Tarheel79

Thank you for sharing your story with us. What a brave and courageous woman you are! To have experienced the profound challenges and hardships that have come your way, and to still have the determination, hope and belief that you can change things is enormously inspiring. You keep doing what you are doing and know you are impacting not only your own life in a. positive way but the lives of everyone you are in contact with. You are amazing!

So sorry to hear about your challenge with fluids. I know there are a number of apps on iTunes for reminders for taking medications. I would think this could be adapted to remind you to stop for a drink regularly. Also, do you have a bottle of water with you all the time? If there is one close at hand, it will be easier to just reach for it then to leave your desk to find one. Are you on the phone a lot? Perhaps you could make it a plan to drink some water each time you get off a call. Or each time you answer an email--- something simple like that. You do need to get this fluid in. Urine can become dark when you are dehydrated so be careful! Great that you are getting all your protein in and that you have been able to get back into the swing of things so quickly at work!

Results as of this week below. Wish it was happening faster but I'll take it! HW: 285 SW: 266 CW: 257 Here's to a negative week for everyone--- in terms of weight, of course!

Why do you feel the need to tell him? "Diet and exercise" is my go-to answer! I agree-- you don't owe him or anyone else an explanation. Keep it to yourself and enjoy the support of your family . And if he gives you a hard time about anything, ask him to leave. Your house, your guest room, your rules.

Investigating hip replacement surgery brought me to the Sleeve surgery experience. The Orthopedist would not perform the replacement until I lost at least 80 pounds and suggested the surgery. I was sleeved on 12/23 and am down 20+ pounds so far. I have my total hip replacement surgery scheduled for 2/5 and can hardly wait to get this done. I have had very good results following sleeve surgery-- very little pain and nausea, able to get to Protein and Fluid goals quickly--it's thankfully been an easy time of it. But-- I had to go off Meloxicam and that was really keeping the hip pain under control. I'm in pretty severe pain all the time now and can only take pain killers to get me through to the 2/5 surgery date. Has anyone else experienced hip surgery in tandem with bariatric surgery? What has recovery been like? Would love to hear how it's gone for anyone out there! Thanks~

You look beautiful! Great job!! Feel proud of yourself and all the effort and determination you have to make this dream a reality! Thanks for your inspiration!

Congratulations! You are a rock star! I can't imagine making it through this difficult time like you have done. You're one tough cookie and you've inspired so many of us. Enjoy everything about being home, recognize the weight loss you've had so far and know that after all of this, you can handle anything!

My current stats are as follows: HW 285 SW 271 CW. 263 Down 22 pounds Happy New Year to you all! It's going to be great!

tami j, I understand what you are talking about regarding the ability to drink more ounces at a time than others are reporting. I have experienced the same thing, too, and I was starting to think something was wrong. Contacted my NUT and she let me know there is nothing wrong with this at all, it's perhaps a blessing. It's good to be able to get all of these fluids in and just make sure I monitor the amounts I'm drinking. I haven't really felt physical hunger but have experienced head hunger and I'm looking at these experiences as an opportunity to understand the difference between the two. I'm loving cottage cheese and vanilla yogurt like never before-- I'm going to move to pureed food later this week, a little earlier than the typical schedule but with my ability to swallow and hold more than most, it's giving me the chance to move ahead a little quicker. The scale was moving slowly but the last 3 days I'm seeing it move at a more gratifying pace. All in all, it's a good journey so far and I'm humbled by the progress. I have certainly done little in the last 20 years to give my body a reason to respond so well to my desire to get healthy. God is good

Sending you oceans of good wishes for a good day tomorrow! You have been a remarkable source of good will for all of us all month long, sending us off to our own surgeries with blessings and good thoughts. Thank you and know all of that is coming right back to you as your time approaches. Good wishes to all who are scheduled for tomorrow. I have had such good fortune with everything and hope it will be your experience, too. Happy New Year to all and here's a quote that seems extraordinarily spot on this year from Rainer Maria Rilke: " And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been."

I was told two different things about straws. The paperwork the hospital gave said no for 4 weeks and the doctor's office paper work said no straws ever ever again?!?!?! You can take in air when using a straw, causing gas and leaving less room for food in the little sleeve and the possibility of discomfort until expelled. My surgeon said no more straws ever again.

Tarheel 79:So happy to hear from you and that you are doing well - uneventful is good! Two things I would recommend from my experience is 1) don't let them give you a flu shot before you leave (they did this to me and I think it made me weaker) 2) Ask to try out the liquid pain reliever that you will go home with for at least a few hours before you are discharged. They gave me a strong pain reliever orally right before I left, and either that pain reliever or the flu shot, or both are what I think caused me all the nausea. If you can try the oral pain reliever a few hours before you leave, you will know how well your new tummy can handle it before you get home! I spoke to the nutritionist at my Dr.'s office on Monday and he said that the 64 oz. of liquids and 60+ grams of Protein are just a target, he said in the beginning to just do as well as you can and don't sweat it. This has helped with my mental attitude over the last couple of days. Merry Christmas to my fellow NC gal! . Thanks for your encouraging message, I actually had a flu shot in October so that option wasn't in play. I did try out the pain med before I left (roxicet) and was able to tolerate it well. Came home this morning and I continue to do pretty well. I did stages 1& 2 at the hospital so I am on stage 3 now for a couple of weeks. I'm not going to wig out about hitting Fluid and protein goals for these next few days. I am only going to focus on a workable schedule and increasing with each day. I know that approaching it this way will set me up to be more successful in the long run. I did get on the scale when I got home and was up only 3 pounds from before surgery-- that makes me pretty happy, not so much progress to have lost temporarily. My husband asked me this afternoon if I feel it's been worth it so far and told him "Absolutely!" I hope everyone has as positive a journey so far. I do have a question about the Facebook page-- if you join the group, can your friends see your postings or that it has been added to your list of 'likes'? I am keeping this whole thing quiet at this point and I signed off the page when someone else posted that friends could see this activity. Do you know if this is the case? I think it's so empowering that our group of December sleevers are sharing this experience so openly and willingly. Maybe we should try to have an online conference call once a month or so as we move forward, to keep the communication going. What do you think? Have a restful evening!

Tarheel 79: So happy to hear from you and that you are doing well - uneventful is good! Two things I would recommend from my experience is 1) don't let them give you a flu shot before you leave (they did this to me and I think it made me weaker) 2) Ask to try out the liquid pain reliever that you will go home with for at least a few hours before you are discharged. They gave me a strong pain reliever orally right before I left, and either that pain reliever or the flu shot, or both are what I think caused me all the nausea. If you can try the oral pain reliever a few hours before you leave, you will know how well your new tummy can handle it before you get home! I spoke to the nutritionist at my Dr.'s office on Monday and he said that the 64 oz. of liquids and 60+ grams of Protein are just a target, he said in the beginning to just do as well as you can and don't sweat it. This has helped with my mental attitude over the last couple of days. Merry Christmas to my fellow NC gal!

Tarheel 79: So happy to hear from you and that you are doing well - uneventful is good! Two things I would recommend from my experience is 1) don't let them give you a flu shot before you leave (they did this to me and I think it made me weaker) 2) Ask to try out the liquid pain reliever that you will go home with for at least a few hours before you are discharged. They gave me a strong pain reliever orally right before I left, and either that pain reliever or the flu shot, or both are what I think caused me all the nausea. If you can try the oral pain reliever a few hours before you leave, you will know how well your new tummy can handle it before you get home! I spoke to the nutritionist at my Dr.'s office on Monday and he said that the 64 oz. of liquids and 60+ grams of Protein are just a target, he said in the beginning to just do as well as you can and don't sweat it. This has helped with my mental attitude over the last couple of days. Merry Christmas to my fellow NC gal!

Happy Christmas Eve! Surgery yesterday morning and I am doing pretty well. I was up walking by 1:30 in the afternoon and am trying to do this every time I get up to pee, which is about every 2hours. My incisions are sore but not unmanageable. They started giving me ice chips right away which really helped with the sore throat from air tube . I have some mild nausea and they are giving me a little bit of medication for tat now. I have to drinks 60 ml water every hour until noon. If tolerated, I ca go to clear liquids this afternoon. I do have a drain---doesn't hurt but is a liile uncomfortable. I am expecting to be released tomorrow morning. All in all, it's been uneventful which is good. I will keep you all abreast of that transpires. Again, so many thanks to all who shared their experiences. It's helped a lot!

I'm up tomorrow along with a number of other sleevers-- good luck to us all! I was just reading some of the older portions of this thread, looking for similarities in what has been reported. Not surprising, the one thing that I am going to hold on to over the next week is the message that "It will get better. The discomfort is only temporary." I'm counting on this one. Again, thanks for all of the posts that you've all made as this really has greased the skids, so to speak, for the rest of us. My surgery is at 7:15 in the morning. I'll post as I can and appreciate prayers from any of you.

I'd be interested in that as well. I do have an unflavored protein, but it wouldn't mix in with anything hot and I ended up chewing little balls of protein (this was pre-op) that made me sick to my stomach...so I am looking for something that dissolves well, or mixes in well and has no taste! I agree with DeezJeans-- Unjury non-flavored is great for mixing well with anything I've tried so far. As she said, you can't heat on high or the protein will coagulate and you'll wind up chewing it. Yeck.

Thanks for stepping up so we can include you by name in our prayers to you! Best wishes!

I've had a blonde moment! We have 2 sleevers on deck for tomorrow-- December 19! Oceans of good wishes to you and let us know how things go!

OK---December 18 sleevers--- you're on deck! Rest well tonight and look forward to the newness that tomorrow brings for each of you! You have many prayers and good thoughts being sent to you and to your surgical teams! Hang on to your courage-- there are still many to come after you and you are an inspiration for us! God Bless! Dec 18 Nona337am Dec 18 gemgirl Dec 18 mija1980 Dec 18 Teachamy Dec 18 Simpley_ke Dec 18 kls3214 Dec 18 morret14 Dec 18 teekay8887 Dec 18 kuey Dec 18 jnimons Dec 18 Debzdays Dec 18 georgiabelle Dec 19 Carol Quabeck Boyer Dec 19 E2013

Best wishes for successful surgeries to our Dec 18 sleevers! Rest well tonight and blessings with you and your surgical teams tomorrow! See you on the bench! Dec 18 Nona337am Dec 18 gemgirl Dec 18 mija1980 Dec 18 Teachamy Dec 18 Simpley_ke Dec 18 kls3214 Dec 18 morret14 Dec 18 teekay8887 Dec 18 kuey Dec 18 jnimons Dec 18 Debzdays Dec 18 georgiabelle

You'll do fine! It's great that you'll get out of surgery that much sooner! Hang in there and read a boring book or watch a boring movie to night to help yourself get to sleep. You're on your way and it's all good!

So good to hear your immediate report following surgery. I have a small hernia and won't know until Thursday pre-op with surgeon if he is going to repair. I'd been dreading it with the reports of great pain from so many--- your words are inspiring and I'm going to assume I will have the same experience. Congrats on the walking and oceans of wishes for continued uneventful recovery!

So glad to hear your recovery has gone well. What a great idea to use the Mira-lax instead of MOM. I'm so hoping the nausea isn't to bad for me either. Please keep us updated on your progress. What a great and informative description. So glad you are doing well and will continue to keep you in prayers. Only 6 more days and I'll be there!