Izuri

You're getting so close now! Those daily reminders are really a big part of keeping me on track post-op, even just a few weeks out seeing what a difference is made in not huffing and puffing while climbing stairs. The big successes are great, the big milestones, but the every day life milestones - I think we under Celebrate them sometimes (I know I do), when they're actually really important. Before you know it you will be on the loser's bench zipping up and down those aisles at the store.

I just noticed today that the beds of my nails have become a thick white horizontal line instead of the small half moon that they usually are, and the line is about 2-3mm thick. I have tried looking it up online and the only things I can find is when your nail is white for almost the whole nail, not just the nail beds. I did read it could be Protein deficiency, but I have been doing a really good job getting my protein and Water in - unless it's just growth from the past few weeks when I wasn't getting as much protein. I had a lot of pre-op tests and I doubt that it's attributed to a liver/kidney issue as all my blood work came back normal pre-op (a month ago). Anyway, I was just curious if anyone had experienced this - I was thinking maybe low protein or anemia? I looked through the search function and I couldn't find anything on this. I know you guys aren't doctors and I'll call my doctor if it keeps growing this way, but I was wondering if this is common or if anyone else has had this? Thanks!

I had this pain too. It stopped around the beginning of week 3, but still flares up if I push myself too hard walking or something. You'll feel better soon =)

My first step was going to a weight loss surgery seminar and having a consultation that day. I had called my insurance company the evening before to find out the requirements so I'd know what I needed to look into starting at the appointment. So that's what I would do first, call the insurance, set up a consultation, and then wait for the doctor to tell you what they require as far as pre-op appointments. If you insurance requires a PCP visit or if you want to visit your PCP to discuss your surgery ahead of time, you can do that now too - some insurances require a letter/referral so you might as well get that out of the way if needed. Make sure if you do visit the PCP first that they document your weight so that if you do have a weigh in on record to get one out of the way if they require six months of weigh ins or whatever. In my opinion it's really important to look up your surgeon quite a bit before you decide on one. You could search for bariatric surgeons in your area online and make sure they have patient reviews, good follow-up, malpractice history, and pretty much anything you can find on them. Some clinics will have support groups that pre-op patients can visit too so that might be a good place to ask questions about how people liked the facility, etc. How long do you have until your clinicals start? I'm a nursing student too and I'm going into second year clinicals about 6 weeks or so out from surgery. I'm a bit nervous about it, but have been recovering well so I think I'll be fine. Good luck! =)

Great information - Thanks!

I had no prescribed diet up until the day before surgery. The day before surgery I had take 2 dulcolax tablets at 10am or 1 suppository at 6pm and have only clear liquids all day, then nothing by mouth after 10pm. Preps are just different from doctor to doctor - from the time I've been on this board I have seen a ton of different instructions for pre-op and post-op. Just follow what your doctor says - you will have lost an extra couple pounds from all the liquid diet anyway, which is one less pound you need to worry about post-op.

Just 2 months? Wow, that really is a ton of progress. You look great =) Show off those 3 sizes smaller pants, you deserve it.

Woohoo!!!! Congratulations! =) Perseverance sure does pay off.

Starting weight: 325 Surgery Date: July 26th, 2012 Current Weight: 299 Goal Weight by Oct. 31, 2012: 280

You look amazing!! I love that shirt - where did you get it? The whole outfit just looks incredible on you!

Maybe for the first couple weeks you can do a mixed diet high in Protein just soft foods and liquids? And work through removing 1 meal of solid food a week until you're down to your 2 week liquid diet. That way you are phasing it out, and hopefully will have an easier time with it. You are definitely not a failure. Along the way we all make mistakes - and this 2 weeks before your pre-op diet is something you are doing for yourself, so once you pick yourself back up and keep going you will be well on your way to your sleeve. At the very least, you picked cottage cheese - not pizza or chinese or anything super high in calories. Cottage cheese is actually a great protein source and will be something you'll probably eat plenty of post op. Likasulema had some great advice - make sure you're getting your Water in so that you're making it a habit. Hang in there! You'll do fine =)

I have the fiesta ware 7&3//4oz tea cups and like yours, they are awesome for portion control. I use them for pretty much every meal.

If your doctor has given the ok for caffeine, wolfgirl is right, you could do the generic excedrin tension headache as long as it's the one without aspirin. If you are not allowed to have caffeine (I'm not far enough out yet for it to be allowed) I have been taking the children's liquid tylenol. Each 5ml teaspoon is 160mg so I take 3 teaspoons (or 1 tablespoon) and that gets me 480mg, which is approximately what 1 extra strength tylenol is. You could take up to 4 - 6 teaspoons (640-960mg) every 6 hours, just making sure that total per dose is under 1000mg and under 3000mg daily - it used to be 4000mg daily, but I think the FDA just lowered it. Here are the new guidelines: http://www.tylenol.com/page2.jhtml?id=tylenol/news/newdosing.inc

Sleevers are already losing the weight much quicker than regular dieting. Plus, the faster you lose the more loose skin you have when you're done. Malabsorption is neat in that it helps people lose weight, but you also lose a significant part of your intestines that help you absorb important Vitamins. That means you will likely have to increase the number of supplements you take. It's a personal decision, and RNY may be right for some people, but I guess the big points for me were: 1. No intestinal rerouting with VSG 2. Decreased ghrelin production - no hunger makes things a lot different 3. Generally no dumping with VSG - this sounds like it would make me miserable at work/school 4. Intact pyloric sphincter - this takes away the risk of stoma stricture/dilation 5. Fewer long term food/medicine restrictions 6. Delayed reactive hypoglycemia in RNY patients - scares me! 7. Losing weight fast can mean looking unhealthy even though you're skinny - someone called them "fat skinny people" on a thread the other day, which seemed to fit. People who lose weight but a lot of it is muscle, not necessarily the healthiest thing. I guess #1 is the biggest for me. Apparently I'm okay with the doctor taking out the majority of my stomach, but I really don't want them touching my intestines (Is that silly? =p). Maybe make a list of pros and cons for each and see how you feel about it after you lay out your options? You are not forced to have the surgery on the date you're scheduled if you are not sure/aren't ready. If you need to, give it some time. Maybe it is just nerves - I was scared as crap before the surgery and second guessed myself on and off, and now that I'm post-op, I'm really happy I did it. Feel better!

I have never seen that in a restaurant and have split plenty of meals. I would be irritated. I think if I was a regular I would politely ask my waiter about it or see if they have comment cards to fill out. I am surprised they didn't even bring you an extra plate or let you know ahead of time that there's a charge to split a meal now.

That's a bummer =( Sounds like water weight though. I bet you'll see it come back off in the next week, hopefully it will take a couple more along with it!

The generic for excedrin has been available still - it was only the brand name that was recalled. Generic is the same thing - a mix of tylenol, aspirin, and caffeine. Unfortunately 2 of those items we're not allowed to have so I guess we're stuck with regular tylenol even when brand name excedrin is back on the shelf =\ I'd suggest taking a couple of tylenol, using a cool or warm washcloth on your head and laying down for a bit. I hope you feel better!

We were sleeved the same day. I haven't tried any alcohol yet, but I know my dietitian warned us that we will be cheap drunks from now on =) So if you do drink - just make sure you do it safely and maybe try a little at home so you know how it hits you first!

That sure is frustrating! Try and get out and enjoy your weekend and maybe it will get your mind off it a little. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for good news on Monday!

While I was trying to decide whether to have surgery or not I made a big list of pros and cons. I researched a ton on here and through medical articles looking at complications, success rates, etc. When I had my list, I looked at which cons I could really have a difference in changing. For example, you can decrease your chance of blood clots by making sure you are getting up often and walking around the unit. I found that most of the things I was worried about on the cons I couldn't completely eliminate, but I could decrease the risk of significantly. There is a big wealth of knowledge on this website in the posts. If you have questions about a specific thing, try the search tool. I have read through a number of posts about whether anyone regrets the surgery, complications, post-op diets, weight regain, etc, which would make a big difference in deciding about the surgery. I love my sleeve, and I would make the choice to do it again in a second =) I hope you figure out what's best for you!

I don't want to upset anyone and I'm not saying this to be mean or anything, but I really think you're doing yourself and your body a disservice by giving yourself such large strict goals scale wise. I know that weight loss is increased with the sleeve, but it's hard to really predict how our bodies are going to react. Even if you reach November and you haven't lost down to 200 pounds, it will not mean that you're not successful. I hope that you reach it too, but if you eat right and follow the plan your body will lose at a rate that is healthy for it, and that's far more important than reaching a specific weight goal. You don't want to starve your body, because in the end you will just be hurting yourself and killing your metabolism. Your body is not your enemy and you're stuck with it - treat it right. It sounds like you are super low on calories. Are you reaching your target Protein? Fluids? I would just focus on those and get in some movement and everything else will fall into place. You didn't put the weight on over a few months, it's not necessarily just going to fall off in a few months. I am about 4 weeks or so out and I've been in a stall for 2 weeks. Our bodies stall, that's what they do. Don't be mad at it, don't cut your calories, just make sure you're following the plan. If you don't, you could end up actually making your stall worse. Our bodies are trained to go into a crisis mode when they are starved and want to hold everything in. Stalls are frustrating, but they're a part of life we just have to deal with. Anyway, I don't know if you'll be 200 in November, but if you do the work and get healthy, I do believe that you will be successful, healthier, and happier in November.

To save myself the time writing it out again (and remembering everything) I made a list a few days ago on another thread: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/48841-what-do-i-need-for-the-hospital-and-for-the-first-week-at-home/ There is also an official thread on this: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/10081-the-official-what-you-will-need-for-your-gastric-sleeve-surgery-thread/page__hl__%2Bofficial+%2Bhospital+%2Bthread And a follow up on what people brought vs what they actually used: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/44973-of-all-the-crap-you-took-to-the-hospital-what-did-you-actually-use/page__hl__+nook%20+robe#entry407579 As far as preparing yourself pre-op, if I could go back and prepare again I would: - Spend more time getting in six small meals a day (about every 2 hours) to be a habit - Exercise more: getting off a bit of weight decreases your surgical risks - Follow the pre-op diet as close as possible (I didn't have one, but if your surgeon asks for one, it's important to follow it as close as possible) - Set myself some realistic goals for the first few months post-op - Get in the habit of sipping 64 oz of Water - it's harder than it sounds! - Try a bunch of Protein drinks - but don't buy too many for post-op, your tastes may change - Try and identify times I feel compelled to eat so that I could start working on them (emotional eating, etc) - Figure out if all my medications are available in chewable/liquid form and make sure i have them on hand right after surgery - crushed pills taste horrible - Take before pictures - Take before measurements Surgery will be here before you know it ! Congratulations on getting your date!

Good luck! I had some personal training sessions a few years ago and they were a lot of fun - enjoy it =)

That was kinda rude of your mom. No matter what anyone says, you are kicking butt!! 73 pounds is awesome. I'm sure you look much different. I would guess that at least some of the people haven't commented because they aren't sure what to say - I'd imagine don't wanna comment because they aren't sure yet, maybe they've noticed some changes but don't wanna point it out if you haven't actually lost? Either way, you are doing amazing, keep your head up, and the compliments will come eventually. The heavier we start the longer it takes to see a big change.

Yes, your stall is normal. Many of us (Myself included) stall in the first few weeks. If you use the search function and look up week 3 stall you will find a number of posts on this. So far my stall has lasted a bit over 2 weeks, but I've heard of some lasting up to six weeks. Just make sure you're getting in your fluids and protein and walking and eventually the weight will come off. Your body is still just adjusting. Measure today and then in a week or two measure again - you will see that even though you're stalled you're still losing inches. If you can, try and put the scale away. I have a hard time ignoring the scale, but I have been able to keep it put away for a few days now, and I feel less stressed about it. Hang in there!