joatsaint

1. I can tell my pouch is full when I start burping. I have to take small bites - about a teaspoon - to keep from getting overfull. I don't have a warning sign that I'm getting "close" to being full. It's take a bite, I'm okay, take a bite, I'm okay, take a bite, I'm full. 2. I don't know if you can get full on fluids, I haven't ever felt that way, but I am sure it can be done. Everyone's different. 3. It is normal for me to go 4 - 5 days and the scale not move. I don't worry about it. At 7 weeks out, I've gone through it enough times that I know it's just my body readjusting to the reduced calorie intake. 4. It might be okay to eat marinara sauce. Everyone's stomach is different. I still can't eat anything with sucralose or sugar alcohols - sugar free Jell-O, sugar free popsicles, G2 Gatorade. I created my own stomach test for new foods. I take a bite, about 1/2 teaspoon, wait 5 minutes for any signs my stomach doesn't like it, take another 1/2 teaspoon and wait another 5 minutes. If my stomach isn't rumbling in that 10 minutes, I can eat it. 5. I haven't had an pains around my incisions, but during the 1st week I could feel a pulling sensation inside when I lay the wrong way on the bed. 6. Didn't experience that, sorry I can't help with that one.

I had just turned 46 when I was sleeved back in Dec. I thought I might be too old to get sleeved, but the alternatives was to live a shorter life and have a lower quality of life. I knew that I couldn't keep on going the way things were and at this point in my life, if I hadn't lost the weight on my own, I needed help.

Should this thread be made a sticky?

Congrats dude! Keep on pimpin your sleeve.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do well. I was #2 on my surgeons list on surgery day, so I didn't really know when he'd get to me. So I know how you're feeling. I lay on the gourney and just did a lot of deep breathing exercises. Fortunately, the hospital allowed my friends to wait with me in the pre-op waiting room until I was wheeled in.

Thanks MrsGina for your post. I read lots of posts to get a feeling for what to expect, but I still went in with blinders on. Hoping that I'd be one of those that breezed through surgery and recovery. I didn't have any complications, but I wasn't prepared for the pain I had for the 7 days post-op. My pain meds didn't do a thing to relieve what I was feeling. But I'd still do it all over again, as long as I didn't know what kind of pain was coming my way.

I guess I got lucky on the 1st try. I bought some of the EAS dutch chocolate carb control drinks at Walmart and liked them, but they are a little watery for my taste. I had a bag of chocolate Meal Replacement already and just tossed in 1 scoop of that. It made a very thick great tasting shake. You might try something similar.

I haven't had any hunger feelings in the 6 weeks since surgery. I do get grumblings from my stomach that tell me it's empty, but I don't have that old feeling of my head saying, "Hey we need to eat, hey we need to eat." Sometimes I catch myself eating out of habit, but it's just that a habit, not head hunger. And with the sleeve, I don't eat more than 4 oz. or so over a 15 - 20 minute period.

Thanks for the updates. Posts from long term sleevers like you really help keep my spirits up when the scale isn't moving for me.

Don't worry about asking these kind of questions (just visit the ladies or men's sub-forums and you'll see :-P). I can guarantee you that someone out there is wondering the same thing. And I can tell you I HAD the same kind of bumps. They were like a swollen pimple that wouldn't pop. About the size of a green pea. I'm only 6 weeks out and mine have gone away.

For the 1st week post-op, I kept having the same post-apocalyptic dream. I was taking some kind of psychological test. The group leader was testing to see who would fit into his team that was trying to rebuild society. There was a 2nd one where I was uploading videos to some site like Youtube, but it was taking forever for the upload to complete. I knew I was in the dream, but I couldn't make it stop! I hated that dream. And I was very uncomfortable during the 1st week. I had to basically sleep propped up like in the hospital bed. If I lay down, I would feel lots of pulling internally.

I only told 3 people. My best friend - because it was going to effect our eating out at buffets on the weekends. And my parents - because I eat lunch with them on Sundays and mom is going to wonder why I suddenly started eating less than my dad. Other than that, I don't feel the need to tell anyone.

I found your 31 lbs and introduced it to one of the brooms the Swiffer replaced, he's a chubby chaser. They are very happy together.

You go girl! Lookin great.

Congrats on doing so well.

Congrats on your loss! Sometimes it just takes patience. Keep rockin that sleeve.

Good luck. I was nervous and excited as well, right up to the time they rolled me into the operating room. Although I think I was in some kind of denial right up to the point when they put me under.

I have a CPAP and get dry mouth almost every night. But it has been happening since I started using the CPAP machine 3 years ago. I just figured it was normal.

I didn't have one last pig-out. The food is what got me where I am now. One of my biggest joys was my 1st post-op trip to the buffet. I was so happy that I could only eat 1/2 of a small piece of steak, 3/4 of a slice of pizza, and a couple teaspoons of mashed potatoes, while my friend (who's thin) was piling up his plate (twice). In the past, I'd weigh as much as 3 lbs more, the next day, after a trip to the buffet.

I'm happy to hear about your success and becoming one of "them" - the skinny people :-P. Thanks for you post. It's good to hear about what it's like for long term WLS patients and how their lives have improved.

In my 1st 6 days, I probably didn't eat 6 sugar free popsicles. It does get better and you will be able to eat more, it just takes time. Just keep drinking your liquids so you don't get dehydrated.

Recovery time? What recovery time? The doc was moving too slow for my taste so I just finished my sleeving myself. Go up and did a PX90 workout!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously though, I have a desk job and went back on day 10. But I probably could have gone back on day 7.

Good luck on your journey. I am very happy with my sleeve. It has "cured" my constant hunger problem. I noticed a long time ago that no matter how big a meal I had, I'd be hungry again in about 2 hours. I rarely ate "bad" foods, I just ate large quantities of food - like grilled chicken breast, lean pork loin, tons of vegetables. The sleeve stopped that nagging sensation. I don't have the feeling of hunger anymore. It is still possible to eat bad foods and take in excess calories, many on here report that they initially still have problems with food cravings after the sleeve. So I would think about where your calories are coming from and where your hunger feelings initiate - in your stomach or your head. You will have to make the commitiment to make better food choices. The sleeve will cut the amount of food you can eat at one sitting, but it won't control what kind of food you are eating.

Hang in there and stick with it. Your weight gain could be attributed to several factors, including the replacement of glycogen stores. Many people on here say your body stores 4oz or water for each 1 oz of glycongen stored. If you stick to your 450-700 calories a day, your body may fight to hang onto every calorie it can. But eventually it will have to burn those calories for fuel. I was stuck for about 8 days during my 3rd week. Weight wouldn't come off at all, then I had a MASSIVE POOP and was down over a pound that day. :-P Since then, I know that I've had at least one other week where I was stuck at a certain weight for the week, then the weight just started falling again.

Hoping you have great success on your journey. I liken WLS patients to any other addiction groups like AA/EA or drug addiction. Until you've experienced the control food has over your life, you can't relate to it. So just do what you need to do to get better. I have never felt the need to tell anyone that didn't need to know about the surgery. But if I'm ever in a position that I have to disclose, I'm just going to tell them that I had my gall bladder removed or had a hernia repaired. And if they ask about the dramatic weight loss, I'm going to tell them that Oprah inspired me! :-O Sorry I wasn't able to write this out any clearer, but the right words just wouldn't come.