Caliblonde

Thank you! Progress is so exciting!

Hi all, This is my one month update. Since surgery I have lost 32 pounds, 72 pounds down altogether!! I am so amazed and motivated by my weight loss. I've had some minor stalling since I started eating food, but it seems like that's pretty normal. Still struggling to get in all of the things I need, but I'm hoping that will continue to improve the further out I get. I want to thank everyone here for making this such an easy transition for me. I LOVE that there is always someone available to answer questions and provide support. It has made such a huge difference in my life. Erin

Beautiful! You've done such an amazing job in a year.

Welcome!

Good luck! I'm glad the surgeon is willing to give you a chance to lower your tri levels before outright canceling surgery.

They won't force you to wear it. I wore mine for the majority of the night but if I wanted it off they would turn it off for me. *edited spelling

I think that's pretty normal at 4 days post op. For the pain with swallowing maybe try to drink things at different temperatures to see if that helps a little. Hang in there!

I've had chronic diarrhea ever since I had my gall bladder out almost 3 years ago. I also can't eat eggs anymore.

Thank you! I'm hoping that the prescription will help. I had 3 crackers last night and that seemed to settle things down enough for me to sleep.

Thanks Dee, I tried laying off the Vitamins for a couple of days and then talked to the nurse practitioner. She told me to try switching to a different Vitamin. I tried the new vitamin and that caused vomiting. I called the surgeons office this morning. The nurse is going to call in a prescription anti-nausea medicine for me. We'll see how that goes. It's better when I drink cold liquids and when I don't try to push the food too much. I unfortunately can't do Protein Shakes at the moment, just the smell makes me gag.

I was thinking that crackers of some type would be helpful. Thanks so much for the suggestions.

So the past three days have been not much fun for me. I'm a little over three weeks out and now I'm finding that I have nausea. It pretty much lasts all day long and gets worse when I eat or drink. I've gone back to eating the things I know sit well, but even those foods are making me feel ill (i.e. cottage cheese, string cheese). I also had my first experience with vomiting after I tried a one a day gummy vitamin. I'm planning to call my surgeon's office tomorrow to see if they can give me a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine. I know lots of people experience nausea with vsg, if you have suggestions I'm open to them!

Congratulations!!

Tiffykins, I was just wondering did you wait a full year before trying to add soda in? I would love to be able to have diet coke again at some point. Thanks!

Sometimes when you have blood work done, you end up requiring different tests, which is what happened to me. I ended up needing to have a renal ultrasound, a leg ultrasound, and had to go to a blood specialist due to my labs. Nothing was wrong with me, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

YAY! That's wonderful news, I'm so happy for you!!!

I'm glad that you talked to your surgeon and that you have some new meds to try! I hope that helps tremendously!

I had the same problem and my surgeon told me to use Milk of Magnesia (gross!!!!) and if that didn't work to try a glycerin suppository. He said that once I am four weeks out I should start on some sort of fiber supplement.

I completely understand! The same thing happened to me. I knew that I was going to have to pay the remainder of my deductible ($1200) and thought that was going towards the hospital copay...I was WRONG!!!!! I had to pay the $1200 plus $1500 for my hospital copay. I was very upset that this was not communicated to me well in advance of the surgery.

You'll be sleeping most of the time, probably sucking on ice chips when you're awake, pushing your pain pump frequently, and walking about 5 times a day.

Yipee! I can't wait to say the same thing!

There is a whole list of protein shake recipes under the food and nutrition forum (shakes and protein I think). You can add things like sugar free syrups, coffee, peanut butter, bananas, strawberries, etc. to make them yummier.

I did a smoothie once during pre-op and it didn't taste very good, plus it had like 600+ calories. I think that's too much for a Protein shake. My favorite Protein shakes are the EAS shakes - you can get them for $4.99 (package of 4 pre-made shakes) at Target. You can also get them at the grocery store and the pharmacy, though I have found that they are WAY more expensive than at Target. I also got some sugar free Carnation Instant Breakfast, that tastes pretty good and it has a decent amount of protein when you mix it with milk. Unfortunately, they don't sell the sugar free version at any grocery stores near me so I have to get them online.

I know that everyone says to get in all your protein, but I completely understand how difficult that is. I'm about 2.5 weeks out and I am still having a lot of trouble getting in everything that I need. Today I had about 3 ounces of food total for the entire day, a protein shake, and 1.5 bottles of water. Bare minimum of what I need. I am completely stuffed right now and the thought of putting anything else into my body makes me feel physically ill. You're only 5 days out, don't stress yourself out too much worrying about getting everything in, it gets better little by little.

Welcome! I can certainly relate to the feelings that you're having. It took me 2 years to finally take the first step and even then I wasn't 100% on board. I'm so happy that you found this site early, there are so many wonderful people here who can guide you through the entire process. As far as starting the process, my recommendation would be to call your insurance company first and find out what they cover and what their requirements are. If they cover the procedure they can give you recommendations for surgeons. Then, make an appointment with your primary care physician to discuss what you want to do and why. Your PCP may be able to help you through the process as well. Good luck!!