Sleevedreamz

I seriously feel like I am NEVER going to heal. Even throughout all of my issues I have been able to be thrilled that I had this surgery. I know that it will change my life, but in the meantime I keep having all of these isolated issues and I am so frustrated. I do NOT do pain. Self admittedly, I am a huge baby when I am sick, but this is just different. First my 1.5% rare reaction to the anesthesia that had me bed bound for almost a week, then I suffered from severe weakness, and then when I finally started feeling better last week I mopped my floor and held my 2 month old nephew and started having severe abdominal pain (which has only partially gone away, but has improved) and NOW as of Sunday around noon I started having SEVERE right sided flank pain. I have NEVER experienced this type of pain before and I have no idea what it is and I am just so SICK of feeling bad. I tried to lie down a few minutes ago and I literally could not lie down because the pain was so severe and I had to get up and get back in my recliner which is where I am now writing this post in tears. I just want to go to sleep and wake up and feel somewhat normal. I see all of these posts about people shopping and doing all of these normal tasks and that is ALL I want to do. Nothing crazy, no marathon weight lifting, or anything else that would be out of the ordinary. I JUST want to be able to climb in my car (which I tried to do earlier and could not get in bc of the pain) and go somewhere and get back to my life. This is driving me crazy. I have no idea what the problem could be, but it has certainly gotten worse since Sunday and I am so furious. Not to mention, I am supposed to start my new job in 3 weeks....3! If I can't start when I told them I will lose my job and this is the service I have been trying to get on with for an entire year. I will be devastated. I went from being such an active person to having to sit inside and stare at the TV for the last 3 weeks and it is just not working for me. I can't stand it. Has anyone else had this type of pain and if so, what was it? Sorry for the ranting, but I am seriously beside myself with angst. I am always able to be positive and I have been up until just now. Even when I was lying in the hospital bed unable to move my body at all because of my reaction during surgery, I had a huge smile on my face because I knew I had so much to look forward to. Now, I am just starting to think I'm never going to get better. Everyone else (other than the unlucky few) seem to be doing so well after only a few days and I've had 3 weeks. I feel like I'm never going to stop crying. I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep and wake up tomorrow with no pain.

Our grocery bills are 1/3 of what they used to be. Hope it eventually works out that way for you too.

What did everyone else lose by the time they were 6 weeks out? After I was hospitalized (unrelated to surgery) I feel like my weight loss has all but stopped. I've lost 24 lbs, but 18 of it was in the first month. I am aware, before anyone wishes to point it out for the sake of posting, that I can't compare myself or my loss to anyone else, but I just want to get an idea of where everyone else was at this point. Due to the fact that I had a super slow recovery and was in the hospital I haven't worked out at all so I am confident that my new work out routine will at least put me back in the game if I am off track. Thanks!

Surgery date 9/4 Starting weight:237 Current weight:215 Loss of: 22lbs

That's awesome. You look amazing! I am 4" shorter than you and 218lbs and I look nowhere near that great. Here's hoping!

You're welcome. I just hate to see people spend the money and think they are getting in their Protein when they aren't. I totally did the same thing. So frustrating because it is so hard to get it all in! The website for the Yes Whey: https://www1.bariatricadvantage.com/catalog

Hey guys. First, thank you all for your prayers and kind words. I was admitted after going to the ER on Tuesday and was in the hospital for 5 days. I was on IV morphine and dilaudid around the clock for my pain and on phenergan for my nausea. I had multiple tests ran to try to find the root of my problem. First they did an ultrasound (everything looked fine) & then they did a CT with contrast through my IV (everything looked fine). After my 2nd day there my surgeon was contacted and he immediately jumped in and wanted to make sure nothing was wrong from my surgery. He ordered another ultrasound and another CT with contrast, although this time I had to drink the contrast to make sure there was no leak. Both of these tests looked "beautiful" (my surgeon's words) and there was no leak. I was very happy that everything looked great, but extremely frustrated that they could not figure out what was going on. On a last ditch effort, they called in a disease control specialist to see if he could help with the diagnoses because there was clearly a problem. I was unable to sit down, lay down, stand, or walk without a nurse or my husband's assistance. It has been a horrible week to say the least. This has been the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced. Anyways, this doctor thinks that I have SHINGLES without the rash. So, I was discharged and started on antivirals plus a ton of pain meds to help with the pain. Please pray he is right because I'm so sick of being sick and in so much pain! My blood test did show I had elevated liver enzymes which was of some concern, but I will go back for another blood test this week to see if that has gone back down or if they need to dig further. Thanks again!

The slushy sounds good, but I wanted to make sure you guys know that those Protein tubes do not give you the protein you need. I made the same mistake because they say "whey" and I found out that any of those protein tubes at Walmart, etc. have collagen and other protein ingredients in them that our bodies can not absorb and uses. So, it is a huge waste of money and a big disappointment. If you want protein tubes, you can order them from Bariatric Advantage online and they are called Yes whey. Those are the ONLY tubes on the market that I know of that are actually made with 100% whey and not using all of the other stuff in them that we can't absorb and benefit from. Hope this helps. Good luck!

They actually thought it could be that, but my gallbladder, along with all of my other organs, looks great. They are just trying to figure out where this swelling is coming from or what is causing it. I will be glad when they do, but the good news is that my organs all look fine. No kidney or gallstones.

Also, please excuse my spelling and grammar errors just this once. My head is really foggy and my fingers don't exactly want to do what I want them to do.

Thanks to all for the well wishes. My hubby took me to the ER around 3p yesterday when he got off and aftwr running several tests they admitted me to the hospital for observation, pain management, and antibiotics. First of all I have a UTI, I'm mildly dehydrated, and the severe pain is coming from my kidney. The area around my kidney is swollen and the pain is now radiating from the right flank (around my kidney) to my upper right quadrant in my abdomen. They did blood work and there were some small abnormalities, but nothing too drastic and they also did a CT scan which showed no failure or swelling to my kidney at this time which is good news. The bad news is that they are unaware of what is cashing the swelling and severe pain around my kidney. They are stumped and of course I'm frustrated bc I want to know what is going on and how to fix it. They are wanting to do a couple days of antibiotics to see if that inadvertently helps with the pain bc there is a slight chance that the UTI is causing the swelling. Not likely bc the UTI isn't that severe, but weirder things have happened. So, all that said, I'm getting 4mg Morphine every 2 hours and Phenergan and IV antibiotics every 6. I'm typically very sensitive to pain meds, but the morphine is not touching my pain. It is very severe and very bizarre. The doctor, whom I've actually not seen today, refused to change my pain meds until he can speak to me tomorrow so while I'm getting some managemwnt of my pain I am disappointed that they aren't trying a little harder to control it. If it weren't for the phenergan, which knocks me out cold for about 3 hours at a time, I'd probably be much more miserable. I am hoping to get more answers soon, but I am at least at a facility where I'm being somewhat taken care of. Thanks again for all of your prayers and for checking in. Rachael

So, I have been worried about loose skin since before my surgery. I will admit I am a little vain when it comes to my hair/skin. I used to be thin and had a rocking body so the thought of being thin again and having my skin hang down everywhere has made me a little crazy. (I feel the same about my hair.) So, I have done my research and am going to give skin brushing a fair try. What do I have to lose??? Started this last night and it felt very strange. It did not hurt, but it was not that pleasant either. lol. Anyways, for those of you also worried about this, some people swear by it and I was able to get the brush and jobaba oil on amazon for less than $20. I am still somewhat young and have only been overweight for 6 years so I am praying I still have some elasticity left on my poorly damaged body. PLEASE, PLEASE!

Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to go to the ER which I totally dread. My doctor's office thinks I would be better off doing that then coming to them because I would get faster answers. So, waiting on my husband to get off and then I'll be heading that way. :/ @LJP: My nephew weighs between 10-12lbs. I was hurt after picking him up, but that was the muscle area in my abdomen. Definitely won't be doing that again. This pain seems unrelated since it didn't start until several days later, but then again who knows. Hopefully I'll know more today.

You look amazing! And, you look 15 years younger. It is amazing how that happens!

Thanks, you are too sweet. I am typically a night owl too, but all I want to do right now is sleep. I had a little bit of liquid loratab left over from my surgery so I took that and am hoping it will kick in soon so I can get in my bed. If I would have been able to do that when I tried a little while ago I doubt I would have ever written this post, but when I could not even get into bed because the sitting and trying to twist to lie down hurt so badly, I kind of lost my cool. I have 3 weeks left of sitting up late though so maybe we can chat one night and I can hear about where you are on this journey. After all, you have been kind enough to listen to my whining tonight.

It's quite ironic because I'm a paramedic so being on this end of things is very different. I hate feeling like I have no control over my body and not being able to fix it myself. I'm sure you understand since you're a nurse. When you are in the medical field it is weird not being able to make yourself feel better. I definitely appreciate your response. If it weren't for these forums the last 3 weeks I probably would be depressed. It is nice to be able to get on and read what others are dealing with, see progression of others, and (in my case tonight) whine a little.

I guess it probably does sound that way, but I'm just having a momentary breakdown secondary to this new issue. After spending 3 weeks staring at walls I'm surprised I'm not, but I am very aware of my mental status (thankfully) so while I am definitely having a rough few weeks since surgery, I'm not quite depressed yet. I've actually been pretty happy until tonight when I realized that this pain isn't going to just disappear like I'd hoped. As for calling and going to the doctor, yes & yes. I had my 1st follow up appt on the 11th and they knew of the other things that had been going on, but to be honest, while I was a little frustrated I'd not been able to get around like I thought I would by then, it just seemed like I was healing a little slow at the time (only a week out) so I was still okay with it. However, like I said in my post, just when one thing starts feeling better it seems like something else goes wrong so it is just frustrating. I am ready to start working out and I can't do that because of all of these random issues. So, just kind of blowing off a little steam. I actually have to say, I did smile and laugh a little at the depression comment simply because I am normally such a positive person that it kind of cracked me up that I have had to deal with all of this negativity from myself during all of these painful post-surgery issues. Hoping I'll be able to go in tomorrow and see if they can figure this out and get me back on the road to recovery. Thanks for your reply since it is the middle of the night and I figured no one would probably be awake to offer sympathy. haha

Thanks. This pain just started Sunday so I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle and was trying to wait it out a couple of days. I did leave a message for them tonight as soon as I realized it had gotten worse and has started affecting me so negatively. It has not been this way the entire 3 weeks (not the flank pain) so sorry if I made that part confusing. It has just been one thing after another, but all different.

My surgery has been scheduled for this Tuesday at 7:30am for a week now and suddenly this past Monday night I had a severe allergic reaction to some of the medications I'm taking. This has been going on for a week now. I have been breaking out in hives all week. I am so afraid they are going to cancel my surgery now which can't happen. If they do, I won't be able to have it bc I have already taken time off from work and won't be able to manage that again. So frustrated.

Thanks, I had the surgery on the 4th so I'm almost 3 weeks out. I stopped breaking out a day before the surgery so they went ahead with it. Yay!

18 days post op and I seriously feel like I'm going to explode. Before surgery, I felt like I was never going to lose weight and now I feel like I'm going to lose it, but I will shrivel and die before it happens. I am so excited to get down the road I can hardly stand it. I have never had much patience and can't usually wait for anything so this is making me climb the walls. I'm off work for 6 weeks (4 weeks remaining) so things are going quite slow for me bc all I can do right now is sit at home and wait. My weight loss, however, is going amazing. I am down 17 lbs which is essentially 1lb a day. So, I'm not so much complaining as I am saying how nice it would be to fast forward 2-3 months down the road so I can actually see a difference and be back into a normal routine. I can't wait to go shopping for new clothes. It is my 2nd addiction and I haven't been able to enjoy it in such a long time. I am fighting every urge possible to keep from ordering an entire smaller wardrobe online as it is. I have no idea where I will end up so I know how crazy that sounds, but when you sit home all day alone for almost 3 weeks straight you tend to go a little crazy. haha

I have bought a few things, but I don't want to spend too much because I have no idea what size I will be around goal. Previously at that weight I wore a size 0 or 2 and I know my body has changed drastically so I have a hard time knowing where I will end up and don't want to waste too much money. I've bought a few tops for this winter that I thought were cute and figured I'd be able to get into, but haven't ventured out to buy any jeans or skirts. I have jeans of every size bc I kept all of my old ones, but I know I will want to buy new when the time comes bc I'll be so excited.

I can't obviously speak for the masses, but I have not had that issue. I suffered from constipation the first week after surgery (still on pain meds and that can cause that) and after that broke, I've gone at least every other day and it has been normal and I'm hoping that continues to be the case. What are you eating?

White Chicken Chili: 4 cans great northern beans, 1 lb. chicken, 2 cloves garlic, 1 cup diced onion, 2 t. Oregano, 2 cans lowfat cream of chicken, 3 cups lowfat chicken broth, 1 can diced green chiles,6 oz low fat/fat free sour cream, and 2 cups low fat monterey jack shredded cheese. Cover your skillet with olive oil, add the diced onion, crushed garlic cloves, chicken (I added whole pieces and cut up later, but you can cut up beforehand if you want), and canned chilies. I set the stove top on about 4-5 and covered with a lid and let all of this cook together. I went ahead and got my larger pot ready and added the beans, cream of chicken, broth, and oregano and let this start heating up on low to medium heat. After about 10-15 minutes (when my chicken was cooked through) I added the skillet ingredients (I cut my chicken up at this time) into the pot so that everything could cook together. I cooked on medium heat for about 30 minutes. At the very end, we added the 6oz of sour cream and the cheese and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes and then it was ready to go. I added about a tsp of sour cream on top of soup right before I ate it. (I am using this during my pureed stage, but will probably have it again once I move onto solid foods bc of the protein and the ability to add unflavored protein powder as well.)

I'm on soft foods and I have had tons of things that fall outside the category of the things you listed so hang in there. I've had a ton of grilled fish (salmon, tilapia, catfish, shrimp) and I have also eaten filet mignon, chili, meatloaf (moist), pork loin, bbq ribs, chicken enchilada, chicken quesidilla, ham and cheese wrap (made at home), broccoli and cheese, and I can't even remember what else I've made. I can only eat 3-5 bites, but it is heaven compared to pureed and it has all been really healthy. When I did the quesidillas and the wrap I cut a small normal sized meal in half and was only able to eat half of that. I also used low fat, wholewheat, and very thin tortillas because I didn't want it to swell and take up too much space in my tiny tummy. Just wanted to say you have a wide range of food you can eat in soft and it is almost like not being on restriction bc most everything I'm eating now is what I would have eaten before. The only difference is that everything I'm adding to anything is low or non-fat and I am not eating any bread or Pasta which was a huge problem for me. I was so addicted to bread and pasta so I am steering clear of those things of course because they helped me get to the point that I needed surgery. Good luck!