RJ'S/beginning

thinking of picking up a pair of light blue ones as well...so summery you know!!!! Maybe orange...lol

Too funny! Thanks!!!!!!

Wow you are lucky. I had to drink 4 protein shakes a day for 2 weeks and the kicker was that I had to do it twice.....

slippers...oops forgot to put on nice shoes...lol

I might not look 20 years younger but when I slipped them on I felt a lot younger...lol

Thank you Darlin!!!!!!

I commented on the article on the CBC website. living here in Canada is a different situation. There are not a lot of Weight loss surgeons here. Waiting lists are long and the support is not so good. I waited 4 years before I was finally next on the list.... Then there is the reality of the rise in obesity everywhere. I felt like I had to tell them the reasons why some Canadians go other places and are willing to pay out of pocket. A person could die waiting 4 years for this life saving operation!

Yes it has been quite a trip...lol But I know more about who I am and who I can depend on as well. And since I almost died I have no time for crap from any of the so called friends I had... The pain meds should help a lot. Try to stick with it Ana. The longer it is in the better chance you have of it healing over. Foaming and throwing up while that was going on I think I invented it!!!LOL I am so hoping that this will be the end of it for you and you will be on your way to a happier healthier you! Keep me posted...K

Will try again...sorry!

Try complex carbs....Like Laurabars..I know I spelled that wrong but they have the natural sweetness of fruit and Protein. They seem to help me when I am needing sweets..... There are lots of recipes on Pintrest as well for them......Don't know what is wrong with my spelling today...oops! Eating refined sugar only makes the problem continue. I know I am still eating refined sugar at times....

Most of your digestion is done in the small intestine anyway. Your stomach is a pouch that holds your food and starts the breaking down process by adding acid to it. You can live easily without a stomach if need be. Not good to hear but true..... I have 12 tubes in a circle around my stomach and it was really painful. Every day they changed to bandages as it would break through and the poison would ooze. One by one they healed and the tubes were removed and I celebrated each one as if it were a massive achievement..lol. I was later allowed to eat with the stents but the food would find its way into the sacks that held the infection and then they would know that yup that didn't work either. There were days when i just closed down and would not talk to anyone. i felt helpless and raw. I could not walk or even get up. Not to mention the incredible pain of the bed sore. But I kept on trucking most of the time and really started to appreciate most of the staff. I came hone after 5 1/2 months with nursing care for the holes in my chest. They were feeding me Protein drinks several times a day and finally i could not swallow one more. Then they talked me into yogurt and I went for that until I discovered they put Protein powder in that. Oh my favorite was mac and cheese. It stuck together in a big lump and I could not even pull it apart....lol. that did not go well. One thing for sure Ana is that you still have options if the stent does not work. It is not over you know. For me the tissue kept dying around the staples. So they finally had one last option. Attach the intestine to the leak and it worked...... I gagged too. a lot but never forced myself and faced it head on.....They got so used to me throwing up that sometimes they did not even come to help me......I was really ready to go but still needed to learn to walk and stand and eat and go to the potty by myself.....It was a long time i spent a lone in that hospital with no friends to support me. It devastated me to the core. Your doing great kid...Keep up the happy face it helps you heal faster okay!

My treatments are over. I am on the healing end of things now. After the stents they tried clamping my leak shut and could not do it so that was that. the last and final recommendation was to have my small intestine connected to my sleeve around the leak. it is still there to this day. It is a up side down y. The trouble I have now is due to the complications of the septic situation I had. I was put into a coma for 19 days which caused me to lose all muscle. Also while in a coma I got a category 5 bed sore on my tail bone and it has finally closed but not healed a year later. Now I am well enough to be working with a trainer to rebuild my core and get stronger. It is time consuming but it has all been worth it for me....Like I said so many times... I was dead before and now I am a live!!!!!!!

Ana.....So you have to keep the stent in for 6 weeks. That is the standard time frame for this. Look you are not sore from anxiety. Your sore from the damn stent. It hurts like the devil. I know like I told you I had 2 one on top of the other. i felt like my chest and stomach and back were on fire. I did get addicted to 2 different medications while going through the stents. Now I am only allowed Tylenol for the rest of my days... Tell them not to float you when they take the stent out but to put you under. When they took mine out I woke up as they were pulling them out and I groaned. I heard swearing and then I did not see light for 7 hours after that. Night mare....lol It only takes a second to remove it...Trust me! Hopefully your leak will have healed by then. most of them do. Mine did not....But like I said most of them do. I told you not to stick your fingers down your throat to gag...You could cause another stricture and they could end up doing the next surgery if you are not careful. I threw up constantly when the stents were in....They were always wiping my face with a cold towel and helping me a long the way. No one knows how uncomfortable this can be until they put it in your stomach..... I was able to suck on ice and even bite it but could not swallow it. it helped with the dryness in my mouth. But I got used to not eating and when everything was finally over I had to spend time with my Nut to learn to chew again. It is amazing how fast your body forgets to do something that is natural for us.... Attitude is a big part of getting better. And you are going forward! Keep us posted..your journey is somewhat like mine so I understand the pain and frustration of all of it and more.... Chin up and remember one step at a time. One day at a time!!! K

I went through so much and still am going through a lot 15 months after my sleeve surgery. I had everything that can happen except die..And there was a huge chance that was going to happen...So would I do it again?!!!!!!!!!!! YES I would so fast it would make your head spin. I have lost over 180 lbs and feel a lot better even with what I am battling with now. I can now clean my own house, walk all I want. I am back cooking again and I can even touch my toes. I go where I want and sit where I want and no one is looking at me or making fun of me anymore. I can hug my grand daughter tight to me and she has to tell me to let her go because i want to keep her next to my heart all the time. I wear clothes from a regular store and no sleep apnea, migraines are limited. No stomach meds and no blood pressure pills....i could go on and on.......................................For me I was dead before I had surgery...the fact that I survived...makes it so I can have a second chance to finally live...........And I am..I am not saying it is a piece of cake that would be a lie...but for the most part it is the best decision I ever made....And i almost paid with my life for it!!!! no regrets here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! love it.....can imagine it happening too.... Thanks for the smile!

I stop drinking fluids 30 min. before I eat and wait 30 min. after I eat... Somewhere on this forum is a great video about what happens when you drink while or just after you eat...the more Water put into your sleeve the less dense the food becomes that you ate. It opens the flap at the bottom of your stomach and it starts to leak out and then you do not have the holding tank working as well as it should. It will not allow you to get as much acid to break down what you ate as well so you won't get the greatest amount of good from what you are eating.....It is that simple. Most of our food is broken down in the lower intestines but it gets the help it needs to do the bast job it can by starting the breaking down process in the sleeve.... Hope this helps!

I read this quote today and thought of all of us. and how we have lived our lives doing what was expected of us to our own detriment..... Loved it! What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do? Ralph Ellison

Gman... The average person has 8-10 lbs of skin. Well the formally obese person may have a lot more considering the stretching of the skin. Ex. When you blow up a balloon and let the air back out it does not go back to its original size. If you do that to a balloon over and over again. It will not even go back close to the size it was. We are all different and have been bigger or smaller. Age and genetics also play a part in how much skin would have to be removed...This info came from my doctor this morning........ I found it interesting! Even a plastic surgeon can't tell for absolute how much skin he will remove until you are on the table. He can estimate but not calculate until it is being done. I never thought of that. That 's right. So if a guy is average if he weighs 200 pounds but is 300 pounds at the most he would be 50% bigger in the skin department. So instead of 8-10 pounds he would have 12-15 pounds. That does not take into account internal fat which doesn't stretch skin. That sound right? We know that our kidneys are protected by a layer of fat....and so there is fat inside us as a protection against falls or whatever trauma we may endure. Fat is released as we stop eating as much. Hopefully excess fat. Starving that body can cause death. So there is a part of us that still needs fat to keep us alive.But yes. Like you said...The higher you weighed the genes you were born from and age will determine how much excess skin will be there. I have been over whelmed with this subject since my family started to go into a spin about it. I no longer feel that way. My body will adjust to the size it is supposed to be on its own and that is that. Then I will worry about the next step. I do however have to add more complex calories the day of workouts and the next day as well. Your body burns calories up to 48 hours after a workout. A hard work out. so I will listen to that advice and work on that for now and wait for my consult with plastics later.... Wish I were one of those that bounced back like an elastic but it was not to be. that's okay though it is just part of the journey for me! All good!!!!!!!!!!!

Gman... The average person has 8-10 lbs of skin. Well the formally obese person may have a lot more considering the stretching of the skin. Ex. When you blow up a balloon and let the air back out it does not go back to its original size. If you do that to a balloon over and over again. It will not even go back close to the size it was. We are all different and have been bigger or smaller. Age and genetics also play a part in how much skin would have to be removed...This info came from my doctor this morning........ I found it interesting! Even a plastic surgeon can't tell for absolute how much skin he will remove until you are on the table. He can estimate but not calculate until it is being done.

I eat nuts and seeds just like a squirrel. Almost every day. I love them. No peanut butter though... Allergic to peanuts and the butter! I am not sure I want to slow down the weight loss just yet either. i need to remember what my team told me and go by them. And hopefully the family will calm down some as they see I am not keeling over..LOL

I listened to your song you love and it was sweet and had a real tone in it for exactly the struggle of the journey we are taking. the ups and downs and remembering who we are inside. Thanks for the listen!

i suffer from chronic depression and am one of those that the meds only take the edge off. but this time of year it creeps up on my like a dark shadow. I have found that the only thing that works is either riding it through or upping meds for 3 months....I can't stand feeling off like this...since i tend to be kinda off anyway..lol Sorry you suffer the same fate....Not nice eh! RJ, I went to a therapist and she diagnosed me with Major Depression, and that is why I am on meds too, so I know what its like and I hope that someday I can figure out how not to be depressed but for now I just go along with the swing of things? I know right now is my bad time too, but of course I live in new england and it is freezing here and we have had sooooo much snow this year and I really hate the snow and the cold and so it makes it that much worse??? I feel off most days too and trust me I am not all here anyway, lol but being more off is just that much worse? I know it will pass, but I suffer from depression all year and it doesn't get a whole lot better? I sometimes wonder if my weight and my health has a role in it cause I hate my body and the way I look? So anyway I hope you feel better soon!!! You deserve to!!! How you feel about yourself can contribute to it. And even make matters worse. But it is not the underlying issue. I have lost a tone of weight and feel much better physically. but without fail this happens every March until May. It does help to feel better about where you are in your life and what you have accomplished for yourself. But it has not changed for me..I plunge into this every year around this time..... Went to the Doctor today to ask what he want to to do about this and he said we are taking bloods to see where your Vitamin D is and where you are in minerals and other Vitamins. Then he said we are going to get to the bottom of this....OKAY if you say so.......... He said that if I went to a warm climate for the winder this might not happen. I told him saying that makes me feel old.....Dang!

That is very, very sweet of you to offer your personal help...A kindness not always available. you are a true spirit to this forum...Thank you!

Of course I have sad...but it intensifies something horrible in Mar and Apr. May it starts to settle down. Not only do I recoil but I find myself off balance and dizzy and feeling totally hopeless. A trip down south is unattainable for me this year or any year for that matter. Times are always tough...LOL.