mountain_lover

Wow Tiffykins, you are such an inspiration, I hope you have been doing ok since your GB surgery!! I wish you all the best

Hello ishary, I experienced a similar situation right before Christmas. My sleeve was done on Dec.2 and less than a month out I had go to the ER in an ambulance. My chest pain lasted 2-3 days before I went and 2-3 days after I went home. I was at the ER for about 8 hours or so before they found out what might possibly have been causing my pain. They did heart tests and blood tests. Further testing had to be done because of one positive blood test that usually indicates a possibility of a pulminary embolism (blood clot in the lungs). They did a CT Scan and there was no blood clot, but they did find a Hematoma on or near my spleen. They explained the size was 8 cm and could have been the result of bruising at the time of surgery when the sleeve was done. The liver and the spleen are in front of the stomach and it is easy for that to happen. I was told that I might be experiencing the pain under my left breast because of the swelling and any inflamation. Thank God I did not have a blood clot or a heart attack. I had to stay in the hospital Dec. 24-25 and was sent home. I was told that it was not infected and normally they are absorbed by the body. I have not had any more problems with it. It is better to be safe than to be sorry. If your pain continues and it continues to concern you, it would be better to have it checked out to be on the safe side. Hope you get to feeling better!!

Well I have good news to update my story. I have now reached ONEDERLAND, I weighed 199.2 on Feb. 15, 2010. It feels so good to be out of the twos. I have not been in the hundreds for at least 20+ years. I bought me a pair of 14 W Rider Jeans and they fit. It is so hard to believe. I am still quite a ways from my goal weight of 145, but now it seems to be more within reach. This is a great journey having the Sleeve. I am so thankful that my life has been changed by having the sleeve done on Dec. 2, 2009.

Hello NoPatience, I no longer drink the Protein Milkshakes, but when I did I drank the ones from GNC store in the mall here in Somerset. I thought that they tasted better than the ones from Wal-Mart.

I am now OUT OF THE TWOS!!!!! Feb. 15, 2010 I weighed 199.2, but I wanted to wait a few days to post so that I could make sure that it is for real. Well this morning I am still in the ones. It feels great to be in Onederland!! It has been 20+ years since I have been out of the twos. Congratulations to everyone that is out of the twos.

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments. I have now made it to Onederland. My weight on Feb. 15, 2010 was 199.2 and it has been 20+ years since I have been out of the twos. It feels so good to say I am now in the hundreds. I still have a ways to reach my goal weight of 145, but now I know that it is getting so much closer. I am so thankful for the sleeve, it is really changing my life. I am so happy to see so many others reaching Onederland!!!!!

I can eat anything, nuts, meat, vegatables ect... but I can only eat a few oz. at first, then wait 15-30 minutes and eat the rest. One example is this, when I go to Taco Bell, I order a Diet Fresco taco and I can eat half of it and then finish it in 15 or so minutes afterward. For supper I can eat two small pieces of pizza and before surgery I could eat half of a pizza easily. I know that I should not be eating certain things, but I am trying to eat healthier by getting in more protein. I try to avoid real greasy foods and things containing too much sugar, because sometimes I start feeling real uncomfortable and feel like I am going to vomit. Also I don't want to get too many calories from those kinds of foods. I really like chicken and beef and I like to eat cucumbers, tomatoes or green peppers with the meat. I feel better after I eat the healthier foods such at those things. I am glad that I can't eat very much at each meal. I try to stick to 3 meals each day with 2 snacks if I can. I know that I need to make some changes also, so I can continue to lose weight and to maintain a healtier life weight as time goes on. I always look forward to seeing a weight lose on the scales, so when I notice that the weight is coming off real slow then I try harder to get back on track. I wish you all the best.

Hello, I had my surgery on Dec.2 and I got out of the hospital on Dec.5. The only pain I had was from the gas pains for one week. They say that is from the surgery and anethesia, it is normal. I did not have any pain at the incision site. I was my Doctor's 2nd patient that he performed the new way of doing the Sleeve. He only made one incision which was 2 inches right above my belly button. I do believe that it helped for me to heal more quickly and to not have any pain. The usual way is with 5 incisions. I had a two week appointment after surgery and my incision was healed ok and the Doctor gave me the OK to go to my Swim Exercise classes. Also I had a 10 pound weight limit if I had to lift anything for 8 weeks. If I eat and drink liquid right after the meal, I have a tendency to have to go to the rest room real soon and have what seems to be similar to what I have read about dumping syndrone. I know that I am suppose to wait at least 30-60 minutes after eating to drink, but I have a hard time following this advice. When I do wait I do have better results. I wish you all the best. I really am glad that I found this forum and the ObesityHelp.com in the beginning, because I found out alot of answers to the questions I had about having surgery and what to expect. I am sure that you will get more answers as time goes by.

My Doctor said my stomach would hold about 3-5 oz after surgery and then around 9-12 months later it would possibly hold 8-10 oz. Also Dr. Husted did not perform any leak test. He did my sleeve laprascopically with only one 2 inch incision, I was his 2nd patient which he did it this way. Every thing went well with the surgery on Dec. 2, 2009. On Dec. 24 I experienced some bad chest pains and went to the ER and had to stay in the hospital for 2 days. I had a CT Scan to see if I had a blood clot in my lung, but it wasn't. They did find a hematoma (large bruise size of an orange) on my spleen. It was not infected and it had not burst, so they let me go home. It could have been bruised during surgery. I have been fine since. They said they usually are absorbed by the body and go away. I will probably have to have another CT Scan later to see if it did go away. I am really happy that I had the sleeve and I have NO regrets. I hope you find out all the information that will help you to make the right decision. I wish you all the best. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I started a year ago wanting to have the Band and ONLY the band. But after going to Dr. Husted's seminar I was not so sure that I wanted to go through all those fills ect... and being stuck with a needle. Then when I got on ObesityHelp.com and on this forum and read alot of the postings I started leaning towards the other procedure that Medicaid would cover called the Duodenal Switch. When I went to my first Doctor appointment on April 1 of last year, Dr. Husted told me that He thought the procedure that would be best for me would be the Sleeve (which is the first part of the Duodenal Switch---without having the intestines cut or rearranged.) But Medicaid did not cover the Sleeve at that time, but he encouraged me that it would possibly be covered in the near future. I found out in November that Medicaid finally would cover the Sleeve and I got the approval and two weeks after my pre-op diet I had my Sleeve done on Dec.2, 2009. Also right before I was to have the surgery done, he told me that he was doing the surgery with only one 2 inch incision instead of the normal 5 incisions. I was his 2nd patient that he performed the new way of doing the sleeve. I did not feel any pain at the incision site, the only pain I had was gas pains from the anethesia and I had bad nausea for 1 week. I have no regrets having the sleeve done. Especially after reading all the posting of so many having a revision done from the Band to the Sleeve. Now I don't have that to worry about. I thank God for working out everything to fall in place for me to have the Sleeve instead of the Band and for leading me to such a great surgeon as Dr. Husted. I am thankful that I had a Doctor with a good reputation and lots of experience with different procedures. I wish all the best to you, whatever decision you make. You are doing what you need to do by researching the different procedures and finding out what your insurance will cover and what it will not.

Hello hershey, I enjoyed chatting with you on the forum chat room today. I know that it is so hard to make it through the different diet stages before and after surgery. The best advice I can give you is to hang in there and not give up. I can understand how difficult it must be being around other friends especially eating fast foods and favorites. You being a 25 year old male, hanging out with friends must really be rough. You sure don't want to avoid your friends at this time, so just hang in there and if you do screw up as many of us do at times, just get back on track and try harder to do the right things. JUST DONT EVER GIVE UP AND KEEP LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS JOURNEY!!! The 9th will be here before you know it and you will be sleeved and on your way to a new you. I wish you all the best. You are the same age as my youngest child. He has weight issues, so i happy that you are doing something to change at a young age. I am 55 years and I wish I could have done this so many years ago. I have been obese for over 30 years.

I really enjoyed reading this thread. I am so happy to see everyone's accomplishments. Congratulations on making it out of the twos. I have not been out of the twos for 20+ years, but I am really close now. My daughter got me a Healthometer scale that lets me know my weight, fat %, water% and bone%. I am keeping tract of my weigh-ins in a journal. Those scales always weigh me about 3 pounds more than my regular scales. My weight on 2/05/10 was 201.4, but on the regular scales I weighed 197. I am so anxious for the Healthometer Scale to weight me out of the twos and into Onederland. Maybe in a few days I will be able to say, "I made it to Onederland". But for now I have to wait. I want to get some pictures of me taken on New Year's Eve put in an album and some new ones taken soon since I am now over 2 month out. Thanks for posting, you are all great inspirations for me to keep going.

Thank you for your comments. My sleeve was done on Dec.2 and everything is still going ok. I weigh 203. 34 pounds lost before surgery and 29 pounds lost after surgery. Also I feel lots better as long as I make sure I take my Ranitidene 150 mg from Wal-Mart. My doctor recommends taking it for 2 months after surgery, but I am going to take it for awhile longer and ask him next month if I need to stop taking 2 each day or can I continue. I hope that all went well with you if you did have your surgery yesterday. Please let us know how you are doing as soon as possible. I wish you all best.

Thank You for your prayers.

Hello Stacie, How are you doing since you last posted??????? I sure hope that you are feeling better. It has been a week since you posted, please let us know if there has been any improvement. So many people have you in their thoughts and prayers. We are here for you if you need us. I hope you recover quickly and go forward with your journey with better days ahead!!!

I have had lots of head hunger, but little stomach hunger. Taking away alot of the Ghrellin by removing most of the stomach really helps ( the hunger hormone). I find out real quick what my stomach can tolerate. Foods that are too sweet or greasy might smell, look and taste good, but sometimes my stomach cannot tolerate them. Also if I eat too much of a good thing, I get a very uncomfortable discomfort and feel like I am going to vomit, so now I try real hard to not eat too much, I eat a little bit and stop for about 15-20 minutes and then finish the rest if possible. I can only eat half of a diet taco at Taco Bell, then wait and eat the rest when I can. I don't get much stomach hunger, so I try to get in 3 meals a day and eat 2 snacks. I try to eat mostly protein now, with a small serving of vegatables such as cucumbers, tomatoes or green peppers on the side. Right after surgery, I kept thinking about the food I wished that I could eat, but couldn't because I had to be on liquids for 2 days and pureed food for 2 weeks. My mind seemed to be on that constantly, but as soon as I started on soft foods, I stopped thinking about it so much. Once I was able to try more foods, like I said before, I started finding out what I could tolerate and what I could not tolerate. It gets easier, because once you experience the same feeling each time you try to eat the same thing, if all you can associate with that item is discomfort, then it becomes easier to pick other things. Candy is a real good example, because it is just too sweet for me to eat more than 1 or two bites and sometimes even that makes me feel nauseous. Before surgery, I enjoyed eating cake, donuts, candy and many other sweets, but now I know that if I eat them I am going to feel very nauseous afterward and it is way too many calories and too much fat, with no protein. I am really happy that I had the sleeve, it is a great tool to help me not to overeat like I did before. I know that some moments can be very frustrating, but it is all worth them, I am looking forward to this new journey of losing weight and trying to keep it off with the sleeve. Looking back over the past few weeks since surgery on Dec.2, I can honestly say that it was difficult in the beginning and it does get easier and easier, like other sleevers commented. I wish everyone the best!!