Fran B had surgery with Dr. Villares on July 26th. Her surgery went well, but she has been kind of down emotionally since surgery. She wanted to go to a nursing home so they could assist her in recovery after she was discharged from hospital and she went to one for a few days. Then she went back to Dr. Villares this week for a surgical follow up appt and he removed the drain from her and readmitted her to hospital for dehydration. She also might have an infection - they are looking into it now. She needs our support and prayers! Please post to her surgery page below and her daughter (who had RNY last year) will print off and take to her in hospital this weekend. Let's fill this page up with support. No need to reply to this message, just click link below and post her your support. Thanks!! http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/status.phtml?N=B1091053755 Trisha Phoenix ObesityHelp Chapter Leader

My mom was just diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Arthritis last week. She used to have jobs where she typed a lot, now she is at home on disability and still uses her hands a lot (drawing, knitting, quilting, writing, etc.) and she noticed about a year ago that every now and then her hands would tingle a bit. It just came and went, nothing major. Well the last month or two it's been more constant and present so we finally talked her in to seeing her doctor *****ferred her to a specialist and he said that she has a moderate case of carpal tunnel arthritis and it can be cured with surgery. It's an outpatient procedure that takes like 10 mins or something. She would like to have it healed holisticlly first before going into surgery - she has enough health problems. Any ideas? Trisha

Sure am (I am also DS) - I went from not taking regularly before surgery (I'm almost 3 weeks post-op) to all the time now. Frankly, geting on/off toilet without tummy muscles so many times when losing IV fluids was killing my knees and they are taking a while to recover. So I called surgeon one week post-op and he had me stop Comadin and start Naprosyn again. I normally take a herbal medication Ziflamend and plan to go back on that after 4 week followup with surgeon. I chose DS because I wanted to be able to continue taking the anti-depressants and I didn't like the sounds of all those RNY's that needed their stomas stretched. PS. I take NSAID with a couple crackers.

I'm pre-op but had my left knee replaced 3 years ago. It was bone on bone. My surgeon gave me an epidural for the first 3 days so I was in no pain. When they removed it, the medications worked on the pain (and I'm allergic to codene and morphine..so took weaker pain medication). As to physical therapy, it hurts less than walking on bone to bone. I DID have to stay in an in-patient rehab unit for 5 days because I live alone. But they treated me like a queen. I just wish I had done it sooner.... My dad had a replacement a few years before mine and he told me that the most important thing to remember was to do all the physical therapy ...and even more...because that was the key to getting back on you feet sooner. I did and it worked!! Good luck and God bless you during your surgery/recovery, Ann H

Hi, I'm pre-op until Tuesday, and have been on Celebrex. I have been told that it will have to be Tynenol - arthritis, now and afterwards. The pain has been awful because Tylenol anything doesn't help me. So if reduced weight is a big element, then maybe it will be okay. Thanks for tips on other meds. I taught Arthritis Pain Management for Stanford Univ. for 3 years, but pain is pain! Judy