Tomorrow is the Day

[mythbuster1304 10]

My surgery is tomorrow morning 1/15 and I am a huge bundle of nerves right now. I can't remember the last time I was this nervous about something for so long. I haven't been sleeping much since I got my surgery date the week after Christmas

Here's a little about me and my fat history:

I was a little overweight in my childhood, but I was also a three sport athlete through high school(Football, wrestling and baseball), which helped keep me around 200lbs my senior year (5'11). I joined the Marines right after graduation and got down to 170 and maintained 170-190 for the 6 years I was in.

I got out when I was 24 and finished up my last two years of college and got a desk job. That's when the weight started creeping up on me. Fast forward 12 years to 2010 after I had ballooned up to 340lbs, I decided to diet pretty hard and managed to lose 90lbs from 2010 to mid 2011. I was feeling pretty good about myself, but for some reason decided to sabotage it all and proceeded to put those 90lbs plus an extra 40 back on from late 2011 all the way to now. I decided I had had enough in June after years of yo-yo dieting and trying every diet in the book that it time for a change and looked into WLS.

I considered the lap band at first for the usual reasons (not cutting up the insides), but after talking to another doctor and reading various forums about a lot of lap band removals, I decided on the sleeve. After spending six months on the insurance weight management plan for bariatric surgery, it's all happening really fast now. It's finally real.

Anyway, this time tomorrow, my surgery should be finished and I'll probably be high on anesthesia/pain meds. I just need to keep telling myself that I'll be in the 99% of people that don't have complications.

Edited January 14, 2014 by mythbuster1304

[Miss Mac 6,262]

Congratulations, Mythbuster on making this life changing decision. You can consider January 15, 2014 to be your new birthday. I wish you health and happiness, and hope that you have some good support from your family. Let us know how you do.

[Katcloudshepherd 630]

Mythbuster1304,

Thank you for your service. I was in the Army for 7 years during the cold war. I feel a great deal of empathy for you. I too gained my weight after I left the military--ESPECIALLY after I quit smoking. I exchanged one unhealthy habit for another. I had my surgery on 12/11/13 and I think you'll do great. Because you are a Marine, you have a a higher amount of discipline to do what the doctors tell you to do. That to me is KEY. Do exactly what the doc's say, when they tell you to do it. I pushed myself BIG TIME to walk, walk, walk and walk as much as I could after the surgery--cause the pain from the CO2 was something I had never experienced before.

Sending positive thoughts to you and hoping you have a smooth surgery and EASY recovery.

[Noor1969 150]

Yes, Mythbuster...thank you for your service.

You're going to be just fine. Please keep us posted.

[mythbuster1304 10]

Sorry for the delayed update, but I haven't been on the computer much since surgery. Here is how everything went:

Surgery took longer than normal due to scar tissue in my belly. I have no idea why it was there as I have not had any other surgeries or injuries to that are.

My recovery kind of sucked. Anesthesia and I don't get along very well and I am pretty sensitive to it. Apparently, I was pretty violent coming out of it and thrashing around. My surgery was over around 12:30pm and they didnt' allow family back until almost 2pm. I stil barely remember the fam coming back and was pretty groggy. I slept until 4-5pm when the nurses finally got me up enough so I could change into my sweats, pee, walk around a bit and hit the recliner they had in my room rather than the bed(the recliner was much better than the bed). I slept most of the night with various walking trips around the nurses station to help with the gas. I went home the next morning and just slept, walked around the house and sipped a lot for the next day.

The gas is terrible and has to be the worst part of the recover processes. The nice thing was it pretty much was all gone by end of day two. I'm still pretty gassy, but I'm no longer bloated. Gas-X strips seems to help.

I'm tolerating Water, Protein drinks, Vitamin Water, zero, sf popsicles and the liquid tylenol and advil just fine.

Due the Dr. Regimen of liquid Tylenol and Liquid Advil, I've only taken one of the Oxycodone since I"ve been home. In fact, now that the gas is gone, there really isn't any pain at all unless I make a sudden move in the wrong direction.

Each day gets better so hopefully I can start fitting enough in my sleeve to start hitting my Protein numbers. I'm also down about 12lbs so far, which I'm sure is mostly water weight.

I was feeling some regret the night after surgery and how bad the gas pain felt the day after, but once that nasty gas goes away, you feel like a whole new person. Smooth sailing now. I'm sill on full liquids for 2 weeks, then on to purrees.

Edited January 18, 2014 by mythbuster1304

[Shadi-Dadi 10]

Thanks for sharing! Mine is in less than 24 hours and feeling very nervous ... Today is better than yesterday ...( thanks for the pals here)...

Congratulation man!