Lyrakl

You look really great. And you deserve people in your life who are supportive and rooting for you. Everyone else needs to be cut loose.

We were sleeved on the same day! I'm 25 down.

After two weeks I weighed exactly the same as I did the day I went into the hospital. I was... very upset. But I started losing this week finally. My cravings were rage inducing. Now that I'm on soft foods and can eat more foods, and slowly starting to accept how little I can eat now, the cravings are lessening. Still, the day I can have two bites of pizza, I will weep with joy.

You look amazing! When did you start using the elliptical? I'm three weeks out and got on the elliptical for 30 minutes yesterday and somehow reopened my freaking incision.

I'm starting soft foods today! I'm going to have fish for dinner. But more than anything I want a freaking cucumber. I wonder when I can eat those? Funny you mention the bougie. My surgeon said they did start using a larger one because they think there is less acid reflux post-op. He allowed meats starting the second week if they were puréed.

I'm three weeks post op and I feel the same way. I want my stomach back. I want to be able to eat a salad or a piece of pizza. I can't believe I willingly did this to myself and I can't talk to anyone because I wanted this surgery so bad. Everyone says these feelings will pass and in a few months I will be thrilled. I'm holding on to that. Instead of looking back, or even forward, I'm trying to focus on healing and what my body needs right now.

I was self- pay and it came to about 23,000. I really hope that's it and no little things I forgot start trickling in.

I had a lot of pain too and I didn't like the pain meds because they made me nauseous. Finally got a Tylenol drip, which was hardly anything compared to the morphine, but it didn't make me sick. I got on a schedule of sleep, Tylenol drip, walk, sleep while I was in the hospital. Don't be afraid to ask for stronger, different, whatever pain meds. You just had major surgery.

I'm three weeks out and although I feel better each week, I still feel far from normal. I still have twinges in my incision area. I'm hoping in two more weeks I'll feel more normal. But recovery was a lot longer and difficult than I expected.

Never considered bypass because the malabsorption really scared me and the bypass people i know have to take SO MANY different vitamins. The dumping because of sugar scared me too, but I just found out sleevers can have dumping issues too. I don't have an issue with sugar, luckily, but in my seminar the bypass girl said if she ate more than half a banana she would have terrible dumping syndrome and right then I was like, no way!

This happens to me too because I can't make myself sip and I take in too much air. It hurts! But the nurses told me not to panic when it happens. The doctor told me eventually my body will adjust itself... Whatever that means.

I was told if it didn't happen by day 6 to call the doctor. Luckily it happened on day 4.

I'm three weeks out too, and on purees. I get mucous when I eat too much. I just figured this out yesterday. I was having a real problem swallowing water and my doctor had me try crystal light. For some reason that works better in the beginning he said. I hope you feel better soon.

I had nausea in the hospital due to the pain meds... And the swallow tests. I refused to use the pain pump because I couldn't take the nausea.

Honestly, I had a lot of pain and the pain pump made me nauseous, which was worse than the pain, because heaving on a newly sleeved stomach is the worst. I had a Tylenol drip and as long as I stayed still and tried to sleep a lot it was bearable. Make sure you have pain meds to take home. I had to crush up Vicodin because I couldn't tolerate the liquid meds. I never had kids or had been in a hospital before, so I had nothing to compare to either. The pain sucked, but it was bearable. If you can tolerate the meds or the nausea ( I couldn't and that's why I had a hard time) you'll be set.

I didn't know we could get dumping with the sleeve! I thought it was just too much sugar with bypass patients. Good to know.

I was told its the soap they use during surgery. If it doesn't get washed off right away, it gets trapped on your skin and causes a rash. At first I thought the redness was bruising. Then it started to itch so bad. I didn't really go near it in the shower because it was so close to my incision. Benadryl helps.

I had my first follow up today and got a glimpse of my incision (I just had one). I've been in a depression ever since. It must be glue holding it together (covered with a steri strip) because it looks like its on the verge of splitting open. I'm scared to move.

I paid for it myself. It was about $23,000. I'm one week post op and in the midst of post-op depression, but in a few weeks I'm sure I'll say I'm happy I did it.

It takes me an hour to swim 2.5 miles. I would do that 4x a week. That's all I did before surgery because it hurt to walk. I had my follow up today and I can't go in the pool for a month! Once I'm cleared I will add strength training.

I just had my one week follow up today and was told I can't swim for a month until my incision is completely healed. I'm dying to get back in the pool, but I don't want my incision to have any problems.

I love that you asked if you could keep your stomach! That made me laugh out loud. I too wanted a pic of my stomach, but my mom convinced me they would think I was nuts and not do the surgery, so I didn't ask. But I really wish I had some documentation.

I just found out my surgeon's office charges $20 a meeting to attend the support group meetings. Is this normal? It's not that I can't afford the $20, but it just seems like bad taste to have the in-house psychiatrist charging money for a support group. Has anyone else been frustrated with their surgeon center? I swear every dealing I've had with them has been an issue. First my one and only nutrition meeting was a bust because the dietician kept dozing off while she was talking. She was sick and I felt bad for her, but now that I'm sitting here one week post-op struggling with what I can eat, I see that I could've used a dietician who was at her best. Then the Friday before my Monday morning surgery, the scheduler called to tell me that there were problems with some of my pre-op tests and some of them hadn't even been completed, and she left it to me, on a Friday afternoon, to deal with it all. I spent the whole weekend before my surgery literally sick with anxiety before it was all cleared up on Monday morning, a couple hours before surgery. Turns out the scheduler was looking at the wrong file on the computer. No apology or anything. There's no consistency and I deal with a different person every single time. I made my required follow-up appointment with a specific Physician's Assistant, the one person in that office that has been professional, and I find out I'm seeing another PA, not the one I made the appointment with. It seems like most people love their surgeon center and they've been really helpful to them. I feel like the second they got my money (I'm self-pay, $23,000 cash upfront, every penny I'd saved and borrowed for the last four years in order to do this) they left me on my own. Literally. i came home from the hospital with no prescription for pain meds. I had to call my General Physician's answering service on a Friday night so he could write me a prescription for something stronger than over the counter Tylenol. They have all this advertising on youtube about how they care for their patients and see them through this process, and that wasn't my experience at all. It seems at the very least they should have a point person to talk to. I thought when my surgery was over I would be able to let it all go as long as I came out of it with the correct procedure done (which I did thank God! I was so worried after the wrong file fiasco), but because I still have to deal with them and their disorganization and now to find out they charge for support group meetings. I'm so angry at them!

I would sue so fast. So many violations!! I used to work in HR and employee's privacy is a #1 priority. Unbelievable.

I was sleeved the same day as you, 2/19, and I was in the hospital four days. This has been hard, but nothing like you went through. I hope you continue to recover and thrive with your sleeve. Lots of good wishes to you.