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hiya folks. It has been a week and 10 hours. since my RnY bypass and things are not rosy in bypass-ville anymore than in sleeve-town. I have had some,nice advances as well,as some not so good.Rather a mixed bag, but then isn't Life Always? Let's,start with better ones Visited my surgeon yesterday He removed my steri strips, although I had thought since,i was,doing so magnificently good he had just traced the lines on my skin to fool me, there is at least I suture down in each one. I have,6 different incisions/ trocar wounds. A small one between my,breasts , at,the bottom of my sternum. One the right we have a medium and a slightly larger one, on the left 2 medium and one at the top inner surface of my navel . Now I know why,they,told me to scrub my navel very well. Aside of my stomach,muscles feeling very very tired, no pain, really truly. He used the top of my navel, I think, because I have a tubal ligation scar in the bottom. And I do not feel the mental revulsion toward myself after my bypass I did then. if you want the back story,on that sometime, just ask,okay? I was advanced at 6 days to Stage 3, he said my healing et al justified it , so Hurray for ME, although the calorie count does not raise signifantly the diversity,will be nice. Now the bad things if I may I now have pain, especially in Right biggest. I am not sure if the removal of the steri strips and the swoosh of air hitting them? I cannot blame my Dr Needlman, he has very gentle hands and I know he would not,willingly, cause me pain. The reason in was there early? Well I rather expected,a little bruising around the 6 air vents, what i did not expect was what happened. Sunday afternoon while peacefully baseball watching I noticed an amount of bruising under the left,subcostal area. Hmmn Odd I said to myself, but by that evening like a purple veil bruising was marching across my abdomen. I am not,the late Prince, I do not require everything purple, and although it was not really painful , it to me looked distended, every stretch Mark on that side looked swollen and almost back-up. I have a lot of stretch marks, 3 9 and over babies, none of which,laid in my uterus the same directions. Individuals even prenatally. To,me, it looked swollen and warm to the touch, my regular temp was still,ok, blood pressure fine, I have my own,electronic cuff . I laid on my bed or on the couch and watched the progression. Oddly around each of the 6 incisions was a white border,of normality. Joann , the aftercare nursing coordinator called to check on me, they do that at least 3 times your post-surg week after. Isn't that cool of OSU? When I told her about that , she said that is not usual, bruising yes, weird progress no. Let me talk with the resident on duty,and I'll get back to,you in the morning. 10-15 minutes later she called back and said Dr Needleman wants,to see,you in his office at 1 pm Tuesday, can you make it? Remember I live 48 miles from there ,not like I can catch a cross-town 🚌 bus. Luckily I did find transport. In the meantime do not administer your 8pm or 8am Lovenox in case it could be worsening the condition. Over and back would have,been fine but we had to be picked up early because of another person. Her appointment was in Reynoldsburg, east,almost to the next county'-line, mine was on the near north side of Columbus proper so a lot more automobile bouncing than I was planning on.. Well Dr Needleman gently palpate and prodded my left side, I was a good girl, I resisted the urge to knee him in the groin although that knee did twitch a little. He admitted he never had one like that before, hey I know I'm wonderful and I'm special but no one wants to be that special! I can Now go back to my Lovenox shots,which I have a real facility for. Hmmn an Retirement New Business? Card could read. Frustr8---Lovenox Injector---Extraordine Grade. I am to watch for a renewed wave of purple across the old TumTum, otherwise he thinks I'll be fine The bottom bad line-- that 3rd day sorrowful,OmG why Did I do This waited until today to raise its ugly hydra-headed self. Today I have the pain I should had post and 1st day, especially in the largest right side wound, I know,sleevers left side one is largest because that's where the remnant stomach is pulled out, maybe ours is one the right because that's where the big business guns go in? But,sh** it do hurt. And with the other stressors in my life, it felt like Hector my itty bitty,gastric ulcer was waking up from his chemical slumber. See,they downgraded me from Dexilant which worked to Prilosec which really,don't. Their rational, you can open up Prilosec and sprinkle it on your foods, Dexilant capsules don't come apart, NBT I'd be willing to cut them open instead. My landlord has turned malevolent, his wife wants to sell the house out from under,me. and I do,not have the funds necessary for purchase, he wants to take me to court,on the 24th And try to evict,me. And he scheduled it all for now knowing of my surgery date, told him the exact date as soon as I knew. I was about throw something against the wall, find some soft warm slider food Like a batch of mashed potaies, stick my spoon in until Precious Pouch rebelled and I barfed. See,i can talk the talk but today I was having much trouble walking the walk! Then Joann called, almost,like she was psychic, because I was descending to an emotional low point. We had a good chat and we,may have,uncovered a problem. # One has been okay but #2 has been non-existent. I might have had 1 late the 3rd or early the 4th, but nothing since. Well I did pass 1 walnut fece during a bathroom trip,to expell ⛽gas. And I have been faithfully downing a Miralax packet in my fluids, usually Propel or another no cal water daily. NADA So today 2 packets of Miralax, and if no results My Cherry MOM at,bedtime. I said maybe its because I really haven't been eating solids? Nope, if I didn't have hard formed stool,i should be passing smooth squishy ones. Why did I not tell her on Monday? IDK I just figured it was NBD. And her highly trained Nurse Practitioner Assesment, I am full of something and it ain't Sunshine and Starlight. So we shall see,what "passes" both literally and figuratively. And on Friday she hopes to hear good updates, said it also could explain some of my,left side distended state.Oh💩 fairy ---Where Are You?

@LowBMISleever, can you please share your recipe for the ricotta bake with me? I was only sleeved on 9/10/2018 but it never hurts to have healthy recipe choices on hand for when that time comes. It sounds like Italian food to me, which is always yummy! Lol. Right now, I think I would die if I even thought about eating real food but I know at some point I’ll be ready to return to an almost normal existence! Fingers crossed!

To this day at almost 7months, I'm a member of the Clean Plate Club. I have never knowingly or willingly sent food to the starving kids in China. Even post RNY. LOLOLOLOL. I do hate unintentional leftovers cuz I'm sick to death of them. But I "plan" strategic foods that can be repurposed and disguised as a different kind of meal entirely. And then I'm all like, "Cool beans!" I do the following and part of this comes from now knowing and understanding my tool. But you can ask any intermediate post op here how grueling that was for me to learn those lessons and calm the fu*k down with life. LOL! I now know: 1. How much volume and/or weight in grams to serve on my plates. 2. I use tiny appetizer plates or bread plates for meals and tiny bowls for anything runny. 3. I ALWAYS weigh and measure my foods--especially for new meals--so I know how much to serve myself next time. I rarely get full (unless it's high fat meals), so I take my portion only. 4. NO SECONDS. Never. 5. No meals closer than 3-6 hours together and no snack closer than 2-3 hours of a meal. No continual snack buffet. 6. Make half the amount you expect to need. 7. Plan your meals. 8. Make simple meats/protein and meat/protein bases bases and keep fresh and frozen veggies on hand to make all sorts of things. Also keep strategic and choice low calorie, low fat, low carb, no/low sugar sauces in the pantry to disguise things. 9. Don't start counting on shredded cheese to "cover" up leftover tastes!!! Avoid cheese bombs. You will go to The Hell if you don't. 10. Start small--work slowly--progress only at YOUR pace and that of your doc/RD. Don't wing it.

Just got a tentative date of October 10. My insurance just received my package so I don't know if its approved or not. Feeling stunned that the time may be so close. Just wasn't expecting it. Hopefully the insurance will come through. I'm anxious and scared.

For me I started working on my core, back, and legs first. That means a lot of crunches, planks, and leg lifts, dips, leg press, leg curls, lunges, jump squats, squats in general, jump rope, jumping jacks. You can use your own body weight for this but for starting out I wouldn't go beyond 10/15lbs max. The ideal as you are starting out is to get get the form down so you minimize injury risk, while getting your body use to working out in general. I would work on that for at least 8 to 12 weeks before increasing weight. And even when you do increase in weight, do so very moderately and only after a good 6 to 8 weeks of consistency with the current weight. For example if you are doing leg lifts at 50lbs and you've been doing it okay for about 8 weeks at that weight and its easy to you, then go up to about 60/65lbs. The ideal is to ease into more resistance, while minimizing the chances of injury that will cause you to miss more time working out. I do workout my arms and chest too, but I didn't focus on that till maybe a good 16 weeks into working out more. I do curls, pressing both bench, and hammer, curl rows, push ups, lat pull downs. I do alternate days and I do focus training, where I will spend one day working on either legs and back, and then the next on arms and core (gut). I try to average at least 3 to 5 days a week working out with weights. However for Cardio I try to do that damn near daily. Walking daily helps. the more you can average per day the better.

Make sense, since I love NYC, lol When I started with my company I was excited to be assigned the NY territory. Only to find out the office was in some terrible bedroom community in NJ with big houses, wide lawns, and not a damn thing to do after 10 pm

@TX4everLinds I’ve been trying to follow your updates and hoping my recovery is similar to yours! I had the sleeve on 9/10. I was released from the hospital on 9/11. I’m struggling with fluid. Have a lot of stomach pain- i think a combination of incisions, swelling and probably gas. My throat doesn’t bother me as much as my stomach. I’m having problems just finding a comfortable position to sit or lay in. I’ve been putting protein on the back burner while I focus mostly on trying to get water down. Right now the protein makes me feel a little sick. I keep trying with the water because I don’t want to end up back in the hospital for dehydration. Are you able to get your full 64 oz in yet? Have you had any issues with nausea or vomiting? Sorry to bombard you with questions!! Very glad you are finally feeling better!!

I had the sleeve at 19 in 2015, but now I'm going to be converting to the bypass by the end of 2018! Just looking for some people around my age who are also pre-op bypass!

I've only had it happen once where I actually vomited and it was the first time I ate corn. About 3 weeks post op..about 10 minutes after I ate it, it decided to needed to come back up. It was simply a matter of my stomach wasnt ready for it yet as I tried again a week later and it was fine. Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

@Orchids&Dragons thanks, it had me a little worried. I'll try again at my 3 month mark 10/30.

@GreenTealael Hope you start feeling better soon. I agree, the scale seems to have a mind of it's own! @FluffyChix I still can't figure out how you make 400 cals look like so much food, and such attractive and delicious food. I had the same cals as you yesterday. I ate part of a leftover kebab, chunk of cheese & a protein shake, my pics would have been so sad next to yours! Sorry about the lymphedema, hopefully it subsides today. You lost 5 lbs in a week, so your graph can't be looking too shabby. It would certainly be nice if that gain could be contributed to alcohol and/or beer. I mean I drank beer everyday for 11 days or so. That is not something I would ever do IRL. So if that's all I'd have to do to avoid gains, then I have it made! Ha, ha, wishful thinking, right?!? At the end of next month I take another 10 day vacation. This one will be wine, pasta & gelato, and a lot of walking. We'll see what that does to the scale.

Same here, I have to rotate foods still at 10 months out to prevent aversion

Hi Chell, How are things? I can relate to feeling kinda discouraged when you see others who have lost more in the same time frame but I try to remind myself that everyone is different and loses at different rates. I had a huge setback because I've been back in the ER twice since surgery, each time for at least 4 days, pumped with IV fluids back to back...I learned a fun fact from that...IV fluids make you gain weight :/ I was down 21 lbs at one point by my 2 1/2 mark, but gained almost 10 of that back from my 2nd stint in the hospital, and now 3 1/2 weeks total post op I FINALLY got back to the amount I lost beforehand. Now, I'm down 23 lbs , but shoulda been more. BUT...again that's the evil scale talking, getting into my brain, and I shouldn't worry about that because what matters most is that I get this eating part down pat and learn and continue to get healthy. The weight WILL come off - it's impossible for it not to. We'll hit stalls (I think I am in one now possibly), each at different periods of time, but endgame we'll get to lower weight. Hang in there...our brains are terrible sometimes lol

I have been single for a very long time at least 10 years. I never thought myself to be worthy of a relationship prior because I was ashamed of how I looked. Now that I have had bypass surgery and have lost a total of 180 lbs from my highest weight I'd like to find someone. Don't get me wrong I still have a long way to go on this journey I am still very much over weight but not nearly as over weight as I once was. I still have self esteem issues but I think putting myself out there and dating again could help with that too. It's been so long since I've went through the dating phase it's like I've forgotten how to date I have no idea where to even start. I am quite shy in person so that tends to be off putting to some.. any ideas or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

I was 31 when I went to the information session for my surgeon’s office and 32 when I actually had the surgery done. I wish I would have done it 10 years ago.

@jultrim18 my surgery was Aug 15th so you and I are pretty much in the same phase of this journey. I've only lost 14 lbs, 10 just in the first week because I couldn't keep anything down, wound up back to the Doctor's for IV fluids. I still struggle to get to my protein and water goals. The physical and mental anguish is more than I was prepared for it seems.

Good for you! I’m only 10 weeks out and I can only eat three tablespoons of food I can’t imagine eating that much but one day I’ll be able to again!

10/10 in Ohio

Just need to vent. I am about 1.5 weeks out of gastric bypass. Things have been going quite well. Today I had a terrible day at work and went back to eating like before. Of course the difference now is “over-eating” is maybe eating a cup vs 1/4 cup. However, my stomach is killing me and I feel so sick. And disappointed with myself. I know everyone on the forum says people should not complain about loss not coming fast or stalls. And I know I am literally 1.5 weeks out from surgery. But I have lost nothing. Same weight today as the day of surgery. You wait for months, go through specific diet, pain of surgery. I did go up after surgery and that is all gone now- but I keep hearing about people losing 10 pounds first week and I’m starting to feel like I did this for nothing. I was already doing weight watchers and trying to eat healthy and exercise. Will my results be any different if I had just kept doing that? Losing 1-2 pounds per week? I try to be upbeat most of the time and think positively, but this day has just gotten to me. Just a bad work day which is killing my self confidence and making me feel useless. Tomorrow is a new day. Thanks for listening.

I met with my nutritionist as well and she wasn’t as upset as I was about the 8 pounds. She said that’s 10% of my goal weight which is 184. It just gets annoying when I see others losing so much! It makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong and makes me want to revert back to liquid only. This definitely messes with your mind. I wish they required more mental health appointments.

I have Cigna. Approval took about 10 days. Surgery was scheduled about 2 weeks later. Good luck!

I have BCBS IL and I'm trying to get approval for a revision from RNY to Duodenal Switch. I am 290lbs with a BMI of 46.8. On 08/24/2018 my paperwork was submitted. I called my insurance company on 09/10/2018 and I was denied since BCBS IL coverage states that the Duodenal Switch is "not medically necessary for people with a BMI under 50.0". I was told it was in a "pre-determination" status and my surgeon can call for a "peer to peer" with a BCBS IL doctor in which my doctor could argue that it is medically necessary. Has anyone with BCBS IL been in my situation? Has anyone with BCBS IL gotten a Duodenal Switch and was under 50.0 BMI? Even better has anyone with a failed RNY gotten a revision to a Duodenal Switch and was under 50.0 BMI? I'm frustrated since I have been working to lose weight and I have lost just enough to be denied. If I were 20lbs heavier I would be approved. Our insurance is so messed up.... I called my doctor and they have an appointment with BCBS IL for the peer to peer on 09/21/2018. I just don't know what my odds are with getting approved. This is so nerve racking. Thanks in advance.

So my surgery is scheduled, after 6 months of going through all the pre reqs. Waiting for insurance approval for gastric sleeve. I am terrified. Ive never had any type of surgery before, never broken a bone. I am terrified ill get sick of taking vitamins everyday because someone told me their friend regrets getting it because of all the vitamins. I am terrified ill regret it and i cant take it back. Waiting for insurance approval for November 5th. I guess i have until then to decide. My insurance required me to see a nutritionist 3 times each 4 weeks apart. I lost over 30lbs on my own. Ive lost all the weight 3 times on my own and gotten to my goal weight before i ever considered this surgery. But everytime i get there and im like "so i can eat what i want now right" and gain it all back plus some. But what if this time is different, i am 10 years older than when i first gained all this weight my senior year. I went through all this and learned a lot. What if i can do it on my own? But if i could wouldnt i have done it by now? I dont know what to do. I am super indecisive in normal life, trying to decide what shirt to wear each morning is a process. So how do I make this huge decision that I cant take back, like changing into a new shirt? Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Going on three post surgery total weight loss 46 pounds. 10 lbs post surgery. Had solid food this week. Know your limit if not it will come back up.

I'm 7.5 months out and my monthly losses were: 18(pre-op), 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, 13, 13... I've only lost 2.2 so far in September, so it's slowed down dramatically. My surgery weight was 291.6.