ObesityHelp

 Good Day Everyone!!

I am now 8 weeks post op.  I haven't given you guys any updates so i figured I better or else you are gonna kick me off these boards.  I spent the last few weeks needing all kinds of attention from you guys asking lots and lots of questions.  You were all so gracious and helped me through so much. I am forever grateful.  I am sure I will continue to have more and more questions and concerns as i partake this incredible journey.

I tolerated the surgery well, I did have alot of adhesions from my c-sections so my incision extended about 3 inches below my belly button. total of 12 inches.  I did my best to sip, walk and rest.  I was extremely lucky to have my mother here the through out my recovery and she helped me so much. She tried everything in her power to get me to sip, drink protein and made me all kinds of soft foods.

I had severe "Buyers Remorse" post op. I cried and asked myself over and over, "what the &%*(
did you just do to yourself?' Thanks to an increase in my Prozac, a little ativan for the rough moments and everyone on this OH board, I made it through.  This will happen so get ready for it.  I will admit to anyone, It is sure not easy and a DS is not for the weak!!! People say you feel like you were run over by a mack truck and then he came back and gotcha again. I don't know if this is correct. I think he came to me a third and fourth time. 


I stayed in my recliner for the first few weeks then ventured to the bed.  The recliner was my best friend.  Pain was well controlled. Took dilaudid for like first week and then some tylenol periodically.

I was the queen of gas.  Not fart gas but rumbles. I  apparently swallow alot of air and it would settle in my new tummy. Was on carafate three times a day and i still take acidphex twice a day.
I still have rumbles but gas x is my friend.  Through trial and error, i am slightly lactose intolerant. If I  drink milk, I will have bad farting a few hours later.  

Protein...... Well, thanks to Major Mom, i discovered the vanilla cinnamon IDS. sometimes i add it to coffee and other times I just do 4 oz of lactaid and get it down in like 5 sips.  Early out i did well with deviled eggs. They are easy to get down and have little bit of fat.   I still keep stocked up on them for a quick grab and go.  I drink 2 shakes a day and the rest i try to get in with food. I am about 90 or slightly more grams per day.  i do not eat any bread or carbs except an occasional 3 wheat thins with like  tuna or cheese.  I can eat anything pretty much.  The only problem I have had was, I ate a chicken wing. The skin was nice and crunchy and i think i gobbled it way too fast and did not chew it good and BAM, it sat right in my new tummy like a brick. Had chest pain, i walked and walked,spit up a very small amount.  After 2 gas x, 1 tum and 45 minutes later I was fine.  Do not think I will eat a chicken wing for a while.

Bowels... They are fine.  Immediately post op they were just nice soft yellow guys. It is strange at first to see this kinda like baby poo colors.  Never had diarrhea!!  I would go about 5 am and maybe a second time an hour or so later and that would be it.  As I started my vitamin regime, I became very constipated, from the calcium, it was like white concrete. I ate more fat in my diet.  and that improved.  8 weeks out, I pretty much go once a day in am. occasionally again in after noon.  It does smell at times, but, I found some lovely "Odor Eliminator" spray from Yankee candle
that works pretty well. My farts smell if i have milk products.  This has me a little concerned once i get back to work.  I figured I could just go into a patients room who is not alert and fart in there and could always blame it on the patient. I could tell the other nurses, " ohhhh you better check Mr so and so I think he is in a mess"

Vitamins..... I drove myself and the members on this board CRAZY with the vitamins.  The type A that I am, I insisted that I must get all my vitamins in, yes, that big schedule that vitalady recommends.  Are you kidding me????? I would be full after one pill!!! So anyhow, I  started my vitamin regime with the centrum chewable and chewable calcium.  I soon found out that the sugar alcohols did not like me" Manitol". I switched to swallow kind and did fine.  When I took my pills , I would take a big gulp of fluid and swallow and then somehow i always took another baby sip.  Well, this put more air in my already air filled tummy.  I would feel this rock in my chest and then it would pass through. It didn"t get stuck just felt heavy.  This still happens occasionally.  So now at 8 weeks, I take the whole Vitalady schedule.I can swallow many vitamins at one time. Yippee.

Energy..... I was tired in the beginning.  I took it easy, slowly did things around the house. Laundry was my therapy.  I would get extremely tachycardia when ever i did stuff. Especially climbing stairs and after my shower.  I showered everyday and blew my hair. This too was therapy.  I tried to do as much as i could without getting over tired and then I rested.  New post ops, take your time, don't rush. Heal.  Now, my energy is so much better. I walk. go shopping, cook alot, go to the grocery store all the time, etc.  I am anxious to go back to work. I am a kidney dialysis nurse so i push very heavy equipment and patients around.  I am sure I will get tired but it will be great to get on with my routine.

Well, I think I have bored you all enough. I hope some of this information will be soothing to some Prue. post and just surfing people on this board.  This board is a wonderful place to learn and ask and vent.  Take away from it what you want or need. Some people are gentle as a lamb and others are like lions, but one thing they all have in common is that they want to share their experiences and want us all to do well. be happy and successful DS'ers and pay it forward.

Wows..... I have had little wows here and there. I feel great and I am ready to continue this incredible journey one day at a time.  My biggest wow is my new and closest friend right now, My switch sister, Lori,(ladychef), Lori came to NJ from Virginia to  have her RNY revision with Dr. Greenbaum. Not sure where I met her initially if it was here on OH or through the surgeons yahoo group. She came up alone for her pre op visit and had a few hour lag time for her appt with Dr. G. I told her I was coming to meet her and that she was not gonna sit alone for 4 hours ,we would get some "liquid" lunch somewhere. No, not that kind of liquid lunch.  We went to TGI Fridays and had french onion soup broth and coffee.  We were on the 2 week shake diet thing. We were scheduled for the same day. She was first. Here husband was only going to be with her for the surgery day.  I told her that my family and I would take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs.  We hit it off immediately!!!! Post op she was out of bed first and would come and check on me while she was running laps around the halls.  I had a little rougher time then her but i  tried to keep up. plus I have 10 years on her.  Every time she poked her head in my room I would say " you Little shit!" so that is her nick name now. Since then, we talk almost every day, we ask and support, we go on web cam, we have become great friends. I will miss her when I go back to work.  My whole point here with Lori is that, we are all in this together, if you can help or comfort another switch sister or brother, do it. It is a scary and complicated adventure and we can use all the love and support we can get.  Love ya Lori!!!

I hope this has helped anyone in some way. I know it was long, but it was from my heart and my experience. Have a great Day and see ya around.

Hugs 
Donna

Some of you already have heard me say that my mother was dead against any weight loss surgery.  She knew someone who had a daughter who had gastric bypass and has now gained 50% of the weight back she had lost.  This person had also been through extensive plastic surgery.  Long story short, I kept my surgery a secret from her until I was absolutely sure that I was going to have it done and have applied for insurance approval.  She is a wonderful supportive mother and just worries about me and doesnt want anything bad to happen to me. 

My point of this post is to recommend to all pre ops to DO YOUR HOMEWORK.  My  mother is also very opinionated and will def say whats on her mind.  I wanted to have all the answers for her when she began to criticise my desire for the Duodenal switch weifght loss surgery. About a month ago, I had my little bariatric surgery brochure, which showed all the possible weight loss surgeries and how altered your GI tract.  I got up my nerve and told her that I was going to have surgery in January.  I explained all the different types of WL surgery and then told her all about the DS.  I explained the good, the bad and the ulgly.  She did not say ANYTHING, but "OH!!". 

For a month or so, nothing more was ever said about the surgery.  She stays at the jersey shore right now so I did not see her much the past month but had talked to her.  I did not bring it up to her anymore either.

So, yesterday, I had spent the day with her.  In the morning while we were getting dressed for th day she says to me," Oh my Donna, you have very big boobs!"  I responded with " I have big everything and I am going to take care of that in January".
 This opened up the forum for us to talk openly about the surgery.  We talked about the surgery and expectations through out the day.  I was prepared, I was able to answer 99% of her questions  and I felt totally confident in my decision to have this surgery and its expectations it will have from me.  I respect this surgery  and was able to get that accross to my mother.
She told me that she could not come to the hospitql to see me after the surgery because she cannot stand to see my in that condition.  She did say she would take very good care of me once I got home. I know she will.
We went to atlantic city for the day and she was now telling all her friends, " Donna is going to have Weight loss surgery. It is something different then the bypass"  It made me very proud to be her daughter and to be able to have the Duadeneal switch. 

Just hoping and waiting now for my insurance approval and a date.

It is so important to know all about your surgery and its pros and cons.  Pick the best surgery for you!  Thank you all for all the knowledge you have given me about the DS and I was able to be informed and properly educate my mother on my surgery.  I feel confident that this is the right surgery for me and it will give me life long happiness.

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to tell anyone who will listen about my Pre op Journey. 
As of today, I am all done with all my pre approval stuff.  All my doctors are writing their letters and such and faxing to Dr. greenbaum's office.  I had second pulmonary visit for "Clearance" for surgery.  The first clearance appt and letter was not explicit enough.  So I went again. It had almost been a year anyhow.  So all my stuff is now currant. 

Now to the approval:  I believe that my approval is only good for 90 days once I get it. So.....
I have decided on having the Surgery January 2010.  I dread having to wait another 5 months but this is why.

1.  Celebrating my 25 Th Wedding anniversary in Sept with an Alaskan cruise.  I did not want to be a fresh post op and traveling.

2. Orig anally planned to have the Surgery Oct.  Well as many of you all ready know, our nursing union contract expires Oct 1st. If we decide to strike, I will not get any benefits.  This whole thing is very stressful in itself. Also, it would bring me into the holidays to recuperate and that would be stressful too.

3. My Boss said she would not approve an " Elective " procedure during the " Holidays".

So, It seems as if January would be the perfect time.  Everything will be settled with the contract, I will accumulate more off time. I want 8 weeks and I will get paid for it. The holidays will be over. What better way to star a brand new year then with brand new inners!!

So this means I will continue to be a pesty pre op for 5 more months and then I am hopping on that losers bench. So make room for ME!