slojo

Hi all..New to this site. Let me introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth and I am 48 years old. Been married for 30 years (in April) I am a night L&D nurse. Have struggled with my weight all my life..I know just like most of us have LOL!
 
Today is the beginning of week 2 post op for me. I have my sleeve placed on 8/29/12. I was in the hospital for 2 very long nights. It started of as a early day getting to the hospital at 0530, surgery start time was 0730. Met with my surgeon and my anesthesia guys that I was fortunate to pick ( I am a nurse at the hospital). So I know I was in good hands. Being a nurse does have it advantages but in my case I was really nervouse because I know just a little to much about what goes on LOL. Anyway, I was given Versed before going to the OR..It is a med used to relax you, which I needed. Only remember being in the OR for maybe 3 minutes and the rest is a blank...
 
Woke up in recovery with only a quick second of feeling nauseous and that was it. I was in recovery for about 5 hours while they tried to get the previous patient out of my room hehe Why would anyone like to stay longer than they have too? Moved to my room and did really well. My doctor does not believe in his patients being in pain and gave me meds round the clock and then extra was available if needed.
 
After day one I had to do a swallow study and I passed thank heavens..My mouth was as dry as a desert. Started off with 1 oz of water for 4 hours, then 2 oz for 4 hours then I could drink as much as I could tolerate...I have to say that first sip of water was the best water I have ever tasted..
 
Been doing really well the first week. Kind of tired from no rest at the hospital ; / Still sore but getting better by the day. Have had no problems with nausea or vomiting. I do have to say that yesterday I had a weird experience. I took my dog to training for the first time since surgery. I was there for maybe 10 minutes and all of a sudden I got the worst stomach pain, broke into a cold sweat and had to leave. I didnlt know if I was going to be sick or worse...the other end...TMI? Barely made it home and since I have been kind of queazy. had some SF pudding last night and I tolerated it well..This AM I am feeling the same, just kind of queazy, crampy like...
 
I am so looking forward to eating a soft diet, I go back to work next Wed night. I want to start eating a little before going back to work to make sure I tolerate it OK.. Looking forward to getting to know everyone and sharing their VGS journey with them...
 
Much love,
Elizabeth

I weighed this am and have lost 11lbs since 1 wk before surgery (2 weeks ago)! I'm thrilled. I can tell my pants are looser and upper abd less puffy! Yay for me!

As always, I have made my neighbors wonder how I ever got out of the mental institute. At least this time, I didn't flash some poor, unexpecting man my boobs...though he really did seem to enjoy that. No, today I did that thing that we all do sometimes when we are working out. I forgot I was in public. Not only was I in public, it was 7am and there were TONS of people out walking (their dogs or themselves).
 
Before I went on my 2mile walk (yes, two miles...thank you...thank you...thank you...you can hold your applause now LOL) I decided to add some old CDs that I had found to my phone so that I would have something different to listen to as I walked. Great idea right? This would help motivate me, get me moving a little faster, and help keep me walking more than I have been. Well, that's all true. EXCEPT one thing....I forgot how much I enjoyed some of these tunes. So, not only was I singing along as I walked (I tried to stop when I saw someone coming), I was also doing that upper body dance thing with my arms....you know the one right? It's when you start moving your arms and bobbing up and down?! But, that wasn't the worst part, the worst was when I decided to get my legs involved. Apparently, I didn't think putting one foot in front of the other was good enough. Nope, I thought it would be neat to do a little side step ever once and a while....as well as some some back and forth foot work. This wouldn't have been too bad except I got caught BIG time. Not just by the person in front in me walking their dog, but also by the man driving behind me. I have no idea how long either one was there. The BEST part of the whole thing was watching the man walking directly toward me get the look on his face as to say, "what is wrong with her" and ever so slowly cross the road for no other reason to get away from me. And yes, I made sure to say, "Hello" as I passed. I thought about stopping and petting the dog, but I didn't want to be sprayed with mace. LOL
 
After being caught twice in a matter of seconds, I decided that I should stop my dancing and focus on walking. That was all well and good until "Brown Eyed Girl" came on. Something took over and I was unable to control myself. The words came pouring out of my mouth and my arms and shoulders started going. That is until I noticed an older woman walking her dog and another man attempting to control his dog. It was barking and attempting to break away in an attempt to get to me...and it didn't appear that he wanted to give me lovings. Apparently dogs are not very fond of my singing ability. Damn, and I was planing on auditioning for the Voice next year....LOL.
 
Now that I am home, safe and sound. I have decided that going for my walk in the morning is not the best idea. I think I will leave the walking to the afternoon or evening when there are less people out there to scare. I mean come on, I've got to maintain some type of normalcy....or at least pretend to. Now excuse me as I go turn up Price and dance around the house like the Dancing Queen I (think) am.

Well, I am home from the hospital, yay! (I got to leave day 2) The staff and hospital were really wonderful but like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home". I am so thankful for my family and friends being so supportive. It is so surreal now, if it wasn't for the pain I wouldn't be able to tell I had it done. I say that because I haven't had to eat anything, so I don't realize I am taking in less to eat. Towards the end of the liquid diet I was so sick of the same thing I would not eat because the thought made me depressed or nauseous. So I still am on the liquid diet and looking forward to getting off it. I abhor vomiting so I have been really cautious as far as my intake of 4oz per hour. As far as the pre-op liquid diet I did cave on day 10 and had 2oz of chicken and 6 chicken nuggets, I just couldn't take it anymore. I have no regrets because the chicken was fabulous but I did force myself to vomit some of it up because I was worried about the food being inside me so close to my surgery. I don't reccommend my behavior to any one but I wanted to be honest. I am experiencing some pain but nothing my pain meds don't take care of. What truly amazed me was right after surgery my high blood pressure was gone. I was convinenced that they were giving me iv meds for it but no they weren't. I have had high blood pressure since I was 19 or 20 years old and now it just up and left me. It's just miraculous. I think it is going to take some time to adjust to everything. I did lose 13 pounds from the liquid diet so that is a plus. The one fear that has its grip into me is that I won't lose the weight. What if I did all this and don't lose any weight? That thought alone just gives me the creeps! Well, good luck to all of you on your journey. God bless us all!

So I was scheduled to have lap-band surgery Aug 28th with Dr. Almanza 45 min before the procedure they asked me if I wanted to change to VSG and i said YES! I had thought of changing but thought I was obligated (and had only paid) for the lap-band. They recommended the VSG over lap-band very highly and I changed to VSG. I'm glad i did, and am glad they let me. The experience there was great. I didin't get to stay at the recovery house (remodelling) but the clinica was exceptionally clean, staff was VERY attentive (i'm a RN) and i was very impressed with the care and cleanliness of the facilities. It's not fancy mind you, but it was a very good experience. Close and personal care is what i received. Never got in severe pain post op, meds brought every 4 hours on the money every-time... I would recommend this facility and Dr. Almanza to anyone who is considering VSG. THanks for reading my jumbled thoughts, kinda tired will post more some other time on the experience...