4ALongerLife

Holy guacamoly! Great question! And wow......... 2 lbs is the "normal" and just what they removed of yours was almost double. Jeeshus.... I wonder if I can find this out now too.

I'm in my 4th go around in this phase (long story)... but I adore you for posting these. Thank you so much!

OR........... you can think of the years that obesity is adding cancer possibilities to your death sheet or a heart attack or stroke. IDK what is the right "choice." I am a food addict. And having open heart surgery scares me more to this day than anything I've been through yet. That and cancer. I have a high prevalence of both in my genetic history. Obesity is related to both. Everyone should read the "worst" threads. Feel free to inbox me if you have questions regarding my story. I totally left out about the chest tubes that I had.... slipped my mind, there was so much in such a short time. But this experience or say, a heart attack? I would chose this experience. But we all have our choices to make and I cannot undo mine. If I could undo it, perhaps I would choose differently... IDK.

I had my first surgery 3/5/12. Then I got pneumonia and was readmitted 3/7-3/12. Then was readmitted with a leak 3/19 and stayed through the end of the month. I had a leak test afterwards and still had tiny leaked contents seen, thinking that a high Protein diet and due to piss poor insurance I got out of the hospital. I seemingly improved but in July I got pneumonia. Then again in August. I was to start a new job (with proper insurance) in September, so going to see a pulmonologist that my PCP referred me to as I asked about a pneumonia shot, he said I bet you have a leak. Two CAT scans later, it was found (minus about 2500 due to piss poor insurance). Back on liquids, chest xrays showed it was improving, but after halloween something happened and it opened up again. Surgery 3 was over thanksgiving. Surgery 4 was over my bday two weeks later as the leak was found outside of the suture line after I was d/c'd (yes they did a leak test after surgery 3 and the fistula was closed as well as the leak as it was sewn, glued and stitched; however due to formulation of a fistula in my body that was broken apart and sewn apart in surgery 3, it somehow grew back together, the fistula came back and I couldn't eat as it everything was going into my lungs when I ate). Chest xrays & a barium swallow showed a second fistula's development into my colon. So on the 4th surgery I lost a foot of my colon and had part of my bowels brought up to patch over the leak area that was just outside of the suture line. I had a second and a third opinion. I had a second dr. in on the surgery this last time, just in case. And so far, so good. I am having an upper gi/chest xrays in 2 months to ensure that the healing continues. But now I function like a rny with a sleeve stomach. And for the rest of my life, I need to stay away from CAT scans (due to enough exposure to radiation these past 9 months) and I have a collapsed left lung in the lower quadrant that I will have to see someone about. I am told that the lung might come back, might just be able to live as is... but I'll never be a marathon runner (oh darn), nor with this last surgery being an open one, I will never be able to be Ms. Hawaiian bikini tropic. But I hope, finally, that I am "fixed". Listen to your body. Do you feel ok? Your body will tell you if something is wrong. Mine surely did. I would drink 3 oz. of liquid and 5 came up (as the fistula that made the connection between my lungs/diaphragm/tummy anytime I ate, the lungs and diaphragm were involved). And thank God my dr. listened asap....that fistula in my lungs/diaphragm/tummy came back 7 days after my 3rd surgery.... grrr.... and the second fistula, if they'd let it go any longer, I would have lost my spleen as well since the pus was wrapped from the tummy around the spleen into a hole in my colon. And thankfully it was a one way fistula, otherwise, I truly might have been coughing up sh*t. (oh the things I've learned about how the body works, YUCK) Home now on a feeding tube so I don't lose more weight and home IV antibiotics for 9 or so weeks through a PICC line. I am sure you will be fine, but there are horror stories out there. It's a risk we signed that paper for. I have been one of 12 cases this year that they have seen like this, which I have read, is like 1 in 1000 nationally. You, I am sure, are fine. But best of luck to you!

Get a personal injury lawyer. Get someone that does not charge you for anything unless you sue. They have a TEAM of medical professionals who can look through all of your medical records to determine if the WLS dr. is at fault. That's what they carry malpractice insurance for. But I believe you have a case and the lawyer's team could determine that. Just a thought. I am a sleeve with complications, so I understand your story. I'm so sorry that you experienced this. I was 254 in february, had my first surgery in March (03/05/12 to be exact) and just had my 4th and hopeful last bariatric surgery to fix a persistent leak on 12/7. I was an open surgery then so I have the scar that you described. I did 5 miles a day in the gym on the elliptical before surgery, had a c-section in 2004, so we have much in common from your description...... My dr. has been very responsive to my needs during this journey, but I have several persons saying the same thing that I've recommended to you above. However, your bariatric dr. doesn't sound so responsive. Get a lawyer. Please. Get another opinion asap - someone else that you can follow up with if need be. So sorry you experienced this.

OH! Castiel said propel waters... also Fruit20 waters. I love the peach fruit20 water - it tastes like you bit into a peach. YUM! (and a good "trick" if you don't like water)

I personally didn't like Isopure (I call it Isopuke, sorry to it's fans) but I tried another one called Cytosport whey Isolate. It's a ready to drink (RTD) bottle with I think 32g of Protein in it. It's a clear liquid and comes in watermelon, tropical (it's green) and tangerine. I like the tropical and tangerine ones. I found them at Vitamin Shoppe. Miso soup rocks! You can also make Jello and add Protein powder to it before you refrigerate. I think on unjury's site they have recipes for this. Good luck!

Well.......... let's see ...... not sure where I've left off in my story of gastric sleeve. Yet I've had more update as of 11/14, I had a CAT scan as per my bariatric dr's orders to see what was going on. I was complaining of not being able to sleep lying flat, feeling like I was drowning, choking up my lungs each time I tried to lie down. So I resorted to sleeping in a chair or sitting at a 90 degree angle in bed. Not comfortable. Not to mention that I would cough and almost choke myself in the midst of the night, so sleeping was sporadic. Was doing Vicks vapor rub to breathe better and Robitussin but nothing was working. Dr. said let's do a CAT scan, which I did on the 11/14 date - at 1 pm. My dr. called me at 3:45 pm (um hello? that's a bit quick, so uh oh)... he says you have to go to the hospital Stephanie, something's wrong. It appears that I had another staple open up and leak more out into my cavity, which has penetrated my lungs and diaphragm, where I have a slight hole in my diaphragm. I also have a gastric fistula that connects my tummy to my lung and to my diaphragm. My left lower lobe is collapsed on my lung so it's harder to breathe than it should be. So I went and got admitted on 11/14. I went at 8 pm as per the dr.'s request, after the 7 pm nurse shift change. My son and my hubs went with me to the ER and waited with me, thinking we wouldn't be too long in the ER and would get to a room relatively quickly. Um, no. It was 1 am before we got to a room. My poor child was sleeping in a chair in the ER. Let me tell you too, IDK what the heck anyone that works in the ER thinks they know. This last visit to Baylor Carrollton worries me about ever going to the ER. The "dr." (Muniz I think was his name) was such a moron that he thought my dr. was a podiatrist. I personally think that mr. great looking dr. was too busy checking out my very attractive but yet super biatchy nurse. Whatever. I have had my moments in the ER on several occassions and let me tell you, if something goes wrong, you're better off trying to wait to go to your dr. rather than the ER in the midst of the night. At least so has been my experience. Anyways, got admitted and eventually had a chest tube placed. It was placed in my back, in an attempt to drain my lungs out. I also had revision surgery to my sleeve, again, on 11/20. My dr. stapled it again, sewed it and glued it. And attempted to clean out what he could of the fistula. The cardiac thoracic surgeon that was consulted was called away to an extreme medical emergency so he couldn't complete the bronchoscopy that he had planned. He originally thought that it might need to be an open surgery, which thankfully the chest tube extracted more than they hoped, so the CT surgeon thought only a bronchoscopy was neeed. He was called away, so they believe that high doses of IV antibiotics will help address any residual crap that remains in my lungs. So I'm home now, the day after thanksgiving I got released. Can I tell you how bad it sucked to have yet give ANOTHER holiday to this mess of my gastric sleeve experience? I am so sick and tired of complications taking my holidays and my time with my family. Not to mention, yet again, I am on a liquid diet but limited to 4 oz at a time. Except now.... I drink something and choke it up through my lungs somehow I think. IDK what's going on, I just know a sip of something and it goes down and I begin coughing. IDK if it's the fistula still there but I am going to call my dr. tomorrow morning to see if we can plan a CAT scan, chest xray, another leak test before the end of the year (since my deductible is met) to see where we are and what steps are next. I don't believe all of my issues are done yet and I want to know what my options are going forward to get this all addressed. The only problem now is ... my husband got laid off on friday. He had been at his job 10.5 years and they call it a RIF or reduction in force. It's when they decide they don't need as many workers as they needed before. Except I am freaking out now, or did. It's just one more stressor that I don't need. I'm trying to deal with it, but it's scary. I've worked out the numbers to know that I can almost make everything on my salary (thank God) but he's luckily got 1 week of severance with every year of service. So that will get us a bit more than 2 months of pay, yay (thank you God). Let's just hope that he can find another tester position in IT soon. So anyone that might read my blog, that's where I'm at. EVERYONE always says how positive I am, what an inspiration I am.... and I hate to tell you, but my light is lost right now. I feel like God has forsaken me or is angry with me for having done this surgery in the first place. And that has to be why I've had so many issues. I made a list today of all of the things that I miss......... and just eating with my family is the hardest one. I did this to live longer for my son and now I can't have much quality with him. I've lost so much weight that I now fit into a size 4, but it's not a celebratory experience. I am too skinny now. At 5'7", I don't need to be 132.5 lbs. I need to be at the smallest, 135. I know it's not much, but do you realize how hard it is to get quality calories in to keep weight on? So I've said "screw it" and I'm doing chocolate bars, baskin robbins milk shakes, whatever I can think of to up up up my daily caloric intake. I don't feel like eating nor drinking, especially once I do I choke myself to almost the point of vomiting on myself. It sucks, totally. And I am sagging in places I don't wish to sag and it worries me. If my body's reacted this poorly to gastric sleeve, how could I ever consider another surgery? (and the boobs ... well let's just say that's always been a dream but ESPECIALLY now, and with what i just mentioned, guess that dream's gone) The weird thing is my hubs still says he loves me. He loves everything about me, he supports me, he reminds me that I did the best thing that I thought at the time and he reminds me you can't go back in time. God I love that man. Sometimes I forget that, I hate to admit that, but after 23 years together, it happens unfortunately. The best thing was that at least we could fly his mom over to help whenever I was in the hospital. We left his car for her and I wrote out directions to my son's school and the hospital. And kudos to her, she actually drove here to those places. Driving here in any capacity scares the heebie jeebies out of her. The smaller town that we are from is much slower than here so I can understand. God bless her, she was a huge help (although everyone does laundry different, thankfully at least she helped keep up the house in any way possible and spent quality time with my son). So where should I leave off? As I cough more crap up out of my lungs and it tastes like the protein shake that I drank two and a half hours ago, IDK. I am scared. I don't want to have issues from this surgery for years of my life moving forward. We went to the Grapevine Mills mall today and I barely made it, but I did make a lap at the mall. Granted I stopped about 4-6 times to sit for at least 5 mins a time, but I made it. I am wiped out and tired, but I made it. I pray that I stop coughing every time that it seems like I drink. I pray that my PICC line doesn't get infected (it started bleeding last night as I think the shirt I had on yesterday pulled on it). I pray that my left shoulder pain doesn't come back (as it felt like it came back tonight). I pray that the pus pocket that is in my back, that was attempting to poke out of my body (no lie, they said that's why I had that egg of pus on my back), that it goes away. I pray that these home i.v. antibiotics get me to 100% capacity. And I pray that my dr.'s have the knowledge to address any residual effects and that I get to the right one to do so. And I pray for a longer life for my son. I pray that I can be "normal" again and accept lunch dates w/o restrictions on my diet or special considerations. I pray to be able to schedule a vacation and not worry about when and where based on my health status. I pray more than anything that I get my positive back and that I feel the hand of God in my life, guiding me because I think I've lost that right now in all of my fears and I miss His presence with me whenever no one else is around (as I cough up my guts at 3, 5 and 6 am, praying for relief). God forgive me for my weakness, but it is what it is. More than anything, I wish I had had an "easy" gastric sleeve surgery and I wonder why my experience has been the one that I've had. I've got to go do another round of I.V. antibiotics and so that I can get to bed... hope if anyone reads this, that it might help you and that you are doing well. xx

Remember this mantra: this too shall pass. You can't undo the past, so just look forward of how to accomplish more in the future from the point where you are standing. And pls know, I haven't had an easy journey neither, but if I can say and do this, I know you can too. Hang in there sweetie. Best always.

What are your tips and/or tricks in order to get through what is almost the hardest time of the year? THE HOLIDAYS! For me, it's an emotional time and it's hard not to want to turn to food. I am trying to be more mindful and have a list of ready made "good" choices should I be compelled by my urges, but ... how do you deal? Do you have a plan? If not, come up with one (or five) and share it (them) pls.... On all kinds of topics to address this one: with the food pushers, with just great food in your face, with old habits wanting to creep in via familiar environments (which are triggers sometimes for me)..... what else? I am surely not alone with this one! Wishing you and yours a happy holidays though, for what it's worth! xx

You FREAKING ROCK Libbe! Much love and may you always reach and sustain your goals. Hugs

Congrats jasleeve! I'm glad you've rocked it girl!