Thank god I haven't had surgery yet..and a question or 2

Because this last week has been a fail of epic proportions. Last Wednesday, I had my appointment with the dietician, and was very upbeat.

Then I get home and learn that my mom had died, and it was ALL downhill from there. (Go figure)

I spent the last week doing everything I had stopped doing to prep for surgery. Drank Diet Pepsi and beer, ate crap food, stopped eating regularly...it was a train wreck. Now I'm starting to get back on the horse. I hope I can regain my composure sometime soon!

Now to the questions:
1) Post surgery, what do you do when encountered with this kind of tragedy? Emotional eating is an issue for lots of us here...any tips?

2) Suddenly worried I'm going to end up with a sleeve as opposed to the RNY. I'm a big guy, and (pending a follow up ultrasound I did yesterday) I may have an enlarged spleen. Has anyone had an issue getting an RNY due to a large spleen?

Thanks, everyone!

first I am so sorry about your mom... give yourself a break the important part is you pick yourself up and get back on the bench again.... and sounds like you are doing just that.

Emotional eating... you actively work on alternative ways to deal with stress like walking, or bike riding or doing a puzzle or whatever you can to relax that doesn't involve food...

its always a work in progress.

Juls

Sorry about your Mom and it is hard when you are an emotional eater. Believe me I know.  The one thing that I have learned to do is when I am really upset get my running shoes on and get out there and run. It helps.  I have also found because I exercise everyday It seems easier to handle any stress I may have. When I am exercising it allows me to let it go. I also try and say is eating going to solve it and I know the answer.  It is also ok to ask for help on how to handle stress. You will work it out for you. 

If you do have to have the sleeve don't worry a lot of people have had the sleeve and have lost the weight. Just breath and take care of yourself

I am only about 5 weeks out, so can't help too much with strategies. 

I just wanted to send my condolences. 

Sorry to hear about your mom ( hugs). I hope you keep on trying to get healthy. Cindy

I'm so sorry about your mom, My thoughts and prayers are with you. -hugs- 

When I feel that I need to eat crap food and stuff I usually go for a walk or do some yoga, to keep me from eating all the bad stuff. 

 

~Lisa

My condolences, very sorry about your mom.

Can't help with advise regarding emotional eating - not my thingy, but generally, I try to avoid overeating and grazing by keeping away from kitchen - If I can get out of home, I always do it. Another thing that works for me (I guess it's an addiction transfer) is adrenalin rush - after surgery I used to do kickboxing, then skydived, last winter started speed skating - anything to get my "high".

 

As for getting a sleeve instead of RnY, why do you worry about this option? So far I mostly see people fighting to get VSG, not the opposite. Is your BMI extremely high and you believe you need malabsorption? With RnY it's only a temporary effect, and after the honey moon period your caloric absorbtion is restored to preop level.

I never heard about anyone having issues due to enlarged spleen, but your surgeon will tell you for sure. Another thing that we often forget -  if the surgery cannot be done laparascopically, there is still an option of open surgery. It's not as scary as it sounds. I had an open surgery - no biggie.  A friend of mine had her lap RnY stopped  due to heavy internal scarring and adhesions from other surgeries, She had an open surgery a few months later with another surgeon - a more experienced one.

There are lots of options and while "educators" don't necessarily talk about it at orientation, your surgeon can be quite resourceful and will find the best way to operate on you, whatever your health situation is.

By the way, don't know what a big guy means, I was a big girl - BMI of 62, and the bigest guy around was Jeff with BMI of 90 - he had two stages DS, started with VSG, BTW. So however big you are - there are always surgical options for you.

Good luck.

I am very sorry to hear about your Mom. Emotional eating is hard to overcome. Thing to remember, post op, sometimes your tastes change, over eating and eating crap may make you physically ill, shear fear is enough to keep me away from trying the crap food. You can do this, allow yourself time to heal. And give yourself a break. hugs.

  Sorry to hear about your Mom, my thoughts are with you.     Unfortunately I have no tips, I am still pre-op, still struggling like you with emotional eating and trying to be aware of my stress triggers.  I wish I could run off the stress like these fit post-ops!  How freeing that must feel!    

My condolences on your Mom.  I'm the opposite, I get stressed and I have to force myself to eat.  Trust me, it's not any better than emotional eating.

My best advice is to talk to someone.  Not necessarily a therapist right away, but a friend.  Or many friends.  It does help to talk about things.   It's not something you can run to every time stress happens, but for the loss of a close family member, perhaps you could seek out a local support group.

If you can, go for a walk when you get stressed.  Or keep a journal, write down what's stressing you out.  Writing it out helps to release emotions.

As for getting the sleeve, don't worry, you can do just as well with that as an RNY.

Cathy