smallgirlsxthree

Thanks Chris!! I'll be up at and leaving at 4:00 am , so hopefully we get to sleep somewhat early!!! See ya Sunday!

I'm scheduled for October 14th in Grinnell, Iowa with Dr. Stephen Sundberg. I'm past being nervous now, I'm excited!! I am getting a little tired of my pre-op diet, but it's a means to an end-the end of the UNHEALTHY me!!! I'm in love with this forum, and since I will be off of work for 6 weeks after the surgery, I'll probably be one here quite a bit out of pure boredom if nothing else lol. Wishing everyone well!!

Smallgirlsxthree has been an email/screen name for about 10 years-I have 3 small girls, last name is small...play on words lol. I have never in my life been called small, little, petite, cute, slender or anything like that-other than my last name!!! Stephanie, once we start rocking this sleeve, we can call ourselves the Slender Sleeve Sisters!!

I also used Chantix, I loved it! I took it for 3 months (no one ever tells you that you can do that-DO THAT!! lol) It stops the nicotine from getting to the receptors in your brain, so when you take it for the first week and still smoke, you don't go through withdrawals. It can give you some funky dreams, and it makes some people's stomaches hurt pretty bad. I didn't have any side effects, but it completely worked for me! It's going to be hard no matter how you do it, good luck!!!

One of the many problems that being overweight has done to me is that I have PCOS, and imbalance of hormones, and that gives me Hirtuism-dark facial hair. This has gotten worse the more weight I've gained, and I know other people do this too. But what I'm wondering is, does it get any better after some of the weight comes off?? Or does it stay the same forever? Just curious if anyone had noticed!

Oh no!! I hope you get to feeling better!! A pre-op liquid diet for 4 weeks would be so rough, ugh. I had just started getting sick the day before my hysterectomy several years ago, didn't tell anyone at the hospital...figured I would chicken out and never come back and do it lol!! I got soooo sick with a chest cold for the next week after my surgery-I thought my insides were going to rip out from coughing so much! I felt like an idiot going to the dr. one week post op for medicine to stop coughing...such is life. I hope all goes well for you!

That's funny Chris! I had to start my pre-op diet last Friday terrih1, they're making me do it for 2 weeks. Today was pretty hard because we went grocery shopping for a pot luck we're going to this weekend...I was just about drooling by the time we left the store. My poor hubby was saying things like "here, look, cheese!! You can have cheese!!" and I'm standing there eye-balling the cinnamon rolls. One more week, eye on the prize, one more week... lol! I'm so glad that there are other people going through this with me!!!

Exactly Vsg Doll!! I've been picking, plucking, waxing, shaving, bleaching and worrying for too long! I'm thinking that the laser hair removal sounds like a good idea, but I think I'm going to give myself some time to lose some weight at first to see how it turns out. If it doesn't go down as much as I'm wanting, I'm most definately looking into the laser hair removal. It would be nice not to have to worry about it for once!

I'm sooooo ready to be a Loser! Glad to meet you!

I quit 2 weeks ago, and it was manditory for the 2 week pre-op diet. I still mourn my morning coffee ...I'll have it again someday!

So how pricey is pricey?? I've been curious about it for a long time...and I'm kind of chicken because it looks like it hurts! I'm a sissy lol!! I started the extra hair at an early age too, but I could get away with bleaching it for a long time. Now it's a daily management thing-pretty embarrassing last week when I couldn't take care of it when i had my carpal tunnel surgery!! My hubby will help me with alot of things, but that's pretty much crossing a permanent line! Thanks for the info!

They check your blood for Carbon Monoxideand it has to be below a certain level in your red blood cells. It hangs around in those cells for 3 months before they die off and make new ones. Just being around smokers can make the level raise up. I had a friend who is a Lab Tech explain it all to me. So it isn't the nicotine that they're testing in your blood, it's the effects of the cigarrettes that they're testing for. And you can't get around it! I quit in March of this year and used Chantix, and it worked really well! It was still hard, but more manageable that way. Good luck-it's worth it in the end! Keep your eye on the prize!

Pilates and Yoga can really tone up your arms and legs, and it can also help strengthen and tone up your core. I LOVE Zumba, it works your abdomen in alot of different angles and it's fun! We bought the Zumba game for the Wii, and they have DVD's everywhere for it too. I get alot of Pilates and Yoga videos off of Netflix on the Wii also, they have a whole bunch of fitness-like videos on there. The strength training and cardio I don't know alot about, but these will help you some I would think!

Oh GOOD!! I've been praying that the weight loss helps all of that...it's a pretty depressing problem for me for a long time! I had a doctor tell me once a long time ago that I would just have to deal with the facial hair-a pretty deep blow. 30 lbs doesn't seem that far away either, Thanks!

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand last Wednesday, and I have my left carpal tunnel surgery on the Wednesday before my VSG with a hiatal hernia repair on Friday the 14th. I'm doing all of this so I can be off of work at the same time for all of it. And when they do my carpal tunnel release's I have to wear an OCL cast for 2 weeks afterwards...so Friday when I got to take a shower for the first time with my arm all bagged up (picture a broken arm) I had a meltdown thinking about having my left hand done and the major abdomen surgery afterwards. Am I crazy for doing these both at the same time?!? All I can think of is that I'm not going to be able to take care of myself after the surgery, am I being too paranoid? What is your opinion??

They did my right wrist the open way, I can see a couple of stitches when I look dwon in my cast. It will be a week tomorrow that I had this one done, and I haven't had any pain from it for a few days now. It's just a pain in the butt to have a cast on it!! My husband has been a huge help, thank goodness. Thanks for the encouragement!

Thanks for the info...my hubby will be around and my kids don't have school my first couple of days home, so I will have some help. My husband is soooo supportive, he actually acts excited about it. He was my little enforcer earlier when I was trying to botch my pre-op diet and eat some potatoes out of the soup tonight lol, thank goodness I have someone to be accountable to. My oldest daughter told me that she would tell my doctor if I ate something with sugar in it. They help me so much!! I hope that the help continues after all of this is done!

I get the cast taken off of the right arm before they do my left arm, I will only have one cast at a time!! Sorry, I didn't realize it read like that!

I have had problems with my wrists for a while, and I really need to have them fixed for when I go back to work, but I'm so torn. I keep telling myself that it will only be 2 weeks of my life....

I have GERD, a Hiatal Hernia and early Barrett's esophagitis and I'm having the VSG with a Hiatal hernia repair. The dr told me that I have to have an EGD every year for 5 years and if they all come back normal I'll get to change to every other year. Getting the weight off and getting the hernia repaired will help with the GERD the most for me. I watched when the did my esophogram and I refluxed up to my collar bone area when they laid me down!! I will do anything to help make this better!

Hope all goes well for you!! I go Friday the 14th to get mine done....let us know how you're doing!

I was sooo nervous for mine too, but I had my self worked up way more than I needed to be!! I had to fill out the million bubble questionnaires, and then we "talked" for about an hour. The psychologist I had was so nice he almost seemed too good to be true lol. The questions were weird, but it's not as bad as you think it will be. Answer them honestly and it won't take very long. Good luck and hope all goes well for you!

They told me not to bring mine either...I don't know when I'll start taking them afterwards though. Did they tell you??

The dr is going to fix my hiatal hernia when I get my sleeve done, and now I heard that I won't be able to throw up after he does that. Has anyone else had this "fix" done?? What am I in for here?? I have severe GERD and have Barrett's esophagitis now with the hiatal hernia, so I really need it fixed...any thoughts??

THANKS!!