Juba

5 days after surgery when I returned to work. I wasn't on any pain meds after day 2...

I bruised big time, my whole stomach was various shades of horrible for a good 4-6 weeks. That being said, I always have bruised very easily. If I go for a deep massage, I have had finger prints bruises left behind.

For the past month I have been addicted to pickled jalepenos and Frank's Red hot sauce. I put them on everything...literally. I probably ate them 1-2x a year pre-surgery so this is pretty funny to my DH. I don't have any issues after I eat them. That being said I am on a prescription for stomach acid so I likely don't suffer because of that. Everyone's so different with how their stomachs react though so try little bits at a time and test out how your sleeve reacts. I accidently ate raw tomatoes last week (salsa...I thought it was picante but it was fresh) and I was literally bent over horizontal until the Gas-X kicked in. That was horrible.

I'm 4 months out and at first I definitely could only sip, sip, sip and it drove me nuts. Can't tell you how many times I took a big chug of Water out of habit, caught myself and had to either spit it out or try and swallow little bits at a time. Worst feeling ever after surgery if you take too big of a drink...ugh! It's like there's a rock stuck in your mid chest. It was a really hard habit to break for me. Now I can take pretty big drinks, no gulping, but definitely bigger drinks.

I had my surgery Thursday evening in TJ and flew home to Canada on Sunday afternoon. Total air/airport travel time was like 8 hours plus another 1-1/2 hour drive from the airport the my home town. I was totally fine the entire day, no pain, no pain meds, just tired but other than that it was fine. Honestly the worst thing for me was that I had a very bad stomach so couldn't drink anything all day because I was petrified I'd have an accident on the plane....that was painful having to only take a tiny sip to wet my mouth all day! lol! I returned to work full time on Tuesday morning. I healed really fast and barely had any issues whatsoever (super lucky) and so transitioning back to work was easy. I brought a heating pad with me to work and used it for an hour or so for the first 2 days if I got 'tender' but that was it. No one even questioned it, if anyone asked I just said I had an upset stomach.

I was never told not to use one and I have honestly used one every single morning to drink my Protein shake. I've never had an issue and I am 4 months post op. How are you getting air in if you're sucking in liquid...I'm not seeing the correlation.

When I was still in the hospital post op I remember looking over at my left hand where the IV was and crapping my pants! My hand and wrist were HUGE, like HUUUUUUUUUUUGE! lol! It looked like it was going to blow up. Vein collapsed so the IV was draining under my skin. They removed and put on other hand but it took a few days to completely go back down.

I'm 4 months out and it takes some getting used to. I don't get hunger pains and/or the signals of 'hunger' like I did pre-op but I have learned to listen to my body now. First I always try and eat on a schedule (3 meals/day plus 1 small morning snack) but on days when I get too busy and forget and/or I am expending a lot more energy it will catch up to me. Typically I will catch myself getting super irritated, catch myself yawning a lot (even though I'm not tired) or I just don't feel right (woozy, grumpy etc) and I KNOW I need to eat something or in some cases drink some Water. Just pay attention to your body, it will tell you what it wants/needs and don't skip meals

My first closet gutting was a strange and very emotional experience for me (and I don't do emotional lol!). I have ALWAYS kept my 'fat clothes' when I lost weight in the past. Almost like a safety blanket I guess, I always knew I could fit back into something if I gained some back. But the 1st time gutting my closet after surgery I caught myself boxing things up to keep (per the norm) and realized.....what the hell am I doing?! I will NEVER fit these clothes again....never. That was a real eye opener and it was very unsettling to let go of my safety blankets and take all of the oversized clothes to donation. Now I just keep an ongoing box of clothing and add to it as things get too big and I do a happy dance. Not quite so devastating anymore

Are u in the US? Not sure if you can send food items in the mail? I'm guessing no??

$5500 US

I'm in BC as well, on. Vancouver Island . I used Dr Ramos Kelly. He was great and my surgery went really well, 17 weeks out and I have had zero issues, tons of energy blah blah. Buuuut I think his staff really sucked and were very disorganized etc. once I got to. Mexico. Beforehand they were great. That being said it was a long weekend and the regular staff were all away/off so I got the new girl who was flakey and didn't really know what she was doing. Others on here had a great experience with his staff.

My paperwork was in Spanish as well and I had no idea what the hell I was signing...

Yup they totally nailed me an extra $350 and I was still trying to get a proper/clear answer as to WHY 3 weeks post op. I was finally told that they had to give me addt'l painkillers above and beyond. My response was that I had ZERO pain or discomfort after my surgery and in fact never took a single pill after leaving the hospital. Their answer was "well that's because you were given extra painkillers." ummmmmmmmmmmm WHAT?! I never once complained about pain or requested it be given to me. I was not a fan of Nova Hospital, it was pretty gross imo. Having seen another new hospital for my leak test I would've paid the extra money to stay there.

Most important keep your receipts because you can write off the hospital and surgery on your Canadian income tax. Not sure how much you will actually see back but you will get a good chunk of it returned to you I'm from BC and had surgery in Tijuana on April 17th. Just educate yourself of your surgeon options and remember that the cheapest isn't always the best way to go. I found so much information on this site and it really helped me - still does