Megall9

I was in hospital for 3 days and 3 nights. I brought with me Toothbrush & toothpaste My own jammies slippers and fuzzy warm socks Phone and charger Kobo hairbrush and deoderant my own pillow from home That's it. I had thought about bringing my housecoat, maybe my laptop but in the end I barely used my kobo, mainly used my phone when I wasn't sleeping. I wore the same loose clothing home that I had worn to the hospital, and they provided everything else, towels, shampoo, etc. My surgery was local, so I didn't have too much to pack. Make sure you have loose clothing for the plane ride/drive home and shoes that are easy to get on.

I've told friends, my band mates, my boss, and the co workers I am friends with know. A few of my regular customers I have told as well because they compliment me on my loss and that I am looking healthier each time they see me. I also told a waitress when I was away on vacation because she was worried I wasn't enjoying my dinner. I've been so incredibly lucky because everyone has been super supportive, understanding, or genuinely curious about my journey. I haven't had anyone (except one friend I believe is a bit jealous) snark at me, and even that friend only does it once in a while. I think my journey is pointing out to her the reality of her life and choices, and showcasing the changes that she is unwilling to make at the moment. I don't take her snark to heart, but I also don't take it either and call her out on her jerkey behaviour when it emerges.

I had a couple of pieces yesterday. I figured it was Halloween so go ahead and have a treat. But today is November 1st, not Halloween anymore, so therefore back on the wagon I go! We didn't get many trick or treaters this year, so tonight I did up bags of candy to take to my co workers tomorrow. If it's not in the house there's no temptation for me to eat it.

I do celebrate mini goals. Today I am 100 lbs below my highest recorded weight. I celebrated by buying myself a nice bouquet of flowers. My next goal is in 11 more lbs, which will make 100 lbs lost on my surgery journey (including my 2 week pre op diet) and I will be getting a small tattoo. Other small goals I've celebrated by getting a piece of make up I wanted, or buying a new perfume. It's been a game changer because before I always celebrated things with food... not anymore!

Chin up, it does get better! I didn't start getting my energy back until 3-4 weeks post op. Just remember that this part is temporary, and vital to your healing process.

Diet Ocean Spray, ice cold Water, lemonade Mio drops, or decaf coffee. Those are my go to drinks to get me through the day.

When you no longer drive with your tip toes on the pedals, and can finally pull your car seat up to where it should be because your belly isn't in the way anymore

Before surgery I was an emotional eater. Didn't matter what the emotion was, I would eat. Celebrating? Eat! Sad? Eat! I'm just a hair over being 4 months post op and everything is so different now. I focus on the rules of my new way of eating, just as my NUT instructed me to do. I still look at Desserts and think "Yum! I want that!" but have no trouble saying no because I'm either full, or it's not worth wasting the calories on. Seeing and feeling how your body can change so drastically in such a short time also makes it easier to keep making the right choices.

Hot sauce! I'd sprinkle on a few drops and mix it in, then add a touch of salt and pepper. It was great for when I was getting tired of sweet Protein shakes.

Yup, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I never had any throwing up. I did have a hard time with nausea right after surgery and it lasted about a day and a half. Because of that I ended up staying an extra night in hospital but that wasn't a big deal. Pain was minimal, it felt like I had done a horrendous ab workout. I have a physical job so I was out for 4 weeks. But here I am now, 3 months and 10 days out and 65 lbs lighter. I still have a long way to go but I am thrilled at my progress so far. I've just emptied half my closet of things that don't fit me anymore and am looking forward to shopping! In just 3 months my quality of life has improved so much, I can't wait to see what the future will bring

This past weekend I had an episode where my heart was racing, and I was very dizzy. I'm a drummer in a pipe band and we had traveled for competition, so I had been sitting out all morning (in shade under the band tents) drinking Water (and eating a bit). It was really hot and humid, and when it was time to go to the competition circle I couldn't do it. I started walking over, but my sight started "coning" in and going swirly, and my heart started racing, pounding, like it wanted to jump out of my chest. One of my friends took me by the arm and brought me back to the tent and gave me more water. My kilt is loose on me, and my uniform shirt isn't tight around my neck but I started clawing at both of them to get them off or loosen them further because I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. It subsided about 10 minutes later, and I played with the band later in the day... but it is very unsettling when this happens. And this wasn't the first time. I thought the first time it happened that it was due to the heat. The first time it happened I had to sit directly underneath an air conditioning unit and drink water, and I couldn't stand up for about an hour. Then I was fine. the second time it happened I was at work in an air conditioned building. I had to stop serving my customers for a minute and take a drink of my water, and slooooooow myself right down until it passed. I thought then (because I wasn't overheated) that it might have been due to low blood sugar (I'm type 2 diabetic who has never been on any medication for it.) I did bring it up to my surgeon during one of my follow ups, but he said that it didn't have anything to do with my surgery, despite it happening only since. He said that since I had felt heart "flutters" before surgery that I need to follow up with my GP. Yes I had felt a flutter here or there before surgery, but that was it, and only once in a blue moon. Nothing like the terrifying heart pounding, can't catch my breath, covered in a sheen of sweat attack like I have been experiencing. Of course I will be contacting my GP this week to see if he can chase down what is happening, but my question in the meantime is, had anyone else experienced anything like this before? I was sleeved on May 9th.

Yes and no. On days when it is cool enough I do enjoy planning out meals and cooking them myself. On days when it is just way too hot to turn the stove on (like today!) I will go to the grocery store and buy a rotisserie chicken, and live off cheese and yogurt. I have a ton of recipes pinned to try, and my family so far has loved everything that I have prepared which is a bonus! I can't wait for fall and the cooler temps to arrive. I'll be busting out the crock pot for all kinds of delicious family friendly and bariatric friendly meals.

I log every single bite. I use LoseIt.

I started vaping about a year and a half ago, starting out at 5mg of nicotine. I worked my way down to 0mg about 5-6 months before surgery, and let my surgeon know I was vaping but without nicotine. He said it was fine as long as I remained at 0mg, and I literally vaped the whole way to the hospital the morning of my surgery. I didn't vape much after surgery because I was sore and healing, but here I am 9 weeks out now and vaping is fine. The only issue I have with it is sometimes it makes my throat dry, and I can't take a drink because I just ate. So, you should be fine, but make the information that you are vaping available to your surgeon.

To echo the others, you need to bring this up with your surgical team asap. For me I had to do full liquids only for two weeks before surgery, and for the first 4 weeks after. It wasn't easy during the pre op phase, but it makes me worry for you if it makes you physically sick to be on liquids only. Call your surgeons office in the morning and see what they say. Good luck!

I'm allowed to have crackers, and I'm on the pureed and soft food stage. My NUT told me to pick a cracker that will dissolve easily, like a saltine or Breton cracker. It basically turns to mush in your mouth, and then I chew it to death. It's a good thing for me to have now to put things on, until I can move to the raw fruits and veggies stage. I like the sound of using cucumber slices and can't wait to try that. But to echo others, every plan is different so follow the one that has been set out for you.

Know that the first few days tend to be the worst. After you get past day 3 or so you start to feel better and getting the shakes and Water into you become routine. What helped me get through it was knowing that it wouldn't last forever, and that I'd be able to still eat my favorite foods down the road in the future, just in smaller portions. Also, what kept me on track was worrying that my liver wouldn't shrink enough if I cheated and that they wouldn't do my surgery. You can get through this! Good luck!

The best thing that I did to get through the last few days before my sleeve was to clean my house! I did everything that needed to be done, laundry, vacuuming, even washed the windows. Not only did it help pass the time, but I knew that it would make recovery easier on me as I could just rest when I got home, and not be worrying about anything that needed to be done. You are almost there! Good luck with your surgery, I can't wait to hear how it went.

I've loved going through this thread! It's been so nice to put an actual person behind the posting name. As for me: I've been with my fiancee for 10.5 years now. We still haven't made plans to have our wedding yet because something else always comes up. Currently it's because we are saving for a trip to Scotland, and I just blew a whole bunch of money on concert tickets. Priorities, right?! I have a beautiful 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship. She has Aspergers Syndrome and ADD, but that kid amazes me. She has two best friends and is in her last year of middle school, getting ready for High School in the fall. I have two rescue cats, one who doesn't care if I'm alive, and the other is like a baby. He is so loving and dependent on me. I make my own jewelry. I make most of the earrings I wear, and I've dabbled in chain maille bracelets and necklaces. I've sold my items at craft shows, and have donates many pieces to silent auctions for different charities or non profit organizations. I have a diploma in Child and Youth Care, and have worked in a transition home where youth were transitioning from jail back to their families custody. It had it's good and bad times, I've seen teens reunited with their families, and I've seen youth removed and returned to jail. During an incident where a youth was being returned to jail, I got to drive a police truck! The truck was seriously cool. I complete a 10 kilometer race! I was the biggest one there, I was the last one to come in, but I did it! It was a 10k portion of our city's annual Mothers Day marathon. My goal was to finish, and finish I did. I weighed about 350 at the time. I had my ipod playing and my ear buds in, but I took them out because the people passing me were calling things out to me. Just about every single person who passed me called out "Good job!" "Way to go!" "Keep on going!" It was amazing and I was nearly in tears by the time I was finished. I was so proud of my city that day. I grew up playing the clarinet in elementary school, and moved to the trumpet in junior high. I loved it, and swore I was going to be a true musician someday. I am currently a tenor drummer in my city's pipe band (Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew Pipe Band) and have been playing for the last three years. This summer coming will be my third year in competition. We compete all over Atlantic Canada, and are going to the North American Pipe Band championships again this year in Maxville, Ontario. Last year we played the North Americans, and came in 2nd place (for our grade) and also won best bass and tenor! This is a HUGE bragging right as our mid section is composed of my fiancee on bass drum, me as lead tenor, and one more tenor player. This summer we are competing at a higher grade level. On the same note with the pipe band, this is why we are saving for a trip to Scotland. We plan to go as a band in the summer of 2017 to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships! Exciting! I am driving a car that has been completely paid off, and every single ding or dent in it has been put there by my fiancee. I think I am a great driver, and I am very quick to whip out the middle finger to show to the mediocre drivers around me when they cut me off or do something else stupid. I currently work as a grocery store cashier, and I haven't killed anyone yet. Seriously, that is worth bragging about! Goodness, I didn't expect my list to be this long... love this thread!

I didn't have any restrictions with hot sauce, and started putting some on my cottage cheese about 2 weeks post op. Along with salt and pepper, yum! I never had an issue with it.

Nothing over 15 lbs for 6 weeks is what I was told.

I'll be traveling through the Maritimes with my pipe band and competing in various highland games. I'm a tenor drummer, and we will be competing in Moncton NB, Antigonish NS, Fredericton NB (my hometown) and then we will be competing in the North American Pipe Band Championships in Maxville Ontario, and the day after we compete in the Montreal Quebec games. It's a full summer that starts June 18th and competition season is over August 1st. I'm really looking forward to this competition season because this year we are competing at a higher grade level than the last two years that I've been with them. It will be interesting to see where we land among the other bands! Among the whirlwind band trips, we will be camping at least one weekend with a bunch of friends for our annual getaway.

I went to costco today, and I bought Maple Leaf oven roasted deli chicken Blueberries Pork loin (package of 5! Going to last forever!) Laughing cow jalapeno cheese We bought other things for my husband and daughter, but those are the few things that we bought specifically for me. I renewed my membership yesterday with them, and I'm very happy to say that I wasn't tempted walking through their bakery and dessert section. I had eaten before we went, and was happy to be able to walk right on by all the things I used to salivate over.

I don't have mine yet, (it's been ordered) but you can find and order it on Etsy. It ships from the UK so it could take a while as she stitches them as she receives the order. She can also stitch your name and sleeve date on the back if you ask her to. As for surgery I just took a pillow from my own bed to use in hospital, and it was fine for holding against my belly on the drive home.

I brought: Own pillow from home Phone and charger Toothbrush and toothpaste Kobo comfy PJ pants (just wore the johnny shirt on top) hair elastic Slippers chapstick That's all I ended up using, and I was in hospital for three days and three nights as well. Anything else that I needed the hospital provided (face cloths, towels, shampoo, soap, etc) I wore a baggy t shirt and sweatpants going in, and just wore the same clothes the day I went home. Good luck with your surgery!