wanttobeamoore

I had a VSG on August 13th and have lost 80 pounds in the last 4.5 months (21 weeks). I am getting married in May and am receiving a TON of pressure from my mom, sister, and aunts to go try on wedding dresses. Are they crazy? There is no way a dress I order now will fit me 4 months from now, even if I do plateau soon. I can’t get anyone to realize this and it is driving me crazy. None of my cousins got their dresses until 2 months before, and they didn’t even have the surgery so I don’t see what the big deal is all of a sudden. I have an appointment scheduled @ Davids Bridal for January 26th and I think that is too soon. Any thoughts, or anyone who went through the same experience?

Back to work tomorrow for a half day, "light duty" for a week. I have been off for 3 1/2 weeks, and I am so ready! Spent the evening preparing foods in my processor - egg salad, tuna salad, seafood salad, mashed potatoes and banancotta. Yummmm ...

It has been 6 weeks since my surgery. My main complaint is the constant belching. My surgeon says it is very common and stems from air we ingest when eating, sipping water, or just breathing. Apparently, it takes awhile for the new smaller stomach to get used to this air, but I am told it goes away eventually and I CANNOT FREAKIN’ wait! As soon as I put anything in my mouth, the burping begins and the gurgling noises coming from my esophagus area are fantastic, let me tell you, especially while at work! I am eating verrry slow and chewing like crazy but I am going to try to focus on waiting a consistent amount of time between bites and taking smaller bites ... I also started having severe pain in my shoulder/neck a couple weeks ago. It would start in my chest, under the breast bone and feel almost like there was a pocket of air stuck in there – then it would move up into my left shoulder and neck. This got really bad for a few days and I called the nurse, who scheduled me an ultrasound. They ended up finding gallstones, which is crazy since there were none there 8 weeks ago @ my pre-op ultrasound. 30 lbs in 6 weeks will do it, I guess. Of course they want me to have it removed, but I just don’t know. Gallstones run in my family, and my fiancé and I are planning on having kids after my wedding and one year “waiting period” are up, so it is something I will have to consider carefully. I’m not sure if the chest/shoulder pain is from the gallstones, from too much pressure on my diaphram, or from the air/gas but it always happens at night. It is so crazy to see how your body reacts to this surgery! I am hoping for some relief soon. Any advice on these issues would be greatly appriciated.

LOL .. it's super easy. 3 hard boiled eggs, 2 tablespoon low fat mayo, 1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish, celery salt, black pepper, and a splash of vinegar if you want. You can also add milk ... 1/8 to 1/4 cup milk depending on where you're at in your post op diet :-)

Today is my one week surgiversary and it has been the worst day so far. I just feel so blah - tired and weak. I feel like I havent been able to drink fast enough and get my required daily intakes of protein and carbs. Pain isnt too bad until night time, but I am still having chest/shoulder pain from the gas they pumped into me. Tomorrow is my 30th birthday and I dont even feel like celebrating. I told my sister not to come visit today because I wasnt feeling up to it. Of course I am afraid of everything ... I sneezed and I worry I tore my staples, a bruise appears out of nowhere on my hand and I'm afraid I have a blood clot ... my mind is working overtime. I just hope it gets better from here. I literally cannot wait to get to the other side of this thing and feel like my old self again!

I had my surgery on Monday the 13th. It went well, but I am still in hospital due to a low heart rate and chest pain. They have run all the tests on me (EKG, bloodwork, etc) and everything came back negative so I guess it really from the gas they pumped into me. Heart rate is probably due to the narcotics. I can only do very small sips of liquids at a time. Last night, I was put on 'bariatric stage 3 diet' and they sent me cream of chicken soup, vanilla pudding, and applesauce. I took 1 pre-op sied bite of the applesauce and let me tell ya ... PAIN! My body tols me right away that was a mistake. I guess liquid means liquid. For the next week and a half, liquids only!

I am getting sleeved in 5 days. Monday, August 13th will be the biggest day of my life thus far. Yes, even bigger than when my fiancé proposed 8 months ago. I feel ready in the big picture, and excited about the future. I have been taking part in a comprehensive preparatory program over the last year. My intake day was 8/18/11 and surgery is scheduled for 8/13/12. Almost an exact year! I have lost 68 pounds and 10 points off of my BMI since then. I took my time through the program, going beyond the 6 month insurance requirement until I knew I was ready. But I am FREAKING OUT about going under the knife! I have never had any type of surgery before, and this is a biggie. I am nervous about anesthesia, complications, pain, and discomfort … I am nervous about everything! I have a great surgeon, he has great bedside manner and has done over 180 sleeves … and I have an even better support system, with 6 people who have already offered to accompany me to the hospital on Monday morning! I just keep telling myself to breath …. relax, relax, relax, lol. But it’s tough. Any tips or comforting words for me as I go in would be greatly appreciated. And prayers are a necessity!!!

So, I started the pre-screening process in August of last year. I picked a great facility with a full staff of surgeons, dieticians and psychologists, but I took my time with it because I didn't hadn't made up my mind yet about whether or not I wanted the surgery. Well, I just got my letter yesterday that I was approved by the insurance company, but the only problem is, I STILL haven’t made up my mind. When I got the letter and my fiancé read it off "approved!" I was not happy. I should have felt happiness, right? Relief? No, I just felt pressure. Now it is crunch time and I need to make a decision. A quick background: I am 29 years old and was born into an obese family. We were raised to believe ‘if you’re fat, it’s ok and if people don’t like you for it, that’s their own fault!’ My mom fell at work about 5 years ago and broke her leg, had to have surgery to fix it, and never able to fully recover because of her weight. PT was too difficult for her, and then she began to experience more problems, like bed sores and cellulitis. She is confined to a hospital bed at her home and we are now her nurses. My bf of 10 years proposed to me on Xmas and everyone began to get really excited about the wedding, especially my mom. She overdid it in PT, and fell again a few weeks ago. She broke her leg again. Truth be told, I am not even sure she will be able to make it to my wedding next summer. I don’t want these kinds of health problems. My fiancé and I are also ready for kids of our own and I need to lose about 100 more pounds before a healthy pregnancy is possible. So I really need to make a decision … I have told a few people here and there that I am considering this and have gotten mixed reviews. Of course, I am not the kind of person to let others make up my mind for me, but part of me does wonder if I can do it without the surgery. I have already lost 65 pounds. The logic I have been hearing is "why can’t you just keep doing what you’re doing?" I can feel myself chickening out. I guess I am just not 100% confident that this is a last resort for me. I have dieted in the past, lost weight and gained it back, but I am second-guessing whether or not I really gave it my all. Did anyone else go through this stage fright before having the VGS, and if so how did you overcome it? Any thoughts at all are welcome. I am just scared. Thank you all for reading this.

Thanks for the feedback! I am still in my 6 month pre-op diet stage, and I probably wont be getting the surgery until August. I figure if I do most of my planning now, I can focus on healing and just tweaking the wedding stuff during those in between months after surgery. The dress would be the very last thing on my to-do list .... :wub:

Hey, all. I am pre-op and just got engaged over Christmas break - so now I am trying to plan this whole timeline thing. Do you think 6 months post-op would be too soon to have the wedding? What has been your experience 6 months out? I want cake and champagne!!! Thanks for your input, Amy