Hi Mary. This is what I know:
"How does this work; I've been told that my new, little stomach is about the size of 1/2 of my thumb." Your stomach will be about the size of an egg, that is why we have the pureed food, yogurts or protien shakes. The stomach will be very sensative and we are limited to only 2 or 3 oz' at a time or we may experiance dumping syndrome.
"Will/does it stretch?" Yes it does stretch.
"How?" If you continually overeat and don't listen to your body it can stretch out to the point that you can eat like you used to, however it does not happen over night and you would more than likely exprience a lot of dumping getting there. And soda can also speed the prosses.
"Is this bad?" It can be bad, I am a little uncertain how much it will shrink back to a smaller size, but my support group our facilitator has talked about this and in some cases the surgon may have to go back and make the pouch smaller, he is a professional diatitian that specializes in bariatric needs.
Will it hurt? Our facilitator said it would take very many uncomfortable meals to get it to stretch out continually abusing your pouch.
I have read some of your other posts and you have done your homework. If you listen to what your body tells you and follow the meal plans set for you by your dieticians then should have no problems. This is only a tool and like all tools if you don't use them like they are intended to be used then they won't work like they are intended to work. You may not be getting the support you need at home because they are also scared of the journey you are on and that it may somehow change you and they will lose the person they know. See if your husband will go to a support group meeting with you so he can meet some other spouses there who are going through the same thing with their partner and he will see that neither of you are alone in this journey and that you still need him. Hope I was able to answer some of your question and calm some fears.
Tom
