I was sleeved!!! My story...long

[Nl383sbc]

As the title says, I was sleeved! My name is Geoff and I'm 32 and 353lbs at 6'2. I'm a tractor trailer driver who lives in Newfoundland, Eastern Canada.

10 years ago I was involved in a car accident that changed my life forever, for the worst. I went from being a very confident, healthy, in shape gym rat who worked as a Automotive Mechanic, to an injured person. The accident wasn't a big one, but it didn't take much for my back to have problems and eventually ending my mechanic career. I've gained so much weight, battled so much health wise, and fought through injuries over those 10 years. My father passed at 41, massive heart attack, and I'm currently in far worse shape than he was when he passed. Mentally, I wasn't ready, I couldn't get that determination and dedication to keep the weight off, I've yo-yo'd so many times, and ballooned in weight and fell into darkness, creating a path for my own self destruction..... until now.

I was recommended by my family doctor to see a bariatric nurse and see if I could be a good candidate for our local Bariatric Weight loss Program. Funding would be covered by our public medical care plan, if I wasn't going to be covered, I was convinced I was going to mexico, I was being drastic, and losing hope, convinced that death before my fathers age of 41 was imminent.

Luckily... having as many problems that I had, I was put on a waiting list for surgery but I had to do my share and participate in the program. I went to meetings, a webinar, meetings for diabetics ( I was borderline ) and some blood tests. I also had a 1 week trial liquid diet, the nurses wanted to see that I was serious about it and could do it. Well i did...


I was waiting for a few years... no calls, just waiting until one day I get a call that it was time to meet the surgeon and sign my surgery papers. My wife and I were so excited, we were even more excited that the surgeon said from that appointment it would be 3-6 months!! I was in disbelief and took it with a grain of salt, public health care isn't exactly speedy but it was costing me nothing, so i waited... and waited.

5 months went by without a word, I had myself believing that maybe in the New Year, maybe they were backed up, there was alot of people waiting, but I decided to call to see if I was right and to get an estimate of time to prepare... because until that point I didn't think it was going to happen this year at all... and I was ok with that, I'll wait...

So when I did call the Bariatric team with the infamous " Where am I on the list"? I was floored when the girl said, we were going to call you this Monday.. that day was Friday. Go figure. I had been given two weeks notice... too short for some.. but I was ready, mentally.. let's do this now before the government cuts back funding.

Well i went into panic mode, so much to do, getting things done and preparing for what can be a 6-8 week recovery. According to my nurse. I left work on a thursday being my last day and was sleeved Monday Nov 9th/15 8:00am. The first one in.

I went on for pre-op that Friday past and all was well, I was healthy enough for surgery, no problems, just waited patiently for a few days. I wasn't scared or nervous, unlike my wife, I was calm and ready, clearly focussed and eager to get done.

Surgery day

I was at the hospital at 6:30 am... was hooked up to IV around 8.. and in the operating room at 9ish.. I had excellent nurses and staff that helped me, very professional and comforting. I had nothing to fear. When I woke up I was in alot of pain... not from the surgery itself, but my back. Being on that table and I guess being in an awkward position caused alot of pain afterwards, I had to keep rolling side to side on the stretcher/bed and eventually the nurse gave me two Percocet. Never did a thing. I have a high tolerance to medications.

After a few hours of total pain and discomfort my bed was finally ready in my room, I asked for a private one, I never got it lol. I was in a room with 3 other men, one man had the exact same surgery I had, he was next to me. One was a cancer survivor, another had a gastro problem. These men made things alot easier to deal with the pain from my back and surgery. I was given two morphine shots, one at 7pm, another at 2am. This was for my back alone, it didn't help much, I didn't sleep all night and made many trips up and down the hallway, IV stand in tow lol.

But now for the positive, I was released the next day at 4pm. I was having no trouble drinking 15ml of water, then 30ml, 60ml, 120ml, then some yogurt and milk. Nothing came back up, I felt pretty good, and I was discharged. The poor man next to me that had the same procedure was really sick from the anesthetic, vomiting, hiccups, he wanted to die, I never had a chance to say good-bye. He was asleep, finally, I didn't want to wake him, he needed rest.

So here I am now, 1 week post op. 14lbs lighter and drinking and having full liquids for 4 weeks. I've been on full liquids for two weeks already but I am not going to rush my recovery. Whatever my bariatric nurse/coordinator says, I'm going to do. I'll get back to solid foods eventually.

Thanks for reading, if you did.

Geoff

[thenewmetoday]

Hello Newfie LOL I live in Ont. So happy to hear that the gov. Is covering sleeves even if you had to wait so long. Sounds like you are doing well and you have a great attitude, that is the most important thing.
I had my surg. In MX, was not getting any younger so did not want to go through the process locally and also would have had to regain weight to meet the requirements.
My surg ws 3.5 years ago maintaining for 2.5 years. I love my sleeve. All med. Issues gone.
hope to hear more about your journey and I know you are going to do great. Cheers

[Catlover]

Thank you for your story, I am so proud of you!! You are going to really whip this right along. Keep posting and know you have a lot of support on this site. Again, GOOD JOB!!

[Hockeychic518]

What a great story to read! Thank you for sharing it with us! I hope you continue to blog as I would love to hear your continued success! My surgery is in the morning! Hope you took before pics so you can review for motivation! Once this weight is gone don't ever look back!

[Lynda_Honey]

A great story. You've turned a corner and you're on your way. We had our sleeves days apart. Mine was 11/6.
ZERO complaints so far! This forum offers so much information, tips and encouragement. Best of luck and I know we all are rooting
for you!

[Nl383sbc]

Thanks everyone for the kind wishes. I'm 8 days pre-op and down 15.5lbs. Feeling really good, healing superfast with no complications or problems. Regular BM, a little morning heartburn but all is well. Not "starved" at all and on week 2 of Full Liquids. 3 more to go. At this rate I could be 330lbs by Christmas. yeeehaw!

[Nl383sbc]

How are you doing Lynda? Everything going fine ?

[Nl383sbc]

Just a little update.

Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks post-op. I weighed in yesterday and was 1.5lbs heavier. I'm not at all concerned, I know the body's weight changes and I surely didn't gain 1.5lbs of fat in a week on a 1200 or less calorie diet. Things have been going pretty good, had my first bad day yesterday. Ate too much and ended up in a violent vomiting session, felt alot better when that was over. I'm getting tired of the Full Liquid diet but I have at least another week before I introduce soft/puree foods. To me the wait will be so worth it. I'm going to take my time with recovery and won't return to work until the new year. I usually work 10-14 hours a day and I haven't even been cleared to start exercising yet.

This recovery is more mental than physical for me at this point, seeing fast food commercials on TV and remembering how much I love food. It's not that I can't ever have it again, it's just going to take some time and smaller portions. I hope that by Christmas I'll have 30lbs gone, that would be an excellent gift to me.

[Sarakm1]

You sound like your doing good! I've actually been on full liquid diet since early October due to lap-band complications and I graduate to mushy foods tomorrow. Keep up the good work!!

[Lynda_Honey]

Doing great Geoff. I feel fantastic, getting my energy and stamina back. Feeling like my old self (but new and improved)
Down 14lbs so far.
Whoo Hoo

[Colleen2]

Thanks for sharing your story. I have not gotten a date for the sleeve surgery yet but I love reading about it and hearing all goes well. You keep up the good work and keep us up to date.

[Nl383sbc]

Just checking in friends,

I'm down 23lbs in 3 weeks post-op. Feeling great about my weight loss and only vomited twice in that time. Starting to slowly eat soft stuff but relying on my shakes, much easier to digest than the solid food.

[lwmatch]

Thanks for sharing. So much to be afraid of, but you got thru it. I'll have 2 hernia repairs and a sleeve in 12 days. Has me a little more queasier than open heart surgery from January 2013, shoot ,add to my surgery tattoos, lol.Tie it in to my knee quad repair and get all marked up. lol..

[Nl383sbc]

Hi all,

I'm 6 weeks post-op and down 37.5 lbs. Truly amazing. I'm almost at the halfway mark for my first goal of 100lbs gone. I know things will get slower as the time goes on but I am pretty happy to have this head start.