laphappy

Okay, throwing my belly into the ring. I'm nine days post op. I have seven incisions, a few are covered by bandaids because the scabs pull at my clothing. The bruising is ugly as all getout but its decreasing with time. I used to have bruising over the other larger one inch incision as well, but that was gone a few days ago. I'm a bruiser, I still have purple spots where I got my heparin injections after surgery! * (By the way, the dark spot on the left upper side is a mole, not a scab.)<!-- attachments --><!-- attachments -->

Hi all, First off: Good Luck Carol, you'll do great. Steph C Im with you on the fudgcicles KayDotRN I was at Beth Israel too, who was your surgeon? I'm 9 days out now, went shoe shopping this morning and that was not a good idea, lots of dropping shoes on the floor and trying to get them on with my foot. (Still too sore to bend over a lot) It was pretty funny, I felt bad because I left a trail of shoes wherever I tried them on, poor salespeople But I did buy a killer pair of knee high boots that just dont quite zip all the way yet, but I shall call them my "bootspirations":scared: Ok, can we talk about a couple things: WT LOSS? Or lack thereof. I am nine days out. NINE DAYS of eating less than 1000 calories of liquids a day, and I am only down 4 Lbs, this is after gaining five after surgery. It's so frustrating. I am with you all who are stalling! I know it will come off eventually, it's just such a pain. CONSTIPATION: Could this be the source of my dreaded stalling wt loss? Sorry if it's too much info, but have you guys had any trouble with this. I've been taking milk of magnesia, but I just am completely unable to get "regular". I'm starting to fantasize about a good trip to the bathroom and subsequent scale drop instead of christmas Cookies = LOL the life of a bandster!!!! VARIATIONS IN DIET PROGRESSION: I'm sure all of us are having a hard time being sentenced to liquids for such a long time, especially at the holiday season. BUT, what makes it even harder is hearing that person A's surgeon says they can have mushies in one week, person B can have them in three weeks. Person C can have regular food in three weeks, while person D cant have them for eight weeks. Don't you guys think that makes it even harder. I'm all for following my surgeons recommendations to a T, but sometimes when the solid food is calling:hungry: , it's easy to just think, well - why not, so and so was allowed to have that at two weeks out, why can't I. It's the same band. Dangerous stuff, had to out my inner demons there. How are you guys dealing with it? I think the surgeons should all get together and make up their minds!!!! So hope all is well with everyone, survive the holiday parties. Don't forget fat free/low fat egg nog! :clap2:

I just had my surgery last Monday, and I have to say that one of the hardest things was the sitting around and waiting once I got to the hospital, especially the hour or so in the preop area, where family can only visit for a little while (at least where I was). I brought a couple of trashy gossip magazines like US weekly and People and got lost in those pretty quickly. That helped. You also could make a tape or cd of some relaxing music and bring headphones, or if you have an Ipod make a playlist of chillout stuff, listen to it while you wait. Also make sure you bring chapstick, it was the first thing I wanted once I was awake. My lips were SOOO dry. Best of luck, it will be over before you know it.

Hi December Crew, warning this is a long one !!!!:welldone2: So I had my surgery on Dec 11th (Monday) and it took me a while to feel up to posting my progress, but today I'm starting to feel human again. So here's how things went for me, for anyone who has their surgery coming up and is interested in way too many details :biggrin1: . Pre op, I came to the hospital about an hour before surgery. Got the fun hospital gown, sat around for a long time getting and IV and waiting. They gave me a patch to put behind my ear for nausea (scopolomine patch - this was a good thing:speechles and I had to ask for it ) Then all the sudden everything started speeding up and I was on my way before I knew it. Which was weird after sitting around doing nothing for an hour. They had me run to the bathroom (they needed my bladder empty because I asked not to have a urinary catheter because I get urine infections), which looked really stupid as I tried to hold my gown closed, carry my iv bag and try to keep my big floppy boobs from showing to the whole preop area on the way to the loo, they also had me put on mesh underwear with a pad (because I was on my period) And glad to be, honestly, because at least the mesh gave me some kind of privacy :bandit Then the next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. I was in an out of sleep and they gave me a morphine pump to click when I needed it. They gave me nausea medicine. I really don't remember much. Then I was in my room and the whole night is a blur, I slept and pressed the morphine button and only was uncomfortable when I had to get out of bed to the bathroom. The morphine made me very dizzy so it was hard to stay balanced. I had swabs of ice Water to put in my mouth since it was incredibly dry. I didn't have much of a sore throat or anything from the intubation. Then the next morning after surgery I went for a swallow test, where they made me stand in front of an xray machine and swallow different things that tasted horrible. Big gulps too, which I found odd, since I hadn't even been allowed to drink anything yet. But all went down fine and the study looked normal. I went back to my room and sat around for a long time. The surgeon came and looked at my incisions, told me I could go home in three to four hours after having water, broth and Protein drink (at least an hour to drink each) So those went down fine and I left around 8pm. They gave me roxicet for pain at home, which is liquid oxycodone (yikes - powerful stuff). I walked out to the car, which I probably shouldn't have. I was very very lightheaded and fuzzy from the morphine. My family took me home and I had someone stay with me just in case, although I didn't need it. The first night I was able to sleep in bed, but had to prop myself way up. Turining to the side made it feel like my guts were squeezing out of my belly. So I didn't sleep all that well since I never sleep on my back. But if I laid still I had no pain or discomfort. The next morning I took the first look at my incisions and I was shocked. I have SEVEN. Five of them are very small dots, just one little steri-strip over them, no big deal. But two of them are quite large and they scared me. There is one about two inches long to the left of my belly button (for my port), its longer than I thought, very bruised, and the skin around it is totally numb. Then one about an inch long above that one, also with bruising and also with numbness around it. Im guessing they cut a nerve. The bruising is a little shocking to see, but I'm sure it will go down. So the first day was the hardest. I didn't have any of the really bad gas pains I hear about. I just felt like my stomach was a beach ball and really distended. Burping felt weird, but relieved a lot of discomfort. I also had a lot of discomfort getting up from chairs, which took a lot of work. I was able to keep things down and drink 8oz per hour without a problem. Didn't have any feelings of fullness when drinking. Yesterday, more of the same. I've been changing the dressing on my big incisions every morning, they don't have strips over them so I tape gauze over just to keep them clean, and also because looking at them so bruised freaks me out! Still had no gas pain, just the bloated belly feeling and thinking my guts were going to fall out when I stood up. Especially in the morning. I tried to take a very short walk around my apartment building, but I was really weak afterwards. I do walk around my apartment which has helped with gas. I usually burp after walking around a bit. Slept better last night, but I still keep trying to roll over which is very painful. Today has been much better, less distended. Finally felt "full" after a serving of ricotta chesse melted down with tomato sauce like a Soup. I was starting to get worried that I hadn't had a "full" feeling yet. I still feel bloated, but have finally started going to the bathroom! I'm having a lot of diarrhea but I hear this is normal. Aren't you glad I shared:o So thus far, things have gone pretty well. The only bummer is that after five days of this, I HAVENT LOST ANY WEIGHT!!!! I was up four or five pounds the day after surgery, that has come back off. But this morning I am right where I was pre op. I know that this time is not for weight loss, and that I have to give it time. I had a lot of fluids in surgery, I'm bloated, etc. But its still a bummer given that I'm having 6-800 calories a day! I know it will come off with time, I'm just looking forward to saying goodbye to some LBS forever!!!! OK, so that was a very long story. But I know that preop, I wanted to know every single detail of what to expect, so I hope that helps someone. Good luck! :clap2:

Hi all, I'm back safe and sound from surgery Monday. Thanks for answering all of my questions. My surgery was 9:30a Monday and I don't think they took me back until 10:30. I woke up in recovery at 1:00 but who knows how long I had been there. I had a morphine PCA which took care of any pain I was having, got some nausea medicine. Then I went to my room and felt drowsy, but mostly awake. I sort of slept off and on all night and had a swallow test in the morning. But the staff was really busy so I didn't end up leaving until 8:00 pm! I was a little frustrated with that, but it was okay in the end. So far no gas pains and I'm tolerating 4-8oz of liquid an hour without any problems. I am having a lot of SORENESS around where my port incision is and the other one next to it, which is also pretty big. I took off the dressing today as Dr. Jones said it was okay, and the two bigger incisions don't look very good to me. Very bruised and still a little oozy. Anyone else have that? My next stop is the scar stages pics just to compare. I am so very very sore. Getting out of chairs is almost impossible!! And to add insult to injury I was up 5lbs on the scale this morning I'm sure it will go down, just sort of annoying. :faint: Thanks again for all your help!

Hi there, Long time lurker - first time poster on this thread, at least I think so! My surgery is MONDAY with Dr. Jones! I can't really believe it, surreal, except for the really strange surgery dreams I've been having. I was in a hospital chasing bagels last night I do have a couple questions for you guys, if you would be so kind? 1. Do you have to have a naked pre surgery photo taken, I have heard of this on other threads and it's enough to make me cancel the surgery ! 2. When did you get to go home post-op, noonish, later? I know it will vary but I wanted to give my family some idea. 3. Did you have an NG tube going from your nose to your stomach when you woke up? 4. Did they give you an abdominal binder elastic girdle thingy afterwards? 5. Any pain medication prescriptions when you were discharged, or just Tylenol? Thanks so much for your help!!!! I've enjoyed reading all your posts over the past few months, hopefully I can meet some of you at post op meetings. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm December 11th! Thought I would jump in. I still can't believe my surgery is in less than two weeks. Even as I type it I have to convince myself?!?! Weird huh. I am currently feeling horrible, some kind of sinus infection/flu-ish type thing. I am mostly concerned that I get healthy before my pre op appointment on Monday. Anyone have any experience with being postponed for illness? I still have till the 11th, but you know we all have to over-stress about something right Looking forward to watching the tickers drop on the other side!!! :clap2:

Hi all, I'm December 11th, BIDMC in Boston MA, Dr. Jones. I don't have any preop diet to follow but I'm living on a constant diet of thoughts like"OMG what am I doing, is this really gonna happen, what did I get myself into!" I'm sure the thrilled and excited feelings will come later, but for now I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that this is really going to happen and that in a few short weeks my life will be very different. Anyone else on a roller coaster of disbelief that you are acutally doing this? How are you all feeling? Good luck to all, can't wait to follow how we all are progressing on the other side!

Quiet Quirky underwear intice every time How about reworking a word I hate: OBESE

When my little brother was younger he had a Disney tape that had "Zippity Doo Da" on it. He was four and would sing "Zip in the Doo-Daa, Zip in the A" Needless to say, he was asked to sing his rendition at every family function! Hilarious.

Just my two cents: I initially thought that I had to tell everyone the truth, and if I didnt I would be a bad person. I had so much guilt and stress about it. But then I spoke with others who had the surgery and the WLS counselor. She said, look, this is personal. Your private medical information is your business and you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want. It's a personal decision, and there is no "RIGHT" answer for everyone. Only a "RIGHT" decision for each individual. Some people will do better with open honesty, others will feel better with more privacy. I think the point is, this is not about what everyone else thinks. It's a big step to come to the decision of changing your life for the better, and not everyone will understand. But it's about you, selfish maybe, but thats what it boils down to. Thats what has helped me most. Either way, tell or not - there are up and down sides. I think for me, focusing on what I could live with worked the best. I didn't want anyone watching everything I ate, judging if I had or had not lost enought weight etc. To avoid that, I was willing to lie to my employer. But thats just me. We beat ourselves up enough about our weight, what others think of us, what we think of us. When it comes to having this surgery and who or what to tell others/employers. We should give ourselves a break and just do what makes us comfortable either way. :confused:

ZACTL Zoo Animals Can Toot Liberally :nervous AIOSB

So since I decided on the band, and have a while to wait (december), I find myself thinking about the NSV's I can't wait to post. It's been really motivating thus far, had an odd one today that never occurred to me, wonder if any of you have the same experience. Anyone dread getting their hair cut? 1. Worrying when the lady tries to pump the chair up to her level, that the pneumatics might just fail, or worse the chair will give up with an exhausted psssssssssssssssssssssssh. I usually put my feet on the floor and push to give it a little help! 2. Being forced to sit in a chair facing a mirror for twenty minutes, don't know about the rest of you, I like looking in the mirror standing up, but sitting there two feet from it nonstop under a big black tarp, just brings up memories of that girl who turns into a giant blueberry in Willy Wonka! I look forward to getting a haircut, a pretty normal thing, without worrying about the chair working or having to face the willy wonka blueberry. It will be so great to actually see a healthy person looking back at me:clap2: .

This is funny stuff - I have a million examples of myself being an idiot but a friend of mine, who is German (fluent in english and very smart!) came to visit me and I offered her some herbal tea. She said "no thanks, I don't drink caffeine" I said, no problem, this is decaffeinated herbal tea. And her response was that she knew it didnt have "caffe-ine" but it did have "tea-ine" She had thought that the chemical that keeps you up at night was called "caffe-ine" (as in cafe) if it was in coffee and "tea-ine" if it was in tea. She wanted no part of it. It took a very long time to convince her otherwise! Althouth I have to say, I can see where she got the idea.

Wow, I just found this thread after coming here for weeks and I am so glad. I too would eat in the car, sometimes in the bathroom even (uck!) to avoid being seen. I could never leave the grocery store without a "treat" for the car ride home. It was so shameful and degrading to myself and those bad feelings just fueled more of a need to feed my emotions with food. I feel like every post I've read on this thread (and there are many) has taken away a small peice of that shame knowing that I'm not alone! Thanks to everyone who has shared. I was so worried about getting the band (to be banded in Dec.) because I saw all the great results people had but always wondered, could this work for me? I'm sure none of these people did the aweful thins I do pre banding? To know that the bingeing can be improved with the band (and a healthy dose of self awareness and noggin work) is such a relief.

Hello all, This is my first official post, but I have felt so much "virtual" encouragement and inspiration reading all of your experiences over the past several weeks. It has helped soooo much. I am to be banded sometime in early Dec. (no date yet) and am in the process of doing all my pre-op visits and testing. I just wanted to share a bit of whats going on with me "out loud" since it's just been between me and my journal lately. Hope you all don't mind. I've always been a very private person about my weight and personal problems so just posting here is a big step for me. I'm hoping it will make it easier for me to talk with my family and close friends. Anyone who actually reads through all this definitely gets a gold star and my sincere gratitude! I have felt so isolated the past few months, making the decision to do this and trying to deal with the fear, excitement, stress etc in private. I still don't feel comfortable telling anyone yet. I just moved to a new city and don't know many people other than new colleagues (who I don't feel comfy spilling the Beans to just yet I have read posts on this site every night for the past few weeks and it has been my main source of support. I don't really know when I made the decision to have weight loss surgery, but once I found out that the new job's insurance would cover it, I was meeting with my PCP and setting up appts. with the surgeons office immediately, there were so many things to do that I was mostly consumed with getting to all the appointments etc. Then sometime in the past few weeks it really set in, holy crap - I'm actually doing this, it's really going to happen. Exciting and very scary. On one hand the idea of being healthier and losing this burden is so awesome, but also - I've never lived life as a "normal" weight person. It's almost impossible to believe that it could happen. (but seeing all the amazing before and after pictures posts is so much fun!!) So it's slowly sinking in and Im allowing myself to believe again. I think after so many failed diets the hope sort of gets beaten out of you! As for now I'm struggling with a couple things and would love any support you all can offer: 1. Just found out I have hypothyroidism, it's acutally kind of ironic. About six months ago I asked my old doctor to test me for it and she said "oh hun, I have had so many heavy women ask me to test for that, and let me tell you - I almost never see it." So oddly, being diagnosed with a disorder, in this case, is a little gratifying. I'm not looking forward to taking daily medication, but my new doctor tells me that it will help speed up my metabolism and increase my energy so I feel good that this is being taken care of before surgery, giving me the best chance possible for success. Did any of you find out you were hypothyroid before surgery, did you notice a change in your ability to lose weight/energy level once you started medication? 2. Just can't bring myself to tell anyone Im having the surgery. I've decided, for now, to tell my parents. Since I just moved, I don't have anyone to be with me around the time of surgery so I am hoping they will fly out and support me. I don't know why I can't spit it out. I keep trying and it just doesn't happen. I have a very troubled sibling who still lives with my parents and is always a source of drama, I try to be the one that doesn't shake things up or trouble my parents. So it's extra hard for me to bring it up I guess, knowing they are already so worried and absorbed with my brothers issues. I think they will be supportive, but it's just hard to get those first few words out. How did you all approach it? I've never openly talked with my parents about how heavy I am, although it's been the pink elephant in the room most of my life, everyone in my family is very good at avoiding things! I'd be really curious to know how you actually specifically approached the subject? Did you test the waters by bringing WLS up in general or did you just come out with it? So, whew, that took a load off my mind. Sorry for such a long introduction! Guess when all that stuff has been stored up for so long it comes out in one big PB of a post:nervous