Bufflehead

I think it's possible that you would both be able to go back to work according to your plan, but I think your plan is pretty ambitious. If you go forward with it, I would say have a back-up plan for what you are going to do if it doesn't work out the way you envision. I was not ready to go back to work for two weeks, and I have a desk job. I was just too tired. And I had what most people would consider an easy recovery: no complications, able to get all my fluids and protein in from day one, up and walking 2 hours after surgery. It isn't so much the fear of hurting yourself after surgery as it is just not having the strength or energy to get through a day doing the sorts of things you describe. It might also be hard to keep sipping liquids throughout the day while working on things like putting a fence up and getting fields ready for planting. It might even be hard for you to go back to work as a teacher with just a week off (I couldn't have -- but you are probably younger and perhaps starting at a lighter weight than I did). I am not meaning to discourage you, I just do want you to think of back-up plans for what happens if you and/or your husband end up needing more than a week off and/or a couple of weeks of light duty.

Miss: champagne on special occasions Don't miss: having to buy two airplane seats (and sometimes not being able to afford that, so missing important family gatherings, travel opportunities, etc.).

Whenever it is comfortable for you.

I see you have 70+ posts here, so you've probably seen people talking about the three week stall, correct? It is real! Don't stress out. Keep following your plan and the weight will start dropping again. I know it is frustrating and freaky but it is also completely normal. Hang in there.

A lot of people do get reflux/heartburn after the sleeve. You might try a PPI such as omeprazole (Prilosec), Protonix, or Nexium to see if they help. In any event, IMO, a burning sensation from your stomach is not normal -- if I were in your situation I would probably start by checking in with my primary care doctor to see what she said before trekking 7 hours to see a surgeon. Good luck!

I can't do anything carbonated since being sleeved. Well, I have had a few sips of champagne on special occasions, but after a few sips things switch from being just uncomfortable to actually painful. I know some people do eventually tolerate carbonation but it is not for me.

Have you not received any guidance from your bariatric team about when you can eat raw veggies? Check with them -- every program is a little different. I wasn't allowed raw veggies for 6 months post op, but my program is very conservative. I still rarely choose salad -- I don't find it to be nutritionally worth my valuable stomach space, and eating protein-forward leaves little room for wads of raw lettuce. I max out at about 1/4 cup of salad (after I eat my protein, which always comes first).

I have 3 ounces of chicken breast for my standard breakfast. No prep necessary - I buy pre-cooked chicken breast from Trader Joe's. I like either the chili lime or rosemary balsamic seasoned. Just chop up my 3 ounces, pack it into a little tupperware container, and off to work (I usually eat breakfast relatively late in the morning).

I agree with @@BelleCurves, that sounds like it might be foamies rather than reflux. Often times foamies are caused by eating/drinking too quickly or too much, but sometimes it is just because the vagus nerve is irritated by surgery. Another possibility is that they are being caused by a vitamin or mineral supplement, particularly if you are taking something right before bed. One of the few times I got the foamies was just taking a mineral supplement that my sleeve did not like.

I had one day of clear liquids, followed by four weeks of full liquids, then four weeks of purees, then four months of soft food.

You look amazing, and that is a great message. Good job all around

You should follow your doctor's instructions.

I was really tired the first week. I had a nice long nap every afternoon (and I don't usually nap). I was able to be up and about and caring for myself and my pets, but I wasn't in the mood for any big excursions or anything like that. I had some pain where my drain had been but not too bad. I had to brace my abdomen when standing up or sitting down or twisting from side to side. Getting in and out of bed was difficult -- I wished I had a recliner to sleep in! I used a heating pad on my abdomen a lot, that felt really good. I worked at getting in my fluids and protein -- it was work, but I did hit my goals every day. I stopped taking narcotic pain meds during the day after three days, but continued taking them at night for about 10 days. I didn't have any problems with nausea or constipation or anything like that. Just tiredness and some lingering pain, plus it is hard to drink enough when you can only take a few sips at a time.

Well, I eat chicken breast for breakfast most days, but that is probably not appealing to you I would suggest: Greek yogurt with some PB2 or peanut butter stirred in, cottage cheese with salsa, salad dressing, or peanut butter, any kind of eggs (my favorite!). A small amount of refried beans with cheese is a little higher carb but filling and has good protein, too. I also like veggie burgers (the kind from Morningstar Farms and similar).

I think as long as you are able to be strong about Christmas being one day (not Christmas Eve through New Year's Day -- ONE day) you will do great.

Immediately after surgery, your body needs protein to heal. Beyond that, eating protein-forward is the best way for most people to be satisfied with eating a small amount of healthy food. Most people find that eating a carb-heavy diet just makes them hungrier and hungrier, no matter how much they eat. Eating fat is also good for satiety, but fat is packed with calories, so for those of us who are going to be fighting the disease of obesity for the rest of our lives, eating high protein just makes more sense than eating high fat or high carb.

lol, I'm just glad this isn't another "I drank a bottle of wine 10 days after surgery and now I regret it" or "I ate a cheeseburger 10 days after surgery, have I ripped my stomach open?" type of post! OP, I am sorry for your misadventure with pantyhose. Hope you are all better soon.

For me it's two weeks without weight loss. I don't measure myself very often so that's not really a factor for me.

Also, folks should know that blood tests are not going to reveal calcium levels that are too low in your bones. If your body needs additional calcium for its functioning, it will simply leach the calcium from your bones and add it into the bloodstream, meaning that your blood calcium levels will look great while your bones are thinning away to nothing. The only way to know about your state of bone health is by getting some sort of bone scan. PPI's do have risks -- do does taking calcium long-term, and there is little evidence that it does anything to prevent fractures, which is supposedly why we are taking calcium in the first place: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/thinking-twice-about-calcium-supplements-2/?_r=0 Personally, I have thought it over and decided to discontinue calcium supplements. I rely on dietary intake and lots of strenuous exercise to prevent osteoporosis and fractures, plus I am relatively low-risk for osteoporosis (no children, life-long non-smoker, almost life-long obese person). So interfering with a calcium supplement is not the reason I am cautious about long-term PPI use risk. But messing with body chemistry for that long just seems to me like it cannot be without consequences, so if I don't have to, I won't.

Able to eat it, as in it won't make you sick, yes. Is it a good choice? IMO, no. Tons of carbs, very little protein. Plus, when you eat something like cereal you are, by default, eating (cereal) and drinking (the milk it is in) at the same time -- that's a non-starter for most bariatric surgery programs. I wasn't allowed any sort of grains at all during weight loss phase in my program. Strict, but effective. This is a good time to focus on re-building your relationships with food. It's great to enjoy your food, but you may want to think about whether you really want to be eating things just because you "love" them. That kind of relationship -- I love it, therefore I will eat it -- is what got me morbidly obese in the first place.

I told anyone who asked, but I didn't volunteer it. I really don't give a fig what people think about me or my healthcare decisions. I only received one negative reaction but it wasn't anything like "you took the easy way out" -- it was more, "it's so unfair that you get to do that, I need to lose thirty pounds and surgery isn't an option for me." Anyway, I had some responses prepared in case I did get a negative reaction: "thanks for your concern" with a big smile "my doctor and I agreed that this was the best medical decision for me" "I wish I could have lost weight without surgery, but I'm too dumb and lazy to figure it out" (if I was feeling very snarky) "hmm, try dieting and exercise before submitting to major surgery? Wow, I never thought of that. No one ever suggested that to me in my entire life. I wish I had heard of "dieting" before I had surgery! Maybe you should mention this strange concept to other people. Why didn't you tell me about the secret process of "diet" and "exercise" earlier?" "thanks for your support! I appreciate it!" with a big eye-roll Seriously, if you just pretend they said something nice and respond that way, they can't criticize you. Just keep smiling and saying "thanks for your support! Your kindness means so much to me!" in as sincere a tone as you can manage. Eventually they will give up and leave you alone. Don't try to engage them with arguments or get super-defensive. Act like any criticism they give you just makes you laugh because you know more than they do (YOU DO). All that said, it's unlikely people will say negative things, at least in my experience.

I had moderate reflux when I was sleeved. The upper GI series showed that I had a hiatal hernia, which my surgeon could (and did) fix during my sleeve surgery. If my reflux had not been caused by the hernia, my surgeon would have strongly recommended bypass, and I would have followed his recommendation.

1. First question may be a bit silly and I know everyone has their own unique experience, but I'm wondering what to expect on the actual day of surgery. For some reason the surgery itself doesn't make me nervous because I know I have an excellent doctor, but being put to sleep makes me a little nervous. Also, I'm nervous that I'll wake up into excruciating pain.. Is this the case ? Either way I know eventually it will all be a minor detail but I'm just curious to see how others have reacted to surgery. For my surgery, I was wheeled into the operating room, had a few pleasantries with the staff, then bam woke up in the recovery room. No mask being put on my face, no slow fading out . . . I was just there chatting with people one second, then the next second woke up. When I woke up I did have pain in my shoulder (from the surgical gas) but I wouldn't call it excruciating. My team did an excellent job on pain control the whole time I was there. It wasn't a big deal. 2. My second question has to do with hair loss. Is there anything I can do from now to prevent my hair from falling out/ thinning. I know getting in my Protein is key, but is there anything else I can do? No, there isn"t anything you can do to prevent it. Don't waste your money on massive amounts of biotin or some sort of special shampoo. It will either happen or it won't. There are good ways you can cut and style your hair, as well as cosmetic tricks, to hide hair loss if you get a severe case of it. Usually the hair loss starts around month 3 and stops and the hair starts growing back somewhere around month 6. 3. My third question has to do with excess skin. Again I know each person is different and there are many factors to this. My question is did anyone find that toning exercises or any kind of body butters/lotions help at all? No. If there were some sort of magic trick to prevent excess skin, no one would need plastic surgery because word would spread and everyone would do it. The thing is, you already have the skin you have. You can't prevent it, it's already there. If having excess skin is going to bother you a lot, start saving your pennies for plastic surgery now. 4. My fourth and final question has to do with pregnancy after being sleeved. I don't plan on starting a family for another 4-5 years but I'm curious if the sleeve has affected anyone's pregnancy.. Did anyone find it hard to take in the proper nutrients ? Was it hard to bounce back from pregnancy? Did any complications that may not be obvious arise due to the sleeve? I haven't had personal experience, but my sister (a physician) says that pregnant women require an extra 300 calories per day to nourish the fetus, plus a prenatal vitamin. It's not hard to get 300 calories per day. Make a protein shake with whole milk and a tablespoon of peanut butter and you are just about there. Or eat a handful of nuts twice a day. Instead of having yogurt for breakfast, have scrambled eggs with cheese and avocado, plus eat a couple slices of dried mango for an after-dinner snack. Trust me, once most sleevers get a year or two out of surgery, they don't have trouble adding in 300 calories. They have trouble *not* adding in 300 calories when they don't need to! You'll be fine

I like Syntrax Nectar sweets (Chocolate Truffle & Cappuccino in particular). Unjury Chocolate Splendor, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Double Rich Chocolate. My absolute favorite is Chike Iced Coffee. I mix with either unsweetened cashew milk or (for a treat) almond milk hint-of-honey vanilla. I tend to use lots of mix-ins like instant coffee, SF hazelnut syrup, SF cinnamon vanilla syrup, etc.

It really depends a lot on your surgical practice, they vary all over the place. Some of the stuff I had done on my initial intake visit were: resting metabolic rate, H. Pylori, blood pressure, and a general physical/abdominal exam. The more specific pre-op testing waited until later, stuff like an EKG, blood work, chest x-ray, and upper GI series. Good luck to you!