mynewrevenge

Hello Buddies! I have been reading this board continuously but haven't posted much as I've been busy busy, but I just wanted to jump in and relay some of my experiences post surgery if it might be helpful to those currently going through it or about to. I had my sleeve on Nov 9th. The one thing that I found that really helped me out of the gate is walking. From day 1 I made sure to make myself walk. Each day I increased my distance by an additional driveway until I was able to walk all the way around the block and then added even more. By 2 weeks post surgery I felt like I was 100% again. A friend of mine who had the same surgery 5 years ago by the same surgeon couldn't believe how quickly I recovered. I attribute it to the walking. So that's my advice on recovery. Unfortunately I did make some major mistakes because I was feeling good and due to a family emergency, 1 week post op I had to fly home to help care for my mother. I didn't want my parents burdened by worrying about my surgery so I kept the entire thing hidden from them. As such, I completely skipped the pureed food stage and just ate soft foods while chewing oh probably a hundred times before swallowing. I do not recommend skipping any food stages but I had to do what I had to do. I had a bad experience with solid food. I was running around and wasn't paying much attention to the fact that I hadn't eaten all day and when I got home I was ravenous. I cooked up some tofu chicken fingers (my vegan go to for a quick and dirty meal pre surgery). Well, um... lets just say it didn't go well. I had that lump in my chest that felt like the food was stuck. The saliva continued to pour up into my mouth. There was nothing I could do to make the pain in my chest go away or the saliva stop flowing. I literally thought I was going to die. I decided to go for a walk. The amount of spit that continued to flow from my mouth could probably keep a whale wet for a decade... it was awful! After about 20 minutes, the pain finally subsided and the constant flow of saliva finally dried up. It was an experience and a hard learned lesson to remember to chew chew chew! and wait wait wait before taking another bite! Rice, my favourite pre surgery meal is now a no go for me. It just doesn't sit well at all. Sad but I can deal with it, bigger picture and all that. Sugar. I was a sugar addict pre surgery, I'm a mostly plant based eater, I attribute all my weight gain to my sugar addiction. I have found that although I am still addicted to sugar, I can have that '1' piece of whatever it is and be satisfied instead of that '1 whole bag' and still not be satisfied as I was in the past. If I go past that '1' piece threshold not because I'm not satisfied but because I'm still a glutton I find myself in the washroom with a mild case of dumping syndrome. Another welcome reminder that '1 is enough'. I feel like I am losing weight fairly quickly but I'm not noticing any adverse side effects like hair loss or sagging skin but I do take collagen everyday so I'm thinking that might be helping with that. Today will be my first day back to the gym in 3 months. I am looking forward to getting back into running again without all that additional weight holding me back I hope you all are enjoying success and keep going! Happy Holidays!

yup! same! I was worried about never getting to enjoy sitting down to a huge meal again and just enjoying everything that comes with it. Scary but I'm also so sick and tired of being fat so it's a trade off I can accept, especially since my geurin hormone or whatever it is has been removed, maybe I won't be craving it as much.

Oh hun! I feel you! 2 days before my surgery I became so overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. I almost cancelled. I was so afraid! 4 days post op now and I had absolutely nothing to be afraid of. I'm relatively pain free and off my pain meds. I'm able to walk around and climb stairs. I'm tolerating my pure liquid diet and looking forward to when I can move on to puree! The pre surgery jitters are normal. Try and not think about it, you're going to do great!

Hey! Same! My surgery was Nov 9th at a clinic in Toronto. How are you doing? I'm doing ok, still haven't pooped and my shoulders and head are about the only pain I have actually. If I could just get rid of this dang headache I'd be best kind I think.