cmf1267

Every surgeon is different - many require pre-op diets to shrink the liver - others don't. My surgery is 11/6 too!!

I've confided in 3 co-workers who have been supportive and I hope they don't tell - I don't think they will. I decided to just tell HR & my one boss who asked that I was having surgery on my stomach. I had health problems last year and was hospitalized for 4 days in January so I think they just think it's all related. If I tell later than I do- but unfortunately many ppl have a very strong opinion about WLS especially the negative opinions tend to like to share it with you. I personally wanted to avoid that. It's no ones business.

So I started my 2 week pre-op diet yesterday and we had the nutrition class on Tuesday p.m. Well we got this booklet and a page devoted to our pre-op diet where on top it says, and I quote, "800 calorie liquid diet." I am allowed the 3 Ru-Tein Protein shakes with 8 oz skim milk, 4 cups of lettuce with 2 Tblsp of a light dressing, 1 light yogurt, 2 cups of chicken or beef broth, and 2 jellos. After entering everything into my diet section of MyFitnessPal - it says I'm consuming ONLY 702 calories - Not 800. That's a big deal when they are bringing you down so low!!! So I call Bullshit! If I get too hungry on any given day I'm just going to add a little more of the lettuce or the chicken broth! Good Luck to everyone else out there. P.S. - even just consuming 702 calories yesterday - wasn't that bad. I'm holding off my first shake until I'm actually hungry and I'm spacing out what I can have throughout the day.

I had my nutrition class yesterday & they provided us with a whole booklet about not only the diet/nutrition, but all things regarding the procedure. I was a little surprised to see that I am not supposed (allowed) to drive for 1 week after surgery (even driving to my 1 week post-op appt.). I had my gallbladder removed in 1996 and had no restrictions like this - I think I drove the day after. I'm single & really can't ask family or friends for help on this. I'm off work for 3 weeks but I have a couple classes that I could probably just take the bus too - but the appt. to my surgeon's office - I don't know. Just wondering if anyone else had this restriction. If you did - did you drive anyway once you felt o.k.? Just wondering. thanks Connie

Thanks for your responses. I'm sure it will be fine. Some of my labs the surgeon ran were slightly off but I know why. My cholesterol was slightly elevated at 201 but in March it had been 176 - but I spent the month of August - right before I had the blood work done- eating out a lot at restaurants I won't be able to go to for a while so that wasn't really unexpected. With the higher fat content of restaurant foods I actually thought it might be worse than it was. My triglycerides were pretty high though - they had never been that high before - but again I think it was from eating out. All of that should be cleared up after the surgery with the new eating I will be doing. I've actually really calmed down on the eating out over the last month and this week - before my NUT appt and the start of my liquid diet - I've been eating pretty clean and pretty healthy with the exception of (literally) 3 small bits of a sweet treat - and 2 small bags of ruffles. Over the weekend I hope to be able to stick with 2 liquid protein meals and one regular meal of chix & veggies - so I'll be ready to start that liquid diet on Wednesday. Thanks again for the words of encouragement.

I haven't had my NUT appt. yet, it's 10/23 & I start liquids 10/24. If I have the option of one meal I plan on doing it at lunch as well. I'm not a nutritionist - but I honestly can't see any reason why it would change anything just based on the time you eat it. I'd rather do lunch so my body has longer to work off the calories and ppl at work won't ask why I'm not eating.

so I have my appt. with my doctor to clear me for surgery. I scheduled it the morning of my nutritionist appt. so I could just take one whole day off. My doctor is very supportive of this surgery for me, but my doctor's office called yesterday to tell me they needed to reschedule. when I told them my surgery was on Nov. 6 they asked if I minded seeing someone else in the practice. I said I was fine with that. I'm sure it will be fine-I've just never seen this new doctor I'm going to see. My doctor knows me and knows my struggle with weight & even has his own weight struggles. Again - I'm sure it will be fine - I'm just a little nervous.

I meet with the NUT on Tuesday 10/23. Their literature says its a 2 week Protein liquid diet - so I'm not sure if it's 100% liquid or if I get 1 regular meal with chicken & veggies. I'm going to assume the worst (100% liquid) so if I do actually get a meal I'll be thrilled.

You're not a failure. I've never been able to stick to a "diet" unless I was on prescription diet pills. I had already had a six month medically supervised diet 2 years ago and so I didn't have to do that now but I've had a hard time with my food intake too and my NUT appt. is next Tues and I don't want to show any large weight gain. If I'm up a pound or 2 no big deal. So this week I started tyring to just eat clean - chicken breast, veggies. I weighed myself and I'm 5 pds. heavier than my initial appt. with the surgeon. I think I can drop the weight before next Tues. I don't think the insurance will deny you because you are going up & down 1-5 pounds a month - it just shows you need the surgery.

When it comes to weight loss - I'm lucky - my PCP battles his weight himself. He had no problem prescribing me Meridia & later Adipex (both worked for a short time and I gained the weight back) which he understands because he's done the same thing. He was against RNY so when I mentioned the Sleeve to him he was very supportive and said he thought it was a great surgery. I brought them a letter the surgeon had given us and they put it on there system and I picked it up the next day. However, I'm allergic to aspirin & ibuprofen so if I ask for stronger pain meds than tylenol - he won't do it.

I thought the reason for no carbonated drinks like soda was the carbonation can stretch out your sleeve?

Good luck. I start my 2 week pre-op next wednesday. Surgery Nov. 6.

Wow - so glad to hear your health has improved so much Lissa!!

I start my liquid diet next Wednesday. I'm more nervous about it than I am the surgery or the liquids after surgery. I know its possible - last year I couldn't eat solid foods - every time I would I would have some sort of painful "attack" in my upper abdomen and I literally got scared to eat solid foods. I had to sip down slim fasts & other nutritional shakes but if I drank them too quickly I'd have an attack. So I only got down about 2 shakes a day and I was lucky if I got 500 calories per day. So I know its very possible to do - I almost wish I was scared to eat solid foods again though - because it wasn't that hard to just have liquids when I was scared to eat the solid foods. On the bright side - I lost about 20 pounds in those 2 weeks.

I'm Nov. 6 too. Do you have to do the liquid diet? My NUT appt. is Oct. 23 and I start liquids on Oct 24.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I hope everything works out well for you!

Thanks Gene1970 - he did find a small hiatal hernia yesterday and said he thought it could be the cause of the acid reflux. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait to hear from his office.

My surgeon wants to do a Ph monitoring test. I haven't heard from his office yet today. I think they want to check for GERD or reflux since I've never actually been diagnosed I just take Zantac as needed. It's really mostly due to how I eat - if I eat healthy - I don't need the Zantac - if I drink too much Coke Zero and don't eat healthy I'll need to take one. Anyway - now I'm a little worried because someone on this forum mentioned that some surgeons won't do the surgery if you have GERD or reflux. Did anyone else have GERD or reflux before the surgery? I could have sworn that during the information seminar the surgeon said that the surgery usually resolves GERD because we usually have it from obesity.

They want to do a Ph monitoring test. I haven't heard from his office yet today. I think they want to check for GERD or reflux since I've never actually been diagnosed I just take Zantac as needed. It's really mostly due to how I eat - if I eat healthy - I don't need the Zantac - if I drink too much Coke Zero and don't eat healthy I'll need to take one. Anyway - now I'm a little worried because someone on this forum mentioned that some surgeons won't do the surgery if you have GERD or reflux. Did anyone else have GERD or reflux before the surgery?

Nope - no taxi. You have to have a driver who waits while you have the procedure. I'm sure it'll all work out.

A little frustrated. I had my endoscopy today and the anesthetist nurses were asking me about my medications and if I had GERD or reflux. I told them I had acid indigestion but was never diagnosed with either GERD or reflux but I take Zantac as needed. They asked if I had taken any and I said I had taken one yesterday. Then they said something about the doctor didn't have a note about doing some sort of acid test during the endoscopy but she'd ask him. Well he wanted to do that test but couldn't because of my taking Zantac yesterday. They performed the endoscopy today but I'll need to come back before surgery(nov. 6) to have another so he can do that test. I'm taking so much time off work already to have to go back for another endoscopy - plus I need to have a driver which is a little hard for me to find. My sister has stage 4 colon cancer and has her own issues - so I won't ask her, my other sister has a job that apparently she doesn't get vacation or personal days because she tells me she can't afford to take a day off without pay - plus she lives around 1 1/2 hours away. My friend from work took me today and said not to worry she didn't mind taking me again - but I hate to ask her to do that. Anyway - I just wanted to vent a little. One question though - after the endoscopy did anyone have really bad acid indigestion? They removed a polyp or two from my stomach - but they did that last year and I don't remember having such bad acid indigestion. It just came on real quick. Just wondering if anyone else experienced that.

Growing up my parents had cottage cheese on the table every night. I never touched the stuff and then in my early to mid-thirties I just started craving it. I don't drink a lot of milk so I often wondered if my body was just craving calcium and it came out as a craving for cottage cheese.

I think some doctors just aren't as worried about the size of the liver. I had my gallbladder removed laporascopically in 96 and I didn't have to do any type of liquid diet to shrink the liver beforehand & the gallbladder literally sits completely under the liver.

rmbtcb4evr - You were off for a month? My surgery date worked out so I'm taking almost 3 full weeks. My surgery is Nov. 6 and 2 full weeks would have had me back to work on the Tues. before Thanksgiving so I just figured I always take that week off anyway and it will give me one more full week for recovery. Did you have complications? Glad you are doing better now!!

I had my 6 month medically supervised diet a couple years ago - so I haven't been "dieting" at all and as a matter of fact it's been the opposite. My surgery is Nov. 6 and I keep telling myself I have to get on track before the pre-op diet (they'll weigh me in on Oct. 24 the day of my nutritional appt. and I don't want to show a big weight gain since my appt. with the surgeon). The 2 week preop diet is really scaring me - can I do liquids for 2 whole weeks. I've seen some ppls' Liquid Protein diet actually allows them to eat one real meal a day - I'm hoping I have that but I'm not counting on it. You're not alone in your reservations. I'll be totally psyched one day and then depressed the next questioning my decision. I just know in my heart it's the right decision. I'm on YouTube and hope to post videos of my journey (I've posted 2 but don't feel like I want to post another until after my NUT appt. and start of the pre-op diet). You can find me on YouTube at cmf1267. There's a big WLS community there and they are very helpful. If you haven't already - check it out.