Recycled

Three weeks is too long. You are surely impacted. If it is not painful already...it will be. Definitely call your Doc. Ask him about taking Magnesium Citrate. You can get it at Walgreens or any drugstore. It is very gentle and works quickly and thoroughly. Refrigerate and drink the whole bottle (8oz.) It taste like unsweetened koolaid. It is typical after the sleeve to not go for a few days, but never wait weeks. Once you clean out your system, I'm sure your doc will suggest you keep taking a stool softener, like Colace or similar on a regular basis.

Cool you jets.........the car is more of a danger risk than the surgery..... Give yourself a little challenge tomorrow, may just calm you in the process...... From the moment they get you checked in tomorrow, they will begin to monitor you BP and heart rate while prepping you for the surgery. And when I say begin......I mean many times..... Each time they come in to check BP.....concentrate on trying to slow your breathing and calm your body by thinking of a relaxing or pleasant event or activity in your mind. Relax you muscles and go limp........ .....The challenge.....to see it yo can lower your blood pressure from each time they take it..... It passes the time quickly, gives you a level of control that actually does calm and relax you....... next stop.....recovery....home and the "loser's bench"

Soon the excitement of seeing the numbers going down and reveling in a new "lowest weight" number will diminish. The scale will become a reference to monitor that you're not continuing to gain......Yes, I said gaining. As you weight loss slows, you may bounce up and down in weight over days or weeks. Don't panic.....just monitor it so you can keep it in check and stay on track to your goal. Once there the scale will settle your mind every few days that you can, fact control your weight and not re-gain. And as far as the actual number........Your clothes will be a better gauge and a higher level of excitement than the scale. Seeing yourself fit in increasing smaller and smaller clothes will be exhilarating and speak for itself. So, yes....the scale is necessary to some degree......but you only need to use the one you have at home, and disregard all others as immaterial. It only serves as a monitoring reference, and for that, you need to use the same one each time..

Ok, I'm gonna give it to ya straight. You are in the so called "honeymoon stage". That is where you will feel the most benefit of the surgery. Basically.....the most restriction and the least amount of desire to eat. Treasure it. It will not last forever. Adapt to the new eating style "QUICKLY" You will see the most and fastest weight loss during this time. But it will subside eventually and you will be able to eat more and some of those old cravings may return. You need to have your healthly eating habits and exercises firmly ingrained in a new lifestyle. And the more you lose.....the stronger you will be able to resist any backsliding. When you reach your goal....it will be an accomplishment you never want to give up. You will also then have much more insight into how to control all those past desires and cravings. So this is time where you need to concentrate on doing the work and taking advantage of the benefits of the sleeve. New is in...... new is now.....old is gone. No mourning necessary. It's done, time to embrace the new you and the effort it will take to maintain it. You can do it.

I had absolutely no pain the entire process......... OK......see that.....how easily I got you to be pissed off at me and forget all about your pain...... I know it's not that easy when it's there all the time, but it might help some if you try to take you mind off the pain by concentrating on other things...... Go for a walk........Do some breathing exercises......take up a hobby......cook and freeze some small meals.......or if all else fails.....check with your doc and get some stronger pain meds. Rest assured though.....as others have said here......time will in fact heal and the pain will ease too.. Every day will be one more day with the worst behind you.

"Sometimes you feel like a nut.....sometimes you don't"......Couldn't help it...felt compelled to say that... You're by no means alone......check out this link....http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/300489-fallacy-of-the-6-month-wait/ Try to relax......you'll be looking back on all this in a flash.......not believing how fast the time went by....

fusion is one option for treatment of pain, but is limiting in post surgical mobility and can promote future complications. Have you looked into disk replacement. My wife had the Bryan disk replacement instead of fusion when she injured her neck. It was performed by a fantastic surgeon named Dr. Scott Katzman. He is renowned for this type of surgery. http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/artificial-disc-replacement/cervical-artificial-disc-replacement-technologies

GNC has them and you can get pretty good deals when they have sales or you get coupons or specials......sometimes buy one and get one free. I buy them by the box of 12 for $24.00. I have ordered them from Amazon and Vitamin shoppe and had problems with them not being of the same consistency. GNC has the freshest ones.

Added note: Surely you could still move forward with the consult for WLS........but in my humble opinion......there is no.... "which is more important."? Get your eyes taken care of !!!!

If and when you do go forward with sleeve surgery, the surgeon's staff will inquire about what previous surgeries and treatments (meds, etc.) you have had recently..........Sooo......you may want to run the information about your eye past them now, to find out how it may or may not impact any weight loss surgery and recovery.

I just picked a weight I remember from my past dozens of diets and weight loss efforts. A weight I felt was the most ideal weight for my body type. I completely ignored doctors or charts. I figured I'd tweak it the closer I got depending on how I looked and felt then. The excess skin does have an adverse effect on appearance and skews the number somewhat, but ultimately the number really didn't motivate me as much as clothes sizes and fit, but it was pretty close. Even though at times I felt I wouldn't reach my original goal weight, the additional effort to reach it, kept me on track with my new eating habits to solidify them and make them permanent. I did eventually reach my goal and then to avoid any anti-climatic backsliding because I no longer had a goal...... I set another one to lose a few more.......(no number.....just a few more) I found that in maintenance, I bounced up and down a few pounds every few days, so I wanted a margin of a few pounds leeway. Also, I wanted the knowledge that I had control of my weight on a daily basis. I lost another ten pounds over a couple of months and gained alot more insight into how diligent I must be to maintain. Bottom line.......the number is an estimate at best........you'll be the ultimate judge of what's best for you and you'll reach whatever goal you want by staying focused and not forgetting your past.

You wanna keep up the increased weight loss.....kick up the exercise. You will have more energy as you lose and can do more in the gym and you will lose more and constantly feel better and better. It's a win win. Hit the gym.

I think there is more worry and doubt in our minds during the qualifying waiting stage than the actual surgery. Are we gonna be approved? Are we gonna prove we can lose weight before surgery? Are we gonna gain weight? I don't care if I get approved? I've always failed at losing and this is no different. What if I don't change after surgery. I enjoy the food too much and don't want to give it up. I'm fooling myself ! ! I couldn't get my mind into the process and it just didn't seem real to me. I continued to eat as I always had. I even gained a few pounds and made excuses as to why when I went to the monthly PCP appointments. I felt guilty constantly thinking I should be trying to get used to the eating habits or I'd be in big trouble later. But at the same time it felt like I was being asked to kill my best friend and I wanted to cherish whatever time was left. So I ate. Not just normally. I went out of my way to re-visit my favorites to get in a farewell, so to speak. And while savoring those delectable dishes, my mind was reinforcing the thought I would never get used to "rabbit" food. During those moments I reveled in the pleasure of food and the thought of some undesirable WLS was the last thing on my mind. The months passed. I continued going to appointments to keep up appearances of my big deception. And as delays set in and additional tests were required, it just made it more likely that probably nothing was gonna change. I wasn't sure if I cared or not. Either way, why bother to try to adjust to some unnecessary weight loss requirement if the surgery wasn't gonna happen anyway. Hmmm, did I really think that or was I trying to subconsciously sabotage the process. Who knows. Out of the blue, the "call". Your approved......now pick a surgery date! After hanging up the phone, nervous anticipation sets in. It's real and the surgery doesn't even make me flinch. The life style change afterwards does. Can I really do this? I should have been getting used to this for the last 8 months. Damn, this is gonna be 10 times harder now. Two weeks. Are you kidding me. Pre-op diet tomorrow? Cold turkey? This is just too soon. Breathe..........think about the skinny you. Think about not dying from a heart attack. Whatever, just get on board, cause your life changes in two weeks. OK, panic is over. I've been on the pre-op for two weeks and it wasn't so bad. I really can do this. Surgery is tomorrow and I'm anxious to feel the pounds coming off and see me changing. Wow, that was fast. Surgery is over. Not as bad as I was prepared for. The post-op stages seem game-like. Drink this now. Walk. Now you can eat blended stuff. Not bad. Learn about nutrition. Choose the good stuff for the tiny stomach. Easy pesy. And I'm losing. I am doing it and really losing. Alot. It is gonna work and it appears I can adjust. And most importantly, life moves on and I adapt and change. Who would've believed it ? The food choices are fine. The nutrition requirements are fine. I'm satisfied and I don't feel I'm missing any foods from my pre-op life. My mind is set on the future and my goals and whatever doubts I had pre-op are distant memories of a past life. Message: Don't sweat the waiting period!

Not only will you be able to handle the wait.....You'll do great with the post-op and the new lifestyle. I did and your're gonna love the new you. The whole thing passes in a flash.......Enjoy.

70 Lbs,,,,, you are certainly on the right track. Glad to have you aboard. Stick around and share with others your experience. It will help you stay on track and provide valuable guidance to those seeking help and information.

Three and a half years post op.......Excellent accomplishment. A lot to be proud of. Keep up the success.

Cowgirljane, I just started maintenance and just recently returned from a vacation that was number one on my list of things I was shooting for when I reached my goal weight. And almost like clockwork of times past, I felt myself subconsciously easing up on the level of workouts I was doing during my weight loss. as in.......goal reached....vacation's over.....I can relax now....right !!..... Deja Vu..... This is the eye opener I needed as well. If it takes me creating another distant future goal to keep up the routine.....then so be it. Or maybe just to keep topic fresh in my mind by frequenting Bariatric Pal often to read posts like yours. Maybe even just set little goals of 2 more pounds to lose or attempting to build some more muscle in my arms to fill the saggy skin. Anything to keep me motivated so I won't backslide. Thanks for the reality check. Probably the most important issue of the whole process.

I'm over a year out and I still use it every day. It's just too easy to lose track of what you eat during the day and overeat or not realize just how many calories you're consuming. I just don't want to backslide. Even at a year the routines are not yet firmly implanted.......or maybe more accurately, my old bad habits are not yet totally gone. I need to stay vigilant. MFP - RecycledPlastic

Throughout the process I have been very much encouraged by the before and after photos of other members of BP. However I was reluctant to post any of mine until I was what I considered successful and reached my goal weight. Then I seemed to never remember to take a pic. Well, I just got back from a fantastic ski vacation made possible due to my sleeve, alot of fellow Bariatric Pal support and a year of rigorous effort. So here are some of my before and after pics.

Easier for sure, but more accurately would be the word "possible".......I had given up skiing due to my obesity. I figured I would never do it again. Now, I'm actually lighter than I ever skied before. What a thrill it is.....

I hear ya......I only wear the compression stuff under other clothes.

Being surprised that others still measure and count calories should be a worrisome concern to you. My failure to totally understand what was required was always my downfall with any past weight losses. I would figure I won the battle once I reached a goal weight and then slowly go back to my old habits.........and weight I like that my sleeve is a ongoing reminder of the lifestyle changes I have made and will continue to follow forever now. I know from past failed experiences in contrast to my present success, along with the maintenance feedback of others, that the longer I maintain my lifestyle and eating changes, the more likely they will become permanent. No more illusions that I can quickly defeat obesity. I will need to be forever vigilant. This will be my new normal

Well, just got back from a great week of skiing in Breckenridge CO. Haven't been skiing in over 10 years. My sleeve has given me a new life with no limits. Here's my before and after only one short year later......