Tiffykins

I have used it on a couple of occasions. I use 4-6oz of cold Water or Crystal Light, and about 2/3 of a capful of Miralax. I stir it, and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes before drinking it. The directions on the bottle suggest using an entire capful, but I felt using a little less would be sufficient. I had results the next morning with absolutely no ill side effects. I do not use it regularly because I only use it as needed.

We have a support group here that's ran by the psych on base, but she opens up the support group to any bariatric patient even if the surgery was performed by a civilian surgeon, or another surgeon out of state. She doesn't even require that you be affiliated with the military such as a spouse, or member to attend the support group. If you can contact some of the centers of excellence in your area, or one of the hospitals that perform the sleeve, and see if they offer a support group that is open to any and all bariatric patients.

I've found ketchup to be a little too acidic for my tummy right now. We are a true "condiment" family, and I love, love, love ketchup. The weirdest thing is that I can eat salsa and chips like a champ without any problem. But, give me a little ketchup, and my burping up ickiness for a couple of hours. I don't get it at all. I'm glad you didn't have any after effects, and are feeling better.

I haven't even thought of Christmas goals yet. I'm genuinely concerned for our first out of town trip this next Monday through Sunday. We're traveling to West Virginia to visit John's family for Thanksgiving. We're driving the 14 hours, and I'm worried about eating on schedule, and I'm going to have to improvise on the working out thing. My goal for this trip is to not gain any weight. They eat the most fattening, yet yummy food. It's all country cooking, and when I say "country", I mean fried, everything is high fat, and carbs out the wazoo. They know about my surgery because they were here with me during my revision since John was deployed, but I don't expect them to make special concessions based on my food needs. I am taking my Protein bars, and will probably go by the store to get some of my favorite staples. For right now, my first Christmas time goal will is to be able to make through an entire spin class without wimping out halfway through and just keeping a great pace on the bike.

I had the same issue when I had my band surgery. Mine got really disgusting, and it took forever to heal. I could see a suture underneath a layer of skin down in the hole, and all my surgeon did was make me change the dressing, and do hydrotherapy (use my shower massager thing a couple times a day to increase circulation to the area). It closed up temporarily then opened again a couple of weeks later, and he finally put me on antibiotics. That resolved the issue. I never got that suture removed.

Glad to here surgery went well, and you are recovering. Keep sipping and walking, and keep us posted on your progress ! ! !

Most narcotic pain meds cause some constipation. I'm not sure what else you can do except the Milk of mag. I hope it resolves quickly.

I was on TPN for 3.5 weeks, and had drains for a month. My leak was repaired by several layers of sutures so I didn't have to deal with the stent issue. My heart breaks for your situation because I know how devastating all of the complications can be. The complications drain you emotionally, mentally and physically. I need to research the stent leak repair because I'm not familiar with it all so I don't know what it all involves.

I've added almonds to salads as well without issue. There are some days I can eat peanuts and other days they don't seem to agree with me.

The chat room has been weird for the last couple of weeks. It's not anything you are doing wrong. I haven't been able to get in for 2 days. I posted a thread today about it again. Hopefully, one of the mods will notify Alex and he'll get the issue resolved quickly.

YAY Anna, all around great news ! ! !

Chat won't open for me again today or last night. It acts like it's going to load, and then it says "Logging in now", well it never logs me in. I've tried shutting down, rebooting, opening in a new tab, and even a new window. Nothing seems to be working. Just thought I'd post again to see if anyone else is having an issue.

I felt the same way during the clear and full liquid stage of the post-op diet. I promise you once your diet progresses you'll be able to eat like a normal person. It does get easier, some days are more challenging for me even now at 5.5 months, but I consider it a learning experience. My tummy didn't feel normal for a few weeks, but now it's just like it was before except I don't eat a lot of food. Hang in there, it does get better.

Congrats Judy ! ! ! You're doing so great.

Chandra, I'm so glad to hear that you are feeling so much better. Those first days after surgery were the most difficult for me. You're going to be amazed with how much energy you have as the weeks pass, and pounds drop.

I agree with your assumptions that there aren't as many sleeve issues as there are with the band, and even with RNY. I noticed there aren't as many threads on OH about the sleeve or complications as I see on the Revision board. I don't even visit the band or RNY board over there. I lurk on the Rant and Raves forum over there because some of those people crack me up. I am excited to hear how your consult goes on Monday. The only thing about here that drives me crazy is that my blog gets viewed a bunch, but there's only a few that comment. I never understood the concept of reading my blog, yet not bothering to comment on any of it. I guess that's what we get with the anonimity of the internet. Have a great weekend.

Are you able to stay hydrated? Sometimes headaches are a symptom of slight dehydration. If you haven't tried it yet, I would get some gatorade or pedialyte to sip on for the added electrolytes. I hope you feel better soon.

That's amazing news Judy ! ! !Congrats. . .

My surgeon told me the biggest risk for leaks is within the first 6-8 weeks post-op. I couldn't lift anything over 10lbs for a long time because I did have a leak, and a leak repair during the revision from band to sleeve. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the answer to your second question. I would venture to say that once you move to solid food your stomach should be in good enough shape where you don't have to worry about damage. But, initially moving to solids should be a slow process, and chewing everything really well is essential.

Why yes, dear Tiffany, it is a MEDIUM ! ! ! I never thought this day would get here, but I am absolutely elated. I love the sleeve, I love my results, I absolutely love everything about this experience. I also dropped a size in jeans, and am now in size 14. Some of the lowrise jeans I can't get to fit me comfortable because of my tummy, but I went ahead and bought them because I'll be in them soon enough. My 16s are so baggy in the thighs and hiney that I actually think they make me look bigger than I actually am, and it kind of bothers me. Okay, it bothers me a lot. I attended our monthly Spouse's club luncheon today, and sat with one of my new friends. She, of course, asked me why I wasn't eating much, and why I was moving my food around on my plate. Plus, I pretty much just played with the dessert on my plate. Anyways, I told her that I had surgery, and she said "are you serious, you look amazing, and I would of never guessed that you had surgery, how much have you lost, you can't weigh more than 140lbs." I told her I'd lost about 95lbs since June, and had 18lbs to lose before getting to goal. She said something along the lines of ' ummm you look great the way you are, you're going to be rail thin if you lose another 18lbs." It felt great for someone that I just recently got to know to make such great, and positive comments regarding my surgery. She's rail thin, like maybe 115lbs, and she is super sweet. I really like her, unfortunately her husband has orders and they'll be relocating in February. Anyways, today was a great day. I purchased some college football tickets for myself and John for his favorite team the West Virginia Mountaineers. The game is the day after Thanksgiving, and we'll be driving about 4 hours to get to the game, but it'll be so worth it. He's always wanted to go to a home game, and just never could. So, I surprised him with tickets today. He is so excited, and so am I. Oh yeah, we'll be out of town next week starting on Monday the 23rd through Sunday the 29th. We're visiting John's family, and I won't have internet access at all. We don't even phone service because of how "deep" into the mountains they live. If we get out and about, I'll try to check in, but for the most part I'll be out of pocket for that week. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'll be packing, and getting everything ready for our trip.

I'm about 5.5 months post op, and have still not felt true hunger. I knew it was time to eat because I would get grouchy, or just kind of feel blah. Anyways, I always take my Prilosec in the morning, wait an hour, and have Breakfast. This morning was no different except I got distracted renting a car online, and mapping our trip to West Virginia next week that I forgot to eat at the 1 hour mark. 2 hours passed, and my tummy growled so loudly it actually scared me. It was an amazing feeling, and it sounded pretty cool. I ate some cream cheese, a slice of ham, and 3 sociable crackers. Yummy ! ! ! I still didn't feel "hungry", but knew that I needed to eat. Just thought I'd share.

Hi and welcome to the forum. It's a very personal decision, and with any of the WLS you can eat around them, and not be successful. So with that said, you really have to consider what you want out of the surgery you choose. Any of the surgeries are a true entire overhaul of your lifestyle, and eating habits. I can't tell you which would be best. But, I can tell you at some point, 18-24 months after RNY, you body will compensate and stop malabsorbing as much, and you probably won't dump when eating sugar/fatty foods. That is why a lot of RNY patients seek a revision (they revise by getting more intestines bypassed to malabsorb again, or revise to a full DS)because they gain weight back due to reverting back to old eating habits, and not having the negative effects any longer, or their pouches/stoma stretch and they can consume large portions again. For me, I initially chose the band because I did not want to deal with malabsorption of nutrients and Vitamins. I am a volume eater. I could eat most grown men under the table, and go back for more. I knew a restrictive procedure would be successful. Unfortunately, I had complications with the band, and decided to revise to the sleeve. If I would of known the sleeve was available with my insurance (Tricare military insurance), and being performed down here, I would of never had the band placed to begin with. I chose the sleeve because of extensive research I did on the sleeve vs. RNY. I knew I had to get the band out of my body, and I wanted the restrictive only procedure. I am now 5.5 months post op, and I can eat anything and everything that I choose. I'm simply satisfied with smaller portions. I no longer feel hungry, and head hunger doesn't happen very often so I haven't had to really deal with that too much. I truly am ecstatic about my life with the sleeve. It's a huge lifestyle change, and sometimes I want to eat more because whatever it is I'm eating tastes so good, but then I realize I don't need to eat anymore because I'm full. Leftovers and to-go boxes are always in my fridge. Also, I take 2 chewable multi-vitamins per day, and my labs have been perfect. I do not have to worry about taking extra vitamins because my body is not absorbing them. As for the sweets, tonight, I had 2 tiny bites of cheesecake and was perfectly content with that small amount. Over Halloween, I had a couple of those miniature candy bars, and was satisfied with that small amount. I didn't need to gorge myself, and felt pretty victorious. I don't avoid a "treat" here and there because I didn't have surgery to deprive myself of eating like a "normal" person. Normal people eat candy and ice cream, they just don't eat 2 king size PayDay candybars, or 1/2 quart of Reese's ice cream. I am now able to eat like a normal person, and it's pretty amazing. I wish you the very best with whatever you decide is truly best for your life.

My surgeon told me to be more concerned about staying hydrated rather than worrying about getting in my Protein in the first couple of weeks. Keep drinking your liquids, and I highly doubt the hairloss is from surgery this early out. I didn't start losing hair for almost 3 months, and then there's patients that get in all of their protein plus extra protein, and they still lose their hair. It's a side effect of the surgery, and rapid weight loss, and sometimes getting in the protein can't prevent it. It does get better.

I like the Pure Protein chocolate/peanut butter. They are 200 calories, 20 grams of protein and 16 grams of carbs. Now, I'll post that they do contain 6 or 7 grams of Sugar Alcohol which some people say contribute to gassy issues. I haven't had that problem, and they remind me of a Whatchamacallit candy bar. I have everyday either before or after my workout regimen.

YAY YAY I'm so excited for you. You should be on either full liquids or mushies by the time I get to Texas so hopefully we'll still get to meet up with you.