gastric sleeve vets----what do you wish you had known before vsg and what diet before pre-op...
I did not have a tube down my throat, so I did not have a sore throat. I have always had a very weak stomach, and I puked all night after surgery, but I have heard that many people have no nausea at all and the nurses kept giving me anti-nausea medicine. The first couple of weeks for me were really tough; I won't lie. I got so sick of broth and I really didn't have too many other options, so I mainly didn't take in much other than water for the first 2 weeks. I was extremely weak from the lack of calorie in-take and it was kind of hard for me to stay on the plan my doctor provided, only because I was so sick of protein shakes, broth, and when I got to the pureed stage, oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. If you are not a picky eater like me, then you probably won't have any problems. I never felt hungry for the first 2 months or so. I do now, but it is never like it was before. Before, if I didn't eat, I was ravenously hungry. Now, I eat when I feel hungry but I don't have to devour it like before. My body has gotten used to the small amount of food that I eat now. In the first 6 weeks, I would get really nauseous after drinking milk and discovered that I was lactose intolerant, but it was only temporary. I ate a piece of cheese the first day back to work and threw it up. I also could not stomach eggs but I have always had a small issue with them. Like I said, weak stomach. Anyways, I'm not trying to scare you and I hope I haven't shared too much. Now I can eat just about anything, even though I am concentrating hard on getting my protein in. I still do not like the protein shakes and every protein bar I have tried tastes very chalky to me. So I am making sure to eat my meat and beans first and I drink low fat milk every night. I do try to have one protein drink a day. I really didn't have a lot of pain in my stomach after surgery at the incisions. It was slightly uncomfortable, but that went away pretty quickly. It was mainly the weakness that bothered me in the first few weeks. Sorry for the long post, hope this helps. It really is worth it. Even through all of the nausea and everything else, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Get a therapist or at the very least, an in person support group. OH is great, really, but not enough. I got so much amazing support from vets on here while I was losing, and I don't think I would have lost nearly as quickly without them. I also met my best friend on here. However, losing is the easy part. We don't get to be obese simply because we like food. If you've been overweight most of your life, you've got crap you need to deal with that has nothing to do with the food you put in your mouth. I'd been in therapy, have a great job, a great marriage, a beautiful, healthy daughter and I had LITERALLY NO IDEA how much crap was buried under all that fat.
