3 week update

I don’t want to update too much here as I want to save it all for my 1 month surgiversary...

But the main difference in this surgery is that I had one incision left open to drain. Last week the doc finally stitched it closed and this morning I went in to see about getting them out. He only took out some, not all. However the good news is that there is NO infection and it’s past the point where infection is likely to set in.

So I need to go back in on Friday to see if the rest can come out!! Fingers crossed because damn I want to have a normal shower at some point!!! LOL

The weight is coming off and I’m happy to report that the conversion to DS had diminished my hunger. I was worried about how high my level of hunger paunges that I had pre revision. He assured me that his other revision patients noted that it was reduced in that area.

Okay, that’s all for now... next week... revision surgiversary... revisaversary??

Backed Up

Day 6 post surgery, I was really suffering yesterday with belly pain. However I was also on day 7 of not pooping!!

The pre-op liquid diet was hard on my bowels since I eat a lot of fiber. The lack of anything my mouth and a few days of 400cal of liquids only left me very uncomfortable.

Yesterday I had 30ml of Milk of magnesia, and 15ml of the same this morning and I finally passed it. What a relief!!!

It was very strange to me to be constipated because all the DS people talk about loose bowels. That might come now too, but I was getting concerned.

I’m happily resting and my incisions are feeling less strained.

I have an egg timer to remind me to keep sipping all day so I’ve been getting 50ish grams of protein and 48-60ml of calorie free liquids as well.

Feeling pretty good!

DS Done

I went into the hospital on November 7 for my Heidel hernia repair and the DS switch.
It’s now Thursday, November 9 and I’m hoping to get discharged today.

It’s been going pretty good so far I’m sore but the pain isn’t horrible and less I can’t. My shoulders are a bit sore from the gas and of course postop you’re not allowed to drink any water for 24 hours which is always the worst part of this, the dry mouth!

Since yesterday at noon I have been allowed to have 1 ounce of G2 every hour, so that certainly made an improvement.  I had my catheter out and I’ve Peed in the toilet which is also nice, and been doing several laps every couple of hours in the hospital ward.

My painkillers here are just down to liquid Tylenol last night I didn’t get any narcotics for sleeping so that’s really good.

I’m still getting IV fluids which is good because I need that liquids and I’ve been using my speaker on meter to get up to a long volume where I’m breathing properly.   I think that the hiatal hernia is actually the worst of the two procedures. My doctor said the hernia fixed was just over two hours almost 2 1/2 hours so it was really big and really bad. I think that is affected my breathing the most and moving is that repair to the diaphragm.

This hospital bed is making my ass sore so I’m looking forward to getting out of it.

The doctor left one of the incisions open it’s larger than the others so that it will drain and so that one will need to be changed for the next week it’s been done here at the hospital and then at home as well. He’ll switch it up next week at my one week visit.

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m using talk to text on my phone, So there may be some errors in the text above but I’m too lazy to go back and look. Sorry!

Pre-Op Liquid Diet, Prep and 5 days and counting!!!

I've been doing okay on my liquid diet.... but have included scrabbled eggs and cottage cheese. 


I just ate a giant handful of M&M's at my desk and am feeling disappointed, reckless, and irritated at no caffeine and no sugar and the crazies are setting in. This makes me long for the first few months out of surgery where I had no desire to eat and the next year where interest in food drops again.


Thankfully my husband is in NYC for work this week so he is not at home for me to yell at in my spiraling crash.  I thankfully found some caffeine free tea in the house last night so that I had something to keep my mouth and hands occupied doing.  I'm going to have to stock up on some more of that today.


Yesterday I had my pre-op EKG and blood tests.  Got the whole NIL by mouth after midnight on the night of surgery and my surgical shower scrub and instructions to reduce infections.


Weigh in this morning was 245.6 again.  This is the lowest that I've been in 2 years.  (YAY)!


I'm also off my pooping schedule right now so it would be nice to have a big BM, but mostly I'm feeling bloated from the liquid diet messing with my system.  I typically eat a LOT of fiber, so this is a drastic change.  However, as I type that... I am going to be doing a drastic change, so best get used to it now.


Trying to get prepped for the last 2 days in the office this week before my three weeks off, get caught up on my homework, clean up the spare room for my girlfriend that is coming in for the weekend, prep the food I'll need and make sure that these M&M's are the only off track thing that I do.


I will say that I am so glad that I have continued to track my weight even though I wasn't happy with how it was going.  looking at the following graphs that I have from my data in excel is great!


5 Years from first surgery in 2012 to weight on Oct 31, 2017
Oct 2012 - Starting weight 301
April 2014 -Lowest weight 232.2
1 year out from surgery I was 236.4

Current View of the April 2014 (lowest weight to now)
Sept/Oct 2015 was the last time I was in this weight range.

Vitamins and Minerals

I have been REALLY bad at taking my vitamins.  That will have to stop now that I'm going to a malabsorption method of WLS, the Duodenal Switch.  I will lose 8feet of my 10ft of small intestine and so I will be at risk of vitamin and mineral deficiency.


Today I buckled down and bought all the recommended bariatric Vit&Min:
Multi with extra ADEK - 1 dose
Iron + C   - 18mg
B-50 complex
Calcium Citrate - 1800-2400mg (although I REALLY love milk products, so I might be okay on the lower end of this one).


The calcium and Iron need to be taken at different times from one another, so I'll have to put that in the rotation.


I also bought some protein chicken soup from Celebrate.  I struggled with my VSG in 2012 in getting enough protein daily in my liquids and soft phase. I want to try and eat more protein laden foods and lay off the puddings and jello pops.


Other than that, I'm on an eating approx. every 2 hours.
7am - coffee & premier protein shake
9am - decaf coffee and premier protein
11am - 1c cottage cheese
1pm - 1c fat free milk & package of oatmeal or cream of wheat
3pm - 1c cottage cheese
5:30/6pm - minced beef stew or broth with mushy peas
8pm - skyr and fatfree/no sugar jello


This is my "pre-full-liquids" liquids week.  I'm trying to wean myself off of caffeine right now, so down to a single shot in the morning from my 3-4 shots a day.


Next week (Oct 31) I will be full liquids and there will be no more cottage cheese and beef mince at night. 


I've weighed in at 248 for the last three days... I'm hoping to see some good news on the scale tomorrow morning to get some motivation back into this.  I watched a portion of the surgery again last night and I know that I need to buckle down and get this done.  I thought that I could lose 20lbs by the 7th, but I think I will be lucky to see 10lbs.


12 days to go to surgery!

Time away from the office

is it normal that I'm almost as excited to have time off from work as I am to have this surgery!

Duodenal Switch - Pre-surgery doctors appointment

Today was the pre-surgery appointment.  I'm SO excited.


Weighed in at 249.6lbs
Got my front on and side pictures done.


He went over what they were going to do, ensured that I didn't have any questions. Made sure I understood how important my vitamins are from here forward and that I would very likely have "loose stool" especially if I eat fatty foods. 


Check, check and check.  I need to have at least one night in after surgery, because of the bowel changes, you have to stay in to make sure there is no leakage.


There will be no revision to my sleeve at all - it is "too risky", however he did say that most of the VSG to DS patients say that they notice a decrease in the amount of food that they eat.


I was originally told I would start my pre-op diet 2 weeks out, and so I was prepped to start tomorrow.  They said I could do one week if I wanted, but I'm already primed to start now, so might as well.  Any weight I lose on this side of the surgery will help me get to my goal on the other side faster and better.  I might have a cheat meal this coming weekend, but if I'm doing really good... I might not!


Paid my $10.5K, all set for surgery on the 7th.


2 weeks!!!!