Cknorte

I had to use the hospital gowns, and didn't wear any of my clothes until the day I left. The gowns are plenty large. I did ask for a second gown I could put on so that I could walk the halls and not worry about my booty making an appearance....so I doubled up and walked.....in the ever so attractive, stockings, IV pole, and double gown....yay!

Wow!!!! you look awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us!

Thank you so much Dr. Watkins for responding. I really think this surgery is awesome. I feel great, have had no adverse effects to food. I am actually pretty much back to normal, with the exception I eat like a bird (or skinny person). I don't feel deprived of anything, and I am not hungry at all. My energy has rebounded. Thank you to all the medical minds that came together to create this surgery!!!!

Penny, I still have a few antennae sticking out of 2 incisions. Dr. C's office told me that I should clip to skin level if they got caught in clothes or bothered me. Clip with nail clippers. They will dissolve on their own and in a few weeks won't be there. I had an incision that turned into a crater on my left side incision. I put a bandaid on it, one of those advanced healing ones that is Water proof. They actually stay on for a few days.....I used that for a while and now letting it air dry. It is closing up...finally. The Peanut Butter is great. Did you order the sample pack? It took them 4 days to get here. I found out I liked the regular the best. It isn't super sweet so it adds the peanutty taste without adding to the already sweet drinks... Take care, CK

I try not to drink with meals, but I never was a drink during meal person. Just because water dilutes and makes food easier to pass so you feel full for less amount of time....but other than that I am doing great....I can eat just about anything....if I eat to fast I get a little tummy pang, like my stomach is saying...."whoa! hold up....can you please chew and eat a little slower!"....also I get full with very little....I try to eat more protein or protein first....but sometimes...I just need a little rice or pasta! I work from home....but if I worked in an office, I could have been back after 1 week.....

I know around day 5 I really started missing a little more sustenance than broth and crystal light. I made a bean soup....can of pinto Beans in blender...I sauteed a little onion, tomato and garlic, added some chicken bullion - and I added a jalapeno, I love spice - threw the sauteed stuff into the blender with the beans and a little chicken broth to make more liquid. It was heavenly....it was a thinned out bean soup....and the carbs and Iron in the soup gave me a little more energy. The first few days are the hardest, you are getting used to stuff, and scared you may break something if you don't do everything totally perfect.....nope you feel better soon! Hope you feel better soon..I haven't puked at all....but I got used to eating cold soup, it would take me like 35-40 minutes to eat 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of soup....I still take my time. Tonight I had a ground lamb patty, a falafel and some yogurt souce....I ate slowly and chewed...but it felt great to eat the same thing my hubby was eating...even though he ate 5 patties, 3 falafel and 3 pita breads......haaaaaaaaaaaaa I love not feeling deprived, able to eat everything and just eat way less than before....yay!

Mari.... How are you feeling? It totally gets better everyday.... I am eating just about everything...this morning I had a craving for mac and cheese with chili...so I made some...I had about 2 tablespoons of mac and cheese, 2 tablespoons of turkey chili and 2 tablespoons of pinto Beans..... It was heavenly....and I didn't finish all of my serving.....before surgery I would have eaten the entire box of mac and cheese..... I am eating between 800-900 calories a day. tonight, lamb patties with yogurt sauce.... drinking is important, but you will notice that it gets better. For me things had to be either hot (warm) like tea or broth, or ice cold....anything room temperature hit my in a weird way. Also regular Water made me cringe, I had to have crystal light or some sort of flavored something. Use a straw....it for whatever reason helped me with the sipping.....

Out of 2 of my incisions I have what looks like fishing wire sticking out of the very end of my incision....it is maybe 1/16 of an inch...barely anything....sort of like a thorn...it feels like hard plastic fishing wire/string.... I am assuming this is some of the dissolvable suture coming up for air.....so.... I'm calling the surgeon's office tomorrow....but have any of you had that? I don't know if I should clip or pluck out.....or maybe just leave alone and eventually it'll wear down..... Any wisdom from out there is welcome!:scared0:

So how will I know when they are pullable???? I am now going to consider myself a stitch spitter LOL!!!!

I try to stay off the scale during the week, and then every Friday I have scale anxiety.....I'm happy with losing. As long as I keep losing....I started back with working out and adding a few foods to my diet. I'll start totally logging my intake on Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate and will figure out if anything is hindering progress going forward...... BTW....I tried FUZE today - Slenderize Melon/Strawberry it was so yummy....I almost felt like I was cheating!

My surgery was on the 15th. I'm still on mushy food, it just feels better. I have tried noodles and Pasta, those don't hurt, for me it was the tomato sauce in the lasagna I had that made me have sort acid indigestion, so I took an extra Nexium. Are you guys still crushing the Nexium, I'm just cutting it in half now, but am sick of doing that. I am venturing out this weekend and we're going to make chicken kebabs....I'll get some yogurt sauce to dip the chicken into.... My incisions have little nylon antennas coming out of them so I think I'll call Dr. C's office and ask them about what to do. I am loving Beans and yes...I am ready to dive into pizza....I figure if it got too bad, I could eat the toppings off of a piece. I weigh in on Friday.....so a few more days before I step on the scale...

Are you on pre-op diet? you can add potassium to your diet with bananas and tomatoes.....or go to the health store and by some potassium supplement. Remember if you take the supplement to start out slowly...they usually sell it mixed with magnessium, so getting the "runs" is a normal consequence if you start of on too much.... Hope all goes well and that your levels are what they need to be for surgery.

You are going to do awesome Mari!!!! Keep us posted.....

Thanks....I'll clip them with some nail clipper so that they are flush with skin.... :scared0:

Yup I'm with you....I had about 5 bites of lasagna on Saturday night, it was great....but my tummy didn't like the marinara sauce too much.....I'll try again in a few weeks.... Last night I had 3 oz Tilapia, 3 shrimp, and 2 penne noodles.....I loved my fish, I didn't even go for the Pasta....that is so weird for me, since a few weeks ago, you could have poisoned me with pasta! LOL!!!! I have a question.....out of 2 of my incisions I have a tiny but of what looks like fishing wire...I'm assuming these are the internal dissolvable sutures, that just didn't dissolve. They are just barely sticking out...I don't know if you guy have had this, if I should clip them back or pull them out with tweezers....I guess I'll call the Dr. tomorrow and ask....but just wondering if anyone else has had this? I'll post on the main VSG site...and ask.... But seriously during the puree/soft stage...I have become best friends with my blender....and I blend everything.......lentils are my new favorite food.....weird weird weird.....

I was just wondering, if it is considered a soft/mushy food. I mean mashed potatoes are considered soft/mushy why not potato dumplings? I know it is way high carbs, but during the mushy/soft stage it may be another thing I can turn to that is not tuna or mashed pot. Thoughts?

Penny, I get most of my Protein in with my morning shake. I use the AMP 60 from GNC, has 60gr protein/serving. I like it, you mix with Water, I know that sounds gross, but they are really tasty. I have the chocolate plain, or with some powdered Peanut Butter and also the vanilla in blender with frozen berries. Yesterday I ventured out and bought a small pack of Cookies and cream and strawberry just for a taste test. They have a sale now going on buy 1 get 50% a 2nd pack....so it's a good deal. And if you hate it, even if it's open they'll exchage. The rest I get from my soups/purees (lentils, Beans, or any of my favorite Soups -italian wedding, etc) Also, Fage fat free plain yogurt has high protein. You can mix with sugar free cheescake pudding mix to make a crustless faux cheesecake.....

Julie, Did you have surgery with dr. Corvala? If so! I was hoping you'd come online, I never gave you or your mom my email info. Glad to hear your doing well!! Welcome aboard! Carol

Mari, There is WiFi in the room. If your computer has mic and speakers, I'd download SKYPE and you can call from your computer. It is free computer to computer and Verizon cell phones (the cell phone has to have SKYPE on it). I went by myself. For me it was better I didn't have to "worry" about others and could just focus on me. The first night was painful for me. I downloaded skype put $10 on my account so I could call anyone I wanted from my computer and I have $7 left on account. They do have phone in the room but I think you have to give credit card or leave deposit for long distance. I had a camara so I was able to video call via skype my husband so he could see I was ok. I also asked Esmeralda (coordinator in TJ) to call my husband when surgery was over. She called him the minute I got out of surgery while I was in recovery. She is great and is a great resource in TJ. My cell phone worked too. There were places in the room and halls where I'd get US signal but it was iffy. Calls from cell phone run 1_2 $ a minute. I hope both of your surgeries and recovery go like mine. I think 11 days are enough, I was at the gym day 5. The first week I would get pooped out by the afternoon. Body adjusting to lower calorie consumed. Energy comes back. By the end of week 2 i felt back to normal. Energy levels are back 100%.

10lbs down!!! I couldn't stand it...had to share....I have never lost that much in a month, much less a week! yay!

Welcome aboard Pookie! Sorry to hear about your kidney stone, they are PAINFUL!!! Wishing you great success on your journey! CK

Dr. Watkins, I asked Dr. Corvala at the time of surgery about sutures cutting through the stomach tissue and he said that it was just people not knowing. But as of late, I have heard that the stomach tissue is like butter or melon and that the sutures would cut like fishing line through the tissue. Is this really the case? I don't think it is, and I think it is just people that don't know what they are talking about spouting. But could this be a result? I would just like your medical input. I for me can tell you that this surgery has been what I was looking for. Had the surgery 2 weeks ago in Tijuana with Dr. Corvala and his team. I am down 18lbs, and am on mushy/soft food. I can tell when I am full (something I didn't have before) and am not hungry all the time. I get hungry every 3-4 hours and I have about 150-250 calories. I am eating between 600-900 cal per day. Thank you for your wealth of information. CK

I would try to make tomato basil soup with the heirloom tomato. There are recipes out there.... But the basics is steam and peel the tomatoes, put in blender and blend. Strain to get out seeds and mix with some fat free evaporated milk, or fat free half and half.....season to taste.... If you want basil and garlic put that in the blender with tomatoes. For mushy/soft....I have been pureeing all sorts of Soups.....from italian wedding style to steak and veggie soups.... I also made a pit of lentils, and blended some to the consistency of refried Beans.... get creative with the blender....

The Gladiator is awesome at smoothie king: (I like strawberry/banana) Gladiator, 20 oz. — Smoothie King But just look at the menu and you can always make something with the fruits and flavors you like.

All, I have one of these, I bought it before surgery in case I needed it post surgery. From having my gall bladder out, I would have greatly benefited from the additional support then, because I had all the gravity pain from my belly..... with my surgery I never had the pain or anything similar to the pain I had with the gallbladder. So anyway, it has never been used, I have all the paperwork it came with, just don't have the box. PM if anyone wants/needs it.