Hi everyone,
I’ve been a long time reader of this forum, but a first time writer 😁.
Today marks 5 months since I had the gastric sleeve and I thought I would share my journey so far. While I was prepping for the surgery, these posts helped me so much so maybe my story can help some people too.
I was 310 lbs during my first meeting with my doctor. I didnt have to do a pre-op diet but between my first meeting and surgery, I lost 10 lbs so I was down to 300 lbs day of surgery. I weighed in today, and I am currently 210 lbs. I can’t even process it, I havent ever been this weight during my adult life.
My surgery went very well, but I did have alot of complications after the surgery. You know how you read about them but never think it will actually happen to you.. well it happened to me haha. I was good for about a week after surgery, and then I got a kidney stone. Of course I automatically assumed something was going on with my sleeve because of my symptoms ( neausea, stomach pain, vomiting etc), ended up going to the ER after two days and it turned out to be a kidney stone. I also became dehydrated during this time because I couldn’t keep anything down. They didn’t admit me that day and I passed the stone but I was constantly throwing up and my stomach pretty much became irritated and inflamed. This lead to a vicious cycle of constantly trying to take in fluids but not being able to keep it down at all. I went through about a week of hell - would wake up neausous, throw up the entire day and go to sleep neausous. Neausea meds didn’t help, I couldnt even get them down because any sip of water would make me neusous. Eventually, I became super weak, my hands and feet started cramping up and honestly I felt like crap, regretted my decision to have this surgery. I was admitted to the hospital - my heart rate and bp were super low, my liver was getting messed up and I was beyond dehydrated. I stayed in the hospital for about 5 days and left feeling much better. hindsight, I should have gone to the doctor / hospital earlier...
Since then, I have been feeling great! Its definitely an adjustment and some days are harder than others but so worth it! Even with all the complications I had starting out, I would go through with the surgery again in a heart beat. My life has changed because of it.
I’m fairly young - 30 years old - and I had high blood pressure. My blood pressure is now normal. My knees don’t hurt anymore when I walk. I can keep up with friends. I have so much energy now. Its crazy but I didn’t realize how sluggish and tired I felt until I started not feeling that way..
My quality of life has improved so much and I am no where near done yet. I’m so grateful for my tool. Like everyone says, wls is definitely not the easy way out. I put in work physically and emotionally everyday. I work out 5 times a week and eat clean. Changing my mindset amd emotional attachment to food is a process. But I couldn’t have done it without the surgery for sure.
Anyway sorry for the long post! But like I said reading about others’ experiences was so helpful to me so I figured I would share just incase others find it helpful as well.
