BigDaddyJoe

Dan, I just had surgery 12 days ago, and am also hoping to get off the CPAP machine. I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone responds. I definitely would not just go stop using it without having another sleep study to make sure it would be safe. Talk to your doctor.

My doctors went to great lengths to explain all the risks involved, and also made me sign all kinds of paperwork saying that I understood those risks. They also go to great lengths to minimize any chance of complications. We all knew there was a statistical chance for complications, or even death, before agreeing to do this. Try not to focus on one person, and instead focus on the hundreds of success stories on here. Even people who have had complications say that they don't regret doing it, that its the best thing they've ever done, and that they'd do it again. Stay positive, it could help your outcome!

DVT's are a possibility in any operation. They are even possible from long car rides or airplane rides. That's why they use the compression boots (at least my hospital did), and they want us to get up and walk as often as possible.

Newgrandmother, I didn't do anything different.

I can honestly say today that I feel almost like I never even had surgery. The tightness in my belly is basically gone. Still a tiny bit in the first step out of bed or off the couch, or when I twist a certain way. But other than that, I feel back to normal. I was actually able to sleep on my side for a bit last night. This is a huge milestone for me! I hate being confined to my back. I might normally end up on my back at times throughout the night, but not being able to change positions was hard, and made sleeping for any length of time hard. Wow, has the bad breath returned with a vengeance. I had it appear around day 4 or 5 of he pre-op diet, and now it is back. My wife can smell it from halfway across the room as I talk. I asked the doctor about it yesterday afternoon, and he seemed surprised by my question and asked if I was having reflux. I told him that I thought it was from ketosis, and he said it would probably go away once I am able to expand my diet some. We'll see. Returning to work on Monday will be embarrassing if people can smell it just by coming into my office. I had a nurse come to my house yesterday afternoon with a new CPAP machine. I think this is going to be much easier than the last one I had. I gave it a shot last night, and it started out well. The mask I picked is just a nasal pillow mask with one strap, as opposed to the torture device I used to have, that covered my mouth and nose and had multiple straps and always left a red line on my forehead. I lasted 4.5-5 hours with it, which is longer than I ever lasted with the old one. I woke around 2:30 am and felt like someone punched me in the nose, so not sure what that's about. The nurse said not to try overdoing it at first, do it as long as you can then try again the next night. She said not to get discouraged and give up on it like a lot of people do. Hopefully I will lose weight and not need it anymore.

Carols, I'm a mouth breather also, but the pressure forces me to keep my mouth closed. I don't have to use a chin strap at all.

I'm feeling really good today. Like I've said, every day is better than the one before. I had my follow-up visit with the doctor this morning, and he's happy with how I'm progressing and how my incisions are looking. I'm down 15 lbs according to their scale, 20 according to mine. 15, 20, whatever it is, I'm on my way. I just got back from taking my daughter Chloe for a walk to the library. Felt good to get out for a walk. I walked around the block a couple times yesterday, but it was chilly and raining so not too pleasant. Much nicer out today. Well, I bit the bullet and posted a note on Facebook about the surgery. I woke up at 5 am and couldn't sleep, and all I could think about was getting it off my chest. I spent the next 2 and a half hours working out what I would say. I created the note, then shared it to my wall with the following statement - "Dear friends, please read the attached note in its ENTIRETY before passing judgment. I hope for your support. Thank you, Joe" Here is what the note said: On Friday March 8, 2013, I had a surgery called 'vertical sleeve gastrectomy'. This is a bariatric weight loss procedure. This was not a decision that was made lightly, or hastily. I will try my best to outline my reasons for doing it, what it is, and reasons for not telling anyone. Reasons for not telling people First, I want to say that I was originally planning on only telling a very select few people about this. But I realize that this is probably not very realistic, as the changes will probably be pretty significant, and pretty quick. I've even outright lied to some people, including some of my coworkers and bandmates, which I am very uneasy about. I hope they will forgive me. Please don't be offended if you were not one of the people I chose to tell beforehand. My main reason for choosing not to tell people beforehand was that I didn't wish to invite any negativity, or have anyone trying to put doubts in my head as I had already made the very difficult decision and none of that would have been helpful to me. Every person I did choose to tell had the exact same comment - "you're not THAT big." I appreciate the 'compliment', and suppose I got pretty good at hiding it. Before surgery, I weighed 274 lbs. I'm sure this number will probably shock most of you, as that seems to be the universal reaction. Another comment I heard was "you could do that yourself". There have been times I've been able to shed decent amounts of weight, only to put it all back on, and then some. And each time I would do this, would make the next time even harder. I also REALLY didn't want to hear anyone say to me that I was 'taking the easy way out', as no doubt some of you reading this might be thinking right now. This would have done nothing but anger me, and would have jeopardized our friendship. Believe me, there is nothing easy about having surgery. I'm still recovering, and wouldn't ever want to relive the first 24 hours. It is still going to take hard work and exercise to get to my goal and maintain it. This is only a tool to help me achieve that goal. What it is There are basically three main types of weight loss surgery. There is the gastric bypass. This was never a consideration in my mind, as I view it as being a last resort for extremely overweight people, and there can be a lot of malnutrition involved. I was actually scheduled for the lap band procedure, as I know a few people who have had it done, with varying degrees of success. After hours and hours of further research, I decided against this. Basically, the lap band is a device that is implanted and placed around the entrance to the stomach. The band gets filled with saline so that it inflates and restricts how much you can eat. The 'temporary' aspect of the band (the fact that it can be removed if any issues arose), was the biggest plus to me initially. The more I read online, the more I saw people not happy with the lap band, and having it removed and getting the procedure I had, the vertical sleeve. Some issues with the band include slippage, erosion, and the long-term maintenance (you have to go periodically for 'fills' to adjust how much the band is filled). Some people just could never find what they call their 'green zone', the perfect level of restriction where they are restricting enough to lose weight but not so much that they are vomiting after 2 bites. Also, insurance concerns crossed my mind - would insurance cover the fills forever? What if I moved or had to change doctors? All of these things pointed me in the direction of the vertical sleeve. The vertical sleeve is the newest of the three types, and is basically a laparoscopic procedure where up to 85% of your stomach is removed, leaving you with a sleeve about the size of a banana. Basically, you are then restricted to eating between 3 and 5 ounces at any meal. You can eat pretty much what you did before, only MUCH less. Some people find that they don't tolerate certain foods after surgery, or don't like the tastes of some foods they liked before. It is a permanent solution. The weight loss results are comparable to the bypass, typically very good. Another benefit of this surgery is that the part of the stomach that is removed is the part that produces the hormone grehlin, the hunger hormone, so feelings of overwhelming hunger go away. People say that they go from eating extreme amounts of food and never feeling full before surgery, to having to remind themselves to eat so they can get in enough calories after. The fact that the lap band was 'temporary' and could be removed at any time, was what made it more attractive to me initially, and seemed less 'drastic'. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed a permanent solution that would help me make the lifelong changes I needed to make. Wanting something because it was reversible, enabling me to go back to the way I was, no longer made sense to me. Reasons for getting surgery First and foremost, I did this for my wife and kids. I don't want to leave them without a husband and father. Sure, I'm not happy with how I look, but looks were at the bottom of my list of reasons. I would have been perfectly happy to continue to eat 5-6 slices of pizza and being upset that there wasn't any more because I still didn't feel full, and watching my weight continue to rise every year. I 'know' what the right things and right amounts to eat are. But 'knowing' and being able to stick to it because you never feel satisfied are two very different things. I never smoked or drank or did any drugs. Food was my drug, and it was negatively affecting my health. Besides weighing 274 and growing, I had a BMI of 36, which is considered obese. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, erosive GERD (acid reflux), shortness of breath, a leaky heart valve, and what my doctor says is the second worst case of sleep apnea he's seen in his office. If you don't know, sleep apnea means you stop breathing for significant periods of time, which lowers your blood oxygen level, and the 'jarring' that occurs when your breath comes back could cause your heart to go into a deadly rhythm. So basically, I was a ticking time bomb that could die in my sleep at any time. I have a machine called a CPAP machine that helps me breathe at night, but I've tried it and find it impossible to sleep with it. I'm actually getting a new one today that my doctor says is easier because the air pressure level automatically adjusts based on what you need at any given moment, instead of being set at a fixed level that sometimes seems like too much and would wake me up.. I plan on giving it a try, and hopefully once I lose a significant amount of weight the sleep apnea will disappear. I also hope to be off my medications. Most people who get the sleeve are able to get off their medications and are cured of their sleep apnea. I've seen stories of people being cured of type-2 diabetes (which I thankfully did not have, yet) the day of surgery. Amazing. The apnea and medication for blood pressure, while being the result of being overweight, also become self perpetuating problems. They limit my energy level, which in turn limits my activity level, further adding to the obstacles to weight loss on my own. How I'm doing The surgery went well on Friday. The surgeon found a fairly large hiatal hernia, which he repaired while he was in there. The first day was basically Hell. I was in pain, discomfort, had a hard time taking deep breaths, and was extremely tired. All I wanted to do was sleep, not only because I was tired but because I wanted to avoid the discomfort. They pump your belly full of air during the procedure to maximize the space they have to work, and this air leads to gas pain which radiates to your left shoulder. This gas pain is no joke. Every day gets easier than the one before it. I am on a clear liquid diet for 1 week, basically limited to water or crystal light, broth, sugar free jello, and sugar free ice pops. I also need to drink protein shakes until I can start eating foods with protein. They want you to get between 60 and 80 grams of protein in every day, and if I can't get all of that in from food I will have to continue with the shakes. At first, it was very hard to get in the fluids, due to swelling. Very small sips. That is getting easier by the day. After 1 week, I progress to a few weeks of a puréed diet, eating mushy foods. A blender will be my friend for this phase. After that, I can start introducing some 'real' foods, slowly to see what I can tolerate. They still want you to concentrate on getting most of your calories from lean proteins and vegetables, limiting sugars and starches. I welcome my new relationship with food. It will no longer be something that I do for pleasure, consuming unlimited quantities. Instead it will be something that I will have to be conscious of, sometimes reminding myself to eat so that I can get in enough calories to sustain good nutrition and fuel my body. It will be a big change, for sure. I continue to feel better every day. The pain is basically gone, limited to what I would describe as a 'tightness' feeling at the incision sites. I had 7 small incisions, which should leave minimal scarring. The first step out of bed or off the couch is the hardest, because of this tightness, and my fear of twisting or stretching anything the wrong way. I'm walking well, just a bit slow at the moment. The tightness also makes it impossible to sleep on my side or stomach right now, limiting me to my back, which is the worst position for my sleep apnea. To counter this, I've found that sleeping upright on the couch with my feet up on an ottoman is the best for me. I tried piling pillows on the bed to elevate my head, but found that it was pushing my head forward, further restricting my airway. I will get my new CPAP machine today, and look forward to sleeping in bed with my wife again tonight. As of this morning, I've lost a total of 20 lbs, including 9 lbs lost during a strict one week pre-op diet. In conclusion I am a very private person, who doesn't like divulging personal (potentially embarrassing) information, as I've done at length here. I only just decided to write this after waking up at 5 am and not being able to fall back asleep. I hope for all of your understanding and support, and 'friendship'. I welcome any questions or comments, either under this post, or in a private message, or in person. I do not welcome any criticism or cruel comments or jokes (even lighthearted ones, as I might not view them this way). If that is your inclination, please refrain from commenting, or go ahead and remove me from your friends list. I apologize for ending this on such a down note like that, I just want to make it clear how serious I am about this. Thank you.' So far, I've gotten all positive comments from people, except for one person. He used to be a close friend, but we grew apart in recent years, but are still friends on Facebook. It's been years since we've talked, even on Facebook. He said he was hurt that I didn't contact him, because he had weight loss surgery also and could have helped me in my decision. I had no idea he had surgery, and told him that and asked him how I would have known. We sent messages back and forth, and he still was upset, saying stuff about how he's sick of putting himself out for other people only to get nothing back (paraphrasing). I told him that I was disappointed that he chose now, a time when I'm reaching out for support and understanding, to make it about him and his hurt feelings that our friendship isn't what it used to be. Whatever, I can't worry about that now. I need to take care of myself at this point in time.

After dropping 20 lbs in total from the pre op diet and first few days after surgery, I've weighed exactly 254.7 for the past 3 days. A stall during the first week post op? A bit discouraging. I spent a couple hours last night reading these forums about people's stalls. I guess I need to not obsess about the scale, and let things happen in their own time. I believe it's physically impossible not to lose weight with the small amount of calories I've been taking in. I am very moody and irritable today, even getting annoyed if my kids try to talk to me. I'm not sure what that's about, that's not my normal. I guess I'll attribute it to the diet. I've progressed to the stage 2 of the the post op diet, mushy or puréed foods. I went to the grocery store to pick up some things that sounded good from the list - low fat cream soups, instant grits. I also went to GNC and picked up a case of the Isopure bottles. Expensive, but I like them better than the powdered shakes which seem too sickeningly sweet to me now. 40 g of Protein and 20 oz of liquid simultaneously? Win-win. I got the Alpine Punch flavor, really only because it was the only one there was a full case of, and it's not bad. There are some other flavors I'd like to try also. My first mushy food was the instant grits. I only was able to eat 4 spoonfuls, and I put the rest into a container for another time. I will probably try a soup at dinner time. I'm finding it very difficult to eat and drink enough, especially since I can't drink for 15 minutes before, or 45 minutes after eating something. That takes 3 hours out of the day where I can't drink anything. I was more thirsty than hungry at lunchtime, even after taking a couple hours to drink the 20 oz Isopure. So I drank instead of eating.

Thanks crossfit. I have several different brands of protein powder. I don't want to replace the milk with water, as that will lessen the amount of protein. I have been 'watering' them down by adding extra milk, and that does help some.

Kind of an amusing question, but I really want to know where weight goes when you lose it? I learned in high school science class that matter can't be created or destroyed. If I go to bed, then wake up 4 lbs lighter, where did those 4 lbs go? I didn't pee them out. Do they get converted to energy? Sometimes I feel like they're being passed out of my mouth in the form of bad breath.

They had me on Prevacid IV during my 2 days at the hospital. They gave me a prescription for something called Dexilant, but said that I could continue taking my Prilosec prescription if I preferred. The Prilosec capsules are larger than what they say we should be swallowing, and the bottle specifically says not to crush them. So my wife went to fill the Dexilant prescription, and when I open it, guess what they were? Capsules! I cut open the capsule and emptied out the little balls inside into a tiny bit of liquid. I would drink the liquid and the little balls were all still stuck to the bottom of the medicine cup. I had to scoop them out and swallow them with a sip of Water. I decided this was stupid, and haven't taken it since. I haven't had any issues with reflux since the surgery.

I used to 'rice' cauliflower in a food processor when I was on Atkins. A great substitute for rice, and you can use it in any dish you would normally use rice for.

I keep telling myself that my body just needs time to adjust to the shock and trauma of surgery. I actually came home from the hospital 5 lbs heavier than when I went in. I'm sure the weight will start coming off, it's impossible for it not to with the amount we're able to take in. I may have actually been taking in too FEW calories, causing the body to try to hold on to what it has. I'm starting on mushy foods today, so hopefully I can get in some more calories.

I figured I'd be a fast loser, as I've always tended to lose (and gain it back) quickly. However, the last 3 mornings I've woken up the EXACT same weight, right down to the tenth of a pound. I spent a couple hours last night reading posts on here about stalls. Most people seem to get them around the third week, I haven't seen anyone say they stalled in the first week, and it is disheartening.

To chime in on the hungry vs full thing, I'm not sure I've felt actual hunger yet. And because I have yet to eat any real food, I'm not sure we will get a full feeling yet either.

Lorac, it did feel good, therapeutic almost, to put it all down into words. It took me 2 hours to get it to where I was happy with it. I wrestled with whether I would actually post it or not. It was agonizing awaiting for the responses to start coming in. I'm a bit disappointed that most of the responses so far have been from my 'extended' Facebook friends (people I knew in high school, people who friended me because I played on 2 songs on a cd by their favorite band, etc.). Most of the people I care about from my 'real' life have been silent. Maybe they haven't seen it yet, I don't know. My brother did make a comment that he was proud of me for making a difficult decision that would positively impact my life. Pantala, I don't mind at all! Feel free to steal as much as you like. While I may have put things down in words, these experiences or feelings are not unique to me at all. We are all on this site to help each other. I would even say that coming here and reading the forums and talking to people has helped me sort through my feelings and get to the point where I could put them all down on 'paper'.

I haven't tried them, but from what I've read people either love it or hate it. I've tried some of the 'unflavored' stuff. Unflavored my ass! I'll have to try the isopure, do you get it at GNC?

Oh, I definitely feel like the hard part was the first 24 hours. Things get better and easier every day. I'm loving chicken or beef broth. I'm not liking the taste of my Protein shakes (I liked them before surgery), but am forcing them down.

Seeing all these issues with swallowing, I'm actually a little concerned that I don't have any. Fluids are going down pretty easily. I'm still drinking slow, but could drink faster if I wanted. My doctor fixed a fairly large hiatal hernia, so maybe that has actually helped my swallowing? I don't know.

Thanks so much for the positive words! It was something I felt like I had to do, but only AFTER surgery!

Ok, I was sleeved on Friday, and didn't really feel like blogging in the hospital, so I will try to include as many details as I can here. Friday, March 8 - wife drove me to the hospital at 6 am. Nurses brought me in to empty my bladder, get changed into the gow, sign some paperwork, and get the IV started. I kissed my wife, and got wheeled into the OR at around 7:30. The next thing I can remember is the nurses calling out my name trying to wake me up in the recovery room. I opened my eyes and saw a clock on the wall said 11:30. I was struggling to determine if I was dreaming or if it was real. I started trying to determine if I was in any pain, and noticed it was hard to take a deep breath. They wheeled me up to my room about a half hour later. I was so tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. They gave me a button to push for Morphine, and told me to use it as often as I needed. The morphine made me nauseous whenever I would use it, only temporarily, but enough to make me not want to use it too much. I had some belly pain, but mostly what I would describe as "tightness" in the belly. Worse than the belly was the gas pain I felt in my chest, and a pain in my left shoulder which I am reading now was also from the gas. The doctor repaired a fairly large hiatal hernia while he was in there, so I think that compounded the chest pain and gas pain. Sleeping at night was hard - basically every hour was 45 minutes of sleeping and 15 minutes of being awake. I used the morphine about once an hour throughout the night, just to get some sleep. Also, another thing that was hard was the cotton mouth. I wasn't able to drink anything at all for the first 24 hours, but was able to swab the inside of my mouth with water. It helped some, but was annoying. The first day was pretty much Hell, and I was praying that it would all be worth it. Saturday, March 9 - I awoke in the morning, and was told that the doctor would be in at some point to do an X-ray to make sure there was no leakage. One thing I forgot to mention about Friday was that they would give me a heparin shot every 8 hours or so, and that would continue for the whole hospital stay. The doctor showed up, and they brought me down in a wheelchair to do the X-ray. I had to stand there and drink a few sips of barium solution, the first fluid I had drank in about 36 hours. Doctor said everything looked great, no leaks, and the hiatal hernia looked like it was healing nicely. I got back to my room, and was given a 'food' tray, clear liquid bariatric diet. I tried to get some liquid in, but it was very hard. They disconnected the morphine, and switched me to Tylenol with codeine in pill form, which had to be crushed and put into liquid. It was so bitter and hard to drink. I only ended up taking 2 doses, and haven't taken any pain medication since 6:45 Saturday night. Overall, it was a much better day than day 1. I got up to walk and to urinate a few times, and it did help with the gas pain. Sleep on Saturday night was much better than Friday night. I was still a bit uncomfortable, especially the constant burping and the pain in my left shoulder. It was hard to stay on my back all night, but slept pretty good, only waking up one time to urinate and I walked the length of the hall a couple times while I was up. Sunday, March 10 - was told I would probably be going home, which is what I was expecting. Felt even better than on Saturday. A lot of waiting, just wanting to go home. Around 11 am I realized that they had never brought me a breakfast tray. It was daylight savings, so the clock on the wall still said 10. I mentioned it to my nurse, and she couldn't believe it. She asked if I wanted them to send something now, or just wait until lunch. I had been sipping on water, and said I could just wait until lunch. They brought the lunch trays up, and mine wasn't included there either. The nurse had to call and have a tray sent up. They ended up sending a tray of clear liquid diet food, not clear liquid BARIATRIC diet food, which means that some of the things had sugar. Luckily, the only thing I was really interested in was the chicken broth, which was on both diets. This was the only issue I had with the entire hospital stay. The nurses were great. Probably around 1 pm, the doctor came to remove my Jackson Pratt drain, which was probably the most unpleasant second of the entire thing. He counted to 3 and yanked it out. I let out an audible yell, which is unusual for me. It wasn't so much that it hurt, but felt very strange. I'm not even sure I could describe it to someone who hasn't been through it, but I've replayed it in my mind several times since, feeling the same feeling again each time. I was released, and went home, it was good to be home. I will try to add more later, just wanted to get these thoughts down before I forgot them.