pomeerin

Ugh, I'm gearing up to hear a lot of that from family members prior to my surgery. I know I'll have to play it nice and just thank them because they mean well, but ughh. I'll just mentally grimace, lol.

Hey October 2014 sleevers! I was sleeved in June 2013 and I have a whopping 60 sample packs of Protein that I never used... would anybody like to have them? I quickly realized after purchasing them that I have an intolerance to sucralose, acesulfame-k, AND stevia, so I had to switch to a different brand without any artificial sweeteners. And now I'm about to move in a week, so I'm just trying to get rid of these SOON and I want them to go to a good home. I spent around $120 on all these, but I really don't care about money. I'm just asking for $20 for the whole lot in order to cover shipping costs (that might seem like a lot, but this is a pretty hefty box, haha.) I'm attaching a really crappy picture of them already in the box because I just finished packing it all up neatly prior to thinking about taking a picture, oh well. They are all unopened individual serving packs, and all 60 of em are crammed in this box. If you'd like this box, please feel free to post in this thread but also private message me! Here is the inventory of what will be in the box: unjury: Unflavored: 10 chicken Soup: 10 chocolate Splendor: 2 strawberry Sorbet: 1 Vanilla: 1 Celebrate ENS: (these ones count as your daily Vitamins too!) vanilla Cake Batter: 7 Chocolate Milk: 7 Syntrax: nectar Sweets: Double Stuffed Cookie: 2 Vanilla Bean Torte: 2 Strawberry Mousse: 1 Chocolate Truffle: 1 Cappuccino: 1 Twisted Cherry: 1 Roadside Lemonade: 1 Lemon Tea: 1 Pink Grapefruit: 1 Strawberry Kiwi: 1 Fuzzy Navel: 1 Matrix: Perfect Chocolate: 1 Milk Chocolate: 1 Mint Cookie: 1 Cookies & Cream: 1 Simply Vanilla: 1 Strawberry Cream: 1 Orange Cream: 1 Bananas & Cream: 1 Jay Robb whey Protein Vanilla: 1

Agirlnamedfrankie was the first to pm me, so I'm talking with her now, but if it doesn't work out I'll message the second in line! And happymama2014, I actually found one called "Biochem 100% whey protein" at a local natural groceries store. The "natural flavor" one is totally unsweetened so I always add a tablespoon of good Peanut Butter to doctor it up, but the other flavors are sweetened ever so slightly with real sugar, just a couple grams of carbs worth.

Haha yup... I was in a car accident 10 days after my sleeve surgery and blew out my entire knee: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/261129-car-accident-2-weeks-after-surgery-broken-leg/ Don't worry about meniscal surgery, though. On the scale of things, it really was not that bad, even though I had mine when I still weighed above 300 lbs! My surgery and leg injuries were both 10s on the pain scale, but the meniscal repair was only like a 2! No joke! Waking up from surgery always sucks though. :/ I actually recommend doing physical therapy first though, because for me the surgery didn't do squat compared to the reduction in pain as well as gains in mobility and strength that PT gave me. With physical therapy, you might not even need surgery. Oh... and most of all, I recommend getting a second opinion from a different orthopedist. This is absolutely crucial because your knees are effing important.

Thanks, y'all! I've been afraid of swimming because it's slippery with crutches, but I think I'm gonna brave it. And the recumbent bike is what they have me do at physical therapy and I'm finally able to bend my knee enough to do full rotations, so maybe I'll pick up a used one on craigslist! And I've never heard of that type of leg brace before, but I'm gonna look into it! The sitting workout is something I'd never thought of either. I'm so glad I posted, these are exactly the type of ideas I was needing.

I was in a car accident on my way to my very first day back at work after surgery, and the dash came up and smashed my knee. My tibia was fractured, the acl is completely torn, and both menisci are torn as well. I'm on week 5 of crutches, and as soon as all the bruising goes away and the bone is healed, I'm gonna have to have surgery to fix the acl and menisci which will restart everything back to square one while I heal again. And apparently the healing process after an acl reconstruction takes up to a year. I was looking forward to exercising after surgery sooo much because I enjoy it, and my weight loss has slowed down considerably because I've been forced to remain almost completely sedentary (although I'm moving around more the more I heal). I've only lost 15 lbs since surgery on June 26th. I've already decided that I'm going to bite the bullet and go below 20 g of carbs and get into ketosis again because I've let my carb count creep up. I really want to attack this weight loss hard because the more weight I lose before surgery means the higher likelihood the knee surgery will be a success. So, can you help me think of ways I can be active or do exercise that don't involve my leg? I'm already doing physical therapy 3x a week but it's all range of motion stuff that doesn't really get the heart pumping, and I'm lifting weights to try to strengthen my upper body, but I feel like I need more. Also, is there anybody who has dealt with a torn acl that can offer me any words of wisdom?

To echo what most everyone else has said: this is normal. I made a living will, a last will and testament, AND setup my medical power of attorney, you know... to cover all my bases just in case. I also wrote a lovely letter to my fiance telling him goodbye and reassuring him and also telling him exactly what to do if things go wrong including which world renowned scientist must be contacted if I was in a coma. Did I over-think and over-prepare? I don't think so, because knowing that all my ducks were in a row helped me to be calm as they wheeled me off to surgery. Some may call it obsessive, but I think it's better to be what I like to call "aggressively prepared" than the alternative. And I'd like to disagree that worry is unproductive and that your fears are irrational. These fears are quite normal and rational as you are about to voluntarily let someone carve up your insides. And worry is extremely productive! It's what makes you prepare!

Oh man, y'all are *killing* me. I LOVE cottage cheese and for some cruel reason my surgeon doesn't let me have it for another 6 whole days. Sigh.

Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it will dehydrate you. A dehydrated body will not handle surgery as well.

I was told three protein shakes for a total of 60g protein and max 20g carbs each day, and nothing else, for 7 days. I've had ups and downs with it, for sure, but I've been very good about it because I want my liver to be shrunken enough for the surgery to be easy for the surgeon! I don't want any complications! I won't lie though...I may or may not have stood in my kitchen crying and looking at food last night before I forced myself to go to bed.

Oh wow, this is just what I needed to hear. I already postponed my date once due to feeling like I wasn't ready, and my new date is TWO days from now. I'm getting my will, advance directive, and medical power of attorney all notarized tomorrow and it's so super real now. I have these nagging fears about pain, ability to move around the first few days after surgery, and failing to lose/keep the weight off, and I keep having these really uncharacteristic crying jags like ALL the time. (I'm pretty stoic usually, so it's rather disconcerting.) It's just really really nice to hear others saying the exact same things I'm thinking. Makes me feel less alone.

I know for a fact that Baylor Plano has the highest hospital quality rating possible. My surgeon does surgeries both there and at Baylor Dallas, and I picked Plano. It was a no brainer because Dallas's rating was a C and Plano's was an A. (They take into account all the hospital-acquired infections , and other quality metrics gathered by the government.)

I admit, some of you definitely have valid points. Positive energy is better than negative energy. But I should probably clarify my thoughts on the matter. When I made my initial post, I was thinking of family members only. I'm actually only telling about 4 family members, and they're all very deeply Christian. They regularly tell me they're praying to Jesus to speak to me so that I'll finally "grow up" and start believing. As if that's the inevitable eventuality and I have no choice in the matter. So I suppose that, for me personally, it can sometimes feel like a very subtle attack on my way of life for one of these family members to tell me they're praying for me. Of course, I always just reply "thank you, I love you too"and then try desperately to change the subject, haha. (I think I was also mad at them when I posted this because I had only told TWO family members and told them to keep their traps shut, but then suddenly two more family members know, surprise surprise. Dang busybodies.) This absolutely doesn't apply to strangers or co-workers or anybody else who doesn't know I'm an atheist. With them, I accept the face value positivity of their statement, and move on. I hope that clears things up, haha.

Hello everyone! My name is Erin, I'm 26, and I live in Texas. I'm 6 ft tall and I'm starting this journey at 367 lbs. I have a wonderful and supportive SO that I live with along with three crazy cats. I have told him, my three closest friends, and my parents about my decision to have WLS. I don't plan on telling anybody else because this is very personal and I don't need people's opinions thrown in my face. I might not even tell my boss because he doesn't need his nose all up in my personal business. I can take a week's PTO if I please! I had originally wanted to get the surgery done during spring break, but I'm SO glad I didn't go ahead with that. I wasn't ready!! The psychologist that did my psyche eval recommended that I work with a grad student that is doing her training clinicals at his office because he said that I suffer from a binge eating disorder and need to treat it. He said that it was actually atypical binge eating disorder which means that I don't typically eat a huge amount all at once, but I just graze repeatedly in a short period of time which is unfortunately one of the easiest and most sure-fire ways to sabotage the long-term success of the sleeve, so the sooner I deal with it the better. I think I was in denial about my binge eating, but I cannot ignore this any longer because there's NO way I'm going to have major life-threatening surgery just to sabotage it with stupid bad patterns later. I am one of the grad student's very first patients ever which is super cool. I also just hadn't quite wrapped my head around the idea of surgery yet. I mean, I've been contemplating surgery ever since I was 12, but I always figured it would never actually happen for me. I've been obese ever since I was 8 years old, so I just had this belief that this is who I *am* and who I will always be. This belief was deeply ingrained because even before I became fat at 8, I was still larger than all the other kids because of how tall I was. So when I became fatter than them too, it just didn't really seem all that different. But when I reached 360 on the scales and my doctors were telling me that all of my health problems are caused or at least worsened by my weight (asthma, pcos), and my blood pressure started reading in the borderline high regions, I decided to just jump. I still have so many fears: fears about the actual surgery, fears about leaks and infections and other complications, fears about developing GERD or stomach ulcers after surgery, fears about not being able to drink milk or tolerate spicy foods after surgery, fears about the emotional toll of not being able to comfort-eat, fears about loose skin, fears about failing. But I think now I have enough time to be in the right place mentally to make this surgery work for me long-term. I'm also really glad to have enough time to get to know some of my fellow May-sleevers to have some people to talk to who are at the same stage as me! So, what about you? Tell us about yourself, who you've told, describe your journey so far, and tell us about your thoughts and fears about the surgery!

Look into the symptoms of PCOS. Darker skin on neck, armpits, and groin is common for that. It's the first thing that popped into my mind.

I'm officially insurance-approved!! And they told me my date is available: May 22nd!! OMG!! To be honest, I'm really shocked at how easy this has all been. I had a 5-year documented history of being obese, I have a sufficiently high bmi, I was able to do all the pre-surgery testing within a few weeks, and my insurance gave zero hassles and were quick with the approval. I was seriously expecting to have to do major battle against the insurance company, but nope. They just shrugged and were like "ok, sure. whatever floats your boat."

Having periods again! Ugh! I have PCOS and also an IUD, so I've never been regular and I haven't had a period in years. I've probably had less than 50 periods in my life, and that's a very generous estimate. And I tell you what: it. is. GLORIOUS. But if I have this surgery, I might start having ye olde monthly blood rage regularly for the first time ever. ;_;

Well, two reasons really. The IUD doesn't completely stop periods for everyone, but it has a much higher chance of doing that for people who are already irregular (such as people who have pcos). So if I lose weight which tends to resolve pcos symptoms, breakthrough bleeding may start to occur. Then there's the fact that I'm on year 3 of my IUD and when I take it out in 2 years I'll hopefully be at a normal weight which = normal periods. Or at least I assume that is the case.

Because I believe it's useless. I know they mean well, but they all know I'm an atheist - it's no secret. I know someone praying for me doesn't *hurt* anything, but it sure doesn't help either. I guess I'd rather they do something practical to show their concern, like send me a care package (they've all had surgeries before and I never have, so I assume they'd know what little things I'll treasure afterward) or just take the time to talk with me about my fears, etc.

Hi everyone! I was hoping to be sleeved in March over spring break, but I made the hard decision to push it back til May until after finals are done. Now I have more time to prepare both mentally and physically so that I can make the surgery a life long change. I think I'm happy with my decision even though it was bittersweet.

How long did y'all wait before going back to work?

I can't wait to go-cart race, go on theme park rides again instead of lying and saying that I'm too scared, sit outside on rickety patio chairs, go to the dollar theater, go to concerts and things in stadiums, fly without fear of being fat shamed or kicked off a flight (I basically want to go to all the places I avoid because of narrow seating), be able to dance all night without sweating so much, destroy my clothes and shoes less often (since my frame stretches my clothes, they develop holes and wear too thin and get rumpled more easily). I can't wait to be treated better by society, and for everybody to accept me for my personality rather than me just being the fat girl. I can't wait to stop getting winded every time I walk or go up stairs. And the list goes on.

Njgurl19: what do they do to treat H pylori? And how do they find it? My surgeon made me do the test where they make you swallow the chalky junk and fizzy junk and they watch as it goes down your gullet (lol) but that's it. I was thinking of having them test for H pylori just in case.

Bellanthin: I have UHC Choice plus. My benefits packet didn't mention anything about weight loss surgery, so I figured it wasn't even covered at all, but was very pleasantly surprised to find out that it was covered at the usual 80/20 rate. I was so convinced I'd have to cash-pay in Mexico that I had even picked out my Mexican surgeon, lol. I went for an initial consult with a Dallas surgeon to see if they would do my before and after care, and I was in such disbelief when they told me I could do my surgery with them too because it was covered that they had to convince me for like 10 minutes.

Yeah, that's really great advice, Lynda. Thank you! Also, you look absolutely fantastic there with Mr. Wax Clooney. I thought it was a picture of you getting engaged and got a pretty good laugh when I expanded it and saw who it was you were standing next to.