UXgrrl

Well, some surgeons require some kind of pre-op diet during the period immediately before surgery. Generally it's between 1 and 2 weeks of nothing but liquids and Protein shakes, but this varies widely. Mine didn't require one, for example.

The pre-op diet is required for many different reasons, one common one being to "shrink your liver". Something like 80% of people who are morbidly obese have some level of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or steatohepatitis. Since the part of the stomach that is operated on is partially covered by the liver, the surgeon must lift your liver out of the way. An enlarged liver increases the changes of complications occurring.

Another reason, which might be unspoken, is to test your resolve and compliance with the program, and see if you really want to go through with this. A liquid diet is what you'll be on post-surgery, and the logic is doing it before surgery will help you get used to living this way.

Most people lose a chunk of weight during this time, so it jump-starts your overall weight loss.

The pre-op diet, if it is required, is different from the healthy eating changes you'll need to be working on during your 12 week nutritional class. This is the time that you need to work on your food demons, figure out ways to deal with stress without eating, get the important people in your life on board with your lifestyle changes... that kind of thing. You might be asked to record what you eat, and you might be given a low-calorie diet to follow during this time.

Generally you are expected to maintain your current weight or lose a little. Your weight will probably be recorded weekly or so. For some programs, gaining any additional weight disqualifies you from insurance coverage. Some people find themselves being very successful on the prescribed diet, and decide not to do the surgery after all.

Hope this helps. I know sometimes the information given at the beginning of the WLS journey can be confusing.

The manufacturers of the Magic Bullet have started selling a version designed specifically for making baby food, called the Baby Bullet. As far as I can tell it's the same thing with a cute little smiley face painted on it, and the inclusion of a set of baby-portion-sized resealable containers.

So it would follow that you could just use the adult-sized Magic Bullet for baby and sleever food.< /p>

I've tried baby food. When my kiddos were small I made a point to taste everything I fed them, and baby food is kind of gross. Baby food is purely a convenience item, but it's useful when traveling, staying over at a relative's house, or if the family eats a diet of food unsuitable for a baby (ie. no vegetables, fruits or unfried meats). We made all our kids' baby foods and it's not hard.

In fact, I was just looking through my collection of cookbooks for babies and toddlers and discovered that a lot of the food in there is perfect for sleevers. My favorite is "Love in Spoonfuls" by Parenting Magazine; we've done a lot recipes out of that one, and the kids love them, and they taste great to adults too. These kinds of cookbooks are fantastic because they make small portions, are easily doubled, and are usually designed to freeze well.

If you want to try commercial baby food yourself, look at the labels. Babies have very different dietary requirements than adult sleevers do, and it is hard to find anything with low enough carbs and high enough Protein that is palatable.

That being said, the crunchy Gerber's Graduates "baby cheetoes" aren't half bad, and you can have 19 of them for 35 calories. I'm partial to the Mild Cheddar ones myself. They are good with a high-protein dip when you HAVE to have something crunchy. They dissolve in your mouth so they work for the pureed diet.

@DebiC: Yes, some of the commenters from Allrecipes.com said they had luck using this rub on chicken breasts. You'd have to adjust the cooking time, of course. Yes, much of the spice rub is distributed on the skin, which we don't eat, so I lift up the skin where I can (like on the breasts) and put the rub underneath it.

@Escape_pod: We never do both chickens at once either... we just make one, and save the spice blend for next time.

Yum yum! I think I'm going to make this tonight again. Leftover meat & bones are great for making broth too!

They gave me little packets of Hibiclens (you can buy this stuff at drugstores like Walgreens) and told me to shower with it night before and morning of my procedure.

You don't have to put it ALL over your body, just so you know. Just put it all over your belly, under your armpits and breasts, and in any skin folds. It's kind of odd because it's really runny and it doesn't foam like soap, and it smells very chemically. Make sure you let it sit for a minute or so before rinsing it off.

People sometimes say stupid things. Men especially have a tendency to say some completely asinine comments with no recognition of how they might sound.

I agree with the points the others have made, about how his ego is involved and suddenly your weight loss success is forcing him to recognize that, no, he is just as responsible for his own weight problems as you were for yours.

The big difference here is that YOU quit blaming someone else and did something about it. He isn't at that point yet.

One of the many, many lessons I have learned on this journey is that, like quitting smoking or other addictions, people really have to be ready and prepared to make the change themselves. It doesn't sound like he's quite there yet. It's sad that he's trying to shoot you down because he's jealous; it's a natural, common reaction, but it still hurtful and I'm sorry you have to deal with that right now.

Maybe you'll be the inspiration or role model he needs to clean up his act. He is in control about what goes in his mouth, just like you are -- when he has that realization, he'll get on board with you. Showing him how you make healthier choices, how to turn down sweets or second helpings, be more active, might help him now.

I am constantly amazed at how our weight loss journeys have such a powerful effect on the people around us.

I have noticed that my kids have started much better food, health wise, now that I am sleeved. Before we would order a kid's meal for each one, and we all know what kinds of food are on the kids' menu.

We've only been out to eat a handful of times since my surgery, but they are eating 1/2 to 2/3rds of my meal now, which is of course much healthier than the fried crap they got stuck with beforehand.

Yeah, I thought I would lose it if I had to sit down to another meal in a bowl. As I got close to my date for soft foods I started "cheating" a little here and there and having soft-cooked vegetables, diced meats, etc. I reasoned that if I made sure I chewed REALLY well, it was like puree anyway.

They say you are supposed to chew your food to applesauce consistency anyway, so it's a good habit to get into and maintain...

I'm curious about that as well, because when I had my medical appointment pre-op, I was told I'd be taking Actigall (different doc in the Bariatrics dept)... but my actual surgeon never said anything about it or prescribed it for me.

I have my first followup on Jan 3rd, I plan to ask him then.

So sorry that so many of you seem to be having trouble with waitstaff. The city that I typically go out to eat in is home to a large medical institution and the waitstaff there seem to be trained to deal sensitively with people who might be going through a hard time... at least that was my first impression when I was interviewing for jobs in that town.

We recently went out to Red Lobster and the adults ordered a shrimp cocktail each and an order of stuffed mushrooms to share, and the kiddos each had a kid's meal and a skewer of grilled shrimp. The bill came to $45 for the 4 of us and I STILL brought home enough shrimp for a 2nd meal. The waitress didn't bat an eye when we ordered so little food for the family or when I asked for a to-go box after eating about 4 shrimps and 2 mushrooms.

DAMN, I can get used to this. Certainly easier on the wallet!

When I was going through my healthy eating class, it struck me that all the habits that we are being encouraged to adopt (smaller portions, Protein first, stop when full, etc) were things that we were routinely trying to "train" our kids NOT to do. We were fighting with them to stay at the table and finish everything on their plate, we were giving them things from the kids' menu which were fried or covered in cheese or primarily starches, we were expecting them to eat according our hectic, mismanaged schedule which frequently led to poor choices (like last-minute pizza or fast food).

My partner and I are both planning to be sleeved eventually; I ended up going first. My new diet has caused a complete revolution in our household and has totally changed the way we eat and how we treat our kids with regards to food. They are 5 and (almost) 3 so we are lucky that they still in the impressionable stage and still have time to learn better habits. They of course turn their noses up at unfamiliar foods and regularly request things like mac & cheese, but now we make mac & cheese with SmartTaste Pasta and serve it with equal quantities of broccoli, or mix in a handful of frozen peas to cool it down quickly, or maybe toss in a little leftover diced chicken.

We also invested in a couple of "Sneaky Chef" - type cookbooks. We're super lucky that our kids don't refuse to eat vegetables (in fact, my 3 year old won't eat anything but right now) but these books gave us great ideas for pumping up the nutrient and Protein quotient of everyday foods. This is helpful for sleevers as well, since it packs more nutrition in to a smaller quantity of food.< /p>

Anyway, we learn our eating habits at an early age and we unconsciously revert back to them during times of stress. There's a reason why "comfort food" exists. My parents weren't the best at healthy eating and I'm sure I picked up some bad habits during my childhood, so I am being extra vigilant to model good habits to my children. Maybe then they won't inherit my trouble with weight as well.

Hah! The normal-sized hospital gown will fit, so I won't be able to have that lovely hallways conversation when I discover, when half my clothes are already off, that they brought me the XL gown instead of the XXL gown.

(originally from Allrecipes.com)

By the time you get to the mushy/soft food stage, you'd probably rather poke out your eyes with a stick then see another Protein shake. chicken seems to sit well with lots of sleevers, but it's hard to get the meat moist enough to eat comfortably. This is a fabulous recipe that gives a chicken that great rotisserie style flavor and makes it moist and tender enough to eat or puree.

Original yield: two 4 lb whole chickens

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons salt
  
• 2 teaspoons paprika
  
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
  
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 2 onions, quartered
  
• 2 (4 pound) whole chickens
  

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion into the cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hours.
   
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
   
3. Place chickens in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 5 hours, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let the chickens stand for 10 minutes before carving.
   

My variation: Place one chicken directly into a pressure cooker on a wire rack, and cook for 25 minutes at high pressure. When finished, quickly release pressure. Let stand 10 minutes before carving.

I quadruple the spice rub and keep it on hand, we make this so often.

Seems like most people have one incision which gives them trouble for an extended period of time. I have one on the far side of my stomach which is slowly healing but keeps opening (I've had it looked at, the doc says just be patient), but there's another one closer to my midline that healed just fine on the outside, but I had pretty bad muscle pain for about three weeks. It would flare up again anytime I tried to do anything physical. I took it as a signal to take it easy a little longer.

Typically I am better at planning and organizing logistics but since my surgery, it feels like my brain has gone out the window most days. So I am asking the VST hive mind for help here.

In about two weeks I will be returning to work. For some reason I am uncharacteristically nervous about this, especially with regards to planning my food. I will just be about ready to transition to a normal diet per my surgeon's plan, which I know doesn't exactly mean go back to what I was eating before. I have a lot of questions: how much should I bring along? What should I expect to happen? What should I keep for emergencies?

Here is some background: I have a "desk job" but I am never actually AT my desk. Typically I am in meetings in different buildings on campus, walking between them, or holed up in a vacant conference room working on my laptop to get ready for the next meeting. I have two different break rooms with microwaves and refrigerators that I can stash my stuff in, but frequently I have to carry something in my backpack all day without the benefit of refrigeration. There are cafeterias and vending machines around, but they don't serve the healthiest stuff, so I don't want to rely on that. Plus, it gets expensive.

Also, I live out of town, requiring a 40 minute bus ride so I get up much earlier that I'd like, and I'm half-asleep so typically I am used to doing only the bare minimum to get out the door. Since surgery I've stopped drinking coffee, but that time has been replaced with getting my meds together. It's going to be a challenge to transition back to the 8-5 work day since I've been on my own relaxed sleep schedule since I've been on leave, so I expect my energy level to be quite low in the beginning. My job requires a lot of mental and creative energy, and a lot of communication, so the lag will probably be noticeable by others.

Speaking of others... what about dealing with coworkers? Many of them, the ones I don't see frequently, don't know I was gone at all. Some know I was out on medical leave. Some know it was for stomach surgery, and a small handful know it was for WLS. I don't expect any nastiness from them at all, but I do expect some concerned questions when they see that I've lost weight. Basically I don't want them to speculate that there is something seriously wrong with me. What can I say that will ease their concerns without divulging too much personal information? I am a very private person and I don't want everyone in my business.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice...!

I was very concerned about that as well, as I had/have a number of regular, non-weight related meds to take on a daily basis.

First, you want to ask your surgeon about his/her specific policy regarding swallowing pills. Every one is different. Some say yes, some say not until X weeks, some say yes as long as they are smaller than a M&M, etc.

Once you have that info, see if you can request an appointment with a pharmacist where you usually have your meds filled. You can explain what you are having done, and ask if there are any other alternatives... some drugs come in liquid form, some come in smaller dosages per pill (you'd have to take more pills, but they'd be easier to swallow), some come in non-extended-release form so you can crush them and add them to applesauce or pudding. You need the pharmacist to help you in case the dosages are changed.

If you do talk to pharmacist, make sure she s/he understands you are having a VSG, and NOT a RNY. There are some significant differences between the two (as you know) that affect medication dosages and delivery mechanisms, and most medical professionals are not as familiar with VSG as they are with RNY.

Swallowing is a challenge after surgery, for some people more than others. I'd say I couldn't swallow much for the first 3 days or so. Taking pills was an all-day project which required concentration. I carried my bottle of Water and my dish of drugs around with me all over the house and I felt like once I got my morning ones down it was time to start my evening drugs. That, combined with the supplements I now had to take, made it a bit exhausting. But I got through it.

FWIW, they had me back on my usual regimen of meds as soon as I was switched to full liquids (about 24 hours after surgery & still in the hospital). The only drug I was worried about was my anti-depressant/anti-anxiety drug, because I have to take that every 12 hours and I CAN TELL when I miss it. I took my last dose in the middle of the night, right before my 8-hr limit of no food before surgery, and I didn't exactly miss it with everything else that was going on... but I did feel a lot better once I started taking it again.

The only drug that was disallowed to take right away was my NSAID, which I couldn't take for 4 weeks post-surgery. I just started it again yesterday, and WOOO I feel loads better already!

YAY! isn't that a great way to start your day??

I too quit weighing myself if the numbers are the same too many days in a row.. just makes me angry and feel like giving up and not being careful about what I eat. Instead I take my body measurements or try on some old clothes that were too small to see if they fit yet.

I agree with the others. I am 4 weeks out and drinking Click Espresso Protein mixed with milk in the morning for Breakfast, which has about 55mg of caffeine (roughly equivalent to a cup of black tea; far cry from my usual 2 cups of fully-leaded coffee pre-op!)

Those symptoms sound like dehydration, a Vitamin deficiency or something more sinister. Let us know what they say!

I agree with longer-life, I was, am, and always will be a foodie at heart. Eating smaller portions of healthier food presents a continual challenge, and luckily I will try almost anything. I need to learn how to scale back my recipes, though, I keep making too much food and then it sits in the fridge and goes bad...

Still getting used to the fact that I am eating less than my preschooler...

We purchased a Cuisinart pressure cooker and have been cooking whole chickens in that, it produces very moist meat in record time, like 30 minutes! My partner found a recipe for a rub/seasoning blend that makes it taste just like rotisserie chicken, I kept raving about it to her afterwards. We also have a small chest freezer in our garage so we stock up when the organic whole chickens go on sale at our local supermarket.

The pressure cooker is a little tricky to get the hang of but now I prefer it to the slow cooker, and you can't argue with how fast stuff gets done. We have a bad habit of starting the "what do we want for dinner?" discussion when we notice we're hungry, so if a trip to the store is required, we're usually STARVING by the time dinner is done. The pressure cooker helps a lot with that. It's also awesome with Beans, no soaking is required.

They were giving me my normal pill cocktail in the hospital as soon as I switched to purees (midway through the day after surgery). I've been living on adult tylenol "ez-tabs" which are red, sweet-tasting coated tablets.. not because of any surgery pain (that went away in the 2nd week) but because I have a terrible toothache

I also have an incision site that is giving me all kinds of hell. It's on the far left side, towards my hip, and it looked fine when I left the hospital. It was a pretty large scab but I wasn't worried about it until it fell off and left a crater in my skin the size of my thumbnail. It was oozing constantly and getting all over my clothes and sheets so finally I went to my PCP to have it looked at. She said it was healing fine, and thought I might be allergic to the Neosporin I was putting on it. She switched me to Bactracin (another OTC antibiotic topical ointment just like Neosporin) and told me to keep on with my gauze-and-tape routine.

That was a week ago. It's healing, very slowly, but the tape is ripping up my skin around it. I discovered a few undissolved stitches in there, which I clipped out with a nail clipper. Hopefully once the irritant is gone, it will finally close up. Ugh.

That's going to leave a nice scar!

Ugh. This is mine. I don't know how I am going to be able to go to a movie and handle not being able to have popcorn.< /p>

Castletree, you and I had surgery almost the same day (mine was Nov 30) and I also have widespread arthritis which is making it difficult to exercise. I also had surgery with the hopes that I could delay or prevent having to replace any more joints.

For now, I'm just trying to keep moving and not spend so much time sitting in my recliner. There's plenty of housework to do, and the bending & lifting of loading/unloading the dishwasher, sweeping, picking up toys off the floor, etc. is about all I can handle right now. The important thing is to keep moving.

I agree with the others that Water exercise is probably the best for us but I don't have access to a pool. The ground outside is icy so I'm getting some new workout discs for my Wii.

Here's the thing.. in the beginning, for some extended length of time (I've heard 4 weeks, 6 weeks, or even as long as 3 months) your sleeve is swollen from the surgery. This means it's possible that liquids can fill it up. However, it's also probably numb since a lot of nerves were severed during surgery, so it's conceivable that it won't be transmitting "full" signals the way it will be once it's fully healed.

I am almost 1 month out and I'm just now starting to sense a stretching "full" signal from my stomach. Before then, all I was getting was sort of a "backing up" feeling in the back of my throat, which was uncomfortable.

People have been getting partial (even full) gastrectomies for decades... it's only been in the last 5-6 years that it's been being performed specifically for weight loss purposes. People have had severe ulcers, stomach cancer, etc. and have been having parts of their stomachs removed and the only significant side effect was weight loss.

In your research you might have come across the fact that the sleeve gastrectromy for WLS was originally done as part of the D/S procedure... then they started doing it to "step down" patients who were too obese to withstand an open surgical procedure since the VSG could be done laproscopically...

Personally I felt most comfortable going with the sleeve from the very beginning because it just seemed so "clean and simple". Combined with what I knew my personal food struggles (simple overeating) it made the most sense for me. I wasn't happy about the presence of (another*) foreign object in my body and I didn't want my intestines messed around with, since I already had an uneasy truce with them. From past attempts at diets, I knew that if I could lose enough weight in the beginning I could trust myself to stay committed to continuing.

I also wanted something permanent. I honestly believe that I was born with a stomach too big for my metabolism. I've struggled with weight my entire life. Now I feel that I've corrected a situation that has done nothing but get me in trouble for as long as I can remember.

(* I say "another" because I already have an artificial hip implant, which someone reminded me of when I explained my "foreign body" argument. Personally I didn't think they were equivalent but the jerk I was speaking to apparently did.)

This is a tough decision. Honestly, for me, having the decision to have WLS of any kind was much less of a hurdle than which procedure to have. One some level, any kind of surgery requires a leap of faith and a trust in something bigger and more powerful than you are -- God, the universe, whatever it is to you. At some point the risks are outweighed by mounting evidence that your other weight-related problems are not going to be resolved on their own. That point comes at different times for different people.

Please let us know if you need more information to make a decision either way... there is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this forum, and we're happy to answer questions.

Best of luck!

Pookeyism, that's great advice about the zinc oxide treatment for the towel... I will definitely look this post up again if heat rashes become a problem (and I suspect they will).