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Hey everybody- anyone else having trouble with taking pills? I can NOT get my Zoloft to go down comfortably. I am breaking them in half but my sleeve is NOT a fan at all. I took a few days off to see if it would improve, but just spent 10 minutes dry heaving. Sorry about TMI.. Help! I need my meds... I'm 17 days post op

I'm still a little ways out from my surgery (just started the Kaiser options classes) but this morning I was laying in bed thinking of all the things I can't wait to do when I lose weight. 1. Be able to walk through those stupid little turnstyle things 2. Finally be able to stop lying about not liking rollercoasters. I love them..my fat ass just won't fit. Easier to lie 3. No longer have to buy gigantic pads with wings (yeah I know TMI) 4. Be able to buy something from Victorias Secret 5. Be able to shop with friends without having to make a detour to a "fat store". 6. Not be ashamed to walk though the mall with my bag of clothes...I always hate shopping and having to walk through the mall with a Lane Bryant shopping bag...just screams I'M FAT!!! 7. Be able to put the lap tray down on an airplane 8. Be able to tell people I used to run cross country in high school without them saying "What happened". and actually be able to run again. 9. Sky Dive!!!!! 10. Go out with my "skinny friends" and actually have guys want to talk to me too...and not just to ask me to ask my friend for her number

Ok . . Beware TMI before you read BUT having been close to an ED visit . . I feel your pain . . Literally. So I'm going to pass on what my sister advised . . She's been a nurse for 30 years. Buy 2 Fleets MINERAL OIL enemas & 2 Fleets saline enemas. Get on all fours & drop your elbows down onto towel on floor so your butt is higher than your head. Use the oil enema & lay on your left side. Keep the oil inside for at least 30 minutes but longer if you can. I held it for about an hour. NOW here is where it gets . . Ummm . . Interesting. Double glove & SLOWLY use your finger to hook & remove small fecal pieces. The stool is hopefully soft so you can remove some stool & maneuver the rest into a shape you can pass. PLEASE be very careful & SLOW. My sister said your heart rate can drop & cause you to pass out. If you can't deal with this . . & luckily I didn't have to go this far . . Go to the ED. They are going to give you an oil enema or soap suds enema & then manually remove impaction. Some people use the mineral enema & hold it overnight. The enema will NOT stimulate a bowl movement . . Just soften the stool. Please plan to be at home the next day if you can. The oil will continue to leak over the next 12 hours. I had to go to work the next day & placed a pad in my panties. Was still a mess & I only made it to 2 pm before I just had to come home to clean up. You can use the saline enema to clean the mineral oil out but I wanted the continued lubrication. Sorry so graphic but let's face it . . This situation can be so bad that we have to talk about it. Remember, you have to be very careful if you try to manually remove some stool. This can be dangerous so if the stool is still hard, go to the emergency room or urgent care or your doctor. Not sure a physician's office will remove impaction. I wish you all luck.

This may be TMI, but I am curious. So, I am doing really well. Better than I could ever expect. I am getting in lots of fluid and protein. I started having gas a couple of days ago, but no bowel movement yet. Should I be concerned? I keep thinking there is really nothing in there to come out. Sorry for being so open. I tend to have no filter on my conversations.

This is a tmi question. Help!! I now have projectile diahhrea. What do I take?

TMI for a first date. Who needs to know? So you don't eat much. That's your choice and you don't have to defend it. Have a great time!

Yes...i was just talking to hubby about our out of pocket for the year and that i should really get it out before January. I'm thinking possibly August if the pain does not get any worse....but if it does, I'll do is sooner. Just hate it...cause we are going on vacation July 5th and don't won't to be bothered with this!!! Must be this June air causing grouchy pouches. TMI...but, been "pooting" and it's helping a bit

Today is day 5 on losers bench! Only on pain meds at night and am able to get in 40gms protein and 50 oz of fluids in a day. Never hungry. Still taking afternoon naps, able to walk several times a day. Drain tube is having less and less output changing from cherry colored to beer colored, having loose fecal output daily, and yes my period came 2weeks early due to surgery. This might be TMI, but thought it may help other what to anticipate. Hope everyone is doing well.

all great suggestions.. you will have some down days but you can get though it.. big important thing.. do not get constipated (tmi) but make sure you have milk of mag or something on hand for that.. sip , sip, sip. then move around the house as much as you can.. in between moving, rest... take pain meds if you need them... after about a week you will start to feel normal... take care and good luck...

I am 9 weeks post-op . . Drink 64 oz water per day . . Eating fine . . Weight loss steady . . BUT no one told me to watch constipation. Has continually gotten worse. Had 2 very close calls with impaction in last 2 weeks. I know this may be TMI but I wish some one would have informed me. The problem is NOT peristalsis (urge to evacuate) . . So Dulcolax suppositories or pills to stimulate bowl movement will not help you. Problem is hard stools. My theory is that we are eating TBPS of food that may take longer to initiate peristalsis. During the wait, water is being removed from the stool. If you get in trouble, Fleets MINERAL OIL enema is your best friend. My sister has been a nurse for 30 years & she saved the day! I can provide a few more pearls of wisdom for anyone interested. I have started taking 50 mg colace a day for stool softener. Going to work on adding some fiber also.

I'm loving the baby comparison thing and yea, it makes sense. I knew about the swelling... I just wasn't prepared for it to be like this! You all know I'm, peri menopausal and before surgery it was many many months since I last had a 'show' and it was literally just that! Well in the last 3 mths since the TT I have had one 'show' and one proper period (duration and content - sorry if TMI) and today, I feel as if I am on run up - which coincides with the mood at the beginning of the week! And I've had the carb monster cravings which I gave into today in work - school chips! They looked lovely but tasted like **** and it is fair to say that I picked at them and didn't enjoy them one bit - boooo! I suppose it was like imagining having sex with my idol and then if it ever happens he was crap! What a let down. I won't be eating chips in school again ( or shagging my idol in the near future!)

Yes it will be a bad one. I have pcos and hadn't had a period in almost 2 years. I spotted the day after my surgery. 4/16 Nothing major. Three days ago, it started with a vengeance. It's like the Texas chainsaw massacre is going on in there. Tmi I know. Worst period I've had in my life and its not let up any yet. Surgeon said estrogen would slam me after I lost so much and restart them. I'm down 60 pounds and he was right. I didn't miss this at all bit glad my body is trying to get back to normal.

I have pcos and hadn't had a period in almost 2 years. I spotted the day after my surgery. 4/16 Nothing major. Three days ago, it started with a vengeance. It's like the Texas chainsaw massacre is going on in there. Tmi I know. Worst period I've had in my life and its not let up any yet. Surgeon said estrogen would slam me after I lost so much and restart them. I'm down 60 pounds and he was right. I didn't miss this at all bit glad my body is trying to get back to normal.

My surgery was May 28th, I came home on the 30th, and then from the 30th to about the 3rd I had diarrhea multiple times a day (tmi) and was severely dehydrated. I felt lightheaded, nauseous, and just like crap in general. I should've gone back to the hospital but was unaware it was that severe. Once I got super focused on my liquids it stopped. It took about 20 oz of fluid a day to make the diarrhea stop and now I'm around 35 oz a day. Still not where I need to be but I feel sooo much better. I'm now bringing the protein back.

I was gonna say that she has shared "TMI" but it brought a smile to my face! LOL!!! Naughty Chinamama!

I don’t know if this is the right forum to ask for advice on this and could possibly be TMI, but I could use help on this issue! I went to my OB/GYN doctor back in December, she wanted to take me off the “pill” because I take blood pressure medication-which I have been on since before I was on the pill and my blood pressure has been fine. Well she talked to me about Mirena and whatnot and said to track my cycle for 3 months and then come back and we would talk about what to do next. Now I loved this doctor-well in the meantime she has stopped practicing. She is older and the hospital she had office hours in was not accommodating. They are going to give me to someone else so I just went to another doctor outside of this hospital per my primary care. So needless to say coming off the pill has been a nightmare-I have my period from 11-14 days every time I get it and I only go about 2 ½ weeks in between. I go to the new doctor who sends me for a pelvic ultrasound. It turns out I have a Uterine Polyp that needs to be removed and small cysts on my ovaries that they are not worried. Unfortunately my new doctor is older and she no longer does surgery. So I had to see another doctor in the practice-so I had to wait for yet another appointment. I go last week (a week ago today) and we talk about the polyp and potentially getting Mirena-which after reading a lot of information about it, I decided I don’t want it. He told me to take care of the monthly flow problems I could get Endometrial Ablation, which would not solve my birth control problem, but would help out my monthly flow problem. Also, I can’t go back on the pill because of the sleeve surgery-which is not scheduled yet, but I have to take care of this first and my husband is getting RNY surgery before I get my “big” surgery. I was trying to get this out of the way which my new doctor said I could, but then when I go to doctor who is going to do the surgery he says he is booking 4-6 weeks out and that they would get in touch with me to book it. It’s a week later and I still haven’t heard from them. So I called the surgical booking person today and was told she was on the phone and to call back, I call back the second time and wait on hold and when they transfer me I get her voicemail and I left a voicemail for her. Do you think she called me back? No, and she left at 3. In my voicemail, I just said I wanted to have an idea on when it was because my husband is going to have surgery too. So my questions for everyone out here: Do you think I have a right to be angry at this point? I honestly think I should hear something quickly regarding a surgery, even though it’s not major I do have some anxiety over it because they do have to test the polyp for cancer. I was wondering if any women went back on the pill after they waited the 2-3 months that the doctor wants you to wait after surgery and if so how are you doing with it? I just think I am too nervous at this point to get Mirena with all of the complications I have read. I know they are supposed to be rare, and the stats say 1 out of 100 women get them, but the doctor doing my surgery said out of every 10 women that get mirena-2 of them will want it removed. When I listed all of the complications he said he has seen all of them. Which if they are rare complications-you would think he wouldn’t have seen them all. Sorry for the long rant, but I really needed to vent!

Evening everyone, I have a question! When should ur bowels start working post op? Sorry if it's TMI

Ok, totally a tmi question, so you don't have to answer lol, but does your significant other feel it?

Sorry if this is TMI but for me it was being constipated. Others will have different answers based on their experiences. As always if you have a question/concern you should call your doctor.

Hi! I'm back. Here is my story. It may be TMI, but it's the long version: Thursday, May 30th - Travel Day We got up at 4 am to get to the airport for my flight to Cancun. I made the decision to travel alone because I speak Spanish fairly well (NOT fluently, but I understand everything they say to me) and I felt comfortable traveling alone. Plus I am a big baby about pain and I would rather not have anyone there with me while I whimpered my way through this. In hindsight, I wish I had someone there with me. It got really lonely for 3 ½ days with no one to talk to. Although the patient facilitator I worked with, Sheri Burke, said a lot of people there spoke English, hardly anyone did. Here are the people that spoke English fairly well during my stay there – Vanessa, the clinic representative (really good English – saw her for about 10 minutes total), Esteban, my driver (learning English – really nice! After discharge, he took me to the mall so I could walk and he stayed there with me for an hour), Dr. Verboonen (fairly good English, who I saw for 10-15 minutes total during the trip), Dr. Perez (great English, 10 minutes total), and the anesthesiologist (good English - can’t remember her name, but she was so sweet - I saw her for 5 minutes total). Remember that you are unconscious during the surgery, so it’s most important that the nurses speak English well and hardly any of them did. Well really, none of them did. Sheri Burke, my patient facilitator, (so nice! – and speaks perfect English – but she was not in Cancun the weekend I had my surgery) arranged for me to spend the night at the hospital on the night before the surgery because I had such an early surgery. In hindsight, this was probably not the best idea because the bed was so uncomfortable – didn’t bother me the first night too much, but I still had two more nights to spend in it! I got to Cancun at about 2:00 ish – a little early - and it was arranged for a van to take me to the Ambiance Hotel. I don’t know why I went to the Ambiance Hotel to wait because I wasn’t staying there after surgery. I was going to be staying at the Ramada. Well, I got there early – about 3:00 and my driver was not scheduled to pick me up to take me to the clinic until 4:00. I contacted Sheri by phone to tell her I was early, and she contacted the driver. He was working and came about 4:20 or so. I waited in the lobby of this hotel that I wasn’t going to be staying at for over an hour to get a ride to the clinic. It was kind of weird. I’m not sure why I wasn’t taken directly to the clinic. But I got there, so everything worked out all right. I got to the clinic about 5:00ish, met Vanessa, signed some papers and waited in my room for surgery for the following morning. That’s a LONG time with no one to talk to. But I like to read, so I read all night. Surgery, Friday, May 31st – 7 am Up at 5 am for prep. The nurse gave me antibiotics in my IV in preparation for the surgery and I promptly threw up. You could tell I did a good job on my pre-op diet because there was only fluid coming out. Nothing eventful happened after that and I remember NOTHING about the recovery room. I’m going to be honest and say the first day is a blur. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. Not to say it didn’t hurt, it did. I’m sure the pain meds helped a lot. Mostly the pain came at night when I was trying to find a comfortable way to sleep on my back. Every time someone came to put something in my IV, I asked “what is that?” I had to ask a lot of questions because they didn’t offer a lot of information. Looking back it’s probably because they didn’t speak English, but I’m just speculating. I feel like in the US, we normally expect our nurses and doctors to tell us what they are putting in our IV, or what our blood pressure is, etc. I know I urinated a couple times the first day. I wasn’t surprised at the blue urine because I had read someone else on the forum talking about that before (thanks VST!) That was from the blue dye they used to check for leaks during the surgery. (ALSO, it’s a good sign you’re not leaking as you’re recovering if no blue goes in your drain). I was not allowed any liquids or ice chips until Saturday evening. So nothing went into my mouth or tummy that first day (and most of the second day). The surgery night was difficult psychologically. I kept beating myself up about whether this was the right thing to do or not. If someone was with me, I probably would have broken down crying. But I needed to work through this on my own anyway because it was already done! I thought a lot about my kids and my husband and how this would affect them if something went really wrong. I think other people work through a lot of this with their psych in the US. Choosing Mexico, it’s something you have to work out on your own OR find the support that you need in other ways. There were a few other bariatric patients there and one of them was having such a rough time. I heard that person through most of the night vomiting and crying out. This was hard for me to hear and it made my state of mind even worse. I was glad that the person had a companion for comfort. If I were to offer any suggestion for someone going to Cancun, I would say “take someone with you!” It’s worth the extra airfare. They don’t have to pay to stay at the clinic with you or the hotel (unless you stay extra days, of course). First Day Post-Op, June 1st This day was better in some ways and worse in others. I began to feel the loneliness quite deeply. I wished I had someone to talk to. And I really wished I had somewhere else to sit in my room besides my bed because my back was starting to hurt quite a bit. There were no chairs in my room so I just had my bed and it was getting to me. I don’t have anything to share about my liquid intake because I wasn’t allowed any. My doctor (Verboonen) came by and asked if I had any questions. I asked him about the barium test and getting the drain out. He said that didn’t hurt and nothing to worry about. He also said I could have ice chips later in the evening and that he was leaving town but his partner would follow up with me on Sunday. Then he left. I did have a little bit of ice in the evening, but I had to ask for it. Then I thought better of eating ice made from water in Mexico, so I stopped. I was getting plenty of IV fluids, so I knew I wouldn’t be dehydrated. Second Day Post-Op, June 2nd Well, this is when the “…. hit the fan”. It was about 5 in the morning on my second day post op. I had a really vivid nightmare in which I was watching my dog die and I woke up scared to pieces. My blood pressure shot straight up and my heart rate was through the roof. My hands were swollen and wrist area looked like I was having IV extravasation. It looked like the fluid was not going into my vein but into my arm (It looked like bloating in my arm). The nurse came in and I tried to tell her about my hands, arm, heart rate and blood pressure, but she did not completely understand me. She said my hands looked fine (they didn’t – trust me, I’ve had them attached to my body for 53 years and they weren’t fine). She did take my blood pressure and it was 160/100. Even though I take blood pressure medication, my blood pressure had been in the normal range the entire time I was at the clinic without taking it, so this was way high! She called the doctor and he told her to have me take my blood pressure med (which I hadn’t taken that day) and give me a nitroglycerin patch (wait, what?!) At the same time she was trying to give me antibiotics in my IV, which I felt was flowing into my arm instead of my vein. I said “No” to all of it. I told her I needed to call my husband (who is a pharmacist). I called my husband in the US and he told me this was all fine to do and I really should have the antibiotics. So when the nurse came back in the room, I told her to go ahead and give me the antibiotics, but to move my IV to my other hand before she did it. She said no – you are going home today and the doctors will be here soon so we are not giving you the antibiotics and we don’t need to move the IV. (Ok, I’m speculating, but I’m pretty sure she called the doctor while I was freaking out with my husband and they decided to get me out of there fast). I took my blood pressure med (which was the first time I had swallowed liquid since surgery, so I was scared about that) and she gave me the nitro patch. By this time I was about ready to jump out the window. I was so stressed!! THEN, she comes in with an 8 ounce cup of blue liquid and tells me to drink it. I looked at her like she was crazy. Or maybe I just looked crazy! I told her that I hadn’t had anything to drink since the surgery (besides my sip with the blood pressure med) and how was it possible for me to drink all of this. She just said I needed to drink it. So I did. But I was so confused, because I was supposed to have a barium test, not the blue dye test. She told me that Doctor Perez (works with Dr. Verboonen) would be here soon to do my test and take out my drain and then I never saw her again. I had a different nurse after that. HAHAHAHA! I have to laugh whenever I think of this next part. So about 9:30, a doctor walks into the room with the anesthesiologist (sounds like the beginning of a bar joke) and he greets me in Spanish. I say to him “Dr. Perez, nice to meet you. Do you speak English?” He says “Dr. Perez! Dr. Perez!” and stomps out of the room. I’m standing there stunned and I look at the anesthesiologist and say, “What? Why is he mad? I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings!” She says it’s ok, it’s ok and goes out to the hallway to talk to him. He won’t come back into the room, but Dr. Perez DOES come into the room. And I have to say that this was the best part of the experience. He spoke perfect English, explained everything to me about this blue dye test, pulling out the drain and all my post-op instructions. I was SO relieved! He looked at my drain container (I don’t know what those are called) and said do you see any blue in there? I said no. He said, that means you have no leaks and you do not need the barium test. YAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! I was elated. Here’s the bottom line for my suggestions for those thinking of Cancun. I am looking at this from the perspective that having it done in the US is not a choice for you and you are trying to decide how the Mexico experience would work for you. 1) I would definitely take someone with me. 2) Go to Dr. Perez and make sure the surgery is at the hospital rather than the clinic. I believe this way you will have more nurses who speak English.

Ok, so I'm quite sure this has been covered over and over, but honestly, I don't feel like going throug a bunch of old threads. Here's the deal. I had surgery on Monday. Came home yesterday about 2pm. I'm just continously nauseus. I'm taking the nasuea pill every 4 hours and have some kind of patch behind my ear. They just dont seem to help. I keep having episodes where I feel like I'm going to throw up, but its just spit and phlem (Sorry TMI). BUT when I do that it makes me burp and feel a little better. I'm walking a lot but that really doesn't seem to help either. I feel like I"m SO thirsty and its all that I can do to not take a huge drink of water. PLEASE tell me this is normal and it will end soon!!

Thank you! I was just talking to my Hubby about that. At my one week check up I was fine so he didn't put me on anything. I am going to call him in the AM to see if that would be something that would help. I am crossing my fingers that is what the problem is. It driving me crazy I am sure it is louder to me than anyone else but I feel like my throat is always making noise now. For the first time after surgery I ended up getting sick and I did not like that! Not to give to much TMI it was very acidy tasting so I think your thought is right on the money.

Thank you so much for posting your experience. It really helps everyone who is not on the sleeved team yet. I really appreciate every detail. Even the "TMI" parts because nobody is exempt in any of those areas. Keep up the great work and good luck on your journey!

May be TMI for some people, but it’s the LONG version – sorry J Travel to Mexico, Thursday, May 30th – 6 am We got up at 4 am to get to the airport for my flight to Cancun. I made the decision to travel alone because I speak Spanish fairly well (NOT fluently, but I understand everything they say to me) and I felt comfortable traveling alone. Plus I am a big baby about pain and I would rather not have anyone there with me while I whimpered my way through this. In hindsight, I wish I had someone there with me. It got really lonely for 3 ½ days with no one to talk to. Although the patient facilitator I worked with, Sheri Burke, said a lot of people there spoke English, hardly anyone did. Here are the people that spoke English fairly well during my stay there – Vanessa, the clinic representative (really good English – saw her for about 10 minutes total), Esteban, my driver (learning English – really nice! After discharge, he took me to the mall so I could walk and he stayed there with me for an hour), Dr. Verboonen (fairly good English, who I saw for 10-15 minutes total during the trip), Dr. Perez (great English, 10 minutes total), and the anesthesiologist (good English - can’t remember her name, but she was so sweet - I saw her for 5 minutes total). Remember that you are unconscious during the surgery, so it’s most important that the nurses speak English well and hardly any of them did. Well really, none of them did. Sheri Burke, my patient facilitator, (so nice! – and speaks perfect English – but she was not in Cancun the weekend I had my surgery) arranged for me to spend the night at the hospital on the night before the surgery because I had such an early surgery. In hindsight, this was probably not the best idea because the bed was so uncomfortable – didn’t bother me the first night too much, but I still had two more nights to spend in it! I got to Cancun at about 2:00 ish – a little early - and it was arranged for a van to take me to the Ambiance Hotel. I don’t know why I went to the Ambiance Hotel to wait because I wasn’t staying there after surgery. I was going to be staying at the Ramada. Well, I got there early – about 3:00 and my driver was not scheduled to pick me up to take me to the clinic until 4:00. I contacted Sheri by phone to tell her I was early, and she contacted the driver. He was working and came about 4:20 or so. I waited in the lobby of this hotel that I wasn’t going to be staying at for over an hour to get a ride to the clinic. It was kind of weird. I’m not sure why I wasn’t taken directly to the clinic. But I got there, so everything worked out all right. I got to the clinic about 5:00ish, met Vanessa, signed some papers and waited in my room for surgery for the following morning. That’s a LONG time with no one to talk to L But I like to read, so I read all night. Surgery, Friday, May 31st – 7 am Up at 5 am for prep. The nurse gave me antibiotics in my IV in preparation for the surgery and I promptly threw up. You could tell I did a good job on my pre-op diet because there was only fluid coming out. Nothing eventful happened after that and I remember NOTHING about the recovery room. I’m going to be honest and say the first day is a blur. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. Not to say it didn’t hurt, it did. I’m sure the pain meds helped a lot. Mostly the pain came at night when I was trying to find a comfortable way to sleep on my back. Every time someone came to put something in my IV, I asked “what is that?” I had to ask a lot of questions because they didn’t offer a lot of information. Looking back it’s probably because they didn’t speak English, but I’m just speculating. I feel like in the US, we normally expect our nurses and doctors to tell us what they are putting in our IV, or what our blood pressure is, etc. I know I urinated a couple times the first day. I wasn’t surprised at the blue urine because I had read someone else on the forum talking about that before (thanks VST!) That was from the blue dye they used to check for leaks during the surgery. (ALSO, it’s a good sign you’re not leaking as you’re recovering if no blue goes in your drain). I was not allowed any liquids or ice chips until Saturday evening. So nothing went into my mouth or tummy that first day (and most of the second day). The surgery night was difficult psychologically. I kept beating myself up about whether this was the right thing to do or not. If someone was with me, I probably would have broken down crying. But I needed to work through this on my own anyway because it was already done! I thought a lot about my kids and my husband and how this would affect them if something went really wrong. I think other people work through a lot of this with their psych in the US. Choosing Mexico, it’s something you have to work out on your own OR find the support that you need in other ways. There were a few other bariatric patients there and one of them was having such a rough time. I heard that person through most of the night vomiting and crying out. This was hard for me to hear and it made my state of mind even worse. I was glad that the person had a companion for comfort. If I were to offer any suggestion for someone going to Cancun, I would say “take someone with you!” It’s worth the extra airfare. They don’t have to pay to stay at the clinic with you or the hotel (unless you stay extra days, of course). First Day Post-Op, June 1st This day was better in some ways and worse in others. I began to feel the loneliness quite deeply. I wished I had someone to talk to. And I really wished I had somewhere else to sit in my room besides my bed because my back was starting to hurt quite a bit. There were no chairs in my room so I just had my bed and it was getting to me. I don’t have anything to share about my liquid intake because I wasn’t allowed any. My doctor (Verboonen) came by and asked if I had any questions. I asked him about the barium test and getting the drain out. He said that didn’t hurt and nothing to worry about. He also said I could have ice chips later in the evening and that he was leaving town but his partner would follow up with me on Sunday. Then he left. I did have a little bit of ice in the evening, but I had to ask for it. Then I thought better of eating ice made from water in Mexico, so I stopped. I was getting plenty of IV fluids, so I knew I wouldn’t be dehydrated. Second Day Post-Op, June 2nd Well, this is when the “…. hit the fan”. It was about 5 in the morning on my second day post op. I had a really vivid nightmare in which I was watching my dog die and I woke up scared to pieces. My blood pressure shot straight up and my heart rate was through the roof. My hands were swollen and wrist area looked like I was having IV extravasation. It looked like the fluid was not going into my vein but into my arm (It looked like bloating in my arm). The nurse came in and I tried to tell her about my hands, arm, heart rate and blood pressure, but she did not completely understand me. She said my hands looked fine (they didn’t – trust me, I’ve had them attached to my body for 53 years and they weren’t fine). She did take my blood pressure and it was 160/100. Even though I take blood pressure medication, my blood pressure had been in the normal range the entire time I was at the clinic without taking it, so this was way high! She called the doctor and he told her to have me take my blood pressure med (which I hadn’t taken that day) and give me a nitroglycerin patch (wait, what?!) At the same time she was trying to give me antibiotics in my IV, which I felt was flowing into my arm instead of my vein. I said “No” to all of it. I told her I needed to call my husband (who is a pharmacist). I called my husband in the US and he told me this was all fine to do and I really should have the antibiotics. So when the nurse came back in the room, I told her to go ahead and give me the antibiotics, but to move my IV to my other hand before she did it. She said no – you are going home today and the doctors will be here soon so we are not giving you the antibiotics and we don’t need to move the IV. (Ok, I’m speculating, but I’m pretty sure she called the doctor while I was freaking out with my husband and they decided to get me out of there fast). I took my blood pressure med (which was the first time I had swallowed liquid since surgery, so I was scared about that) and she gave me the nitro patch. By this time I was about ready to jump out the window. I was so stressed!! THEN, she comes in with an 8 ounce cup of blue liquid and tells me to drink it. I looked at her like she was crazy. Or maybe I just looked crazy! I told her that I hadn’t had anything to drink since the surgery (besides my sip with the blood pressure med) and how was it possible for me to drink all of this. She just said I needed to drink it. So I did. But I was so confused, because I was supposed to have a barium test, not the blue dye test. She told me that Doctor Perez (works with Dr. Verboonen) would be here soon to do my test and take out my drain and then I never saw her again. I had a different nurse after that. HAHAHAHA! I have to laugh whenever I think of this next part. So about 9:30, a doctor walks into the room with the anesthesiologist (sounds like the beginning of a bar joke) and he greets me in Spanish. I say to him “Dr. Perez, nice to meet you. Do you speak English?” He says “Dr. Perez! Dr. Perez!” and stomps out of the room. I’m standing there stunned and I look at the anesthesiologist and say, “What? Why is he mad? I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings!” She says it’s ok, it’s ok and goes out to the hallway to talk to him. He won’t come back into the room, but Dr. Perez DOES come into the room. And I have to say that this was the best part of the experience. He spoke perfect English, explained everything to me about this blue dye test, pulling out the drain and all my post-op instructions. I was SO relieved! He looked at my drain container (I don’t know what those are called) and said do you see any blue in there? I said no. He said, that means you have no leaks and you do not need the barium test. YAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! I was elated. Here’s the bottom line for my suggestions for those thinking of Cancun. I am looking at this from the perspective that having it done in the US is not a choice for you and you are trying to decide how the Mexico experience would work for you. I would definitely take someone with me. Go to Dr. Perez and make sure the surgery is at the hospital rather than the clinic. I believe this way you will have more nurses who speak English.

Well it’s been a while hasn’t it?! I believe an insanely long blog entry is in order!! I want to first say that due to you, my dear VST people, nothing that has happened has been a surprise, and that has been really, really nice I had my sleeve surgery on Wed., May 22nd. My “call time” was 1 pm, and my surgery was scheduled for 2:45. I believe I was #3 on my surgeon’s docket for the day. My parents, my husband and I arrived and were all ushered into pre-op, where I was asked to go behind a curtain and put on a hospital gown. I was so interested in the conversation my parents and husband were having that I rushed, and when I popped out from behind the curtain, the nurse said “No honey, you’ve got it on backward”. Lol. I was wearing it like a robe. So I had to switch it. Then I climbed into bed and my family sat in front of me in chairs – felt like I had an audience. The nurse was extremely nice – she got me all covered up and warm under the blankets and this special inflatable thing that blew warm air on me. I also got the leg-squeezy things and some fab socks with nonskid rubber on the bottom. Another nurse came by and started an IV – I asked what was in it and she said it was basically Gatorade without sugar. I’m guessing there was no color or flavor either. Then I heard some commotion and found out that my surgeon was running ahead of schedule so they’d be taking me early (!) The anesthesiologist came over. This was the first time I’d met him, and let me tell you, he was so adorable I would have gone anywhere with him! But alas, he only wanted to take me to the OR…. lol. Before we left, he put something in my IV that made me goofy – I remember looking at my family and saying “ooh that was fast” and then someone putting the shower cap type thing on my head & I had to help because I have long hair. I remember being wheeled into the OR, and once in there they had me scooch onto a different table. I think. That could well have been after – it’s one of those weird disconnected memories. Anyways, I do know that my surgeon was there and they started introducing all the support team “this is John, and you know Dr. Z, and here’s Vern “ and I was chuckling to myself like you guys really think I care at this point who’s who? I think they were chuckling too – I just remember that there was happy banter and/or joking as they went about prepping me, and it was a good feeling all around to have happy people around me. Next thing I knew someone was calling my name, and I surfaced VERY reluctantly from a deep sleep. Once I let them know I was awake they left me alone, and I could drift in and out all I wanted. At times I had pain in my upper belly and felt a little nauseous. What’s interesting is that it is such a distant memory now it hardly seemed like anything as far as the pain goes. I was aware of another patient in the recovery room – a large man who was moaning a lot. In my drugged out mind, this made me feel the need to do some moaning of my own just so I wouldn’t be forgotten. LOL. No logic there, just instinct. Someone was apparently standing behind me monitoring my machines, because pretty soon they said it was time to go and my bed started moving. We went in the elevator and pretty soon I saw my family come into view as I was wheeled past them to my room. I felt very concerned with making sure they knew I was just fine, so I was saying hi and trying to smile. But boy I was still pretty high! Once in my room, I began to experience some more pain. I must say it is nearly impossible to assign a number to pain. I think I’m a people pleaser, and I was like “oh it’s not so bad, a 4? Maybe?” But it was a bit worse than that. My mom said she could tell I was in pain because she could see my blood pressure going up. The nurse gave me morphine in my IV, and within a few minutes I felt no pain, but I did feel the nausea. I salivated a lot, but I breathed through it without heaving, thank goodness. In retrospect, the pain must have been gas and the nausea was from the morphine. I drifted in and out for a few hours, then in the evening I got the nurse to disconnect me from everything but the IV, so I could walk and go to the restroom. From that time on, I honestly had no real pain. I used gas x strips every 3 hours, burped a little, didn’t toot at all I felt the tiniest bit of the gas in my neck, but even that came and went quickly. They never had to put the oxygen thing back in my nose because my oxygen levels stayed good (yay for me for quitting smoking!!!) My hospital stay was uneventful. The tray they brought the next day was silly – I asked if there was any protein in any of it, and when I was told no, I thought why waste the time & tummy space? I ate some to prove no problems, and then was released to go so I could start working on protein My surgeon came by and said everything went really well. I have one incision in my belly button and two more "punctures" high up on my left side. These are smaller than a grain of rice and I'm sure will be undetectable once healed. I'm still completely amazed at this surgeon's skill -- to think that 85% of my stomach was removed and no one will ever be able to see a scar -- blows my mind. He said I was good to go if I wanted. Once unhooked from the IV, I admit I didn’t feel nearly as perky as I had when I was hooked up to it. But they let me walk out on my own and I did not have to do the wheel chair ride. The next 2-3 days were all about sleeping. I tried my darndest to get fluid & protein in, but I felt pretty nauseas. Had the super-saliva production thing going on a couple of times where I thought I would start heaving, but I never did, thank goodness. My sweet husband would run to bring me a paper towel to spit the saliva into (I mean I was producing tremendous amounts of saliva when I got nauseas! sorry if TMI) and then he would rub my back and say sweet things to me while I took deep breaths and let it pass. Nausea sucks. But! By day 3 it was ALL gone. Ever since then all I can say is that the vague soreness in my tummy has gotten MUCH better every day, and the tiredness is slowly getting better. Day 4 after surgery I went on a very short trip to Target and was amazed to stop and think about the surgery I’d just had and that I was out walking around. After about 10 minutes though, I was headed to the lawn furniture department for a lil break I have a desk job, and I took just short of 2 weeks off work – I honestly can’t imagine taking more than that with how normal I feel. Yes, I am pretty damn tired right now, but c’mon, I was tired all the time before surgery! It’s just going to get better and better. Today is the last day of ‘full liquids’. Tomorrow I get pureed! Hooraaaaay! Been daydreaming about cottage cheese lol. The liquid diet has begun to go literally right through me. Yes I get hungry but nothing like presurgery. Once I drink a few sips off a protein drink, I am satisfied. However, within half an hour, it is coming out tha other end if you know what I mean. TMI I know, but I’m here to tell it like it is So I’m hoping that pureed foods will be just what I need to set things right in that department. I had my first poo maybe 3 or 4 days post op and it was normal, if a bit small. I was very happy not to have the severe constipation some folks have immediately post op. I know it could still happen, but at least I’ll be a little further out from surgery. Last I checked, I had lost 20 lbs since the start of pre-op, and about 10 lbs since surgery (about a lb per day). HOWEVER – and here’s something really fun --- my husband accidentally kicked my scale into the wall in the dark and it shattered into a million pieces. I had left it out in the middle of the floor – my bad So... I haven’t weighed in days! I’ve ordered a new fancy scale on Amazon, and I think it will be kinda neat to just wait until it arrives. I know I’m losing weight. But for some reason, my immediate focus is not the weight loss, it’s just about doing what I should be doing. I really feel like I made the right decision for me, and honestly, it has been a good experience so far. looking forward to feeling better and better and better! ONWARD!