Vicki0618

For anyone who is trying to decide between the lap band and the sleeve, or anyone considering converting from the lap band to the sleeve. I cannot say strongly enough...Go For The Sleeve!!! The difference is night and day. With the band I could eat very little, but I was always hungry (still had my whole stomach) with the sleeve, I can eat very little and I can honestly say I am full. For example at lunch today I had 4 oz of cottage cheese and 2 oz of imitation crab, and I couldn't finish it. Not only oould I physically not finish it, but I was honestly full! Whoot Whoot!!! Before the sleeve, I told my husband I never felt full until I was stuffed (which might explain my obesity Today was my 3 week post op appointment from getting my sleeve. I am doing very very well, no side effects, no problems. I'm getting in all my liquids and all my Protein. Doc cleared me to carefully and slowly start adding in more foods. And best of all I have lost 19 lbs since surgery and 43 lbs since I started the pre-op diet. That's 43 POUNDS!!! That is only 7 lbs less than I lost in the entire 2 years I had the band!!! SLEEVE OR BAND????? 100% SLEEVE!!!!!!

I am trying to find all the NSV I can find. I did a little blog about the ones I have seen so far. And I looked back over my blogs and I realized I blogged about the day we went to the Third Day Concert (almost a year ago) and the shirt I wanted to wear didn't fit. Fast forward to today and I am wearing that shirt..the one that didn't fit!!! Hopefully the picture will attach. The pic on the left was last year and it's a picture of the Concert picture...but you get the idea. The one on the right is today. Not a before and after, but definitely a before and during!! I still have a ways to go but I can definitely see the progress!!

Thank you!! I can see it when I look at these pic. My husband says I'm melting!! I keep reassuring him that I'm not going to disappear...LOL

I never found the sweet spot either. I lost most of the 50 I did lose with the band in the first few months. After that it was just trial and error. One day I could eat something, the next day I couldn't. I would eat a bite or two and feel stuck but still be hungry. But worse was that I was throwing up almost every day, because it didn't matter how much I chewed the good stuff (salad, chicken etc) would not go down. I could eat all the junk I wanted (ice cream, cake, frozen yogurt etc) but nothing that was good for me. Until 2 years out and the band slipped and basically I couldn't even swallow water....and that bad boy came out!!! Yay, I could eat...Boo...I regained all the weight! So very very glad that I have my sleeve now and that is all behind me!

Isn't it amazing??? It's such a relief, I was a little afraid after the band but so far the sleeve is definitely what I thought the band was supposed to be! LOL

Well I made it through both weeks of liquids and got to move on to soft foods. But the added wrinkle to my week is that I am traveling from CA to CO for my sisters wedding. So I am not in my home environment. My sister was very helpful and had my protein drinks, yogurt and cottage cheese at her house when I got here so that has helped. So far I am doing fine with soft foods. However, I have discovered that I am sensitive to sugars. I have had two bouts of diahrrea, both of which came after I had a bit too much sugar. (One I had blended some peanut butter into a shake, and the second one was just eating a normal yogurt) So neither time was I over doing it, but I have decided that I am really watching the sugar content in anything I eat. It has been a challenge to be with my whole family, and not be eating. I haven't really had an issue with it, I'm not hungry and I just eat what I can. But I think other people get nervous if I don't eat. But so far, I've been doing good. My other challenge is to drink my water. We spent the past 2 days running around, setting up for the wedding, the wedding itself, and then running around cleaning up. I have been really really tired and I noticed that the creases in my skin are staying much longer than they should (like creases on my shin from tucking my jeans into my boots stayed there for over 8 hours)...so I'm a little dehydrated. But I'm going better today and just hauling my water bottle around with me. My weigh day was Wednesday and I did weigh just before I got on the plane. I did win the bet with my husband ...he thought I would lose close to 20# between surgery and our trip (2 weeks) I didn't think I'd lose that quick. I was right, but I still feel good about what I have lost. Heaviest Weight: 281 3/6/13 Surgery: 257 (-24) 3/13/13: 251 (-6) 3/20/13: 245 (-6) I will be flying home on Wednesday so I'll have to weigh on Thursday after I'm back at home with my own scale!!

Check out www.junonia.com They have lots of options for bigger girls that don't have the dredded skirt!!

So today is officially my 1 week. Have to say at least for me the first week went relatively smoothly. I don't have any pain at all most of the time. If I twist wrong or bend wrong I do have a spot right under my biggest incision that pulls, but it's just a quick pain that subsides almost immediately. The PA warned me that is might happened because there are some deep internal stitches under there. I do have a pretty knarly rash on my tummy due to an allergic reaction to the dermabond. Yesterday, I lost it and just peeled off all the dermabond. The incisions themselves look good, but all the way around each incision is a red blistered ring, and I have little dots between the incisions. Just taking the dermabond off made a difference, yesterday morning they were all bright red and itched so bad I wanted to pull my stomach apart. Today, the red is still there but not nearly as angry and it itching has subsided some. Still itches, but I'm hoping thats from healing. I have been alternating between Hydrocortisone cream for the rash and neosporin. I'm sorta a gooey mess right now, but that's ok. (My hubby says I'm a hot mess, but I'm his hot mess) :wub: I am still on liquids and will be for another week I'm not really hungry, well at least not like I used to be. I definitely get an empty feeling every couple of hours but it's a much different feeling that before. Drinking alot of hot tea, and water. Soups, Sugar free jello and sugar fee popcicles! Oh and protein drinks. I am using Premier Protein that I got at Costco with 30 grams of protein so I try to get 2 a day, so at least I know I've got my protein covered. I have decided to "officially" weigh on every Wednesday, and I will take updated pictures once a month. So here are my current stats Heaviest Weight: 281 3/6/13 Surgery: 257 (-24) 3/13/13: 251 (-6) So 6 lbs in the first week! I'm ok with that. Now, if I can just get through another week of liquids....

Don't worry...it will work it's way out. I think by 5-7 days out I was farting like a champ...LOL

Hi Rhonda, glad to hear you are doing well 14 months out! I'm 11 days out and I'm just looking forward to getting to eat soft foods in a few days!! But so far so good....I can get all my protein in and all my liquids. I think Dr. Jossart uses pixie dust or something as I have had very little pain!!!

WOW! Looks like you've lost more than 45#...obviously the exercise is paying off in inches!

Yep!! I'm 8 days post op and on liquids. The other night I dreamed I just popped a piece of pasta in my mouth and realized I can't eat yet and had to spit it out. Then last night I dreamed that a co-worker covered my office in apple peels...how weird is that??? Maybe I need some apple juice or something...LOL

It's funny you posted this. I was just telling my husband I wish I knew if my stomach was a "normal" size or bigger. And I sorta want to see a picture of it....is that weird??

I'm still on liquids and I've actually been craving refried beans!!!!!

I would have been fine alone. My hubby took 2 days off so he was with me the first 2 days but I didn't really "need" him. It depends on how old your kids are. If they are self sufficient you should be fine, if they are still toddlers you might want to line up some help for the first few days. But not 6 weeks

I would like to donate mine to those poor souls that have a hard time gaining weight.... :lol:

I also didn't have a leak test after surgery. I have had 3 c-sections and this is WAY WAY less pain. It's uncomfortable and if I twist or bed wrong I do feel a pull but I was off all pain meds by day 2 In terms of nausea, I echo what someone above told you. Tell the anesthesiologist before surgery and he'll give you something to help. I had one bad bout of nausea the first night that resulted in dry heaves. But even then the nurses were right there putting something in my IV and it passed fairly quickly. Don't let that scare you!!! Good Luck!

Dang!!! I was feeling good about 6# in my first week! You Go Girl!!! By the way I was sleeved on the 6th too!!

Don't even get me started on the food network. It is on at our house all the time. Yesterday after the 3rd episode of Chopped, I told my step daughter that I was changing it. She says "Why" I'm like, "Seriously??? I CAN'T EAT!!! Like Anything!!" Oh and I should point out that while they were watching chopped they were making Breakfast for dinner...with Bacon.

Anybody ever notice how many food commercials/channels there are on TV???? ARGH....another week of liquids. Who knew I'd be so excited about yogurt and retried beans.!

Great Post Joe!! You will probably feel so much better not having to censor what you say. This is a life change and you're right you need to take care of yourself at this point. I didn't tell very many people before mainly for the same reasons you have (negativity) however my hubby outted me on FB by posting updates on how I was doing after surgery. (Love him!!) So then I got the "OMG what happened" responses. LOL...well at least the shock was over that way! Good Luck!!! Before long you won't even need that CPAP machine!!

OMG...I needed to read some of these. Made me Laugh outloud! Im 6 days out from surgery and I'm dreaming about grabbing food and popping it in my mouth only to remember I can't eat it and spit it out. May have to try the dorito thing...lol

Well in the hospital they ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 1-10 10 being the worst pain ever. I can honestly say that I never had pain above a 5. I was uncomfortable but with the pain meds it was nothing. I was sent home from the hospital with liquid vicoden and I haven't used it at all since day 2. Now, my husband says I'm a bad-*** and I guess I'm pretty tough, I have had 3 c-sections and had a lap band placed and removed but I really think this was the LEAST painful of all of them.

Here I am buzzing along like everything is good. Went back to work yesterday and made it all day, and today...BANG!!! I hit the wall, I feel like I could sleep for about a week!! I don't know if it's from lack of calories, electolytes or just over doing it but DANG!!!! Think I'll go home early and take a nap.

Ok, I'm going to give this a try. I keep saying I like to journal but the reality is that I end up with all kinds of journals that are started but I never finish them. So maybe it's not that I like journaling...maybe I just like new journals! LOL So on Wednesday March 6th, I was sleeved!!! I previously had a lapband in 2008 and had to have it removed in 2012 due to a profound slip. Since then I have seen 3 different surgeons and switched insurance companies but I finally ended up with my wonderful surgeon. I had to to down to San Francisco to have surgery (from Sacramento) but I'm totally glad I did. I was in great hands. I can't say enough good things about the nurses and staff and California Pacific Medical Center. This was by far my best surgery. at 6 a.m. they started my IV (painless I might add) and at 7:30 I was in the OR. My husband got to stay with me right up until I went into the OR. I got up on the table (burrrr) and started having a conversation with my PA about beating her weight loss goal before surgery, the anethesia guy says I'm going to give you something to relax you, just think about being on a beach. And that's it!! Next think I know a nurse is saying "Vicki? can you wake up a bit?" I can honestly say that I never had pain above a 5 on their little scale. Now whether that's due to my surgeons great skill, my insane pain tolerance or really good drugs I couldn't tell you. But it was relatively painless. I spend the first day pretty groggy and in and out of it. Within a couple of hours I was out walking the halls. I did have a rough night the one night I spent in the hospital and I was very nauseous and had an episode of dry heaves. But the nurses were there with the good drugs and it passed pretty quickly. The following morning, I was ready to go home. I was walking, peeing, farting, all the stuff the nurses like to hear. So they gave me my gourmet breakfast of chicken broth and hot tea. The PA came in and released me and I was headed home. I have spent the last couple of days sipping everything. I have discovered that warmer liquids go down much easier, however sugar free popcicles are the bomb-diggity!! Yesterday I managed about 60 oz of liquids including one protein drink and today I'm shooting for 2 protein drinks. I have been able to go to the store with my husband and go for a walk to the park. A little bit more everyday!! The only complaints I have right now are a nasty reaction to the dermabond, and a seriously sore throat from having a tube down there. The pictures were taken 3 days before surgery. My Heaviest weight was 281(which was about Christmas), These pics were 260. My official weight before surgery was 257 and as of this morning I'm at 254.