ProudGrammy

Welcome Kysia81 Why are you cleaning house so quickly If you must do so - come on over to my house. You just had major surgery, try and take it easy, even if you have small kids - tell them to cool it, so to speak Did your dr. advise you to only eat the above foods, mashed potatoes, eggs, Soup only No clear, liquid diet Drink plenty of Water, don't worry so much about Protein, get plenty of fluids so you don't get dehydrated. All dr. and NUTS are different. Maybe check with yours again. If these are totally his directions, go for for it If your dr. told you to eat only the above - he's the boss. At least he thinks he is all that walking, excercise sound like alike after such a short time, but don't worry the weight will will come off - you must be patient and abiding Good Luck Kathy sorry for the dble post

You are great GeauxForit I just have to commend on your great early start. Obviously you are all psyched up. Good for you. Others will comment on stuff, i just wanted to say congrats on you impending sleeve. Good luck, waiting for your big long jouney, your anticipation is wonderful, patience, patience, paticenc kathy

enid i am 5+ months post-op / i eat slowly & chew thoroughly - so to me thats now normal hope thats not gonna be a problem for you kathy

hi my DH an I went to a seminar - all set for me to talk about having the laptband done. I was so excited. Dr. did mention the sleeve, and vaguely talked about it, then some more in his offic. All of a sudden the sleeve sounded better, one of main reasons was the fact that it had no malabsorption problems I take a lot of meds, so this is very imortant. I'm so very glad the decision was to have the sleeve - it was the right choice for me also realize there are so many VSG transfers to sleeve, that must say something. kathy

Denise hi there IMO, having donated a kidney, plus your other morbidites should qualify. sleep apnea, The obvious complications from having one kidney and being obese must show a problem in itself.. Isn't the whole reason for WLS to be approved in the end - is because having the WLS in the long run deals with all those medical problems in the end - saving insurance companies money in the long run. all though we need it for our heath improvements. We all know the above, people medical with problem, and obesity is one of our big problem. i'm just so upset about people being denied when then desere it the WLS- its not we are 20 lbs overweight, and want to look skinnier. - there are serios reaons for WLS. frustrated hate insurane companies APPEAL , APPEAL,APPEAL btw - how great of you for donating your kidney to your dad i was approved immediiately by BSBS but i'm still angry about the above, mainly venting here kathy

I'm so very sorry you are you're are dealing with these nasty problems. They are no fun. Many people have. hurt as much as you do. It unfortunatily goes with the territory. but that doesn't help you right now. My right side where i had all those incisionsj were killing me, of course i sleep on the right side.. Slowly one night at a time, i felt alittle better. I lived with a heating pad for about three weeks. It was so comfy, cozy. I really had trouble sittling down anywhere - i didn't know what to do. I sooo hope you feel better, very soon. Bite your teeth sometimes., its ok. Hold a pillow to yourself, hug yourself. I hope have anyone, family friend that you can talk to? That could help a little just talking. if you don't have anyone around, just vent here - we've all been there done that. feel better I know this doesn't help much now, your pain will gradually subside, you will be so happy that you had this procedure - and the misery you've gone through with will this pain - it really will be worth it end. I promise You will be so happy you had the sleeve This tool of the sleeve will help you lose this nasty weight that you and all of have been fighting all of our lives. take care, we're all routing for yoou good luck we're all here for you best kathy

Ebonieskin hi there, I would definitely call Aetna. You must go right to the hores mouth. We could tell you probably and maybe this or that - but you need to know officially if Aetna accept WLS and any other questions. IMO. Good luck. See you at the finish line as you start on your lifelong journey. good luck kathy

From day 1 i used skim milk w/protein mix. People use water also - water plus protein mix - blah by me' kathy

Hi Katr457 How are you doing today. My NUT told me to totally concentrate on getting as much fluds as i can post surgery. I love popsicles, Water -etc.. As far as protein, i was told at early stage like where you are, not to worry about protein. That will come soon enough. Make sure you get plenty of water in so you don't get dehydrated. Everything will come to you slowly, in time. You'll do great best luck on your journey kathy

hi allegbe i agree that using the crockpot makes things the very easiest. i do that recipe , the italian dressing (whidh i don't think i would like) i pour a can of light no fat mushroom Soup. over the chicken ummm ummm. i guess you could pour anything, soup or whatever over the chicken. the truth is - i'm afraid to try new recipes. afraid i wouldn't like the italian dressing - maybe i'll be brave and try it though when i'm all grown up - btw i'm 58 now kathy

You are put on heparin do the fact that you are not moving around much - so you get the shot while your in the hospital to prevent blood clots. .Just as your suppost to wear those tight white stockings that we love to hate to prevent blood clots. Once your home the shots stop, Your more active you don't need the shots, some people still wear the stockings to help them. 5 months after WLS i had a knee replacement with the heparin too. It has nothing to do with being a "plus size person" That is a very insulting statement about plus size people needing the shot because they are heavier. kathy

hi bigkim isn't it a wonderful being a loser but you're already a winner. great pictures too continue your great journey kathy

hi kansasgirl i'm 5+ months post op. i always ate slowly, chewed carefully, small bites etc. I don't know what happened, but these last couple of days - OMG i eat too much and too fast. i payed for i knew i was gonna throw up. Doing better now. bad lesson to learn, but worth it kathy

hi MG in SD thanx for responding yes it was the worst thing ever. I think mainly cuz i did stuff entirely that i don't remember. It isl ike losing 4 days and not knowing what you did. Unfortunately you did bad stuff, actually kindof "scream" a bit just was totally confused. my poor DH i wasn't trusting him, i thought he was bad, and i kicked him out. the only reason i remember anything was cuz i begged nurses etc. to tell me stuf. egads kathy truth is sometimes i write for myself cuz i think everyone is too busy to ready, thanx for writing kathy

Hi MG in SD Glad things went well for you w/surgery, and after surgery. I took my meds night before and the 2 days i was in hospital no prob with swallowing pills. Everything was fine with me too but i have quite a story to tell my fellow epileptics. I was diagnosed w/epilepsy at age of 16, now i'm 58 years young. Before my sleeve, 12/15/11 we checked with many different dr.'s i wanted to make sure that having the sleeve would be no problem. Neurologist said no prob. Now jump forward about 4 months,April 26, 2012 i, had right knee surgery. By then i was down 60 lbs. This time after surgery seemed to go fine also until.................... Next day after surgery i started having "dillusion" - they were terrible. Alot of blood work was done trying to figure out my problem. Turns out that the neurologist should have taken more into concideration about my weight i had loss. They found out through much blood work, that since my serum levels (meds) weren't adjusted due to my weight loss- my levels - normal being being 33 - climbed to 194.(since i all of a sudden i weighed about 60 lbs. less Thats what caused all my problems, it took almost 4 days to get the levels back to where they belonged. unfortunately in the meantiime i was arguementative and my memorary was screwed up, i was all really confused, and dilusional. it was a real mess, to put it mildly. I used to take Keppra 2000 mg twice a day. Lamectil 250 twice a day. After all this was cleared up i am now taking 1000 mgs twice a day. Lamectil 200 mg twice a day. Wow, what a mess, and quite a change. kathy

hey girlfriend - welcome aboard it must be quite a feat being around a pastry chef all day. It must be quite difficlt. As far as taking "one" bite only, sorry kiddo, i don't think you should tempt yourself. while its true that you can eat anything eventually, a teeny, teeny, teeny bit, which adds up to a miniscool, since i know i would have to stop, i would never start and "tease" myself with one itsy bitsy teeny weeny bite, especially since sweets are my main weakness, DH is not the only reason for you being overweight, but he sure doesn't help You have control issues like we all do. Get those "grubby" llittle hands away from those goodies ,ask your DH please not to tempt you - and try, try and then try some more not to eat those godies. Hope he can try and get on board with your surgery. Try not to get talked out about it. We are all biased, but we think the sleeve is the best thing since sliced bread hmmmm i think thats another one of my attempted jokes Just out of curiosity, DH one of those nasty, average size chefs that we love to hate. BTW - of course we're awsome - you wouldn't just talk to any ol' group kathy

hi all i posted above (#3) that except my immediate family, i told no one. the truth is i don't really have any friends to talk to except all you guys. Yesterday i went to PT. One of the PT assistants i've known over the years, all of a sudden asked me if i had lost weigt, she said i looked great. I said yes with a secret smile on me. she said how did i do it (she is a very good average weight.) she asked me if was eating better food, quantities etc. i said yes thats true. but than i took a big sign and told her i had surgery. she said wow. and from there on she asked alot of nice questions and it was great, especially about the part that 85% of my stomach was gone. I am so glad i told her, and it felt great. Funny how things change kathy

me agaiin, what i meant to say is never, never ever drink with your meals. If you do drink w/ meals this will NOT stretch out your stomach - but it is wrong to do. don't drink w/meals cuz that will flush out the important Protein you have just eaten. You need to wait 30-45 minutes after you eat before you drink again. Thats all kathy

Little Bits Ahhhhh Man i'm so very happy for you. You had a long wait and a bunch of hurdles to jump. WooHoo. Doing the happy dance Good luck. June 19 will be here you know it. WooHoo again your friend kathy

You don't stretch your stomach by drinking while having your meal. Remember though, don't drink for 30-45 minutes after you eat. I was told the reason for not drinking H20 with meals, is that you will flush down the Protein, so its like not having any protein at all - we need to have and keep down all the protein we take in. best kathy

Crazyscrublady there are probably as many different answers to this question as there are people. I told my immediate family. before WLS, DH, daughter, sisters. I chose not to tell others, shout it from the rooftops, didn't know what reactions would be - maybe later at some time, i might tell a few people, but thats for another day in my future. best kathy

Izzybeff Having WLS was my savior, my last hoorah. I've yoyoed all my life. Yes i tried those "lifestyle" changes, eating less, trying to stick to it, losing the weight, but always regaining the weight. Using the sleeve as the important "tool", now having 85% of your stomach gone, makes it so much easier to help in losing the weight because you now have such a little stomach. You technically can't eat more than your stomach allows. of course there are some that can't handle not eating right or whatever, and eventually mess up their sleeve and gain weight back but we won't talk about that, cuz that shouldn't happen. Had to mention them to be totally honest. Most people follow the plan and have the word success written on their forehead. You can do this too, it is a wonderful feeling, being healthy, getting rid of some physical problems and medicine I say to myself "i'm finally losing that blasted weight, never to be seen again" I'm 5 months post op, down almost 70 lbs. for me thats huge, and the sleeve assisted me, only as a tool remember. It is work though, you have to abide by the rules about by eating correct portions etc. You will be able to eat anything eventually, but very, very small portions. Others please jump in and give better comments, thanx hope you don't change your mind about having the sleeve, i'm so happy making my wise, life decision. Hope things work out for you too. good luck kathy

tigrin i believe if you have a BMI of less than 40 - but you have some morbities i/e high blood pressure, sleep apnea, high chlosteral (misp) - you do qualify. Others please chime in to verify. This is the only time when having more problems is "good", that way you can have surgery. Strange how things work good luck kathy