How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

a friend had the surgery and i prayed for the day it was my turn.

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

My stay in the hospital was 4 days long, it was very scary the first day, even though you sleep alot you are in a very great deal of pain. The best advice i can give someone is WALK, every day in and out of the hospital, it will hurt but it hurts more if you tighten up, the last day i was there i had just slept alot and it was awful. you do not have to bring much to the hospital, i did bring pictures of my kids, when i was upset and lonely i looked at them and remembered this will be worth it.

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

no complications from the surgery, little bit of a gas problem (lol) but nothing a bumping ride home from the hospital didn't cure.

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

well my first day home i had a bombshell dropped on me, my boyfriend of 6 years had moved out and took all money and my little boy and our vehicle while i was in the hospital, so yeah i was a bit more depressed when i got home then you probally will be. But hey give it a year when i am looking good and living good, he can kiss my ass (skinny ass). now when i do think "god why did i do this" all i do is look at my kids or look at my pictures, i did this for a reason and my children are the most important thing to me in my life.

What aftercare support group/program do you have? How helpful/important is this?

Well the only support group i have is my chat room on obesityhelp.com and my two bestest friends (krista and bek) and of course my family, it is very important your family is there to help you, i am very lucky we have a small family but we are very close, if i ever feel to confused or down i call my grandmother (how many people do that)she means so much to me, she has not had a easy life and still she is not a negative person, she helps everyone and only thinks the best out of people.

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

well it has only been 8 days but my scar looks scary but really it is healing nicely. i did not expect it to be so long.

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

it has been 8 days and i have lost 19lbs. so funny i have always joked about the scales always being broke well when i weighed myself i really thought it might be wrong, but no im just on the road to looking goooooood.

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

not yet, it has only been 8 days.