Being put under

RosieBelly
on 11/5/17 7:19 am

Gwen I copy pasted this, rockstar of an answer!

referred Jan 2016 intake May 2016 left programme returned June 2017 final pre-sx class Oct 2017 surgeon appt Oct 2017

Opti Wt Nov 4/17 226 lbs BMI 45 Sx Wt 212 lbs RNY surgery Nov 23/17 M1 -18 M2-9 M3-10 M4-8 M5-6 M6-7 M7-6 M8-3 M9-1(so far) Down to within one pound of my goal and 99 lbs down from my highest weight. I was not a fast loser but who cares as long as you get there! I know the newbies check the trackers and the signatures so although I kind of lost track of how the rest of the weight came off, you should know that it was not fast and furious but it was slow and steady!

current BMI 24.7 that, my friends, is NORMAL!!! Strong is the new pretty!

Gwen M.
on 11/5/17 7:28 am
VSG on 03/13/14

Yay! Glad it was useful.

I know that surgery can be SUPER intimidating. Even now, having had 10 anesthesia experiences of my own, it can still be a bit nerve-wracking. I try to keep as busy as possible pre-op to distract myself. And then I try to prepare as much as possible. In a way, surgery itself is the easy part. The hard part is recovery. (At least for some surgeries. Some surgeries have been a cakewalk in terms of recovery!)

VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)

Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170

TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)

Neesie57
on 11/5/17 10:53 am
VSG on 08/04/15

It was such a thorough answer and, I'm sure, exactly what she was looking for. I've had many surgeries and your "novel" took me right back to all of them. Thank you for being such a good advocate for everyone who is a member of OH.

5' 5" tall. VSG on August 4, 2015/ Starting weight 239.9/ Surgery weight 210.9/ Current weight 137.4/ Goal weight 140/ No longer overweight, now a NORMAL weight. Now that I'm at goal, it's time to move on to maintenance!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Melody P.
on 11/5/17 11:04 am - Amarillo, TX

ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU! Yes the caps are on for I was excited to read this and all the info! Thank you ! As a pre-op I appreciate this so much!

Gwen M.
on 11/5/17 11:41 am
VSG on 03/13/14

Haha! You're very welcome. Clearly I'm working on the "stay distracted" before surgery thing myself today. Good time for long answers to questions like this. I'm glad it was helpful. Surgery isn't an every day experience so it's good for all of us to have a place to ask about it.

VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)

Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170

TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)

Donna L.
on 11/5/17 9:17 am - Chicago, IL
Revision on 02/19/18

I can't add much to Gwen's excellent post.

Mine have all been uneventful. I've had abdominal surgery about 5 times. The last time I had surgery was my WLS, and they had to move the IV while I was under.

Here's a funny story: I woke up and my whole arm had a giant black bruise...apparently they decided to move my IV whilst I was under. I bruise horribly due to autoimmune issues, so he result was this. I have notoriously awful veins that are apparently "wiggly" and move when a needle is getting inserted. To be fair, if I saw a giant needle coming at me, I'd freaking move out of the way, too. :P

No serious damage, but apparently when anesthesia wears off I get absurd. I kept waving my arm around in recovery and making zombie noises at nurses due to my arm bruises, saying I was a White Walker. The bariatric surgeon found this hilarious. Of course I remember nothing!

I follow a ketogenic diet post-op. I also have a diagnosis of binge eating disorder. Feel free to ask me about either!

It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much...the life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully. -- Seneca, On the Shortness of Life

BattlecryForever
on 11/5/17 9:55 pm
On November 5, 2017 at 5:17 PM Pacific Time, Donna L. wrote:

I can't add much to Gwen's excellent post.

Mine have all been uneventful. I've had abdominal surgery about 5 times. The last time I had surgery was my WLS, and they had to move the IV while I was under.

Here's a funny story: I woke up and my whole arm had a giant black bruise...apparently they decided to move my IV whilst I was under. I bruise horribly due to autoimmune issues, so he result was this. I have notoriously awful veins that are apparently "wiggly" and move when a needle is getting inserted. To be fair, if I saw a giant needle coming at me, I'd freaking move out of the way, too. :P

No serious damage, but apparently when anesthesia wears off I get absurd. I kept waving my arm around in recovery and making zombie noises at nurses due to my arm bruises, saying I was a White Walker. The bariatric surgeon found this hilarious. Of course I remember nothing!

A White Walker, LOL!

Sparklekitty, Science-Loving Derby Hag
on 11/5/17 10:25 am
RNY on 08/05/19

I too was terrified of going under. It was so bad that I literally wrote goodbye letters to my family members, saved them in my email inbox, and put the password to my account on the fridge for my husband to use "just in case."

My experience was a bit scary, though fortunately everything came out OK. I was on a CPAP for over a year prior to surgery, and my surgeon told me to bring my mask and machine to the hospital on surgery day. I brought it as asked, handed it to a nurse before going back to the OR, and didn't think twice about it.

Apparently, once they hit the "go button" to knock me out, I stopped breathing and they couldn't get my lungs going. It took them almost an hour to get my breathing back to normal, and they also had a hard time waking me up after because of respiratory issues. In recovery, I had to wear a nose-piece to get oxygen and the respiratory therapist was concerned because my oxygen was so low.

Turns out, NOBODY ever bothered to hook me up to the CPAP, either in the OR or in recovery. Small wonder I wasn't breathing! I was too far out of it to figure it out, it never occurred to my husband to ask about it, and the nurses didn't have a clue.

So if you use a CPAP, make absolutely sure they have it on you before going under.

Sparklekitty / Julie / Nerdy Little Secret (#42)
Roller derby - cycling - triathlon
VSG 2013, RNY conversion 2019 due to GERD. Trendweight here!

SassyGirlTN
on 11/6/17 1:34 pm

I'm on CPAP and appreciate your advice. Thank you!

HW 293 CW 275 GW 175

Start of liquid diet: 275.4

Surgery date - 2.13.18!!!

Shannon S.
on 11/5/17 5:18 pm
VSG on 11/07/17

It's nerve wracking, but literally they put you under and then you're waking up in recovery all loopy. I always ask for something to relax me as soon as I'm on the pre surgical unit. That will take the edge off while they're working on you.

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