2 weeks til sleeve

luckyblonde86

I am so excited and ready!!!!!!!

CNACHEFCHAZZ

GREAT LUCK TO YOU!! you can add me if you like.

Deckhand562

Congrats and happy day to you!
Two weeks pre on Jan 29, you must be in your first week at home? How are you doing? I'm almost four weeks post and doing really well.

luckyblonde86

Thank you for checking in. I am doing awesome. No pain meds except children's tylenol. They did have to fix a hiatal hernia that i didn't know about. How are you doing?

Deckhand562

OHMYGOODNESS, me too! I didn't even know I had the hh! I had no pain after either. After my one week follow up, my dietitian couldn't believe it. She even said, "so you just had a nip and tuck, then?" LOL

luckyblonde86

lol

jcavanna2

I just finished my medically supervised weight loss part of the program and am waiting on approval for surgery from my insurance. Looking forward to surgery...curious to know how your pain levels post surgery were and how soon you were able to feel somewhat more normal after surgery?

I plan to take a week off from work when I have surgery and work from home for 2-3 weeks after that just until I can feel a bit more normal and get through acclimating to the liquid diet post op and get through the soft food stage. Appreciate any feedback!

luckyblonde86

Everyone's pain levels are different. I did not take any pain medicine after the day of surgery. I am 3 weeks out and I feel awesome. Walking after surgery is a necessity, you may not feel like it but make yourself do it. The most pain that I had was in my shoulders ( I was having muscle spasms from where the intubated me.) But that went away soon after surgery. I was back to work before 2 weeks. Good luck with everything! Hope all goes well.

jcavanna2

Thank you so much for the feedback! I am looking forward to it. I have been working out regularly for years - spin class, personal trainer, kettle bells etc so I am already anxious about not being able to work out hard for a good six weeks so I will probably look forward to walking.

What worries me about going back to work is dumping syndrome, only having a liquid diet for 2 weeks and managing how I react to foods - want to make sure that I am not in pain but also that Inknow how to manage my new stomach!

luckyblonde86

on the liquid diet you will probably not have dumping. You will have to take something to make you use the bathroom though. You get a little backed up. I use miralax.

NicoleL874

GOOD MONDAY MORNING! NOTHING LIKE DISCUSSING YOUR BATHROOM HABITS BRIGHT AND EARLY! lol

First, about me. I'm about 4 1/2 months out, 75lbs down from surgery NINETY-NINE over all. (And it's shark week, so this week I gain...I just want to be over 100lbs gone!)

Pain. My surgeon requires the use of a drain. That was a pain. Literally and figuratively. That stayed in for four days. Once it came out I could dance a jig! Apparently, mine had slipped and was causing horrible pain. After it came out, I used my pain meds to help me fall asleep. I would definitely ask your surgeon what pain meds they prescribe after surgery. My surgeon prescribed liquid Norco. We were told by the pharmacy person at the hospital that my surgeon requires the hospital carry it, but many pharmacies do not and it can be hard to find. I'd make sure it's something they have, or that you can figure out where to get in advance.

Walking is so darned important! Just like luckyblonde86 said! They got me up an hour after I got me to my room and then every four hours. After the first night (I got to my room at 8pm) I was up every two hours and walked the entire floor almost constantly. The gas pains were definitely not fun. I felt them in my right shoulder/chest. When I got home they filled my abdomen and my mother would laugh as we walked, I started hunched over and the further we got the more upright I would get.

My surgery center told us six - eight weeks before they would clear us. They surprised me at four weeks and cleared me. Guaranteed you won't feel up to much before then. The calorie intake is so low that your energy is sapped. If you see them at four weeks and really want to be cleared, ask. Beg. Make a case for yourself, lol.

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF!

Everyone reacts differently to the surgery on all ends *chuckle*. A lot of people are clogged up from the get go. Me, NOT SO MUCH. I did have undiagnosed IBS (IBS is a load of crap *heh* but that's another story) beforehand, so I had constant diarrhea. I had surgery Thursday afternoon and was discharged on Saturday morning. Everything started flowing on Saturday. And good gawd did it start. Liquid in, liquid out. It was controllable, but pretty bad for the first five weeks. We move food stages slowly, which is why it was so prolonged. (Week 1 clear liquids, weeks 2-3 all liquids, weeks 4-5 purees, weeks 6-7 SOFT FOODS!) So yeah, by week seven I was plugged up. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. I've never had to take something to make me go! Stock up on "Smooth Move" tea. It works. I also keep little bottles of prune juice and stool softeners on hand.

DUMPING. I hate that word. I had my gall bladder removed in 1998. Since then I've experienced dumping. Having my gall bladder out caused a plethora of food sensitivities. Those, in turn, caused the dumping. It took me more than 10 years to figure out most of the culprits. Hopefully, you won't experience this. If you do, you'll know right away. People think vomiting. Some do, some don't, but it's never just vomiting. Think instaflu. Hot sweats, shakes, cramping, nausea. Mine, once again, is diarrhea. I've only experienced it once since surgery...with sugar. Not such a bad thing, IMO. So no added sugar. Oh well. But, from all my research, most people getting VSG will not experience Dumping.

We do react differently to different foods but even with that when you are early out what your tummy doesn't like one day it may be fine with the next...give yourself time and don't rule things out from one try. (Unless it scars you horribly!) For me, eggs. Scrambled eggs. I can eat them one day, but the next day my stomach says "NOPE!" right out the gate. Just this morning I had my Triple 0 Oikos like I do every M - Th at work. About halfway through my body shuddered from head to toe. It got a bunch of giggles from everyone with me, but I was done. Not gonna push it. One thing to remember is take TEENY TINY bites and take TEENY TINY swallows! Even if you chew something thoroughly when you swallow you have to think about the volume and weight of it hitting your tummy.

Did I forget something? If so, ask. I'm "HERE" Monday - Thursday 7am - 1pm Central, while I'm at work. If you have something you want to ask and get a more timely response, feel free to message me!

luckyblonde86

They cleared me after 10 days. I did not have a drain. They acctually gave me my prescription for the pain med 2 weeks before the surgery so that I would not have to get it afterwards. I have to give props to my center they were really good.

NicoleL874

Glad you're doing well! I didn't even see the date on the thread until just now, lol. I only get on during the week, and try to respond as much as possible. Like I said if you have any questions feel free to send a message, I get the alerts via email and will log onto the boards from home to respond!

jcavanna2

Thank you guys so much for all of your experience! I really do appreciate it. Aetna approved my surgery so my date is April 18th. Excited, nervous, anxious all at once but really looking forward to the future.

I will definitely ask my doctor about what pain meds they prescribe and I believe they said they give you everything ahead of time so that you have it by the time you are discharged.

Any soft food recipe suggestions are appreciated - I am picky with some foods (funny I know) and textures too. Should be interesting but I heard about something called Elli Quark which is like a Greek Yogurt but it's actually a cheese that is less tangy than Greek yogurt, has tons of protein etc. May be worth trying.

Fortunately my boss is awesome and is fine with me working from home as long as I need - he only knows I am having surgery just not what type. I am taking PTO time the week of surgery so I can focus on healing, walking and acclimating. While I work from home I hope to do more of the same while feeling a bit more human and mobile

NicoleL874

One recipe I still use (4 1/2 months out) is Shelly's Baked Ricotta. If you haven't found EggFace, her blog is AWESOME. I cut the recipe in half, and it's four servings for me. I tweak it a little bit to my tastes. I add garlic powder to the cheese mix and I puree meatballs (how many depends on size) to add to the marinara. I've also used the basic recipe to do veggie lasagna using thinly sliced zucchini for the noodles. Sometimes, I now eat my meatballs on the side. (I like to live on the edge.) I have been told that this works well in muffin cups and freezes well. I have not tried it myself yet. (Although I have a full container of ricotta to make it for next week lunches!)



Here's the recipe (I almost forgot! Ha!):

Shelly's Ricotta Bake

8 oz of Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 large Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup Marinara Sauce
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Mix ricotta cheese, parmesan, beaten egg, seasonings together and place in a oven proof dish. Pour marinara on top and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake it in the oven @ 450 for about 20-25 minutes (best) or nuke it till hot and bubbly. I usually made it first in the oven and heated the leftovers in the microwave.

And her website is: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com

jcavanna2

That sounds really good! Thank you so much..never heard of this blog!

NicoleL874

Shelly had RNY back in 2006 and is pretty well known on the other boards I go to. She's done fantastic and has tons of sponsors now, but is very clear on her blog which are paid posts/reviews and which are not. It's definitely one to follow! Lots of giveaways!

jcavanna2

I looked through her blog and looks like it will be a good resource for me, so thank you so much for sharing!

Will definitely need to start exploring and looking for more sites.