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I'm thankful for employer who supported me in taking time off, for insurance and short-term disability, and the incredible care I received in the hospital. I'm also thankful I had no complications and am experiencing steady weight loss. I'm thankful for my family who showed me they will always be there for me when I really need someone, even if others flake out. I'm thankful for my dogs who bring so much joy into my life and make me laugh. I'm also thankful that I have a good job and can support myself.

I grew up about four hours from Orlando, so for years my dad and I would drive down, go to the Magic Kingdom in Disney World one day and then go to Universal's roller coaster park Islands of Adventure the next day. I've since moved several states away and my dad is about a 7 to 8-hour drive away now. I've mentioned to him that we should go when I meet goal weight and he seems like he could get into it. We'll see as the time gets closer. We're probably talking about a year from now because we always go during the off season.

@@heidikate My understanding is that this gut flora lives in the intestines, so the size of your stomach won't matter. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

My doctor said I should plan to not take ibuprofen for life. He said if a compelling reason to take it arises, he'd consult with the doctor prescribing it. If they decided it was best, he'd allow me to take it for a short time and monitor me closely.

Ditto what @@Inner Surfer Girl said. From talking to others who have had the surgery both in my regular life and online, it seems the vast majority are very happy they did it. So many say they only regret not doing it sooner. Just make sure you do as much research as possible on the procedure and lifestyle changes required. It definitely helps to have realistic expectations going in and know it's going to require quite a bit of effort on your part to be successful. Good luck!

@@Dallas Powell I'm so glad you got some answers! I wish you all the best as you get it fixed. I'm so sorry you ended up in this mess, but you've done a great job advocating for yourself and asking questions.

Since surgery, I've been having a great time celebrating each time the second digit in my weight goes down. I get off the scale and actually say out loud, "see ya, 270s!" And 260s and 250s. Now I'm happy to meet another milestone. At my current weight, I'd no longer have the BMI to qualify for WLS! Just want to share my joy! I'm still fairly early out (a little over two months) and I know the best is yet to come!

@@LadyK44 what a JERK. Think he says the same thing to alcoholics with the DTs? Or smokers with oxygen tanks?

How about trying chewable vitamins? I use centrum chewable multivitamins from Amazon, calcium chews from Kroger and a B12 vitamin that dissolves under my tongue from Walmart. None of these are very expensive.

@@peglynmc Okay, sounds like what @@AvaFern said and like water aerobics is a good bet. Good luck!

Is it just straight up pain? If so, what kind of pain and where? Or are you getting blisters? I may possibly have suggestions if I know a little more.

You guys are all experiencing "head hunger." It's pretty intense during the pure liquid phase for most people. How to deal with it: 1. Keep your mind and hands occupied with something else. 2. Avoid food, as you can. TV commercials driving you nuts? Turn off the TV. Watch movies or Netflix instead. Or read. I live alone and my dad stayed with me for a little more than a week after I got home from the hospital. He still needed to eat, so we struck compromises. He was kind enough not to talk about food, eat some meals out, not heat foods in the microwave or oven that would give off strong aromas. I still dreamed about food every night. Yes, the very intense head hunger of this time will pass. Things changed when I moved to puree and solid food. You get to have some different textures and flavors. I also think this is when reality sinks in a bit more and you get more used to your new life of smaller portions and protein-based meals. You will likely have head hunger again at some point. This phase can help you learn the difference between real and head hunger and develop strategies for when head hunger hits later down the road.

Make sure you fill out FMLA paperwork to protect your job. The law basically says they can't replace you during the time you're out. I understand some workplaces are like this and it's tough. But it's reasonable to expect a work/life balance. That means you get time to make yourself healthier and prevent an early death. Some places will suck you dry if you let them, but you can't give every bit of yourself to your job. You're worth it and you deserve this!

That's really smart. And it makes sense her appetite might fluctuate a little, just like ours do. Way to instill good habits!

While many medical professionals display a great deal of professionalism and give great care, I think some may need professional training about bullying. I honestly believe some have no understanding of the great power differential that exists between patients and caregivers. The hospital is a good example. We're depending on medical professionals to care for our basic needs. We're feeling our worst and looking our worst. It seems obvious that rule #1 should be don't talk about religion and politics. At my last pre-op appointment, the radiology tech talked politics while pressing very hard into my ribs during a sonogram. He also asked a lot of questions about my surgery, even though my body language and short answers should have indicated I didn't want to discuss it with him. Then my first overnight nurse on the floor talked politics after surgery. I felt like I couldn't say anything cause I was depending on her to take care of me and be there when I needed her. I also hardly had my wits about me to get into a political debate. Everyone else involved in my care was wonderful, but these two left a bad taste in my mouth.

Definitely! It's just something I enjoy and it's cool now to have friends asking my advice on how to lay out their furniture, make a small kitchen work, etc.

That's bullshit. The extra skin would be there whether you lost weight after WLS or another way. So you're just not supposed to lose weight at all? She sounds jealous. And commenting on the aesthetics of a patient's body is unprofessional and mean. I agree that she should be reported.

Honestly, this website has been my most used resource so far. Before surgery and in the five or so week healing period, I kind of had tunnel vision and just concentrated on making it through each day. That worked for me then. Now that I'm further out, I'm working on building habits for the long term. It really helps hear from people who are further out. I lurk in the veterans forum a good deal, just soaking it in. One of the healthy habits I'm working on is cooking protein-based meals at home that I like. I've used allrecipes.com quite a bit for that. Finally, my favorite design/housekeeping type blog is apartmenttherapy.com. It's been a new hobby of mine to create a comfortable space for myself at home. It lifts my mood and kind of helps me feel calmer.

@@winklie I think I can appreciate the type of thinking you're dealing with. I developed an eating disorder my senior year of college about 10 years ago. I felt like I was doing everything right to lose weight and it wasn't working, so I took it up a notch. I ate as little as I possibly could and purged when I felt I'd eaten too much or anything remotely unhealthy. I thought "I can do this for a little while until I've lost the weight I want." (I didn't even need to lose weight then.) But in a matter of weeks the tables were turned. I realized I no longer had control of it. It had control of me. I got help and got better. An eating disorder is a real threat and I'm glad you're catching yourself and reprogramming your thinking. Because of my past, I have to be careful. Our bodies definitely work in ways that defy logic. I've heard people here say they broke stalls by upping their calorie intake. Somehow it gave their bodies more fuel so they could expend greater energy. I've hit stalls and have found it helpful to focus my perfectionist tendencies on working the program exactly how my surgeon and nut advise instead of moving the number on the scale. You WILL be successful if you follow the program. I repeat that to myself all the time when I'm in a stall. Dunno if this helps at all, but putting it out there just in case.

I was tired for a good six weeks after surgery, which my doctor told me to expect because most people are losing weight rapidly during that time. Your metabolism needs time to catch up. When I was on shakes only and consuming 300 calories a day, I felt tired and weak. But gradually I could eat more as I moved back to real food. Now at eight weeks I can eat about 500-600 calories per day and actually feel a little more energetic than I did pre-op. I'm eating home-cooked protein-based meals that keep me satisfied. Trust me, it feels nothing like how it would have felt to eat only 600 calories before surgery. I feel like my food is giving me plenty of fuel and my energy level is good.

What might make a difference for you is whether you've had surgery before and/or how much pain you've dealt with due to your DDD. There seems to be such a psychological component to pain. For me, the pain was like nothing I've experienced because I'd never had surgery before or chronic pain due to a medical condition. When you go in for surgery feeling perfectly fine, it's more shocking to feel so crappy by comparison after. I described my pain as an 8 out of 10 after I woke up, but my nurse got my pain (and nausea) controlled very quickly. I felt pretty good until the next morning when I had to get out of bed for my swallow test. I think the anesthesia had worn off and I had gotten less pain medicine in my system overnight cause I was sleeping and not pressing my pump as often. It hurt really badly when I got up and I was really scared something was wrong, but I was fine. I was in the hospital for three nights (an extra night for monitoring cause I had a fever the second night) and took pain meds at home for about five days. Then switched to Tylenol and was just very tired and had GI upset off and on. I started feeling like my normal self about six weeks out. I'm now eight weeks out and feel on top of the world having lost 35 pounds and being off of sweets, soda, etc. Good luck!!!

Spinach and Feta Turkey Burgers: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/158968/spinach-and-feta-turkey-burgers/?internalSource=search%20result&referringContentType=search%20results I add half a chopped sweet onion and use about two cups of fresh spinach instead of frozen. Sometimes I substitute goat cheese for the feta. I like the burgers with no bun, dipped in low sugar ketchup.

I took off five weeks and worked from home for one week before returning to work full time last week. My bariatric program recommends five to six weeks as standard for all bypass patients. For me, it turned out to be just the right amount of time. Even at four weeks I had a lot of fatigue and nausea. I feel worlds better now. I'm really glad I took that time to let my body heal and to adjust to things post-surgery. And working from home really helped me ease back into my job. My advice: plan for taking a long time off. That way, if you need all the time, you'll have all your ducks in a row with short term disability and whatever. If you feel better faster, you can always go back earlier. That's easier than having to request more time if you're not ready to go back.

I ate a lot of cottage cheese and Greek yogurt during that phase. I also picked up a tiny bit of fish from the Whole Foods hot bar to try.

Last week was my first week back at work and I thoroughly enjoyed "shopping" in my closet for smaller clothes I haven't been able to wear for a while!