ellie123

My surgeon is completely anti tracking. He wants me to eat healthy and be happy without obsessing about the numbers. Not even calories, he refuses to give a number

My Dear Bari Brothers and Sisters, You may have noticed that I too have been missing from the Scene for a while. Not for lack of love for you all. Following my honeymoon of no work, I had to go back and as you may know a grueling international travel schedule followed. An as exciting and glamorous as going to places like France and England may sound, it does take it’s toll, and has been so tough for me to resist the endless temptations along the way, not to mention the drag on my noon existent time. And since I work with computers, when I fly home, I usually go dark and stay away from electronics, as my 6 and 8 year old miss me and I want to spend every spare moment with them. To add to that, we have all been severely debilitated by a series of illnesses. My daughter had Coxsackie Virus, My son had stomach Flu, I tested postive for Strep and then the bugs started to cross pollinate so we all suffered greatly with a bouquet of bugs Then of course the Holidays were upon us and...yeah, we had to get our act together and travel to family etc, so I have been go to GO, and all those things I put on hold while I had and recovered from Surgery, well they all caught up with me. From a weight perspective I really don’t know how I’m doing :\. And here is why: Pre- Surgery Weight 271, Surgery Day August 22nd 2018 257, current weight 226 So Weight loss since Surgery (approx 3 months ago is 31lb and total loss is 45. Not monumental like some, but then again, this is my 2nd revision, I had band to Sleeve to this so like when I had the Sleeve, at the 3 month mark I had lost on 15 more lb than I have now :(. I’ve lost enough to be able to feel better and have several non scale victories...not ashamed to take pics with kids, easier fit in airplane seats, more energy, feel better about myself, my cloths are fitting great, more optimistic about the future, did not feel such dread going to see family on Thanksgiving, etc On my trips, where I have had hotels with kitchenettes, I’ve avoided eating out all together, doing fabulously grocery shopping, walking min 10K steps a a day and loosing weight. When I travel and there is no fridge or kitchen in the hotel, its much harder. An unlimited food budget coupled with crazy irresistible deliciousness makes it tough tough TOUGH to resist. In my last trip to France, various cheeses, and even Breads found their way into my world. Nothing near the copious previous quantities but enough to make me uncomfortable emotionally. The crazy part is my pouch did not resist at all. Very scary, as one with multiple surgeries I am crippled with the fear that this shall fail too. Which brings me to my next point. Following my stricture release a month ago, I no longer throw up, a good thing you might say BUT, I also seem to have lost my restriction!!!!! I mean, I don’t know where and HOW I am able to put away what I do :(((((((. Beyond sad and bewildered. Another problem is that my bloodwork revealed that my Anemia was worse...so on the 16th of Nov, I went in for an Iron Infusion. Now I had that last year with my Sleeve and I had a series of Iron infusions...7 in total 3 weeks apart and I left each infusion RAVENOUS and stayed that way. Gaining tons of weight before each next one. Well this time seems no different in that I am RAVANOUS ALL THE TIME, since I got it over a week ago. That coupled with the seeming loss of restriction is desasterous. I’m snacking on crackers and nuts and I know that stuff adds up. Last night I did a test to see when I will get full. Tried eating what would normally be considered healthy ways to fill yourself. Removed my Vegan restrictions and had at least 5 strips of deli roast beef...not full, a cup of leftover Green Bean casserole...than a big cup of chicken tortilla soup...nada...a big bowl of Green Beans, Brussel Sprouts and curried chickpeas followed....and 30mins later I was in a grazing mood again, grabbing Oat Crackers covered with no sugar chocolate and chia seeds...and guys...yeah, not a peak from my pouch and somehow I never got to a full or satiated feeling. Too depressed to even call doc about it. What can they do? I’m just 3 m out, this has GOT to work for me, and I’m like if at 3 months I’m able to devour all that...what hope is there at a year or two. Been down this road too many times. Trying hard not to be depressed...I gave up my Wellbutrin on Surgery day and have been doing great, but this...food preoccupation and seeming return of hunger plus lack of restriction has got me seriously in a funk. So for those suffering from too much restriction, I repeat, relish it..it does NOT last! This coming from me who was throwing up at a sip of water and now just 3 short months latter, I’m like praying for restriction. Frustrating does not begin to cover it...I just don’t know what to do. It’s also the week before my period when I’m usually most carb needy, so that is probably playing in too....idk, any thoughts? So yeah...here is where i find myself. About to go walking, it’s cold but I’ll brave it, if for nothing else, than to increase my Serotonin naturally (and catch up on my work calls as I do). And that’s what’s up with ellie123. Hope you all had an awesome thanksgiving, miss you all and hope everyone is doing great.

Nah girl, this is no place for someone trying to be in Onderland! U like England, France is NO place to diet! Everything is full fat, full cream, full sugar and so so good and bad for you! I’m struggling to eat right. Tried grocery shopping but I Can’t understand the food labels and since hotel room has no microwave just a little cooler, I’m left to eat out. Had this Butternut Squash soup for example. But it was so creamy and good, I bet it was 1000 calories. Here I am thinking I’m being good and probably porking out! I also have been having the cheeses here ... yeah, I’m struggling folks... In good news I got hotel to keep some frozen fruit for me and got some farm fresh spinich, so did manage to make my Green Smoothie, and it was heavenly with the fruit here. I also refrained from going crazy on the extensive breakfast buffet (think La Madeline’s in steriods, take what you want), anc had made to order eggs, some salmon and veggies. Did not eat it all and saved the apple, yoghurt and apple sauce for latter. But I did get a good assortment of cheeses and crackers I’ve been snacking on.

Omg!!!!! You are in Winderland, so happy for you!!!!! Congratulations!!!

Hello All my lovely Bari Brothers and Sisters! My apologies too for my silence. I've been in one word...BUSY! As I'm sure you all have too. But I wanted to give you a quick update. Made it back from London last Friday, and drumroll...I lost 2lb in my week there! For the first time in never! Like I always GAIN 5-7 lb a trip! So that was amazing for me! I did not eat out even once and did very well. Keeping my travel scales with me kept me honest as well. In the few days I've been home, I went back to Vegan and had lots of good fruits and veggies and I even had white rice AND I lost another 2.5 lb and am down to 229.2!!! So very thrilled about this! I had 5 short days at home with hubby and kids and I am flying out to France this afternoon. Ergo, the business! As I tried to cram as much hug time and trick or treat time and fall festival time with them as I could. On this trip the hotel options were not so good. No kitchenette, or even microwave. Just a tiny cooler in my hotel room. How will I manage...I've taken a lot of protein stuff with me, but I'll just have to...figure it out there 😕 I'm trying so so SO hard to do this right, but French pastries galore await me (this is my downfall), so yeah, say a prayer for me to have the power of will and presence of mind to resist. Wishing you all an amazing Fall time frame. Really would like to hear how everyone is doing. Love and Hugs, Ellie123

Well that’s the thing, until my Stricture was repaired I could not eat like this either! I was vomiting all the time too! It’s not normal! Since the Dilation (knock on wood), no throwing up!

@frustr8 how are you feeling?? I’m still in England. OMG temptation on everyhand, my will power is being stretched beyond that if Elastigirls! I needed this surgery. Fear of dumping keeps me at bay from the sweets! But without the surgery Sleeve to Bypass, I suddenly realize that with my sleeve not giving me dumping symptoms I would have been eating everything here!!! While here my traveling scales show a 2lb loss... I wonder if I can trust them...I have been eating more and am off the vegan an while here :/. I have discovered these wonderful things called old crackers which are low in sugar but they still have carb ofcourse, however they are whole grains so i use them for comfort with cheese while I’m here as I cannot participate in any of the delicacies that I love so much. Here are some of my meals I’ve fixed at hotel. I do t eat all on the plates...

Coping With Tight Days Pouch Days... I am seven weeks post sleeve to RNY gastric bypass revision, and All things considered, I am doing Quite well. No Hair loss or excessive tiredness (knock on wood), I am working out 1 to 2 hours a day, I have lost a total of 33 pounds, of which 20 have been since surgery day and I have started a new and healthy vegan lifestyle in which I have wonderful green smoothies for Breakfast and focus on live colorful nutrition to heal and repair my body. The one thing that I do struggle with from time to time is tight days. These are days in which I wake up, and from the moment I take my first sip of Water I say oh no... because I realize nothing is going to go down well. My attempts to drink anything let alone eat cause a lot of belching discomfort and my stomach just balls up and rejects the notion of eating anything. This, of course leads to tiredness and dehydration and the worst part is that I cannot seem to tie it to the consumption of any particular food or substance the previous day so it makes it hard to control or prevent these types of days. This also needs to dehydration as I try not to stop what I do and still go about my business and still workout as normal. But If I do try to eat or drink then I will get the foamies and eventually throw up :( Today is a tight today and although I am working out etc, it is just not a good and healthy feeling to be doing so on zero food and water. But the alternative is to ball up and suffer and I’m not one to go down without a fight. Does anyone else suffer with These kinds of days, and do you have any advice or insight as to how I can deal with it or make it better?

Prayers your way dear Frust8, you've waited so long for this and I just hate you are having such a hard time! The good news is your scoped showed it's the ulcers acting up. So there is a plan that if you follow, should get you fixed. Would have been more frust8ing if they could not find a reason you are having these symptoms. Hang in there and prayers for you!

All, wanted to update you but it wounded up being the begining of a Stricture from HELL! Was vomiting every 10minutes the next day after I posted and was admitted via ER for 5 days I was so dehydrated! I was finally scoped and fixed. Fingers crossed I stay okay, but yes, as you all suspected, it was NORMAL and I did have a Stricture that got bad fast. If your body tells you something is wrong...believe it! And go get checked out before you are dialing 911 cuz your fingers and toes are going numb and you feel like an elephant is sitting on your chest from all the vomiting!

Thank you, repair the Stricture REALLY opened me up... knock on wood. I think it’s been slowly closing up over time as I would eat and feel beltchy and gassy and quite awful, but I thought it’s just the way things are post surgery. Well... apparently not...

Have a safe flight. I made it to London with out a Sticture!!!! Got a hotel with a kitchen, grocery shopped for good stuff and my USB blender did a fantastic job of making me Green Smoothie this morning! Today I packed some healthy snacks to take, went walking in Hyde Park where I had me a picnic, then focused on touring Palaces and such (saw Lady Diana’s gowns on display at Kensington Palace (men she was 5’10” and skinny!!! How in the world did she do it!?), and ate the world with my eyes not stomach. Then came back to hotel to my simple meal of British Sut pea soup, various beans, hummus, Babaghanouch salad , yesterday I had chicken veggie soup and huge Blueberries There is a LOT of temptation here, even the breakfast buffet croissants gave me a hard time passing them by... gosh I wanted one so bad! But I did not give in! Taking it one day at a time... oh oh and I brought my Travel scales with me to keep me honest!

I know huh! Apparently I was stable ... so technically not an emergency enough to move a tuck! Grr trying not to get upset here, about to take off, will post more when God willing on other side of big pond...

Oh cool! On my way to London. Then back to the US next Friday, then I ship out to France early November. Are you per chance in London??

My Dear Bari Sisters and Brothers. I’m alive! Hallelujah! But I’ve been through the ringer. The ER visit last Thursday did not help. I was throwing up every 10-15minutes on Friday. It got...bad....Started having numbing of fingers and toes and felt like an Elephant had taken a seat on my chest. Hubby failed 911. Long story short, I wounded up in bad shape at my surgeons hospital and was admitted right away. I was displaying classic acute Stricture symptoms. And I was severely dehydrated. I thought they would just scope and dilate me, and that would be that. But nope! Surgeon was gone for the day and I had to begin a LONG and exhausting wait for Monday to come, and I had not eaten since Wednesday night! Ofcourse they did their favorite thing and put me on Nothing by mouth... It was torture. Thirsty, naucious, the minutes oozed like molasses, waiting, suffering. They tried to make me comfortable but...the wait was excruciating. My highlights were the kids and hubby visiting in the evenings. I hated kids to see me this way. Monday morning finally came and I was SO excited. Relief was surely on the way. So you can imagine how I literally BLEW A FUSE when my surgeon waltzed in at 1:30PM and instead of prioritizing me and putting me out of my misery, asap, he proceeded to to into Surgery to do a Tummy TUCK! Lets just say I got the hospital director involved. Problem is...he owns the whole center, he’s the ultimate CEO, what’s she gonna do...call the boss? GRRRRR.....I was livid! The added stress is that I knew I had a flight to Europe on Thursday (ie. Today!). I was not scoped till 5:30PM Monday, and was in limbo for a while from anesthesia. They kept me Tuesday through evening to make sure I could tolerate liquids, the softs and fed me well before they cut me loose. It tasted like heaven. heck, my shoe would have tasted like heaven at that point. Got home at mid-night Tuesday and had one short Wednesday (in my compromised state of energy), to get the house as in order as I could, work, pack, think through what I need to take to be successful on my first Airplane ride and long haul trip since surgery). Stress was the word, but i prayed my way through it. I even got a USB chargeable blender on Amazon. The kids were so happy to have mama home. My 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter. And then came this morning...and as I was dropping them in school, I had to let them know mama has to go out of town till next Friday. :( I bearly made my flight. I have a whole suitcase of Bariatric stuff. If I had more time I would have documented what all I prepared. But alas, I was RUSHING! I just landed in New Orleans and the first leg of my journey went well. I ate a bit of airport bought humus on the flight. Waited 2mins between bites for good measure! Had two mini pretzels and drank water in between. I am about to board the big Transatlantic flight. Nervous about how I will do. I will always live with the trepidation that a Stricture might return. Cabin pressure and all...but God has not given me the spirit of fear, so I press on. Hope you are all doing great. I have had zero chance to catch up. Please, do say a little prayer for me! Love and hugs, PS: Attached area pics of the lovely flowers kids and hubby brought, my heavenly first meals, and the card my son made for me.

Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate it!

Quick update on my status. Thank you all so much for your lovely messages of encouragement each and everyone of them helps me keep my spirits up. I am still at the hospital and it looks like they will not be able to do the endoscopy till Monday morning… Needless to say that is upsetting. They think I have a structure and that they can fix it via the endoscopy. Until then I am on nothing by mouth which is very hard, And IV fluids I am also getting some nausea medicine and pain medicine as needed. The vomiting is now under control so I think God for that. Also my husband and kids came to visit me today and my son made me this beautiful card and call him but I’m sharing with you, they also brought some wonderful flowers and those really helped bring up my spirits as well. I am grateful this did not happen in the middle of My upcoming trip and I am hopeful that I can get fixed and not have issues while traveling. In the meantime I just got done taking a shower in the hospital and I feel more human so I will try to sleep a little to regain my energy. What would I gave for just a glass of cold water… and a sip of protein drink sounds like heaven to me right about now. For those of you who can, enjoy your liquids on my behalf and count your blessings that you can take something down because I tell you what, without them it gets sucky very quickly...

Ellie123 I think that your son would rather you be alive rather then you be at a dance, please take care of yourself for you and for him. Thank you all for your well wishes. I missed it and my heart is broken... I have been admitted at a bariatric hospital. I have suffered so much. I was on my way to pick up my kids from school in the pouring rain (the 30 min ride was over an hour due to an accident), and I was on the freeway stopping every 10-20 minutes on the side to throw up. At one point in time my heart was palpitating and my fingers and toes started to go numb so I pulled over at a gas station and my husband who was over an hour away from me dialed 911 for an ambulance to come . They showed up with the Fire department and run an EKG to make sure I was not having a heart attack, my heart was racing and I continue to feel like I had an elephant sitting on my chestFire department and run an EKG to make sure I was not having a heart attack, my heart was racing and I continue to feel like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. I told them I needed to get to a place that handles Bariatric’s, But they refused to transport me all the way to Dallas where my doctor is private surgical center, as that would have been two hour ride in rush hour traffic, so I refuse to go with them to a local emergency room as I knew that they would not really know what to do with me and judging from my experience at the ER the previous day they would just try to control the nausea and let me go even though the strongest medicine they have, promethazine has not been controlling my vomiting.i also knew the wait there would be hours and hours as I would be triaged with trauma patients. My husband picked the kids and they met me in the gas station and I watch my eight-year-old son well up with tears streaming down his face when he realized mommy will not be making the mother son dance that he has been waiting for over a year )missed last year’s one due to being out of the country, and this year I promised him come whatever, I’ll be there! I even rescheduled my work trip out of county to be there (scheduled to leave this Thursday and I just don’t know how I can go...). My heart just broke and I felt like I had failed him as A mom, and even then, the crazy side of me tried to tell him it will be OK and we will still go but then I proceeded to violently vomit in front of my kids and realized it’s just not gonna happen . I had my husband stay with the kids and I still drove myself to the hospital in Dallas. Because him driving me would mean bringing along the kids for a long night and what is the point in that. I drove through the rain vomiting most of the way by the time I made it here I was vomiting every 10 minutes. Exhausted, my esophagus burning, felt like a giant grapefruit was stuck in it. They started an IV and gave me some nausea meds which did not work and I just keep throwing up spit and bile. Morning can’t come soon enough so my surgeon will come and probably scope me. sorry for long post... got nothing but suffering and time here. But I thank God he’s kept me alive, so please pray they fix me soon...

Just got down throwing up again! Ugh... no, no liquids since last time. It’s nust spit coming up I think. I’m severely dehydrated too. I can go to a regular ER where they know nothing of what to do, or go to my Surgeons surgical center where they will probably dilate me but... it’s completely out of network so 100% out of pocket

Thank you. Not doing well . Woke up vomiting at night. Bearly made it through work and now want to throw up again from the few sips of tea and protein drink I took. I’m determined to be well enough to go to the mother son dance this evening with my 8yesr old. Then I will turn myself into ER

Update: wounded up in ER for Vomiting and dehydration. They obviously don’t know much about Bariatrics and doc and nurse were so unsympathetic! Pouch has been balled up since yesterday. Today I had nada to eat but threwup 4 times, just awful. They did an X-ray said I don’t lol blocked and gave me IV with Zophran and then Promethazine. I threw up while on their IV too. I refused pain meds cuz was so dizzy from anti nausea and did not want their strong stuff. They told me that’s all they can do for me and sent me home, where I continue to throw up. I NEED to be well! I have a mother son school date tomorrow (he’s been waiting a year for this!!), I have work in the morning! I have an international trip next week! Ughhhh, can’t beliebe I’m laid up like this...

Congratulations hon!!!! Alas, To him whom much is given, much is indeed required! It’s hard to have it all, but you will learn. Wondering if your headaches are dehydrated related. Maybe try upping the water?

Oh, I’m standing every day! Sometimes morning, after workout and night lolol. I stand a ton, I want to see how things affect my fluctuations but I’ve learned not to let it get to me as much lol thats so awesome your work energy is back and you have the stats to show for it!!! Coupled with a lighter you, sounds like a workout in itself all you have to do! Way to go!

Yes Ma’am, looks like it’s time to take a break from it all. Just think of us... months ago we were care free, big and fluffy, and worried not of such things as this. Now here we are, united in the struggle to survive and thrive, and the truth is that there is no one size fits all, and the only thing normal is that nothing is normal and we’ve each gotta figure out how to make it work... i think I’m becoming better T not being a Scale Slave anymore. Saw a pound appear and did not flinch anymore... I know, I could be one thing in the morning and by evening something else... trying to focus on other areas of my life too, Kids, work, hubby, mom, huge pile of To Do’s that have accumulated....it’s part of the healing process I think, learning how to function and get stuff taken care of.

Omg that is Soooo True!!! You hit the nail on the head!!! I go through elaborate rituals to cook and then... I’m so done!!! I want nada to do with it!!! Shame 😕. I wind up throwing it in my ever growing Freezer pile.