lkleigh

Had my sleeve last Saturday(3/22) with Dr Perez at La Clinica Victoria. So far everything is going great. I'll try and document as much as I remember..... My mom and I flew in on Friday and there was a guy waiting for us at the airport who took us to the hotel in cancun. We walked across the street to the mall for a while and had an early night. Saturday morning, the driver picked us up at 6:30. I got to the clinic, did some paperwork, then headed up to a patient room and got into a gown. They started an iv, did bloodwork, a chest xray, and EKG. The anesthesiologists came and talked to me. After I had my iv, the nurse gave me some antibiotics and something else in it. It made me really sick and I started dry heaving. She gave something like smelling salts to make me feel better. Then the waiting began. I don't think they actually took me into the OR until about 12:30. Before I knew it, I was in recovery. They kept me medicated around the clock, so I never felt any real pain, just lots of discomfort. The first day was really hard mentally. I kept thinking "what have I done?!? I'm never going to eat yummy food again?" I guess a lot of people go through this. On Sunday, Dr Perez took me down to do the upper GI and show me my new stomach size. On the way down there, we were in the elevator with a very smiley woman who thanked Dr Perez. I said "did she have the same surgery as me?" He said "yes, but she had it one day earlier." The woman chimed in "don't worry, I felt like you yesterday, tomorrow will be better." I had my doubts. On Monday, Dr Perez came to take my drain out and I instantly felt a thousand times better!! I chose not to do the dye test, because they do it three times during surgery and I had the upper GI the day before. He gave me juices and Gatorade and the driver came to pick us up for the ferry to Isla Mujeres. In hind sight, I think I would have rather went straight home. I tire very quickly, so it's hard to enjoy the island, especially with the heat. It is also hard seeing all the yummy Mexican food. I'm not physically hungry, but I want to eat sooo bad. ****side notes***** None, and I mean none of the nurses speak English, not even the day shift ones. This didn't particularly bother me because I speak enough Spanish to get by. All of the doctors spoke good English. The first night, my wallet was barely visible in the edge of my bag. When I went to get Chapstick out of it the next morning, all of my cash was gone. I reported it to dr Perez and he reported it to the clinic manager. They say this type of thing is very rare, but that doesn't really matter if it happens to you. Just be vigilant not to be an "easy target", which is good advice whether your surgery is in the US or Mexico. That's all I can think of for now. I was very pleased with my experience.

This seems like a dumb question with an obvious answer, but it's been plaguing me. When they say your meal should be three ounces of protein, is that the raw weight or the cooked weight? I broke out my scale today because I feel like I've been eating way too much. Turns out what I thought was 3 ounces is just a little over one(cooked). Maybe that's why I'm hungry every two hours.

Since I've been over estimating my food amounts, I'm probably over estimating my calorie estimates too. I wondered how I was still losing weight when I was eating so much! Lol

That's great news. I've been worried that I had stretched my stomach out.

Thanks.

My friend told me "no one tells you that when you get skinny, you get a skinny vag too!" My reply was "that's a good thing? I'm pretty happy with my current state of things." She assures me it is much better. We'll see. Lol

Wow! You're tiny!

Find a picture of you pre surgery and do a side by side with a current picture, that helped me a lot. Although there are still days when I look in the mirror and see no change. My surgery was 3/21. Surgery weight was 251, current weight is 215, so I'm a slow loser too. Not too stressed about it though. I too am ready for the "tire" around the bottom half of my abdomen to be gone. The fact that my top half is shrinking faster than the bottom, just makes it more obvious to me.

You can buy low carb milk to use in your protein shakes.

I can't 'exactly' answer your question because I'm far from goal weight. I can tell you that for about the first six weeks after surgery, I was on a high. Now, at twelve weeks, I am leveled out and really struggle in some days. My negative thought train is still in my head and I've had a couple of emotional binge days and I'm struggling to get back on track. I'm starting to realize that I have the same thoughts and feelings, just in a lighter body. I've struggled with depression since my teenage years(when I was a reasonable weight), so I kinda doubt it's going to go away totally.

Gemma, I'm on track with you. My friend lost much faster, but she was very militant about her diet. She had less than 25 g of carbs a day and stayed at 600 cal per day. I'm not as strict as she is. Some days, I'm just sick of meat and have some carbs. She also has a lot looser skin than I do. So that's one positive of losing slower.

I've seen lots of folks on here post before and after pics. Tonight, on a whim, I decided to make one to see if I see more of a difference than I see in the mirror on a daily basis. Holy cow!!! I can't believe the difference! Of course, I know I've lost weight and I know I'm back in clothes that I haven't worn in years. I definitely recommend doing a before and after! Highest weight 274 SW 251 CW 221 (10 weeks post op)

Thanks y'all! This was definitely an eye opener.

We have that here in Tennessee too

That's a good way to look at it. I get frustrated that my weight loss is slower than my friend. Using your suggestion, I'm halfway to my goal!

I had surgery on my foot when I was 19 and you can't see the scar. I had my sleeve at 40 and I got keloid scars. . I guess maybe you're more prone to them as you age? I don't know. I was originally thinking of maybe someday getting plastic surgery, but what's the point if I'm going to get scars like these?

I had GERD pre op. My surgeon strongly suggested that I get the bypass instead of the sleeve for this reason. I really didn't want the bypass, so I went ahead with the sleeve. I take Prilosec every day and haven't had any trouble with heart burn.

I hear you. I'm about ten weeks post op. It's hard. It really is easy to eat a lot of calories when you are eating the wrong stuff. I has my first emotional eating day today, but tomorrow I am going to get up and start all over again. That's all you can do really.

I've been doing a lot better with my fluid intake lately, but sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty. Of course, my urine is still very dark in the morning. I'm just wondering if it is ever possible to get to the point where your urine isn't dark in the morning. I suspect the answer is no, since we aren't drinking for eight hours while we sleep, but I was just curious.

I usually take my multi with my meals and the calcium in between.

I guess I shouldn't have said "very". I've just started getting 64 in the last few days....finally.

:-(. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about anti depressants. I also see a therapist and it helps. I used to be skeptical about therapy. I thought, "how can talking about stuff that's already happened be helpful?!" But it really is.

I'm right there with you. I've been feeling very frustrated the last couple of days especially. Especially with the water. I've never enjoyed drinking fluids of any kind. Nothing to be done now but trudge forward, since we can't turn back time.

Omg! I have this too!

Everyone needs to forget about sizes and wear what flatters your body. I used to know a girl who worked in a jeans factory. She said if they needed to fill an order for 150 size 16 jeans and they only had 140 pairs, they would take 10 pairs if size 14 and sew size 16 tags in them and ship them out. I try to remember that when I try on something in "my size" that doesn't fit(instead of crying in the dressing room. Lol). Hope that helps a little.