I am a newbie and am joining the July sleevers.

My hubby is a nurse and he said that family members bring in huge piles of junk food all the time. He is in Rehab and many of the patients are morbidly obese and can no longer carry their own weight. Nurses are not allowed to mention their diet at all. If the patient asks to see a dietician that is a different matter but if they don't address the issue themselves then the staff are not permitted to say anything, offer advice whatever. My husband is so supportive of this surgery for me because it is people like me and heavier that he is dealing with every day after strokes. It often takes 3 staff just to roll the person over to put the bedpan under if they get there in time. Strokes are a huge risk to overweight people and not reported on enough when it comes to obese people.
When I mentioned to my surgeon about wanting the surgery because of stroke, heart attack etc he just replied you are more likely to just drop dead...comforting thought.

PS. I am a Cemetery Trust Secretary and funnily enough (well not really) the last few coffins buried have been plus size.

 

Yep, she did.  She actually got the chocolates as a get well gift too.  And her friend who was visiting her at the time encouraged her.  Mind you, this is the patient whose family and friends visited the second night she was in bringing take away (KFC and Maccas) into the ward and pigged out for dinner sitting around chatting to her, poor bugger.  The smell of the take away made me want to barf at the time, lol.

Dayle she did not, DID SHE??? That is just ridiculous I can't believe it. Now that is a food addict....it is blowing me away.


                 

Hey IslandCity,

Glad to hear all went well for you with your surgery.  I, too, followed things 100% to doctors orders however as always, everyone is different, and I had quite a few issues while in hospital, recovering well now though.  You'll find that the large majority of people on here stick to doctors orders.

I can understand what you mean though...the girl opposite me who had the sleeve the same time I did, the first thing she put in her mouth (even before our first 'allowed' tea), was a chocolate eclair, and she sucked the chocolate off the outside, eek!!

Good luck on your sleeved travels!  DayleD

Amazing!

Now I don't want to gloat but I do want to reassure anyone who is nervous about their upcoming surgery that you shouldn't be. I was extremely nervous. I cried the whole morning of my surgery, asked so many questions even went to the hospital alone to try and calm my nerves.

Here are some things I was scared of...
1. My liver not shrinking enough because I was only 75% successful on the 2 week pre-op diet
2. Not responding to the anesthetic
3. Waking up mid surgery
4. Not waking up after my surgery
5. Dying on the table (I had a gut feeling I would and my gut feelings are usually good!)
6. Waking up in enormous amounts of pain
7. Waking up to the surgeon saying there was nothing he could do for me
8. Having a difficult recovery
9. The surgery not making any difference

I'm sure you laughed at some of those.

Here was my reality...

1. My liver did shrink sufficiently
2. The anesthetic worked as it was meant to
3. I'm alive
4. I had 5 minutes of chest pain from the gas and other than that have been 100% pain free
5. I was walking by myself the afternoon of the surgery
6. I had no nausea
7. I didn't vomit
8. I had no reflux
9. My stomach easily tolerated the clear broth and milky liquids right away

So in summary - it went really well. I'm going to stick 100% to the surgeon's orders now because doing the same in hospital did me well. He told me to walk a lot to get the gasses moving in my stomach and prevent DVT and he told me to sip my liquids slowly. I did all of that by the book. I noticed that the other patients (4 in total) that were on my ward and were operated on the same day as me, were not walking and some even drank coffee or soup when we were told not to. No judgement but I realise that I'm a combination of lucky and patient.

So excited for my new beginning! I'd love to give and receive support here. I don't want any quick solutions or cheat methods. I'm going to do it the right way with tons of exercise and clean eating. When life throws me a second chance - I'll take it!

VillageCity

Start weight: 119.5kg
Pre-op weight: 118.5kg
Goal 1: 99 kg
Goal 2: 89 kg
Goal 3: 79 kg
Final goal: maintenance

Current weight: don't know. will not weigh myself for a while

I have 5 wounds sites and they are all little but one is bigger than the other (he said that's the one they pull the stomach out through) and that one is a tad tender. The pain isn't any where near what I would have expected though so happy about that.

ooooh do you have a large wound site.  I only had little ones.  hope things get better for you soon

Day 3 post surgery:
So much easier to sip sip today. More pain from the actual large wound site though so being careful with that. Have started drinking optifast for some protein and I have some to use up as I didn't use it long before surgery. All good though.

welcome to the other side.  sip sip sip as the saying goes

I'm all done and back at home! Everything went well. Just trying to get some fluids in.

Hope it went well and you are now recovering remeber to sip sip sip and be patient and all will work out.

All the best for tomorrow.  I did not go on optifast because I wanted to lose the weight by myself.  And I did.

Hi lifeisgreat! 
Make sure you stop by in the Sleever's Monthly forum and say hello to the other July Sleever's! 

That is great you have been brought forward, not long to wait now!! Optifast gets you ready for the tranisiton for after the surgery and also shrinks your liver for a safer surgery.

All the best for tomorrow!

I know. The nurse said I will be fine as my BMI was at the lower end of the surgeons patients and he would rather not have a spot empty I guess. I just thought great I don't have to wait. One of my friends had it done a couple of years ago and didn't Optifast at all. I do realise it is preferred though.

Hi Lifeisgreat!

What a way to go, no room to get nervous lol

But I did notice you will only have been on opti for 4 days? Im curious about this as from almost every other sleeve story there is quite a heavy emphasis on at least 2 weeks of this. 

Good luck for tomorrow!!!

Hello Juleevers,

Having my surgery tomorrow, was meant to be the on the 25th but a couple of cancellations and I took a spot.
I am very excited now and am glad I won't have to sweat it out for the next 10 days.
Not really sure what to say but wish everyone the best on this life changing journey.