Adenosine

I'm feeling really proud tonight. The first picture was taken a few days before my surgery on 7/7/17. The pic in the black dress is from today. This was an old dress I'd given up hope on ever wearing again. I'm not quite where I want to be in it yet (or maybe it just feels weird being so 'exposed' in a dress), but I felt really proud of this NSV and wanted to share it gets easier, with each passing day. Hang in there everyone! Sleeved 7/7/17 5'5 female, 28 years old HW: 230 SW: 223 CW: 185 GW: 135

I'm 11 weeks out and I eat a piece of whole wheat fiber one toast cut in half most days to make half a turkey sandwich with 3 oz of turkey. Yum! I haven't had a single stall week since surgery, and I attribute it to making sure I eat enough and eat good quality foods! Sleeved 7/7/17 5'5 female, 28 years old HW: 230 SW: 223 CW: 190 GW: 135

I was sleeved 7/7. I'd love to be friends! I'm in central NJ. I've barely told anyone except my family and 2 friends. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to who's gone through it. Even my family, as wonderful and supportive as they are, can't quite understand. It's just something you don't truly get unless you've gone through it! =) Sleeved 7/7/17 5'5 female, 28 years old HW: 230 SW: 223 CW: 206 GW: 135

I was sleeved today (well, now yesterday) on 7/7. So far so good! I had a good amount of pain and nausea in the recovery room, but one dose of pain medication and nausea medication helped that a lot. My procedure was at 9am and I was down for my swallow study at 3pm! All went well--the barium was nasty to swallow by itself, but it had to be done so alas it was lol. I've been walking so so much since I've come up to my room. So far I've done about 30 laps on the unit which is equivalent to 1 1/4 miles. I had another episode of pain later in the evening about 6:30, so they gave me more pain medication. I've been doing well since then. I definitely have a lot of air in my abdomen and shoulder, but the walking helps. I've been sipping at liquids (soup broth, sugar free hello, and some diet lemonade) since about 7, which is getting easier as the night goes on. I have a lot of pressure in my abdomen when I drink, but I still can't tell if it's from drinking or from the surgery itself. It's such a weird sensation, not knowing if what you're feeling is hunger or just weird sensations in the stomach! I still don't quite know how much I should be drinking at a time, so I'm just sipping until my body gives me feedback. My GI doc and surgeon will come by to see me in the morning, and if all is well I'll be released tomorrow afternoon! I've had absolutely no pain from the incision sites--it's like I almost forgot they were there! One time I touched near one of them and felt it a little bit, but otherwise no pain! They did a few internal dissolvable stitches and then glue on top, so all I can see is the glue. My stomach does hurt when I try to do something like sit up in bed that uses my ab muscles, but it's tolerable. I'm excited to see how the next several days go, and hoping that the drinking liquids gets easier and to a point that I'm better able to tell what's hunger. I can't wait to start the rest of my life now though!

Don't worry OP...I'm 2 weeks post op and still get intermittent left shoulder pain. For me it's after I drink too much like someone else said, and it can be positional. If I'm feeling it it gets worse when I lay down. I had it after surgery but it greatly improved with walking. Now it's just an intermittent thing. I wouldn't get yourself worked up, it doesn't sound like a leak--it seems pretty par for the course after surgery. Gas ex/tums/etc won't help you at all. The pain you're feeling is some of the residual air left in your abdominal cavity that they use to inflate your abdominal cavity during surgery. Some of it gets trapped inside after surgery--they usually use CO2 for inflation. Nothing harmful at all, but it takes time for the micro circulation in your abdomen to reabsorb it. You feel it in your left shoulder because the air is pushing on your diaphragm. The same nerve innervates your diaphragm and left shoulder, so the lovely result of that is that you feel the pain in your left shoulder. I think you'll be juuuuust fine. Just keep on a'walkin to help get that air out. [emoji4] Sleeved 7/7/17 5'5 female, 28 years old HW: 230 SW: 223 CW: 213 GW: 135

I hear you I am too! The humidity really gets to me. I think we are just not as well hydrated as before surgery so it's harder for our bodies to handle. I talked to my surgeon today and told him about my heart rate when walking and he told me I need to dial it back a bit and increase my water to at least 64 oz a day. So I'm going to rest more and try my hardest to drink more--which won't be easy! I'm just always afraid I'm not doing enough and that I'm gonna screw myself up in some way. But clearly I'm doing just fine. I lost 10 pounds at my appointment today and I'm 6 days post op. We can do this!! It's not easy but it will get easier as time goes on--I just hold on to that.

You look amazing! I'm so happy for you! I'm floored by your progress at the 2 month mark. Our stats are similar, and I intend on starting back at a running program as soon as my body tells me it's ready (I'm only 6 days post op). I'd be thrilled if my progress is anything like yours. How soon after surgery did you start running, and if you don't mind me asking, how much are you typically running and how many days a week? You go girl!!!

Hey! Wanted to reach out because our stats are super similar. I was sleeved 7/7 so I'm 6 days post-op. HW- 230 SW-223 CW - today will be the first day I step on the scale since surgery! GW - 135 Height 5'5", age 28 I'm also pretty exhausted all day. I try to go for a few short walks around my neighborhood every day, but they exhaust me. When I was walking today (nothing crazy, I wouldn't even call it a brisk walk), I checked my pulse and it was up to 160. I know I have to be dehydrated. I'm trying so hard to get my nutrition right--I'm up to about 50 grams of protein daily and about 45-50 oz of liquids. It's just so hard for me to get more in. I feel like I'm nauseous half way through the day from constantly drinking. My pee isn't super dark or anything, it looks fine, but I'm just totally sapped of energy and small things make me tired--especially climbing stairs. I'm worried I'm gonna like pass out or something if I do much more because of dehydration :/. So I totally understand where you're coming from. I have my 1 week follow up appointment with my surgeon today, so I'm going to see what he has to say!

I'll give you my honest opinion, as an Emergency room RN I would not be stitching this yourself. I know that you've had experience with suturing and I'm not trying to negate that but at the same time this is skin, not cow hide. There are also many different types of sutures and the one you are using might not be correct for this type of wound. It also concerns me that there are still puss pockets. The doctor might not actually want to suture this wound shut yet if that's the case. If there's any kind of abscess present that needs to be addressed, and possibly packed and left open. I'm not sure keflex, the antibiotic they put you on, is strong enough either. A surgical wound like this could contain antibiotic resistant organisms, in which case you need a stronger antibiotic. I know you don't want to make the trip to the ER, but I strongly encourage you to. Way better to be safe than to deal with the possible devastating complications that could arise from a bad infection.

I was discharged around 12:30pm, but I wouldn't make any plans around that. There's no standard time. It all depends on when your surgeon comes around to see you and gives you the okay. As far as walking, I was stuck in PACU (the recovery room) for almost 5 hours after my procedure because they didn't have a room available for me to go to until then, and it wasn't really an area I could walk around in. So basically within a half hour of getting to my room I was up doing a few laps around the unit. If I had gone straight to my room, I'd say I'd have been up walking within 2-3 hours, once I felt awake and steady enough after the anesthesia.

Hey...3 days post-op here. For me the barium swallow was pretty awful. I had my surgery at 9am and was down in radiology at 3pm for my study. They handed me a cup with 3oz of straight barium and told me when it was time I just had to swallow it. I must have looked at them with bug eyes because I was terrified to take my first sip of anything, much less 3 oz of disgusting barium. They reassured me it would be fine. They told me to do it in one sip but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I did 3 sips. It was cool though I got to watch it on a live monitor when I drank it. But yeah afterwards it was a horrific taste and hurt my already raw throat from the breathing tube. I wasn't allowed to drink anything after until I got clearance which was about 4 hours later, so I had to deal with the taste. The other thing I wasn't expecting was the sore throat. My voice was super raspy and manly and it hurt to cough or anything. And I was bringing up a lot of mucous here and there--which is understandable given the breathing tube. But it almost made me feel like I had an upper respiratory infection on top of everything else. I don't want to freak you out though--it was tolerable. Each day is getting better, and I don't regret it. You'll be fine!

The walking helped tremendously! The uncomfortable air in my shoulder and chest was mostly gone in 2 days. I have a little left in my stomach but so much better than it was!

I had my procedure done at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. My surgeon is Dr. Sadek. Yesterday was a little rough for me--I had a lot of nausea and found it hard to drink anything but I knew I had to. As much as I could I just kept trying to get up and go for walks around my development. I think that definitely helped me not just physically but mentally to get out of the house a bit. Today I seem to have turned the corner a bit. It doesn't hurt as much to drink fluids. I'm alternating between Atkins Lift protein water (20 grams of protein per bottle and tastes good!) and just drinking water. I also am drinking broth with protein in it from BariatricPal (they have it online on their website--15g of protein per packet). I'm definitely not hitting my protein or liquids goal just yet, but each day seems to be improving slightly! Let me know if you have any more questions

My surgeon is having me do just a 1 week full liquid diet, so I'll be starting June 30th for my July 7th surgery date!

Got my surgery approval today from insurance!!! My surgery date has been set for a while, July 7th. My surgeon schedules surgery first and then submits to insurance a few weeks before, so I've really been sweating it out. So so so relieved to get my approval today! :)

Hey guys! My surgery date is July 7th. I just finished the last of my clearance items, but the only thing that's nerve wracking to me is I'm still waiting on insurance approval. They don't even submit to insurance until about 1 month before, which I think is pretty crazy. I'm terrified something is going to happen and I'm going to get denied, because I've already gotten everything ready through work to take off (which was a huge hassle and they weren't happy about it), and I've gathered a whole bunch of supplies! Everyone at the surgeon's office keeps telling me not to worry and that my insurance usually isn't a problem for it, but I'm just nervous because I'm still at the lower end of the weight spectrum for it (weight 228, 5' 4.5", BMI 38ish, high blood pressure). I hope it will all be okay, but I'm not going to relax until I hear the official okay. Did anyone else's surgeon do it this way?--not submitting until about a month before and after all the clearance stuff was done??