bluehat

Have any of you ever been treated rudely at a restaurant when trying to order smaller portions?? We went to Red Robin and I tried to order off the kids menu and was told I wasn't allowed to because I'm over twelve, and then I tried to split a plate with my mom instead and the waitress was really rudely side-eyeing us like we were being rude for only ordering the one meal. She was slow and only brought fries for my mom -- which, fine, I don't really need fries, but the meal was a split??? And Red Robin has unlimited fries anyway??? And she made sure we knew the drinks were "at separate cost," like, yeah, we know. Whatever. I mean, nobody else has ever minded me ordering off the kids menu. It made me feel bad, like I was wasting space or something. I haaaate that feeling, it is terrible. /venting

I was sleeved on June 20th, so I just had my three month check-in. I was 360 at the start of my journey, 325 on surgery day, and weighed in at 280 this morning. My dietitian said I'm perfectly average in the weight loss department, so, I am perfectly pleased. I'd been worried I wasn't losing enough, but I'm all inspired to keep going to the gym now. And, you know, avoiding all that Halloween candy... My only issue was that apparently my high blood pressure from pre-surgery disappeared, but I was still taking my blood pressure medicine, and that meant, yeah, low blood pressure, which was making me all tired and headachey. But now -- no more blood pressure meds! Woohoo!

I'm not at 250 yet, just hit 279 on the scale this morning, but I felt like I'd been stuck at 283 forever! But, yeah, I'd definitely say loose clothes is a nicer result than a number on a scale.

I was sleeved June 20th at 325lbs and weighed in at 290 this morning. Two weeks to go until I hit the three month mark! I hope my dietician is happy with me, haha.

So, I'm a little over four weeks post-op and have lost twenty pounds since surgery, fifteen of which was in the first week. I was a little down at not losing anything for three weeks straight... but I measured my waist on impulse this morning and I'm two inches less than a month ago!? I don't even know if that's normal, but I'm rather pleased with it. Just felt like sharing the happy today.

Hey, so I'm a little more than two weeks out and just started the blended/soft solids portion of my post-op diet. I've found that my stomach feels uncomfortable (full and a little nauseous) after eating nearly every time. I mean, I just eat a tiny bit -- like, a couple bites of tuna or mashed potatoes or casserole, and I make sure the food is well-mixed and smooth and then chew really well before swallowing, but my stomach protests nearly every meal. Is this normal? Am I just getting full? Is it just going to be a bit uncomfortable to eat from now on? I'm allowed to eat up to 3 oz. at a time, but I start feeling sick before I manage that much... I never used to feel sick upon getting full, so it's really weird.

Insurance paid for the whole shebang for me, so I never saw an itemized list or anything, but at the pre-class, the estimated number they were telling people was $26,000, and that was with the discount for self-payers, I believe. I wouldn't be surprised if it was $40,000-something for insurance. They had me stay in the hospital for three days and the doctor came by to check up on me each day, along with like six different nurses about thirty times a day. It was never-ending (especially when I had those leg things on and couldn't get up on my own when I needed to use the bathroom), so I'm sure they got a pretty penny for it. But, I mean, if the insurance company is willing to pay them... I'd never have been able to afford it self-pay though.

I don't know if its the vegetables or whatever, but I had really bad breath at the hospital -- despite brushing my teeth -- but it got better when I got home, and I *did* start drinking tomato soup and V8 vegetable juice as my main "meals".

I'm 4 days post-op Gastric Sleeve, and have gone home. I'm having this weird fluttery skip-and-hop sensation just below my breast-bone at seemingly random, though maybe more just after drinking water (sipping from a bottle). It almost feels like internal hiccups. When it happens, I almost can't breathe for a half-second -- think hiccups -- before it calms down. It's rather painful in the way that coughing is painful on the more-sensitive side of my stomach. Is this normal? I'm thinking it might be some sort of gas issue, but am also worried because the sensation is so close to my heart/lungs. I'm allowed to be paranoid four days after life-altering surgery, right? But I don't want to be ridiculous and call up my doctor on a Saturday over something as silly as hiccups. In other news, anybody have a recommendation for how to get a cuddly cat to leave your tummy alone? She's used to sitting in my lap and is very disgruntled that I keep shoving her off when she hops up looking for love and petting.

This is my third day in the hospital. First day was surgery, apparently everything went well. I didn't need a catheter or a drain or anything else. However, on the second day, threw up various pain medicines all day long. They finally just took me off the pain meds because I feel better without them. (I felt so terrible, I was genuinely regretting my decision to have surgery for a few hours there. Nausea is the woooorst.) It's the third day now, I just woke up from a fairly deep sleep -- slept a solid nine hours, I think. That's good, right? My stomach still hurts, and I'm still nauseous, but feel better than yesterday for sure. My doctor is going to visit, and I want to ask if I can get a picture with him before my discharge... wish I could get a picture with the whole team. Anyway, I have officially joined the post-op ranks!! Nice to meet all of you. Edit: It's still the second day. I slept like an hour, not nine hours. I thought it was 7am not 7pm. /cries

I'm two days out. I managed to drink 4oz of water an hour in the hospital, so long as I wasn't sleeping. However, due to my sleepiness, nausea, and the three hour car ride home earlier today, I haven't been really keeping track since we left. I'm guessing maybe 20oz today... I'll have to start tracking it tomorrow morning again. Supposed to get double that. I will say though -- I thought 2oz of tomato soup was never going to be enough, but it took me nearly an hour to get it all down! I'm kind of worried about how I'm going to keep up eating/drinking as much as they want me to.

I'm at home! No more nausea, really. I think it was the pain meds that were making me feel that way in the hospital. The problem now is that my belly hurts like hell every time I go to move around. /sigh How long did everyone have fairly significant pain after the procedure? Surely it doesn't last two whole weeks?

Hey everybody, I'm still pre-op, but my surgery is June 20th, so we're getting pretty close now. I started dieting last October, just before Halloween (I remember because of all that candy I miraculously chose not to eat) and I've managed to lose just about forty pounds so far, and gone down one pant size, though not a shirt size, weirdly... But anyway, at work and at home, my friends/co-workers/family have all started talking to me about how I look. They say it's clear I've lost some weight, that I'm looking really good, aren't I excited for the surgery... One co-worker even has this thing she says all the time about me coming back after the summer (I work in a school) as a "whole new person". I know these sound like compliments, but I hate them. I don't know how to respond, or act, and it makes me feel really awkward and embarrassed when people start talking about me and my weight loss -- even though they're actually being nice! Complimenting me! Supporting my efforts! Am I being a jerk for wanting to tell them to buzz off and mind their own business? I did come out and tell everyone about my weight loss surgery, but I did so because I didn't want to answer questions down the line about why I was refusing to eat/drink anything other than Premier Protein and tiny little half-cup portions of veggies and fruit. I have a co-worker who actually went out of her way to research the surgery I'm having, and came back asking me questions about how I plan to deal with the loose skin afterward. I think it was out of genuine curiosity but I was so shocked by the question that I answered kind of snottily and she hasn't brought it up again, but jfc, I hate my weight being a topic of conversation so much. I've mentioned this to my co-workers, and I've asked my family not to discuss it with other people without asking me first, but I guess it's too exciting for them to remember, because my mother can't go five minutes without bringing it up to random strangers at Wal-Mart, and my co-workers bring it up so often... well, at least now summer has started, but I'm cringing at the thought of losing more weight before the school year begins in September. Or worse -- not losing very much weight and completely disappointing everybody around me. I'm feeling resentful of all these people, despite their well-wishes and support, and it's driving me a little crazy to feel like this on top of the constant starvation of a liquid-diet and the anxiety of the major surgery I'm about to have. It kind of feels like... like I'm excited, but I'm not as excited as the people around me, and I'm not sure what to do with that. Am I already failing mentally as a WLS patient? Does/did anyone else feel like this? Sorry for the essay, ugh.

I like to window shop, but I am way too afraid of jinxing myself to actually buy anything smaller than my current size.

I just did the math and I've lost exactly 8% so far... surgery is in a week. Cool! But I'm jealous they checked your liver before surgery -- they didn't do that with me. It's just an automatic six-to-two week pre-op diet for everybody that they work with, depending on BMI. I'm really curious what my liver looks like, and if it's gone down in size at all since starting my pre-op diet three weeks ago. All that being said, I didn't have a supervised diet though my insurance did require I lose 5% within a specific time frame (and keep it off until surgery day). I'm not having any terrible problems with the pre-op diet now though. I have cheated a few times, but I've only had a couple of those little cups of sugar-free pudding and some beef jerky. My biggest problem is drinking all the shakes they want us to have on top of all the water we're supposed to get. It's a lot of liquid and makes me feel nauseous.

Haha, I bought a $30 one from Wal-Mart, and it always tells me I'm about five pounds heavier than what the scale at the doctor's office says. I actually like it -- when I go to see my doctor, surprise, I'm a little less than I thought. It's nice. But, yeah, nude vs. leggings/t-shirt vs. jeans/sweater can make the scale read completely different numbers. I've also noticed that I weight about five pounds less in the morning than I do in the evening, even when I haven't had anything other than a few protein shakes during the day. Bodies are weird. Still, 19 pounds is a big difference -- maybe it's faulty? Try taking it back and getting a new one. You can try it out in the store before taking it home to see if it works better.

I'm scheduled for June 20th. Originally I was scheduled for the 6th, but had to push the date back because of work. I kind of wish I hadn't done that, because it'd be done by now and I'd be on the road to recovery already! I keep having this paranoid nervous thought of getting to the hospital and my insurance falls through, or the surgeon cancels, or, I don't know, something goes wrong on the table. Anybody else get this nervous before the big day?

I'm almost three weeks into my four week pre-op diet and I've lost maybe eight pounds? But I feel like my scale is unreliable, so who knows for sure.

Hi! I've been approved for the sleeve (June 20th), and was told to obey a four-week pre-diet. The first two weeks consist of 3-4 protein shakes and 1 low carb, low calorie meal a day, and the second two weeks will be just 4-5 protein shakes a day. I'm nearly two weeks in (the 5th will be two weeks exactly) and I've followed the diet to the letter, but I haven't lost so much as a pound since starting. I started the WLS process a year ago at 360lbs, and am at 335lbs now, but was hoping to lose a bit more when I went on the pre-op diet. I meet with my dietician for his final consultation on the 5th, and am worried my lack of weight loss means I'm doing something wrong? Should I start the liquid only diet a few days early?