Allen J. Oh

I had some shredded iceberg lettuce on a taco for lunch today, and it hasn't gotten stuck (so far -- it was about 90 minutes ago). Yesterday I had a spinach omelet (with whole baby spinach leaves) and mixed greens in a salad for lunch, and both were fine. I think it's probably an individual thing.

I showered in the hospital, the day after my surgery. I was told it was ok to get water on the steri-strips. The only precaution I was told to take was to make sure to pat dry the incision sites, rather than "scrubbing" with a towel to dry. By the way, for me, it took about two weeks for the steri-strips to fall off.

My doctor doesn't want me drinking calories either, but he makes a specific exception for protein shakes (I asked: but...aren't protein shakes liquid calories?). His thinking is that the benefit of ensuring that you have adequate protein each day, plus the difficulty of getting in enough protein via solids only, outweighs the negative of the calories in the shake. His recommendation is to choose a shake that has at least 20 g of protein and at most 200 calories in an 8 oz. serving. I use the EAS Carb AdvantEDGE shakes (110 cal. in an 11 oz. serving), as well as the GNC Lean 25 shakes. These have 25 g of protein and 200 calories per two scoops, which makes 8 oz. normally, but I Water it down to 12 oz. since I like my shakes a little thinner.

I was banded on 12/27/12 and returned to work yesterday (1/8/13). Though, I resumed working from home 1/1/13. I would reiterate that a lot of it depends on your job duties -- I have a desk job and really don't do anything physical beyond walking 0.5 miles from my parking garage to my office. I would say that even for my desk job, having surgery on Friday and returning to work Monday is probably...optimistic, though not unheard of.

I was banded on 12/27 and am still on Clear liquids until my surgeon follow-up on Friday. My surgeon's recommendations for when I move back to solids at the end of this month include mostly soft foods. He says I should avoid soft bread, but can toast it or eat crackers instead. Other than that I've heard that rice can clog...haven't heard that as much about Pasta. And well-done steaks might be a problem too. I saw one commenter was avoiding popcorn -- anyone else have an issue with this? I went to a movie yesterday with my dad and had to watch him eat a bag of popcorn...that was kind of hard for me.

I was banded yesterday. Started small sips of water last night, and had some dilaudid around 10pm for pain. This morning, my blood pressure and blood sugars are much better, and I have taken ten walks around my floor. Pain has been about a 2-3 on the pain scale, with some lortab at 12:30 and Percocet at 4pm. Now I'm just waiting for discharge papers and my prescription for Percocet and then will be going home. Pretty excited to start my new life!

Well, tomorrow is the big day for me. I am doing a liquid diet today (full liquids ok), and am thankful I was able to have a good Christmas dinner yesterday as my "Last Supper" for a while. It was truly a meal to remember, not so much for what I ate but more for the company. I am not going to lie, though, I am really aware of how hungry I am today. I had a protein shake for breakfast and a glass of apple juice for lunch. Did the Milk of Magnesia last night, and it hasn't been too bad today, maybe because I haven't been eating solid foods. I'm looking forward for my new life to start tomorrow! Wish me luck...

I'm only on a liquid diet for the day before surgery, though I am supposed to eat healthy before that (with the warning that my surgeon can see what I've been eating for the past several weeks...which I don't want to think about too much). As for vitamins, I was told chewables are good, and that Flintstones in particular are good as long as they have enough iron. I was cautioned about gummies because they may not absorb as well.

Congrats, I'm also on the 27th...though I don't start my liquid diet until the 26th (yeah, that surprised me too). Between now and then, I'm just supposed to not gain any weight, and preferably lose another pound or two. I had a pharmacy consultation today -- that was a lot of information to absorb! I'm currently on meds for allergies, asthma, high blood pressure, hypertension, and diabetes. A lot of them have to be changed post-surgery because the pills are too big (Allegra, I'm looking at you), while others are expected to be cut down drastically or even eliminated entirely, like my diabetes meds, and my blood pressure and cholesterol pills. Next up is my pre-op physical on the 21st. Then, making it through at least two (if not three or four) Christmas parties without gaining weight. I'm not too worried about that; I actually lost two pounds over Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm still pre-op, so no experience with that, but my surgeon and nurse told me that they want to make sure I am not vomiting, as it can be hard on my healing stomach. They emphasized that, when I do come out of surgery, if I do feel nausea, I should let them know right away so they can give me something for it so that I don't vomit.

Hi -- I'm also a male, a little older than you (39), and pretty similar in BMI (5'11.5", 252#, though I was 263# at my first consult). I'm getting banded 12/27. Based on your BMI and your comorbid conditions (hypertension, high cholesterol), you should qualify. My insurance carrier, and I think this is typical, requires either BMI > 40 or BMI > 30 with at least one comorbid condition. Things to expect -- you should expect to have to jump through a number of hoops to qualify for insurance coverage. These will vary from carrier to carrier, and can even change (as was the case with my carrier). For me, I needed to attend six consecutive months of dietician visits and get clearance from her to proceed. You will almost certainly need a psychological evaluation, which is typically a few hours spread out over two or three visits. I had two consults with my surgeon: one to discuss and decide on which surgery to have, and the other to learn more about what actually happens during the surgery, how to take care of myself afterwards, etc. Only the second was required. I also had to do a nurse consultation, which mostly focused on aftercare and, honestly, largely duplicated the information I heard from the surgeon. I will also need to do a pre-operative physical with my general physician within a week before surgery. This is just how my surgeon does his surgeries. Every clinic has a different approach, but hopefully this was helpful.

If you don't mind my asking, have you been diagnosed with diabetes? Because if you have, 7.2% seems pretty good to me. I obviously can't speak about your clinic or insurance company, but a 7.2% A1C does not seem all that high. The goal for "good diabetes management" is to be less than 7% (or is it 6.5% these days?). Anyway, my endocrinologist would LOVE to see my A1C drop to 7.2%; as of last month it was 9.5% and *that* was an improvement over where it was. And...I just got insurance approval for my surgery. In any event, I hope your lab work and dealings with your clinic and insurance company go well.

I had my last pre-surgery appointments with my nurse and surgeon Thursday and Friday, and both of them emphasized that I should have no carbonation, ever. Basically it sounded like I would be risking a world of hurt, but the more serious issue is band slippage. I love pop, but it's not worth the risk. My dietician recommends Mio. I like it. Not as much as pop, but it will do.

I just got my date -- December 27. I was really anxious to get it in before the end of the year because it would make the difference between getting 100% coverage by insurance vs. having to pay for it 100% out of pocket. As for pre-op diet, yeah, every surgeon is different. Mine (Dr. Baker in Minneapolis) is having me do a liquid diet, but only for one day pre-surgery. I might switch to mostly liquids a couple days before surgery just to make sure I come in at the right pre-surgery weight and don't have any unpleasant surprises on the day of surgery. He does like the protein shakes, and I in particular like the EAS Carb AdvantEDGE ones you can get at Sam's Club -- they're pretty tasty and satisfying, and only have 110 calories, 3 g of carbs, and I think 20 g (or so) of protein.

I don't have UHC, but it seems to me that in the past few years it has gotten easier to get covered. My wife had WLS (not banding, though) four years ago, and she had to jump through a lot of hoops to get coverage. Several people in her support group had to go through the appeals process. For me, going through the coverage process now, it seems more routine. As for the timing, it really depends on the insurance company. My surgeon's office said that two weeks sounds about right for my company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota). You don't necessarily need to have a comorbid condition (like hypertension) to qualify -- again, this depends on your insurance company, but basically having comorbidities helps you qualify for WLS at a lower BMI. My insurance company, for example, would not cover my surgery if I didn't have comorbidities because my BMI is about 36, but since I have hypertension, diabetes, and sleep apnea, I do qualify. If I didn't have these, I'd need a BMI of 40 to qualify for insurance coverage. In any case, it sounds like you've already gone through a lot of the hoops, so it should be pretty straightforward from here. I know how nervewracking it can be to wait for the news re: insurance approval, but hang in there and trust that you've done all you can to move the process along.

Your surgeon knows your situation better than any of us here, so I would ask him what considerations lead him to recommend the sleeve vs. the band in your particular case. I met with my surgeon a couple of months ago to talk about different approaches (banding, sleeve, and RNY), and after hearing my thought process, he recommended the band. In particular, my thinking was that I "only" wanted to lose about 50-60 pounds, I did not care if it happened more gradually, and I wanted the least invasive surgery that would help me lose the weight. The main factor that argued in favor of the sleeve in my case was that I take a lot of pills, and I guess those are easier to take with a sleeve. But he said that it was fairly likely I would be coming off many of my medications shortly after surgery. We decided against the RNY pretty quickly, largely in view of my only wanting to lose 50-60 pounds -- he thought the RNY might be more drastic than I would like.

Hi, I'm Allen from Minnesota. I'm 39 years old, stand 5'11.5", and started this journey at 258 lbs. (BMI 35.5, and I have type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol). I hope to reach a weight of about 200 lbs. (BMI 27.5) in a couple of years. Both my endocrinologist and my surgeon tell me that I can expect to have at least partial resolution if not remission of my diabetes very soon after surgery. Honestly, that alone would make the surgery worth it, even aside from any weight loss. I am looking forward to getting banded by Dr. Baker at Unity probably some time between Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving. My date will be scheduled once I get approved by Blue Cross, and the request will be submitted once I've finished all the requirements. I think I have two more dietician appointments and some bloodwork that I still need to complete. I'm a little nervous about the pre-op weight loss. I had been doing ok, losing about 4 of the 6 lbs. that I need to lose before surgery, and then I went on a course of prednisone due to an asthma flareup, and it really threw me off my game, such that I gained it all back. I'm hoping that I'll lose some weight with the pre-op liquid diet. What have other people's experiences been like with this?