snowkitten

Do you start your preop diet aug 9th too?

Yes that's exactly what I'm hoping to do. Congrats on your loss! That's awesome

I sucked it up and had my hubby take my before pics. I thought id die of embaressment (I know he knows what I look like but I hate pointing out how fat I am) but he was great about it. My two y/o son even helped! He used my phone (while hubby used his own) and we played fashion show. Amazingly my son took great pics!

Oh is the FB group secret? I don't want everyone on my FB to know I'm getting surgery

Actually I have a ton of things to get. I'm horrible with procrastination. I still need to get the Protein powder, Vitamins, Probiotics, clean my house from top to bottom, and send in some paperwork to work. On the bright side I have until Aug 25th to do it all.

I'm aug 25th

Ahha! That makes alot of sense. My surgeon didn't say anything about exercising my lungs which would probably be smart since I have asthma. I think I'll try that as well. At least if I have a house full of balloons I can blame it on my son

Hahaha I laughed so hard with this one because it's SO true. Id like to add and this maybe be tmi, but being able to wipe my butt without pulling a muscle in a small stall! I also look forward to walking without my thighs rubbing together. Not being drenched in sweat while cleaning And so so much more

Thanks linda. Your right, it does help to tell others. Especially others who are also taking this wls journey. I know it sounds odd that I'm pursuing this at this time but I really need to do this for my immune problem so I don't leave my son, my mom wanted me to and I really want her to be around when I go through it, and I NEED something to set my goals on so I can focus on the future. A strange coping strategy lol

I am so very sorry to hear about your loss. That must have been devastating for you. I cant relate to losing a child but im no stranger to loss. Im 28 y/o and already had to deal with more loss and disasters then most people see in their entire life. My father died in a car accident before i was born, my grandmother of a stroke (drank herself to it) when i was 12, my uncle at 13 (heart attack), my other uncle at 14 (hypothermia), at 16 my step father lost all but 3 of his fingers in a work accident and i had to help my mom take care of him, I started taking care of my mom at age 22 when she was in a car accident that left her unable to work and her husband divorced her because he didn't want to take care of her (yep, after she quit her job to take care of him from his accident), At 23 my mom had a heart attack requiring surgery(lived). At 24 my husbands grandfather passed away from brain cancer, and that same week i found out my mom had breast cancer. She had double mastectomy with one side getting infected and opening up (about the size of my fist) and a 6 month recovery. This caused her to be unable to have chemo or radiation. After she healed she started the journey of reconstruction but unfortunately after the expanders were put in she developed MRSA in one side and then a week later the other side (both had to be taken out and she was hospitalized). Then she developed it again in her hand and shoulder (hospitalized again). She went home with IV antibiotics (that i cared for). She progressively got more sick and on my 25th birthday she was hospitalized with a rare condition called steven johnsons syndrome (severe allergic reaction that causes the body to burn from the inside out).She was hospitalized again (sad thing is i cant remember why now) and missed the baby shower for my first(only) child. I had a complicated childbirth (emergency c-section) with a complicated recovery (pre-eclamsia AFTER). When my son was 5mo my mom had another heart attack requiring surgery (a rare reaction from the sjs that caused the original stent to be overgrown with tissue). My Uncle passed away soon after. My mom remained pretty healthy after that but i progressively got sicker. My aunt passed away (drugs and alcohol caused her liver to fail). I lost my job (the department was dissolved) a month after i bought my first home (thankfully got a new job right away). A year long journey led my doctors to discovering I have a severe immune deficiency. I ended up getting sick for about 2 months that was finally diagnosed by my immunologist as pertussis. A week later (Jan) my mom was hospitalized with pneumonia (she came home with oxygen). Unfortunately after that (and many tests) it was discovered her breast cancer had come back and metastasized to her lymph nodes and pleura (lining of lungs). Its stage 4 and terminal. Theres no cure but she started chemo with the thought to prolong her life . She was hospitalized again with pneumonia that required multiple chest tube placements. She resumed her chemo which she did pretty well on with symptom reactions but bad on with others (her potassium and anemia levls kept dropping causing her to be extremely lethargic). last month her WBC droped really low and she got sick. When i checked her O2 and saw it was really low i insisted on bringing her to the ER (she's stubborn and hates going). They said it was good because 6-12 more hours and she would have been septic. They admitted her again but her o2 wouldn't stabilize. I get a call at work the next day and im told there transferring her to ICU and intubating her. She was intubated (and essentially in a coma) for 2 weeks She had strep pneumonia, strep in her urine, influenza, and fungal empyema . On 4th of july they released her to come home and she has been weak ever since. I have been her caring for her but she isn't getting better. She still cant stand from the toilet, cant care for herself, she barely eats, and she keeps getting a cough. She has lost 70lbs since Jan. Yesterday we had the follow up oncologist appointment and he told us because of her condition it wouldn't be wise to re-start chemo. He said that if they did she had an extremely high chance of catching another illness and dieing. Without chemo she has less than 6 months to live (he said with her condition now its more like a few months). so were in a crossroads of what to do. Risk chemo (which she was pretty much like a zombie on most days) and hope she doesn't catch anything (extremely hard with me having an immune deficiency and always getting sick) OR let the cancer kill her. Im struggling with the thought that i will be 28 y/o without any parents. My mom is my best friend and the thought of losing her kills me. I keep thinking about how close she is to my 2 y/o son and how he's going to grow up and not remember her or how significant she was in his life. And she will never know any other children i have. She has taught my son SO much, i just cant imagine her not being there to teach my future children. OMG im so sorry for spilling my life story. I know this is probably more then anyone wanted to know, but as its 4am and im unable to sleep its really helpful to get it all out of my head. Sorry for the TMI but thank you for the place to get it out.

I'm a little curious about the post op diet. Ive read about alot of people who have to do liquids for a few weeks and work their way up do to the chance of leaks. I was mentally prepared for this so you can imagin my shock when my surgeon told me he requires a pureed diet right after surgery. Has anyone else done this? I know every doctor has their own requirements and i fully plan to follow it, i'm just a little worried and hoping others have done this.

thanks for the responses. its really nice to know others have had this type of post op diet. I will definetly follow my surgeons meal plan but i want to go slow and will probably do more cream of chicken soup and yogurt then anything.

I'm so sorry he was such a jerk to you. I do agree that to an extent when a Dr says xyz would improve with weight loss that it should be taken as a medical opinion that we all know is true and not a personal assyalt. Now having said that, your doctor wasn't giving you medical advice, he was down right insulting you. It's childish and unprofessional and you really should put in a complaint. When i was 17 I was constipated for 3 weeks and finally went to my dr. She told me to stop whining and acting like a 50 y/o ( since I rarely saw her I don't know why she thought that). Then she asked what I ate (at the time I ate really very good because 1. My step father was diagnosed with diabetes and my mom went crazy with health food, 2. We were pretty poor so we couldn't afford crap), she completely ignored me and proceeded to tell me to stop eating fast food (I didnt), and candy, pop etc.. (I didnt). I ended up leaving that appointment in tears with no treatment and a fear of doctors. What really annoys me to this day is that she COULD have left behind her prejudice and done some test and found out I have CVID (common variable immune deficiency) which has a huge connection to stomach issues. It took me a few years but I finally realized some doctors are just jerks and we need to ignore their idiocy.

Interesting, what's the reasoning behind it? And no, I don't have it

I kinda know how you feel. I only wanted a few select people to know (hubby, mom, and friend at work who had it as well) and then my mom told my sister (who has weighed no more than 120 dripping wet her whole life) and my hubby told his coworker. After my initial shock and upset I tried to look at it from their point of veiw. My mom is dying and wanted to be sure I had female support and my hubby needed someone to talk to since this a huge change for him as well. Knowing it came from a good place helped me but I still wish I could have been asked before hand.

Im really hoping someone can help me figure out what to tell my boss. I HATE to lie. It doesn’t come easily to me but I know its necessary in this case. I work for a very large hospital (billing part) that requires both pto and advance notice for time off. The problem with that is I don’t have any pto, and probably never will as Im on FMLA for a chronic disease (Immune Deficiency). Because I don’t have to give advanced notice or have pto for anything related to my immune deficiency I would like to tell my boss my surgery is for something related. Technically the wls IS related (obesity lowers the immune system, there are increased infections associated with it, and my treatment isn’t working because Im at the max dose because of my weight); however I don’t want to tell her im having wls because I don’t think they will believe me when I say its for my immune system (she’s kinda anti-wls). I know by law I don’t have to tell my boss any details, but im kinda close to her and tell her everything so It would look funny if I all of a sudden decided to be secretive. This would especially be true since were both coders and we tend to want to know everything about medical. SO my question is this; do you have any ideas of what surgery I could tell my boss that im having that is related to the stomach/immunity. Im thinking something like worm removal (since she knows I have a Protein deficiency and this would be consistant) or intestine obstruction. Something just embarrassing enough that she wont ask questions. Any ideas??

I did take my measurments but I want to do it again before I start my preop. Have any of you taken before pics yet? I was gonna have my mom do them but she's really sick so I sucked it up and asked my hubby if he will. I'm nervous about that tho, I hate the idea of him focusing on my weight lol. Weird I know

Thanks for the update, I'll keep your Symptoms in mind after my surgery

Thanks for the update, I'll keep your syptoms

Fun post! My top 3 1. I want to have more energy, be able to clean my house and play with my 2 y/o son without sweating from head to toe 2. I don't want to worry about if I'll fit in a chair/booth/stall/etc.. 3. And I would like to have the desire/stamina to make love to my hubby.

Was there any reason they gave you to start pureed as soon as possible? I'm curious if there is a scientific reason for it

Actually that's not exactly true. I'm a coder so I see ALOT of well woman exams and I've never coded a FOBT with it. It's not in the requirements either.

It can happen after an iv has been in. The harsher the med they infused the worst it can be. I get infusions every 3 wks and I get it alot. The vein gets hard, red, hand swells and it feels like someone took a hammer to it. In fact that's how my hand is right now from my last infusion. Dr said ice it. IF the redness spreads and the site gets more painful (think unable to move your arm) then it could be an infection. I had that 2 months ago. Not pleasant.

I'm so happy to hear your pcp took you seriously and helped out. That's such a relief. Congrats on the first steps!!