Early May babies, please check in!

We're almost halfway through the month, so it's time for updates from everyone who's now on the losing side! Please chime in with your surgery date and type, status, and any words of wisdom for those waiting in the wings... May 3, laproscopic RNY Released from the hospital May 4. Down 8 lb unofficially, BMI dropped from 52.7 to 51.0. The measuring tape has been even kinder - 1.5" gone from the belly, 2" gone from the waist! 11-day post-op status: Still on full liquids until the first post-op appointment next week, but have tried KFC mashed potatoes and ricotta cheese with no problems. Lots of pouch gurgling no matter what I take in, even water. Desperate for something crunchy, or at least solid! Mood mostly perky, except when the head hunger kicks in. Meals are 4oz of ricotta, cream of chicken soup, or cottage cheese (about 15 minutes); protein shakes are 6oz. A meal or shake takes me 20-30 minutes to finish. Advice: Walk, walk, and walk some more - as soon as you can, as much as you can. You'll feel a heck of a lot better. Who's next?

P.Kitty, Isent you an email and I dont think it worked. My name is Amanda and I am having surgery on May 23rd by Dr. Harrington. I wanted to ask you a few questions I forgot to ask Dr. Harrington wednesday at my last consult before surgery. If you dont mind could you tell me: did you have a cathader when you came out of surgery? if so how long did you have it? did you have any drains or tubes sticking out of you? I know you didnt have a pain pump (i read your profile everyday) was that by choice or does he not offer it? Do you have stiches or staples or steri strips? I am having lap also Anything else you could tell me would help calm my nerves. I am 18 and getting really nervous. Thank you. Amanda

Hi Amanda - I just sent you an e-mail - let me know if it doesn't go through and I'll answer all your questions here instead. But in brief - yes to the catheter, no to the drains and tubes, the pain pump is available if you need it, just the steristrips, and Dr. Harrington is the best!

I'm home too but I am shaking sooo bad and cold all the time. Were you like this at all in the beginning???. I get up to walk and it feels like someone is ripping my right side out and in my back too. Get the cold shakes everytime I move. My temp in the hosptial never made it to normal after surgery. I am at 96.9 right now. Am getting three shakes in and about 3 8ozs bottles of water sometimes more. Good luck to you. Nancy 4 days post op

Between those sharp pains and your cold shakes, you might want to call your surgeon and ask for some guidance. I felt soreness in the upper abdomen (still do when I breathe deeply), but not in other sites. Does drinking warm liquids make you feel any warmer or more comfortable? I kept wrapped up in a down comforter for the first couple days and had a heating pad for my abdomen. That definitely helped. The Thermacare stick-on heating pads are terrific for sore areas. I hope you're feeling better soon!

I did call the doctor and he changed my pain meds again. Gave me attivan (spelling) It works a lot better but still get the shakes when it ready to wear off. At least I can sit a the computer a little more now. He put me back on stage 2 for another day or two as I was nausiated at the smell of the CIB and he said it was the vits thatt were making me upset. Enough rambling for now. Thank you so much for thinking of me Nancy

CIB is really rich - it doesn't make me nauseated, but it's not that appealing (I wasn't mad about it pre-op, either). It's also a lousy protein source! It's always recommended because it's so easy to find at the supermarket, but each packet only has 4g of protein. Mix it with 8oz of skim milk, and you have a grand total of 12g. That's a snack, not a primary protein source! Maybe you should try a fruit-flavored protein shake. I'm hooked on Nectar's iced tea flavor; I found their Fuzzy Navel too overly peachy on its own, but fabulous mixed with Crystal Light iced tea. Isopure's pre-mixed bottles are a bit expensive but very light and tasty. If you like the bottled version, you can switch to the cheaper powder with the same flavor. Hang in there!

Another early May baby here checking in. Surgery was 5/10; uneventful; not too much pain. Up and walking within 2 hours of coming out of recovery. Came home on 5/12. Yesterday was a little rough first day home; terrible gas pains and learning how to get all that liquid in. Think I might be lactose intolerant. No matter what I tried yesterday I had terrible pains and nothing would take them away. Got a good nights sleep last night and took a shower today!! Yeah! Still taking pain meds about every 7 hours or so and trying to walk outside at least once a day and a lot around the house every hour or so. See the doc on Monday for a follow up appointment. Hope all of my other surgery buddies are doing well!

Hi Another early May baby here - Had my surgery May 2nd - open RNY. Came home on the 5th. No complications at all. The soreness and trying to get up and down and move around was the big deal the first few days/week. I am on full liquids and will be for another week and then I can go to pureed. I am really bored with this phase - it seems like everything is sweet! I did have a couple of bites of mashed potatoes too and they went down and stayed down well. I have not had any nausea at all. Yes, the head hunger does kick in at times, but when I ask myself if I am really hungry, the answer is NO. I don't know how much I have lost because when I left the hospital my surgeon was telling me how proud he was of the walking and drinking that I was doing exceeding his expectations and to keep it up and I will be very pleasantly surprised when I come back in on the 17th for my first check up. So I have not weighed - but am getting very antsy to find out! I am walking a mile every single day. At first I was breaking into 2 walks - a half mile each, but for the past 3 days have walked a mile all at once. I came out of the hospital off my diabetic meds and haven't taken them since! (I'm still monitoring once a day just in amazement I think!) Like is good! Caren

May 3rd, open RNY here. Doing well, walking not as much as I should, but I am doing some. I'm on pureed foods until July 4th (at which point I will attempt a small bit of turkey burger or Boca burger). I have the gurgling going on most of the time, too. It's better now than it was a day or two out, but it is there quite a bit. My meals consist of mostly soups or chili or smoothies. I also eat some baby food sometimes. I attempted cottage cheese today and I dumped (see my post above from today), first time. I've had some sf/ff ice cream, though with no problems. My biggest problem is just getting protein in. I've ordered some Isopure and plan on drinking that to get the protein in. The regular shakes just are icky to me. I'm not having a problem with tastes of foods, just the texture since, as I said, everything has to be pureed. Makes it really difficult to eat chicken if it's applesauce consistency, LOL! Anyway, I'm physically doing great. I can pretty much sleep on my stomach, have no problems getting up and down, can put on my own shoes and socks, and am seeing some loss in my clothes. At my first post-op (on Thurs, 12th) I had lost 6 pounds per my doc's scale, but at the hospital on surgery day I weighed 321 and today on my scale at home it said 308. So, whatever! LOL! Michelle 321/308/175