Having gastric sleeve surgery saved my life. Dr Patterson has watched me go from a women's plus size 28-30,- ( 4XL ) to a size 6-8 - ( S-M ) and a size 9 in Juniors. I would have never made it this far without the support from the Oregon Weight Loss Clinic. With special thanks to: - Dr. Emma Patterson herself, for always being upfront, honest and caring. - Dr. W. Ruam ( retired. ) - Dr. Bergmann, who is the kindest MNP you will ever meet, and who herself has been through WLS , and massive weight loss. - Dr. Babbit, Chiropractic Physician/Fitness and nutrition, who made me feel welcome during my very first appointment with his warm and loving nature. THANK YOU! - Dulcie Ward -RD, who made sure I was making the right food choices and helped me reach my daily protein goals.
This website and the inspiring stories women have shared here have been such an inspiration for me. I have struggled with my weight my entire life, but at 5'7" and 246lbs I've finally realized diet and exercise alone isn't ever going to be enough to get me to my goals. I'm at the very beginning of this journey and need all the help I can get. This can all be so overwhelming! My primary issue with my weight has always been on the portioning of things. Regardless of how healthy I try to eat, I always consume too much because my concept of "satisfied" is what others consider "beyond stuffed!" How on earth am I supposed to lose weight if I'm so hungry all the time I can't think of anything except my next meal? Plus there's the shame of eating so much more than everyone around me and seeing the looks of judgment from people when they see how much I'm eating has always brought me so much shame. I think sleeve surgery would be such an amazing tool to help me, because if I'm not hungry I won't have to deal with that portion of the struggles that come with dieting! I'm just SO OVER trying every freaking diet out there and failing after a week or two of complete misery. You all know the drill: it consumes your entire life, you lose a minimal amount of weight, stop the diet for whatever reason, and gain it all back plus some. My story is not unique. I just feel so desperate! I found out that my insurance plan doesn't cover bariatric surgery, and unfortunately asking my company to add this to our plan isn't an option. I work for my family's company with an owner (my aunt) who has been incredibly thin her entire life and is not understanding or compassionate about stuff like this. In addition, she is very controlling and meddlesome so I don't want to confide in her about this dream of surgery because I know her response would be to try to pressure me into another fad diet or a new workout regimen and I'm just DONE! I want results that encourage me to keep moving forward with repercussions when I take a step back (and from what I've read, overeating has immediate and major consequences that make you learn quickly once you've had the sleeve!). I'm so afraid that the price is going to be out of my range and my dream will fall apart. I'm contacting the weight loss center in my city this afternoon, hopefully from there I'll be able to start moving forward with some clearer vision and a more concrete plan for the future. Any and all advice you sleeve veterans have would be greatly appreciated! Updated on 25 Sep 2015: So yesterday I watched a one-hour video that was an introduction seminar from the surgical center I'm looking into. Boy howdy. Even with actual cost not shown, the numbers are starting to scare me. ($500/month if I pay by the credit card they offer?!) Am I going to be in debt for the rest of my life to have the body I've always wanted? That concept is devastating to me. I guess I need to call and talk to someone because I have so many questions that I'm just not finding answered anywhere online. One super random question that I'd love for all you sleeve veterans to answer for me is how well do the incision scars heal? Am I going to have crazy gash scars on my abdomen for the rest of my life? It's not like I want to show my stomach now but I've always had a dream of wearing a bikini. I'd like to be able to do that without being like "HELLO WORLD HERE I AM IN A TWO PIECE LOOK AT MY WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY SCARS" haha. But I guess it's better than "hello world here I am in a moo-moo because that's all I'm comfortable wearing please don't look at me ok thanks bye." I also watched a video of an actual sleeve being done. Once I got over the ick factor of looking at a real life surgery, it was pretty fascinating. Scary and intimidating, but fascinating. I'm really hoping this all works out! I miss my confidence. The other frustrating thing I'm finding is that I am about 1 BMI point away from actually being eligible for the sleeve. I could get the lap band but I don't feel that option is right for me. Am I really going to have to gain more weight before they'll let me start this process? Because believe me, it'll happen. I've been gaining consistently for the last four years. I don't want to have to wait for another ten pounds to pile on before they'll say ok! I want to start this process now and change myself for the better, not put myself in another ten lbs of danger before I can move forward. ARRRGH RULES!!! Updated on 30 Sep 2015: I am having the biggest back and forth arguments with myself lately. There’s part of me that reeeeeeallly doesn’t want to have surgery. Doesn’t want to go through the pain, doesn’t want to give up the big meals, doesn’t want to risk her life to get the body she wants. Doesn’t want to spend a year’s worth of vacation recovering from being cut open and cut apart. Doesn’t want to pay all that money when, really, just a little bit of effort could get the weight off. I suspect heavily that this is the food addict side of me talking. Who would give up feeling happy throughout the entire day to be able to continue having big meals when they go out with family occasionally? Who would choose to have more of those unsatisfying (and yet still so good) snacks at Taco Bell over fitting into cute clothes at regular stores? Who would choose shame over activities? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to go out dancing, but have stayed home instead because I didn’t want to be seen at this weight. I’ve avoided old friends visiting town who I haven’t seen in years because I don’t want them to notice how much I’ve ballooned up. I am living a lesser life because of this weight, and yet the fear (of surgery, of losing my closest lifelong friend (food), of failing even with a tiny stomach) is still trying to keep me from moving forward. I think that voice is having its last say. It’s getting loud right now for the last time as it takes its dying gasps and loses the “don’t move forward with your life” battle. Because let me tell you, friends: there is nothing more motivating than going to a photoshoot and seeing the results. A little background about myself: I am a burlesque performer. I am lucky enough to live in a city that has a thriving performance community whose motto is “everybody is beautiful and every BODY is beautiful.” The only problem is, I don’t believe that anymore. I don’t feel beautiful, and I haven’t performed in a long time due to my own self-image issues. I know a lot of people don’t understand why anyone would want to do burlesque; isn’t it just stripping, how crude, etc. I can assure you, I’ve heard it all and I get that it’s not for everyone. But it is terribly empowering. I love it and I miss it and I want to be back up on stage wearing beautiful costumes covered in rhinestones and feathers and hearing the cheer of the audience as I perform. I love it. But when a friend and I got together for a photoshoot this weekend and I saw the results, I wanted to cry. Beautiful black and white soft focus shots couldn’t hide the giant belly that drew focus from the rest of the picture. Lighting and makeup couldn’t hide that I don’t have cheekbones anymore, nor that my eyes look like tiny little specks in a fleshy wasteland of a face. My wonderful friends encouraged me to go, told me I was beautiful, promised me I’d have fun. Told me I looked great. But when you can’t find yourself within the giant person looking up at you from the camera screen, it’s NOT fun and it’s definitely time for a change. The fear needs to stop winning. Reality is setting in, and it’s time to accept that I cannot (or will not, or both) do this alone. That surgery isn’t taking the easy way out. That there’s nothing wrong with my path not looking like the path of anyone else I know. That even on this unexpected path, it’s not going to look how I thought it would look. I’m afraid of a surgery in a different country, despite the awesome reviews (and shockingly few negative issues) of the surgeon I’m looking into. Realistically though, I can’t afford this surgery in the US. And I’m pretty darn close to Tijuana, so it’s not even that big of a deal to get down there. Did everyone else have these freak outs as they went through the process of committing to a life-changing surgery? What are the truly negative sides to this? I’m not finding much and I don’t want to be blindsided when I go into this. I’m so tired. I’m tired of being sad and self-conscious and bored because I’m choosing to hide at home over doing the things I love to do. I’m tired of my feet hurting after walking for an hour. I’m tired of not living the life I planned on living because I don’t like the way I look and because I feel too tired to really get up and out and into things. I’m tired of being tired. Updated on 1 Oct 2015: Ok sleeve veterans, so I am having a phone call with a surgeon in the next couple days (finalizing appointment times now). What questions did you ask your surgeon prior to surgery? I'm trying to make a list so I can get all the information I need, and it feels like a mountain! I want to make sure I don't forget anything. Do any of you have recommendations? Updated on 8 Oct 2015: Here are some "before surgery" photos of me. I am obsessive about deleting "bad" (aka realistic) photos of myself, so these are the ones I could find that managed to stick around. They're the "best of the bad," if you will...but still not totally showing my full weight or body shape. I had a mini panic attack last night about the permanence of this surgery and all the things I may never be able to eat again. Then I looked at myself this morning, felt how sore my feet were as I got out of bed this morning, felt a weird pain in my shoulder, and remembered that I was probably snoring all night (something that is new for me since gaining all the weight). I realized yet again that this WILL be different- of course it will, how could it not be? But the different lifestyle is so necessary. I was never tiny, but I was much closer to an acceptable BMI and could fit into real clothes. It's time to make a change. I'm sure there will be more posts like this where I sound like I'm trying to talk myself into the surgery, but I'm making progress. And that's what I have to focus on right now. Looking at a mid-February, early March surgery date! Updated on 5 Jan 2016: Hoo boy. Holidays are done, all the visitors are back in their homes, and an all-out battle was had within my family discussing this surgery, and whether to do it "right" or to do it "cheap." I'm not discounting the amazing success stories I've seen from patients of Dr. Ortiz down in Mexico, but I was having some real red flags pop up as I emailed with the patient coordinator (she told me not to tell my GP I was having surgery until it was done, that way my doctor couldn't try to talk me out of it! Whaaaaat?????), and staying home in Portland for the procedure was always my first choice, barring finances. Well, thank the Lord on high...that's all been taken care of! My family wants to cover the surgery so that I can have it at home, which I am so beyond grateful for I could cry. There are enough fears around this surgery without wondering if I was picking a surgeon for the wrong reasons. I know myself well enough to know I need major follow-up to be successful, and now I can get that! With the holidays it took a while for me to receive emails from my surgeon's office, but now things are up and rolling and my first appointment is on January 22nd! That's when they're going to do lab work, an EKG, exercise evaluation and body composition, metabolic test...the whole nine yards! I also have to set up an appointment with a therapist so they can confirm I'm of sound mind for this procedure, and do a sleep study to determine whether I have sleep apnea. I'm officially on my way! Updated on 10 Mar 2016: Well, after a long absence from this site (and a LOT of flip-flopping, much of which was documented on here), my surgery date is set. I'll be getting sleeved Wednesday, March 30th. I am mostly over my fear and nerves and just want this DONE. So...yeah. Looking forward to the next chapter of life. Dr Patterson is amazing. She is calm and easygoing and really put me at ease about the surgery. It helped that she has a mini dachshund who comes with her to all her appointments and sat in my lap the entire time we were talking! She thinks I'm a great candidate for this surgery and says my results should be great and my healing time minimal due to my age and being at the lower end of the weight spectrum. That made me feel good. It's been a long time since someone has said I'm at the lower end of anything involving weight! Everyone in Dr. Patterson's office has been really nice, although they seem a bit disorganized (they forgot to have me get blood drawn one time, so I got a frantic call the day after my appointment asking me to come back for that...then another call later down the line where the nurse had forgotten to ask me about whether I had a family history of blood clots...that conversation turned into another request for ANOTHER blood draw). Aside from this slight theme of flakiness, the staff couldn't be nicer. I actually ENJOY going in for appointments! Such a relief after all the agonizing I went through about whether or not this surgery was the right choice for me. Definitely feeling confident about my decision now. I don't have to do any sort of pre-op diet (except for two days ahead of surgery), just eat healthy and try to lose ten pounds. I feel very blessed that the pre-surgery preparation is so mild. Looking forward to this! Updated on 17 Mar 2016: I had one job in the six weeks between when I met my surgeon and my surgery date: Lose 10 lbs. Eat healthy, be active, and lose 10 lbs. It's so easy! That's so little! So many people have had to do so much more before this surgery! This is going to be such a breeze! Then why, 14 days before my surgery date, have I gained a pound? I'm so afraid my food addiction is going to cause me to fail on this journey. WHY can't I stop eating? Even when I'm eating healthier foods, I'm not losing weight! I'm working out regularly with a trainer, I'm trying to make healthier food decisions, I've traded two meals a day for protein shakes, and I have gained weight. I'm afraid I'm going to be a disappointment to my surgeon, to myself...what if this is just the most expensive fail ever? That would....well, that would really suck. I'm off to meet with my trainer. Hopefully I'll feel better after moving and being in the sun for a little bit. But SERIOUSLY, does anyone else sometimes just feel that it's exasperatingly ironic that a surgeon would tell someone who needs weight loss surgery to lose weight on her own? Obviously this isn't where my strengths lie. Harumph. Updated on 24 Mar 2016: I AM HUNGRY. Ok, not HUNGRY hungry, but definitely not satisfied with my raw greens and protein shakes. I work for a meat company that is experimenting with a new smokehouse, so every day they are sampling different types of bacon about ten feet from my desk and the entire building smells absolutely DIVINE....and here I am drinking another protein shake. My weight has come down, so the ten pounds they want me to lose by next Wednesday will be no problem (I think I have 2 lbs to go), but HOLY LORD ALMIGHTY I have no tolerance for ANYONE! I am crabby, I can't stop thinking about wanting food (or at least another protein shake...hooray), and my temper is hovering just below the surface so this is definitely an exercise in hiding my emotions, because lord have mercy. If someone even says something slightly dumb around the office I want to bite their heads off. Friend gets flaky? I am chewing the inside of my mouth to keep from getting all over them. I knew this would be an emotional battle and I'm prepared to take it, but holy cow. I do not like it. Six more days and I'll be sleeved and maybe then I'll at least feel full. Full and cranky, lol! No, hopefully not. Then I'll be focused on watching the weight fall off! Highest weight: 262 Weight at last check-up: 258 Goal weight for surgery day: 248 Current weight: 250.5 My Dr's office messed up the other day and rescheduled my pre-surgery class but forgot to tell me. So now I have to have a lightened version of the class over the phone on Monday. Everyone in that office is SO nice, but I have been pretty disappointed in their scatteredness (I know, not a word. Whatever). I will give it to them that they are transitioning to a new computer system, and that is NEVER an easy task. So I don't know if they are usually like this...but there have been other instances of flaky behavior that weren't computer-related. I was also surprised upon trading stories with a friend who was sleeved almost a year ago that she had met with her surgeon MUCH more than I've met with mine (she saw him about four times before her surgery, I've met my surgeon once), and she received much more comprehensive paperwork about what she should be eating pre-surgery, what vitamins she should be taking, etc. I'm a little worried about that, to be honest. It makes me wonder if I'm missing out on information. Anyhoo, whatever. I'm having a lot of ups and downs where one minute I just want next week to be here and gone and the next minute I'm having a panic attack, crumpled in a ball and crying while my poor boyfriend tries to figure out how to comfort me. I didn't think I was scared up until about two days ago, but obviously I am. We'll see how things go. Can't wait for yet another boiled chicken breast for dinner, along with some plain lettuce leaves! *grumble grumble grumble* Updated on 25 Mar 2016: I had four protein shakes, salad without dressing, and a chicken breast yesterday. And tea and water. I was peeing every ten minutes, I was drinking so much liquid! And I gained two pounds! I get that bodies fluctuate, but what in the actual hell is that?! How is that physiologically possible with what I put in my body in the last 24 hours? Tantrum over, just stick to the road right? That's what they always say. Take it one day at a time, and...keep gaining weight while eating practically nothing, I guess. Current weight: 252.4 Goal weight before surgery: 248 T-minus 5 days Updated on 25 Mar 2016: Disclosure: I do burlesque. I've said so before in this blog/review/thing. These are the most recent photos of me, and hopefully no one will find them offensive. If you do, sorry....they're here anyway. Firstly, a positive: I've been working out with a personal trainer for three months now to prepare for surgery and get in the habit of working out. I can't say I love it, but it's getting better. My trainer is great. I didn't really feel like anything was "happening" and was getting pretty discouraged, until I went to a rehearsal with my burlesque troupe last night and realized that dancing in my heels was a LOT easier than when I was dancing in them a month ago. I have more muscle than I had before! This was the first instance of "life is easier when you work out" for me. I hear people say it all the time and it NEVER has been so it sort of goes in one ear and out the other, but holy cow. They're not kidding. It was such a small win, but it felt so good. I stole a piece of steamed broccoli with peanut sauce on it today from my general manager's lunch (it's fine, we're friends). It was seriously the tastiest, most satisfying thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. Thank you, 1/16 tsp (or less) of peanut sauce, you have restored my sanity. Finally, the pictures I'm posting (and the reason for the disclosure at the beginning) are from my most recent burlesque performance with my troupe. It was a month ago, at the end of February. We have another show tonight, my last one before surgery. I'm not saying I hate everything about myself or bemoaning the fact that I don't look like the other women in my troupe, and I understand the urge people have to say "don't compare yourself to anyone else" and I'm NOT, I just want to give an example of my size vs two other women. Women I perform with frequently. It takes a lot of confidence and moxie to get onstage and perform burlesque. It takes even more to perform it with people who are in better shape than you. The first time we ever performed together, a very well-meaning (I assume) woman came up to me after the show and said "It is so refreshing to see a troupe that doesn't all look exactly like each other! Good work getting up there with those ladies, looking like you do!" I was so crushed. I don't want to ever feel like I did in that moment ever again. And it's tough when you look at photos taken during a show where you felt really sexy, and you realize you had such an epic double chin that it's impressive anyone noticed anything else. Or that you take up twice the space onstage as one of your co-performers. I'm really looking forward to seeing pictures of myself performing that look the way I feel when I'm onstage, rather than looking like a whale of a woman I don't know is standing in the spot I should be in in the photos. Updated on 30 Mar 2016: I'm on my way to the surgical center, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a nervous wreck. Definitely having some significant anxiety. Despite being on a liquid diet for the last two days (and being extremely strict with my preop diet before that), I haven't lost weight in three days. That has been pretty discouraging. Once I get to the center there's only an hour and fifteen minutes before my surgery (or so they say), so I may not have time to write again before surgery. If not, see you on the other side... Updated on 30 Mar 2016: It's done! I'm not in a ton of pain, getting up out of bed or coughing is definitely the most painful part. The rest of the time I just feel very, very full. And sleepy. The nurse throughout the day was TERRIBLE, so much so that I'm going to write a letter. My parents and boyfriend were even horrified at her terrible practices. Fortunately there's a new nurse now and I love her. My meds are hitting me pretty hard right now so it's definitely nap/bedtime. I'll write a more thorough description of my experience tomorrow. So glad to have this behind me and be able to move forward now! Updated on 2 Apr 2016: I'll be honest, I thought I'd be up and at 'em already. I didn't expect to be going hiking or dancing like a wildwoman, but I definitely didn't think I'd be spending so much time in bed. That's where I've been though! I get up occasionally and last night we took a (verrrrrrrrry slow) walk down the street and back, but the rest of the time I'm in bed either napping or trying to get all my liquids down. For the most part it's due to a combination of the gas in my abdomen and the largest incision they made in me (for removing the stomach). That incision is actually pulling my stomach in, and I think it's because it's so big and the gas around it is distending the rest of my belly out so far. That incision hurts. It's really the only painful piece. My doctors want me coughing a lot to reduce the risk of pneumonia, and boy howdy. That is not pleasant. I've been taking my pain meds like clockwork, and thank goodness for those! Ok though, to go back a bit: I got to the surgery center at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning. They took me back and gave me some pills for nerve pain, along with a little dot to wear behind my ear for nausea. After that they placed my IV- definitely the most painful part of the morning- and proceeded to ask me the same questions over and over and over again. When did I last eat solid food, when did I stop eating the night before, am I allergic to any medications, etc. I sat with my mom and boyfriend until it was time for them to wheel me into surgery, whereupon they had me scoot from the hospital bed I was in onto a surgical table. The people were really friendly for the most part. I only saw my physician for a few minutes before surgery, then she didn't say much to me in the operating room. The anesthesiologist was talking to me and asking me questions about myself, and my vision started warping and then I was asleep. I woke up to the anesthesiologist calling my name and asking how I was feeling. After that it was pretty much just resting/napping/sitting in the recovery room. I had a really odd experience where the nurse who was there at that time blatantly didn't give a rip about checking on her patients, because I didn't see her for over two hours. Finally I asked my Mom to go see if I was allowed to give myself liquid (they had left gatorade and a little cup next to my bed) or if I had to wait for her. She (the nurse) tried to tell us that I was only allowed to drink 1 ml an hour! This was definitely not what I had been told, and I was pretty upset. Turns out she was reading the paperwork wrong, and I was allowed an ounce every 30 minutes. It really concerned me that in a place that does these surgeries all the time this woman didn't know what was up. The other nurse was sweet, but he had only been working at the place for two weeks and was very young. Overall I was pretty upset. They didn't even give me a call button to push, so I had to shout for them when I needed something. Which was extra difficult because during surgery they had put a breathing tube down my throat so I was incredibly hoarse and scratchy. When I had to get up the first time to use the restroom I thought my stomach was going to rip in half from the incision point. Standing up was awful, walking was worse. I couldn't get back in bed fast enough. The nurse came in and gave me a warfarin shot in my arm to reduce the risk of blood clots. The shot stung, but the way she was pinching my arm to get it in hurt worse! By this point my family had left for the evening. After a while a new shift of caretakers came in, and they were wonderful. Walking to the bathroom hurt a little less each time, I worked to stay on top of my medications better than I had before (the first nurse didn't come in with meds on a schedule, she just waited until I told her I was in pain). That helped a lot. I drank a ton of gatorade (one ounce at a time) and felt really full. No cravings whatsoever. It was amazing! One of the nurses was even eating pizza at his desk and I remember thinking "oh no, please don't let this trigger a craving" but instead as I walked by I just enjoyed the smell of it, rather than feeling any desire to eat it myself. I swear to you, that is a miracle like nothing I have ever experienced before. Because I love eating, and being full never stopped me in the past! I slept in about 20 minute increments and drank gatorade in between. I tried an ounce of protein shake at one point, but it didn't stay down well and I was afraid I was going to get sick so we backed off of that. They'd ask me to cough, which hurt terribly (it still does). The next morning, I went home! I got nauseous a few times once I was back, so I switched to water and that seemed to help quite a bit. My body is simply refusing sweet things. I can't even take the children's liquid tylenol and Advil I bought because of how sugary it is. I got really nauseous and had to run to the bathroom when I tried drinking milk of magnesia, but fortunately everything stayed down. I am really afraid of throwing up. I'm definitely constipated like everyone said I would be, so I'm going to have to try the milk of magnesia again here soon. Not really looking forward to that. I've also found that I have to sleep with a bottle of water in my lap, because each night I've woken up to such a dry throat and mouth that it feels like my tongue is about to crack open. That's been a pretty weird one to get used to, and I hope it resolves itself soon. Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good! My stats are even starting to make me happy (although obviously I have a long way to go). Highest weight: 262 Weight at check in: 251 Weight after surgery: 256 Current weight: 248!!! It's already coming off and I'm hardly doing anything! I can't wait until I can move more and start working out again. I'm still working on getting the gas out of my system because that is really uncomfortable, and I know walking will help with that. In the mean time, I'm going to try some more protein shake and hopefully get some of my liquid vitamins down. Wish me luck, they're awfully sugary! If anyone has suggestions for less sweet liquid multivitamins, I would love to hear them. Updated on 3 Apr 2016: Well, here's the cold hard truth: the before photos. Yikes. Updated on 4 Apr 2016: My emotions are all over the place. I'm cranky with my boyfriend for no reason whatsoever, I'm feeling excluded from my friends although logically they are planning things without me because they know I'm recovering from surgery, I'm just all in all in a terrible mood. My food addiction is stronger than I realized. I've been able to eat more than a few mouthfuls of soup (tonight I probably had a little over 1/4 cup), but I had about 15 minutes of uncomfortable gas and rumbliness afterwards. Obviously I need to stop sooner. And obviously I don't know how to listen to my body yet. That's what I'll be working on for the next few days I suppose. Weight is down another couple pounds, I was at 242.9 when I last checked this afternoon. I've developed an itchy rash on my abdomen underneath my breasts and in my right armpit, so that's fun and super sexy. I'll be calling my doctor tomorrow about that. Today was rough. I was bored, I was cranky, I was unhappy with my food choices. Based solely on the fact that I couldn't eat whatever I wanted to eat, today was the first day I have regretted getting the sleeve. I know it will get better, that the addiction will lessen its hold over time and soon I'll be able to see the difference in my body which will help encourage me when I get a little down. But man. Today was really, really tough. Updated on 4 Apr 2016: I meant to post these days ago, but couldn't figure out how to get them rotated properly. This is what happens when you hit 30, I guess- basic technology is now over my head. Awesome. Updated on 5 Apr 2016: I just took my first "too much" bite as a sleeved person. Holy crap. My soup is pushing its way back up my esophagus and I feel like I need to burp but there's liquid there so I can't. So. Uncomfortable. At least now I know! People weren't kidding when they said not to eat too much. It sucks. Don't do it. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I would rather be hungry than feel the way I feel right now. Yay! That's the statement of someone on the train to skinny town! Holy crap I'm so uncomfortable. Updated on 6 Apr 2016: It's been a week! I've been sleeved for one whole week! And it feels like it's been a lifetime. I'm down to 240 as of this morning, and I'm definitely feeling lighter. I can see changes in my face. And here are the unrealistic expectations: I expect everything to be fixed already. In a week. I am a college-educated, intelligent adult who looks at the world through a relatively sarcastic, bitingly-realistic lens and yet I feel let down when I look in the mirror and don't have a flat tummy yet, or a tiny little waist. Patience, child. It's time to learn patience. Updated on 6 Apr 2016: I followed a whim just now that turned out to be an epic stroke of genius: I ordered pho. In case you haven't come across it before, Pho is an amazing Vietnamese beef noodle soup that starts with a beef broth they simmer for hours to get just perfect. If you haven't tried it before, I highly recommend it. Think of the world's highest quality top ramen. Anyway, I ordered some pho for takeout from our local restaurant. They package the noodles separately, so the broth was already separate and ready to go. It is SO TASTY and fits phase one of this diet perfectly! And I really don't think I could ever get sick of these amazing flavors. Anyone out there thinking about getting the sleeve, just trust me on this one and try it out. It will make this phase during the first two weeks post-op a total treat! Updated on 8 Apr 2016: The weight isn't coming off. In fact, I gained two pounds three (two?) days ago and the scale has not moved since. I know this isn't supposed to be all about scale victories, and I know logically the weight cannot NOT come off at this point in the game. Even if I were to gain weight again long term, it would not begin a week and a half after surgery. I get this. I should f even be weighing myself every day. But I'm freaking out. I immediately spiral into my fat girl thinking. What if it's because I'm eating broccoli cheddar soup because the chicken broth didn't fill me up? What if I'm ten days out and already failing? Why am I not as dramatically full all the time as everyone else? Should I eat less, and even with this surgery be hungry all the time? I need to breathe. I need to take a step back. I need to accept that this surgery is done and my years of weight gain will not all disappear by the end of the weekend. I'm sure I will be ok. Updated on 12 Apr 2016: It's going to kill me otherwise. The frustration. The disappointment. The stuck number two weeks out. I have not lost a single pound in over five days. I cannot tell you how incredibly disheartening it is to have to drink broth and protein shakes and increasingly boring soup day in and day out without having the numbers budge. It feels a hell of a lot like life before surgery, except now I have (only slightly) painful ugly scars on my belly too. So I'm even less attractive than before. That one is rough. I'm trying so hard to stay positive, but with tomorrow being the switch to more substantial (ie: pureed) food I'm terrified that the weight might not only not come off, but start piling back on. Is this where I am? Eat between 600-900 calories a day, NOT be stuffed the way everyone said I would be, and still fear GAINING weight? Even when I'm doing everything right? That first week was so encouraging. I lost sixteen pounds! This is how it's supposed to go! This surgery was worth it, it was all worth it! I had finally found the missing piece of the weight loss puzzle! I went from 251 before surgery, to 256 right after surgery, to 240. What a wonderful feeling. This was really going to work, just like they said! And then it all stopped. I am 30 years old. that is not that old. I am completely healthy, aside from being fat. I have stalled and I am so terrified that this is going to be the most expensive, most extreme diet I've ever done that's ended up like every other one, except I've permanently mutilated my body in the process this time. Two weeks out, and I haven't lost weight for a week. I'm being active (I'm getting in more than the 30 minutes of walking that my doctor wanted each day), I'm drinking my protein shakes, I'm consuming broths. Today I will start tracking all of it, because I feel like that's the only thing I can do at this point. I feel so discouraged. Apparently this happens. I just didn't think it would happen so soon. So I'm doing all that I feel is left to me. I'm doing what I hate more than anything on the planet, tracking my food. And I'm putting the scale away. Updated on 19 Apr 2016: I can't eat. I can barely drink. Every bite or sip nauseates me to the point I have to sit at my desk and take deep breaths to keep from vomiting. This started last night out of the blue with a headache, then the nausea kicked in this morning as I drove to work and sipped on some water. I haven't experienced this before. Normally I wouldn't be too worried about it, since my pre-op appointment was scheduled for this Thursday and I could ask all my questions at that point. But I had a mandatory work seminar assigned to me for Thursday so I called to try and reschedule my appointment. After getting scolded by the receptionist I was speaking to and being told I would have to keep the appointment I explained that I would in fact be at least 30 minutes late due to the seminar if I was forced to keep the appointment. She hemmed and hawed and told me it had to be as close to three weeks after surgery as possible. So what does she do? She reschedules it for May 12th....SIX WEEKS POST-OP. I have been incredibly flexible with my surgeon's office. They rescheduled my pre-surgery class appointment on me, and forgot to tell me. So I got to the office for the appointment and they were like "oh....yeah. Sorry." I had to have my pre-surgery class over the phone. This was after the original appointment I had with their office, where the nutritionist was supposed to meet with me. She was out that day so I had to have THAT appointment over the phone, too. I feel like I've missed out on so much information and valuable face-to-face time with the people who are supposed to be on my team because this office blatantly doesn't make me a priority. But I was flexible with them, because things happen. And then the moment I need a bit of flexibility....NOTHING IN RETURN. They bailed on me multiple times last-minute and I was cool about it, I give them four days' notice that I need a little flexibility and I'm suddenly the [RS bleep]. I paid thousands of dollars and am getting treated like an unwanted customer at a pretentious restaurant. I feel incredibly let down by these people. Anyhoo... yeah. Now I'm feeling sick and instead of meeting with them to see what's up in two days, I have to wait. A long freaking time. I don't know what's going on and I'm not scared, but definitely unnerved. I'm hungry, but I can't get anything down. And one of my incisions, while healing really nicely, has the tip of one of the internal stitches poking out of it. Which is uncomfortable and scratchy. These are things I wanted to talk about at my appointment, and I can't help that my work is sending me to a seminar. Not to mention, this surgery is secret. Only one person in my office knows, and I can't keep missing work for dr appointments without arousing suspicion (our company is small, everyone is in everyone else's business all the time). I have to prioritize my job! Particularly when the surgeon's office is blatantly not prioritizing me. Last night I had a major food withdrawal attack. Or maybe it's just how I handle stress without my previous coping mechanism (food). I can't even take a bath yet, which was my other coping mechanism. So my two main sources of comfort have been taken away from me, and I just had a major surgery, which is a secret so I can't even really talk about what I'm struggling with to people, and then the appointment rescheduling fiasco happened. I just snapped. It was like I was broken. I cried, I was incredibly angry, I was paralyzed with bad mood juju all night long. I just laid on my bed and watched Netflix, getting up occasionally to try to convince myself to go do something (go work on that project you're doing! It's beautiful out, go take the dogs for a walk! Clean something!) and would end up flopping back down to waste the entire day. I knew this was going to be hard. I knew a lot of emotional stuff would take place, and there would be an adjustment period. I knew the surgery was just a tool to use on my weight loss journey, and that it wasn't a magic button that would fix all my problems. I just thought I would have the support of the people I paid to do this to me. HW: 262 Surgery Day weight: 256 CW: 235.9 Updated on 20 Apr 2016: Here are some side-by-side photo comparisons of me, the ones on the left were taken the night before surgery and the ones on the right were taken this morning, exactly three weeks after surgery. I may have chosen the wrong surgeon due to her office staff and this may be hard as hell at times, but there is no doubt in my mind that this was the right choice. Thank God for photos; they can show us what's changing when the scale's numbers don't seem as dramatic as you'd like them to be. Updated on 4 May 2016: I tried eating a salad yesterday. It had turkey on it and I definitely made a point to eat that first, but occasionally I would nibble on a piece of spinach, a slice of tomato or a green pepper. Ten minutes later I was having really rough stomach cramps the likes of which I have never experienced before. Not pleasant at all, definitely don't plan on doing that again any time soon. On that note, I've been eating a LOT of refried beans. They're easy, they're quick and they're virtually everywhere, so I never have to worry about missing a meal because I can't find something to eat. I eat between 3-4oz and I'm stuffed. So that's pretty cool. But I'm getting bored and would love any recipe recommendations people have for post-surgery life. I hate cooking and know I need to embrace it, but it's so tough when none of the recipes I've tried have much flavor and are a lot of work to get done. Anyone have any favorites? I haven't lost weight in a couple days. I've found not comparing my journey to that of people who are more successful very difficult. I've lost 26 pounds since surgery. I had a friend lose 22 pounds in the first 9 days after surgery. That's a little rough to handle. I'm really looking forward to being able to work out again. One more week to go! Updated on 18 May 2016: I had my 6 week post-op check up last week. On that day, I weight in at 230lbs, which was a bummer for me because that meant I had only lost about 21 lbs since surgery. My doctor assured me that this was a great start and my weight loss was going well, so I took heart and left the appointment feeling a bit better. Flash forward to a week later, and I haven't lost a pound. My weight drops a bit over the weekend then jumps back up during the week (pattern I've noticed, despite my food patterns not changing very much). I am discouraged and frustrated. And it's starting to show. My cravings are coming back. The evil little whispers in the back of my brain that keep saying "just one bite won't hurt anything" are getting louder...and it really screwed me over yesterday, flooding into today. My office had cake yesterday. An employee of 30 years was retiring, so two giant Costco sheetcakes were brought in. And I was doing great. Avoided the whole thing, had some salad, was hanging out at my desk. And then, I don't know why since I'm not even a sweets fan, I walked in and snuck a bit of frosting. And BLAM- the addiction was back. I was insane. I ate a piece of cake, spent the entire night thinking about it, came back today and ate TWO MORE PIECES OF CAKE. And then I washed it down with A SLICE OF PIZZA! I think it's clear that I have obvious trigger foods, and I need to avoid them. Lesson learned. No more sweets for me, no more office goodies. I need to shop and stick to my groceries and cook food myself. Today was absolutely insane. I'm horrified that I did it, I'm horrified that my stomach let me without a single negative gurgle, and I'm horrified at what my scale will say tomorrow. Obviously I need to start working out, but frankly it scares me. Why? I don't know. I don't like being the fat girl in gym classes, I hate looking like I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm super pale and any time I exert any sort of physical effort I immediately turn bright red. People stare and ask if I'm ok, and it's embarrassing. I hate it. But the weight isn't coming off and I'm wasting precious "active losing" time, and obviously sitting around is just pushing me towards eating poorly like I did before. It's time to get my tush in gear. Man it's been a rough few days. Updated on 20 Jun 2016: Ok. Here we go. The weight is starting to creep off again (thank goodness) and there's definitely a major difference between now and the night before my surgery. A couple things: 1. This is not easy IN THE SLIGHTEST. I repeat: NOT EASY. You have to work out or the weight won't come off. You have to eat right or the weight won't come off. You have to eat the right amounts. You have to drink an insane amount of water. I read it over and over again before I had surgery and hoped it wouldn't be true (because there are always one or two people who seem to have amazing results without doing anything), but SURGERY IS NOT A MAGIC CURE. I also highly recommend you find a group or person who can give you advice and support through all of this. Your family may love and support you, but they can't give you an insider's view into this and they can't know what you're feeling. Someone who's already gone through it can, and they'll be the one(s) to keep you sane when things get tough. And I promise you, they will. You will invent new swear words based on how tough this is. It is worth it. I've found a gym for women that has a ton of different classes, all focused on being sassy and sexy. Turns out, I love dancing this weight off. I love stretching. I still don't love sweating, but I'm working on it. Who doesn't want to go to a workout class called Dance Party Hustle? Or Bendy Babes Yoga, where they play amazing pop hits from the 90's while you bend yourself into awkward positions and wonder why you're putting yourself through this. Turns out, when Destiny's Child is singing "I'm a survivor" you can hold that king Pigeon pose just a little longer. You can actually stay in a plank for more than two seconds. And that's pretty satisfying. Each day is a struggle (some monster brought donuts into work today), but I'm getting there. I'm 82 days out from surgery today. I'm going to keep working and keep logging my food. And I'll get where I need to go. Special shoutout to Melanie who I met on here and has become one of my closest friends. She's been my rock, my advisor, my hard slap in the face of reality when I'm trying to do something I shouldn't do or getting too down on myself, my encouragement and my sassy foul-mouthed therapist. Thank you for all you've done for me over these last few months! <3
I have my placements scheduled for Friday. Only 3 more days and I am starting to feel really nervous as I have read scary reviews on Facebook groups. I am hopeful that I wont be someone who suffers the complications that can happen though what I can say so far is that I started taking the prilosec and that has cause discomfort and nausea. Also, it has caused me to have a headache since i started taking it 3 days ago. I am trying to keep my spirits high and push through this anxiety.
This is the heaviest I have ever been and I have been an off and on gym rat for years. But I have a constant struggle of being an everyday gym person who tracks exercises and food. Then inevitably I always getting hurt because of and injury because even going slow trying to do anything with this much weight can cause serious injuries. Then I gain twice as much back durning my healing and it starts all over. I got to the point that I couldn't cut my own toe nails and realized I needed help! This process has been very fast and with my insurance relatively cheap! Thank god! The only expectation (hope) in this experience is to be able to be more active without needing to sit for an hour to recover! Playing with my children and helping out in their sport activities! Any actual weight I lose is just a bonus! I will keep this updated as it goes. I just had my pre-op appointment and labs yesterday! My surgery is set for August 23rd and I will do updates after surgery and beyond!
I've been reading all of your posts for the last month and thought I should introduce myself and hopefully (eventually) help others in this journey as many of you have already unknowingly helped me. Let's see....I was a very active child and teen, swimmer, ballet dancer, runner. I didn't have a weight issue until about 10 years ago, one day I woke up nearly 100 lbs heavier. My BMI is 36 and I've tried it all, I was even vegan for several years. I started out this journey with the intent of getting the band...changed my mind to the sleeve. I'm self pay, so I'm not having to go through the insurance fiasco. I've done all the required work ups (labs, EKG, nutritionist, psych eval, etc) just waiting on my pre-surgery appointment which isn't until July 7th which is kind of a bummer-I won't get my surgery date until after that appointment. Good luck to you all, I'm excited I finally made up my mind to make this change! Updated on 12 Jun 2015: Well crap. The sleep clinic just called with my sleep study results and I do have Sleep Apnea. I'm so surprised! I guess I'm doing all of this right in time! Updated on 30 Jun 2015: Well here's the before. I was horrified when I saw these...taken just a couple days ago. You see yourself in the mirror everyday....yet it's so much worse in pictures. Ugh. Updated on 7 Jul 2015: So excited to get my surgery date! I just have to go on a low calorie, low carb diet until the day before surgery and then only liquid the day before. Updated on 15 Jul 2015: Getting sleeved at 11am Pacific time! The nerves have finally hit. Updated on 15 Jul 2015: I've been sleeved for about 7 hours and so far so good. I woke up in some pain, but they got it under control, I'm asking for the narcotics on schedule whether I need them or not. I've walked several times, first time I got really nauseous, but better now. My 1 ounce of fluids is going down well, it takes me about 20 minutes to get it down. Having some gas pains in my chest and if that's the worst of it I'll take it! Updated on 20 Jul 2015: Wellllll....it's been tough. I think I must have still been high on anesthesia during my last post. I forgot to mention that during my VSG they also fixed a hiatal AND umbilical hernia. So I'm still in some pretty significant pain. I went home the following morning after surgery and the first two days were really rough. I slept most of those two days and took my pain killers every 4 hours on the dot and the idea of Tylenol and Advil was a joke. Getting all my fluid and protein in is difficult, but gets better everyday. Today I managed to get down about a 1/2 cup of tomato soup....it took over an hour. I'm still at only one protein shake a day, I really need to work on that. I tried yogurt tonight. No. Not happening yet. Just no. Oh! And I've lost 12 lbs. Happy sleeving everyone! Updated on 29 Jul 2015: I get to start puréed foods today! I decided to start with retried beans. I put a little laughing cow cheese in there and some Tapatio. They went down fine, but wow I feel stuffed and I probably had about 4-5 teaspoons....not tablespoons. I've lost 23 lbs since surgery and I have 67 to go. I'm sure my weight loss will slow now that I get some real food, that's okay as long as my weight is moving in the right direction. Drinking has gotten easier, I can take bigger sips of water without having that nasty chest pain. If I never drink another protein shake again that would be fine with me. Going to TRY to get my protein through food....we'll see how that goes. I hope everyone is doing great out there in the sleeve world! Updated on 6 Aug 2015: I had my 3 week follow up visit today. I've really been struggling with food. I can eat about an ounce and get sick and can't eat any more. I'm under 200 calories a day. Water isn't a problem, getting my fluids in fine. Protein shakes are a major problem, 8 ounces takes me 4-5 hours to get down so I've been avoiding them altogether. So my surgeon put me back on liquids only, she wants me to have an ounce of whole milk every 15 minutes and 2 protein shakes. I tried soooo hard today. I've managed half of a cup of milk and one shake which took me a little over 4 hours. I go back in a week to see how this goes. For the numbers...I've lost 27lbs since surgery, my BMI is now 32.5. Happy sleeving everybody! Updated on 15 Aug 2015: I set a goal for myself to lose 30 lbs by my one month post op, and today I hit EXACTLY 30 lbs! This week I finally feel "normal." The first 3 weeks of this journey were really rough, sick all the time, couldn't eat, the only thing I was tolerating was water. I woke up one day this week and felt great! My left side pain was just suddenly gone and I was able to eat without getting nauseous. I'm keeping food pretty simple/boring. Lunch meat, cottage cheese, hot dogs-I can eat almost a half. I tried some kale salad last night and I seemed to tolerate it fine. I've been wanting to add some veggies to the diet. I've been craving orange juice like crazy, but I've refrained. Not sure what that's all about, I've never been a juice drinker. Hope everyone is doing well! Updated on 15 Sep 2015: Well the weight loss has slooooooowed. I was in a 2-3 week stall, that was beyond frustrating. But I'm starting to lose again and I'm down 36 pounds. My personal goal was to hit 40 at the 2 month mark, pretty close. I started out in a tight size 18 and now I'm in a comfortable 14. I have 54 lbs to my final goal. Which seems so attainable now, when I knew I had to lose 90 it seemed impossible. My eating is pretty boring, which is good I guess. I have an egg for breakfast, protein and salad for lunch, and more meat and veggies for dinner. For snacks I usually have some almonds and a string cheese. I made the mistake of having a bite of rice about a week ago. Horrible, horrible pain followed. I won't be doing that again! I need to increase some physical activity! I've been bad about that. So things are going pretty well, hoping I'm out of the dreaded stall!!! Updated on 15 Oct 2015: I had my 3 month visit today with my surgeon and I've lost 42 lbs, I was thinking it would have been more by now, but she assured me that I am right on track. According to their goal I only have 34 lbs to go! My goal says 48 to go, so we'll just see where I fall. I've noticed much more energy, no lower back pain, all around good mood which has me back to taking care of myself-new fun haircut, clothes that fit, (no baggy shirts and pants trying to hide myself), and I'm doing my hair and make up more:) Also had a little ego boost while leaving my appointment today...a man was chatting with me in the parking garage and said, "By the way, you're extremely beautiful." I was completely caught off guard and thought "he can't be talking to me." It has been ages since I've gotten a compliment from a complete stranger! I'll take it! Anyway, everything is good. Food is boring, still a lot of things I can't eat comfortably - rice, bread, potatoes. So I don't and just stick to mostly meat, cheese, veggies. I hope everyone is doing well on their journeys! Updated on 17 Mar 2016: I know I haven't posted an update in a while, but everything is amazing! I've lost about 70 lbs, I'm 10 lbs away from goal. I still struggle a bit with eating, it's almost a chore now...I'm really never hungry. Just wanted to give a little update and post an updated pic. Life is good, absolutely no regrets having the VSG.
