Like, Im finished now. I feel fine, I got the energy from the food now... or something like that. Perhaps this is partly what people call emotional eating. I think emotions may be part of the picture sometimes for me, but not always. The satisfaction I crave feels more physical. When I really look close at the/my overeating experience, this is missing almost all the time. I realize I don't really like the taste of the food that much... the taste is not enough for me to be satisfied. Its like I'm not getting the basic nutrition I crave or something. Now I think this is where the addiction label comes into the picture. That craving for satisfaction. I just look for it in the food over and over again. Some types of food really heighten this experience...you all know what they are.... refined carbs... sugar, the "whites" High Fructose.... Its not the fats, its not the protein, its not even the whole grains and carbby vegs in moderation. The only time I get satisfied, is when I cut them out. And I need to cut them out for at least 3 weeks before I feel the satisfaction creep in. When I do this, then the size of the meal goes down, and the pounds start to slide off, and I can start to trust what my body/head asks for. However I make myself eat protein snacks even then, because if I let myself get too hungry, the chance of the old habits to reach for the easy donut are a little easier, and I just don't want to go there and start the cycle again.

This is all very interesting. I know there are times... LOTS of times that if I listen to what my body wants, I eat too much, and of the wrong things. Now maybe this is not my body talking, its my head, but really they are connected at the neck, and have something to do with each other. I have spent quite a bit of time analyzing the cause and effect of what I eat - to how I feel... and I find that when I eat some kinds of food I may generally love how they taste, and like putting them in my mouth, and like the immediate feeling it produces... through my shoulders and chest of all places, but what is missing is satisfaction. I'm not talking about feeling full. There is something I am looking for that I don't usually get from food...satisfaction. Like, Im finished now. I feel fine, I got the energy from the food now... or something like that. Perhaps this is partly what people call emotional eating. I think emotions may be part of the picture sometimes for me, but not always. The satisfaction I crave feels more physical. When I really look close at the/my overeating experience, this is missing almost all the time. I realize I don't really like the taste of the food that much... the taste is not enough for me to be satisfied. Its like I'm not getting the basic nutrition I crave or something. Now I think this is where the addiction label comes into the picture. That craving for satisfaction. I just look for it in the food over and over again. Some types of food really heighten this experience...you all know what they are.... refined carbs... sugar, the "whites" High Fructose.... Its not the fats, its not the Protein, its not even the whole grains and carbby vegs in moderation. The only time I get satisfied, is when I cut them out. And I need to cut them out for at least 3 weeks before I feel the satisfaction creep in. When I do this, then the size of the meal goes down, and the pounds start to slide off, and I can start to trust what my body/head asks for. However I make myself eat protein Snacks even then, because if I let myself get too hungry, the chance of the old habits to reach for the easy donut are a little easier, and I just don't want to go there and start the cycle again. Just sharing some of my self exploration.... So anyway, thats why I am happy about my nut recommending three meals and two snacks... it is easier for me to keep the satisfaction in place this way....IF i eat the right foods. Protein first! I am going to put this in my blog too... sorry for the repeat guys...love ya! Thanks for all the opportunities for self reflection and insight to to your experiences....

I believe that VSG is the only surgery recommended for people with Crohn's....

I'll check back in as soon as I get hold of my laptop and I can lift a finger!

Best of luck to you, your beauty shines through! Thanks for posting.

Well put Lily