WhiteRice

*JINX*!!! Buy me a Coke (diet and flat, please) :confused1:

I was just coming here to post this and you beat me to it! I signed the releases to be a part of this study. Did you Bob?

:thumbup: Sleevers are taking over! Woo hoo!

Has anyone on this forum used Stevia for sweetener? I hate the aftertaste of other non-sugar sweeteners. Am not sure if Stevia will be any better.

I've been using Stevia packets and liking it pretty well. The bitter taste mentioned by another person comes from using too much. It also comes in liquid form and powder. The packets have an extender in them to make it seem like more in the packet. If you used the liquid, you'd only need a drop of two to sweeten your coffee or tea. That's how potent it is compared to sugar.

Stevia is completely natural. It comes from a plant. Some people use the actual plant leaves to sweeten their teas, etc. I have some additional info on it and other natural sweeteners, like xylitol (also natural, from a birch tree, measures like sugar, too much can cause tummy trouble), and their benefits that I can share, but you can also find all kinds of info by googling them.

I'm with you Bob. I feel so blessed to have insurance cover my procedure and to have my surgery locally. I have all the support I need right here in town. For those who travelled for surgery, can you still call with questions at any time? Or do you have to find local support for that?

WhiteRice - Wow. I have missed so much. You are all done and doing decent it seems. How do you swallow with less air?

Hi Socal. Yes, I'm all done. Day 6 today. I found that if I exhale before swallowing, which is completely opposite what I've done all my life and a little uncomfortable at first, I swallow less air. I don't know why, but it works for me. Maybe less air in the area above the trachea to go down with the swallow?

just part of my post-op drugs, which I'm hoping to be off of this weekend. :confused1:

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Whiterice talked about this book last night in the chat room

Thanks AF. I had already forgotten about this. Blame the brain-fog. :confused1:

Falling isn't going to hurt your sleeve.

Some surgeons are conservative about getting back to exercise. My surgeon told me to knock myself out. I was back in the gym on the stationary bike at 2 weeks and took up running at 1 month out. But anything that worked my core was too much. I waited about 2 months for that.

It sounds like your surgeon is conservative so I can't begin to guess what he'd say about a bike ride.

You're right. Falling probably won't hurt the sleeve, but it could hurt the abdominal muscles that are still knitting back together after having the lap ports jabbed through them. Better to ere on the conservative side, IMHO. Take it slow and follow your own surgeon's instructions. I know my own surgeon is VERY conservative...and that's just fine with me. :confused1:

It's not about the muscles used while doing it. It's about what happens to your body if you were to fall. And falling can happen to anyone... Ever seen the Tour de France? :confused1: I would guess if you asked your surgeon, you'd get a big "nope".

I am so busy at work right now, I haven't had time to go to my doctor. I might hit a doc-in-the-box this weekend just to have it checked out.

In the mean time...dial soap to wash and consider using a hair dryer to dry in there. Lift it up, or whatever you have to do to get all the way in there and dry, dry, dry. I had to do this with my c-section incision because it wasn't getting any air under my hanging belly. Also could put a little rolled up sterile gauze in there to keep it dry and absorb secretions (another trick from my c-section). Good luck, and get thee to the doctor if it doesn't start to clear up by Monday. :confused1:

Thanks for the imput girls...and mac.... thankyou so much. its hard when you guys talk about size in oz as i just have NO idea about the oz. or the cans of chicken salad??? we dont have them here in Aus. I bought these little plates that are actually tart shells (about the size of your palm with the fluted edge) i tryed eating from a bread and butter plate, but found myself overloading it. at least with a smaller plate the chance of overload is going to be less! again girls...its just a bouncing point!

Thanks again Mac. i look fwd to seeing the pic

I have a digital kitchen scale that measures in both ounces and grams. You just push a button to switch between the two. I'll be you could find one there and then you could see what 2 oz of meat looks like, if all of your meal suggestions are in English/American measurements...also, check here for a conversion chart from English/American system to Metric: Conversion Chart

YOu'll see 1 Tablespoon equals 15 ml...1 oz Fluid equals 30 ml...etc. Good luck!

I had the same thing the night between day 2 and 3, and get it about once/day now (I'm heading into day 6). Did you have permission from your doc to do the immodium? I personally wouldn't take anything digestive related, without specific instructions to do so, until WAY post-op.

You should definitely talk to your doc about this. Don't be shy about calling on the weekend. Call their service if it's really bothering you and it's the weekend. That's what they're there for. Good luck!

Some do leak tests and some don't. LapSF used to do leak tests in the OR and after. But they never found a leak that way. Then, people would leave the hospital and a few days later, they'd have a leak! So they speculated that something about the leak test in the OR was stressing the staple line and they stop doing them.

I watched an operation online where instead of leak testing the sleeve they leak tested the stomach after it was removed. The idea was that they were stapled simultaneously, so if one leaked, then the other would too. Not sure if I buy into that, given that we're talking about living slippery tissue, but it's another interesting theory. I don't think my doc did an OR leak test. Just the post-op radiograph swallow test. It was kinda cool, by the way, to see my shriveled up sleeve on the x-ray with the contrast flowing through it. :drool5:

Can you all see my ticker in my sig up there ^?

So then the medical staff looks harder and finds a leak. At that point, you realize, you had that leak from very early out.

I'm curious... Don't all docs do a post-op leak test? I had a contrast radiograph on day 2. I thought that was standard.

I had a motorcycle accident in Oct. 2001. Went over the handlebars and, of course, put my hands out to break my fall. :laugh0:

The dilaudid was not the first line drug. That would have been morphine in the iv, and then vicodin orally. But since I already knew from my 2-broken-arms stay in the hospital that morphine and vicodin both make me very nauseated, they went right to dilaudid, which was fine IV, but not so much orally. Orally it had me ringing the call button almost immediately to have the nurses running back in with the Zofran. We finally settled on Percocet to come home and that's going very well.

I'm past the hurting when I drink, as long as I'm aware of each sip. It's when I reach and take a sip without thinking that it hurts. I know every hospital's protocols are different, but all of my discharge paperwork says very specifically "no straws". I wonder if you might have less pain just sipping without one. I find that I get less air going down if I exhale before swallowing, which is opposite of what I've done all of my life. Just thinking out loud. Take it for what it's worth. Good luck. Are you home now?

Glad you're doing so well. I did better on day 1 than the rest of the days because of all the morphine going through me. Day 2 was not so good; day 3 was "ok;" day 4 was icky cause of the built up gas and Fluid retention; today is day 5 and feeling 50% better. Tomorrow will be better still until I'm back to normal.

I think day 1 was the best until today, because I had on-demand IV dilaudid. Day 2 they switched me to oral dilaudid, which made me want to vomit within 5 minutes of taking it. It was awful. I elected to stay one more night to get that all worked out and to get my breathing fully under control (I'm asthmatic), and I'm SO glad I did stay. Now I'm on the right pain meds and feeling so much better.

Sorry you're having a rougher go of it. :laugh0: How are the liquids going? I'm finally learning to swallow less air with my sips, so that's going better for me now.

Surgery was Tuesday. First full day home today. Feeling pretty good. The kids are at my in-laws, and my mom is here with me. Just did 10 minutes of walking laps around the house. Pain meds are working pretty well. :laugh0: Trying to scale those back a bit so I'm not so drowsy all the time.

How's everyone else this fine afternoon?

It's getting so close! I'm on full liquids today and tomorrow (clears tomorrow) and then Tuesday is the day.

I response to the earlier threads about nervousness and "What the heck am I doing?" thoughts: I haven't told very many people that I'm having surgery. Those who know have asked "are you excited/scared/nervous?" My response is "I'm at peace about it. So of the three, I think I'm just excited" I'm excited to start my new life... To be the best mom to my kids that I possibly can... To see how life changes for me.

My surgery date is August 10th, 4 days from now with Dr. Aceves. Very nervous and excited. Is anyone here going to be getting theirs done during this August 10th week? Speak up if you are.:thumbup:

I'm August 11th. Had my pre-op testing today, and got all of my literature. My doc only requires 2 days of liquids pre-op, so I don't start that until Sunday. He also requires twice daily bathing/showering with Dial soap for 2 days prior to surgery. Yeowch! Can you say "dry skin"? Anyone else have that requirement.

HA! I had a similar situation in my pre-op class, but not quite as severe. I just can't imagine going into something like and not being as prepared as possible, you know?

that being said, I had a dream I ate fried chicken last night. It was like I forgot about the sleeve and just tore in! Thank goodness it was just a dream!

I had a dream like that too, except it was a dinner roll. Probably just another symptom of the eating disease that I am having this surgery to help to overcome. (yes...HELP...not cure.) :001_tongue:

"...I have a 1-butt kitchen..."

LOL! I've never heard that expression before! Too funny. And I think I have one of those blender sticks somewhere. I'll have to dig it out, I guess. :blushing:

Thanks for the feedback, Vegas. I've only bought the small can of vanilla, and a big can of natural flavor, so that shouldn't be a sweets problem. I can't imagine ever not liking sweets. I think that would be a good problem to have, since sweets are a big part of my problem. :blushing:

I've been trying some Protein Shakes as Meal Replacements. My surgery isn't until Aug 11, but I'm trying to find some stuff that tastes good before that.

Anyway, when I make these in the blender, they foam up a LOT! (like wiht only 4 oz of liquid I get 16 oz of finished shake.) I can't see where I could possibly drink it post op in the full liquid phase. I think it would upset my sensitive tummy to have that many bubbles in there.

Is this normal? I'm thinking about getting a bullet, and wondering if it's less of a problem with that blender than with my classic kitchen blender.

Oh, and the brand I'm using is Designer whey, French vanilla flavor.

Any feedback would be great. Thanks.

Nana, one of my requirements before getting a date was to attend a support group. My surgeon has them once a week. The hair thing came up, and the leader said we probably couldn't avoid it altogether, but reassured people that if they really were vigilant about getting their Protein in, they would lose less, and that it WILL grow back. I have to say, though, the sheer trauma of any surgery can cause Hair loss. I have had major hair loss now three times in my life. Twice after my two c-sections, and once when I quit BCPs. The doctor said that one was probably due to the removal of the artificial progesterone. It grew back the first two times, and it's finally growing back again, about 5 months after quitting the BCPs.