Miss Mac

Count me in......I need some fresh motivation.

My surgery was last December, but in November I was in my four month supervised diet. Turkey was perfect for a Protein, and my boyfriend made a cranberry relish with sweetener instead of sugar. He made mashed potatoes, but just enough for a small serving each. We also had chicken livers wrapped in bacon (another protein), and fresh green Beans. He did make a box of stuffing, but I chose not to have any, as I was full enough on Proteins and veggies. We had gravy, which I also pased on, devilled eggs (also a protein), and celery stuffed with cream cheese (also a protein). Dessert was sugar-free Jello with sugar free whipped cream in a parfait. I ate enough to be satisfied and had plenty of diet-friendly leftovers for several days. Plus he took the turkey carcass and made Soup. Both broth is a great protein and nutrient rich base for soup. Both of my daughters were doing Thanksgiving elsewhere, so it was just me and my guy. If I were to be involved in a family Thanksgiving, I would offer to cook and host so that I would have control over ingredients. The holidays do not have to be a miserable disaster where you feel left out or the family comes over for boiled eggs and tap Water. Get involved and do what you can to have control over ingredients. Make lemonade or ice tea using sweetener (Monk Fruit is natural - Aldi's has it). Just let the family know that with or without them, you are instituting some new traditions in order to improve you health and well-being. Either they will come or they won't. And as far as you're concerned - if they don't want to embrace your new life, oh well....carry on.

Glad you made it through the gauntlet. I agree with your comment about meds and applesauce. I get the 50 calorie packs of applesauce cups, but found out that strawberry or blueberry flavored works even better.......especially for my stink-a** horse pill Bariatric Advantage AE multi-Vitamins that I have to take. I pulverize them with my mortar & pestle and put the result in applesauce. I have even taken regular low-sugar applesauce and added an apple cider drink packet. I take them before bedtime so that the applesauce can help as a natural laxative.

For me, it's the principle of the thing. Since my four month pre-sleeve diet (I am now 10 months out), I have resolved to not consume anything made in a factory. As much as is humanly possible, I give Miss Tummy foods closest to their natural state as I can tolerate: real butter, real eggs, meat and veggies baked, broiled, steamed, and fresh fruit. My one vice is artificial sweetener which I have cut back by 80% at least. Where I used to consume probably 20 a day, I am down to just a couple a day in my morning tea. Recently I discovered Monk Fruit sweetener (all natural) at Aldi's. It gets the job done without the metallic aftertaste. I have finally reached the point where I do not miss any of that stuff that made me fat and gave me heartburn. Even if I could have soda pop, I will go with milk, lemonade, ice tea and filtered Water......lots of filtered water. Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and Fresca, rest in peace.

Oh dear, I am so sorry that your new tummy gave your dinner back to you. If it were me, I would not count calories for anything that did not pass on through. Opinions on that may vary.

If you feel like you have to justify the time off to HR, just tell them you are having a medical procedure that requires some time for rest and recuperation. You doctor's letter does not need to say anything more than "tfarr" is under my care and due to a medical procedure will need to remain off work for ___weeks. If you do volunteer to be more specific with your information, HR is bound by law to keep it in confidence. If you say anything to co-workers (and are not a patient in your own facility) they can (and will blab it all over the place. Take as much time as you are allowed and do not feel bad about it. I am guessing that any one of your co-workers would take the time off and not worry about the place being under-staffed or how hard you have to work to cover them.

My experience was the same as for BeagleLover. Retained CO2 is one of the concerns I shared in my final surgeon's meeting. He said that he extracts as much as possible. When I woke up after surgery, there was no gas pain at all.

The pre-op liquid (or for some folks strict reduced volume) diet is a rite of passage to a new lease on life. You may not like it, but it won't kill you and you will live to tell about it. I added all kinds of non-caloric stuff to my Protein shakes. To the vanilla shakes, I added more vanilla and some sweetener packets. To the chocolate shakes, I added sweetener and sugar-free cocoa packets. I got a few strawberry shakes and added extra sweetener and a little vanilla to them.....not great, but not so bad - just tolerable. Just think.....in a few weeks post-op, you will be ready to encourage others who follow behind you. Bariatric surgery is definitely a "pay it forward" situation. Having bariatric surgery does not mean that you will never enjoy a meal again, but it does bring a new outlook on how you can enjoy real food in moderate quantities that nourish your earthly human container. You can expect to come through this - diet and all - just fine. I wish you good luck and good health.

I started out post-op with a capacity of 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons (appx 1/2 cup total). At ten months out, I can eat closer to one cup total, but still get "full" signals from Miss Tummy when she approaches max capacity. Either I get a Tupperwae burp or the hiccups when she is done. One cup of food is nothing compared to what I used to eat. Used to be I could eat six White Castle burgers, with fries, with a 16 oz. shake. Now, I don't even want to go there.

Samuel Butler, Victorian era English author once said , "Self -preservation is the first law of nature." Taking that leap to have bariatric surgery was a brave act of self-preservation. There are many other steps you can take now to refresh your new lease on life. (And we are just temporarily leasing our human container). One of those steps is to get back on track, starting with your next meal. I will be thinking of you, and wish you good luck and good health.

This works for me in the grocery stor: Walk away from the chocolate. Besides, you could just think of it as bowls of poison set out for the rats.

Hi there, and welcome to the forum. I do not live in Pa, or know your doctor, but here is what I suggest about post-op. Have meals prepared ahead and put in the freezer. Since you have kidlets running around, you might want to have some help for a couple of weeks - even if you have to call in favors. Your smaller boys are not going to understand that they can't snuggle up for a few days. You are going to have to pad yourself with pillows so they don't bump into you when you are on the sofa or in bed. You will be up and moving about, but you may be pretty tired for a while. Two weeks will probably be enough to get you back on your feet if you are a home mommy. If you have to go back to work, too, you definitely will appreciate some help. 150 sounds realistic although your height will be a factor.....you doctor will know. I hope you do well, and suggest that you visit here often. We can't replace your doctor, but there are some supportive shoulders to lean on.

For the past four years, I have been getting epidural steroid injections for chronic sciatica, which still does not stop day and night. On Monday, I am having a procedure called "nerve ablation". This will cauterized and disconnect the sciatic nerve at the spine and is expected to give me relief for up to two years. Maybe a nerve ablation is something you might suggest to your doctor.......or not...................just putting it out there as a possible procedure that might help.

I came home with my sleeve 8 pounds heavier than when I went in. I lost that plus a few more, and then at week three I hit my first stall. Oh well. I am down 65 pounds now. It's all good.

A 50 pound loss is great! Now, keep in mind that you are a grown woman with a toddler's stomach. I suggest you give it a name to make your relationship with your stomach more personal. Mine is Miss Tummy, and she is the boss of me and makes all of the rules. Miss Tummy has turned me into a "nutritarian". That means that every morsal and sip that I give to Miss Tummy HAS to have nutritional value. If Miss Tummy does not like something, she either makes me suffer with miserable pain and nausea for four hours, or she gives it back. You need to be more kind to your stomach. By drinking and eating as you please, you are disrespecting the fact that your stomach has been altered in a drastic fashion and now needs a more drastic approach to nutrition. Your tummy can't reach out and take what it needs. Like a child, it depends on what you present to it to eat and drink. I agree that you should weigh and measure and document what you eat and drink just for a month, to get a realistic picture of how you are doing. There is a scientific principle that you cannot control that which you do not measure. If you were a scientist trying to find out how much food it takes for lab rats to lose weight, you could not just take some rats for this group and some rats for that group and feed the first group some food and feed the other group some food to make a proper determination. You would need to know if the rats you are using are the same kind, the same size, and the same age. You wouldn't feed one group a cup of salad and the other group a bag of Cheetos. You wouldn't feed one group for a week and the other group for ten days. You wouldn't give one group and hampster wheel and the other group a little teeny tiny TV turned to Animal Planet. You cannot control that which you do not measure. So, don't beat yourself up, but be like someone with a Forensic Science Major and do a proper study on yourself. Once you get an idea of actual input, you may be inspired to make some changes. And don't start tomorrow - start with your next meal. Protein first, then veggies, a little fruit, real food as close to its natural state as possible, walk away from the Cheetos! I wish you the best. I will be thinking of you and hope that you return here and ask all of the questions that are bugging you. At some point you will be able to encourage those who come behind you.

Here it is like a dinosaur fight in my gut.

Well, I have been sleeping better and longer since my surgery, for sure. But since I am retired, I do not have workplace issues anymore. Frankly, I do not see how people who work and raise children manage to keep track of details at all. A couple of months ago, I got very sick during the night. I passed out and crashed onto the bathroom floor and slept for an hour ( or was unconscious). I finally woke up, and when I stood up I crashed to the bathroom floor again (and hit my head on the tub again). This second time I was totally out for an hour and a half. So, I ened up in the ER and stayed under observation. They took a CT scan of my head and xrays of my hip to make sure I did not fracture something or have a concussion or another stroke. Then, I had to wear a holter monitor for a whole month. I shared all of that to say this: Yes, I would be concerned and would at least mention it to your primary doctor. One thing I have learned since the stroke is to not minimize my symptoms. My advice to you is to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Either you were passed out and not asleep or you were very very fatigued. If you are a super busy overworked person who is burning the candle at both ends your system (digestion, respiratory, adrenals and hormones....you know - all of that stuff) is not being refreshed. Definitely ask the doc.

Prior to my sleeve surgery, I was post-stroke (which was my main "last straw", because I did not want another one). Right away with my first visit with my bariatric physician, she changed my anxiety / depression med from Certraline to Wellbutrin. For the most part my mood is stable, but I told the doc (at around three months) that I was starting to feel overwhelmed with all of this weighing, measuring, tracking and denying myselfing the pleasure of my old food habits and flavors, she doubled the dose of my Wellbutrin and then took a couple of other meds away. I also told my dear sweat BF that if I started to get snarky and unkind, then he should ask my daughters to come pick me up and put me in a nursing home. But you know what? When my anxiety cranks up, he just holds me and tells me that everything will be alright. You are here in the right right place for venting your feelings. And no, you are not the only one to go through emotional growth as your health changes and improves. I wish you good luck and good health.

When I get a tupperware burp, I quit. Sometimes hiccups, and oddly sneezing.

First of all, my gallbladder ruptured when I was 21 (in 1973) and It had to be removed. I do not miss it at all. The gallbladder helps your body to digest fats, but you can get along quite well without one. If your surgeon offers to be proactive and remove yours while he is already right there with his instruments, I would let him do it. Gallbladder pain feels like someone stabbing you in the back, under your right shoulder blade, and twisting that knife around while digging in. If you have that chance to avoid that pain - avoid it.

This is kind of a gross analogy, but picture finding your stomach lying in the street all beat up with a bat and needing 30 stitches. Would you expect that stomach to handle meat and veggies and apple pie? Nope. Not even hamburgers or fig bars. It is going to need fluids and pureed foods for a minute until it gets some functionality back. Go easy on your new tummy. It has been through a lot. Your new stomach is your new boss now. You will find out soon enough. The hamburgers and Wendy's chili will still be there next month. Tell your taste buds to scram for a while. This is not pleasure time. It is muddle through the first month, then regular foods will be on the near horizon. From what I know about my own instructions and what I have seen others post, the process varies - a lot. Mine was full liquids at day three. Purees at week 1 1/2, soft foods at 2 1/2 weeks and whole foods at 4 1/2 weeks. Not ashamed to say that my first stop on the way home from that visit, was Wendy's - and yes, I got the chili.

Hopefully November will be a good month for you so that you can gain some strength and start to feel better. The issue of dehydration is never going away because we can drink so little at one time. You just have to keep at it. Like mbrinmn says, leave drinks about the about the house. It works for me, too, and I alsways take a bottle in the car. Just last month I had a go-round with vomiting and diarrhea one night, and passed out in the bathroom twice.....hitting my head on the tub - twice, and ended up in the ER on IV fluids. keep your fluids up anyway you can, even if you have to resort to sugar free Gelatin or popsicles. Also, it took a few days to get the post-op weight loss going because I came home from the hospital 8 pounds heavier than when I went in. So, I had to lose that IV Fluid weight first. Hmmm, you could write yourself a letter about how you feel right now about your complications and your NSVs (non-surgical victories) both the good and the doubtful, and then put it away for a couple of years. Then look back and see what advice you would give to yourself now, and how you would cheer yourself up.

I absolutely hate it.......tastes too much like licorice to me, and I don't like licorice. Lately, I have been using monkfruit sweetener which I get at Aldi's. It is a nice switch-up from chemical artificial sweeteners.

Here is a link called "What was the last straw?" about why we decided go forward with our surgeries. This topic really lays open our collective heartbreak with being overweight and needing help to get healthy. There are over 700 responses. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-74?hl=%2Blast+%2Bstraw#entry3631116

Nope. I don't use their Calcium citrate, but I am on the Bariatric Advantage AE multi and I hate hate hate them. They are giant stink-a** horse pills that are so hard to swallow that I have to pulverize them and dissolve them in strawberry Jello Water or applesauce to get them down. Blech!