skeebo

I am totally frustrated with my surgery! Two weeks after surgery I was down 10 lbs. As soon as I went off full liquids, the weight started to return. I followed the program faithfully through Thanksgiving and kept gaining. At 3 lbs from my surgery weight, it stopped and is back down to 6-8 lbs below surgery weight! I absolutely have not been eating enough to gain weight. I have never felt as much restriction as I expected. I can eat anything I want and if I eat slowly, I could eat at much as I wanted, but hold myself to prescribed amounts. I do not know what is going on. The doctor is not much help. Haven't seen him since just prior to the surgery. He did not come to the hospital nor my follow up office visit. They had me phone in my weight for my one month check up and did not schedule another visit. I do not know what to do. I am 58 and only had 50 lbs to lose at the time of surgery. I did not go through all of this to stay at the weight I had achieved on my own prior to surgery. I had lost 50 lbs on my own. Sorry to give in to such a rant, but I am so frustrated. I am struggling not to return to the old eating habits. Grazing will do me in if I don't get a grip on this frustration! Thank you so much for listening!!

Thank you for your post. I had not had any previous wls surgery. I was sleeved Oct. 11th and BCBS paid for the surgery. I don't know what sleeve size he used, never occurred to me to ask. I was given a notebook outlining preop and postop care and protocols. His office staff was helpful when I called them, but it always took them a while (1-2 days) to return my calls. I only called a couple of times. I did see a nutritionist after surgery and she was very helpful. I guess I'll just have to return to the diet I was on prior to surgery which was 2 Protein shakes/day and one small meal. Think my expectations were too high or unrealistic. .

Tiffykins, you don't know what an encouragement you are! I can always count on you to lift me up. I had surgery Oct. 11th and have only lost about 10lbs. I also go up and down, especially since I started eating regular food! You made me realize that I am back to a fairly high sodium diet w/ too many carbs. I too am a "lightweight" having only about 40-50lbs still to lose and it is hard to come to grips with the fact that I am not going to lose quite as fast. I lost 50 lbs pre-surgery and expected it to come off at the same rate. Wrong!! Again, thanks for the reality check. I always look forward to your entries because I know that will be straightforward, yet encouraging!!

I am so excited. I am three weeks out, but have lost 55 lbs since I started the process back in Feb. The other day I went to the school where I used to teach and a group of kids (high school!!) walked up and said "Mrs. B. is that really you..you look so awesome" One of the girls said, "you look 10 years younger!" Needless to say, I floated down the hall to the teacher's lunchroom where I was meeting with friends. I got such positive reinforcement and I really needed it. I am sooooo tired of liquids, but am afraid of mushies. I have had absolutely no problems so far and despise throwing up, so I am extremely cautious. I think, with the encouragement I received, that I can continue on for the next 60 lbs that I need to lose. I also want to thank all of you who participate on this forum. I could not have made the journey so far without your posts and encouragement! Just wanted to share my "high".

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I am only 3 weeks out, but my dr. told me that anytime I had a change in the way food was going down (more than a couple of times in a row) to call the office. I make scar tissue easily and he said that although he didn't anticipate problems, he wanted to catch anything early! Call your doc!! That's why they make the big bucks!!! Hope things get better very soon.

I had surgery on October 11th in Plano. The surgery went well. I spent 2 nights in the hospital and was released on the 3rd day with instructions to schedule an appt. in 1 week. I never saw my doctor after the surgery, just his PA. The nurse pulled my drain tube after discussion with the PA because the RN had never sent a patient home w/out a drain. I did fine, but was not reassured. I went in for my check up after 10 days; again no doctor, just the PA. They weighed me and then sat a talked for a while. They never looked at my incisions, took a blood pressure, listened to my heart or gut or anything. Just said to stay on liquids for another week and not to do any abdominal workouts for a couple of weeks! Is this normal? My doctor comes highly recommended even by my personal physician, although after my experience I don't know that she will recommend him to anyone else! I don't want to be a drama queen or whiney baby, but this seems a little strange to me. Confused in Texas!!

I loved your post. The experience w/ your children and grandchildren touched a cord w/ me. A year ago I weighed 246 lbs. My daughter and her husband took my 4 grandkids on their first trip to Disney World. I wanted to go so badly and offered to pay my own way so I could share the experience. Although my daughter wanted me to be with them, she said that I could not go because this was the only trip they could probably ever afford and she had it scheduled very tightly so they could get the most bang for their buck! She said that I could not keep up with them and might cause them to miss some events. As much as it hurt to hear that, I new she was right. Right then I vowed never to go through that again and miss important moments in life. I started the sleeve process. It was a long frustrating journey with the insurance, but after losing 50 lbs on my own, I was sleeved 2 weeks ago!! I have absolutely no regrets. I have lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks and need to lose at least 50 more. I have a new granddaughter and am excited by the thought that she will never know a "fat" grandmother!!! I think my weight loss will also be fairly slow, but "slow and steady wins the race!" God bless you and thanks for the encouragement. Enjoy those grandkids!!!

Lana, Thanks so much. I did use Dr. Nick and have been happy. Maybe he is on vacation or something. I don't seem to be having any problems and am doing what he said during pre-op consultations. I would love to attend the support group, but I live 70 miles away and it coincides w/ church activities. Thank you for your encouragement. I really needed to hear from a Dr. Nick patient. Thank you again.

Thank you so much. I needed your story today. I am 10 days out and have had my day of crying and buyer's remorse. I am past that now and glad that I had this done. I started at 246 and was 198 the day of surgery. My pre-op nurse tried to talk me out of the surgery!!!! I do not regret it, but was in need of the encouragement of your post as I move toward "regular" food. I went out to eat with my son and husband 2 days ago. I had no idea that a bowl of egg drop soup could taste soooo good. Only hassle was when I asked the waitress to please take it back and have it strained, (I was only 9 days out). You would have thought that I had asked to have it totally redone!!! She finally brought it back and it was wonderful. It was so hard to leave her a tip!! lol. Anyway, again thank you so much for your encouragement. You have helped me take another step forward!!!

Best of luck to you. You have made a great decision. I am one week out and am feeling great today. You are about the same size that I was. I weighed 198.1 the morning of surgery and weighed 204 the day I came home. That is normal!!! If I hadn't read about the fluid weight gain before I had surgery, I would have freaked out!!! I wish the very best for you. It is a journey, but well worth it. I have 2 more weeks of liquids only then some very soft foods. Although I am not hungry, I am ready to break the monotony. HOpe all goes well for you. Will be praying for an easy recovery!!

Had my sleeve on Monday!! It went so well. I stayed an extra day in the hospital, but no real problems. Am having some problems with pain today, but nothing unbearable. Amazingly, I have had no diabetes meds since Sunday the 10th and my sugar levels are completely normal!!! Praise God. This is why I had the surgery. Can't wait until things return to "normal" and I can get on with life. I underestimated how much time it would take for me to feel okay. Just gotta take it slow for another week. Good luck to all of you who are still waiting.

Getting Sleeved tomorrow by Dr. Nicholson in Plano. I am feeling the full range of emotions from anxiety to exhilaration. Told my parents this morning. Huge mistake!!!!! However, at 58 I need to get over seeking their approval, hence some of my weight issues. I am looking forward to a new confident me and sincerely hope and pray this I have made the correct decision. Will keep you posted.

I have recently started doing the same thing except that I am lazy and use the Steamables cauliflower w/ garlic. I add a small amount of fat free sour cream instead of butter.

Hey, only 10 more days! I am having a lot of problems with nausea the last couple of days. I tend to have extreme problems with nausea and vomiting after surgery regardless of what they give me. I am really nervous that if I am having problems like this on the pre-op diet, what will it be like post surgery. Any input?

I was also out of control w/ the idea of "I must eat while I can" I started my pre-op liquid diet w/ one Atkins type meal per day. I have very few hungry days!! This is my second trip through pre-op diet due to a last minute insurance denial then 6 mos. they reversed themselved after appeal! It has been a terrible emotional rollercoaster, but the end is in sight. Only 11 more days!! Hope you get some relief!

My doctor has me on 4 glucerna shakes (I am type II diabetic) and one meal of 5 oz of lean meat + 2 cups of non starchy veggies per day. The weight is coming off without exercise and I am 58, so my metabolism is pretty slow. If you are not diabetic, he recommends 5 Slim Fast shakes per day + the meal. Hope this helps and good luck to you. Hang in there... you are sooooooo worth it!!!

My date is also Oct. 11th. I am emotionally ready I think. My pre-op diet is playing havoc w/ my blood sugar, but my diabetes is the main reason I'm having the surgery. At the rate I'm going, I will weigh under 200lbs when I go into surgery. My son is freaking out because he thinks I can just continue to lose weight on my own and not have the surgery. I know myself and I will not be able to maintain this. After nearly 30 years of being obese to morbidly obese, I am ready for this. Glad that I do not have to go out of country for surgery, but wish you the very best. Dr. Aceves ? must be really great based on all the posts on this site. Wishing the best for you and may God bless.

I am sooo glad that I found this sub-forum. I too struggled with feelings of guilt over opting for surgery. The Lord has given me peace through a couple of scriptures. The first, and I am paraphrasing both, is that "all wisdom and knowledge comes from the Lord". I believe that God gave the surgeons this knowledge to help us. It is how we use that knowledge to give glory to God. Also, "all things work together for good for them that love the Lord. If we give God praise and glory and use our journey to help others see God, then we are fulfilling his purpose for our lives. Sorry this post is so long, but I agonized over the spiritual aspects of this surgery before I was given this assurance. Thank God, my surgeon is a wonderful Christian man. That gives me peace. Best wishes to you.

Will be sleeved by Dr Nick Nicholson on October 11th! !Am excited, scared, nervous... you name it. This is also the first blog I have ever participated in and that is scary. I have started my pre-op diet, but have done it before in Feb. when I first started the process. BC/BS denied the procedure and about the time I wrapped my head around that after losing 35 lbs on my own, they came back and approved it!! What a roller coaster. Took me another month to work up the nerve again. Am supposed to start caring for my 2 month old granddaughter the first of November. Do you think I will be up to it? That is my main concern. I have about 60-70 lbs. to lose and hopefully it will resolve my type II diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, bad knees, etc. Thank everyone for posting on this site. It has given me the encouragement that I have needed to move forward with this life-altering decision.

I'm on my 2 week pre-op diet..glucerna shakes and 1 Atkins type meal per day. Yesterday I thought I would starve, but today I had 3 oz fish and 2 cups of steamed cabbage. I feel like I am going to explode. I am sooooo full. Wondering if my stomach is shrinking somewhat and if this is one purpose of the pre-surgery diet. Also, my doctor prescribes a Scopalomine patch 2 days prior to surgery. This is making me nervous as I had Scopalomine during the delivery of my daughter and it made me a crazy person... out of my head with delusions etc.. Should I tell my doctor and has anyone else had a reaction to this drug. I am terrified of vomiting after surgery. In previous surgeries, even with lots of anti-nausea drugs I was vomited repeatedly, for hours after the surgery. Any comments? Thanks:confused1:

Our journeys should be interesting. My surgery is the 11th. Right now, I am at 210, highest weight 246. Keep posting. I can't wait to share this journey. Good luck to you and May God bless.

Georgiegirl, Thank you so much for your encouragement. I really need this site. My husband is v"ery supportive and one of my kids, but the one with the baby does not want me to have the surgery. I have had to explain to him that although I love him and appreciate his concern, this decision must be mine and only for myself. Again, thank you for the support. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!