Newbie - Need advice from my fellow sleevers :)

[Cookie22]

Hi Everyone,

I have finally received my surgery date after my 6 month Nutrition process, and I am really excited / nervous and could use some support.

I am a 28 YO mother of 2 small boys, and I made the decision to do this and get healthy. I am approx 228lbs, 5'3, and have battled with my weight my whole life. I have already started making lifestyle changes, I exercise 5 days a week (zumba, yoga, Pilates) but i have a BAD sweet tooth and I'm an over eater.

So my concerns / questions ....

#1) the Dr told me I would be in the hospital overnight but that I may want to take advantage of staying an extra day to recover, since I do have smaller children (5 and 18 month). Any thoughts from mothers on this?

#2) Realistically, how fast can you return to normality? I work from home on the computer, so i am thinking i can get away with working right after surgery (hey, i did after my c-sections )

#3) Post Op cosmetic surgery. I may be getting ahead of myself, but I'm pretty sure i will need to have some kind of cosmetic surgery. I'm really concerned about skin sagging. I asked the Dr ad he said i may not need any surgery, it all depends on your skin type and how much / how fast you lose the weight.

#4) Pregnancy. A big part of my choosing this procedure was just in case i did want another child i was afraid of the nutrition factor with the bypass. Any mothers post sleeve have stories, nutrition issues, weight gained back etc.

I know this is long, but I really wanted to get some feedback from this community. I have been coming to this site for the past 6 months and everyone on here is really supportive and i could use it right about now.

thansk all!

[pmorph28]

Congrats Cookie 22 on your surgery.

I'm a 37 year old man who had his surgery 2 weeks ago this past Monday. I have a 6 yr old girl and a 7 month old son. I would highly recommend staying the extra night if you can. I was grateful for the extra bit of time to get myself together. I wasn't able to hold my son except on my knee while sitting until yesterday.

I went to work one week after surgery. It was tough because I was taking a nap everyday the whole week I was off. I managed though and seem fine. I drive about 45 minutes each way so that was a challenge at first. I'm still not normal! Some things are much better but I laid on the floor last night with my son and played because he is starting to crawl and I felt it this morning. My greatest discomfort is still on my left side where they pulled the stomach out. (That is normal they say)

I'm vain and I have thought about this too. I'm going to wait and lose my weight before researching this. So far I lost 54 lbs during my 6 month medical weight loss and 22 since surgery and I haven't noticed any skin problems. I do expect them though since I started at 402lbs.

I have no experience with pregnancy other than being a bystander/cheerleader. I can only say I expect my body to go through a ton of changes in the next year so I would want to wait until things leveled out for me personally before trying for another child. Just the opinion of a man.

Good luck and if you have any post op questions they are fresh on my mind. Don't hesitate to ask :-)

[Cookie22]

Thanks for the info!

[Truebody]

Hey there and welcome.

1. Take the extra night. I'm in hospital for 3 nights. It helps on a bunch of things, but keeps you stronger for continued recovery.
2. Depends. I've been asked to take 2weeks off, but I'm going to try for 1week plus the 2 weekends either side.
3. You're young so your skin will slowly ease back into shape and that continues after you have reached your goal weight. You might want to hold off jumping into that until later.
4. Can't help you with this one.

[Cookie22]

Thanks Truebody! I have read through some of your other bogs an they are very helpful.

[Phoenixrise]

So my concerns / questions ....

#1) the Dr told me I would be in the hospital overnight but that I may want to take advantage of staying an extra day to recover, since I do have smaller children (5 and 18 month). Any thoughts from mothers on this? I am not a mother but you will for sure need the day of surgery because you sleep so much, than the next day i was sleepy after meds but around the evening i was ready to go home. I think we all are so different I would take any extra days given being that it allows for observation and you do have smaller children and you will need the rest

#2) Realistically, how fast can you return to normality? I work from home on the computer, so i am thinking i can get away with working right after surgery (hey, i did after my c-sections ) It depends what you mean here. There are steps, for example with myself it took me over 3 months to eat without it hurting me. Hurting meaning like not bending over and my stomach was still healing phase. It is not an actual hurting like pain i could not bare. As far as feeling like India again it took like 2-3 wks for me not to feel the fact i had surgery. Each person is different again

#3) Post Op cosmetic surgery. I may be getting ahead of myself, but I'm pretty sure i will need to have some kind of cosmetic surgery. I'm really concerned about skin sagging. I asked the Dr ad he said i may not need any surgery, it all depends on your skin type and how much / how fast you lose the weight. Weight loss is based on different factors. I have a great example i use all the time. I got sleeved in July last year a patient got sleeved in October last year she has lost more weight than me based on she does live a healthier lifestyle but also race plays a factor and co-morbidies. For African Americans they lose at a slower rate than non african americans, and yet african americans with co-morbidies lose more than those without co-morbidies. Here is a link you can use to research this more American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery | and to add it is normal to lose the first month water weight but in average it said to be about 10 lbs a month. Saggy skin I never had this issue but again I was just 100 pounds over weight. I think we all have an idea if we will be the ones with the saggy skin or not or at least i know i would not have any.

#4) Pregnancy. A big part of my choosing this procedure was just in case i did want another child i was afraid of the nutrition factor with the bypass. Any mothers post sleeve have stories, nutrition issues, weight gained back etc. Sorry I am not far along enough, but i know some people have had this surgery and gotten pregnant shortly and i mean some shortly after gotten pregnant. I have not heard anyone speak of any nutrition problems. The body is still able to do everything it did before with just 80% less stomach volume than before

If you have more questions PM me

[Msvetrn]

I would take the extra night at the hospital. It can only assist you in getting the rest you need.
Everyone is different as to when they will return to their normal routine without issues...there is no way to predict what kid of issues, if any, you might have.
The excess skin issue seems to be different for everyone, too, however my good friend, who is your age, started at your weight, had the same goal weightwhich she reached and had two small children definitely needed (and had) a tummy tuck, breast lift with implants and major lipo with fat trasnferred to her buttocks BUT...she had not done any exercise whatsoever.
As far as the pregnancy thing...I've seen lots of gals on here and other forums get pregnant after the sleeve and did not seem to have any issues but the majority of them were monitored very closely because, as we all know, the fetus receives all incoming nutrients FIRST so it can be more of a risk factor to the mom, not the baby.