Search the Community

RJ- I hardly know what to say - 8 weeks with a drain and so many complications. I so wish we were friends irl so I could offer you some love and kindness in person. I was thinking about how unfair this is that you are setting the record for complications and I guess the reality is that you just have to do what you are doing...which is to get through it. You are brave and your lack of bitterness inspires me. 25 years ago I had complications from a routine pelvic exam and afterward could not have sex for about 10 years. It was one of those "this never happens" situations that no one could figure out, much less fix (I know that might be tmi but it truly changed the course of my life....) I bring this up because I totally get being a medical outlier. It's terrifying and isolating. I am sending you love and healing energy. If you ever want or need an encouraging word from someone who went through medical hell of a different sort, please PM me and I'll heap some love on you. K? -Shellie

Hello fellow sleevers! Its my 3rd day out of surgery ( Aug 22 sleever) and I am feeling better. Some background info on me because I am not sure where to even start! I am 30 years old from NJ/NYC. Around Feb I weighed a staggering 517lbs. I was walking around disney world in FL thinking, hey, where are all the people my size? I'd like to think Im the type of person who doesnt even know hes fat, until its too late. ( what do u mean this bar on the haunted mansion ride doesnt go down???). Around that time when I came home from FL I realized that while on my vacation I slept noticably better. I blamed me no longer drinking coffee and sugar as the reason I felt so great on vacation, and quickly lost 10lbs from this alone when I came home. One day while staying late at work ( an accident , as I am a bus driver ) a co worker walked by me. I couldn't recognize him at all! He explained to me all the details of his sleeve, and a few other of my co workers had gone with him. Not wanting to be rude, I said I would atleast check out the info. A few weeks pass, and I promise to atleast check out the seminar my dr was having. It was kind of funny looking back because it was at a local gym, the last place i wanted to be seen, let alone walking up to the info counter and asking hey "wheres the meeting for fat people ?" ( sorry to offend just at my weight i throw the term around). I remember thinking to myself, I hope i just have to ask where, and i get pointed to a room. As luck would have it, the lady was so busy she couldn't hear me and I had to ask 3 times. She wasnt really sure and had to call around to find out where it was, getting atleast 3 other people involved, at which point I wanted to run and hide in my car! Fast foward a bit, I found the place, met the surgeon and told him i would make an appointment if i thought I was serious. A week later I made the apointment which is kind of strange, I guess i went in thinking I was going to be bamboozled or tricked into, and left thinking man I WANT THIS! My surgeon, Dr. R Sadek of Somerset NJ was fantastic. He told me I had to lose atleast 30lbs before the surgery to slim down the stomach area. At first I thought this was impossible. But I quickly lost 10lbs again. I purchased a treadmill and began chugging away 30-40 minutes a day, eating better and BOOM 30lbs! The worst part of the surgery for me , was the dreaded pre op diet. OMG. The crazy part is as you progress from full liquids, to clear only, you wish you were able to have some of the stuff you had on full liquid! About halfway into the 2 week liquid, I met my co worker again who confessed to me he had mcdonalds two days before his surgery. This was awful I thought! How could he? And it got to me. I wish I could sit here and say no I didnt cheat on my 2 week pre op. But I did. Honest here ? You bet. I had two slices of pizza. I didn't feel bad either about it too, but I knew I had to get back on track, and finished the last 6 days strong. My insurance, blue cross blue shield sent in the letter of approval literally days before the surgery but picked it up 100%. Infact the only thing they wouldn't pay for is for me to see a nutritionist. But they will be for my surgery? Go figure! My surgery on Aug 22 was at Robert Wood Johnson in NJ. I have to admit everyone was so nice and friendly at the hospital. I guess its me being from NY always thinking people will rush or be angry with me? They couldn't find my vien in my arm using a sonagram, so they had to put a "central IV" in my neck. This was painful and had I known this I would have said NO! It was very messy without TMI or grossing anyone out but an IV in your neck is not very pleasant. After waking up from my surgery, I felt terrible. I had to wait a bit to get pain killers because I was feeling nauseous and apparently you have to wait a bit if you feel this way. After I had my morphine I spent the rest of the day snoozing, off and on. ( and realizing I had a cathoder which kind of liked, kind of hated?). I was not allowed to drink anything till the Xray the next day. The next morning I had my x ray , no leaks, and was given an amazing amount of clear foods I could never eat . Bowl of chicke broth, Jello, ice tea, waterbottle, italian icee. I think I had about two sips of the tea and felt full. I could not believe it! So, around 1pm, roughly 24 hours later I was given the OK to go home. I was pretty good, I mean I walked to the car myself and felt like someone punched me in the stomach, but I thought it would have been much worse. Pain killers for the win? Yesterday ( first full day out of the hospital) I spent mostly sleeping on the couch watching cartoons and semi talking to people who called to check on me, until they realised I really couldnt pay attention. Day 3, I feel great. Im amazed how long it takes me to drink a cup of Water. I have no hunger at all, which I always thought was just plain BS when people say on this on boards, but I have no desire to eat at all. I don't mean this in a bad way of course, but looking around I can't wait to try some of the recipes you guys have posted, IE a pumpkin latte or bean cup cake recipe I saw posted! So here I am, day 3 post op, feeling good. Started at 517 , 461 at surgery, and 456 right this second. I am Phillip. And I'm a sleever. =)

good thread, can't wait to here more comments. oh and doodle not tmi at all, we are probably the few people that need and want that infor, lol

I had my sleeve on 03/01 in Tijuana MX. For the most part my sleeve tolerates everything except sweets and high fat content food (Perfect!). My pre-op start weight was 228, My surgery weight was 209, and my current weight is 181. I am starting Zumba this weekend and I am so happy that I got my sleeve. My first NSV is that I am now wearing all my fat but not as fat girl clothes that I haven't been able to wear in 3 years. The second (and most awesome) NSV is that my husband and I can both fit in our shower... together... at the same time.... you know.... to scrub each others backs and stuff...lol

We tried about a week an a half out, it was too soon. The movement made the muscles in my stomach very sore. Tried again a few days later, but I had to keep my tummy from moving too much for about 2 weeks! I think everyone will be different but the muscle healing process should be similar. NOW THAT is TMI, but I hope it helps!

This may be tmi lol but when I find the scale has not dropped (and I’m not in a stall) I find I need to have a BM. Sometimes I’m constipated. So have to take things to help. Then I rewrite and I’m like aww there it is lol the correct number

I dont know how many other people do this but whenever I come home I change into sweatpants/pjs. I have not been able to wear jeans for more than a few hrs comfortably in a long time! Well, on monday, I was home cleaning the kitchen and looked down and noticed that I never took my jeans off after taking ym daughter to school! I was comfy and kept them on all day as like a trophy. Maybe tmi right now: to top it of I am on my period this week, so normally nothing fits! It just felt awesome!

I had the gastric sleeve on Nov. 29th. I am doing well except the constipation is horrible! I take colace twice a day and today is day 4 with no bowel movement (sorry for the TMI). I am wondering what others use to help with this? I am feeling so bloated. I have milk of magnesia, and some generic laxative pills i got from CVS pharmacy, also have miralax in the house. I am not sure what I can take. I called the Dr office but with it being Friday late in the day the MA said she would call me after she gets an answer, which may not be until Monday. I don't think I can go that long without this making me sick. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I drink at least 80 oz of water a day so its not that. Thank you all in advance.

That's exactly what I thought! Hubby and I watch a fair amount of naughty videos together ((sorry TMI)) and now we just have to deal with the that. I also look at a lot of natural parenting sites and whole food diet/nutrition/news websites, so I get a funky mix of ads lmao

I've had trouble, not necessarily with constipation, but with just not being regular at all and with being "uncomfortable". Talk about TMI, but we're all talking about it! I've tried benefiber in my coffee every single day and I'm still not my usual self. I am going to try this apricot thing starting tomorrow a.m.!

Welcome to the wonderful world of dumping! I get really bad flu like symptoms when I dump and it happens if I eat too much sugar, anything fried, or anything with too much fat. Sometimes it happens right away and some times its later. Hot, sweats, pain, light headed...all symptoms. I have a lot of great information on my blog about dumping (in nom nom nom). I know this will be TMI to some people but you can always tell a "dumping" poo from a regular poo because of the smell. ugh. This too shall pass! Linda

thank you so much.. honestly i still have a little belly fat that i could stand to lose..lol.. but i do have to admit..i do feel different.. i have energy and i actually WANT to work out..and this might be TMI.. but my sex drive is thru the roof..lol.. so yea lots of changes.. but they are all for the better! And btw 18 lbs in 2 weeks is amazing.. you are going to do well on your journey! Im sure you will get down by surgery day... just get in as much exercise as you can now.. and you will be there.. plus it will help get you jump started for surgery.. thank you btw.. Im just tryin to keep up my workouts and get to goal eventually.. i know it will happen.. just wanting to do it the healthy way ..you know..lol.. well good luck to you and your surgery... Im sure you will do great! and keep us posted when you do!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. We got back from Gay Days at Disney World late yesterday afternoon. We didn't get to see the ocean of red shirts as we went to Animal Kingdom on Saturday instead of the Magic Kingdom. But we still had a good time. I did go back to the RV a few hours before Sean and the kids because I was totally pooped. Speaking of poop (nice segue, huh?), has anyone else had a problem with constipation? At the risk of sharing TMI, I'll just say that I had a very difficult time going to the bathroom on Saturday. That's extremely unusual for me. The only thing I can think of is that I had been eating a lot of cheese (well, a lot proportionate to everything else I was eating) and not drinking enough water. Anyhoo, it's back to the grind today. Glad to have you aboard Dawn! You've found a great group of folks here, both in this thread and the forum in general.

Today marks 1 month of my new life with my vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Wow! What a month! THE GOOD My "official" weigh in at my surgeon's office (on 7/2/13) was -25lbs. My unofficial weigh-in this morning was -30lbs. I can't believe what a difference 30lbs makes! I feel like I have so much energy, I'm sleeping better, oh yeah, and the bedroom stuff In the past month: Lost 1 chin My engagement ring no longer fits My wedding ring is loose My thighs look slimmer I haven't been having night sweats/ hot flashes (purely bc of weight, I'm 25yrs old) I've retired my first pair of blue jeans And every once in a while I see a little peak of my clavicles What I've been doing? **I exercise daily: 40 minutes of walking & at least 30 minutes of other stuff (light hand weights) and OMG, my husband and I are doing the 30 day squat challenge!-- it hurts to sit on the toilet! Lol ** I eat my protein first. I get in around 70-something grams of protein per day. I'm eating 3 meals (a protein shake being a meal) and sometimes a snack if I need it. ** H2O: I'm getting AT LEAST 64 oz per day- it's usually in the 70's. ** Vitamins: I'm taking 2 Flintstones, 2 calcium chews, and 1 dissolvable B12 per day. All taken at separate times to increase absorption. OH, something I thought was really cool: my husband went away for work for a few days and when he came home he was shocked. He thought I looked so much smaller! It was really awesome to see the look on his face!!! THE BAD I've heard this rumor about changing taste after surgery -- TRUE. My husband and I ate boiled shrimp (one of my favorite things) and I thought it tasted like band aids. WTH? And I now love Greek yogurt, where before I took one bite and trashed it. During this month, I felt like I had poor concentration and I kept getting dizzy upon standing, especially when getting out the tub (blood sugar= good, hydration= in check, orthostatic blood pressure= negative). So my doc suggested adding B 12. I can def tell an improvement in both my concentration and dizziness. I don't think this is truly "bad," I'm just not used to it. *TMI WARNING*. BMs are now every other day- less than what I was used to. THE UGLY I did have one vomit episode, but it was purely my fault. I ate too fast and didn't chew enough. LESSON LEARNED! _________________________________________________________________________________ But this has truly been an amazing experience so far. I feel so blessed to have this chance in life- to be a healthier, happier person. I'm so excited to see what comes, especially in the next few months.

I was never really below a size 11/12 as a teen and was about 150. I'm pretty short at 5'2". My goal is about 145-150 although I wouldn't mind getting into the 130's. I want to get to a size 8. Mostly though I want to be rid of my many asthma attacks during the summer and TMI Alert: my spastic bladder problems. Otherwise I ultametly want to settle below 150 after the regain.

Some tmi but I had surgery on the 16th and haven't farted yet or bm...anyone else in the same boat

i know this is some major tmi, but when they first packed my open wound they sealed it with a tegaderm. When they took it off my skin almost came off with it. Now I have to use paper tape, and anything that touches my skin hurts so bad. It's red, all over looks almost like a rash. Well anyways the paper tape still has to be stuck to that part of my skin, and I think that might be the thing that hurts the most is when I have to peel that off. The nurse gave me some adhesive remover to help but that can only do so much. I just hope this wound doesn't take that long to heal. But it is about 3 inches wide and 2 inches deep.

As far as your TMI question, it was a full WEEK for me. I started drinking Miralax at day 5 and had to do that for a couple of days. Just a warning, this issue can continue longer than immediately post-op. I've never had a problem with this at all but I'm 3.5 weeks post-op and I've had to take Miralax seeeeeveral times.

I'm a Bandster!! :biggrin2: Surgery was 3 hours, w/ hernia repair. The first night was in the hospital, and at home I slept nonstop for the next three days. Thanks to the Percocet. The pain feels like puncture wounds. I mean surface pain, nothing real deep. I did have the GAS, enough to clear a room . I know TMI, but so far I've only had some left shoulder discomfort. The clear liquids made me very weak. Lack of sugar, according to the surgeon. Once I had my first protein shake on day 7, I started feeling better. When did you all start mushies? According to my doctor, he wants me on protein shakes until my first fill, June 30th. I know I need to heal, but 5 weeks? Doesn't that seem excessive? If I count the two weeks prior to surgery, that's 7 weeks of liquids! I'm already dreaming of scrambled eggs and runny oatmeal!! :wink2:

Thanks everyone! It only happened twice but was miserable when there is nothing in your tummy! I am able to sip the isopure they sent home but there is no way I'm getting in all my fluids at this point! I'm walking a lot so I figure that is good and farting (tmi) but hey it's getting the air out!

Hello my little October sleevers! How is everyone doing this gloomy, freezing day? My day is strange. Slept in this morning for starters. When I was laying in bed I started having some discomfort in my tummy - upper abdomen below chest. When I moved it would go away. After I got up, I was still having it a little bit. Now it's gone away for the most part but I have some shoulder pressure and a little discomfort in my back. (Some also at my lower ribs, but I had that from time to time before surgery - I think it's the way I'm sitting because moving around helps it go away.) Not sure if it's a result of being more gassy today, not having a BM for a few days (TMI!!) despite having some ground turkey/hamburger the last few nights for dinner or hitting the treadmill a little harder last night. Ugh! Eating and drinking fine though, so..... Keep on plugging on I guess. What are you all eating for meals these days?

I think they quoted you and just highlighted in the red to point out your original phasing. I just got the sleeve 6/27 and have too felt horrible, my god so horrible. I had surgery on my spinal cord 6/1 (yes only 3 weeks before) but my company is a government contractor and I had the looming possibility of changing health insurance 6/30, so I had to push through since I was approved by insurance already and had met all my out of pocket maximum for the year so my surgery was 'free' if i did it before any potential converge changes. So my body was already weakened before I ever had this surgery, compounding issues for my recovery by a lot. I was comforted by the knowledge that I have a great suregon which makes every patient be 100% informed, tested, and healthy. Besides reg mental eval, we had to go through pre-op support groups, PT trainings on exercise, prove we were doing the liquid diet seriously, and start a 4 day pre-op in and out cleaning with hybiclens outside and nystatin inside to ward off complications. While she didn't want to do surgery so quick after the spinal, my neurosurgeon convinced her I was safe and healthy enough for the sleeve. My hospital is also one of the centers of bariatric excellence in Maryland with 6 out of only 20 specialized bariatric nurses in the state (which sadly i didn't have one of them otherwise I'm sure post-op would be going much smoother). With all that, I've still had a very hard time. But the severe regret I felt at the beginning post op is slowly fading as my body learns to work my new digestive system. Like others have said, I have an awesome day and then 2 bad ones or even an awesome day and then nausea and diarrhea in the PM (I know not normal but explain next). I was doing great the first 2 days after I was home from hospital (stayed 2 days in hospital but felt like eternity because my 7am-7pm nurse did not treat me well, my surgeon and her PA was pissed). Swallowing hurt and taking medicine was hard but i was tolerating drinks well and getting 50oz fluids a day, 70g protein, 30g carbs. But then I went right back into the ER Sunday due to a spiked 102.6 fever and severe dehydration due to constant overnight diarrhea (I'd say tmi but with this surgery I think nothing is tmi honestly). CT discovered that I had an intestinal infection- Colitis most likely picked up in the hospital. Ever since I can't tolerate any of my protein shakes or bariatric food I've been living off of essentially since my spinal surgery (had to go through front of throat so liquid diet basically started early). I'm not getting enough fluid, protein or carbs and my sleep schedule is completely flipped. By time i get up the DC area heat is too oppressive to risk walking while so weak, it sucks. My suregon is keeping an incredibly close eye, I've already had a CBC and ER recheck Wednesday and will have more blood testing and another recheck next Wednesday which in sure she'll notice bathe dehydration now and lean into me to step it up for my own safety. Anyway, this long reply just to say that I totally understand the fear and pain and regret. It'll get better but it's damn hard to see the sun from the clouds. This is where forums and supports groups come to try and shed hope even if sometimes discouraging when you hear about the lucky ones who had it smooth. I'm down 18 pounds already. This weekend I'm resolved to join a gym. As everyone says, this is not an easy way out, but we will be amazed looking back at how far we came

I'm 5 days post op... still pretty sore... but moving pretty well. I think my biggest problem is I overdo it when I'm up and pay for it later... anyway, I have a couple of concerns... I still haven't taken a poo... sorry if this is TMI.... and I've barely passed gas the last few days. I'm so uncomfortably bloated I can barely stand it... and to top it off... the scale hasn't budged a bit... actually I've gone up 3 lbs... I'm starting to freak out and I feel like it didn't work. I know I need to be patient and let my body heal but I'm frustrated and scared that I've gone through all of this for nothing.......

5 days! So excited! I am so ready to work my sleeve and begin getting healthy again. Dropped off my prescriptions this morning for after surgery and it was so weird. I am still in disbelief that the time is here. So I got my period on Saturday and had it for 4 days and now its gone. I am praying and hoping it doesn't pop back up after surgery. I hear a lot of people saying that it does. I had some different kind of cramping this period it was more painful. I am doing pretty good on Pre-Op Diet, I have lost 12 lbs in 12 days. A pound a day , I will take that!!! It is actually easy now. I don't want anything else.

I'm 4 days post op too. GAS-X, GAS-X, GAS -x strips !!!! I think gas pain is worse that the incision sites. I've been walking as much as I can too. I had some nausea yesterday but that was because I didn't use my suppositories (hope that's not too much TMI). And gas pain can feel like it's everywhere, once you get that managed you might feel better. Of course, call your surgeon if you're scared. Hang in there, we've almost got this first week down! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App