SueRN

Wanted something With an Italian flare . This was sooo easy and surprisingly good. ricotta blended with black olive hummus, oregano and rosemary. Coat pan with olive oil, add ricotta/hummus blend, drizzle olive oil and grated Romano cheese, bake for 30 minutes at 350. May try roasted pepper purée next time.

One night, to room by 5 pm day of surgery and discharged before noon.

I'm 3 weeks out and worried to, even told my surgeon I think he made my pouch too big. He just laughed, and said I should be happy my recovery is so easy. I can finish 24 oz of water in less than 30 minutes, 8 oz protein shake in 15 minutes and have no trouble eating my 1/2 cup of yogurt. Was told to try soft meats so had 4oz of tilapia and 1/4 cup of mashed cauliflower and no full feeling. Not ever hungry but when I'm supposed to eat I do and have no trouble doing it. Not sure if it's because I have carefully measured and not put more on my plate than instructed. Time will tell but so far down 30 lbs including 2 week preop so hopefully the nerves in my new stomach will wake up and provide that stop switch I never had before. Also going to try that slow eating ap, cuz I eat fast and still can do that with the sleeve

Fingers crossed for a smooth and complete recovery this time around.

I'm only 7 days and on full liquids out but for me that little twinge of pressure/ pain is my new sleeves way of saying "slow down, you've had enough." If I pay attention and stop for a few minutes it soon passes and I can resume sipping my meal or drink. Pretty sure the sleeve can't stretch with liquids, and is fairly resistant to stretching permanently.

My BMI is just slight higher than yours and I've had those comments and honestly think they speak more to the growing obesity epidemic in this country. According to the BMI chart I was given by the NUT 30 is obese, by 35 we hit morbid obesity. It's called morbid because of the effect on health. It's almost like the overweight range is our new normal.

Everyone's diet seems just a little different. Not sure if it's surgeon preference or related to technique. Anyway I think mine is fairly conservative so should be safe. Week one was clear liquids with added protein powder that made clears, so pretty much fruit flavors, unjury chicken soup, or unflavored. Week two is full liquids, cream soups, strained, protein shakes can be made with milk, pudding, Greek yogurt. The more solid full liquid like yogurt and pudding is about 2/4 cup. Week 3-is puréed 1/4-1/2 cup and week 4 is soft. Regular after that. Hope it helps, but please call your surgeon. Did you see a NUT? I can call mine anytime with questions and she get right back to me.

I feel 100 percent better post op day 6. Not totally pain free but pretty close. Felt great night of surgery, absolutely awful post op day 2 and 3 and have been gradually improving since then. Pain after surgery usually gets worse as the anesthesia gets out of your system and gets better from there. Hang in there you will be back to normal before you know it.

How long are you taking off work? I work in a busy cardiovascular Surgery ICU with little ancillary help. I am fortunate to have a great team who work well together. My date is 12-16 and have FMLA, 1st day back to work 1/13 but can go back early or take an extra two weeks. I do to want to burden my co workers by taking too much time off or by coming back to early and not being able to keep up or needing too much help lifting. Working Thanksgiving but Feel a guilty taking both Christmas and New Years off. Interested to see what other nurses that have been through the process did and what pre op nurses and those with active jobs are planning??

Wow! You look amazing

Please tell me the 3500 of Tylenol was taken throughout entire day and not all a once or multiple times a day? 4000mg is the max daily divided dose for Tylenol. It is extremely toxic to the liver.

If your CBC was normal did they do a vitamin panel? Vitamin k deficiency? Or calcium? Those things are part of our ability to clot blood. As is the liver. Are those number normal? Also, forget how far out you are, but some people have a weird reaction to heparin HIT, heparin induced thrombocytopenia. I'd skip the PCP and go straight to the surgeon.

My surgery date is Monday. To be honest I wasn't worried, I've had a c section and the pain wasn't bad. I had one shot of pain meds post op, made me sick so no more. Figured laparoscopic surgery should be a breeze right? I mean if it's not horrible to take an 7 lb baby through a 6 inch incision how awful can a couple small incisions be? Then I started reading these boards and most people complain of significant pain. Still not overly worried until I found out about the morphine PCA and picked up the two huge bottles of liquid hydrocodone for post op. How awful must this be to get all this pain medicine? Not that I'm going to change my mind but I'd like to know what I'm in for. So tell me post op peeps, how bad is it, 1-10 scale?

I wrote the post about the unfortunate patient who ate the chicken. I wish she was the only one who ended up in trouble due to noncompliance. So if you aren't ready then take a step back and work on whatever issues you have. I did gastric sleeve because I am just like you, a volume eater. I can go all day without eating and be fine but one bite and I'd eat whatever. No off button. Both of my friends who chose sleeve were the same way. I'm just day two, but both guys are several months out and did great. The sleeve is your off button signaling you've had enough. But you have to be totally committed to following the post op plan because to not is dangerous. I will tell you I have no desire to eat post op and the pre op diet was a struggle for me too. Maybe set up an appointment with psych and talk about your fears.

Mine was Monday. Immediate post op was painful apparently I'm a light weight when it comes to drugs, fall asleep and forget to breath. So spent a little longer in PACU than normal with no pain meds until the breathing was better. As soon as they let me up to walk I felt much better. Walked every hour and was as close to pain free possible after surgery. Only used the morphine PCA to sleep. Was allowed to go home the next morning. Still relatively pain free except sipping fluids was uncomfortable. Post op day 2 was probably the most difficult, gas pain, incisional pain, and fluids were a challenge. But all has gradually gotten better and now am drinking slowly but easily. Staying up late to try to catch up. So I'd say it wasn't as easy as I hoped but not nearly as difficult as I feared. Pain at its worse 6, and now it might be 1-2.

Oh no, I hope they get your bleeding under control ASAP. Thinking of you and sending positive thoughts.

Thank you for bumping this up. So nice to read about positive experiences and success.

Apart from the surgeon I am happy for you that you have a team of doctors that you can trust to get you through this. I've witnessed the impact of the complications you had in practice and can't imagine the pain and fear you went through. I know it's a risk we take but we all think it won't happen to us. You may be on to something when you say he is having difficulty accepting responsibility for a mistake and taking it out on you. Whatever is going on it is a toxic relationship. Whatever you decide to do legally, I hope you find a surgeon for follow up that can be supportive instead of causing you this pain. We all have our issues, if we didn't there would be no need for bariatric surgeons. I do think it would be irresponsible of any physician to not point out how the issues we have impact our health but nothing is gained by being cruel.

Thanks for the replies! Guess I will find out soon enough;). Plan for the worst, hope for the best I suppose.

I'm Monday so no personal experience but a friend is 4 months out and he eats everything, just not much of it. His advice to me is to eat slowly, and pay attention to your sleeve. He gets one warning that he is full and if he ignores it is miserable for hours.

It's terrible that you've had these complications, and such a difficult recovery, however leaks are a risk, infection is a risk that we are informed of prior to giving consent for surgery. It sucks that it happened to you but it sounds like you had appropriate treatment and the complications are resolved? It also sounds like your surgeon is as frustrated with you as you are with him. He was nice and kind post op and now he is rude. Maybe a new physician is a good step to take? Yes, he's a professional, but also human and some people just don't work well together. It might help you take a step back and hear what your doctor is saying to you. Long term use of narcotics is bad for your physical and mental health. They are addicting and people do develop a tolerance, needing more and more to get the same effect. They are hard on your now altered GI system. That isn't a judgement just a fact. Getting off them ASAP is always advisable and most people on long term narcotics need help to do it. Also, it is common for those of us with food issues to develop other not so healthy coping methods. Your doctor knows you, and he says you have a problem. You owe it to yourself to at least explore the possibility and get help.

As a surgical Icu nurse I have personally cared for several patients who ruptured their staple line due to non compliance with the post op diet. The most memorable ate 1/2 a chicken, the other a Big Mac. Both died of overwhelming infection after a long terrible fight. I've said it before but there is more at risk than not losing weight. It's one thing to cheat yourself with high calorie foods that meet the consistency guidelines, it's another to make a crazy choice. Strict compliance until the sleeve is totally healed isn't optional, doing otherwise is playing Russian roulette with your life.

Yes and no. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I've participated in the open version of this surgery as a first assist and know it isn't the simple procedure they make it out to be. Lots of vasculature and major organs to deal with. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't scare the crap out of me. I know the complications, although rare, are very real and can be horrible. So maybe the knowledge is scary but it's also an opportunity to stack the deck in our favor, chose a skilled surgeon, and comply with all the pre and post op instruction to reduce the risks of complications. This surgery is a calculated risk to avoid a lifetime of complications from obesity.

I didn't post to scold or make you feel bad about "cheating". I want you to be safe. Everyone should be aware there is far worse at stake than not losing weight. Following directions in the beginning is so important, doing otherwise is gambling with your health. However, it's your risk to take.

I won't have my sleeve until 12/16 and am 7 days into the liquid pre op diet, so I get it's hard, but... I have worked as a surgical ICU nurse for almost 2 decades. I know exactly what happens to those who don't follow instructions. I'm sure some get away with it, but I've seen enough patients who ruptured their stomach staple line by eating the wrong things too soon. Once you've watched a 30 year old women fight for her life for months on a ventilator, overwhelming infection, multiple surgeries, only to lose in the end, because she ate half a chicken 1 week out, cheating is not an option. I've personally taken care of a few patients in the same situation, some lived, some didn't but it was a hard road either way. Why risk that? I don't say this to scare anyone away from the procedure. I was scared. Spoke to my surgeon and his experience is the same, he hasn't personally had a complication in his patients unless they were non compliant. It's a relatively safe procedure, and the surgical team does all they can to educate us, but some people just seem to know better or maybe should have never passed the psych. eval.