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So today I returned to South Nassau for my Upper Endoscopy test that my Bariatric Doctor wanted me to take. My Bariatric Doctor uses a particular GI (Dr. Singh) that handles all of his Endoscopy for alleviating Strictures.

While waiting in the waiting room in the hospital my Primary Doctor of 12 years (Dr. Frank) who is also a GI passes by me. I approached him and he asked me why I was getting a GI. Seems that he and Dr. Singh already discussed my case. It then occurred to me that I never informed him of what happened. He was in the hospital performing his Endoscopy and Colonoscopy exams. He told me if he is in between procedures that he would ask Dr. Singh if he could observe.
 
Dr. Singh performed the exam and Dr. Frank observed. When I woke up Dr. Frank was there and told me that every thing was good but Dr Singh would give me the official results. Dr. Singh said there were no Ulcers and no stricture.

He said maybe something I ate got stuck and caused the discomfort and then dislodged it self. He said  that happens.

I was released and told to call my Bariatric Doctor for a new Diet.

I called Dr. Nish's office but he was in Surgery. He called me a couple of hours latter.

He told me to go back to a Liquid Diet (Broth, Diet Jello and water) for two days and come into the office on Thursday. I told him I could not come in on Thursday (I have an important meeting at work). So he said to call let me know how I'm tolerating the liquid diet and maybe we'll increase it to soft foods if you do well.

I told him I was a little concerned that this happened to me. He said people who don't have the surgery have these problems as well. It could have been something you ate or not. We tell people if they have pain for more than four hours to let us know as it may be a sign of serious problems. So I did the right thing. He said if this happens once. It's not a big deal. If it happens again that's the time to be concerned.

So hopefully this will be the first and only time.

I guess it was bound to happen...Things were just going to smoothly. It's been over a month. No pain, No Complications and good weight loss.

I woke up yesterday and felt great. I drank about 16 ounces of water over an hour period. This is my norm ritual. This is when I take my Meds and vitamins.

I decided to go to the gym. Normally, I do 20 minutes on the treadmil and 20 minutes on the elliptical. I saw my doctor last Thursday. He said I should increase my workouts and increase the intensity. So I did 30 minutes on the Recumbent bike and 30 minutes on the Elliptical.

I felt good after my hour workout. I got home 20 minutes latter.

As soon as I got home (around 10:00am) I started to feel gas pain. I thought this was strange since I didn't eat anything that morning. The last time I had something to eat was last night. I had 1/2 chicken thigh and I took my kids to a local Ice store. I had a sugar free cherry Icie (this was around 9:00pm).

I took some Gas-X strips and took a long walk around the block. About 3/4 of the way I got real tired and had to sit down. When I made it home I was completely wiped out. I then remembered that I had purchased some Papaya Enzyme from GNC. I remember reading on the RNY forum that it helps with blockages. I took some and immediately I started to feel better. Some but not all the gas moved. But I was still in some discomfort.

All of a sudden I started to feel faint and Light headed. I didn't pass out but I laid down on my bed. I started to belch. I started to feel much better. I feel asleep.

When I awoke (around 3:00pm). I was feeling good again. I had another 16oz of Water (over an hour period). I waited a 1/2 hour to make sure it stayed down. After that I had  1pc of Swiss Knight Cheese (1 oz) and a Diet Jello Pudding cup. I felt that I needed to eat something and get my protein. I thought that I would start small. Shortly after that I experienced the most intense pain that I have ever experienced in my life. 

I called the Doctor's office. His service put me through to the PA that was on call. I explained every thing to him. He asked me on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad the pain was. I told him an 8. I had tears in my eyes when I was talking to him. He told me to go to the Emergency Room. They will take Blood and X-Rays and he will meet me there to review them.

By the time I got to the Emergency room (around 6:00pm) the pain started to subside. I would say on the scale it went down to a 4. I decided that I would still proceed even though the pain was decreasing. I wasn't sure if I ate something the pain would reoccur. It's best to get it checked out.

By the time I got through all the red tape and saw the ER Dr. My pain was down to a 1. I just felt some discomfort at this point.

The ER took my Blood work and X-Ray's. They gave me an IV and added some meds to reduce my gastric acid level and something for the Nausea. The ER called the PA and said that the test revealed nothing. The PA asked the ER to do a Cat Scan.

I had to drink a contrast solution and wait two hours before they could do the test (around 10:00pm). The PA arrived just as they were doing the test and told me that everything looked normal. The Cat Scan and the X-Ray showed that the Sleeve was in place, there were no leaks,  the staple line looked good and they couldn't detect any issues. The PA spoke to my Dr.

My Dr. recommended that I stay in the hospital overnight for observation and have a endoscopy in the morning. My Dr. wanted to rule out any Ulcers. I wasn't allowed to Eat or Drink anything. They gave me a new IV with Vitamins.

So I was admitted into the hospital.

Now it's Monday and I was feeling like my old self...no discomfort.

Unfortunately the GI Dr. was backed up and had no openings. Since I was in no pain they scheduled me for Tuesday afternoon at 12:30pm.

They wanted me to stay in the hospital another night. I refused. I told them I wanted to go home. I could come back tomorrow as an outpatient. The GI Dr. wasn't happy but he said it was my choice as long as my Dr. was OK with it. Not only didn't I want to incur the cost of another day in the hospital (my insurance split is 80/20). I would be more comfortable at home. I live 5 minutes from the hospital.

So tomorrow I have my Endoscopy. I don't think that they are going to find anything.

I would really like to know what I did wrong that caused this. Typically I have a high pain threshold. I didn't need any pain meds after my surgery. I never experienced the pain that I did yesterday and I never want to again. I wish I could determine what the cause was so that I can try to avoid it in the future.

It's been a while since I posted.

This week I went back to work. I'm feeling more energetic I know this is mostly due to the weight loss. I normally take the Long Island Railroad into penn station and from there I ussually take a subway to my office building. When I got to Penn I tought what the hell, and decided to walk to get in additional excercise. I walked 1.4 miles to the office. I also walked on my way home. That's an additional 2.8 miles of excercise. The little trek also saved me $4.50 in subway fare. That's going to add up.

I received alot of compliments. Many people were shocked at my apperence. I lost alot of weight in my face and many people said I looked younger. I was happy with all the compliments.

I thought that I wouldn't have to buy any clothes but it seems even the old clothes that I found in the closet are starting to sag on my body. I may have to break down and buy some pants this weekend.

Planning on taking my son camping with the Boy Scouts latter this month. I'm actually looking foward to the 5 mile hike. I actually think I'm going to be able to do it.

I have my one month follow-up with my suregeon tomorrow. Looking foward to see his reaction towards my progress.

Still doing well. Learning how my sleeve reacts to situations.

For example. The other day I had some soup. Which made me kind of sleepy. I immediately laid down after eating to take a nap. That was a mistake!!! I woke up in about 15 minutes with the worse gas pains that I have ever experienced. I went for a long walk and that still didn't helped. I remembered that I had some Gas-X strips that I bought for the hospital (which I never used). That did the trick. Another lesson learned. Don't go to sleep after eating.

My weight loss has seemed to slow down but not stall. I'm starting to notice that I'm loosing inches throughout my body. Luckily I never threw away my smaller clothes. I always had the hope that someday I may fit into it. My dress shirts that I wore before the surgery was a neck size of 20. Now I can fit into an 18 shirt. My jeans were 50 now I can fit into a 46. I think I may even be able to do a 44 (but I don't have that size). Casual shirts, I can fit into a 2x before was a 4x.

I'm starting to exercise. I've been to the gym twice this week. Hopping to go today. I'm sticking to cardio and staying away from weights or any exercise that would stress my adominals. I'm hopping this will boost my weight loss results.

Think I made my first mistake with food.

In my quest to find a great tasting protein shake the Clerk at GNC recommended Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60. It has 60 Grams of protein i mixed it with 12oz of Skim Milk. I explained to the guy in GNC that I had the sleeve. He said this would be great for you and it taste good.

I followed the directions and used it as my breakfast. I figured I would be done with my protein for the day. BTW...It did taste good Chocolate. About three hours latter it all went out the other end .

I guess my system couldn't handle all that protein in one shot. I had other protein shakes of the same consistency before. Never had this reaction before; although they never had as much protein.

The shake was:

280 Calories
total fat 1g
total carbs 7g
protein 60g

Still doing well. The pounds are moving but not as fast as I would like. I guess I should be happy I lost 12 pounds since surgery...not bad for three weeks. But I feel that I could loose more.

I'm feeling alot of energy and wish I could exercise But Dr. Nish said I should wait another week.

Bored with the food choices I'm allowed. I see what others that are the same time out are eating. I noticed my doctors instructions are more restrictive than others. I read postings and others are doing soft foods.

I'm going to stick with his plan. As he's the one that is caring for me. That means I can only have Water, Crystal Lite, Diet Jello, Sugar Free Pops and Ricotta Cheese for now. I don't like Yogurt or Cottage Cheese. So those are off the list. Have another week and a half on this diet. Can't wait until Week #5 when I can add some soft foods. 

Don't have any pain. Every once in a while I either feel an itch or soreness around the incisions but it goes away. Still have on the steri strips.

I also started working from home. I was supposed to do 10 hours this week. Got so wrapped up in things that I did 20. Oh well...It's actually a nice change.

Still doing well. Decided to go to the Movies yesterday. I saw Green Zone. I wasn't that impressed with it...Actually it sucked.

After that I walked around in BJ's just to get some exercise.

I've progressed into my third week, so I went to trader Joe's and purchased some strawberry Yogurt, Cottage and Ricotta cheese.
 
I tried the yogurt (picked around the strawberries). I had about two ounces of yogurt. I waited several hours to see how I did. 

I felt fine. Didn't feel hungry but I was in the mode for more.

So then I tried the Ricotta Cheese. I measured out three ounces on a plate. After eating about 1/2 of it my stomach felt queezie. I thought it was a good time to stop.

I felt bloated and at times I felt like I was going to throw up. Fortunately I didn't purge anything.

This was my first eating experience after surgery. I guess I have to get used to my Sleeve. I have already learned when to stop.

I guess, I'm in for a lot more education (is that grammatically correct...don't think so but it sounds appropriate).

Today I have my followup appointment with Dr. Huang as Dr. Nishimura is on vacation. Dr. Hung was the assistant Suergeon for my VSG.

I hope to get clearence to go back to work. I keep refering to the plan. I posted the Meal plan in a discussion group. Thought I would post it here as well. I re typed this as this was given to me by the Nut.

I'm still in my 2nd week. Although I don't have much to look foward towards for week 3 & 4. I never liked those items. I will give it a try but my expectations are very low at this point. Can't wait for week #5.

Week 1 & 2
  - Broth, Diet Jello & Water
  - High Protein Liquid Supplement ( < 10 grams of Carbohydrates)
  - Goal: 60 Grams of protein per day
 
Week 3 & 4
  Add in (For 1 - 2 meals per day):
    - Low fat/nonfat yogurt
    - Low fat/nonfat cottage cheese
    - Low fat/nonfat ricotta cheese

Week 5
 Add in Soft Protein Foods (for 1 - 2 meals per day):
    - String Cheese, Baby bell, Laughing cow
    - Re-fried beans
    - Lentil, Split pea or black bean soup
    - Miso or egg drop soup
    - Tofu

Week 6:
 Add in (for 1 - 2 meals per day):
    - Chicken (soft, moist, fresh, canned, or thinly sliced deli. No BBQ or Fried)
    - Turkey  (soft, moist, fresh, canned, or thinly sliced deli. No BBQ or Fried)
    - Fish (soft, moist, fresh, canned or shellfish)
    - Egg (soft boiled, poached or scrambled) & if there is room 1/2 slice of toast
    - Small amounts of nonfat or low fat dressings to moisten food

Daily:
    - 50 - 60 ounces of water
    - 8 ounces of Crystal Light, Fruit2O, Diet Snapple or any low calorie/non-carbonated beverage
    - one cup of decaf tea or coffee (you can use splenda, sweet-n-low, nutra sweet, low fat milk.

Everything still going well. I was able to get in 70 oz of water yesterday as well as 65 Grams of Protein and 600 calories. Been using http://www.sparkpeople.com/ to track my Nutrition.

The site is pretty cool. It has a database of food. You put in what you ate and it figures out the protein, carb and calories. You can do a nice report at the end of the day as well.

Still walking around yesterday even though it rained cats and dogs. I think with all the protein that I've consumed has given me more energy. I didn't want to stay in the house. So I drove over to my brothers house then went to Best buy to browse the movie they have. Didn't buy anything. But felt the need to walk around.

Thinking about going back to work. Since my Job is computer related there's no lifting involved. I also have the option to work from home. I'm thinking about 10 hours this week, 20 the next, then 30 and 40. I'll attempt to go into the office the first week in April.

I already talked to me boss and she's cool with it as long as the Doctor is. I have an appointment tomorrow with the doctor. I'll discuss it with him. Don't think he'll have an issue with it.  

It's been an easy ride so far .

No pain...I'm able to walk around alot.

Most importantly...I'm not Hungry!!!

This is great. I want to stick to the plan. Broth, Jello, Clear Liquids and optifast for two weeks.

I've seem to develop a dislike for optifast after the surgery. Maybe because I can actually see the stuff as I can no longer use the Straw.

I find myself forced to drink it, to get the protein in. I don't crave it or feel that i need to drink it to satisfy my hunger as it did in the past.

I'm trying to find another product that tastes better and gives = or better protein and less fat and calories. I've ordered the sample Unjury kit. Should arrive today.

If anyone knows if a better protein shake, let me know.

The third week. I'm allowed to add Cottage or ricotta Cheese and yogurt. My only problem is that I always disliked these choices with a passion prior to surgery. I guess at that point I will be willing to try them again. But I don't have high hopes.