shannoninathens

Here's the thing--people who judge you for having WLS were also probably judging you for being obese. The way I see it, those people are going to judge me either way, so I might as well make the decision that will actually change my life in the long run. I think "the easy way out" is to judge someone rather than to take the time to talk to them and understand their specific situation.

Hi Neil. Congratulations on your decision! I'm single, but the couples at my WLS support group seem to be very successful. It's like they have a support group at home! My practice is always talking about the importance of support to long-term success, so I would think having a spouse who has also had the surgery will make a tremendous difference. Question--are you going to stay vegan after your surgery? If so, will you mostly use soy Protein? Seems like most of the liquid Protein products are whey/milk based, though once you're back to solids there are tons of soy-based products. I was sleeved just over a week ago, and haven't felt this hopeful in YEARS. Best of luck to you!!!

Good luck today! I have my one-week post-op appointment this afternoon. Have to eat part of a scrambled egg to see how solids go. I would love to hear how people transitioned to soft foods, too.

I chose sleeve because my surgeon said that they are getting the same success rates with both sleeve and bypass patients at their practice. You can always switch to bypass later on if you find that the sleeve surgery did not help you achieve the results you wanted. Also, I have irritable bowel syndrome, so I was afraid to do anything that affected my ability to digest food properly. From everything I've read, sleeve seems to be as good as bypass in results, with fewer side effects and nutritional issues. The few people I know who've been banded haven't had good, long-lasting results.

Hi all. First of all, thanks to everyone who has posted on this website. I've been lurking for months and gotten great tips and information! I had sleeve surgery on May 11th. Turns out my spleen was attached to my stomach, and I bled & bled & bled. I ended up in the hospital 2 extra nights, got 4 units of blood, plus a unit each of plasma and platelets. When I got home, I actually weighed MORE than I did before I started the 2-week preop diet! While I've lost almost 10 pounds of Fluid, I'm still puffy and obviously retaining a good bit still. Has anyone else had complications like this or come home to massive fluid retention? If so, how long did it seem to take to get rid of all the fluid? Thanks so much for your input!

Welcome, Shana. You seem like a perfect candidate for this surgery! At the practice I'm working with, they are always emphasizing the importance of support, so you are in a great place. I'm not sure what kind of nursing you do, but one of my nurses in the hospital had had gastric bypass about 5-6 years ago, and she was an incredible source of information and support. While all the nurses at the hospital were just as nice and helpful as they could be, I was so lucky to get to spend that time with Terry because she could combine her professional knowledge with personal experience and she most definitely made the experience much easier, not just for me, but for my family. God bless! Keep us posted on your progress!

Thank you all so much for your encouraging words! I'm trying to push fluids as much as possible, and I think it's definitely helping. Apparently fewer than 10% of people have attached stomachs & spleens, so it was just one of those freaky things. Am definitely feeling better everyday.

How wonderful to have such support going through this journey! I wish the very best for you--God Bless!!! So glad you are doing well post-op

I'm so sorry for everyone who has trouble with the pain meds! My doctor gave me an anti-nausea medication with every dose of either moriphine or liquid lortab--God bless him! Also, I received an anti-spasmodic while I was in the hospital, which settles down your stomach a bit. Now that I'm home (had surgery May 11th), I'm still on the liquid lortab (don't need quite as much though), the anti-nausea med, and am taking dicyclomine ("Bentyl") for digestive spasms (a drug I've taken for years for IBS). I read somewhere to try Gas-X strips, and those have helped with my rumbling tummy a bit, too. I had surgery in a hospital that does a high volume of batriatric surgery, and at least one nurse I had for two nights in a row had gastric bypass about 5-6 years ago. She was a real Godsend. She gave me lots of tips and suggestions and was incredibly sympathetic. Even the young skinny nurses were very supportive & did their very best to get me relief from my pain and discomfort.

I had the exact same thing. Just had my surgery last week, and apparently my spleen bled a lot. Had to end up getting 4 units of blood total, plus platelets and plasma. Otherwise surgery went great, but losing all that blood really slowed down recovery, bought me two more days in the hospital, and created massive fluid retention (at least 13 pounds or more). Luckily, I seem to be dropping the fluid pretty quickly.

You are so right. I started at 260 and after the 2-week liquid diet went down to 247.4 the morning of surgery. I had some complications (spleen attached to stomach, pretty uncommon), required several transfusions and the day I got home from the hospital I weighed 260.4! Even though I understood it intellectually, it was a bummer. At least the fluid weight seems to be coming off pretty quickly.