JamieLogical

Everything went great for me. I have had two follow-up appointments with my PCP, one at two months and one at 4 months. All my blood work came back perfect both times and my next appointment is set for 8 months.

So happy for you and glad you didn't give up!

It depends on your insurance policy. You should call them and ask. That's what I did.

Sorry. Pretty hard for me to sympathize with you there! I lost 0.6 pounds last week and 1 pound the week before that. At least the scale is still moving.... occasionally. Just calculated it and over the last month I'm averaging 0.18 per day. My "crawl" is half as fast as yours.... or is it twice as slow?

That was when it really got real for me too! Excited for you!

Glad to hear it! Hopefully things will go smoothly for you. If things get rough, just hang in there. It will be a while before you feel "normal" again, but you WILL eventually.

As a US citizen, you fall under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which just requires that your surgeon's office complete a form and the surgeon signs it saying you must be out of work for however many days. That means you will not be able to be fired from your job for missing the time. However, it doesn't require you to receive any paid time off. If your employer doesn't pay for time off, then you may be able to apply for short-term disability.

Every insurance company is different, so it's plausible that you were given the correct info.

I bought round trip. Why spend the extra money for separate trips if you don't need to? My return flight wasn't until 4 days post-op. If I had any complications that were gonna keep me in Mexico for more than 4 days, I'd have bigger things to worry about than a plane ticket!

My pelvic bones are actually annoying me now. The jut out so far that I am always banging my arms on them. How is that a thing that is happening?!?! Also, itching is a painful endeavor now. Like around my collar bones and jaw. Nails on bone is an uncomfortable sensation. TMI Warning!!!! But the worst, by far, is this tendon that stretches from my crotchal region to my inner thigh. When my husband and I have sex and he's on top, his pelvic bone pokes that tendon and it HURTS!!!

The first thing you should do is talk to your PCP and make sure he/she is willing to do follow-up blood work and provide you with any referrals if you have post-op complications. Next you should call your insurance company and make sure that post-op complications from elective surgery are covered. My insurance does cover them, but I have heard that some providers do not.

I am in the same boat. I have lost weight more quickly than this "on my own" several times in the past. In 6 months post op, I've lost 46.8 pounds. Back in 2010/2011, I lost 49.4 pounds in 6 months. In the summer of 2013, I lost 42.2 pounds in 5 months. And I was eating a LOT more back then. I allowed myself cheat days where I would eat an entire frozen pizza or an entire pint of ice cream. I was having a packet of Oreos as a snack every workday afternoon! I was eating between 1400 and 1700 calories on my non-cheat days. So it can be frustrating to be only eating 1000 calories a day, working out 5-6 days a week, and losing at a slower pace than I did back then.

The antacid they gave me was just straight up 40mg omiprazole (Prilosec is the US brand name), so I definitely wouldn't have had any qualms about taking that, since that's a drug we're all familiar with in the US. I took the other meds as well, though I didn't have any significant pain once my drain was out or any nausea past the first day.

Congratulations! Sounds like you are doing great so far!

They fill you with gas and fluids, so it's no shock you would gain. I am glad I didn't have access to a scale until 4 days post-op, because it probably would have made me crazy!

Sounds nuts to me! All of that stuff is ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned. - Eating more than 4 oz at a time? I couldn't if I tried unless it was soft/liquidy food. Like I can eat my 5.3 oz. container of yogurt, but I couldn't come close to that with anything solid. - Never feel restriction? For me I really do try to avoid it, because I have no real feeling of "full". I just have "not full" and "OMG I'M GOING TO DIE". So I work very hard to avoid the overfull feeling. - Chew for 20 minutes? That's just completely insane.... unless you are stuffing your entire 4 oz. meal in your mouth at one time I guess? - Fruits with skin? I was eating apple slices at about 2 months out. I've eaten grapes as well, no problem. This is one where I think you have to try a little, see how it goes, and maybe wait before trying again if it doesn't go so well. - Berries with seeds? I've eaten strawberries and raspberries with no issues. One of my greek yogurts I eat regularly is one of the "fruit on the bottom" types and has small raspberry and/or strawberry seeds in it. - Only 2 oz. of Protein per meal? How are you supposed to get all your protein in if you do that? I aim for 3 oz. at lunch and dinner. I don't eat veggies or starches though.... - Only Flintstones Chewables? While that *might* be okay for your multivitamin (I take a bariatric multi), what about your other supplements like calcium, Vitamin d, and b12? What about a probiotic? If you are only taking Flintstones, I would definitely advocate getting regular blood work done to make sure you aren't developing any deficiencies.

I think you are wise to be "worrying" about these things. It means you are considering the long-term consequences of the surgery and not deciding impulsively, which is commendable for a 20-year-old! Life will definitely be different for you than someone who doesn't have WLS. You will miss out on crazy nights of drinking 28 shots (I wouldn't recommend it anyway!) or drinking 12 beers while gambling all day in a casino in Vegas. I've had alcohol a couple of times now post-op (I'm six months out). And my experience is that I get drunk on VERY LITTLE alcohol now. Like one drink and I am sloppy drunk. However, I seem to sober up a lot faster than I used to too. What I would be concerned about at your age if you do drink post WLS is making sure you are doing it in a safe environment and are not in a position to have to drive. Because you will get drunk on so very little alcohol, it would be easy for you to get to a level where you are very impaired and could be taken advantage of. And I wouldn't trust any of the normal "rules" about when it's safe to drive. You should make a rule for yourself right now that if you have ANY alcohol at all, you shouldn't drive, period. It would just be far too difficult to judge how much alcohol would put you over the legal limit and how long afterward it would take for you to fall back below the legal limit. Be safe!

Here's my obligatory link to an excellent article on bougie size: http://tinyurl.com/qxchkcv

Also an excellent point! I took two colace before bed every night and still got constipated. Had to resort to a suppository, but that did the trick and I was much better from there on out. I know that's probably TMI!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the concept of a "honeymoon period" doesn't really apply to us slow losers. Since we're slow and steady the whole way through, maybe our weight loss won't "shut down" as much as someone who loses really quickly in the first 9 months or so? That's what I keep telling myself, anyway, because it's too depressing to think about the alternative!

You don't need to take that. I never did.

I would definitely recommend at least 4 weeks of work. It is serious business. The super intense pain lasted maybe 4 days to a week, but the aches and pain and difficulty moving will last for weeks. Don't watch anything funny on TV. And avoid sneezing at all costs. Also, I hope you never have to throw up while you're recovering. I threw up once from the pain of a migraine and omg.... the pain in my abs was WAY worse than the migraine. I felt like I was being ripped in half.

@@lmoore I'm fairly certain I paid my deposit with paypal, then a cashier's check for the remaining balance on the day of my surgery.

@@HappygoSusan Yeah, I'm always shocked to see them eating sandwiches and bread post-op, but most of them seem to be pretty successful in their weight loss. I also think their pre-op "milk diet" is a little weird.

I didn't go anywhere at night, but I did walk around the area of the hotel during the day time the day after my surgery. It didn't seem sketchy to me. There's a Walmart and an Applebees in a plaza just up the hill from the hotel. Seemed pretty normal. The lack of english TV channels was a little annoying, but I knew about that in advance from reading other peoples' experiences, so I had downloaded a bunch of shows from my DVR to my laptop before traveling and just hooked my laptop up to the TV with an HDMI cable and watched all the shows I'd saved on my hard drive. Ironically, I watched about 15 episodes of Chopped (a cooking show) while only being able to eat about two teaspoons of broth and Jello.