Maggie Journey

I'm 13 months post-op from sleeve and hiatal hernia repair. I'm seeking tips and hope to hear similar experience from those who are at least 12 months post-op, please. I had a visit to my bariatric office today for a routine follow-up visit. Today was the first time I felt negative about that visit, very stressed and struggling. The entire pre and post-op process has been slow and steady results (that's okay) and I've had a mostly positive experience, until recently. I think I'm in "the honeymoon is over" phase. For months my weight loss basically stopped, but I was only 15 lbs from goal and not upset to take a pause for a few months. During the weight loss "pause" my hair finally stopped falling out, my energy was getting better, and that enabled me to increase some activity. My clothes were still indicating that I was slowly shrinking, even if the scale didn't move much. I was fine! NOW, just in the past 2-3 weeks, I've experienced my first real weight re-gain, and additionally my clothes got a little tighter for the first time since I started this journey - about 5 lbs up. ( Just FYI, this isn't temporary hormonal/period stuff, I'm almost 58 and haven't had any of that for a long time. ;-D) Weight regain terrifies me!!!!! It's also depressing when you realize you have to live in a permanent state of serious dieting to make progress: Tracking everything daily, thinking about every bite, planning your life around dieting, etc. (fighting day in, day out). In most ways it's just like before going through this surgery..... Choose to live in a constant state of dieting and exercise, or else GAIN. *sigh* My sleeve restriction at this point isn't that much. If I let myself, I could eat a ton of food and I can see how easily and fast I could gain it all back. I fear this because I've had a lifetime of emotional eating issues. I could fail if I let myself. Has anyone else experienced this and felt this way at around the 1+ year mark? If you've been here and pushed through, what are your best tips that got you through this successfully? Thank you! xo

Thank you for taking the time to write - excellent advice! Very encouraging. I follow a Paleo and organic way of eating, which I found on my own (not with bariatric center help) at the beginning of my 6-month pre-op dieting phase. I did really well with it and was successful even before the surgery.... Reversed health conditions, got off most meds. I don't eat bread and although I rarely eat the other junk foods you mentioned, they have snuck in from time to time. The local dietician and especially the support group person (professional; not sure what her title is) - they teach old-fashioned 90's dieting. I'm alone in the way I eat in my local bariatric community. I use FitBit and track my food there, especially to hit the daily protein goal. Maybe someday with consistent success, I won't have to. It's never been the slow/gradual losing on the scale that bothered me, but regain terrifies me. I have been dramatically up and down all my life, and I can't go back there! Thanks for your help.

One of my big fears before surgery was what the scars would look like long term. This is a few days after surgery and 1 year later. I'm happy with it!

Hi, I had my surgery on 5/16. By about a month in, I was usually able to hit around 800. My calorie range my doc gave me is 800-1,000. Now I'm hitting my range every day. Are you on solid foods now? What are you eating? Why do you think you're not getting more in a day?

@@asolanom, I love the responses you got, and my story is very similar. I'm 5'4", age 56. At the beginning of my bariatric process, I started at 223 lbs with many co-morbidities and conditions: insulin resistance, PCOS, arthritis, GERD, fatty liver, high BP, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes (and meds galore). For insurance purposes, I had to complete 6 consecutive months of weight loss and checking in to report at my surgeon's office & be weighed, showing months of progress. On my own at the beginning of the pre-op process, I adopted a Paleo / Mediterranean way of eating that I love. During my pre-op months, I lost about 26 lbs. During this time I reversed my pre-diabetes and some of the other issues were showing improvement, too. I recently had my sleeve surgery on 5/16/16 weighing 197. I'm 19 days post-op and weigh 187 lbs today. I'm now off the statin drug (yay!). The most rapid weight loss was during the pre-op and post-op mandatory liquid diet. I don't care about losing weight that fast, I don't think it's the healthiest thing to experience very rapid weight loss and extremely low calories. I'm glad to be cleared for foods and back to eating some of my super-healthy high quality whole foods again. Going forward, I'm not worried about losing weight a little bit slower. Having real, nutritious food fuels me to take long walks and move all day. Even after this short time since surgery, I'm feeling like a new woman. My resting heart rate has dropped into a very healthy range already. My BP is very well under control now and I'll be getting off of at least one BP med very soon. The health aspects make me so thrilled, I could cry! I'm just filled with joy. I'm looking forward to the big picture of my life, my whole future, not overly focused on the number on the scale and stressing about it from one day to the next. After all, this was a major surgery and having some swelling for several weeks after is just natural. I've learned to be very forgiving of myself, not compare myself to anyone else, and just embrace my own journey. Best of everything to you. Follow your own path, keep your eye on the prize, and enjoy! No two of any of us are the same. Vive la difference!

My surgery was Monday 5/16, and now five days later I'm still working at clearing out the gas. My belly still feels bloated with gas. Is this typical? How long after surgery did you all finally feel relieved of gas?

@@mia150, THANK YOU for this link! I had never heard of this doctor and now I can't stop watching his videos. Everything he's teaching about nutrition makes perfect sense, and fits with the healthy plan I followed for 6 months pre-op dropping 30 lbs. It's great to hear support for this from a bariatric surgeon. I only wish I had found this info sooner!

Definite difference, congrats!

This gives me hope that this too shall finally PASS!

There are lots of super-healthy, low carb, high protien pizza crust recipes that don't involve cauliflower and are easy to make. Here are a few! http://thebigmansworld.com/2015/07/10/3-ingredient-paleo-pizza-bases/ Even more simple and healthy, use portobello mushrooms to make personal-sized pizzas. There are 100's of recipes for this. Portobellos make great substitute hamburger "buns" or even "English muffins", too. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/portobello-pizzas-recipe.html

Yes, definitely! He seems very confident that I will likely be healed from GERD due to the hernia repair he did. I have trust in him- he's the best in this part of the state, has done many, many of these procedures. I have high hopes.

I've had GERD for years and have been medicated daily for it. My prescription is called Pantoprazole, or Protonix. In just the past few months I learned for sure that I have a hiatal hernia and it needed fixing, which I just did on 5/16 along with my sleeve. My surgeon says I have a very good shot at curing my GERD with the hernia repair surgery and eventually getting off my med. For now, I'm still on it. I'm really excited at the prospect of being healed from GERD, off the prescription, and maybe even able to reintroduce foods that I had given up due to intolerance (like tomatoes).

@@kmorri, I am so sorry to see the difficulties you're experiencing. It's exhausting to be getting only 500 calories, let alone 100 calories. I think at this point it's (#1) get your fluids and (#2) get your Protein in if you can. This whole process is very much just one day at a time! I keep my spirits up by focusing on the fact I'll feel better tomorrow, next week, etc. And I've been looking at the success stories and before/after pics for hope and inspiration. Hugs!!!!

BM for me, yes, but not waiting on mother nature. I took remedies that my doctor recommended. He said MiraLax, but if that doesn't do the job, Milk of Magnesia. I felt SO much better after MoM got the job done yesterday.

I'm glad to come back here and see all the updates! @@kmorri, it sounds like you're having a rough go of it. Is the acid any better? Are you getting some good sleep yet? I got home yesterday afternoon, so I was in the hospital for 2 days / 1 night. Of course I got very little sleep in the hospital with all the tubes in me, the constant waking up for shots and checks, On both days, I had to get a shot in my belly, and I can't even remember what that was for. It was the worst. I was getting shots in the butt, too. I know one of those was a B12 shot. My nursing staff was really wonderful, I couldn't have asked for better. My pre-op surgery prep nurse was awesome. We got into a good conversation and we have SO much in common. She was a bariatric patient, and we talked about that. After surgery... I don't remember waking up in recovery. My next memory is people getting me up to walk. It seemed like a mile, but it was just a few yards. I was still heavily under the influence and could barely keep my eyes open for that first walk. After that, I was rapidly improving. I got to have a liquid meal on Tuesday morning for breakfast and was able to eat/drink a fair amount of it. For lunch, I got to have CREAM soup! I remember it being incredibly delicious, but couldn't eat much of it because it was painful, no matter how little and few my bites were. My walking was good. I was uncomfortably full of gas and couldn't pass any, so I kept walking trying to shake it loose. I wore my Fitbit watch all day yesterday and had walked about 2,500 steps that day, which I was proud of. Last night after I got home, I just had a bland chicken broth and sips of water. Still bloated and feeling fairly miserable. Took my drugs, went to bet early at 9:30, and slept great. Sleep is when our bodies are in healing mode, so I'm valuing my sleep. First thing this morning, I finally started passing gas!! I know I'm going to start feeling better today when I get that all out of me. I need to get organized and plan some food/water goals for the day. I could very easily just not eat at all, and that wouldn't be good. I hope you all are having a wonderful day!!

I got a phone call from my surgeon's office earlier this evening saying that my insurance company is covering my hernia repair, but NOT MY VSG. I went through this conversation with the surgeon's office a week ago. I knew it had to be wrong and someone was mixed up. I called to check pre-cert myself, and they assured me that I was "approved" for all of it. So tonight, after I'm hearing this from the surgeon's office yet again, I call my insurance company again and speak with benefits. They tell me (for the first time) that my policy does not cover bariatric surgery. I tell her that I've spoken twice recently with customer service and pre-certification, and they said that I am approved for surgery. She says yes, you are approved, because you have medical necessity. I ask again.... you are telling me that I am approved for surgery because of medical necessity, but my insurance is not covering it? What does that mean?? She just keeps repeating that my policy does not cover bariatric surgery. I ask her, how is one department at BCBS looking at my file and telling me I'm all set (approved), and then speak with another and I'm not covered???? Nothing. I'm stunned beyond all belief. I've invested 7 months into this. After being "approved" by my insurance coverage, I was scheduled for surgery on 5/16, just six days from now. I'm deep into a 2-week all liquid only pre-op (the worst kind). I have pre-op labs and doctor appointments tomorrow. And I SUDDENLY might be self-pay. Dr's office is telling me that my doctor is looking into the finance department to see about getting financing for me to do the VSG portion/surgeon's fee. The rest would be covered by insurance under the hernia repair. As of tonight, I have no idea how much that VSG portion will cost. As of right now, I don't even know if I'm going forward with it. I cannot believe I've invested so much of my time, energy, money and emotions into this, only to learn SO LATE that I'm not covered for this. I am positive that at the very beginning, when I first went to the informational session last fall, filled out the paperwork and got a call the very next day from the surgeon's office: they told me that my insurance company would cover my VSG. I would not have even begun this process, let alone go this far, unless I was sure.

I'm home from surgery now. I wanted to give an update on this thread in case anyone is following this. After I checked into the hospital on Monday morning 5/16 and was about to get prepped for surgery, The nurses' station called me over and said I had a call on their phone. It was a woman at the hospital finance department, wanting money right then! "You are self pay! You need to pay us before you get surgery!" Really? I had to explain how I'm going to surgery regardless as my hiatal hernia repair surgery is covered, and explained the fact that the last time I was at my doctor's office I paid for the VSG there in his office. She was still acting unbelieving and asked "WHEN were you at the doctor?" I couldn't remember dates at that moment, but I was getting irritated now and told her to call the surgery coordinator at my doctor's office, she will tell you everything you need to know about my payment. She calmed down a little and said she would do that. I haven't heard from them since. But seriously; calling a patient just as she's prepping for surgery?? Crazy. Meanwhile, the surgery went really well, and I got everything done that needed to get done. My surgeon and his staff are awesome. I was also blessed with really good nursing care in the hospital. I did really well and walked the halls regularly, kept down my liquid diet, my first cream Soup, etc. I got to come home yesterday 5/17 in the afternoon. It was so nice to get some real sleep in my bed.

@@kmorri, I've lost 9 pounds on the 2 week liquid diet as of this morning. Lost a total of 29 lbs lost since I started this journey. Clothes are really getting loose. It seems amazing that I could lose this much weight this fast (I'm the slowest loser ever)! I'm so looking forward to biting something again. I wonder how long it will be before I can eat something I can chew? Yesterday I bought Jell-o and pudding. I'm already stocked up with Premiere ready made shakes and organic bone broth. I'm on my way to the pharmacy in a minute to get my last prescriptions and a new body scrub brush. I'm packing practically nothing for the hospital. For me, less is more. I'm so glad my daughter will be with me. She's my best friend and will be a great caregiver. Thinking of you all and wishing you the best! Sleep well tonight.

Got my time, arrive at 9:00 and surgery at 11:00 on Monday! @@kmorri, we will be in OR at the same time, doing this only 30 minutes apart. I realized today that I kind of love that my day is on a Monday because we have the whole weekend ahead to prepare. Work is settled and behind me for the next two weeks, I don't have to think about that place until next month. I'm just looking ahead now!

I'm posting from a laptop and this seems like a technical glitch. I only posted this once, but my post appeared twice within one post. Can somebody please remove the duplication out of my post here, Post #187? http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/366513-may-16th-surgery-buddieslets-do-this-together/page-19 I can find no way to edit my own posts on this website. Am I missing something? Thanks.