zoelifechick

Congratulations to you "Wishes"!! We are on our way to the loser's bench.

Congrats! How exciting! I am planning on having surgery on Sept, 19th, or 20th, or 21st, so we'll have to keep in touch For sure!!

You have to drink alot of water the first few days, because, you body is going through a cleaning process and all the toxins are coming out, which causes headaches. Plus, the more water you drink, the more you stay hydrated.

THE POST BELOW, IS WHAT HAPPENED TO SOMEONE ELSE HAVING VOMITING PROBLEMS (LEAK ISSUE), YOU MAY WANT THEM TO CHECK YOU OUT MORE EXTENSIVE. DON'T LET THIS SCARE YOU, BUT JUST INFORMATION TO HELP -- (SEE BELOW): Hi everyone. I've been a lurker for a couple of months now, learning about this procedure. You guys are tough and have been through so much, and I truly admire you. My boyfriend (of only 2 month at the time of his surgery!) had a band to sleeve revision the 21st of June. I'm a nurse, so I was skeptical (having cared for some patients with some pretty gnarly complications) , but I read and read --and read and researched some more about the procedures and felt pretty okay with it. I was and told him I would be supportive, regardless of the outcome. His surgeon chose to do the revision and removal all in one day. He did great for two weeks and was moving forward perfectly on his full liquid diet, just about ready to graduate to softs. Right around day 15 or 16, he began getting nauseated with some vomiting. Then fever, so I told him not to ignore it anymore. He went in. Was dehydrated. They did an upper GI series and abdominal CT. Was seen by a gastroenterologist. They sent him in for IV fluids to rehydrate him. And they also did an endoscopy. All of this within 3 days. They found nothing but did widen/ dilate his esophageal sphincter a bit due to the appearance of some narrowing. By the end of that week, he was in the hospital. They did a CT there. Gave him IV fluids, IV antibiotics and came home 3 days later on oral antibiotics. He got through a 10 day round and started vomiting again, violently 2 days later. He went BACK in to the surgeon and he ordered another round of antibiotics, but he could not tolerate taking them in and by the time Friday rolled around this weekend, he was hardly tolerating very small sips of Water and was vomiting several times an hour. The did another Barium swallow and found what they thought might be a small abscess, but the doc on call didn't want to treat it with his surgeon out of town, and then ordered the antibiotics again and told him to follow up in 1 week. One week and he would have been dead! I talked him into going to the ER Saturday morning. He called me to tell me he didn't want to do that because he didn't want to be admitted. I did a little nurse magic, and told him they couldn't make him do anything. All he had to do was tell them he wanted to be hydrated only and go home. Luckily, when we arrived, they popped him a bag of fluids, zofran and a dose of pain meds and did a CT of his abdomen. They found the "abscess" but later determined the original CT on 7/15 (at the hospital) had been misread and he had a leak with some minor pooling outside of his stomach. So now he has been in the hospital 5 days. He has a PICC line in for TPN, tons of IV fluids and antibiotics, is NPO. The gastro doc did the stent this morning, but I wasn't able to be there. She said she would be putting an NG (nasogastric) tube in as an alternate feeding source (in case the docs don't want to keep him on the TPN). He called a bit ago and has been vomiting pretty violently and the Zofran hasn't helped much. Is the vomiting after the stent normal? He was doing it too much earlier to do the scan to check the stent's placement, so they are holding off until the AM. Someone tell me that this will get better? They found the leak without any major infection in his abdomen. No pain. No fevers. And it wasn't an abscess after all. Just vomiting. So, I certainly think that is a good sign overall, but I'm scared for him. Thanks for listening-- to this book!!! ~worried girlfriend~

I am not sleeved yet, but I currently have acid reflux (with severe chest pains), nothing seemed to work, until I started taking my Nexium right before I go to bed (after dinner), and I have not had any more issues since.

Hey Lisha: I am with you, counting down the days -- I am waiting to get my insurance approval, but trying to practice some things now, by cutting back and beginning to exercise with walking. Stay in touch.

Congratulations to you both!

Blessings to you! See you on the other side (loser's bench).

I know the liquid diet is hard right now, BUT hold on, the rainbow is around the corner. You don't want to do anything to make your new sleeve to be in more pain. YOU CAN DO THIS!!

Hey Tif, So, how are you feeling (ups/downs)? I see you are moving down the scale -- great job!!

Hey all: My package went to the insurance company yesterday (7/26), so I will hear back soon. Currently, we are looking at a September date. I am excited!!!!!

Welcome to the loser's bench. I am so excited for you!!

I wish you the best!! How exciting, stay in touch as a new post-op.

I am glad you are feeling better and got a new date. Don't worry driving privileges will return soon, when you are on the loser's bench!!

Mommyto2: It is normal to have fear and doubt, BUT Don't give up now, you are too close to victory. My husband has said the same thing and I just ignored him, because I am doing this for me. Yes, it will be hard at first, but then we will become professional sleevers (lol). Stay positive, this is the one of the greatest things we could do for health. I will see you on the losers bench!!

It is exciting to be getting your date. I wish you the best!!

Downsize Diva: Thank you for the info. I will think of you when it is time for me to pull the tubes (lol). Keep me posted on the journey, you are in my prayers!!

Turtlegirl49: The post below came from another patient of Dr. Halmi, see below: Hi Zoelifechick, I have Dr. Halmi too. I went into Potomac on July 19th and was discharged on the 21st. First two days were Pure D MISERY but today is a new day and I'm feeling a little more normal every day. Today I went out for a nice long walk. I did make one HUGE MISTAKE. They send you home with what I call a narcotic ball. You have a bag with a plastic ball filled with pain medicine with the tubes running from the bag thru the tubes and steadily into your belly. Well the directions were to wait untill the ball deflates then slowly pull out the tubes which should be in a couple of days. I didn't realize there's two layers to the ball so when the outer layer was completely deflated I pulled out the tubes (don't worry that part doesn't hurt). My curious 16 year old inspected the ball , stabbed it with a knife and a large amount of pain medication was in the center of the ball. There had to be at least 2-3 more days of pain meds in that ball. You can't put the tubes back in once you've pulled them out. Needless to say after about 10 hours the pain monster kicked my butt. Fortunately they send you home with a precription for liquid hydrocodone so the pain monster subsided and all is well. Lesson: DON'T PULL OUT THE STOMACH TUBES UNTIL THE WHOLE BAG IS COMPLETELY DEFLATED!!!!!! On a good note Dr. Halmi was fantastic, I also recieved visits from Dr. Nain, The P.A. Amia, and the other P.A. Renaldo. The repaired my hiatal hernia, removed the lapband and revised it with the Gastric Sleeve. From the 19th to today I'm 14 pounds down. I'm not getting too happy because most of that was from the liquids completely emptying my colon. Now all the pounds from this day forward will be fat . Good Luck Zoelifechick, you have a great Bariatric team. Keep me posted.

I was in that same class with you today (lol). I am excited that we will be able to travel this journey together.

Below is low blood pressure levels, you may want to let your doctor know what you are running: 90 - 60 - BORDERLINE LOW 60 - 40 - TOO LOW Blood Pressure 50 - 33 - DANGER Blood Pressure LOW Blood Pressure Symptoms - Weak, Tired, Dizzy, Fainting, Coma Zoelifechick

Thanks Nancy for the info. That will help alot, since I love egg drop soup.

Can we have egg drop soup during the liquid stage?

Hi all, I also am in Fredericksburg, VA area and currently "tentatively" scheduled for sometime in September, 2011 with Dr. Halmi, Bluepoint Surgical Group, Woodbridge, VA. Would love to get together at the next event.

Hey Favoredone: Welcome! I too didn't want to say anything to my family, because of the negativity, but what I did was, tell one at a time, and explained that I was not having the bypass (which they are negative of), and that I was having a new successful procedure that made your stomach smaller (no re-routing of the intestines), and that I was doing it; because of health issues that I have now, and could have in the future. They seemed to all be receptive, but it really didn't matter to me whether they were or not, because I am doing this for myself. My husband is supportive, but concerned. He is going to go to one of the seminars to get more info. to make him feel better about the procedure. I hope this helps.