slvarltx

Your doctor knows best. I will say that doing a 2 week diet won't hurt you and will prepare you for the post op diet. Some Protein shakes are nasty, better to figure out what you like before surgery. Best of Luck!

Definitely sleeping A LOT more post op. Before surgery 6-7 hours, after 8-9 hours. My doctor told me that this should resolve itself after 12 weeks or so.

You aren't going to stretch your sleeve. Your stomach is swollen, hence the difficulty of swallowing Water. Mine was down after about a week...since then no problems drinking water at all. Hang in there!

Sleeved on 5/8 and down 30lbs from surgery date. Have been in a long stall...scale not moving in 2 weeks. Really not paying that much attention to it...I weigh myself once a week, hasn't moved in the last 2 weeks.

I used to love coconut Water. Post sleeve it makes me sick. Hopefully your tastes don't change post-op on the things you are stocking up with!

My doctor told me on the pre op diet if you don't follow it, typically the liver will be larger and it will take a 90 minute surgery and turn it into 4-5 hour surgery because the liver keeps getting the way.

Losing 4 lbs a week in awesome! I am 6'2" and I am losing an average of 5 lbs. per week. Everyone is different so truly don't sweat the scale at this point. If you get to 3 months out and have only lost 4 lbs., then probably time to examine what is going on. The weight loss is no linear...I lose about 4 lbs and then stop for a period of 3-10 days, then lose 8 lbs, gain back 2 and then nothing for 5 days. I only weigh myself once a week now as my body is all over the map. The good thing is that the trend is down. I hope to be at my goal weight by Christmas. At your current 4 lbs...you will hit your goal weight in about 4 and 1/2 months. Keep your eyes on the long prize and ignore the short term fluctuations.

I travel quite a bit for work as well, and had the same worries. The biggest challenge for me is to stay hydrated. I buy a Water inside airport security so I have some in case I don't get the upgrade to 1st Class. At check in to the hotel, I always ask for extra water. If I have a rental car on the trip, I stop and buy some Protein shakes and water when I get to the destination, otherwise I make sure I pack a shaker and some Protein powder. Meals are no big deal as I can eat shashimi, Soups, chili, seafood now. I did have to fly at week 3, was a little rough....make sure you check a bag, no lifting over you head to get it into the overhead bin!!!! You will love how much easier you fit into the airplane seat and the fact that you have a TON of slack in the seatbelt. I actually was eating dinner last week with a client who was overweight and had one bite of the dessert I ordered and the waitress laughed when she took it away and asked if that was how I stayed so skinny.....I was trying to figure out who she was talking about until I realized it was me! Happy travels.

It is going great. The first week is not a whole lot of fun. Had quite a bit of muscle pain at the large incision site, but that mostly went away after 10 days. The first day home is the worst as you have to drink these little itty bitty cups, think child liquid Tylenol cups, every 15 minutes and keep a log of it. It is tough to get your fluids in at first. By day 7 I could drink as much as I want. The only time I really know I have been sleeved is when I eat/drink food/soup/chili that has solid pieces of food. The restriction is real and I can eat maybe 5 ozs of food. We went on vacation last week and ordered a large pizza for 4 of us. I ate the cheese and sauce off the top of one slice and was full. I used to be able to eat the whole thing myself! The only residual effect of the surgery I still have is that I sleep A LOT more than I used to. I used to sleep 6-7 hours a night and now I am at 8-9 hours per night. My doctor says this should resolve itself in the next month or so. The good news is that I am losing an average of 5 pounds per week. I lost a lot at first, hit the 3 week stall, and then started losing again after 10 days. I bought a belt in March that I could barely get to the first notch and now the last notch is too loose. My waist last Xmas was 48 inches and now is close to 40. Knee pain/back pain? Good bye! High blood pressure? Good bye! Airplane travel? I fit easily into my own seat now. Amusement park? Riding with kids with plenty of room for the bar to come down. My goal weight is what I weighed when I got out of the Army in 1997. As things are going now, I should be at that goal in late September. There is NO way I could have done this without the sleeve procedure. The sleeve can be very frustrating at time, my head hasn't gotten the message that it can't gorge on food anymore. I almost put myself back in the hospital with dehydration due to eating atkins bars with sugar alcohols (I have become SUPER sensitive to sugar alcohols, I had serious dumping syndrome). It takes a serious commitment, but for me it has produced the results as advertised. Best of luck to you!

I got sleeved six weeks ago. Up until the last minute, I wasn't sure that I was going to go through with it. I finally decided to tell my family as I didn't want them worrying about my health. They were amazingly supportive much to my surprise.

I had the "what are you doing here" comment from the RN during pre-op as well.

I can tell you from my own experience that the hospital process was incredibly smooth. It was kind of like hanging out. Got a beeper when I checked in. Beeper went off, went to the pre-op room, met with one nurse to go over medical history again. Told her I am a tough person to get an IV going and she called a different IV nurse into the room. Changed into the hospital garb, and then talked to the bariatric coordinator (who had been sleeved herself), until the anesthesiologist came in and put me in happyland. Woke up 3 hours later and it was over. The first week was not a lot of fun...the first full day home was the worst as I now had to get my own fluids in. Only pain I had was at the large incision point, no nausea at all. After a week, pain virtually gone. Averaging about 5 lbs lost per week. You will do fine. Complications are extremely rare in this surgery. My surgeon has done thousands of these operations and has never had a leak. Worst case if you have a leak is they do a bypass...not the end of the world.

Something, though, scares me about the surgery. I'm not sure if it's the surgery itself or the thought of not eating my favorite foods after. I know it's worth it and everything and that complications are a minimal risk but what if my sutures leak? Or the biggest fear, I end up stretching my stomach out??? The surgery itself is about as safe as anything out there. If your sutures leak, they can do a revision and you will be fine. My surgeon has thousands of these surgeries and never had a leak. You can still have your favorite foods in moderation. If you follow the diet, you won't stretch out your sleeve. Why would you wait? You can have everything on your wish list, most likely within a year. If you start next year, than you have pushed it off for another year. Nobody ever went back to their surgeon and told them they wished their sleeve was bigger!

This is one of those short term pain, long term gain situations. The first week post-op is not a lot of fun, but after a week my recovery was very rapid. I am now 4 weeks out and my only lingering symptom that annoys me from my surgery is that I need more sleep. I am told this passes too as you your body needs 3-6 months to fully recover. What I have now is significant weight loss (I started trying to live the Protein diet at Christmas of 14, but really kicked it in 3 weeks before surgery). I no longer take blood pressure medication. My waist is down from a 48 to a 40. I am averaging 6 pounds a week, and it is fat. I can wear clothes that have been in the back of my closet for 15 years. My back no longer hurts. My knees no longer hurt. I walk at least 4 miles per day. The seatbelt on the airplane is loose! I could go on and on. So for me, one week of discomfort was well with the rewards! I was worried about it too, and couldn't think about anything else. So far I have no regrets.

Are you taking meds for high blood pressure? I had to stop, and the dizzy spells went away.

I stalled at week 3 as well. I went on a business trip this week and noticed by the end of the week I had to take my belt in another notch. I truly believe that just because the scale doesn't move, doesn't mean that I am not still losing fat. I almost don't even care what the scale says anymore.

I am 3 weeks out and cleared for things like eggs, chili, tuna, baked fish, etc. My mind still thinks I need to eat more than my stomach can handle. I am measuring foods and my brain says "you need more than that". Once I eat the food I am full. Is there a point in time where the brain and the stomach get in sync so that the brain recognizes that is all the food needed to satiate the hunger? I actually wanted to fight my sleeve yesterday as I just wanted to pig out and of course could not. This thing really works!

I had my surgery on 5/8 and can share my experience: Week 1, tired , sore, and the attention span of a 3 year old, less sore by the end of the week, took it off Week 2, tired and the attention span of a 7 year old, home office Week 3, less tired, starting to be more energetic, attention span coming back, air travel, hotel overnights You really need 1 week off at a minimum. Week 2 is iffy, because you are likely to make mistakes, feel terrible by the end of the day because you need to lay down. Week 3, I was good to go, but still probably functioning at 70%. I did get on a plane and had meetings, stayed in hotel etc. Hopefully week 4 continues to be easier/better! Losing 7 lbs per week post surgery!

Just about to finish my 3rd week post op. The good news is that I don't miss any of it. I thought how horrible I won't be able to eat this or that etc. The truth is that after my Doctor cleared me to start eating things like chili and eggs, I don't even think about other foods. I am not hungry. I can only eat 3-4 ounces of food until I am full. The fun part is that I went through my closet yesterday and got rid of my "fat pants". Since I really started focusing on my weight at Xmas, my waist is down 6 inches. I can fit into XXL shirts instead of 3X and 4X. Fried food can kiss my....well you know!

My doctor recommended Wendy's chili to me.

Well, one week ago I was just about to undergo my initial anesthesia. What a crazy week! Today I am in almost no pain and my incisions have almost all healed. For anyone worried about the surgery, there is some pain, there is an inconvenience factor, but overall no big deal.

Do you really "love" a bunch of carbon atoms linked together a certain way? You love the feeling they give you which is WAY beyond what your body needs to survive. That's why we are in this situation....our minds have linked emotion together with food and has this crazy feedback loop going. Thinks about your list of what you want and then think about your craving for sugar. Something has to change. There is discomfort and change is scary. You CAN do this. You CAN manage your cravings for sugar and eventually they will subside. You are taking charge of the situation and getting yourself the sledge hammer, our sleeve, as the big tool in the tool kit in managing our weight and deciding that a bit of discomfort is worth everything we want in our life!

I had a 6 month waiting period thanks to my insurance companies requirements. It really was frustrating at times because I knew it was coming and was ready to get it behind me. I decided to go on a modified liquid diet at Christmas time as I wanted to do something. I upped my Protein quite a bit, and reduced my meals. The weight started coming off pretty quickly! I finally felt like I was doing something! My approval finally came in April and I got the sleeve on 5/8. My weigh in at the hospital was 296 (minus 39 lbs since Xmas). I am now at day 15 and weigh 278, a nice 18 lb. drop since surgery day. The first week after the surgery was no fun, but everyday after that I am feeling better. The only real residual I feel now is that I need to sleep A LOT more than before...I am in bed asleep by 9 PM and wake up pretty fully alert by 5 AM...9 hours a night! My blood pressure is now normal, I have stopped taking medication for the first time in 14 years. I have no back pain anymore, and am walking 3-5 miles per day without my knees bugging me. My doctor green lighted some soft foods, even chili, tuna fish, eggs My brain still wants to over eat! My sleeve won't let me. I have to force myself to eat slower, and it is so strange to get full off of so little food. A 14 oz can of chili will give me 3 meals! I still get that contented feeling of being full with 4 oz of food per meal. It is so strange. Just hang in there...this surgery has been a miracle so far.

Had my 12 day post op exam with my doctor today. He was pleased with my progress and green lighted me for eggs, tuna, and most importantly: BACON. Had it extra, extra, extra, crispy. So 4 bites of scrambled eggs and a piece of Bacon later, I left a VERY happy man from my local diner. Also cleared to eat chili! Can't wait for dinner!

I was cathed after I was knocked out. They took it out the next day...virtually painless. Starting to pee again I felt like a very old man...start/stop/start/stop...