Nancy Rivers

I am having surgery the same day as you, and yes, the nerves are getting bad. I am excited and can't wait for it to be over, but at the same time, I'm nervous because it's a huge change and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. But we are ready or we wouldn't have made it this far. We'll get through this together!

Good luck to the sleevers going today. We'll all be thinking of you. Please update us when you are able to.

Thanks for posting biggriz. Sorry you are having so much pain, but it will pass in time. Try getting up and walking a bit that should help some. Here's hoping that you get feeling much better today.

I lost 4 pounds the first week. I'll weigh myself again on Tuesday before surgery to see the total. I had lost 5 pounds in the month prior to starting the pre-op diet.

I'll be heading out tomorrow for a 10.5 hour drive to reach the destination of the family reunion. Friday and Saturday are packed with activities along with a dinner Saturday night. Then I get to drive back on Sunday, do my 24-hour clears on Monday and sleeved on Tuesday morning. At first I was quite nervous about attending the family reunion while on my pre-op diet. However, it just dawned on me that this will be a bit easier than I thought. The reason? Well, according to my pre-op diet, besides the 4 Protein shakes I get a day, I also get 6 servings of other "real" foods. The hardest part of this will be finding skim milk that I can use for my Protein Shakes (otherwise I am to have 5 protein shakes a day plus food). The hotel has a free continental Breakfast each morning. Usually that will include oatmeal - which is on my list of foods that I can eat. If not, then maybe some fat-free yogurt. There is a restaurant near the hotel, so I can hit that for the dinners and have a garden salad (also on my list of foods that I can eat). While we are out and about, I could do the same thing for lunch - or if they have a veggie Soup or similar I could do that too. If the continental breakfast proves to be a disaster for my pre-op plan, then I'll just hit the restaurant for that too. This just might work!

Thanks. I found the hotel and the restaurant next door both have 2% milk instead of the skim. Tomorrow, I'll try to find a quickie mart or something so I can get the skim. So far not too bad, although I'll have to find someplace else if I want soup as the restaurant next door only has fat loaded cream based soups. But, still, it's nice to find this stuff out.

Welcome to the forums. Don't stress about loosing weight before the surgery. What I did was start incorporating 1 Protein shake a day and started eating a bit healthier (no more fast food) before the doc put me on the 12 day pre-op diet that I am doing now. I think doing it the way I did is making this a bit easier - although really, I have a really generous pre-op diet and the only problem I had was days 3 - 5 where I craved certain things like pizza. This is a life changing decision, so make sure you are really ready to make those changes. If you are not, then take the extra time. Otherwise, go for it!

For me days 3 through 5 were the toughest. After that it got so much easier.

Yup, you're normal. We all go through the gambit of emotions for this. When I met the surgeon the first time I didn't know what to expect either. We just talked about my medical history and the reasons why I wanted to have surgery and which surgery I wanted to have. He then told me the next steps that I would have to complete (what tests, the fact that he wanted a letter of medical necessity from my PCP, etc). He then asked if I had any questions, and I pulled out my small list of questions that I had written down based on my research from these forums and he very patiently answered every single one of them. (By the way, he did it again when I saw him for the 2nd meeting where I signed consents an had an even longer list of questions.) I also met with the nutritionist for the first time that day. That was something I wasn't expecting, but he has nutritionists on staff in his office and they just automatically come in to speak with you the first day. I thought that was pretty nice. When I went back to my PCP, I told him this is what I am doing and the surgeon requested the letter of medical necessity (and a series of lab tests that my PCP could order). It took several phone calls and a couple of weeks to actually get the letter from my PCP - mainly because they were taking a very long time in actually producing it, but the PCP had no problem doing it - just took forever to do.

Hi folks and welcome to the forums. You will find a lot of information in the different areas on here. There are several who have had the sleeve for a while - Tiffykins immediately pops into my mind, although there are many others. Feel free to ask questions - nothing is off limits.

When growing up, my parents always had (and still do) whole milk. When I got out on my own, I switched to 2%. However for the last 5 or 6 years I have been drinking skim milk and absolutely love it. In fact, the place I'm currently staying had just 2% milk and I used that for my shake instead of skim and it didn't taste very good to me, so I ended up going out and buying a gallon of milk just for me.

Wow - what an amazing story. And back to work already! I'm planning 2.5 weeks off and my boss is saying that I can take longer as he was talking about not having me come back until after Labor Day. I'm a wimp compared to you! LOL

Good luck tomorrow!

Good luck to the July 4th sleever Heather H! (and any one else getting their sleeve today). Hope all goes well for you.

Good luck with your surgery today. Please update when you are able.

Welcome to the forums. We will be sleeved the same day. It is frustrating that each doctor has different "standards" when it comes to the diet, but it is what they recommend for their practice to help ensure that you will go through the surgery with the least amount of complications and heal appropriately. The 2 weeks before is typically to help shrink the fatty deposits around the liver so that it reduces the chances of the liver getting nicked during surgery which would not be a good thing. Yes, it is tough sticking with the pre-op diet, but you really need to try to stick to it as much as possible. After surgery I hear it is a bit easier due to the swelling and your stomach not tolerating much. It is very important to focus on getting liquids and Protein so you can heal properly. Also, do not compare yourself to others. Everyone heals differently and goes through the process differently.

Good luck today!

Welcome to the forums. You'll find a lot of support and advice here. Good luck with your surgery!

My nutritionist said up to 5000 mcg, but it is a b vitamin so what your body won't use it will excrete in your urine.

Wow. So sorry you are having such a rough time. At least you are at the hospital and they are discovering the problems and treating them. I hope you get feeling better real soon.

I wonder if these are available outside of the "clubs" as I don't have membership to either Sam's or Costco. I'll have to look for them. Thanks!

Welcome to the forums! Congrats on getting your date already! Be sure to check out all of the different forums - you'll find a lot of support and advice here.

You're spouse can come on here too. There's nothing wrong with that.

You have to hit "post" not reply. Sorry about that.

You'll do great! For me the hardest part was days 3 through 5 of the pre-op diet - that's when I had the cravings. Today is day 6 - but no cravings today. Others have said it gets easier too, and I have to admit, it is easier today. Good luck with your surgery.