gaijingal

Thanks! Although, honestly, I think the dress was doing a lot of the work there (ruching AND empire waist). I started at a (relatively) low BMI, so I've only lost 45 lbs. I want to lose another 15, but I seem to have stabilized right here. And, as much as I loved that dress, and it was the first time in my life I'd worn something sleeveless, sideshots of my arms highlighted my need to get lifting some weights!

I've been laying low the last little while, but I need to get on the bandwagon and drop those last few pounds, which I hope will be helped by getting back on here and getting some support. My dress isn't black, but buying it was literally the first time I ever felt excited about going to a party, so I hope you will forgive me the colour. Wore this to the Christmas party at my old job, where most people hadn't seen me since well before my surgery. I got some amazing feedback. Unfortunately, I was so busy socializing, I didn't take a good pic at the party, so this is the pic that was taken at the store...I wasn't going to buy the dress, but my friend (who doesn't know about the surgery, but it is very insightful) said "Oh my gosh, I just realized, you still think you're fat. You have to see a photo to see what we see..." And she was totally right!

Just went back East for a visit after 5 years. Saw an old beau who looked amazed and said "You got prettier as you got older. That's not supposed to happen!" Um, thanks? And my mom's cousin exclaimed "You look HOT! If you weren't related, I'd set you up with my son." Again, thanks?

Please, please, please don't wear stainless steel rings. They are nearly impossible to get off if you break or badly cut your finger. Bone is much easier to cut than stainless steel....and you don't want to lose that battle with your jewellery! As for the topic at hand...yes, you lose weight in your hands. And, I had always heard that women like shoes so much because you don't gain weight in your feet, so it's your one size that stays relatively stable. That is a LIE! I have bad feet, so all of my shoes are very expensive, and I looked long and hard for each and every pair. I'm really sad at saying goodbye to some of them...not sad enough to put the weight back on, though!

My worse and best compliment when getting scrutinized at the border...in BOTH directions...because I no longer look like my passport picture. I was scared they weren't going to let me cross!

Hi there! I usually lurk on these sites, but every once and a while I actually want to reply to a question, but I guess it's rude to do so without introducing myself. I was sleeved May 30, 2013 by Dr. Ramos-Kelly in Tijuana. I had a BMI of 30.9 (Possibly lower, I stopped weighing myself, as i started to get worried the pre-op diet would be so effective I wouldn't be eligble for the sleeve by the time my OR date arrived.) Yes, my BMI was is low, but it's been higher, and I simply got tired of fighting all the time to get my weight down, while always firmly staying in the "obese" range. It really started to suck that I was dieting all the time, but still couldn't wear a swimsuit! I had been considering the surgery for a while, but I think the tipping point was looking at pictures of my mother from 20 years ago when I was at her retirement part a few months ago. I thought they were pictures of me. Then I looked at my father, still recovering from his 3rd knee surgery in 5 years, mostly required because he his so overweight, his knees can no longer carry him around. I realized that I didn't want to be 60, and still losing this battle. Morevoer, my sister's wedding is coming up, and I didn't want to suffer through one mrore event where I was ashamed to have my picture taken. So I made the appointment, and off I went. I didn't tell a soul (and still haven't, outside of medical practioners). My surgery went well, although I had a lot of pain immediately post-op, and I was up and walking around within 12 hours. I'm looking forward to losing the weight. The pounds are slow coming off, but my clothes are already too big. Unfortunately, I had an unrelated minor health crisis yesterday and received 3 L of IV saline. Which only weighs 6 lbs, but somehow added TEN lbs to me. Now I have to weight for that to come off before I can know where I really am weight-wise right now. I also have a reunion this summer, and fingers crossed, I will already be well on my way to stunning everyone with the new me!

Yeah, NSAIDS (ibuprophen, aleve, aspirin) are anti-platelets, so the doctor is worried you'll bleed more in surgery because of it. Call him and ask what you can do.

I've kept all my old skinny clothes, and had a pair of Sz 12 jeans that I had never worn and I couldn't wait to get into...and I shrunk right past them and into a pair of ratty old size 10s! Boo! (And yet, so happy I'm a size 10!) Now, If I could just figure out what I did with my Sz 10 capri jeans, I would be a happy woman, because it would save me buying something I only wear for a month!

On the record, I would have told her that "You know that you could lose your license for saying something so inappropriate and downright hurtful, and yet you couldn't stop yourself from saying it, so perhaps you understand my plight of knowing what's good for you, and not quite being able to achieve it. Perhaps if I, like you, had a big fat foot in my mouth all day, I'd be skinny, but, unfortunately, I am a decent human being, so I've had to look for other weight loss options." And then let her worry for weeks that you were going to report her. It's soooooooo easy to think of the right thing to say when you're not being actively flabbergasted at what a See You Next Tuesday a supposed "care giver" is being!

My doctor was really stingy with narcotics, which I found irritating as a practitioner who was trained that God gave us drugs for a reason, and nobody should suffer when we have the medication to help them. That said, that was only immediately post-op and the day or so after. After that, I was able to control my pain with Tylenol and ketoralac (Aleve would be a similar, over-the-counter option), and was quite happy to do so to avoid the side-effects and the risks around narcotics. Make sure drugs like aleve, ketoralac and ibuprofen (NSAIDs) are okay with your doctor before you take them, though. If you don't have any liver problems, taking 650 mg of Tylenol every 4 hours whether you need it or not is recommended by some doctors, to keep an even amount of pain control. And "splinting", i.e. pushing a small pillow or a folded towel against your abdomen when you sit up or stand up is also very helpful in preventing that pain. Like I said, I am very pro-drug, but you've worked very hard to get clean and stay clean, and you're going to have enough challenges in the months coming up, you don't need to reactivate your addiction. In fact, if you haven't told your doctor about it, think about telling them now, so that there's no risk of them prescribing to you. If it only hurts when you sit up, splinting WILL help, and the pain will get better remarkably fast as your body heals itself. Congratulations on your recovery, and for looking for alternative ways to treat your pain. 4 years is no small feat. I'm impressed! If you can do that, you'll do great with the sleeve.

I self-paid in Mexico. The actual day of the surgery, my BMI was 29.75. It was 32 when I decided to do the surgery, after 6 months of painstakingly chasing the same 10 lbs up and down. (I guess my highest BMI ever was 37.) The cardiologist who cleared me for surgery told me I "wasn't that big" -- 45 minutes before I went to the OR! Not a helpful time to be planting doubt. You have to decide for you if it's worth it. There are risks to any surgery, and it is a hard adjustment to make...every once in a while, I suddenly realize how permanently and profoundly I have changed my eating habits. It's great on a Tuesday when you're losing weight hanging out by yourself drinking Protein shakes, but I'm guessing Christmas dinner is going to suck, or my birthday when I really truly do not have room left for a piece of cake, and everyone around me is trying to force me to eat it, because they think I'm just being coy, instead of actually being afraid of vomiting. But, on the other hand, I watch people struggle every day with both the big and little repercussions of being obese: heart disease, cancers, leg cellulitis and edema, not being able to fit in a booth at a restaurant, not being able to enjoy a day out with your family because you know you walk so slow that it will hold them back. I could see exactly where my weight gain journey was going, and I decided to head it off at the pass. And, as a doc said to me, you so often see people wait till they're old and super-obese before they get surgery, and then the damage is done, and they don't get the full enjoyment of being skinny, because theirs knees and feet etc. are permanently damaged. (Please don't flame me for this...it may be the particularly Canadian viewpoint, where you have to be SO obese to qualify for surgery...and then you have to wait 6 more years to get in the OR. And in the meantime, socialized medicine lets the rest of you go to pot too.) And, just a note, a radiology tech could lose their job and their license for expressing such a medical opinion to you. Totally inappropriate.

Hi! I'll be going to New York soon for a few days, and was wondering what easy travel foods ideas people have. I'm finding it a bit challenging, because I don't do well with the powdered Protein, so I won't be taking much of that. I found foil pouches of Spam Lite (disgusting, shameful, but ultimately digestible with 13 g of protein), and tuna salad, so I'm bringing some of them, and I imagine I'll find ready-to-drink shakes and hard-boiled eggs in convenience stores. Anybody have some mind-blowing suggestions?

My incisions haven't been healing well, and at first I thought it was because I wasn't getting enough Protein. My dad's 2 week-old giant open knee incision was healed better than my 6 week old tiny lap scars. And the biggest one was actually getting wider! I applied silicone pads to try and head of the worst of the scarring, and I think it's lucky I did. Turns out, it's my internal sutures, which rather than breaking down, are working their way up and out of my belly. Gross! Think the silicone softened the tissues enough to let the filaments finally emerge, which is better than sitting in there, wearing away the tissue like they were doing...especially in two spots, where the knots are coming through! I tried to take a pic for interest's sake, and to send to Dr. Kelly, but my belly is so white, and my camera is so crap, it hasn't worked out.... I never worked a surgical floor, so I've never seen this happen before. Anyone else? The human body is weird and wonderful, but I'm very sad, because I'm finally going to have a lovely flat belly, with giant ropey scars....I guess I just wasn't meant to wear a bikini!

I used to have fat rolls in my back that I could keep spare change in, and now, no more. Just a pleasing curve! Guess I'll have to buy a change purse...

I don't think so. People have kidneys and all sorts removed, and I've never heard of a complication from having extra space. Your organs are soft and malleable, not static, so there's lots of "wiggle room". Think about it...there's enough leeway that women can fit whole people in there, sometimes multiple people! So there's a wide range of what your body will accept! Although, I felt like I could FEEL the void once the swelling went down, but that sensation has passed, and was likely all in my head.

Ha! I know from experience that such things need to be done quickly, and it's not as easy to do it to yourself as it is to someone else. The trick is, not knowing it's coming, so perhaps I won't try the yank 'em out method. As annoyed as I am with the wound, it doesn't need to be packed, so I guess I'll stop complaining, and let them finish their trip out!

Thanks for answering! It sounds like your surgeon didn't recommend you take any action. I have several wound care ideas, but I don't want to make it worse! I've honestly never seen stitches come through like that, and I thought I'd seen every weird post-op complication ever (including a woman 3 WEEKS post-boob job, whose boob spontaneously started SQUIRTING BLOOD). I didn't even think about there being internal stitches, to be honest. The top inscisions were done with dermabond, so I had a moment of total confusing when I pulled the suture out, thinking my body had somehow produced it by itself. For weeks, I just thought they were bizarrely hard scabs, and they were catching on my clothes, and risking pulling the incision open. I was able to be a good patient, and just leave them alone, in the hopes that the skin gods would bless me with faint scars. Now I know what they are, though, it's like a sore tooth or a pimple on your nose...I JUST WANT TO PICK AT THEM SO BAD. But they are definitely not ready to come out, so I've dressed them again with silicone pads, just to keep me out of them, and hopefully soften them up again. But yes, if something is likely to be rejected by a body, my body will reject it. Sometimes I think I'm allergic to myself. I think part of the problem is also my low bmi...less tissue to work on the suture material. That's why I wanted to send Dr. K a pic...to convince him to trim his knots closer next time, so there's less to come out!

Ooh, that's a downside to weightloss...fat pushes the wrinkles out! Maybe my age will start to catch up with me!

Ah, you're sweet, but remember how I said my camera was crap?? Not that young. But, I'm pretty non-conformist, so if I want to wear a bikini when I'm old, and scare all the young men, I totally will!

Not to be pedantic, but to be fair, we all have the exact same risk of death...and it's 100%, no matter how skinny you are!

If it makes you feel any better, obesity has a much stronger correlation with colon and gyne cancers than gastrectomy does with pancreatic cancer. It's one of the reasons I thought it was a reasonable thing to do at my low BMI. Moreover, as many have mentioned, diabetes, heart disease and all the rest that come with obesity can be equally horrific as cancer.

There are different kind of cramps, caused by different deficiencies and/or of unknown etiology. The kind that comes on with stretching, or where you see your muscle actually pulling up, as though a ghost is pinching you, are generally caused by low potassium. I don't know what studies everyone has read, but I can tell you, if I check a patient's bloodwork, and their K+ is 1.9 (i.e. low), they will be having muscle cramps. Which will go away when I give them potassium. Bananas work great to supplement it. One can buy potassium supplements OTC, but I don't recommend it, as too high a potassium level can cause heart issues. Caffeine is a diuretic, so excessive use of same could effect K+ levels. (Sodium follows Water, and potassium follows sodium). Now, aching, a heavy feeling or a restless feeling in the legs are all often called cramps as well, and Mg, quinine and other mentioned remedies might help with those. But if one's potassium is low enough that one is thrashing around on the mats, there are other health consequences, and so it should be addressed. That said, I'm a nurse, not a doctor, and I can't give medical advice, so feel free to take the advice of people with no license to protect. Of course, you can always take advice on how to change your brakes from a guy who's read an article on it, and I can't stop you from doing that, either.