RJ'S/beginning

LOL...yes I learned a lot of medical terms that I could have spent my entire life not ever knowing....I love the post! Well said! It is a reminder of our frailties as humans.....but may we never give up and never lose sight of the successes we have made over our addiction to food!

There was a time that a assistant would hold the liver up by hand to keep it away from the stomach while the surgery was being performed...Now they use a clamp that grabs the liver and hold it up and out of the way...The smaller the liver the better chance of it not slipping out of the clamp......That is the main reason for the preop diet....

Your meal should last up to 20 -30 min. tops...anything more then that.....it was recommended by my team to push the food away if you are not done in that time.....I find it to be a good timing element for the sleeve. Then I wait for the next meal to eat again....10 months out I can eat up to a cup of food in a sitting...depending on the type of day I am having..If my stomach is funky..I eat way less...

Welcome...it will come soon enough...in the mean time try to limit some of the junk foods and bad eating habits. And learn as much as you can about the sleeve...it will be worth it in the long run..K

I totally agree with what you said...I will not turn one addiction into another......Going from worrying if there is enough for me to eat to worrying about what I eat.....Too much.....I eat a bit of everything...I put veggies, carbs and Protein on my plate and eat a bit of all of them....I can never finish a plate and that is okay with me because I think it is cool that I can't...Tonight I had lamb and orzo and cold slaw......it was all good and I am full.... 1 cup of food is not 3 plate fulls..my tool is working...So is yours.....

I have lost and gained 100's of pounds over my life and tried everything except hypnotism...That is just freaky!!! I was on a 4 year waiting list and to be honest...If I had been called the first 2 years i would have not been ready..But as everything kept failing and my life was getting more difficult it made perfect sense to me to do this..I never ever lost this much weight on any other diet and never felt this good either....55 and getting healthier....wow For me it was the only solution left....i went through a lot after the surgery due to complications....5 months in hospital to be exact..But I would do it all again if I knew I could feel so much better...I am off blood pressure meds and stomach meds now...... That is only 1 benefit..But as Jason -in-Texas said be sure you understand why you are doing this and think through all your other options...If you decide to do it.....We are here to encourage and help anyway we can.... All the best!

Can someone give me a step by step instruction on how to post photos....I would appreciate it a lot!

The only way you will eventually reach your personal goals is to keep trying....eating Protein first, then veggies, fruit and then last but not least carbs.. Didn't you find before you had this procedure that junk went down really smooth..I know I did... The only way you can do this is to dust off your sleeve and work on the issues that you still deal with in your head Everyone needs a treat now and then..i had upside down cake the other night and I did not feel bad at all! I have not touched it since..I did this for myself to improve my health and energy level...And maybe give me a longer life... Remind yourself why you did it and write them down so you can look at them as a reminder....Also look at what you have been through to get to here and realize... Your on a journey...A personal journey that you alone travel...... We can encourage you and help but you know the reasons why you are having problems...You must deal with them to go forward.....I know you had the strength to get this tool...I am positive that you can again use the tool right if you want it bad enough..... Go forward from here..tomorrow is another day with its own troubles..Make this one the best you can....K

You have done amazing so far.....Yes weight loss slows down the closer you get to goal....It cannot be a stall because you are still losing weight...People who stall gain a bit and then lose a bit..or stay the same possibly for months...... You need to look at this differently....celebrate the loss you have and take this time to build muscle. 14 weeks is not a long time to start worrying about it esp. with how much you have already dropped..that is 5 lbs a week up until now....You really didn't think you would continue like that did you.... Your body has changed so much and it is going to protect itself from possible harm....It is an amazing machine...enjoy your journey and all the best....To me your doing great!!!!!!!!!

I had the surgery and then 5 days later I went septic because of a leak...Returned to the hospital and had surgery right away to clean out the infection...I had a temp of 104 and it would not go down..They induced a coma and I was in it for 19 days...They discovered I had sleep apnea while I was on life support and so they did a trackia ( spelled wrong) When I woke up I had lost all my muscle tone and could not walk, talk or even lift my hands....I had tubes all over my stomach where they were draining the abscesses.... Soon I was moved out of ICU and then I had a stent put in to heal the leak...6 weeks went by and it did not work..So they put another one in on top of the first and I waited another six weeks and it did not work.... Stents are very painful and several times a day they changed the bandages and my skin became raw and broke open.... Next they decided to put clamps in to close the leak....It did not work either. I bled a lot and could hardly swallow for days after that attempt.... At this point they were trying to teach me to walk again and the trackia was healed and so I could talk again...The first time I stood up I thought my back had broken in 2...The pain was horrific. I could not use a bathroom and relied on the nurses to look after that..... I was basically confined to a bed for 5 months.....Next the surgeon came in and told me they would have to do a combo of the sleeve and bypass.. So that happened next....From there back to ICU and then back to the floor I had been on before for 3 more weeks.....The head nurse took a dislike to me and was very cruel and mean to me..I do not know why! By this time the rehab was able to get me to the point where I could use a walker and could do several steps, while at the hospital I was so weak and sore and tired I was sure I would never get better..... By this time I had only one more job to do..I needed to be able to walk up 2 flights of stairs and walk down.....In rehab they taught me to do that..it took 3 weeks... When I was in the coma I got an ulcer on my butt and that has been with me up until this day..A nurse comes and changes the dressing daily......I lost all my hair and did not know how bad it was until I got home... My pick lines kept clogging and I had to have them changed 3 times while in the hospital.....I was fed through IV and got addicted to the pain meds which they brought in a detox doc to help me deal with that...oh what fun that was...... I finally left the hospital and was extremely ill at home for several months..But I believe that coming home actually sped up the healing process. I had a sitter for almost 3 months and I hated that because I could not walk far enough to get myself a glass of water..... 10 months out I am still healing...10 surgeries later..I am still here.....Would I do it all over again...In a flash!!!!!! Even with all the trouble I went through I feel like a new person now....I was headed for death before the surgery and almost died during. But now I am a different person...I am active and can do things like cross my legs.. and I even drive my own car now....... This is just an overview of the experience I faced...A lot more happened but that would take a book to write....

I eat 3 meals a day and 1 snack at night....I can't get through the night if I don't eat the snack before bed.....Breakfast is the hardest meal for me to eat....I don't like the feeling I get in my stomach when I eat in the morning...So I eat very little for breakfast...Lunch is better and dinner is great most of the time.... It also depends on the day whether I can eat well or not....My sleeve dictates what it needs...But if I ate 6 times a day like they wanted me too I would never get anything done...I would be eating and drinking water all day.....and that would just be too much now......

Try 5 and a half months of not eating at all...That is what happened to me when I was in the hospital due to complications with the sleeve......I am sure if I made it through all that time you can make it through this...It is all mind over matter

TY Wags and Gamergirl for your compliments..Still have a long way to go!!!!

Congrats..on the new and improved you!!!!

Thank you for your help......not pretty..but at least people won't still think I'm a ghost...lol

Profile and post

I can just picture that scene....lol

See a difference are you kidding me...You look amazing!!!!!!!

Most of the time I sneeze and my nose runs only after a couple of bites so I know I am not full.....You will get to know where the top of your sleeve is because if you over due it it will feel like it is stuck in your throat.....It is an uncomfortable feeling to say the least...I would rather eat less so that I don't get that feeling...... 10 months out I now know how much I can eat without measuring everything.....It will become an old hat as you get farther along!

I purged over half my closet before surgery and felt good about it...... I was in the hospital for 5 months after and when I got home there was nothing that fit me left except socks....LOL My closet is truly bare with only a few items left....Them I am keeping because it was the last shirt I wore before the surgery..... Now I look forward to the smaller sizes and feel exuberant at the thought that soon I will be down yet another size.....

Thank you Ballermom!

You look fantastic...way to go girl!

Just found out from my nurse that I may have to have surgery again to repair the opening from my ulcer I got while in the hospital...Instead of healing correctly it is closing in on the surface and leaving a pocket underneath which will cause abscesses....grrrrr Will the grief ever end!!!

Got it....Although they only had pink lemonade....Since I am Canadian it cost me $ 77.00... Sure hope I like it....Thanks for the idea