Obesity Surgery WP Blog

I am lucky to be finally be off of daily meds for severe nausea and
vomiting (for those who dont know, Ive had to be on them since my
surgery on 09-18-2002) but I still have to take them the first two
days of my period…does anyone get into this? cant really figure it
out but without meds i cant even keep water down at those times…
dont get me wrong..at least its not 24hours a day now..I can handle
feeling icky and meds for 2 days…just wondering if i was the only
one like this. oh, and I finally get to eat real food (hey, you try
eating broth, jello and water for 2 months straight-gets really old,
really fast!!!) i have found something i enjoyed before surgery that i
still enjoy… barbeque ribs..well, now its bbq rib…but w

Hi, my name is Lea and I am 27 years old. I have a bmi of 43 and have
been overweight my entire life. I have been on every diet you can
imagine, especially as a teenager (highschool was pure hell!). My
doctor promises me now that if I do not do something and keep the
weight off I will have type 2 diabetes within 5 years (huge family
history of it). He also thinks my thyroid problem could be helped by
my losing weight. He recommends the surgery. He says it has shown
more of a percentage of keeping the weight off longterm.
I will be honest about it, I am slightly nervous. I think the main
reasons I am nervous though is because of “everyone else’s” opinions.
But I do stop and think that they are not living my life. They arent
the ones with health problems. they arent the ones who have children
who are embarassed when Mom comes up to school. They arent the ones
who get depressed when they have to buy clothes. they arent the ones
who have to think about being here to raise my children. What do they
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This morning I got up and cooked my family breakfast. I had almost
no pain at all. I cooked them eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, my
favorite breakfast. What I found to be amazing is that I was not
hungry. Before my surgery I would have ate 2 eggs, 3 pieces of
bacon, and two servings of biscuits and gravy. I have had some head
hunger though. Last night everyone had double chocolate chip cake
and man did I want it, but I told myself Kim this is all in your
head and the urge went away. I know now that I can make it. I have
been blessed with a very easy recovery so far,(knock on wood). I was
able to lay flat on my back and on my side last night, still cant
get comfortable though. That was a major achievement. To all of the
pre-ops it is worth the discomfort I got on the scale this morning
and I have lost 13lbs. Thats right 13lbs can you believe it in five
days. I also no longer take blood pressure meds or reflux meds. It
is wonderful. I keep getting stronger each day. I do get tired
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Hello,
I’ve had my initial consult and I qualify for the procedure. I see the
surgeon in February ,which is when they will submit to the
insurance company. I am under the impression that if everything
goes as they expect , I will have the surgery in April or May 2003.
The physician says it will be a good idea to try and take off
weight before then. Have your doctor’s wanted you to diet before
the suurgery? Just wondering. He didn’t say that I HAD to diet.
Sheri

Good Morning -
Are you all getting tired of me yet? I just keep
coming up with more questions and I want to be fully
informed as I go into this surgery.
1 - what is the average amount bypasses?
2 - what is the amount of common channel left?
3 - do most get transected and stapled? or just
stapled? what do I need to request?
4 - how big is the average pouch?
5 - how big is the average stoma?
6 - what are the out incisions and inner incisions
closed with most likely?
That’s it for now.
I hope you all have a great week!
James Malone
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I am almost 3 weeks post op and have hit a plateau. I lost 22lbs in
the first two weeks, but I have not lost a pound since then. I even
regained 1 pound. I am wondering if it is normal to reach a plateau
so early. I think I have been eating right, I have started walking 15
to 20 mins a day and spend most of my day out doing errands. If
anyone has any thoughts on this please let me know.
Barbara

Thank you all so much for responding to my previous post. I am so
thankful to have received various responses as I realize each person
is different. It gave me some perspective to my situation. I am now
waiting insurance approval and praying for surgery before the end of
the year. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Sincerly, Shell
5′3/249lbs

My Open was $8000 LESS than Lap. Sorry for the misspeak!
Barbara Herrera

Hi, I am now post op so this message is for James and others wondering about the
first days.. Surgery was on Nov.18. I arrived at the hospital 2 hours early as
requested and and they rushed thru all the pre op stuff ( wt, pee,blood work,
meet the docs, start the iv and off they wheeled me an hour early which was a
blessing, no time to change my mind. lol. As I was going down the hall I felt a
little stoned and asked the anesthetist if he gave me something already . He
said yes and I don’t remember getting into the OR.
I do remember waking from a deep sleep by pain in the recovery room. Moaning
helped and it attracted the recovery room nurse who had a syringe ready and I
was out cold again. I guess I went to my room ~2 hours later and awoke long
enough for someone to explain about the PCA pump and that I would need to get up
soon.
I appreciated there being a clock on the wall so I could check the time. Next
time I awoke it was cause my back ached and so did my bladder so I rang and told
the nurse I wanted to get up and she was surprised-didn’t expect me to surface
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Has anyone ever tried the calcium nasal spray? Sounds like a good idea for
post ops…but I have not seen anyone write about using it. Tammie