Oregondaisy

I will be back in Oregon on Thursday and ready to chat!

I had to have my gall bladder out right before thanksgiving too. I am with you on that one. I am glad that sucker is gone. congratulations! I like the way this board is set up better than OH, but I like the fact that there are more people over there who have been sleeved over a year. Keep in touch!

I only know of a very few people this did not happen to. It is very frightening, but everyone tells me it does grow back. Believe me, I tried every supplement anyone told me to try, and I lost it with band surgery and again with sleeve surgery.I HAD really thick hair, but not anymore. I too have new hair growing in, but it's going to take awhile to replace all that I lost. Nothing feels as good as not being fat anymore though! I wish I had done this years ago, even though my hair is really thin now.

Most definitely. I would not recommend the band to anyone.Living with the band and sleeve is like the difference between day and night. I feel like I lead a completely normal life with the sleeve. With the band, I never knew what I could eat, when I could eat or drink, or when I was going to throw up in my sleep, in a restaurant, or if my day would be a normal eating day.

I am thinking of getting a wig. My hair is so thin! Tiffy I love A too! I think you would look cute no matter what you do though, cutie pie!

Mine was a breeze. She asked if I knew I was going to have to exercise and basically wanted to be sure I knew that this was not going to be a magic cure if I had food issues. this was before band surgery, not sleeve. I went to MX so it's not required before sleeve surgery.My band dr. would not do it without one. They are looking to see if you are a compulsive eater and if you will be able to follow the rules. Some people do not know the difference between head hunger and really being hungry because your stomach is empty.

they unfilled me the day before surgery. I didn't have much of a fill in there because of all the problems I was having. Dr. Aceves didn't make me go on any preop diet because I hadn't gained much weight back after losing most of my fill. They should either email you or tell you on the phone what they want you to do prior to surgery.

Welcome back Vegas! Do you really read each and every post on here? I used to have time to read all the new posts, but not anymore! There are too many new posts every day to keep up with everything. I try to read as many as I have time for though.

There are a lot of people who could not get their Protein in until they moved on to mushy/soft foods. do the best you can. They say it can take 6 weeks to be healed. Try to take a sip every 10-20 minutes even if it's one swallow. Kellogs has K2O protein Water that has a little bit of protein so you can get water and some protein. It comes in different flavors.

Did you have a hiatal hernia repaired during surgery? I have heard that some people who have a hiatal hernia repair will sometimes have spasms until the area around the repair is completely healed. Other wise, eat very slowly taking itty bitty bites and wait in between bites to see how it is going down. In the very beginning, when everything is healing, we all get full on about 4-5 bites of anything.The sleeve will stretch slightly over time, and eating will get easier and you will be able to eat slightly more.

You're welcome. I Hope your problems go away!

Mashed up cauliflower is good. cook it and mash it up and you can put cream cheese on it or sour cream or just butter or I use some healthy margarine. Sorry but the name escapes me at the moment and I am out of it.

An upper GI is where they have you drink contrast solution and they watch it go down on an x ray type machine.

I have the window open but I guess it's too late for everyone :thumbup1:

Thanks Tiffy. I ordered some too

There are cards you can download from somewhere. There should be a thread for it if you do a thread search for restaurant cards. I use mine occasionally. I have had people copy mine on to cardstock paper. I laminated mine. I got it from my band doc.

I second the talapia. It comes in little pieces which are just the right size. it's a mild white fish and goes down well. I put a little lemon juice on it after it's cooked and cook it in a little bit of olive oil. It takes just a few min. to cook.

Hope, did you get the results of your upper GI? are you still nauseous and not able to eat? I am worried about you. Please check in with us!

I do believe that vitacost.com is the cheapest. They have all sorts of supplements and their prices are fabulous and their shipping is $4.99 no matter how much you order. They also carry BSN Lean Dessert protein drinks which are really good. I love the fudge pudding.

Yeah, some doctors say that and some don't. I get full really fast on small amounts of food so it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference that i drink right until I start eating. Water goes right through the stomach anyway.

I get mine at vitacost.com They have liquid and chewables. I am really deficient in calcium according to my latest labs so I am going to order the liquid next time and take both.

I drink right up until I take the first bite. I was never told not to. It's never been a problem for me.

All that vegetarian food is fine. I would watch the carb count on yogurt though. eggs and cheese don't have carbs! Do you eat fish? fish is a great protein! Honestly, this is all so simple, it could not get any easier. I know in the beginning, I had all the thoughts that all of you are having. Once I moved to solid food, it was difficult to eat. I had a hard time figuring out how much to eat and ate too much and it was painful. It does take your brain the 20 min. to tell your stomach it's full. I had to go by looking at the size of portion. I ate a lot of those tiny cans of already made chicken salad in a can that is right next to the tuna in the store, when I was on the mushy/soft stage. Then, on solids, I would look at the food, and imagine if it would fit in that can. Head hunger is another story completely. It does get better for most people. There are still people who struggle with head hunger all the time, because they are used to being able to eat anything they want, whenever they want. I was hungry on the liquid stage. My stomach growled and I could not wait to get to the next stage, but I was too worried about that staple line to move to the next stage before I was supposed to. I just drank liquid whenever my stomach growled. Feel free to ask as many questions as you need to. We love helping. I don't know that I consider myself a veteran, because there are people who have had their sleeves for a couple of years now. All I know is now, I don't worry about anything and I eat because I am supposed to. There are times that I eat because I know I haven't eaten anything in a long time, not because I am hungry. Honestly, I am tired of buying new clothes. I am tired of liking something and the next time I try it on, it's too big. I know it's a good thing, but I am glad I am at goal now and I try to stay out of the stores. I hope this helps someone! anyone that wants to ask me anything, send me a private message and I will be happy to answer if I can! I lost 100 lbs and it was easy!:biggrin0::laugh0:

Carbs are evil! I agree with Tiffy. Keep carbs to 30 per day. Refried Beans are all carbs. The way I lost my 100 lbs was Protein shakes for Breakfast made with Water. Sometimes I will use half hood carb countdown choc. and half water because I love chocolate. lunch I will have salad with some sort of protein mixed in, or some sort of deli meat with a low fat cream cheese on it, with a piece of low fat cheese, dinner is some sort of meat and veggies. Snacks, sf Jello with ff cool whip, or sf popsicles, once in awhile sf pudding, and sf fudgesicles. Hey once I went on a 4 month plateau, but I was almost to goal then. don't worry. It will come off, but you do need to limit those carbs! I never counted calories- only carbs and protein.