2BSkinny

Wow! You look awesome, so healthy and happy. Congratulations on your accomplishment and best wishes on the rest of your journey. Lisa

Congratulations! I'm just a few pounds ahead of you and you're right, it feels amazing! Best Wishes, Lisa

Wow! I've never seen so many great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

Hello. I was sleeved 10/26/10 and last night experienced THE WORST acid reflux of my entire life. I had minor acid reflux with all three of my pregnancies, with the last one being over 5 years ago, but I have never had it when I wasn't pregnant. (I am NOT currently pregnant) This came completely out of the blue and kept me up all night and I still don't feel quite right. Here are all the crazy little details... - 4 days ago I began taking prilosec OTC because I am always "starving" and food doesn't always go down well (I took it for the first month after surgery then stopped) - Here's what I ate all day 1/2 South Beach Crispy Meal Bar (Peanut Butter chocolate) very small salad with a few bites of romaine, 1 plum tomato and 3 oz. turkey with light ranch dressing 1 light peach yogurt cup 3-4 oz. Outback special steak around 2 oz. Outback barbeque chicken breast 1 bite of Outback bread with butter 1 miniature cream puff 8 oz. diet tea Lots of Water - This is what I took to combat the reflux to no avail... 6 Tums Ultra Strength (over 8 hour period) Lots of Maalox Advanced Maximum Strength - drank straight from the bottle out of desperation 1 prilosec OTC taken just before bed (the acid reflux began shortly after going to sleep) Do you have any suggestions for me as to what could have caused this now, at this point 3 1/2 months after surgery? My food yesterday was certainly not what I would consider to be fatty. I actually felt really good about my food choices. Also, could this be a symptom of something bigger? Is this normal? Are there any other OTC meds you can recommend? Has anyone else experienced this? Do you think I'll have the same problem tonight? For Breakfast I ate a small banana and it went down fine. I'm afraid to eat lunch. Sincerely, Lisa

Wow, that must have been tough. At least your "binge" was small in quantity thanks to your sleeve. Lisa

Sorry, I don't have a recipe for you. Just thought I'd give you a suggestion of something to try....

I'm hooked on the South Beach Living Crispy Meal Bars. They are all good but I especially like the Chocolate Peanut Butter. They are packed full of nutrients, 12 grams of protein, have 180 calories, 5 grams of sugars and 25 grams carbs. I know the carb count could be better but I have not had a problem losing weight eating this bar everyday for breakfast.

Best wishes on your upcoming surgery! I understand your reluctancy after so many cancellations, but stay positive. It WILL happen this time. Lisa

Your family is beautiful, both then and now! Your information and kind words are appreciated by many. And, it's great to see a fellow military wife on here. Lisa

Tomorrow will be my 3 month "surgiversary" and to date I have averaged a loss of 2-3 lbs. per week. This week I have lost SIX pounds! For 13 weeks I've been reading about how the weight can just fall off of people and it has NEVER happened to me until now. My loss has been slow and steady and over time I convinced myself to be ok with that. And I still am. But....to actually experience a week of great loss like so many others has given me a renewed sense of confidence and a tremendous amount of JOY! Those of you fellow slow and steady losers just hang in there. I am proof that at 3 months out, doing nothing differently, you CAN have an awesome week!

That is SO AWESOME! You must feel great.

I'm almost exactly where you are and also feel like I'm in the "slow loser" category. My surgery was 10/26 and I weighed in at 232. Today I'm at 198. As nice as it would be to be a "fast loser", I'm counting my blessings that my skin is given every possible opportunity to tighten up as I lose. At least we are in the 100's!

Hi. It's good to hear from a local! At NMCP you will be treated just as though you are having a bypass. Right down to signing all the consent forms that say RNY Bypass no fewer than 20 times. I took the time to cross each one off and handwrite sleeve above. Everyone I saw mentioned that I would be having a bypass and I had to correct people over and over again. Fortunately, Dr. Mann remembered I was having a sleeve. I think this was the last thing I spoke to him about before I was put to sleep. My medical card issued after surgery says that I've had a gastric bypass. I didn't bother crossing it out but don't be surprised if people fail to recognize the sleeve as an independent, DIFFERENT surgery from the bypass. Dr. Mann is known to be a fantastic surgeon. He is the most experienced at NMCP and is known within the medical community, both civilian and military, as one of the best around. I felt comfortable with him and he did a good job. As of 10/26, the day of my surgery, he had never had a patient with a leak. I'm guessing he still hasn't, but this hasn't come up when I've seen him since then. Here are some issues that I've had. First of all, the rooms are not private. I had a friend who recently had a bypass at Chesapeake Regional Med. Center and had a private room. You can have up to 3 roommates. In ICU I had one roommate who had family/friends in and out all day and night and had her tv on nearly full blast all night. I was very sick while I was there and thought I'd lose my mind with all the chaos and noise. After 18+ hours of enduring this misery, I politely asked the nurse if she could ask the lady on the other side of the curtain to turn her tv volumn down. She agreed and I finally managed to vomit blood and feel like I was dying in a little quieter environment. I spent about 26-27 hours in ICU and was then moved to the regular floor. They only have 1 room for all bariatric patients and it has 4 beds. From what I understand they are usually full. I happened to get that room to myself and considered myself lucky. I never once turned on the tv, the noise really bothered me. Also, I couldn't focus my eyes on my books and magazines I brought. I was discharged about 76 hours after checking in and it couldn't have come soon enough. I spent nearly the entire time alone. My hubby had to take care of our kids and all their many activities near our home in VB, about an hour to 90 minutes away from the hospital depending on traffic. I'd recommend lining up someone to be with you much of the time. I would have loved to have had more help. This should not be an issue for you but I wasn't given a post-op appointment until 3 weeks after surgery. That was entirely too long to wait. I had minor complications that could have been easily cleared up if I could have seen Dr. Mann earlier. He didn't have any openings during my weeks 1 and 2 post op and was on vacation during week 3. Like I said, this shouldn't happen to you but I suffered unnecessarily due to the exceptionally long wait. Without going into details, I don't love the program there. My care has been good and I would definitely recommend Dr. Mann, though the program itself needs some work. Best wishes to you! Keep me updated on your surgery and feel free to contact me if you have specific questions! Lisa

I had my sleeve performed on Oct 26th at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth by Dr. Mann. Someone else on this thread mentioned the program at NMCP. There are 3 or 4 surgeons who perform bariatric surgeries, but Dr. Mann is the only one who has performed or will perform a sleeve. He usually provides this surgery only as stage one of a two step surgery for those who are too heavy to safely undergo a bypass. I was convinced the sleeve was for me and he "caved" . The NUT, Psych, bariatric case manager, etc... all thought I didn't know what I was talking about when I said I was having a sleeve, that he hardly performs them and he certainly wouldn't perform one on me with a bmi of 40. I guess I "got lucky". Anyway, it IS possible to have a sleeve at Portsmouth. It's just very rare. If anyone has any specific questions for me about my experience with Tricare, Dr. Mann or NCMP, I'm happy to help! Lisa

Hi. My surgery was 10/26/10 and today is my 6 week "surgiversary". To date I have only lost 16 lbs. About 5 lbs. of that has come off in the last week since I've INCREASED my intake to closer to 1,000. So, I went from 232 to 221 in 5 weeks. I didn't really lose much of anything for the first couple weeks. I could totally have lost more weight faster without the surgery! Though my progress has been VERY SLOW, my surgeon assures me that there is nothing wrong with me and the weight WILL come off. I was just as scared and frustrated as you. Just hang in there and things will get better! Lisa

Hello Rhonda. My 4 week anniversary is coming up on Tuesday, so this is all pretty fresh for me. I would say that everything you are doing "helps" relieve the trapped air, but in my experience only time gets rid of it completely. You might want to try sipping some warm tea. I began feeling better at about day 5 and by day 7 it was gone. I promise it gets better! Best Wishes! Lisa

Thank you, Donnie, for the words of encouragement. I am now 3.5 weeks out and am doing much better now. I weighed this morning and have now dropped 14 lbs. since my day of surgery. At this point I can almost finally say that "I love my sleeve"!

Wow, Estrellita, your post is amazing. Though I was only sleeved 22 days ago and I haven't necessarily suffered from the depression (yet), I can totally identify with much of what you said. I knew before hand that this surgery was, in and of itself, not a cure for obesity but rather a tool. Well, my tool is definitely helping but I'm one of the unlucky few that has physical hunger throughout the day. The head hunger is also much more difficult than I had anticipated. I seriously thought that when I felt full I would NOT want more food. Before the surgery, when I stuffed my face I didn't even want to look at food for a few hours. I was counting on that full feeling helping me put the fork down and NOT WANT any more. Well, instead I feel sick and put the fork down but I still WANT to eat. Much more difficult than I had anticipated. Thank you so much for posting your experience. Best Wishes, Lisa

Hi. I, too, am a military spouse and had surgery at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA on October 26th. Though I am not local, I am certainly happy to help you along the way via email, calls, etc... Best Wishes! Lisa

I cannot begin to tell you how comforting it is to hear others tell of having the same experiences I've had. My surgery date was 10/26 and I have struggled greatly with the hunger, etc... I had my first post-op appointment yesterday, after 3 weeks, and I've only lost 8 lbs. since the morning of my surgery. Not great numbers. My surgeon assures me that the weight will come off but it is difficult to believe when I see others losing 20-30+ lbs. in the first 3 weeks. I researched WLS for nearly 5 years, went to every class and support group around me and actually feel at the moment like I may not have made a good decision. I'm sure this will change over time and I cannot wait until I can say that "I love my sleeve"!

I was sleeved Oct 26th and have been eating mushies and very soft solids for the past week. My surgeon refused to put me on prilosec, or any other acid reducer for that matter saying there is no credible evidence that it helps after surgery, and I found that the hunger pangs I was experiencing were the worst I've ever felt. Additionally, the protein drinks that I drank before surgery made my dry heave simply at the smell. My post-op appointment was scheduled for 21 days after surgery so I couldn't easily discuss these issues with my surgeon. I did what I had to do to survive. I bought Prilosec OTC and began taking that. It has helped with some of the extreme hunger pangs. I started with blended soups and progressed within a couple days to regular soup, eggs, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, yogurt, cheese, rice, pasta and even beef and chicken that I chew thoroughly before swallowing. I'm eating between 400-600 calories per day and am not losing anything. Today is my 2 week anniversary and I have only lost about 7 pounds since surgery. Basically, I haven't lost anything since I've been home from the hospital on day 3. Chfroman, I feel your pain. I'm not sure this is going so well for me either. My water/fluid intake is ok, but could be better. I'm averaging around 32-40 oz. per day. Please, please, if you have any advice for me, let me know!!!!