chilljill

I had read about the stall, heard about the stall, thought about the stall, but didn't really believe it until I experienced the stall. Its real, I read somewhere that there is a scientific explanation for it -- specifically related to weight loss surgery but I didn't get my hands on the actual explanation. Regardless, it will pass.

I had my surgery on September 23 in Puerta Vallarta Mexico and haven't posted a real post-op summary yet. But A. I wanted to now and B. I love reading everyone's posts as they anticipate their surgery. I wish I could think of the magic words of comfort to let everyone know it will be okay.... to think of the words I would have liked to hear going in. I haven't thought of the words yet but these are my 5 week post-op thoughts... For all of us, who have been so resourceful as to recognize the possibility of weight loss surgery. And to educate ourselves enough to identify VSG as the most effective, and then on top of that to track down Mexico as they most affordable option when we don't have the support of an insurance company... I just think we all deserve a big pat on the back/round of applause for being so smart, and strong and resourceful. I can't imagine there is a way to go in to the surgery without some fear and anxiety. But, enough pioneers have gone before us now that we have to know-- any concern we can think of-- we are not the first to have it. One of my biggest ones was 'Am I crazy to do this?' (particularly the going to Mexico part) The answer is 'no'. When you balance the stories of success with the very difficult to find frustrations. Our judgement is sound. As long as you have been dilligent enough to ensure your surgeon has the experience and track record of success that we all require-- you have every reason to believe things will be okay. Some of the most universal post- Mexico thoughts I have found... 1. You will be surprised by how nice (though small) the hospital is 2. You will be impressed with how kind and understanding your surgeon is (mine brought me flowers the day after surgery)... this is BIG business for them and as long as they have the technical skills-- unlike US doctors, they are highly motivated to get you to go home and rave about the experience. 3. You will wish you knew more Spanish when interacting with the nurses after surgery (but we are all pretty much asking about the same 4 things... pain, sleep, bathroom, drinks... so they figure it out... you migh want to get a few key phrases related to those things memorized before you go) 4. You will remember you always have to be your own advocate but, they are thinking about the same things you are... getting you to and from the hospital, taking you to a pharmacy to get your post-op prescriptions filled (just wait till you see how cheap they are), getting you back to the airport in safe flying condition. 5. You will realize its actually pretty easy to get in touch with the surgeon direclty pre or post surgery as many of them seem to make themselves available via cell phone (can you imagine a US Surgeon giving you their direct cell number) 6. You will learn that to Doctors in Mexico have actually been doing VSG a lot longer and more frequently than the US surgeons and have many more surgeries under their belt) Unlike my understanding of the US experience though-- I do think you should be prepared to educate yourself on recomended post-surgery diet. Possibly enrolling yourself in a program or with a nutritionist that will help you manage your post-op nutrition (no Doctor check-ups), Having a doctor in mind to remove any stitches after surgery (I'm sure some use disolvable but I had stiches to remove 10 days after I got home)... (oh, and the Doctor I went to at home--- very young-- didn't recognize the type of stitch so she had to call a back-up Doctor to figure out how to remove--- a little worrisome but ultimately easily solved), and boards like this are that much more valuable because you will have questions about how you feel along the way as you heal (last week I had a resurgence of pain 3 weeks after surgery and was able to figure out that it was that acid reflux they warn you about... renewing my commitment to taking the prilosec they sent me home with has solved the problem) All in all in addition to feeling the thrill of 'the losers bench', I feel brave and proud to have done this... and right or wrong-- a little bit smarter than all the people that navigate their insurance and testing and doctor schedules for 6 months+ to get to their surgery date in the US. Oh, one more thing-- again-- good or bad...by doing the surgery in Mexico-- you will miss out on 90% of the pre-op tests they do in the US so, if you have reason to believe the stress test, psychological testing, nutrition analysis, pre-op diet, etc. are an important part of your pre-op plan (which they may well be)... you will not get that in Mexico. I had no pre-op diet, 1 blood draw- the day before surgery in Mexico, 1 shot to prevent blood clots- the day before surgery, and never got on a scale or anything else as part of the pre-op process (I kinda wish I had now so that I knew how much I had lost from day 1... I'm down 15 pounds starting with my weight 10 days after surgery). Anyway, take care of yourself, and good luck but, I don't think you'll need it.... they know what they're doing.

My suggestion would be 'no'... when they don't give you Water (the first day after surgery) -- they really don't want you to have any water... maybe ice cubes to suck- but you have to spit them out. When you're cleared to drink-- a straw and glass are fine.

I am not a doctor and it does seem that people have a pretty wide range of experiences- but, if all experiences were like mine then I would say... The healing is no problem, your body will take care of things. The pain is annoying but not excruciating-- My advice is to ask your doctor before the surgery how much pain he allows his patients to be in for the day or two after surgery. My doctor unfortunately (I wish I had asked beforehand) wants his patients to feel pain as an extra precaution in case there is something wrong. My understanding though is that most Doctors know that pain is pretty easy to control and there are plenty of other ways they monitor for problems. Assuming your doctor does not want you to be in pain-- the pain medication is stronger than the pain-- so it can be controlled. After the first 2-3 days Tylenol and GasX if anything is all you will need. Vomitting- everytime I've been under anesthesia- I have vommitted for hours afterwards. In this case though- no vomitting and I think particularly while you're not eating food those first few days-- its not an issue. I have vommited twice since adding food back in to my diet (I'm 3 weeks post-op now) but it hasn't been scary or painful. And for possible leakage- its such a tiny percentage of people that have that. And before anything is put in to your stomach that could leak (food or drink)-- you get the leak test done (the morning after surgery) so, god forbid there was anything wrong-- the doctors would see it right away. After that- as long as you follow your doctors eating plan-- you are not putting stress on the new seem of your stomach and shouldn't have an issue. And by 2 weeks post surgery- your stomach does a pretty good job of seeling the seem I also was comforted to learn that if there was a leak-- I wouldn't keel over dead immediately (which I kinda thought). There will be signs and symptoms and enough clues to get you back to the hospital to have it fixed before you are in a life threatening situation. You are going to be fine! And I think it can only help the process if you go in to the surgery confident that you will be fine. A lot of us- including me- seem to have those panicky thoughts the first day or two after surgery of 'what have I done???' but just tell yourself those feelings are normal and by the time you get home- the excitement for the changes ahead will be back. Good Luck and Congratulations! You will be sound asleep for the worst of it- and feel better and better every day afterwards.

I had my surgery at 9am Sept. 23.... 9 days ago. My next coherent thought was at 2pm that afternoon. I was immediately aware of the terrible pain in my left shoulder that I had been warned about. The pain in my shoulder was strong enough that my brain didn't register any other pain... in my stomach or anything. The nurse was in the room with me and I asked if I could go to the bathroom. She said of course- and I was surprised to find that I could get up and walk over to the bathroom myself. The nurse saw that I was fine and left the room. On my way back to the bed I decided to pace my room for a few minutes- hoping to relieve the shoulder gas pain (unfortunately didn't get any relief). Back in the bed it was hard to think of anything other than the pain-- I couldn't read a magazine, watch tv or anything-- they were there-- but I could only think about the pain. I would compare the pain to a really sharp leg cramp (but in your shoulder obviously). We've all probably felt the level of pain before-- and coped with it-- but only for 10-15 minutes. Having this pain for about 30 hours strait made is what really made it so bad. So back to the story... I got back in to bed after the bathroom and squirmed/moand for about 15 minutes. Then I called the nurse and begged for pain medicine-- she said I already had what she could give me and I think I was due for more in like 2 hours. That sounded like eternity. I would have thought the pain was too much for me to fall asleep but, miraculously I must have fallen asleep. Next the surgeon woke me up about 4 to check on me. I told him the pain was intolerable. He was sympathetic but said it was completely standard and he couldn't give me more pain medicine. His position is that its important to be able to feel pain unless something really is wrong those first few days.... he was great in every way except this one... my advice is to find out your surgeon's position on post surgery pain control- before the surgery. i asked him if he would give me something to sleep- if not for the pain-- and he said "sure, no problem". With that-- I made it through the two nights in the hospital pretty much just by having the pain and sleep medication staggered- so that when I was awake-- I was generally less than an hour away from my next dose of relief-- in either form. (the pain medication obviously made me sleepy too.... so I was either asleep or awake and thinking only about the shoulder pain for the first 24 hours). I have heard that the pain medicine doesn't necessarily work for the shoulder pain--- I'm not sure if that's true-- but, it worked enough to put me to sleep-- so relief is relief. By the day after surgery- I had some periods with no significant pain- and other times where the shoulder was in full force. I really don't remember having any internal or external stomach pain.... maybe some stomach gas. I was able to get up and go to the bathroom, walk around, whatever without any trouble-- and it was a good distraction from the pain. The 2nd night in the hospital- I was still counting the minutes till my next dose of something. When I woke up the next morning though-- that was the first time I was able to just kind of lounge in the bed-- with minimal thought about the pain. I was out of the hospital mid-day-- was driven to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions-- and pretty much could be out in the world functioning-- just moving slow and hiding the drains. When I woke up the next morning-- the pain really has been minimal sense. I had my surgery on a Friday and worked a full day of work on Wednesday--- more time off would have been better--- but, it was okay. Nobody at work knows I had surgery-- and no one suspected itbased on my ability to function wednesday. Since then- its just been better and better every day--- except yesterday- a week after surgery-- my stitch areas got super itchy and rashy--- horrible pain-- but, soothable.... stitches coming out tomorrow-- hoping that alleviates things. I also still get 10 second bursts of the shoulder pain every few hours-- but, its quick. And when I have drunk or eaten anything too fast or too much- I have a few minutes of stomach pain-- then it passes. I've had kidney stones, and given birth-- so, I've had some pain. I would say in summary that for about 36 hours- I had a level of pain that i would certainly not want to repeat-- and had me question the surgery. But by 48 hours-- everything was fine. I haven't even felt the exhaustion I had heard about-- I'm fine. Hope that gives some insight-- it was cleansing to write it all down. And I do want to share the tip with everyone to ask their doctor what their view on pain management is post surgery.

I am having the Gastric Sleeve procedure on Friday, Sept. 23. I then have 2 nights in the hospital and one night at a hotel returning home Monday Sept. 26. I then need to go right back to work on Tuesday Sept 27. If I feel terrible I might be able to work from home for a day or two but by Wednesday or Thursday of that week I really will have to get back to the office. I've read so many postings both from people with really difficult recoveries and people with fairly smooth recoveries--- I'm just trying to get a sense of my odds at being able to go back to work that quickly? Any feedback would be much appreciated. The rush is because I'm a temp at my job and A. really need to get back to work to get paid. Also, because I'm a temp- I don't know people well and it doesn't feel comfortable sharing with them that I am having this surgery-- so I've just said that i'll be out of the office for a few days and haven't explained why. I'm also afraid that if I tell people- I will jeopardize my chances of this job becoming permanent-- if I get too much attention for WLS-- I think it might overshadow my work contribution (regardless of how valuable I am :-) So, the type of work I do will let me sit at my desk all day-- I don't need to be up and around but I need to be not zonked on pain meds and not too tired to sit upright in my chair.... is there any hope for me? I am having my surgery in Mexico so, I'm trying to believe that because they let people fly home 3 days post surgery-- if I can get through that-- I can get through a day at the office? To compound the problem- I also am a single mom with a 4 year old daughter at home that I need to take care of when I'm not at work. Will I be able to handle it? about me-- I'm 39 and in very good health --- except for the 80-100lbs I need to lose.

Oh, that's very encouraging- thank you! If my recovery doesn't go smoothly- I'll deal with it but, I'm relieved to hear that if things go well- I'll be ready. Because I really do believe things will go smoothly-- thank you and congratulations on your success! I can't wait to get there!