Peggy D

Four weeks out today, sleeved August 22, still only down 9.8 pounds from the day before surgery & no change in the last four days. But I did lose 44 pounds on the supervised diet. I finally got to add pureed foods today, so I'm hoping that will help break this little stall.

I wish I could find the YouTube video of some who did have being on The Amazing Race as one of her goals.

I'd love to try out for The Amazing Race, but between my sleeve & my husband's severe problems with motion sickness, we wouldn't get very far.

There are a lot of doctors who will label a patient as Type I diabetes if the patient requires insulin to control their blood sugars. Being insulin resistant & requiring insulin does not make you Type 1. As mistysj said, Type I diabetics do not make any insulin of their own. Unless they have a pancreas transplant, they never will. It is possible for someone with Type II diabetes to convert to Type I but not the other way around. I remember from the days that I worked as a clinical review nurse that there is a test that can determine if a patient has Type I or Type II diabetes. The criteria for an insulin pump has changed somewhat, but I was able to find the information on the web site for the insurance company I used to work for. It states "to qualify for a pump the member also has to have NO detectable endogenous insulin production (undetectable C-peptide levels. This is measured by taking a fasting C-peptide level (at a time when the blood glucose is over 200mg/dl)." I have more knowledge of this than the average person. Not only am I a nurse, although never a diabetes educator, I have had Type II diabetes for over 20 years & have required increasing amounts of insulin over that time for increasing insulin resistance. But, since I started this WLS journey in April & have lost over 50 pounds, my insulin needs are much less & my blood sugars are greatly improved.

Almost everyone gains fluid weight in the hospital. We were warned in my pre-op class that 10 pounds was normal. I was lucky & only gained 5 but it took a week for that 5 pounds to come off.

I'm just shy of 4 weeks post op & have only lost 9.8 pounds since the day before surgery. Of course, it took me a week to lose the 5 pounds gained in the hospital. So almost 10 pounds in 19 days is a half a pound a day, 3+ pounds a week. When I look at it like that it's very encouraging to me. But I did lose 44 pounds in almost 4 months pre-op. I stick to my surgeon's plan since it has obviously worked so far! Now I have to make time to take in most of my fall & winter shirts. I did a summer one the other day & discovered I had to take nearly 10 inches off! It did end up being a little snug, but not form-fitting.

It could be a reaction to the surgical glue. My surgeon said it's common. I alternated Benadryl cream, Lanacane cream & hydrocortisone cream as well as 100 mg of Benadryl at bedtime for 3-4 days before the itching & redness calmed down.

I, too, have sensitive skin. I didn't have a problem with the Tegaderm bandages that I was allowed to take off after 3 days. I was a bit surprised at that since I have had mild rashes from Tegaderm in the past. But I had to take the steri-strips off at 7 days because of the itching & then I got raised red rashes around each incision, obviously from the surgical glue. I alternated Benadryl cream, Lanacane cream & hydrocortisone cream for several days as well as took 100 mg of Benadryl at bedtime.

I am so looking forward to chili & refried beans when I finally get to move to pureed food this week. I sure hope they don't cause me any grief. Already I'm no longer tolerating flavored protein shakes. My surgeon is so conservative with the progression of the diet.

I asked if he over-stiched the staple line. He said "no" but I see in the video of my surgery that he did some, but just where there were some minor bleeders. As a nurse, you may want to ask for a video like I did. We nurses do want to see those details! My surgeon has his ARNP as assistant for surgeries. When I was working in a teaching hospital I always felt comfortable with the residents, probably because we worked with them so closely.

I'm looking forward to overweight as well. In the meantime I'm enjoying having made it to obese rather than morbidly obese.

I'm 5' 6¾" & I set a goal for myself of 155 only because that would give me a "normal" BMI at my doctor's office when I account for about 3 pounds more than my morning naked "dry" weight at home. That 155 would be after I've stabilized & had a panniculectomy. About age 23, I did the Atkin's diet & went from 201 to 163 & actually stayed there for a couple of years. I still remember people telling me I needed to lose more weight so that has a big influence on me. I haven't asked my surgeon yet what he thinks my goal should be. My nutritionist suggested 150 but did agree that my goal of 155 was good.

I was only weighing myself twice a week pre-op until my nutritionist suggested I weigh daily to try & track down why I would gain 4-5 pounds of water weight every so often. It made it much easier to figure out what might be the culprit. Of course, like most people, salt can be a problem but it seems I'm sensitive to preservatives. Even now, post-op, I still weigh daily for the same reasons. But I don't obsess over the numbers, I just use them to make adjustments.

I've been getting cramps in my lower legs for several months, well before I started this journey. No toe curling, though. It's always one leg or the other, never both at the same time. I've discovered it happens if I'm laying on a wrinkle in my nightgown which must be causing some impairment of blood circulation.

I didn't want the gastric bypass because of the malabsorption aspect. I was so happy to learn about the sleeve gastrectomy. I've had Type II diabetes for over 20 years & I went into this not expecting my diabetes to resolve but I did expect it to improve. I'm now only 3½ weeks post-op & my diabetes has improved so much I now expect to go into remission. I'm down 53 pounds from my initial visit to my surgeon on April 25.

What tastes good to one person probably won't to many others. Even one person's tastes will likely change from pre-op to post-op & even day to day. Pre-op I was using Body Fortress chocolate Peanut Butter but, because it is higher in carbs, I tried the vanilla whey isolate & added sugar-free syrups for flavor. Post-op that vanilla stuff sat like a rock in my stomach. I ended up throwing it out & got some unflavored Protein powder at GNC while I waited for my order of Now Sports unflavored whey isolate from Amazon to arrive. Until yesterday I was still able to tolerate the Body Fortress chocolate peanut butter once a day. Last evening I could barely drink half & had to throw it out & my stomach let me know about it for several hours. I am so looking forward to moving to pureed foods at 4 weeks post-op!

This is something I've posted before, but it's worth repeating. Back in the mid-70s I did look into weight loss surgery. At that time the only real option was intestinal bypass & I’m glad I didn’t have it done. Most people who did have it died within 5-10 years. I do remember weighing 228 pounds then, so my BMI was 38. I didn’t have any co-morbidities, so I would not have qualified by today’s medical necessity criteria. I’ve known about gastric bypass for quite a few years & would have met the criteria for coverage by my insurance, but, especially as a nurse, I’m just not comfortable with the malabsorption aspects. So I was resigned to living the rest of my life like this. But I’ve had increasing problems with arthritis in my knees & pain in my right sacroiliac joint. I can’t walk for very long without having to sit for a few minutes while the pain subsides, so last fall I did more research & learned about the sleeve gastrectomy. It's what I thought should be possible when I learned about ghrelin & how the gastric bypass affected it. The sleeve just seemed like the perfect “fit” for me.

I tried My Fitness Pal but I didn't like it. I plan on using Lose It! once I get to move to pureed foods at 4 weeks post-op (September 19). It doesn't make much sense to track Clear Liquids & Protein Shakes. I have a Withings WS-30 digital scale that syncs with its app on my iPhone as well as an online account.

I found that I could not tolerate the vanilla-flavored Protein post-op. I switched to unflavored whey powder & use sugar-free Torani, DaVinci or Walden Farms syrups for flavor or add it to Crystal Light/Great Value drink mix. I bought some at GNC to get me by while I waited for the 10-pound bag of Now Sports unflavored whey isolate powder I ordered from Amazon. It arrived yesterday, so I haven't tried it yet. I'm still on clear liquids plus Protein shakes through week 4 post-op. I get to add pureed foods this Thursday. I'm so looking forward to that!

I set a goal of 80 oz a day & have not had a problem meeting that since 3 days post-op. Of course, I'm still on clear liquids + protein shakes for another week. I just keep a 16 oz bottle of liquid next to me all day & find I now pick it up & take a couple of swallows frequently without even thinking about it. It's become a habit, and a good one!

I have a channel. You can find the link in my signature.

I feel for you. My mother died suddenly in January of last year. She wasn't well as she had rapidly progressing COPD but, still, the suddenness was unexpected. I keep thinking that she would have supported me in this journey & I think that her illness & passing helped push me to research & move toward surgery.

I took the 3-month supervised diet time to wean myself off of caffeine & carbonated sodas. I gradually replaced regular coffee with decaf until it was all decaf. I used a "cold-brewed" Toddy coffee maker & it took about 7 scoops to make it about once a week. It took nearly two months but I never had a caffeine withdrawal headache nor problems with staying awake mid-morning as I would before if I didn't have that coffee. As for the carbonated sodas, first I replaced diet cola with caffeine-free diet cola & diet root beer & then had only one a day instead of two, then one every other day, etc. I used Chantix 4 years ago to quit my 40-year smoking habit. It did take about 3 years before I no longer had any urges to smoke. It's hard to explain but, even now, there are times I miss it even though I have no desire to smoke.

I had low iron stores on my initial lab work 3 months before surgery. I had to have 2 iron infusions & then take iron capsules 3 times a day. I wasn't anemic, though. I have to stay on the iron until I have blood work done again 3 months after surgery.

I saw my surgeon today for my first post-op visit, 18 days since surgery. He did caution me to be aware of orthostatic hypotension. If you stand up too quickly your blood pressure drops. Apparently we're more likely to develop this after WLS since we lose a lot of the fat padding around our organs.