New To This Board Due to a Surprise Change of Surgery

So, I'll re-post what I posted Wednesday on the RNY board, as that's where I planned to land and have been posting, but now I'm officially a Sleever.  

Well, less than 12 hours after my surgery and I'm fit enough to be on the Internet. So, that's something.

Got up at 3:30 a.m., drove to the hospital, arrived ahead of my 6 a.m. Check in, everything went quickly , got all checked in and then hubby and I sat and waited and waited, and waited. Finally around 6:50 a nurse came in to do the drill, blood thinner to the belly, swish this special mouthwash, vitals, etc. Say farewell to the hubby and up to the pre-staging area for the surgery.

Meet 400 people, okay, maybe 12 from my surgical team, mention to my surgeon and her helper that, okay, what if, they get in there and find this mesh/scar tissue from my previous hernia surgeries and can't to the RNY, but have to revert to the sleeve. I ask if at that point they would consider going open surgery and sticking with the RNY. They both agree that it probably isn't worth the risk and that if my bowel is entangled in the mesh, I'm getting the VSG. But, hey, let's hope for the best.

Get into the OR. The very soft spoken anesthesiologist has difficulty getting a vein and I ended up with an IV my right forearm. But, it's not terrible. Everyone is super nice, and comforting, except, I wasn't jazzed with one of the pretty boy low man on the totem pole docs, but hey, I only saw him once for the intros. Other than that, I don't even remember the count down, lights out, and all of the sudden I'm in the recovery room.

I get my joyful, "I need to retch" that seems to follow me and anesthesia but thankfully it's gone by the time I get to my sem-private room, shared with a lovely lady with an unrelated surgery.

But, back to recovery...they had to do the SLEEVE. And, yes, I am admittedly sad and frustrated. First of all, it is the surgery I considered first, but after further research and at my surgeon's suggestion, I had my heart set on RNY. And, I have this great group of you on the forum,but now I'll have to meet the people on the other forum topic, and I've read about so many people having to have their sleeve revised to an RNY.

So, I'm trying to stay positive, I've been up and walking and getting naps and will probably hit the hay for the night soon, but would love a little pick me up to wake up to in the morning folks! I also have my leak test first thing in the morning and am probably here until Saturday morning.

P.S. Sorry in advance for spelling or thought errors, I'm on some good meds!

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I'm now on Day 2 and doing research on the sleeve, so any suggestions, advice, etc. Would be great.  Thanks!

Welcome to the sleeve family. Lots of great people. 

I love my sleeve and wouldn't change it for anything else. 

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the changes it brings my life.  :-)

Sleevers have more fun. After all, we have stomachs shaped like bananas! Who wouldn't love that? 

Hope your recovery continues to go smoothly.

psychoticparrot

Does that make us all monkeys? LOL

In a way, it does. Human beings are in the ape genus, after all. Perhaps we can learn something from monkeys, who eat wholesome foods. All we need to improve on the monkey diet is extra protein.

psychoticparrot (part monkey and proud of it!)

Very very few of us revise to Rny. Statistically we lose comparable weight, but don't suffer though the malabsorption of vitamins lifelong. We still supplement, but it is easier for us. We lose ghrelin, and do not experience hunger in the same way. The majority of us tolerate any food- no dumping of any sort. Our regain statistically is 5% of what we lost. In all, our stats are terrific and quite comparable to rny. It is also less invasive, a quicker recovery, and surgically a lower risk procedure. Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking Rny. Rny I believe does a better job of throwing diabetes into remission. Reactive glycemia does happen a bit, but it far more common for rny. In all, I think you will find it is an awesome procedure! Need to lose a few hundred pounds? The sleeve can get you there. 

Welcome aboard!

Thank you, Happy Teacher, that makes me feel a lot better about this!  I am a teacher, as well, so I'm looking forward to tips on making the eating schedule work at school, too.

I teach elementary and the bell schedule made it very easy for me to eat when needed. I wouldn't worry about that. Also, in the first months it's more like you have to make yourself remember to eat than visa versa. I often met the early evening too low on protein and had to do some catch up. This is a totally different way of life. Once you're used to it, you'll love it! 

Sorry about the Sleeve vs. RNY. I certainly understand your disappointment. However, take heart, as others have said, VSG is a good surgery, too, with comparable results to RNY. I struggled with the choice between RNY and Sleeve myself. In the end, I'm very, very happy with my sleeve. I hope you will be, too.

Like Karik mentioned, it will not take you too long to figure out an eating pattern/timing at school. I am not sure if you are an elementary teacher or not, but the one issue you might really want to plan for is all of the sugar and junk that seems to be so pervasive in our school. As an elementary specials teacher, I teach over 650 kids each week. When they have birthdays, it is our culture for them to give treats to their classmates, then walk the building and give treats to other teachers, secretaries, principals, etc. So every damn day I get a pile of cupcakes, cookies, etc. on my desk. The staff room is filled with treats. The cafeteria offers crap food. You have to develop a plan to manage that. 

When I was a grade level teacher, I talked to the kids about how I can't eat the sugar. So if they gave me one, it would then be used in a lottery situation and somebody would get an extra treat. When the treats were delivered from some student not in my class, that also went into the lottery. They loved that and still felt respected, as it was very exciting for the class to have the lottery. I can't do the lottery thing as a specials teachers though. Now, I let them pile up on my desk, and the two middle school kids that come in and help me each day at the end of the day get to take them home. I just have to manage to not eat it before they get there. I am not always succusful at that, but at least it adds the guilt of knowing I am eating a treat the helpers could otherwise have, and that slows me waaaay down.