xenophile

Congrats, BeachWithMyBabies! That's awesome! I'll be 1 month post-op tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to a similar moment. Right now I'm celebrating my return to (some) solid foods. Yay, tuna salad!!!

Hi folks! So I've been posting for a little while, but I kept forgetting to come over there and actually introduce myself. (How rude! lol) Now I'm doing some heavy-duty law school paper procrastination, which makes this the perfect time to post. I'm Rachel. I'm 30 years old. I live in the Washington, DC, area right now, though I've lived in a lot of other places. I'm originally from the Deep (Fried) South and come from a family of people with weight issues. I had my surgery on 12/28/11 with Dr. Kelly in TJ. I was really nervous about it at first, but the process went fairly smoothly. The company that handled the logistics, nutritionist, etc. wasn't that great (no big problems--just a lot of little ones), but Dr. Kelly was AWESOME. At the end of the day, that's all that mattered. I'm just starting to get over my "leak anxiety," which had me pretty freaked out for a couple of weeks, especially for a few days after an episode of overeating hummus. I was really uncomfortable, and I started having some weird sensations--of course my anxious brain dreamed up the worst scenarios, fueled by the worst things I had read about on the boards. Besides time, the thing that has been helping me get over the anxiety was buying a good digital thermometer and checking my temperature twice a day--that has helped convince me that I don't have a bad infection and am therefore not currently dying of leak-induced sepsis. (Lesson learned: Don't belittle or deny the anxiety--acknowledge it and figure out a way to address its needs while getting on with life.) I'm also starting to feel a lot stronger now that I can eat more. It's just been a few days ago that the swelling in my stomach went down substantially. Now instead of just a couple of teaspoons of mushy food, I can handle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mushy and some solid foods. Life's a lot better when you don't feel like you could pass out at any moment! I don't yet feel up to exercising--I started back to work and school a week after surgery, and I've felt really wiped out most of the time since then--but I'm planning to start walking on a treadmill this weekend. So that's my story up to this point. Best of luck to all of you on your journeys!

I reached 4 weeks yesterday. Meatloaf is my new best friend. Giant grocery store makes some that's more "meat" than "loaf," but it's still really soft and goes down easily. Today I also had the tuna part of a tuna melt, which tasted great and made Sleevie really happy. I'm also still eating the same soft foods I've been living on for the past couple of weeks: scrambled eggs, hummus, Laughing Cow and BabyBel soft cheeses, sugar-free Jello pudding (with plain

I think that's a great idea. Unfortunately I'm only 2 weeks out, so I can't do much for another 4 weeks. Best of luck!

Hi all. This leak business has been freaking me out for the past few days. I'm 16 days post-op, and I've started getting all these weird "could-be-a-leak" sensations--I feel these trickling/oozing feelings all around my sleeve. They started two days ago, when I know that I challenged Sleevie with soft foods too early (3 tablespoons of hummus in about 15 minutes--definitely a bad idea, and I paid for it!). I was really sore and only able to tolerate Water for about 18 hours afterward. Now I'm feeling a lot better, just some residual soreness and these weird sensations. I keep telling myself that I probably didn't do any permanent damage with just that little bit of soft food, but I know that all non-compliance is risky. I'm back to liquids for 5 more days before I try mushies again. Just hoping I didn't spring a leak! I'll be really glad when all this anxiety has passed.

Hi all. I'm almost 2 weeks out from surgery, and I just stumbled upon an incredibly simple, delicious food for the soft foods phase. 1 tablespoon hummus -- I used Sabra Classic 1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese -- I used Garlic & Herb Mix and mash together with a spoon. Enjoy!

Sleevie (I <3 this name, sleeve4me!) looooooves hummus likes corned beef hash dislikes cottage cheese detests protein drinks and Lactaid milk (regular milk and soymilk are fine--go figure!)

Hi all! I'm a newbie, so please forgive me if this has been addressed before (though I searched and couldn't find anything on point)... I was just about set to schedule a VSG with Dr. Acevez--I had been waffling between him and Dr. Alvarez. However, I just found out about Dr. Kelly through these discussions. As others have said, he seems to have a good track record, but his prices seem too good to be true ($4500 here and $5000 here) compared to the Dr. A's ($8750 w/ Acevez, $8900 with Alvarez, per emails from their respective patient coordinators, both cash price). Soooooo....what gives? The capitalist in me thinks there's gotta be some relevant reason (quality of care, experience of surgeon, hidden costs, etc.) that the prices are so different. Anyone have any thoughts? Also, is anyone out there planning surgery in October? I have my eye on 10/6 or 10/7. Thanks a bunch!!