bryanb
a little over 6 months
Aug 04, 2008
Ok...i am now just over 6 months since my surgery and i have lost 120 lbs. since the surgery. a total loss of about 145 from when i started the process. I feel a lot better these days, but I still have my moments. A moment was like last night when i went to eat at my mother in laws and she made mushroom soup and dumplings. I had to taste a dumpling of course...i ate about 1/3 of a dumpling....that was it. i was ill. my stomach hurt and i threw it up about 20 minutes later....I later ate my stand by of cottage cheese and yogurt...with salt...
anyone else have cravings for salt? i have to salt everything these days. My doctor did a chem panel and said my sodium level was on the low side of normal...he said to salt away...
omg.....i crave salt. but ok...he says no problem.
I am only eating about 750 calories a day. The nutritionist and doctors want me at 1200 to 1500 calories a day...there is no way on god's green earth I could eat that much. I am excercising each day and walking about a mile.
anyone else have cravings for salt? i have to salt everything these days. My doctor did a chem panel and said my sodium level was on the low side of normal...he said to salt away...
omg.....i crave salt. but ok...he says no problem.
I am only eating about 750 calories a day. The nutritionist and doctors want me at 1200 to 1500 calories a day...there is no way on god's green earth I could eat that much. I am excercising each day and walking about a mile.
Today was best day yet.
Feb 20, 2008
Today really was the best day for me. Two days ago I was vomiting after eating a small piece of trout. Today I walked 1.5 miles in the morning and a bit in the afternoon. I felt good. I know I did not drink enough today though. I am staying up to try and drink some more before i go to sleep. We gotta keep hydrated.
ripped open incision
Feb 11, 2008
Ok..everything was going along pretty good. I walked 2 miles in the morning and then in the evening took my son to the health club. I walked about 2 miles on a treadmill and took a shower at the club and steamed a little in the sauna (5 minutes) and then showered again. I came home and about an hour later went to change to get ready to sleep. I touched my left side with my hand and came away with a thick whitish liquid from my side. it then changed to a clear liquid tinged with blood. I immediatlley called the surgeion on call and they said as long as it was not "pouring out" to go see a dr in an emergency room in the morining. So saturday morning i went to see a dr and he gave me keflex liquid bid. By monday the incision had closed up again and was no longer leaking. So I guess I am ok. I called the surgeon and left messages this monday morning, but have not had a return call yet ( it is now 11:55 am) and I called at 10 am and at 11am.
pain tonite
Jan 31, 2008
I had a great day today. Walked, did some computer work. Cooked dinner for family. Helped one of my kids with homework project and then boom. At 9:45 i had a sharp stabbing pain in my left side. it hurt so much it brought tears to my eyes. I had to have help to get off of the couch. I did not take any paid meds. I went to bed and if I stayed in one position it did not hurt. I did not sleep well. this morning it still hurts. sharp stabbing pain on my inside about 7 inches from my belly button. It hurts deep inside. I am not passing any blood so that is a good sign.
Trials and tribulations
Jan 28, 2008
Ok...so last night I spoke to Matt, a guy I met at the hospital who had the surgery the same day I had my surgery. He started out at 400 lbs and is now down 35. So we are very close in how we are losing. The only thing is he says he is drinking like 3 to 4 ounces of liquid at once. I can't do that. I tried more than an ounce and i was almost sick. He also said he is eating about 3 to 4 ounces at a time..no way..I was sick for over an hour and vomited when i ate chicken soup, about 2 ounces in 15 minutes....I have to be so careful. Today I had 4 wheat thins with some egg salad on them...i was in pain for half an hour. So, I guess my mantra will just have to be slow and easy....
The long saga
Jan 27, 2008
Hello one and all.
This saga began for me in Dec of 2006 when I decided that I was tired of being the big one of the family. I had become a diabetic, had high blood pressure and could no longer ski with my kids. My weight had reached over 350 lbs.
I went to my internist and he suggested that I look into the program near us in Northern California, Redding to be exact. I went to a meeting and thought that this sounds like what I need. I filled out the forms and attended several support sessions and went for several tests to start the process. Over the next several months I started to read about the doctors and about the process of the ruen y gastric bypass.
The more that I read, the more uncomfortable I became with doing the procedure in my home town. The doctors here had only done the procedure about 500 times in the last 4 years (between the 2 of them). I decided to look into UC Davis. There I found a team of doctors that have done the procedure over 5000 times in the last 4 years. To me that was a big difference. I also found out that UC Davis does a lot more testing of your body prior to surgery than my local doctors planned to do.
I had every system in my body checked. The did venous studies, EKG's, stress tests, nuclear heart tests, nuclear lung tests, cat scans, ultrasounds, 16 vials of blood. When all was said and done, I felt as though my body had been thoroughly checked, no cancer, no clots, no problems with cholesterol, no heart problems.
I went in for surgery on 1/7/08 at UC Davis.
We arrived at 7:45 am in the pre op waiting area. At about 8:15 I was given a bed and changed out of my regular clothes and they took vitals.
At about 10:00 the brought me in to the staging room before the operating room. I needed my glasses and was very specific that I wanted them to the last moment prior to going in to the operating room. My wife came in and waited with me. They put in the IV's and then the anesthetist came in. We discussed my waking up at the end of a prior surgery and knocking the nurse across the room, because my last thought was "do not operate til I am out"!!! He promised me that they would not let that happen. The next thing I knew I was in recovery, and I HURT!!!
I spent over 14 hours in recovery, until 2:15 am, until I was given a room. They transported and left me in my room with an iv for pain. The iv works by giving a set amount of morphine every 6 minutes when you press a button. So if you press a button and get some relief for the pain for 2 or 3 minutes, if you do not press the button again at exactly 6 minutes you get less pain relief. It is a ridiculous system. I was in so much pain and requesting help but the nurse said the pain team would be in the next day. Yes, they finally showed up the next day at 6 pm. My pain was so bad that I did not sleep at all. I got up and walked but it was bad. My blood pressure shot up and my pulse was at over 128 for over 26 hours. They finally realized that the dose of pain killer was low for me for my size and the fact that I clear it out of my system very quickly. They put me on oxy contin injections every 4 hours and trippled my morphine. I only took two injections and used the morphine 3 more times over the next 24 hours and then my pain was relieved. I was just in so much pain that I had to have some relief. I stayed in the hospital 3 days and was then put on atavan and never needed any more pain meds. They sent me home with all sorts of oxy contin but I only took one dose , when they took out my staples. They also sent me home with injections of lovenox, to prevent blood clots. I had to inject myself in the morning and at night.
The pain was and still is mostly on my left side. I came out with bruising in my lower abdomen of purple, blue and yellow. That is mostly gone now.
Since I have come home, I am no longer on blood pressure medications or diabetic medications. I was taking over 9 different medications a day. Now all I take is prevacid for the stomach acid and my vitamins. yahoo!!!!
This saga began for me in Dec of 2006 when I decided that I was tired of being the big one of the family. I had become a diabetic, had high blood pressure and could no longer ski with my kids. My weight had reached over 350 lbs.
I went to my internist and he suggested that I look into the program near us in Northern California, Redding to be exact. I went to a meeting and thought that this sounds like what I need. I filled out the forms and attended several support sessions and went for several tests to start the process. Over the next several months I started to read about the doctors and about the process of the ruen y gastric bypass.
The more that I read, the more uncomfortable I became with doing the procedure in my home town. The doctors here had only done the procedure about 500 times in the last 4 years (between the 2 of them). I decided to look into UC Davis. There I found a team of doctors that have done the procedure over 5000 times in the last 4 years. To me that was a big difference. I also found out that UC Davis does a lot more testing of your body prior to surgery than my local doctors planned to do.
I had every system in my body checked. The did venous studies, EKG's, stress tests, nuclear heart tests, nuclear lung tests, cat scans, ultrasounds, 16 vials of blood. When all was said and done, I felt as though my body had been thoroughly checked, no cancer, no clots, no problems with cholesterol, no heart problems.
I went in for surgery on 1/7/08 at UC Davis.
We arrived at 7:45 am in the pre op waiting area. At about 8:15 I was given a bed and changed out of my regular clothes and they took vitals.
At about 10:00 the brought me in to the staging room before the operating room. I needed my glasses and was very specific that I wanted them to the last moment prior to going in to the operating room. My wife came in and waited with me. They put in the IV's and then the anesthetist came in. We discussed my waking up at the end of a prior surgery and knocking the nurse across the room, because my last thought was "do not operate til I am out"!!! He promised me that they would not let that happen. The next thing I knew I was in recovery, and I HURT!!!
I spent over 14 hours in recovery, until 2:15 am, until I was given a room. They transported and left me in my room with an iv for pain. The iv works by giving a set amount of morphine every 6 minutes when you press a button. So if you press a button and get some relief for the pain for 2 or 3 minutes, if you do not press the button again at exactly 6 minutes you get less pain relief. It is a ridiculous system. I was in so much pain and requesting help but the nurse said the pain team would be in the next day. Yes, they finally showed up the next day at 6 pm. My pain was so bad that I did not sleep at all. I got up and walked but it was bad. My blood pressure shot up and my pulse was at over 128 for over 26 hours. They finally realized that the dose of pain killer was low for me for my size and the fact that I clear it out of my system very quickly. They put me on oxy contin injections every 4 hours and trippled my morphine. I only took two injections and used the morphine 3 more times over the next 24 hours and then my pain was relieved. I was just in so much pain that I had to have some relief. I stayed in the hospital 3 days and was then put on atavan and never needed any more pain meds. They sent me home with all sorts of oxy contin but I only took one dose , when they took out my staples. They also sent me home with injections of lovenox, to prevent blood clots. I had to inject myself in the morning and at night.
The pain was and still is mostly on my left side. I came out with bruising in my lower abdomen of purple, blue and yellow. That is mostly gone now.
Since I have come home, I am no longer on blood pressure medications or diabetic medications. I was taking over 9 different medications a day. Now all I take is prevacid for the stomach acid and my vitamins. yahoo!!!!
