joatsaint

Good luck on your "adventure". If you have any questions, you can post them on the board or PM me. I'll be happy to share what I've learned these past 2 years post-op.

I had a sleep study. It was pretty simple. I had to stay the night twice. Once to determine if I had sleep apnea. The 2nd was to calibrate the CPAP machine. I had to stay the night at the facility - it was just an office that had 5 or 6 bedrooms. They were like hotel rooms with a bed, tv and shower/bathroom. I had to wear these tiny little sensors they glued to my scalp (no hair cutting involved! ), chest arms and legs. Each sensor had a little wire that ran back to a central box (about the size of a shoe box) that lay next to me on the bed. There was a camera monitoring my movements in my sleep. After they wired me up, I was left alone. I watched TV, read a little and went to sleep like normal. There was a buzzer to call for assistance if I needed help getting out of bed with all the wires. But I didn't have any problems with the wires or the sensors. The 2nd night (a couple of weeks later), I was wired up again and they put the CPAP machine on me. It was the best night of sleep I'd gotten in several years! I felt so good in the morning, I couldn't wait to start using my new CPAP daily. 10 months after VSG, I'd lost 130lbs and no longer needed the CPAP. ****Does Happy Dance****

Upper endoscopy, also known as EGD, is a pre-op test in which a thin scope with a light and camera at its tip is used to look inside the upper digestive tract. The doctor looks at your throat and stomach for anything that might need to be addressed before surgery can be scheduled or anything that might cause problems during surgery.

Hey guys, I just finished making my 2 year Surgerversary video. It wound up being much longer - 1 1/2 hours long - than I expected. I didn't know if I should upload the video as one long video or break it up into 20 - 30 minute segments in a playlist. So I thought I'd ask you guys what you preferred? Thanks for taking my poll.

Hang in there, it will get better. I promise. Once I committed to surgery, I vowed I'd go through whatever it took to be successful. I knew there was no turning back once my stomach was gone. So I might as well make the most of it. I have had people try to encourage me to eat the wrong things. Telling me, "Oh, just this one time won't hurt you." And I tried politely to refuse - 6 times. After the 6th time, I just got up and walked away. They just don't understand. Unfortunately, so much of our family and social life revolves around food. Make the Right Decision, Right Now. Because when you do, you'll discover what I believe... That change IS possible at ANY age and in ALL areas of life and in under EVERY circumstance. No matter how bad you feel it is going today, no matter what obstacles lay before, you CAN overcome these struggles.

Thanks for keeping us up to date. I know stalls can be frustrating. But you are doing the right thing by recommitting to your exercise and diet plan. Hang in there, you can do it. Small steps, doing the right things, all add up. This is your time to shine.

Congrats, you're doing great! Here's to a new life. Keep moving forward, one step at a time. Make the right decisions, lean on the right people. Live for the right goal. I believe in you. Your time is now!

It really depends on the person and how well the surgery goes. Many people report they were up and moving immediately after surgery. I wasn't up to walking more than a few minutes at at time for the 1st 2 weeks. The 3rd week was much better, but I didn't have a lot of energy. How active do you expect to be during the family vacation? Do you plan on a lot of sitting or is it going to be a very active vacation?

Thanks for letting us know. I've not heard of the Jay Robb brand before.

I never told my office. I used my 2 weeks of vacation to slip out and come back without anyone knowing. I was back at work with no problems within that time frame. But I was prepared for the worst as well, and if I needed to, get my doctor to provide a recommendation to stay off work longer. But other than the doctor saying I was out for a medical procedure, he was not required to spell out specifically why I was off work.

One of the things I'm doing to train myself to eat less, is to count how many bites of food I need to feel full. It will vary depending on the food, but in general, 9 to 10 teaspoon size bites will fill me up. Now that I know that, I try to stop after 7 or 8 bites. It's sometimes difficult to not take that 9th bite when I still have food on my plate. But it's getting easier.

If you can, do what I did to avoid seeing food. I didn't watch commercial TV. I loaded up my DVD player and watched movies and seasons of TV shows. I wanted to avoid thinking about food at all costs. And I too was angry. Don't know what I was angry about, but I really really wanted to fight everyone for those 1st 10 days post-op.

I too was cold for days after surgery. Probably had to do with the blood thinners in my system and the healing process. I was getting blood thinner shots before and after surgery, but I didn't have to take them once I was released. You might as well buy some long johns now. As you lose the weight, the skin is gonna get thinner. My feet and hands get cold very easy since the weight loss. I start wearing thermal underwear in October. It's a small price to pay. And just think of all that extra cash, between the money you save on lower food costs and lower electric bills in the summer! You'll be getting one heck of a Return on Investment from the money you spent on surgery. (Yes, I am so cheap that I calculated that the lowered food bills over 3 years would pay for my surgery.)

My stalls lasted from 1 to 3 weeks, when I was sticking to my recommended calories and foods. When I was... errrr... "experimenting" (experimenting: definition - eating stuff I wasn't supposed to eat) with new foods, and creating my stalls as a result, they would last until I cleaned up my eating habits.

It was weeks before I could take more than a sip every few minutes. For the 1st 6 months, Frankensleeve would only hold 4 ounces of liquids or food. So it took a long time to get back to drinking what I would consider a normal swallow. And by that time, I'd gotten used to my new "normal" amount I drank per swallow. I think I could safely take 4 swallows (on an empty stomach) at the 6 month mark. Now, it's just an unconscious habit - being mindful of how much I'm swallowing on a full or empty stomach.

That was normal for me as well. I felt bloated and had cramps whenever I would eat carby stuff like potatoes, bread, Pasta, and rice. It was almost a year post-op before I started tolerating those things well. I embraced the fact that Frankensleeve didn't like those things and focused on eating healthier choices. I never again wanted to start eating the things the put the weight on me in the first place.

Finally got everything uploaded. Here is a link for those that like their videos in a playlist. http://youtu.be/g5ZvSnWlEpo?list=PLYoG14FX5FCWW202OIdaS3NDXY82df5Gz Below are all the videos, for those that would like to stay watch them without going to Youtube.

Congrats on your 100lb loss. I remember how great it felt to cross that goal. After the 1st 100, I still had at least another 70 lbs to lose, just so I would consider myself an "average" size person. And I thought it would take forever to get there - but it really only took another 7 or 8 months. It's not much consolation, but I tried to remember how much I wasn't losing before surgery and back then, I would have been happy to lose any amount of weight on a consistent basis. Hang in there, you can do it.

Thanks heynowkc, My plan was to post it as 1 video and also to break it up into 6 or 8 short videos. But my computer crashes when it tries to make 1 long video. So I"m creating 15 minute videos and putting them in a play list. It's taking about 2 hours per 15 minute video to encode and upload to Youtube.

Hey guys, First off, I wanted to say thanks for all the support and information I've gotten from Bariatricpal and it's community. I've come to learn we all go through the same set of doubts and fears and worries - no matter what type of WLS we've had. So here's my attempt to try and pay if forward. I kinda shot myself in the foot, creating an hour and half long video that was 13 gigabytes in size. Processing a video that size has taken my computer days, not to mention the additional time it will take to upload to Youtube. So I've had to break it into segments. I've posted my body shot video 1st because it was the shortest video segment. I'm going to get more of the segments posted over the weekend - in a play list, but because of their size, I don't know how many I can get uploaded before Monday. UPDATE: ALL THE VIDEOS ARE UPLOADED! Finally got everything uploaded. Here is a link for those that like their videos in a playlist. http://youtu.be/g5ZvSnWlEpo?list=PLYoG14FX5FCWW202OIdaS3NDXY82df5Gz Below are all the videos, for those that would like to stay watch them without going to Youtube.

At 2 years post-op, I can still only eat 1 to 1/2 cups of protein/vegetables comfortably. It's been that way since my 1 year anniversary and has not increased. I had 2 points at which my sleeve seemed to relax and I could hold more. The 1st increase came at 6 months - I went from only being able to eat 1/2 cup per meal to being able to eat about 1 cup per meal. The 2nd point was at the 1 year mark - my intake increased to 1 to 1 1/2 cups. And has not changed since then. The density of the food makes a difference as to how much I can hold - beef, chicken, pork are the ones that fill me the quickest and stick with me the longest. Vegetables are less dense and I can hold more and don't stick with me as long as meat. But when you have the sleeve, they only trim away the stretchy part of the stomach, leaving the tough non-stretchy part of the stomach behind - so it's very tough to stretch out. Plus they do not reroute any of your intestines. During the DS part of the surgery they reroute the intestines.

Congrats on such a wonderful NSV! I've never skiied, not much chance to do it in Texas.

Thanks, Qtpie28

Thanks Jamie, I too like a playlist - sorta like the way a jukebox works. I play my movies the same way. Load up several on my computer and just let'em run all day. I use movies the way some people use the radio - as something in the background to casually listen to. Unless it's one I haven't seen before - then I have to sit still and watch. living55, thanks for the info. My intention was not really for someone to sit through the whole thing, but have it play in the background sorta like the radio while working around the house - since there's really not much to keep your eyes busy.