Showing posts with label vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Surgery is Over
Well I had my surgery yesterday and so far I am doing pretty well. I had a lot of pain when I first woke up from anesthesia but they gave me medication in my IV that gave me major relief quickly. Since then I have mostly felt crampy and sore, which ranges from quite mild to fairly uncomfortable, but I have asked for more pain meds when it gets stronger (about every 3-4 hours) and they work quite well. I have been up walking around doing laps on my hospital floor and it feels good to move. They gave me my first meal a few minutes ago- broth, jello, and lemon flavored water. I tried a tiny spoonful of the broth but it smelled yucky and I decided against having any more of it. The jello tastes good and I have had about 3 spoons full, which has felt fine. I have been very fortunate and haven't had much nausea, which is great. The doctor should be by in a few hours and then I should get to go home. I am a little worried about the pain getting worse at home without the iv meds option but I think it will be ok.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
The final countdown!
My surgery is in less than 48 hours! I'm feeling calmer than I expected- definitely somewhat nervous but not so much that I am questioning my decision to do this thing. I continue to feel a lot of relief that I will no longer be so overwhelmed by my struggle with obesity because I will have the powerful tool of the sleeve, the support of my surgeon and his team, the awesome community of fellow sleevers I am discovering online, especially on www.bariatricpal.com, and lots of friends, family and co-workers cheering me on. Of course I am worried about pain and how difficult the first few weeks (months?) of recovery will be, but this still seems like the smartest choice and investment in myself I've ever made.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Welcome to my new blog!
Thank you for checking out my new blog about my weight loss journey and the gastric sleeve! I've been in the process of getting ready for my surgery for about 4 months. My insurance approval just came through and so I should be getting my surgery date very soon!
How I got to here: I have struggled with my weight and yo-yo dieting my entire life. I don't even remember a time when I didn't need to think about what was ok to eat (vs. what was fattening) or when I didn't feel pressure to eat less than I wanted to eat. Obesity runs in my family and it has always felt like I'm running towards it or away from it at every moment. Food and overeating have been my best friends and my worst enemies- the things I turn to when I'm sad and often the reason why I'm sad. I've been on every diet under the sun and successfully lost a lot of weight multiple times, always to gain it all back and then some. I've spent years in therapy trying to understand why my relationship with food and eating and weight is so difficult and intellectually I totally "get it", but changing my behavior in a sustainable way has always been just too hard. I think of my inability to gain control over my emotional overeating as my biggest failure and it is a source of great shame and pain for me. Currently at my all-time highest weight, my feelings of shame and frustration are coupled by major concern about my long-term health and the dangers the extra pounds can pose.
Last October, I did something that I rarely do- I asked for help. I told my endocrinologist that I had lost faith in my ability to lose weight and re-gain my health on my own and asked her to prescribe whatever medication could help me achieve my goals. Her answer surprised me- she said that all of the medicines out there for obesity are lousy and have terrible side effects and that if I was really serious about losing weight, I should consider bariatric surgery, especially now that the "new" gastric sleeve surgery option was available.
Surgery? I had never considered it. Isn't it dangerous? Doesn't it cost thousands of dollars? Wouldn't it lead to a lifetime of serious digestive problems? In her office and the weeks that followed I learned that all of my assumptions had been wrong. Bariatric surgery performed by an experienced surgeon on a mostly healthy patient is actually quite safe. Most insurance covers it. For people who are obese but not extremely obese, sleeve gastrectomy is a great option with lower complication rates and MUCH fewer long-term side effects because they don't touch your intestines. The more I researched, the more I began to believe the the sleeve might be a tool that could help me reach my goals and maintain them and that I owed it myself to seriously consider it. And that, my blog friends, was the beginning of this journey.
How I got to here: I have struggled with my weight and yo-yo dieting my entire life. I don't even remember a time when I didn't need to think about what was ok to eat (vs. what was fattening) or when I didn't feel pressure to eat less than I wanted to eat. Obesity runs in my family and it has always felt like I'm running towards it or away from it at every moment. Food and overeating have been my best friends and my worst enemies- the things I turn to when I'm sad and often the reason why I'm sad. I've been on every diet under the sun and successfully lost a lot of weight multiple times, always to gain it all back and then some. I've spent years in therapy trying to understand why my relationship with food and eating and weight is so difficult and intellectually I totally "get it", but changing my behavior in a sustainable way has always been just too hard. I think of my inability to gain control over my emotional overeating as my biggest failure and it is a source of great shame and pain for me. Currently at my all-time highest weight, my feelings of shame and frustration are coupled by major concern about my long-term health and the dangers the extra pounds can pose.
Last October, I did something that I rarely do- I asked for help. I told my endocrinologist that I had lost faith in my ability to lose weight and re-gain my health on my own and asked her to prescribe whatever medication could help me achieve my goals. Her answer surprised me- she said that all of the medicines out there for obesity are lousy and have terrible side effects and that if I was really serious about losing weight, I should consider bariatric surgery, especially now that the "new" gastric sleeve surgery option was available.
Surgery? I had never considered it. Isn't it dangerous? Doesn't it cost thousands of dollars? Wouldn't it lead to a lifetime of serious digestive problems? In her office and the weeks that followed I learned that all of my assumptions had been wrong. Bariatric surgery performed by an experienced surgeon on a mostly healthy patient is actually quite safe. Most insurance covers it. For people who are obese but not extremely obese, sleeve gastrectomy is a great option with lower complication rates and MUCH fewer long-term side effects because they don't touch your intestines. The more I researched, the more I began to believe the the sleeve might be a tool that could help me reach my goals and maintain them and that I owed it myself to seriously consider it. And that, my blog friends, was the beginning of this journey.
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