15 days into October check in

Hi Octoberites, Probably about a third of us have had our surgeries and are recovered enough to sit at the computer a while. I'd really love to hear how everyone's feeling and what progress they're making. I had my surgery on October 3rd. I'm eating purees and moving about pretty well. I feel very good, actually. Since I had a tummy tuck with my gastric bypass, I have a bit more healing to do, but it's all good. My new challenges are drinking enough water and getting enough protein in. Hope everyone's feeling well. We're all newbies at this, weeks into the process. I'm sure we can all learn from each other. Hugs, Cheryl

Hey Cheryl, glad to hear you are doing well! That's wild that they did a tummy tuck already? Why didn't they wait for you to lose weight? Details, details, please!! You stirred my curiousity! Vi

Hey Vi, A lot of people are surprised that I've had my tummy tuck at my initial surgery. There are a few unique qualifiers that made this possible for me. First, my surgeon, Dr. Fobi, is probably one of the only surgeons who will do a panniculectomy with the gastric bypass; but only in certain cir****tances. 1) I only have about 100 pounds to lose. That makes me a "lightweight". I'm obviously not a lightweight in the real sense of the word, just in the sense that I only had 100 pounds vs. 2 or 300 or more. My obesity was causing serious health problems, but my BMI at 39.10 was very borderline. 2) My "pannus" - y'know that apron of flab, was grade 1. That means it did not extend beyond the level of my pubic hairline. 3) I needed to have open surgery anyway. One would generally not have laparoscopic surgery and then have an open procedure for the panniculectomy. Since I already had a C-section and an appendectomy, it was unlikely that a lap procedure would stay that way -- so I opted for open to begin with. That was a very wise choice on my part, since I had a humongous incisional hernia from my C-section that was fixed along with all my other surgery. Those are the real reasons why I was able to have a tummy tuck at the same time as surgery. It is also the biggest part of my recovery right now. I'm having no problems with anything, I think it just slows things down to be recovering from so much at the same time. Would I do it again? Heck yes!!!! Cheryl

OK more questions... I had a C-section and 2 hernia surgeries and they still went in laparoscopically, so how did they decide you couldn't be done LAP? I was just curious as to how the decide that ahead of time? Do you know?

INTERESTING, MS CHERYL ... YOU HAD YOUR 100,000 MILE OVERHAUL ALL AT ONCE! GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

Yup! I got the oil changed and the tires rotated. Every day I get stronger and stronger. At this point, I am still healing more from the panniculectomy than I am from the GBS. My tummy feels very tight and I still have staples. Half of my staples (every other one) was removed last Friday. This Friday, the remaining ones should come out. Perhaps after the hardware is gone, I'll be a little bit more mobile. I feel good, but tired. I'm so glad I'll have a full six weeks to recover before going back to work. Cheryl

YEAH, I'VE HEARD THAT PLASTIC SURGERY IS MORE PAINFUL & HARDER TO RECOUP FROM THAN WLS IS. I THINK THERE IS A MESSAGE BOARD FOR PLASTIC SURGERY TOPICS HERE ON OH.COM GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

I'VE NEVER HEARD OF ANYONE HAVING A TUMMY TUCK WITH THEIR GASTRIC BYPASS ... ENLIGHTEN US PLEASE!!!!!!!! IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE SO MANY GETTING THROUGH THIS SO WELL! GOD BLESS YOU, MS CHERYL DAWN & NICK