mysleeveid13

So I've told you all about our weekend trips to Six Flags and how I've had to dig out some old shorts to wear as I keep going down in size....so today, I took the dog out before we left for Six Flags and my shorts literally fell all the way to my ankles as I was trying to take his leash off! I had to stop by the store and buy a pair of shorts as I had none that fit! I usually hated shopping because I would just look for the biggest shirt they had and a size 22 pants or 24 with a belt. But today....I had to step OUT of the plus size women's section and go to the other side! I picked up a 16...too big....picked up a 14. Fit nicely but my daughter said just try on a 12...just to see. And they fit!!!!! I almost cried. I came out of the dressing room to get her opinion and the lady working there said those look great! I was floored. They were just a little snug on me so I got both the 14 and the 12 and wore the 14 and a tank top! I don't think I've worn a tank top in public in like 10 years. Sorry to go on about this but my best friend doesn't seem to want to talk about my weight loss and that's ok. But I did have to share with you guys since you understand. Wooooohooo! Made my day!

Congratulations, you look incredible! Size 8? That's awesome!!!! Very happy for you.

You look incredible, but more importantly, you feel incredible. That's so awesome. Very happy for you. Thanks for sharing your story and your photos.

I'm not sure about how much, but really the only thing I drink is decaf unsweet tea with splenda or stevia. (Every once in a while I'll put maybe a quarter of a pack of crystal light in a bottle of Water. The whole pack is way too sweet for me. Really weird since I lived off super sweet tea prior to surgery). I have gotten really thirsty at the gym and accidentally gulped and it felt like I swallowed a huge air bubble. It goes away quickly but it's a reminder to take small sips. But the reason I can't tell you about the volume is I have a 32 oz cup that I fill up every morning and carry everywhere I go. As the ice melts, I fill it back up with ice all day long, so I really don't know how much I'm drinking since I'm refilling. But I'm sipping all day and if my heartburn is bad enough I will just drink instead of eating. I haven't tried straight water since maybe 3-4 weeks out. It was really hard to get down and maybe it's just mental but it seemed to feel like drinking a rock as it went down.

Good news is they didn't find anything wrong when they did my endoscope. So I'm very thankful for that. I asked what size he thought my tummy was and he said about 1/4 a cup! So crazy. It was all pretty fascinating. He told me to take the protonix in the morning and take the two priolosec before bed. Tonight it hurts so bad that I only ate after my procedure this morning and haven't eaten again since. I even took the carafate on top of the other two to see if it would help. But.....still thankful it wasn't something worse. I've read some pretty rough stories about complications so I'll take this over the others.

One more thing....I got pictures of the inside of my tummy, etc after the procedure and I asked him what size he thought my stomach was and he said about 1/4 a cup! Crazy, huh? I just thought it was all fascinating.

Thanks BlueSea. So the endoscope results were good. He saw nothing wrong with my sleeve, etc. Told me to stay on protonix and 2 priolosec at night and come back in a few weeks. He said the reflux is just a side effect of the surgery and hopefully will go away at 6 months. I only ate once today because it is so bad. Been trying to look up foods that are good for reflux but nothing sounded good so I just stayed hydrated all day. On the other hand, I had a lot of the nurses asking me how much I had lost in how much time. I got soooo much praise from them that I just felt on cloud 9 leaving the hospital. I'm very thankful it's just reflux and really trying to keep it to myself because it could he so much worse. But man! It really hurts and usually I have a high threshold for pain. Oh and my son came home from daycare and barfed all over my floor so that was fun. I really hope it was just something he ate at school and he's done. Really don't think my throat could handle a tummy virus right now. Just thought I'd share since we talk about poop and everything else here.

Good luck to all of you. Mine starts as soon as I take my first sip of drink or bite of food and it's really bad when I lay down to go to bed. Feels like a lump of fire in my throat. Sorry for all of you dealing with it, too.

Bluesea - sorry about your freezer. That stinks! Ours conked out on us last year, but thankfully my husband is a lot smarter than I am sometimes and we had a home warranty. Stick with it and make the right choices. But who am I telling...you are almost at goal there mama!

Butterflypinup - congrats on the move. We closed on our house the week of Thanksgiving and moved right in the middle of the holidays. I TOTALLY understand your fatigue and the emotions thst go along with it! I cried a lot out of sheer frustration throughout the whole moving process. Good luck!!!

Melodica.... I used to drink a lot (I mean like 3-4 glasses) of soda or sweet tea, etc when I ate. I knew this part would be tough for me so I purposely make sure a drink is not available when I'm eating. So if I'm eating at the dinner table with my family, I put my drink in the fridge until the 30 mins have passed after my meal. If we go out to eat, I either tell them I will wait to order a drink until later and get it "to go" or if I order one I sit it on the other side of the table so I can't reach it. I'm not trying to be bossy or anything, just telling you what has worked for someone that normally drank a heck of a lot more than everyone else at the table during meal times. I felt I should share since I thought it was a rule I would surely break, but ended up adhering to it.

1) height / weight starting our wls programs: 5' 7" / 255 2) weight day of surgery: 243 3) weight 9 week post op / pounds lost/gained: 201.8 / 4 lbs / 53.2 total (weird I keep ending up on .8 when I weigh) 4) goal weight: 150ish 5) your biggest success this week: making it to the gym 4-5 times during the week after returning to work and then going to Six Flags or White Water and walking or swimming on the weekends. 6) your biggest struggle this week: reflux....changed me to protonix and having an endoscopy done on Friday. Please pray that it's just reflux and it goes away instead of being some kind of stricture or other weirdness with my sleeve. No medicine has worked and I have heartburn pretty much from my first sip of drink or bite of food up until I fall asleep. Ugh. Again, not complaining because I'd rather have this than something horrible going on.

Having the scope on Friday. Here's hoping it's just reflux and it goes away.

This may not be stupid advice normally, but my coworker (who had lost over 100 lbs post op) and I were in an elevator at work the week I returned after my VSG surgery. I had already lost 42 lbs in the 7 weeks I was out and people assumed I had surgery, too. So this girl who knew my coworker had surgery looked at our cups and said, "Yall need to quit drinking your calories!" We both just laughed because we both had unsweetened tea! WTH?? Combined, we had lost over 150 lbs and you feel the need to try to tell us we are drinking our calories (when it was unsweet to begin with)? Unsolicited advice is the worst!!!

Thank you.

Ok where did you get it and how did you find out about it? My surgeon prescribed Protonix and I just started it today. He said he wants to do an EGD (scope down the throat) to see what's going on. Have any of you had to do that?

Ok the one I looked at said 83 calories. I didn't realize it still had 20 carbs in it without the sugar. Where the heck did the carbs come from???? But this is what I saw [ATTACH]45595[/ATTACH]

Thank you!! I finally found a pharmacy that has my protonix so I'm picking it up in an hour! Hope it works. On a random note.....I've had one sip of coffee post op and at the time, the sugar free syrup etc that I used was so horrible I haven't tried it again since. But today, I wanted something cold and so after researching, I decided on a tall sugar free caramel lite frappucino. I was convinced it would be horrible because I've never been able to do sugar free anything prior to surgery...but I'm here to tell you it was soooooo delicious! It had low fat milk and sugar free everything and no whipped topping. I was so surprised. I'm sure the coffee was great for my reflux but heck, even cheese gives me heartburn so I figured I'd enjoy a treat.

Your old clothes will probably be right in style since everything keeps coming back around. So you know I've been complaining about horrible heartburn for weeks now. Currently I take carafate every 6 hours, 2 prilosec daily, and gaviscon for break through times. None of it is working. Called my surgeon today and he called in protonix. Guess what? The pharmacy said it's on back order and they call every day trying to get it. They even said I should call around to other pharmacies. No luck. Ugh!!! So I will call him back tomorrow to let him know we have to wait on it unless he can come up with something else. They also want me to do an EGD, scope down the throat thing. So I'm hoping that it's just reflux and can be taken care of with the right meds. Just not fun feeling like I've got a huge lump in my throat that is on fire. Not complaining or getting down though because the weight is still coming off and I know a lot of people have it a whole lot worse off. Just wanted to get the right meds and be done with it.

I just searched this topic because I'm having horrible heartburn! It feels like there is a huge knot in my throat. I'm taking 2 priolosec, carafate, and gaviscon daily and it's very seldom that it feels like it's not there. I think I'm going to ask my surgeon if I should go see a specialist. I'm 8 weeks out. Is there anything you two are taking that seems to help?

You look great! From a 20 to a 14 is a huge difference. Don't get discouraged. ....sounds like you are doing awesome!

So I'm struggling to find stuff that fits me because a few years back I decided that anything that I had gotten too big for and I had not worn in a couple of years that I needed to get rid of. Almost like I gave up. Well, we are going back to Six Flags tomorrow so I was trying to find a pair of shorts to wear. I found a pair of 16's that I haven't been able to wear in probably 10 years. Well, they fit and were baggy!!! They are short compared to what I've hidden under for all these years so I felt weird with so much leg showing. My 13 year old daughter was begging me to wear them and she is brutally honest, so it made me feel great! Still no where near where I want to be, but heck, it's only the beginning! Oh and I cried last weekend at Six Flags. It was the first time that I can remember that I didn't try to hide from a camera. I was taking pictures with my kids and it just hit me that I was initiating the pics! This was huge for me as I've felt so guilty because I have no pictures of me when I was a kid with my mom because she hid because of her weight. Sooooo, sorry for the book, but it's amazing how many things we do psychologically, due to our weight and I'm so happy to overcome them one by one! Have a great weekend!!! Thanks for listening!

Sorry I didn't get this in yesterday. Work has been crazy! !! 1) height / weight starting our wls programs, 5' 7", 255 2) weight day of surgery: 243 3) weight 8 week post op / pounds lost/gained: 205.2 / 4.8 lost / 49.8 total 4) goal weight: 150ish 5) your biggest success this week: got in my exercise 4 days during the week for my first week back at work and then walked around an amusement park with my 3 kids from open to close sweating my butt off and didn't feel like I had to sit down, winded, muscle pain from all of the walking. It was awesome!!!! Had fun and got more exercise in! 6) your biggest struggle this week: this reflux stuff just isn't going away no matter what I eat or take. Thinking I might need to see a specialist?

Ugh. That stinks.....I hope it gets better quickly. But congratulations on all the huge accomplishments! I'm sure it must be awful to throw up each day. I wasn't throwing up but felt like I was going to for about a week and I didn't do well mentally on just liquids. I was cooking for my kids because my husband was out of town and one day I just started bawling. I wanted food so bad. I called my best friend crying. She's very supportive but she had no idea what I was going through. I really was just feeling sorry for myself. It was still very early in the process and I just broke down and I really wasn't sick just mourning food, I guess. Sounds so stupid. So long story longer....I can totally understand how you can be feeling regret and I hope it gets better quickly. Glad we all are able to talk here. I don't think even our closest family and friends cam relate at all. Go enjoy you new life (as soon as you can....

Butterflypinup - I'm sorry you are regretting surgery. What's going on? I had a hard time with the Vitamins until I got past the first month of liquids only. I didn't throw up every time but I would get hot all over suddenly and start sweating and get super nauseous wishing I would throw up. But once I started foods that stopped. I still have to hold my nose when I take them and I shudder and get the heebie geebies but I don't have the weird hot flash thing. One of the veterans I know said my body was rejecting the sugar in the vitamins. I don't know... My surgeon gave me zofran for my nausea and told me to take my vitamins with applesauce and use sugar free cinnamon candies to help with nausea. Hope this helps. Makes me sad you are regretting.....looks like your weight loss is great.