justbeingme1972

So I have two reasons for wanting to write about my experience: 1) When I was looking for information on Low BMI'ers, and I mean really loooow I came up with very little and really nothing about Sleevers with BMI's as low as mine. I am sure I will get some flack for having this surgery at such a low Bmi, but we're all on our own journey, and trollers are gonna troll. I am 33 years old. On Sleeve day my height was 5'6 & 3/4 inches and weight, I estimate, was about 183 lbs. I say estimate, because the last time I got on a scale was a week before going to Cancun (179 lbs) and I spent 2 days in Cancun vacationing. Okay so at the most my BMI was 28.7. Not only that but I wore a size 8/9 on sleeve day. 2) I could not find much information about my doctor, Dr. Hector Perez Corzo in Cancun. He was exceptional. He called, e-mailed, we had a pre-op appt where he assuaged all my fears. I want to do him a service by telling my story. Here is my story: I am Josie the eater. My friends and family are astonished at how much and how quickly I can eat. My heaviest weight was 220 lbs 13 years ago. I grew up overweight, and had a BMI considered obese in my teens and early twenties. The past thirteen years i have kept my weight between 160-180 with stringent diet and exercise. It felt like I was constantly fighting a losing battle. I thought about surgery for the past 7 years, but never thought I could find someone to do it on me. I finally did some searching online and found a patient facilitator, Bianca, at Medical Tourism.com. She put in some requests and Dr. Perez approved me for a gastric sleeve. I traveled to Mexico on 4/22 with my dad and my boyfriend. 4/23/14 I met with Dr. Perez 2 days before the surgery, at my request. He told me what to expect, that he basically blows gas into the abdomen to separate everything so he can cut the sleeve. He says that most of my pain will be from that and that painkillers are not likely to help with this pain. He assured me he had done sleeves to low BMI'ers, and even models after they've had children. I liked his professionalism. He was clear cut, and he wanted me to be at ease. He showed me around the clinic where I would be having surgery. I went home to the resort I was staying at feeling confident about the decision and Dr. I had chosen 4/25/15 Surgery day- Holy freaking smokes! Pain, pain, pain, pain. When I woke up from surgery, I thought WTF have I done. Maybe if I don't move or breathe the pain will go away. Because I had a tight abdomen from an abdominoplasty he had to blow extra air into it and I was freaking miserable. The nurses told my father (a Spanish speaker) that I had to get up and walk which i refused for like 5 hours. However, as soon as I got up to walk the halls the pain slowly dissipated. And I mean slowly. That ish hurt. Every hour or two my dad would wake me up, we'd walk, and that would tire me out then I would sleep a bit. The nurses set a timer on my IV and whenever it went off they would bring me nausea and pain meds. If i needed meds in the interim, my father would tell them and they would bring me them as needed. I have to say having a Spanish speaker with me was comforting. The hospital/Dr. Perez provides you with an English speaking patient helper but I never saw her. Admittedly, that could be because she knew I had a translator (my dad) staying in my room. I was truly lucky to have him there. 4/26/15- Up at 9 am. I feel good enough to check my phone (Clinica Victoria has wifi). Dr Perez comes to check on me and says everything went off without a hitch. He said I paid to stay two nights but i can go home later if I'm feeling up to it. I am prompted to drink some blue gunk which I down like a tequila shot. I did throw a little bit back up. If the blue gunk shows up in your drain you're leaking. No blue gunk in the drain! YAY! Twenty minutes later I am taken down one floor and put in front of a real-time x-ray. Dr. Perez is there, and hands me a styrofoam cup of some clear sweet liquid. I drink up, then watch the liquid go down into my esophagus and into my new little sleeve. Everything is working fine. I leave at 3:30 pm that day. My pain is still a 6 out of 10, and comes and goes. Back at the resort I sleep the rest of the night and don't get up for much. I don't want to be talked to or messed with. I do not take any painkillers though the Dr. sent me home with some. 4/27/15- I'm in bed. I don't know how to handle this. I doubt myself. Everything I read says I should get in 64oz of liquid, but every sip I take (Dr sent me home with three bottles of Gatorade) I feel the liquid moving down, expanding my new sleeve uncomfortably. I do what I can. I stay in bed ALL day. I watch about 2 hours worth of movies. I rest. I shower about 8pm. i lie down some more. The next resort over is having a dance party, the booming beats are not conducive to me resting. I get up and go outside and suddenly feel the urge to dance. So I dance a little. I pack my bags. I sleep okay. 4/28/15- Up at 5am, at the airport. No more pain really, just discomfort. liquids start to go down easier. At one of my layovers I have the broth from a small bowl of miso Soup. Its delicious. Now, I am home and feeling pretty darn good. I fixed my family dinner and now I'm ready for bed.

I have issues with food, I do. I had surgery on Sat.. On Wed.,I tried to eat roast beef. I threw up. I tried to eat it again, after which it felt like the food was oscillating between my esophagus and pouch for, like, 45 minutes to an hour. Seriously, a huge lump waning to and fro. So effing uncomfortable. Think that would deter me the next day? No ma'am. Until 5 pm I consumed nothing but Clear liquids. After 5 I fell off the wagon I tried eating some chips, which I got away with without feeling too uncomfortable. Then I engaged in an old eating behavior; when, I'd self-restrict during the day, I would wake up in the middle of the night to eat. I tried that last night with chips and 1 extremely small sip of Fresca. BAD IDEA!!! I immediately experienced the most terrible stomach pains and this morning my digestive system is feeling rode hard and put away--you get the idea. As an aside, my sleeve was reinforced with both staples and sutures, so the likelihood that it will bust is minimal, unless, of course I do something drastic. I mean I hate that I even chance it at all. Right now I am realizing that while the physical part of me that contributed to my overeating has changed, my relationship with food remains and is still in need of repair. Thanks for listening.

I paid $5500 in Cancun with Dr. Hector Perez

I had a BMI of 28 on surgery day 4/25/15. I followed no pre-op diet, I went to Mexico and self-paid. I am 7 weeks 3 days out and I have lost about 22 lbs. I was 5'7 183, today I am 161. It's not all unicorns and rainbows though. Some days I am exasperated at my inability to eat. Food comes up out of my esophagus with a mere opening of my mouth. It's a struggle. Do your research. It's a big decision.

It gets better! I am 6 weeks out today. I've fought against this damn sleeve. I've tried and tried to eat what and when I shouldn't, and too fast to boot. I've chewed and spit food to try to get some enjoyment out of it, which for me is extremely problematic, as this is an eating disordered behavior that I engaged in before the sleeve and have worked with a therapist for two years to overcome. I have and do sit in restaurants with my beloved and feel angry that he can eat and I can't. But each day I become a little more accepting. Everyday I slime and food comes back up, at some point I feel a little ill, I'm not perfect I still try to buck the system. What I do notice is each day is better than the last. Each day I am able to feel my level of fullness a little better. I am chewing and spitting less. Something that is helping is only putting on a plate the amount of food I can handle. Keep up the good fight, this too shall pass.

Me too! whenever I eat, it usually comes back up

Hey girl! Lets be in touch, it looks like we have similar stats. How's it going? I am 4 weeks and two days out. I've been out of town so I haven't seen a scale in nearly a week. I will update my tracker when I do. Tell me how you're feeling? Me, I am on the fence. I still am having a hard time with finding other things to do besides eat, it was such a huge part of what I did and thought about. As a Mexico sleever I didn't get much information about post care, but I feel like my Dr. felt like your body will tell you what it can and cannot handle. Im interested to see how your thinking evolves in the coming weeks What was your BMI when you had surgery? Did you beef up for surgery? I had food funerals for months. Anyhow I look forward to hearing from you.

I bought GNC chewables, they're not too bad

At a layover in the airport miso soup

Really? What kind of support is this? Do I seem suicidal to you? Well, I'm not. What I am, however, is struggling. Sorry you were the picture of perfection before and after surgery.

No diet for me either! BMI 28 to start

Oh my gosh, tomorrow I will be two weeks post op. Also a low bmi'er I am second guessing my choice. I wanna phucking eat, it's what I do, nice restaurants and bottles of wine are my MO. I guess I should say were my MO. Omg I am in mourning, trying to settle in to my new life style. This post was just what the Dr ordered. Thank you for sharing

Yes Mexico with Dr Hector Perez

I'm 11 days post op, I ate some questionable food and made myself sick. I've chewed and spit but inevitably some food has gone down and again, I made myself sick. It has been a real struggle, and as many others have said I didn't get to the point of WLS surgery because I knew how to control myself. I'm eating a lot of soup right now. I don't purée it, I make sure if it has distinct pieces to chew rigorously. I ate an egg 9 days post op and tolerated it well. I dunno, it's not an exact science, and my DR was sort of like ice chips first day, liquids next few, then start out slowly with what you can tolerate. Admittedly, I have both staples and sutures. Good luck!

Preach it! I don't know what to do with myself either when food is not the focal point of my life. I'm 10 days post op.

Wtheck?! I'm 9 days post op and ate a whole egg this am with little fanfare. It took about 12 minutes. A stomach cramp or 2 but not bad. Admittedly, I started with a low BMI so it may be that my Dr gave me a bigger pouch.

I'm with you, everyone else sounds like their guzzling thiers compared to me. An 18oz drink takes me a few hours, but perhaps I am not wholly concetrating on getting it down.

Dear God I am 8 days out and I wake up wanting to gnaw my arm off in hunger.

Girl, I am weary to even post on here in fear of someone finding out. Probably irrational, but where I am at right now with it. I really didn't want my step-daughter to find out. I mean I am a low bmi'er, and I don't want her feeling like she always needs to diet or be thinner. At first I didn't tell my mother, she can be a bit judgmental at times, like all of the time. I did tell her when I returned from Mexico,after the surgery was finished and she seems to be dealing with it okay. Girl, like the other posters said, do what you feel is right. I don't think there is a wrong way to go about telling or not telling people.

So pre-sleeve days whenever I would wake up, be it a 5 minute nap or 9 hour all nighter, I would wake up and eat mindlessly. It didn't matter what I ate, just so long as I could shovel something in my mouth. Also, often during the night I would wake and eat. It's now one week past my surgery and I'm struggling with waking and not heading straight to the kitchen. I wake and try to eat something that dissolves to a smooth paste, eat too much, start sliming or being miserable and uncomfortable. This is hard. I suspect you all know this.

Girl I'm going through something similar I think. My family is eating pizza as I write this. I had surgery 6 days ago. I want to freaking eat!! I actually cheated and did eat and it was the worst experience. I don't recommend it. Good luck I hope it gets better.

I appreciate that. I understand the urgency in what you're saying and plan to abstain. Thanks for the advice

Thanks, and of course I have a therapist, and I plan to fully disclose at our appt on Tues (first time I will see her since the surgery). I don't think I could talk about it so freely if I didn't. I mean, look, I'm not talking about like a large amount of food here. And, I mean, it's not like I can be the first person experiencing this, right?! Also, don't worry about me physically because I totally would never let myself get that out of control. Right, though I get what ya'll are saying, and thank you for your concern.