Failure

Hey all. I'm about to hit my 1 year surgerversary! I've lost 110 lbs and have 70 more to go. I'd love if someone would message me in the area and we could talk face to face. If you are close enough maybe we can meet up and go for walks or something. I need to get exercising! Please message me so it is easier. I live in Gainesville area!

NurseGrace hit it on the money on what I was trying to say. While better than white rice, it is not something you have to avoid necessarily but there are lots more better alternatives. Complex carbs are controversial in whether they are ok or not. In my dieting postop (or should I say healthier food choices as I don't really "Diet") I just try to eat things in moderation if it's not entirely dubbed a health food (like lean meats, veggies, etc). Here is a website I found for you all to get a better feel for what I mean. http://diaryofanutritionist.com/2010/04/23/rice-white-vs-brown-good-vs-bad/

I think it is better in terms of what rices are better than others, but I was told by my NUT that there are no rice or pastas that are really that great for you in terms of carbs, there are better things to spend your intake on. I have rice here or there but I really don't bother with it. I try to just keep focused on all the things I know are good and just use things that are just in the middle okay on a sparing basis.

Hey all. I did not have my surgery in GA but I had it in FL. I live in Gainesville, GA but this Atlanta post is the closest I've found right now. I'm 6.5 months out and 83 pounds down. From 353 to 270. I am 5'3". I feel I have a pretty decent grip on keeping the weight loss consistent. If anyone wants a buddy/mentor, please msg me. We can either email or we can text if you prefer. I love talking about the sleeve!!

Thank you so much! It really means a lot. I hope to get a more wider base of followers, I like to follow blogs also but I'm not sure how to go about connecting with others who have one. I guess just by googling, hehe. I'm not that great at "networking".

Hey everyone. Long time no see! Sorry, I just have so many different things to do online that I just can't get around to them all. I still lurk around a bit but just don't have much time to post. I belong to 2 support groups on facebook that I frequent but I also just started my very own blog. I've recently made a new acquaintance, Holly over at 300poundsdown.com and during our correspondence she suggested I should start a blog. At first I did not like the idea but over the weekend I really thought about it a lot and decided maybe it's not such a bad idea. So I did it. I made a blog and I was wondering if anyone would like to connect with me and get the word across. I'd like to follow anyone but other blogs as well related to WLS that use blogger/blogspot. Feel free to follow me and I'll follow right back no matter what kind of blog you have! But I wasn't sure where this would be appropriate to post so I'm so so sorry if this is not the appropriate place. I tried to see if there was a section for people to post links to their WLS related sites specifically but did not see one right off. My blog is Weight Loss: My Version and the link is http://www.my-version.org Thanks for reading Hope you all are faring well!

Hey everyone. Long time no see! Sorry, I just have so many different things to do online that I just can't get around to them all. I still lurk around a bit but just don't have much time to post. I belong to 2 support groups on facebook that I frequent but I also just started my very own blog. I've recently made a new acquaintance, Holly over at www.300poundsdown.com and during our correspondence she suggested I should start a blog. At first I did not like the idea but over the weekend I really thought about it a lot and decided maybe it's not such a bad idea. So I did it. I made a blog and I was wondering if anyone would like to connect with me and get the word across. I'd like to follow anyone but other blogs as well related to WLS that use blogger/blogspot. Feel free to follow me and I'll follow right back no matter what kind of blog you have! My blog is Weight Loss: My Version and the link is http://www.my-version.org

I'm having trouble figuring out a good way to eat tofu during my puree stage. It's on my list for puree and soft food stages both, but how do I prepare it and staying within puree boundaries? What could I try? Please help!

This is not showing for me, can someone post the link for me or PM it to me please?

Wow Pony, that gives me lots of hope. I was 340 on the day I went home from surgery and am at 319 now. I want to be below 300 so bad because I haven't been for years. It will be a victorious day and will only motivate me even more. 19 lbs to go!!!

I think the kind I got is semi firm? It wasn't the most firmest one but it wasn't the soft.

Eeeep! I'm starting it tomorrow. I started on Monday and today to have full liquids until dinner but had a light dinner for those 2 nights. I made a nice summer squash soup that I pureed and strained for me to have for lunches and whatnot throughout the week. Maybe dinners, too. There's a lot of it. I have lots of protein shakes and drinks and feel fairly prepared. But I am starting to get nervous. I only am required to do this diet for a week pre-op so a week from tomorrow is my surgery. I am worried about what to eat during this week. I know what is considered a "full" liquid but it's just a matter of thinking up things to make without having to go back out to the store.

Isn't it awesome? I am 11 days after surgery now and losing roughly 2.5 lbs a day. Had a few days where I didn't lose anything but it's been averaging 2.5 a day otherwise. So far.

What about carbonated water like soda water or Voss water? I am not one for soda, I haven't been for years. But I do like voss water on occasion and it's just basically a carbonated flavorless water.

Im so sorry for not seeing these replies! Idk why but I never got notifications. How are u doing? We had surgery on the same day I think. Are u doing ok?

So basically I had some weird throat infection the entire pre-op diet week, which I only had to actually do for 1 week. So eating nothing but full liquids was fine because I didn't feel that great anyway and slept A LOT. The hardest day, believe it or not, was the clear liquid day the day before surgery. I did okay though once I got some SF jello. It's hard finding ones that are not a deep red. I did find some pink and orange ones, though! So I didn't actually feel too horribly nervous until that morning. I wasn't due until 12:30 and the hospital is about 45 minutes away. Around 10:30 AM on Wednesday (June 27) they called to ask if I wanted to come in early because they had a cancellation. I said sure but it will only be like maybe 15 minutes earlier because I live 45 minutes away. So we ended up leaving about 11:15 because I had to wait on my mom to shower. I had already done all that and my bag was packed so I was ready! We got to the hospital about 12:15 or something. We had a hard time finding where we were suppose to go but we got it. Yay! Luckily we had gotten a parking spot that was in the first row from the door so that was nice. I grabbed my bag and my turtle pillow pet and walked in, taking my piercings out and shaking all to hell trying not to fling the pieces around and get them in the baggy I brought for them. I got to the desk and they had me to go an admission desk to sign some papers and get my wrist band and some folder with stuff in it that I still haven't actually looked at. I don't know what is in it, lol. Just some papers. Anyway so they asked us to wait in the waiting room. We did not even get our butts in a chair and they had called me in, they told my mom to wait outside because they were just going to run some tests real quick that they routinely do. So they brought me in and it looked like the same pre-op area where I was with my sister at a different hospital for a pregnancy complication. Not to sound as morbid as it may but it was strangely comforting to feel like I was in a place I had seen before. I was given a cup and asked to use the bathroom and pee in the cup for a pregnancy test. They do this routinely I guess, it's mandatory. Boy was I ever exploding cuz I filled that whole entire freakin' cup! Sorry for TMI there lol. So I go back to my waiting area and asked where to put it and the nurse says to put it on a little table at the end of what was to be my bed that another nurse was writing in my chart at. So I set it there and said MERRY CHRISTMAS! And giggled nervously. She laughed at me, too. So then I was given my robe and socks and a bag to put my clothes in and told to change and they pulled the curtain. Oh man was I shaking so bad! I got it all there and put it on the chair next to the bed and sat down, she undid the curtain and I got situated on the bed and they put a warm blanket on me. Then they had a nurse come put an IV in me and it took her forever. I have tiny veins. They put a 20 in me and said it'll be good until I'm under and they'll switch it to a 18 or whatever. They drew 2 vials of blood and then whatever. Stuck some little sticker node things on me and asked me questions like who I am and what surgery I'm having. Then the anesthesiologist asked some questions too like if I have diabetes and etc I said not that I know of. It's true, I didnt know lol. They did get a CBC and whatever else with that blood they took and I never heard much back so I guess I'm ok. So then they hooked up an IV and then came the Versed. That's the happy medicine they gave me so I can relax. At some point during the questioning they got my mom for me and she was sitting with me. But once they put the IV in they made her hug me and go back to the waiting room. This was around 1:30 by this time. And then the praying hit as tears started rolling down my face when she left the room and I started praying, HARD!! But the Versed hit and I felt okay. They rolled me to the OR and I remember looking at all the gadgets in the room thinking Hey! This is just like on TV and in videos of sleeve related things I had seen before. That was comforting, too. But I was doped up on Versed so that's probably it, too. They aligned the operating bed up to my bed and locked them all in place, then had me help myself from the bed to the operating bed. I was not scared at this point but they were laying my arms out on the little arm tables and had an oxygen mask laying lightly on my face. I was okay with that! That were touching me a lot and it felt comforting. Then they said they would be making me sleepy and I was out. I remember when I first woke up they said I'm waking up and asked me how I feel. I said owww pain. It hurts. They said they are giving me pain medication RIGHT NOW. And it felt better right then. They had given me Dilaudid when I needed the rougher med but they used Toradol for inflammation and pain in the meantime and Fenergan for nausea or whatever it's called. They gave me something else right before surgery too for like acid or whatever but I forget what it was. So I was in and out a lot. Dilaudid pretty much makes me pass out. I had gotten a swab sometime in the later evening and I think a droplet had gone down my throat and I got nauseated and started dry heaving. This lasted only a brief period because the nurse took an alcohol prep pad and waved it in front of my nose telling me to breathe deep and I did. The aroma strangely made me calm down from heaving. I didn't have true on nausea at all. Just onset of heaving. I had another 2 or 3 bouts of that that night as they gave me Dilaudid but they started giving the Fenergan with it and I was fine after that. At home I dry heaved only 2 times from pain medication and that's been it. I stopped taking that nasty garbage. So at home I just staked out on the couch as best I could. Tried sipping my liquids and pacing the house or taking my dog on mini walks. It felt good to walk! I'm now 4 days out and I feel almost just fine except for 3 things. One I feel as if maybe I am getting a cold, I have that pre-cold groggy feeling. And the other 2 are pains. One is in my shoulder from gas pain, and the other is that odd diaphragm area spasming that is horrid but luckily only lasts a couple of seconds. I had trouble getting my liquids in but I'm doing okay. I feel okay and energetic during the day. I sip a little protein, a little soup, or vitamin water zero or sobe life water or just plain water. I got some pain cramping when I had colder liquids at first but it seems to do ok now. I also really like SF chocolate pudding. Im going to try a fudgsicle later tonight. As far as food goes. I get weird cravings for things. I know it's in my head and I have to control that. But sometimes I'm just confused at my body because my stomach grumbles all the time, but it gets really loud at random times and it doesn't hurt but it pangs like that familiar feeling pre-op when I would be so hungry that my stomach would growl and pang like that. So I'm not sure if I'm hungry or what. But it's really annoying and eating a little pudding or soup does alleviate it a little. Although the noises don't stop for long at all. I also wanted to add in here that I do get a bit grossed out by some foods now that I woulda just been like "ehh" about before and not really gotten that weird gag feeling when something smells or tastes gross. I can't even eat broth of any kind and some of these "cream of" soups do the same thing. I have no idea why! I do like those soups normally so not sure what the deal is now but I'm dealing with trying out other things. I realized I can get a soup that has things in it but blend and strain it afterwards and it does actually hold the tastes of everything that was in that soup. I had a tomato and rice by Campbell's and blended and strained it out and it tasted like it. I have a bacon and bean soup that's also 98% fat free that I found and i'll do the same thing with that. It sounds good, something different. I don't have to resort to only 1 kind of soup! Just strain strain strain! Another thing I did was today my parents had something for dinner in a skillet that had green beans, onions and chicken breast chunks. It had a lot of juice that tasted really delicious that I strained out and sipped on. It was really good! Other than that, I feel great. I feel super apprehensive about the type of sips I take and how much soup or pudding or whatever I should eat. I don't know what my limit is and I definitely don't want to PUSH it. I never truly feel hungry to begin with so I'm not sure when I'm FULL if that makes sense. I haven't felt much tightness yet from eating those things but I think I read a few places that people don't always feel that tightness too much until mushy phase. So I'm not too worried about it. I'm just worried about what will happen if I do push it on accident. The only other uncomfortable thing has been a couple bouts of hiccups. Those HURT! Oh my gosh do those hurt. The pain was horrid and I had a few moments in my head that I would probably not go through this again had I known how it would feel but it didn't last that long for me so I think that maybe I do not truly think that at all. If I use this tool wisely and utilize it well to lose weight like I need to then I will be fully satisfied. I just hope that I can stay on track. I know I will.

tonibugg I'm actually quite tempted. I want a juicy burger but in my gut I do not feel hungry like that empty hungry feeling. Every day the pains get a little better. tjloser I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thought I would do a play by play for others, but also for my own record

I am 4 days post op also! If I had the ability to have gotten a recliner or something, I would have loved to have had something like that for at home. It was heck trying to get on and off a couch the first 2 nights! I was only in the hospital 1 night.

I'm glad this was posted. I'm sure there's been other posts but it's right to the point and exactly what I wanted to know, too. I was on liquids pre-op and didn't have this problem but I figure it's like this now because everything is entirely flushed out and now it's only, as trueblood22 put it, liquid in and liquid out. Haha.

No drain for me, Looking Ahead. My surgeon believes that often times if there is a leak, the drain does not even reflect it and it causes the patient more discomfort than it does good in the long run. It's going to be okay. You are 1 week out, has it gotten any better at all? It has for me, little bit each day. My pain is coming from my shoulder and that weird spasm. Luckily the spasm lasts only a couple of seconds at a time. But I can tell it's less than it was at first. I read somewhere that it has to do with a nerve near the diaphragm and since everything is all swollen there, etc that it's just spasming out. I notice now that it does it mostly when I move around a lot, like if I am adjusting a lot of my position on the couch or if I just come down the stairs that teensy bit too fast. I don't notice it in relation to eating or anything, so I think it's just our body getting accustomed to the new position of things. It is lessening, thankfully. I'm not doing anything for the pain now, because nothing works. They gave me liquid lortab which is the most horrible thing on earth. I vomited it up 2 times because of the taste not even because I was sipping it too fast. I couldn't hold it down. So I got a liquid tylenol per my surgeons suggestion and it helps with the pain that is not my shoulder or spasm pain. So I figured since those are really the only pains I'm having now, I'm not going to keep drugging it up. If it wasn't for this horrible pain in my shoulder that is almost constant, I would not actually have any pain when that spasm is not happening. That is horrid. Hang in there, you're doing great!

Tomorrow, although I guess technically today (June 26, Tuesday) is my last pre-op day! I am sort of in a calm before the storm state of mind. I'm a bit nervous but not as much as I know I will be in that car ride to the hospital. My mom is coming with me and staying with me while we are there. Thankfully! Everything has been paid off as well, so we are A-OK on that. I had been sick all week but luckily feeling better today and will only be getting better from now on. We were a bit scared at first not knowing if this darn sore throat would be gone by the time surgery came around. It seems to be alright now, hasn't hurt much at all all day. I don't anticipate it to hurt at all tomorrow and gone completely by Wednesday. I called the RN and let her know and asked if we would be alright still for Wednesday and she says it sounds like we are going to be just fine. So glad! So I have a few things to pick up at the store tomorrow, like some sort of G2 or something packets (not crystal light! I am allergic?) to put into my water in case I have a weird intolerance. Want to be able to get in some extra electrolytes, too. Those are supposedly handy dandy for hydration. I'm also going to pick up a couple of jars of baby food. I have plenty of soup/s left over from this week that should be good for post-op. I just have to finish packing my bag. So far I put my chapstick in there and a couple of throat drops although I don't anticipate needing those. I also put my Gas-X strips in there and my tooth brush and paste. My pillow is near by my bag so I won't forget it. I bought a nice big square pillow pet that is a turtle, I love turtles. It should be ok to use for the ride home and when moving around against my belly and whatnot. There's always that feeling like I am missing something or will forget something! Gosh I hope not. Just trying to relax and remain calm and not forget anything. I hope I make it through clear liquids decently! They do list jell-o as something I can eat so I guess I can eat some of that for texture if I absolutely need to..