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DesertGal

Almost 3 months since surgery!

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Tomorrow will be 3 months since surgery and it has been a pretty good ride. Still some difficulty with eating (can't consume more than 1/2 cup at best, and not every meal), and water doesn't taste as good or do down as smooth as before surgery. Why? I have no idea.

My surgery went very well. Just some minor discomfort but nothing painful. No pain meds needed at all in the hospital or at home. No gas pains at all. No shoulder pain at all. My incisions were small (dark, but small) and healed up nicely. I did vomit and dry heave the entire time in the hospital which was embarrassing at first... but then I didn't give a damn who heard.

I have lost 42 pounds since surgery and lost 42 over the 3 months before surgery. I have lost 36" inches off this BODY! 10" off my waist; 10 inches off my hips, 10" off my chest and my breast size has gone done a few inches too, in addition to my neck losing 2 1/2".

I am doing what I am supposed to be doing and hitting the gym now (in addition to walking outdoors early in the morning) and working on strength training machines. (Flabby arms and legs). Honestly, I can live with the flabbiness.... the FAT... not so much.

I have a goal of hitting 165, if I get there, Kudos to me. If not, I will be ecstatic to hit the 170's (which I am almost there.)

I never took a BEFORE picture in shorts and sports bra because it was too much of a 'looking-at-a-bad-train-wreck' ordeal for me. But I can now. So here goes:
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  1. Christie13's Avatar
    Lori you look amazing!! You are so going to hit your goal. You are very determined and it shows in all your success. I bet you wish you had a bra and shorts before pic at least for yourself. Keep on rocking it because you are doing great!!
  2. DesertGal's Avatar
    Thank You Christie!
  3. BahaMs's Avatar
    Wow!!! You look fantastic!!! A great reminder of me to take some before pics to monitor my success. So happy for you.
  4. DesertGal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BahaMs
    Wow!!! You look fantastic!!! A great reminder of me to take some before pics to monitor my success. So happy for you.
    I took MANY pictures from the beginning (except the bra and shorts shots). I have kept a photo journal of every month throughout this trip. I donated ALL of my old clothes to charity in May (MY entire closet) in sizes 3x and 2x tops and 22 size pants. I now wear a "L" in tops (some "M") and 8/10 in shorts (but 11/12 pants). I saved ONE HUMONGOUS pair of pull on jeans that I have taken pictures 'standing in". It's amazing, and I recommend taking photos before!!
  5. Sandra3's Avatar
    What a great post! at that rate I'm pretty sure you will be below your goal weight before you reach one year!

    About the water, I noticed that many people who were vomiting at the hospital post-op or who were nauseous after also have issues with drinking water. From my reading and many conversations with my surgeon, it seemsthat the surgery does change the hormonal "balance" of our GI track for a while (because our stomach does produce several hormones and not only the hunger hormones). My main concern with dealing with IBS pre-op was that it could get worth post-op. It didn't (lucky! it did improve a lot!). So far the research is not really advanced about what hormones are made in the stomach and how it works together with our intestines but from experience and I'm almost 17 months out, the water drinking does improve but it's still easier for me to drink iced cold or something with substance. Drinking lot's of oolong tea lately because it's light and low in caffeine and I can find it easily when I'm outside, at home I have herbal tea. But for the first few weeks post-op I had to have juice mixed with water (surgeon's orders), plain water was coming up and was a big no no.
    My Dr told me that the sugar was sending a message to my intestine, so the stomach would keep the fluids?? Seems weird but it worked..
    I do take probiotics and changed brands many times, I do feel sometimes that it does help also my stomach, especially if I'm in the "nauseous" zone.

    About the skin, do not worry, right now because you lost so much in a short time it's probably at it's worth. When I was 6 months out it was really ugly and bat wings/apron were long and annoying. When I started to be able to have omegas back in my diet I did see a quick improvement, but I also used a cream with retinol on my arms (ordered too much of my cheap face cream and here I can't keep it long so it's better to use it quickly) usually retinol works well on wrinkles and I think it did the trick for my bat wings.

    Like you I do think fat is worth than extra skin, but the extra skin is also a pain especially in a tropical humid climate, folds can quickly get infected.
    I will meet a plastic surgeon in September and see what he will say of the damages. I know that my priority is to get my abdominal muscles repaired but it's the longest surgery in plastics, and also the most dangerous.I was in so much pain one year go, but now it's almost gone so I wonder if I really need it after all. Back in Europe the weather is not humid and my extra skin will still be ugly but won't get infected...my arms do look bad and I rarely wear short sleeves but...thinking about surgery and anesthesia and how sick I will be...I'm already feeling nauseous!

    Anyway!
    You did a great job also with the photos, I didn't and wish I had kept more memories of those different stages..