ouroborous

Thanks! I'm finally starting to get excited. I'm finally starting to really believe that yes, I WILL lose the weight! I've NEVER not been obese. I wonder what it will be like?

Thanks for the encouragement. What you guys said was true; every day is much easier/better than the day before. At this rate, in a week or so, I won't even know I had surgery!

So here on Day 5, things are a bit easier so far. The fever is mostly gone -- I have little blips of temperature where my temp will spike up to as high as 100, but usually it doesn't go higher than 99.5, and mostly it stays around normal. More importantly, I don't feel that all over body "ick" that I felt before. My incisions are healing up well -- no bleeding or oozing, just some lovely bruising coming in. Apparently the MA was really impressed with how well they're healing -- they hardly even bled. I'm finding it easier and easier to stick with my Protein and hydration and Vitamins -- it's 8:30am and I've taken in half of my day's protein and vitamins, and 20 oz of Water (plus a little watered down apple juice for some blood sugar). On the minus side, I think I've basically exhausted my "reserves" -- I'm feeling a little "wobbly." Nothing major, I think I've just exhausted my free blood sugar reserves and I feel like I have to be a little bit more careful and deliberate in my movements. sleep is still a little challenging; I get tired early so I've got on a sort of bizarre sleep schedule. I'm sure that will work out as my sleep becomes easier and more restful. The biggest problem I'm facing right now is gas/cramps. It feels like hunger because I get these crampy pains in my stomach (actually in my intestines, I think), with lots of rumbling. Going to the bathroom (bowel movement) helps -- it tends to be lots of gas and little solids (sorry, TMI, but again, this is a medical board). Also, it's hard to say but it seems that eating helps, and possibly the Gas-X strips. When the gas is happening, it's pretty unpleasant because I feel like I'm starving (since that stomach grumbling/crampy feeling is one of the ways I used to experience hunger). Also, it makes me a little nauseous. However, I suspect it's a phase. I'm worried that it's real hunger, because I didn't want to FEEL hungry. But even if it IS hunger, it seems like a 100-200 calorie Protein shake pretty much nips it in the bud (which is a big change from before). So, aside from the gas, things are doing better.

Well my girlfriend (who went to the same clinic) was on 40 mg/day after surgery, and is now on a 20 mg/day maintenance dose. I had pretty bad GERD before the surgery, so maybe I need more. I've decided to take 60 mg/day until I see the surgeon for followup on Wednesday. I don't think everything I'm experiencing is acid. The "ahems" (constant cough that's in the throat, not the lungs) are definitely acid, but I think something else is causing the gas pain/cramping. It's possible it's still surgical inflation gas (although that seems like a long time to pass it -- 5 days?) I know that when the gas pains come on, it feels like my sleeve just clenches down. It sorta hurts, but mostly it feels uncomfortable. At its worst it makes me feel kinda nauseous. The doc prescribed me Valium for muscle spasms, and I'm thinking that might help. He also recommended Mylanta, Gas-X, and folks on here recommended chamomile tea. So right now, after having taken 1 tbsp of Mylanta, I'm drinking a cup of hot chamomile tea laced with a crushed Valium. Hopefully the combination of all of these things will make sure that I can sleep soundly.

So my girlfriend had the sleeve in November, and I've had it for four days. We've noticed something... she was barely able to get down a quarter cup of Greek yogurt, whereas I was able to down the entire thing. Now I'm probably eating too fast -- from habit, I'm sure -- but honestly, there was NO discomfort. NO full feeling. I ate the entire 1/2 cup serving over the course of an hour. So I was wondering, is this normal? I was happy that I'm able to eat "real food" and keep my body nourished, but after she said that, I started getting paranoid that I don't have "enough" restriction and won't lose weight. I still have a LOT of restriction, mind you. Even too large of a sip of Water can give me that over-full, "stuck" feeling. I was just wondering if this much variation is normal. I'm a fairly large man (not just in gut, but in stature and build), and she's small. Maybe my sleeve just has more capacity? I've decided to slow down and pace myself more -- she suggested that I aim to eat my meals over the course of a half an hour. I don't want to stretch my sleeve (especially not right now, but also in general). But I'm just wondering, is this amount of variation normal?

Wow, so Dr. L said that instead of 20 mg of Omeprazole/day, I should be taking 80 mg/day (40 mg in the morning, and 40 mg at night).

So far today was shaping up to be pretty good... I've already met my hydration goal and then some (~80 oz so far). I've taken half of my Vitamins, and about half my Protein. I managed to get some real "food" in me (a 1/2 cup serving of Greek yogurt). I was doing pretty well (had taken a couple of walks, too). I've noticed that my stomach has been churning -- it feels like hunger. And then I was rearranging my sleeping space, moving things around -- not heavy stuff, just my CPAP and a few things that are similar weight, 8-10 pounds -- and I started to feel sort of breathless and woozy and a little sick to my stomach. My girlfriend seems to think that maybe I've finally burned through all of my blood sugar reserves, and my body is sort of "running on empty." Anyone else have a theory? I'm drinking a cup of watered-down apple juice now to attempt to resupply myself with blood sugar. I had felt a little flushed, but that seems to be passing. Now I just feel a little wobbly.

I'm leaning more strongly towards the acid reflux theory, since I got the unproductive coughs that were initially diagnosed as GERD, and it felt like my throat was swelling up. I popped another 20 mg Omeprazole capsule with some apple juice, and I've got a call in to Dr. L to ask about it.

I went through the same mental debate -- take pictures of myself (which I HATE) or not? I finally decided that (a) it would be important to remind myself of how far I've come, and ( I will be less embarrassed to show them later when I'm much thinner. It's much less embarrassing to say "look how fat I USED to be." So I got some pics taken (clothed in shorts, and also wearing only boxers) that will only ever see the light of day if/when I start getting towards my 220-or-less goal mark.

I'm glad to hear that you're home and healing!

Yeah, I'm learning quickly what goes through fast and what doesn't. Oddly, I can consume greek yogurt faster than water! Water makes these hard "balls" in my throat, but yogurt just slips through.

Dr. L thought the pill was too big at first, so until I get to the mushy/solid phase, I'm supposed to open these capsules and sprinkle the contents into my smoothies, etc.

Yeah. I'm not sure if it's enough dosage; I'm taking one 20 mg Omeprazole capsule sprinkled into my morning smoothie, and one 20 mg before bedtime. I wonder if I should switch to 40 mg all in the morning, or something.

Good to hear that I'm not alone in my food volumes. I'll be really careful when I get into the mushy/solid phase.

I hear you. Even though I can eat much faster than my girlfriend, I'm still eating less than 500 calories per day. Compared to my previous 2500-3000 cals, I'm still going to be losing weight like gangbusters. I'm following all of my doctor's rules and I'm trying to consciously slow down while eating as much as possible.

Yeah, I'm going to try to slow it down just so I don't sabotage my weight loss in the future.

Yeah, I figured that at the soft/slushy stage I could probably eat more. And even so, that whole portion of yogurt that I ate was 60 calories, so it's not like I'm pigging out.

Well my BP is very dynamic -- it varies from borderline high to borderline low, and I don't know what triggers it. Right after surgery it was incredibly high -- 160/90 or something, but then when I went back for fluids the next day it was 130/70 or so. It could have been blood pressure. Could also have been anxiety. I took a half a Xanax and it "went away."

It's my first night post-op, and frankly I feel like death warmed over. I'm constantly running about a 100 degree fever, my stomach hurts (can't tell if it's surface pain or inside), I'm on-again-off-again nauseous, and I generally feel like doots. I've probably only got in about 20 oz of Water today; I was all gung ho to stay hydrated, but when you can only take the tiniest of tiny sips at a time, it's really hard! I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight. I sure hope this gets better!

Isn't Dr. L a great guy? He's been so very caring and open with me. I was able to call after hours about my fever, and he was pretty effective at calming me down and explaining that some fever post-op is normal. PSSC has great docs and medical staff. Their administrative staff can be a little annoying, but honestly I picked them for their medical skill, not for how quickly someone at the front desk answers the phones!

You'll be great! As I'm discovering, the first few days post-op can be a little rocky, but if you follow your doc's orders to the letter and remember to sip and walk (dehydration will just make you feel miserable!), you should be fine!

Anyone know anything about (or have experience with) Dr. Robert Landerholm? I'm tentatively scheduled for a self-pay surgery with Dr. Landerholm for May 6th. When I asked him how many lap sleeves he'd done, he said "hundreds." When asked about leak statistics (I forgot to ask about infections!) he said there was one leak, due to patient non-compliance with the post-op diet. He said that he'd not had any mortalities (one patient had died post op of a heart attack, but it was several weeks out and more likely due to a sick, obese patient than anything surgical). I've done a little research on Dr. Landerholm, and he is a "FACS" and I haven't seen ANY negative feedback on him from prior patients (and about 20-30 positive reviews on a site not related to his clinic, Puget Sound Surgical Center). I've asked his patient coordinator for the hard numbers. They're required to keep that, right? Hopefully they'll give the numbers to me. Anyone got any experience with this doc? He seems like a nice, competent guy, but we all know how little "seems like" counts for...

Ah, hello fellow PSSC sleever! Yeah, the first few days are rough. Or maybe I'm just a wimp, who knows But it's definitely requiring me to juggle a lot of things at once -- Water, Protein, Vitamins, sipping, etc. I get the feeling that once this first week or so is past, it'll be smooth sailing.

Well the good news is that I got in >64 oz Water, >60g Protein, all my Vitamins and minerals, and about a mile walking today. The fever and tickle/cough is still there, but it's still fairly low grade, and it actually has moments of fading away. Hopefully in a day or two it (the fever) will be gone and I'll just be working on the daily business of making sure I get enough water and protein and vitamins. I'm really glad I decided to take a week to work from home; I don't think I'd want to try to juggle my commute as well as all of the pills and liquids and stuff I have to take! Hopefully this will all get easier as it becomes a habit... I think that some of my headache, icky feeling from earlier was dehydration; I had let it go to 1 o'clock and I'd only had 16 oz of water! I made it a priority after that and felt better.

Can I hurt my sleeve by coughing or repeatedly clearing my throat? Something -- probably acid reflux -- is giving me a MASSIVE tickle in the back of my throat, and I've had some spectacular coughing jags and a lot of deep throat clearing. So, should I fear for my sleeve? I haven't vomited.