eriadne

Sorry to hear you are all so ill. While I haven't experienced nausea with my sleeve, when I had horrible nausea last fall I went to the drugstore and bought these things called PsiBands which are sort of like watchbands you put on your wrists and press on a pressure point between your wristbones that can help alleviate nausea. There are other brands like SeaBands and BioBands too. I thought it was some bogus hippie thing, but it really did work for me. Apparently they are used by some hospitals and doctors for people undergoing chemo, women with morning sickness, people with seasickness, etc. You can also just press on the spot between your wristbones with your fingers. How to Stop Nausea With Acupressure - wikiHow I wore my bands all day and it helped, and whenever I started to feel some breakthrough nausea, I'd press down on the bands to exert a bit extra pressure on the pressure point and it'd let up within a few minutes. It wasn't a 100% foolproof cure, but it definitely made my days and nights a lot more bearable and allowed me to get down more sustenance.

I'm currently taking bcp but I am considering seeing my gyn to ask about something not connected to my stomach like the Nuva-Ring or the patch. Something like Mirena would also be on the table except I've never had a baby and they seem to mention already having a kid before in the ads, so I dunno. My sister has tried IUDs, depo shots and the like and had so many truly horrible experiences that I'm not going to take the chance, since we seem to share some similarities with our female hormone issues. It is weird for me to go from being utterly infertile due to PCOS to having to worry about getting knocked up. :thumbup: I'm confident that the BCPs are absorbed just fine, but I am concerned that the stakes are just so much higher while I'm actively losing if I somehow forget to take them or don't use backup if I come down with vomiting/diarrhea or take antibiotics.

Delawaregal, sorry you are ill and feeling blue. I'm sure it's 100% natural to feel down in the dumps between being sick and recovering from surgery and everything else. Don't worry about losing weight, just get to feeling better. I'm sure once you get on some antibiotics and things start clearing up, all that swelling and Fluid retention will go away and you'll see some dramatic results on the scale. Get well soon!

I keep getting really hot and then really cold and then really hot, back and forth. Mostly cold though, because I can tolerate being cold longer than I can being hot. My bedsheets are tied in knots from me flipping them of and on all night, yeesh!

My gurgling was insane the first few days. Lots of pressure, gurgling, gas, burping, feeling like you need to pass gas, but can't... You might try some Gas-X strips (I was doing the maximum 8 a day until things calmed down and now I'm doing the chewable gas-x pills), try a heating pad on your stomach and walk around! Let all that lovely gas out and the gurgling and pressure will ease up. And keep taking your tiny sips! It will get better every day. I thought I was prepared for those things, but the reality was so much more than I ever thought! I was sort of in a disbelieving daze for the first couple of days at how much like a parade float I felt! The heating pad, Gas-X, walking combo really sorted me out though.

I'm a week out and almost all my swelling/gas/soreness is gone and I managed 6oz of vanilla yogurt in about an hour or so after I woke up today. My stomach felt pretty "empty" and I feel quite full and I'll probably stay full for a few hours. I've had to put back half a container of sf Jello before and part of my yogurt container as well, so I'm guessing right now my little sleeve is just a yogurt pouch right now, ha!

I'm only a week out with a 32f and I had a cup of cocoa and a 6oz cup of vanilla yogurt for Breakfast and it took me around an hour of leisurly drinking and eating to finish it, and I feel quite full. It wasn't a chore to eat or drink or have it take that long... I was watching TV and talking to my husband and it just paced out that way. It was amazing to me, because whenever I would go on a diet and try to eat just a cup of yogurt for breakfast, I'd be done in about 2 minutes and feeling so empty still! If at a week out I'm already able to eat what I've always considered normal for skinny people but impossible for me, then I have no doubts by 2-3 months out let alone 1-2 years out that I'll be able to eat healthy portions that don't make my "hungry girl" mind cry and moan. Don't be scared off by the idea of having such small portions. You can be satisfied with a 32f. No one's ever dropped dead from not being able to clean their plate at Applebee's and if your dining partners are too distressed by your leftovers or your doggie bag or whatever, let them finish it off and find out what it's like carrying around an extra 150lbs or so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in exchange for the ability to make large quantities of food vanish :001_smile: As a pre-op person reading the stories here, it was extemely hard to conceptualize the small portions, being satisfied, having eating and drinking take a bit longer and all that. But now that I am post-op, it really all feels quite natural, if a bit novel. I used to eat fast and for a long time and now I just eat slow and for a long time. I am sure the gee-whiz factor will wear off as I get used to my new stomach and the "limitations" turn into "just the way I am now".

My doctor had only done maybe 20 sleeves by the time I was scheduled for surgery, but he has done thousands of RNYs and bands. It can be hard to find US bariatric surgeons who are in your area AND covered by your insurance AND have a lot of sleeve experience because the sleeve is just now starting to move into the mainstream now that insurance is starting to cover them. I was very comfortable with my surgeon's credentials and trusted that his experience with RNY's and bariatric patients in general coupled with him having done at least a few sleeves before me would be enough. He does nothing but weight loss surgeries, the hospital is a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence and he's was very open, knowledgeable and awesome throughout the entire process. Definitely do your research, but do be aware that even among veteran bariatric surgeons, they all just haven't had the numbers for sleeves that they might have had for RNY and certainly the band.

Hi Lou! Wow, what a rollercoaster ride this has been for you. I never considered WLS because the thought of having an RNY just makes my hair stand on end. When I hit 300, I finally decided I had to do something though and was considering the band when I heard about the sleeve at my surgeon's informational seminar. At the time, it was just sort of a passing mention, but it did intrigue me since the rerouting of your intestines was the part of RNY that I couldn't stomach (haha, pun!) the most. I was all set to do a band even though my surgeon cautioned me that it might not have enough oomph to get me down to a good goal weight. Luckily my insurance added VSG coverage within a few weeks of my band approval so I was able to switch. I definitely think this is a fantastic option for people looking into WLS. My surgeon was ridiculously excited when I asked if I could do a sleeve instead and he's just over the moon with how many sleeve patients he's already starting to get. I think you've definitely wound up in just the place you need to be -- I think we all look back and wish we could have come to the "eureka!" decisions earlier so we didn't have to go through all the crazy ups and downs, but what's really important is that we're here now. So congrats and welcome, I am so excited for you! :thumbup:

Gas-X is basically a gas relief medicine -- the active ingredient is simethicone. You'll want the strips that dissolve on your tongue since you can't swallow pills until you are ok'd to take oral medicine. Between the Gas-X strips and the heating pad, I was finally able to pass some gas this morning and I'm already feeling a lot less pressure and pain because of it. Hopefully I can get the rest out today or tomorrow. Other than the gas pains, it mostly just feels like I've done a ton of sit-ups and my abs are sore. Unfortunately I can't twist around to reach behind me so I have to have my husband wash the back half of me and wipe my bottom (poor man knows I'm not thrilled about it, but it's very sweet that he loves me enough to help me wipe, LOL!)

My surgery went well on Monday, although there was some scheduling mixup and I wound up going in "late" by their reckoning and very early by mine (someone called me Friday to tell me it was rescheduled for a later time and apparently that was not true.) They had me checked-in and prepped within maybe 30 minutes and before I knew it I was in the recovery room. About the only thing I wasn't prepared for was the gas pains. OMFG wow, the gas pain is terrible and I still haven't moved much of it. Yowza. Cannot wait for that to get gone. The bariatric wing of the hospital I was in relocated their floor on the day I had surgery, which meant they were still stocking my room up when I got wheeled down and I still never got a phone. Plus there was a thunderstorm in the middle of the night that knocked out a huge transformer and sent the entire city block including the hospital dark. The emergency generators didn't run the air conditioners however, so it was really miserable by 4am (this is southeastern VA!) Luckily it cooled off when they finally got power back -- not that I would have slept much better even with AC, hospitals are horrible for actually getting any rest. Got to watch my upper GI, which was cool (and distracted me from the taste of the horrible liquids they made me sip.) No leak, yay! Now I'm home and I just need to work on this gas, and I think I'll be just fine. Still weird thinking that I'm done with the pre-op phase, but it is a good kind of weird!

I'm so glad your surgery went well BandMomsRock! 3 incisions only? That's cool! I have 6, and didn't get a drain either. Glad your hubby is so supportive and helpful, mine is too and I know I couldn't have done this without him. Yay for wonderful husbands :blushing:

I'm extremely itchy too. For me, it's just the narcotic stuff in the painkillers (I'm taking lortab which is basically liquid vicodin.) I also got a few reddish itchy spots where some of the adhesive bandages and dressings were, since I seem to have developed a sensitivity to adhesives in the last few months.

I just showered and I'm going to be relaxing with a heating pad first thing!!!! Thanks for the advice

Thanks surgery-sister! Hope your recovery is speedy as well!

Today is my last day of being pre-op. Woke up and started to immediately feel nervous, excited, anxious (and hungry, of course!) My surgeon only requires me to do a pre-op diet today, which means I get to have some eggs for breakfast and then nothing but clears until midnight -- after that, nothing to eat or drink until they start giving me ice chips at the hospital Monday evening. Makes me feel sooo thirsty just thinking about it -- good thing I'm going to be doing nothing but hydrating today, I guess! :scared0: My surgery also got bumped from 7:30 to 10:30 for some reason. Only 25 hours away! At least I have plenty to keep me busy. I'm still battling that rash that showed up out of nowhere. I also need to go ahead and pack my hospital bag. I might do some last-minute chores around the house so I can come home to a tidy house. Busy busy busy!!! :-o I hope all the post-op June people are doing well, I'll be joining you soon! Keep up the good work and positive attitudes June pre-op folks, we're almost there!

Getting kind of nervous because I've suddenly developed a rash over on my right side, just where my boob fold is and it looks angry deep red. I'm putting cortaid on it and trying not to scratch it, but I've already got a weak immune system and I'm starting to worry that something will blow up and my surgery will get bumped. So nervous that something's going to happen now that I'm finally so close! Argh I hope everything clears up before the weekend is over so I'm good to go on Monday. I soooo want to be on the other side!!!!!!

I bought the sample pack from unjury.com and then a bunch of Nectar ones from vitalady.com.

Today I ordered a bunch of stuff for my post-op. Hopefully I ordered enough protein sample packs to keep me "entertained" through my 2 weeks of liquids post-op! Monday is my pre-op appointment with the surgeon. After that, I have no other surgery-related appointments until I actually go in for surgery. I can't believe I'm 10 days away today. Starting to get even more excited and nervous. Aieeeee!!

According to a book on WLS that I received from my surgeon, Dr. Flanagan (who is a well-known and respected bariatric surgeon, and who also came up with the Cottage Cheese Test for measuring pouch size) has found in his research that "sizes ranging up to 9 ounces have NO IMPACT on the person's success in weight-loss."

I am a bit late to this but funnily enough my surgeon's office actually recommended Wendy's chili during the pureed (blended up a bit) and mushies (straight up) stage!

I was missing a few years due to my doctor's office losing some records as well as me not going to the doctor. They only need one weight from each year, any doctor will do. I wound up with weights for 2009, 2006, 2005. None for 2008 and 2007. I was approved with no problems by Aetna. It would have been physically impossible for me to have lost any significant weight in the missing years and gain it back to wind up weighing what I do know. I also have a a comorbidity (sleep apnea) and my BMI was well over 40 at every point from 2005 onwards. Also, my surgeon's office does nothing but weight loss surgeries, so his staff has the insurance approval process down pat. I have no doubts that they advocated for me like crazy. I was 100% positive I'd get rejected and have to wait to get my weight history (I am a horrible pessimist sometimes!) but my husband was 100% sure I'd be approved. I think you will only run into a problem if your BMI was or is borderline low for their criteria. Even if you get rejected, you can always appeal their decision. Many people have appealed their weight loss surgery denials successfully with a personal letter describing your weight struggles and medical history, pictures of you (at your worst & most heart-wrenching, I suppose ) and showing them why it would be a good idea for them to invest in your health with this surgery as opposed to just paying out for you to see doctor after doctor and have your health decline. Self-pay is of course another option if all others fail. But as a rotten grumpy pessimist who's been there, I've got faith that you'll get your approval! Best wishes! :thumbdown:

I don't play WoW anymore (used to be so hardcore into MMO's -- I met my husband through DAoC back in the day!) but I am still playing video games waaaay more than I probably should. Lately, you could not pry Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 out of my clammy xbox 360 controller deathgrip. Right now I am playing the jeebus out of Harvest Moon Animal Parade for the Wii, and I'm hoping to start Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks on the DS during my post-op recovery if my husband can hurry up and beat it so I can steal it away from him. I'd love to find another MMO to get into someday, as both my husband and I really enjoy playing together. Just hard to find the time for the grind anymore now that we're getting to be "real" adults

As of today, I'm officially going with the sleeve. I talked it over with the surgeon a few weeks ago and he was positive it'd be a better option for me, and I am actually more comfortable with the idea of VSG over the band. It took Aetna about 3 weeks to switch my band surgery approval to a sleeve surgery approval if anyone with Aetna finds themselves in a similar situation. There was no extra work or anything required on my part, just patience!

Confirmed today my insurance officially approved my sleeve surgery so I'm keeping my June 14th surgery date. Seems soooo close now, especially since I have almost a dozen appointments between now and then!