iegal

Fly - I am doing a happy dance for you! Know you are elated which your decision to have VSG surgery. Keep up the great weight loss - looking forward to more incredbile victories.

I feel like your icon right now...screaming. Nothing additional to say except what others have said. YEAH to each of you for knowing we worked for our weight loss, we just have help with our sleeve. Even at goal I still make choices to keep the weight off. Easy? Define easy.

Hi Donnie; Glad you would ask for advice. I travel often and there is not much to booking a trip. Be careful, do not book with priceline until you know definate surgerry dates. Once you book, you can not cancel trip to get refund. So, first step is to get your date of surgery. Next, find out how long you will be in hospital. SD airport is very close to downtown so you may want to consider gettting a hotel for one day there becasue I have read two stories on this site of people not making it back for their flight in time...in other words consider buffering one day or a later flight just in case. Do you have a passport? You will need one.and this can take up to 6 weeks. Last time I renewed mine as main Post Office in area. Pictures can be taken a costco or Kinkos. I like travelocity because you can choose +1 days which means you might be able to find a cheaper flight. Depending upon which city you are flying out of - you will choose desination of SAN (San Diego) which is downtown San Diego. Great city to visit if you have never been there with a world renowned zoo, gaslight district, Little Italy, Balboa Park, old town, La Jolla seaside, Naval base with museum and so much more. Back on subject. Okay so once you have your dates/passport/booked trip highly recommend you tell airline when you book (call airline up once you get a travel confirmation code) and tell airline you need a wheel chair upon return. Why? You get through security faster, you do not have to drag your bags (tip a guy a few bucks and they will drag around for you) AND you get to get on the airplane before everyone else. Lifesafer since no one will be pushing you nor will you stand in a long line waiting to get on. Purchase before your trip a wheeled suitcase or bag (size limitations to take on airplane) at a discount store like Marshall/TJ Maxx/WalMart to stuff everything in. Also recommend taking Water flavor packets like Crystal light to put in your water, water which you will need to buy inside airport since it can not go through security. Also if you buy a Lipton Soup - chicken noodle flavor minus the noodles - you can have this with hot water that you can get on plane. Flight attendant will just give you hot water and you can put in Soup Flavor and stir. Take a spoon along if you decide on this comfort food, one is not provided on airplane for return. Take small pillow as this counts as one of your carry on's (you only get two) Next - there is a thread under General Sleeve Discussion titled "offical what you will need for surgery" listing all the great things to take on your trip. Comfortable clothes, pants that do not sit tight around waist, loose shirt, light jacket (planes always seem cold to me) reading material for several days, chapstick and more. Whew - hydrate often and rest often is they goal to recovery. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. Good luck on your journey and keep us posted.

Rachel; I am so very sorry about your relationship ending now, just before you are having surgery. You have had a couple of big changes in your life and now you are heading for another. Probably really hard to be assured that things are going to get better, but they will. Counseling really can help to make sure you are ready for this next step. You don't want to head into VSG with doubts of why you did this and if it is worth it. We are all here for you and cheering you on. Doing what is best for you, best for your health, best for for future can only be considered a good decision. If you boyfriend could not understand this, then you can do this alone. Hugs.

Yeah! It is beautiful on top. Celebrating your success!

Hi Angi; There is an entire thread on this web site for former lap banders to VSG. (click on link below) Recommend you repost in that forum as you will get more replies from people who have been in your shoes. From what I have read, VSG may be your answer. Best wishes in your journey. http://www.verticals...eeve-revisions/

HA HA, yes, I miss my rear end. And I miss 2 cups sizes of my girls. Worth it? YES, but sitting for a long time is pain.

We are all learning to create new habits. This is a journey and I am glad you are doing so well. Wishing you many more NSV ahead!

Yes you can do this! Congratulation and welcome to the losers bench.

Yes, you are in a learning curve. Most of us VSGs had to learn how to eat properly. Many good suggestions. Slow down. Chew everything 20 times (yes count) before you swallow. Then put down your fork or spoon for a moment. Measure everything you eat. If you are eating too much, that is not good for new sleeve. You should have a diet guide with amount you can eat per meal. If not, search internet for Cornell VSG diet or Hopkins VSG diet or a number of other good ones out there to reference. Recommend you always follows your surgeons diet plan though. Good luck Desert Flower!

Hi Loseforlife; Congrats on your new sleeve! Sorry you are having difficulties adjusting...but this is a learning period. Agree with Lily - try room tempature drinks or slighly warmed decaf tea...I liked peppermint or mint best. Recommend g2 (sugarless/low calorie) gatorade to drink rather than crystal lite which will help with hydration and electrolytes, again drink at room tempature. NO gulping when you drink as this will cause pain. Those slimies were my sign that I was full...think thick clear slime like what a St. Bernard would drool out. Get a shot glass and take a several minutes to slowly swallow that 1oz every 15 minutes. If you are in extreeme pain (as if something is wrong) call your surgeons office. Good luck and let us know if this helps out or what you found works.

Congrats on the new you!

Congrats...but even in the mushy stage I never ate baby food. Yuck. Do you have a sleeve diet guide with mushy food items?

I feel your pain. At 8 months out I still remember gagging and sometimes throwing up on those big Barriatric vitamins. Echoing what Christina & NJmomof2 said. Go the easy way out, take a two Flinstone Childrens Complete (with Iron) vitamins. When I was up to eating at 6 weeks I moved over to the Gummy Vitamins sold at Costco. During weight loss, I felt those were my treat...maybe like I was cheating.

So sorry to hear about her depression, but this does happen to many of us if we do not have support. Is she a member of this forum? Is her surgeon local or out of country? If local, she needs to call, there are therapists that specialize is WLS depression and her surgeon should have a referal. She needs help and you are right to ask for help. There is no magic pill to fix her. Part of this is physical as mentioned by Lily and the other part is true sadness due to the change. Hopefully your friend knows she needs help of someone who understands the challenges of WLS. You might find more answers under a thread on this site for depression. http://www.verticals...sion-after-wls/

You are still newly sleeved. I was not able to get in my needed protien amount for almost a month. You need to stay hydrated first and foremost then worry about protien. Do you have a sleeve diet guide for what you can eat and when? If not I can email you a couple, just send me a private message and I have guidelines from Hopkins & Cornell plus a few others that are good. Recommend you follow your surgeons diet plan first though, using other surgeons as a guideline. RE: nutrition - I took Flinstone Vitamins with Iron (complete) from week 1-4 until I could handle the big girl Barriatric suppliments. This will help with your anemia. For protien, I drank clear protien since I could not stand the taste of thick protien drinks such as unjury or others. Would gag on so many types such as MuscleMilk, costco brand, Went to GNC and bought Isopure 40gm Apple Melon (think jolly green rancher) Protein in a glass bottle. Expensive, but less than what I normally spent on a meal at a fast food joint. Hated all the other flavors of Isopure. Took me all day to drink a bottle for the first month. Best wishes!

Think LESLIEH on this site had surgery through Pacific Bariatric. Drop her a line.

The good news. You are in ketosis which means your body is burning weight at optimal performance. Continue on the way you are now and you will continue to lose weight at a rapid pace. You are going to be at goal in sooner that you think. The bad news. You might have bad breath too. Not much you can do if you have these except brush your tounge and teeth often. Maybe sip Water more often. Even my mom told me I had halatious breath during this phase. Rejoice, you have a furry tongue!

Welcome to the losers bench...you are going to make a great addition to this losing team. Looking forward to more updates and watching you shed those pounds. Prayers for a speedy recovery.

Agreed. The PreOp diet is torture. Why are you doing this to yourself? Wouldn't it be easier to just have something fun to eat again? But you know you need to shrink your liver so you can be the new you. This is so surgeon can easily access stomach and not lacerate liver. That surgery date is so very close and regardless of the suffering you are now in - this will pass soon. The goal to be the new you in inches away and this time you will win the weight loss battle. You can do this. Smiles while sipping on the hideous drinks, this is only a phase. (PS - my preop diet was liquid only for 2 weeks) Cheering for you!

Even though I am well past my surgery date, I enjoyed reading your experience and view. Here is a hug wishing you a speedy recovery and lots of weight loss! Welcome to the losers bench!

I don't know what is better to see...your genuine smile or your amazing weight loss. Way to be such a loser!

I used say over and over many things, but they all sounded like Annie..."tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow" because I was going to beat my desire to eat everything in site, tomorrow. I was going to have control over me, tomorrow. I was going to be better for myself, tomorrow. I was not going to fail this time, starting tomorrow I was going to buy that diet plan, excercise equipment to help me lose weight, tomorrow. Thank you for this thread. Now I say... I love my sleeve! and No regrets!

How exciting! See good things do happen all the time. June is close by so time to get prepared.

I am so glad you made a list of what you fear and more importantly what you hope for after surgery. Yes, there are risks but they are minimal. Rewards of this surgery is so much greater than the risks. I love my sleeve! Keep in contact please.