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Hi, Emzbee. So good to have you back! First, you look adorable in your latest photo--and I like the black hair! I'm so sorry to hear that you might have a stricture. However, the upside is that there may be a reason you have been having difficulties, and it can be fixed. That should make you feel a bit better. As for the barium swallow, it's not a big deal. (You may remember that I did one when I had a leak. It was at 10:00 at night in a deserted area in the basement of the hospital--very creepy.) At any rate, mine was essentially tasteless and really easy to drink. Gottajustdoit, perhaps there are different kinds and yours was nasty. Please do keep us posted, and I'm looking forward to hearing good news from you soon!

Anna, I started out low, too, and am just amazed at everyone’s progress. I’ve lost about 44 lbs, but 13 of that was from preop diet. I’m losing super slow - I’m lucky if I hit 2 lbs per week. Plus I had a stall that lasted over a month! Start weight 200 Surgery date 2/13/19 Current weight 156

I am on day 10 post op and I am not losing any weight at all. I don't get it! I was sleeved Friday April 26th. The following Tuesday April 30th I was 7 pounds down from the day of surgery. I have weighed the SAME EXACT THING since then! I am following the diet to a T, sometimes not even hitting my calorie goal, averaging a little less than 500 calories per day 60 grams of protein, and the scale isn't budging. What gives? How can someone eat so little and not lose even .1 of a pound? Tomorrow it will be one week of zero weight loss. I'm beyond discouraged right now. Anyone else experience anything similar? Do I just need to give it time? I could cry! :(

I didn’t realize when I lost weight that————— I would be cold all the time. Right now it’s in the 70s and I’ve got a long sleeve t shirt and a sweatshirt on. How many people who have not had surgery and have never taken any nutrition classes know everything about what I am and am not allowed to eat. How much my bones would stick out. How bad my butt and tailbone hurt after only setting for 10 minutes.

Yes I got my approval today. Surgery date 6/3/2019

I am Day 8 post surgery, on liquids only, and am having the exact same problem. I feel quite weak and hungry all.the.time. I'm also unsure what 'full' should feel like now. I have not, at any time since surgery and being on liquids only, felt full in the way I would have previously felt after e.g. eating a bowl of pasta or a steak! I'm a bit frightened that my surgery isn't a success. VSG 27th April 2019

I was ok for the first few nights and managed to lay on my side. Then one night I turned over and seriously thought I’d ripped my insides open. It was so painful I was screaming out loud. Anyway, no other symptoms happened and my team confirmed that I’d pulled all of my muscles from moving so quickly. So I slept on the recliner for about 10 nights out of fear from it happening again. Then I bought a wedge pillow and that meant I was able to get back into bed, I used a hot water bottle S well, so when I went to move I pressed it to hold myself for comfort. At 6 weeks I’d say I managed to sleep on my side again. Although I am still worried now that I’ll pull my muscles again, the fear isn’t so strong now I know it’s not serious.

Good morning fellow May Ladies! Was doing super well on my no junk food challenge until I fell off the wagon big time last night --cinco de fail-o. From about 6-10 I stuffed my face. Guess I will be adding on one more day to the end, going to the 11th of May to make up for it. On the plus side, Saturday morning I weighed in at 183.2 - extremely close to tomorrow's mini-goal. Now of course this was before I binged last night! Hopefully tomorrow I will be staring at 183 even. I will count this post as talking to friends.

Oh no. I’m pre op. My surgery is in 10 days as of today! Yesterday I started feeling a little better and I’m back on the metformin. I think it’s just getting used to it. I’m also having broth in between and the sugar free jello now. That’s been helping. Best of luck to you! It’ll be so worth it!

I am 10 months post bypass and have passed my goal so I'm no longer trying to lose. That said, I still eat healthy most of the time. When I run through the drive through for my kids they both know they have to pay the "fry tax". They each give me 3 or 4 of their fries. They find it hilarious. Oh and I have a Hershey kiss after lunch a few times a week. I got down on myself about it once then thought about how I ate before surgery and got over it lol Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

Also, I take about an hour to get all my medication down. I’m supposed to open or crush everything but it was disgusting. I take about 10 capsules at night and a couple pills. They definitely fill me up. Pouch is little.

I'm in HR. Tell your local HR person that you need to apply for a medical leave of absence (MLOA). If you are in the US, there are privacy laws that protect your medical information. Your company would be at risk of violating the HIPPA laws if someone at the supervisor level pressed for medical details. All they need to know is you need MLOA for a procedure and that you expect to be out from x/xx/19 through x/xx/19. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html

Hi all, I am still struggling with dumping syndrome side effects. I was sleeved Feb 2018, and have lost 78lbs which I am happy with. I have 20lbs until target weight. So all going well with the weight loss. Once I started back on the diet, following high protein, low carb, low sugar.. My new stomach has struggled. I have daily episodes of diarrhoea (maybe up to 7 or 8 times), heaps of gas and flatulence. I can still only eat maybe 4 or 5 tablespoons of food. But what I'm just exhausted with is 14 months of dumping syndrome. Now everything I read and researched says it doesn't happen to sleeve patients, but can be an issue for gastric bypass patients. At least once a day, about 10 to 15 minutes after eating (protein seems to trigger it), I become hot, sweaty, nauseous and suffer incredible fatigue. I could lay right under the dining table and sleep. I get light-headed,and my heart races. To be honest, I feel awful. And I cannot swallow another thing. I chew my food very slowly, I don't drink with meals, and I am so sick of it. My husband has termed it the bariatric "ice-cream headache". You know, when you think your head is going to blow off because of freezing ice cream.. And then it goes away within 10 minutes or so? After suffering with an episode for about 20-30 minutes, it then resolves back to completely normal. The diarrhoea is frequent and sporadic and is exhausting. Especially trying to keep up the water intake. I would go back and see my surgeon except he retired. (Kind of... There are multiple charges of medical negligence and complaints about him, so he had had to cease working. I dodged a bullet right there!) Is it even a tiny bit possible that he did a bypass rather than a sleeve on me? Are the symptoms I am suffering not associated with a sleeve with anyone else? I just don't really know what to do. I keep thinking it will resolve but 14 months later it is as bad as it was in the first month.

Mine was robotic. There were 2 very experienced surgeons there the entire time. My time in surgery was normal, and my recovery was as well. My team is fantastic. All of their bariatric surgeries are robotic. It allows for greater dexterity and more arms in there working. Personally, I was comforted by that fact, human reactions are pretty darn fallible. Robot arms are steadier. This is from the first study I looked up: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286948/ Robotic vs. standard laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass A systematic review of robotic vs. laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass identified 10 studies, which included results for 2,557 patients (15). The overall major and minor complications did not differ significantly between the robotic and laparoscopic group. The rates for anastomotic leak, bleeding, stricture, and reoperation did not differ significantly.

This may be old but relevant for me in 2019. It never occurred to me they might not operate if they see someone's liver is too big on the operating table. I probably shouldn't have found this just 9 days away from my surgery date lol. I had a small cheat on day 2 of my pre-op diet but i've been a good girl ever since (now on Day 5).

This might need to be updated to say May 2019 just to keep up to date with the year :). Anywho, 5/15 is my day. It can't come soon enough.

@yessi1976 @vanmatre @CNDC @VeeAurora We’re all the 05/14/19 Quintuplets!!! @VeeAurora, we’ll just count you as like the one born first at 11:59pm 05/13/19 and the rest follow the next day LOL 😂🤣 Best of luck ya’ll!!! Let’s keep in touch ❤️

I started my Surgery Process in March 2018 and I didn't get my surgery until April 2019. I see a huge difference between last year and now! 455-375 lbs Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using BariatricPal mobile app

May 1st Starting weight 170 Status-post op Personal goal-lose 10 lbs I’m twenty pounds and about 10 weeks from my one year surgi-versary

People speak of having no pain afterwards, but for me it was horrific pain. Now I will tell you I have had 5 abdominal surgeries and this was the worst. I was on pain medicine for a full 10 days and round the clock for 7 days. I too, had trouble laying on my side. I laid on my back mostly. If I took both pain medicines I could somewhat lay on my side. The good news is it gets better in about a weeks time. I hope you feel better soon!

Although I do not have an exact date just, I know I am going to have surgery towards the end of May or beginning of June 2019. I have been having appointments since the beginning of this year, but I still have not found the right way in which I should tell my Supervisor that I need the time off for surgery? I did not want to say specifically that it is bariatric surgery/weight loss surgery though. I don't feel ashamed by having this surgery, its just that to me this is so personal and I do not feel comfortable with telling anyone at work what I am going to have done. Does anyone have any tips on how I can word it or has anyone been in this same situation? Also, apart of me is wondering if I can actually get the time off needed. I have accrued PTO hours, but Im still figuring out how all of that can work for me. If anyone has any tips or advice or anything in general, I would really appreciate it, this is my first ever surgery and I am new to all of this. Thank you.

Although I do not have an exact date just, I know I am going to have surgery towards the end of May or beginning of June 2019. I have been having appointments since the beginning of this year, but I still have not found the right way in which I should tell my Supervisor that I need the time off for surgery? I did not want to say specifically that it is bariatric surgery/weight loss surgery though. I don't feel ashamed by having this surgery, its just that, to me, this is so personal and I do not feel comfortable with telling anyone at work what I am going to have done. Does anyone have any tips on how I can word it or has anyone been in this same situation? Also, apart of me is wondering if I can actually get the time off needed. I have accrued PTO hours, but Im still figuring out how all of that can work for me. If anyone has any tips or advice or anything in general, I would really appreciate it, this is my first ever surgery and I am new to all of this. Thank you.

They very possibly could have, when YOU are in pain ,often you don't have the Brain God Gave A GOPHER! I finally figured out the source of my very first ulcer, Hector, that I brought into the RNY mix. Ok, I have been " cheery" every since I was a small child, every cold virus visits my lungs and engenders mucus to get rid of. My PCP gave me frequently Capmist, a lovely expectorant, got rid of my lung mucus but had the effect of minimizing if not destroying my gastric mucus layer. At the same time, I was also having arthritis flares, I am the unhappy possessor of both varieties, Osteo and Rheumatoid. Orthopedic surgeon says Take Advil and since you are such a BIG Girl take then every 4-hours! Well both doctors are Graduates of very reputed Colleges of Medicine, did I question THEM? Nope, just kept on until Hector showed up and. nearly chewed a hole through my Gastric Well. When I consulted my. Gastroenterologist, he was almost perforated, and I was on Omeprazole therapy at that time. It DOES NOT WORK for me! Okay fast forward to Surgery last September 5th, that went well but among my post- surgeries is my non-friend Omeprazole, I told them at that time, we are Going to have problems,it isn't going to be Gastroprotective! Please let me take Dexilent which does work for ME! I was told the professional equivalent of "Please shut up and give the meds we have ordered a chance to work, we are the educated and licensed individuals. Give yourself the chance to heal and heal correctly!" Well I am nothing but compliant, I took each med faithfully and at proper intervals. Even opened the Omeprazole capsules and sprinkled it in a teaspoon of unsweetened applesauce, that was the excuse Shannon one of the NP gave me for Omeprazole instead, shoot I could have cut my 60 mg capsules,of Dexilent open and shook it on! Well 2 weeks in I started fussing, told them" I am starting to get,ulcer symptoms again!" been there before, knew WHAT it feels like. And every Man-Jack said I was delusional. I was not giving my new pouch a chance to heal properly, I was being nothing but a pain in the backside! Finally at 6 weeks, I suspect to Shut up my Mouth, they scheduled an Endoscopy, that was October 12th, went peacefully to sleep, when I awoke Dr Noria, my surgeon's Junior Partner, who does their endoscopies because she likes doing them, shook my hand and stated " You were correct, you have a very irritated pouch, 2 ulcers within and severely stenosed, that's why you are frequently having emesis, it's like a pin-hole, only liquids make it through. If that isn't enough you have 5 additional ulcers on the back wall of your jejunem, and those do look wicked, I will be giving you script for Carafate, every 6 hours around,the clock,we will get,on top of this but I was not able to dilate your stomal opening today" well I started having attempts at 2 weeks, a month later, the end of the month of November I was hospitalized for a week because I was malnourished and protein anemic, that's when I received my PICC line, was fed TPN every 12 hours to Give my GI,system a chance to heal and THAt was a 3 months duration, in that time I still was receiving frequent endoscopies, I have now had a lifetime total of 13, 10 with Dr Noria, and now it is believed one more and it should stay open. I would have stented ME before now, started me on Carafate from the start since I was a proven Ulcer Producer, but I don't have the medical licenses, certification of surgical skills, I am only the sufferee, But I see a future, there is hope for me AHEAD and they feel by September I should be over this all. After final endoscopy which should be June or July 4th at latest, at my next visit in August. the final decision will be made, whether further surgical intervention is needed or whether. I have completely become open , functional and ulcerations are healed. But at this point, betting odds are 8 to 5 further surgical repair. I know this was long but now you and all the readers know how things stand with the World's Oldest RNY recipient and No, despite everything in my bumpy path, I DO NOT REGRET MY BARIATRIC surgery, I have a lot more. of Life Achievements Ahead.

If you have never tried to sous vide meat (chicken, pork, etc), I HIGHLY recommend it. If you then sear in the juices afterwards, it becomes heavenly. It really changes how it tastes and makes it soooo juicy. My husband just yesterday sous vide cooked a lot of skinnless chicken breast for me and then pan "fried" it (just a little oil salt/pepper, garlic powder, etc) . Then he sliced it to look pretty and measured out 150 portions to vacuum pack individually. (Im pre-op so 150g maybe more than I can have post-op..dunno.) Those then went into the freezer. So today, I pulled out one pack and defrosted/warmed it in the microwave while I was cooking some asparagus with a dash of parmasean. It took me all of 10-15 minutes to prepare and boy was it good. Even when Im post-op, I am so looking forward to this kind of meal.

Hoping today is a Good Sunday, yesterday was mffp, woke up and couldn't sleep, went and nibbled protein at 5AM, don't think my count was high enough to endanger my downward weight plummet. Really hoping to be 210 at months end, at least be 220 or less on Friday this week. Was 224 on last Wednesday, dropping 2 to 3 weekly, probably be weighed again Thursday at Dietician appt, was supposed to see him last Wed but he wasn't able to see me then. OMG I just realized - I am turning into one of those people I used to make fun of, a calorie'Macro freak. Maybe we all reach that point, so I am in the clinic twice in a 8 day span, N.P. happy with my weight results but seeing if I can get balanced better on nutrients that I don't lose to emesis. Precious Pouch has no sense of humor, but I am trying so hard to make this journey perfect with my imperfect self. Go and make myself some home-made kind of soup , I have something planned, kind of course ground broc- cauli- cheese, got some frozen Green Giant riced broc- cauliflower, going to add that to the soup. Finishing up mixed veggie beef bone broth soup, defrost last portion today, maybe lunch as soon as meds settle. Still have to tuck in Calcium and Vitamin D after 2 hours and then space my Ferrocite away from that and food. And I slept in after my protein nibble in the night, didn't get back up until 11, good thing I didn't request a church to pick-up this AM, I would have to gone in leggings and a OSU sweatshirt. Got to get a church dress smaller but still covering up my figure flaws, do I buy an 18 or remain in a 20-22, and hope it doesn't look baggy by the end of the month when I really should attend? My former go-to-church is. hanging like a cancer chemo victim on me. Last time I went that dressed, I ended up in dark slacks and dressy top instead. Poor Old Faithful is ready for the Donation Box, not really sure if it was a 24 or 26, but it looks like a mission barrel survivor and I don't feel like cutting it down somehow. Bye Bye navy 👗 dress, you can find a new home now! I dropped to a 26 after leaving 28-30, stayed there a while, dropped right past 24, barely skimmed through 22, into 20s and now teetering on brink of 18s. Newest dressy top is a 19 Junior and "Thank You God" it fits now like a custom-tailored item! Tried on 18 dress slacks other day, too tight in rise yet, split me like thong panties, yet I'm going to slid out of my 2 pairs of 20-22 dress slacks if I don't figure a way of elasticizing them smaller, starting to gap where my booty used to be, Baby has round butt cheeks instead of a shelf of flesh back there, used to make Sir MixALot short of breath, if it continues, I may look " normal" or dare I say, flattened? Oh,i thought I was cursed with Big Mama- good until my dying day, this RNY tool is working but like many other tools I am not that far from clumsy with it. Oh I will get better. & coordinated with practice!