Pookeyism

I have seen this posted on another forum and thought it was interesting. One of my nickname's has been Pookey - like garfield's teddy bear, since I was a kid, and 'ism' means the 'art of' or 'state of', etc...Pookeyism: The art of being me!

Have a question about pain. Did anyone, say past a couple of months out, have abdominal pain that may/may not be associated with pain in the lower back also…tendency to shift a bit but mostly centered just off the right side just under/below lowest sternum? Its at least a 6.5 on a pain scale that 10 would be a compound fracture. Getting worse.

I have been doing yoga for about 20 years, and finally started in a studio after surgery. I start working there SUNDAY! if all goes well, and I decide I like it, I will begin Yoga Instructor training in the summer. Cannot sit still. So excited! :D

"This moment is a blank slate" - Baron Baptiste What a most awesome, scary place you are in right now! I remember how I felt. it will be ok. You are in my thoughts. May your journey be as difficult as it needs to be to help you make the changes you need, and no more. Namaste.

Ah - see I thought you were asking if it woud be ok to eat 6 day old eggs...

What does "I work in clinical science" even mean? "know nonsense when I see it"? I have two degrees associated with "clinical science", if you want to use that phrase. Let’s flip your question, since you were rude enough to phrase it the way you did...where beyond it being established as traditional treatment, do you feel you have research do disqualify that? I LOVE when people establish "I’m this" or "I’m that" then use it to smugly dismiss qualified advice....DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH if you can't be polite. It is out there. Because you choose not to look for it does not qualify your statement as correct. It is estimated that 10-15% of people who develop the bacteria will develop the ulcers. The need to examine what may have led to you having it (anti-inflammatory steroids are thought to be an issue and should be discontinued). There are too many things to consider before taking a round of aggressive antibiotics. I suggest you look beyond the internet for your information, it is strongly suggested in the "clinical sciences". Why would you even word yourself such? What do you have to gain by hacking a post with behavior like that? How rude - and why try to dissuade someone from seeing a specialist? I will let you know in advance I only responded because I still urge the bashmom to see a specialist. If you want to continue you will have to go play with your dolly in your own corner. many of the people on this forum are aware of the quality of advise I give, and I need prove myself to no one...you take it or you don't. bashmom - anyone else really - avoid antibiotics if you can. Flat. It's not tomfoolery. See a specialist to be sure if you need to be on antibiotics. There are several eradication treatments to be used, if it is determined you need antibiotics. They do not always have to be taken in long 14 day sessions. There is strong evidence one coctail and then another may be even more helpful, and used in a 4-day/3-day cycle. There is nothing in our understanding of this bacteria that is so concrete.

Whoa! I'd talk to a stomach specialist first - remember your doc is a surgeon, probably very specific to the types of surgery he just performed on you (or at least I hope so). Speak to a gastroenterologist first. The antibiotics and such you are talking about can be much worse than the bacteria. It effects very few people who contract it. I have refused antibiotics for almost two years now and I can tell you the changes, along with the weight loss and exercise, are drastic. There is research that suggests high antibiotic use, especially among overweight individuals, hinders the diversity of gut flora needed for naturally lower obesity levels, as well as problems with mental clarity, anxiety and even symptoms that simulate or are, indeed, types of schizophrenia.

Very nice! I went from wearing m wedding ring on a chain 'cause it was too small, to wearing it on the same chain 'cause it was too big!

How do you feel? What do you do now that you did not before? Share!

Absolutely - your journey is going to be full of NSV's. I seriously suggest you make a NSV storybook - rather than a journal...take picks or write about when you had your NSV's about how that felt, how it compared to before...mention things it made you think of or emotions that it brought to the surface. This can be a very good reference and motivational tool later on.

Get your money back if at all possible....dannnggggg! I have a scale but do not use it. Ironically I weight myself in the warehouse, we have scales calibrated to the half pound due to the material we sell and it is hella accurate. See if you can't find an old-school one, like a doctor's scale and have it calibrated. If nothing else its fun to have. Have fun with it.

This is from a post I made a few weeks ago, it does not answer everything you asked about but it fall into the "tool" part (with an additional comment to follow): "It was asked of me last weekend if I could clarify one thing about WLS, if I could make one notable point that has not been mentioned what it would be. So I thought, hmmmm…. We are constantly reminded that after WLS our stomachs have gone from being a sources of distress, these large cavernous things that CAUSED us to be overweight, FORCED us into eating poorly, etc. to valuable tools we use to lose weight. We have changed our stomachs to be sure. What, however did we change them to? VGS is generally a laparoscopic procedure that removed most of the body of the stomach. Starting generally below the pylorus, the suture/staple/cauterizing procedure extended along the length of the body of the stomach and removed the greater chamber, and may or may not have removed the fundus. So now what, what does that mean? Now we have our tool. We eat less, we have to. The weight comes off. It may drop like a rock or progress slower. Different body types, health issues, meds, and still the foods we choose to consume will help determine this. So we have a tool for weight LOSS. Then we maintain. Now we just eat less and it stays off, right? If you have been on the forum for even a little while you will see it is not always that easy. There are still many questions, lots of issues and answers still to be figured out, each in our own way and time. Many questions are about how to use the tool in maintenance. BUT this post is not about maintenance; it is about the in-between, one of the less mentioned but in my opinion more profound things we do with this tool that affects our success. I define success not by an ideal size or shape but ability - ability to be a size that allows me to be active, and healthy, and off at least some medication, to name a few things. These are not the only goals I have, but they are the achievements I have that I now use to have a far superior lifestyle to the one I had before. A big shift I have undergone is that I recognized that my tummy did something I did not expect. It provided a way to eat less and it has definite, defined physical ways it has assisted me, no doubt. Mentally it has assisted and even raised more questions! Beyond that, however, there is something more, and whether or not I embrace it I think is the true test of how successful this will be for me. I am talking about the “gap”. I have tried to find any reference to it in the articles and such that I spend a bit of time reading but so far I have not found that many. The gap I refer to is that space that we never met successfully when we dieted. The ‘ –‘ in yo-yo. That point where the adulation of successful weight loss, and health and compliments began to lose momentum. It lagged with stress of home life, maybe. It was the burger and fries when, honestly, even if it had been a lackluster salad one could have ordered that instead, heck ordered TWO, whatever to be full – but did not. It is the sinking feeling one get when 50 lbs. of weight loss did not make the ailing marriage better, or the bills did not pay themselves. Maybe the issues that were under those layers were still there and still hurt. food was there, with food came feelings of comfort and simultaneous guilt, and a yo-yo began before the weight even crept back on. Here is the “gap” the ‘ –‘ in yo-yo, and here is where our new friends, our new tummies, kick in. I think it is much underrated in the WLS journey. Our sleeves fill the “gap”. In between that space that we could not overcome, that ‘– ‘ in the yo-yo. We do not eat the burger and fries, we cannot overindulge by volume. We have a means to bridge that gap, if we want it. I think our longest terms of success can be affected by how we choose to take advantage of this bridge over the gap. Better habits, educating ourselves on food choices, understanding what got us here, learning to forgive and set vanity aside. Repairing the mental damage from being in the shells we were in, this is something our sleeves offer us that we did not have before. Much more important than just eating less and as vital as exercise - we have time. Time to recover before we even stumble, time to get equanimity from our minds and bodies at the same time we do not regress to bad habits and start that journey back up the scale. We have time to make time – days and months and years to in turn create space to enjoy those days and months and years. If we did not gain a day from this, we gain quality. You know the sayings about rather have quality of years over a lot of years? We get an opportunity for both!!! From VGS and the bridge it gave over the “gap”." Now, as far as everyone struggling years later, that is falling back into habits, and eating foods that they ate before. No one wants to hear this but you are undergoing a permanent, life altering event. To enjoy a long-term success, you will need to permanently alter your choices of foods, exercise as you can, get control of emotional triggers and I would seriously recommend reading “The Power of Habit” by Dughil. If you are asking why incorporate this, and make the struggle easier, and yet still struggle – but say struggle at 250 lbs rather than 400, or 180 rather than 250. Well, that is your answer.

Thank you for offering words of encouragement. They are aimed at our newer sleevers, but it is also a great reminder for the veterans of why we did it, and why we never give up.

I would have to think hard (or maybe just go back and check my other entries) I can'trecall when coffee crept back in, but its in! (at least into the second month) I try to limit it, some days are more successful than others.

If you need to talk I am more than happy to do so. I can't really hold a conversation at work, but can be free if given some notice in the evenings. The community here can be a tremendous support all on it's own. For the people that seem to not understand, ask them would they have rather you not had the cancer removed? You went through an invasive procedure to remove something makeing you sick. This is no different. You have gone through alot already, wow. Good luck!

http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-food-and-fitness/weight_management/weight_loss_surgery/kalimah_johnson/bariatric_surgery_part2?utm_source=Update-20130823&utm_medium=eNewsletter&utm_content=Update-newsletter&utm_campaign=dLife-eNewsletter

I would avoid it from here on out. Legal does not mean good for you. There are alot of studies that suggest cannabinoids can be immunomodulatory and liken or increase the disease process. This is a tri-fold problem 1) it can harm your helper cells (T cells, t1 & t2 2)it affects B lympocytes 3)it affects macrophages - this alone is cause for concern - we have antibiotics for bacteria, but the macrophaes in our system are what fights the viruses. Just proceed with caution, don't smoke it, if you must then vape.

What do you call several months?

Keeping you in my thoughts! Good luck and congradulations!

There are many causes of diabeties, and that can determine, to an extent, your success with either controlling it better or even seeing remission. http://asmbs.org/benefits-of-bariatric-surgery/ The above is an older article, but the site it is in, ASMBS is an outstanding resource but it is not geared to quick plunk-down points or facts. I suggest taking some time and really looking through the site. You might find this important also: http://asmbs.org/mbs-aqip/ Talk to your Diabetes Specialist, and seek out a doctor to assist you that is up do date on information related to type 2 diabeties. http://www.diabeteseducator.org/ProfessionalResources/accred/ Everyone has different issues and no matter what surgery you have there are no guarantees. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabeties going into emergency surgery after a hit-and-run (texting and driving and hit me on a bicycle). They think I had been diabetic, given the issues I had and when I began to develop them, for probably 5 years or so before that, but I had been going to lukewarm doctors, and they did only the basic tests. I was an 'atypical' diabetic and the other doctors did not catch the patterns and investigate further. I spent years with compromised quality of life risking infections, heart damage, kidney failure and more due to this. Once diagnosed I went from a +8 A1C to a -6 A1C in less than 9 months, and maintained a a1c of 6 or less until my VSG. The last time I took medication for my diabeties was the week prior to surgery. By then I had began to experience lows so frequently I was already off all but 1 medication. That was late December 2011. My surgery date was 1-4-2012. I went into full remission in Feb/march of 2012, although the true test of that would come in the following months as my a-c stayed in the 4's. I am not diet controlled or medication controlled. My pancreas functions fully, my liver is working and my kidneys are healthy. My immunity has regulated itself and I maintain regular levels of gut bacteria which I also accredit to a almost fully raw lifestyle (Gut bacteria is HIGHLY underrated for mental stability and health, our gut is our 'second brain'). The consensus seems to be my aggressive control of my condition led to my body being in a position to heal faster. http://lubbockonline.com/health/2013-09-06/right-bacteria-may-help-fight-obesity This is a good starter article, you can decide how to proceed if you want to look into it further from there. Unfortunately a majority of the original papers and research are available in limited forms, either in memberships to accredited and certified organizations, or by purchase. I have spent 6 years in active advocacy for diabetics, and I would be glad to assist in helping you find any answers you need.

Hey! That's 2 days before my birthday! lol

I went through things I am not sure I would have went through if the circumsances were different. My Mom passed away a week after my surgery, so I went (I am going through) some very interesting emotions and physical issues. Not even mood swings, almost a dicotomy of events, but like I said I got hit with a tremendously unexpected event. Generally, emotionally I would feel very disconnected sometimes, so I had to keep focused on where I was nutritionally - eating (not wanting bad food just eating), staying hydrated. Exercize came too easy, I would do anything to get out of my head(heart), I would go till I burned out, or pulled something or even ran on a broken foot. I had to be careful with feeling the burn, it replaced something. Hard to explain. I can say since I have the way I treated exercise, I really understand how maybe someone could escape into drugs if there was already an inclination to do so. I am not sure if that was WLS, grief or both. Grief is a very Fluid, dynamic thing and I think we experience it with the surgery too. Therefore it becomes easier to show correlation than isolate causation. A little less intense, the skin kinda creeps up on you (pun intended). I had friends that kept an eye on me that first year quite a bit, because of my Mom, I think. As that passes and I slip into a more normal routine and my tragedy is replaced with friends going through more recent events (I don't mean that badly, life moves on, thankfully), I have noticed I am being left by some friends. Not even in a bad way, I just do not fall within what we were as a group and for some friendships common ground within a group defined that. I have maintained relationships with some, and I am not treated badly, just not included. I have dealt with friends that I have hurt by doing nothing at all. I could have lived in the most expensive home, drove the craziest cars, and lived at the mall and they would have not cared, but I did what they had not or could not do and I lost the weight and as it becomes apparent that I stand a good chance of keeping it off - it has just done something. My tummy, George I call it, seems at 20 months to be doing ok. I no longer allow any of the negative foods into my routine. I may indulge, so to speak, but it is not refined sugars, or sodas, or grains. It might be reaching for the nuts a few too many times in a day, or too much almond butter (but OMG ALMOND BUTTER). Mentally I am dealing with the fact that I may be at my endgame, as far as body weight. I seem to be where my body wants me, in as far as this is as much as I can loose on the calories I take in, to be able to build the muscle I want and have the enregy to do what I do. Not sure if that was what you were asking...

For me that picture is hard to judge cause everything I see is things I can have a bit more of. If it were protien, how much could you have, say, if you just sat down and ate steak?

Have you talked to him? How much has he seen? Not trying to be overly nosey, what I mean is have you not been without clothing? Maybe start with talking and letting him see your belly or such, introduce him to your body. I have not heard so much about it here, but I do know from some articles I read some women had to gently remind the partner that it was Ok to touch the "wrinkly" parts. For me, oddly enough my Hubby is really impressed with the more tone areas but really likes the softness of the belly and thighs too. I guess, technically, he really just likes being with me.Try and be sure you have that also, the rest will figure itself out.