Disney

Congrats and keep up the great work!!!

Great news! Glad to hear things are going so well for you after such a rocky start! YAYYY!

Mine was scrambled with a little cheese on it. It was delicioso.

But please remember that some folks can't tolerate eggs very well early on, and just in case you are one of them, don't get discouraged about it. Just try again later! It took me a couple times before they went down easy for me.

Good luck to you

Congrats on the great loss! You look fantastic and you also look happy!

Hi,

I am can only speak about my experience. I wanted the very best I could find because I wanted to make sure I was taken care of 24-7 in a hospital. So after a lot of research and talking with others and checking things out for about 6 months, my choice was Dr. Aceves. He is highly skilled, I saw him and one other doctor 3 times a day while I was in his top of the line hospital--the entire staff are great. All these things were very important to me. I had spoke with some of his patients, who themselves were nurses and one doctor. They all had nothing but good things to say about their care--now wouldn't you think they would know about the quality of care they received more than that average person--they sure did.

Dr. Aceves does 2 leak tests on your new stomach before he will release you to go home. He send home very detailed information for you and you can all and check with his staff if you have any questions when you go home. Dr. Aceves will call you back himself too. I have always found his staff helpful when I was there and when I went home.

I would never want to leave a hospital to go recover in a hotel. That is just me. I feel that every dime I spent was well worth it. I have NO regrets at all.

I hope you find this helpful. This is ALL ABOUT YOU and your health and the best care you can get.

Hugs,

Suzanne

Not much I can add to this post, it is all very accurate and my experience was just as great. Just wanted to add something about leak tests. I was told Dr. Aceves does a leak test immediately after surgery while you are still in the OR and he is still 'looking around' at your new tummy. Then he does a special dark liquid leak test that he checks via your drainage bag. Then there is the swallow study. So, I had three. I don't know if this is something new ( I had surgery in March) but that is what they told me anyway! Maybe most people don't count the first one! Good luck to you!

School related? No. But my health has a correlation on how well I'll do in school. It's the same reason schools make you pay for insurance; (in fact, health care insurance is an actual cost that is to come out of my living expenses as described in my financial aid statement; my school made me sign a contract that stated I had to keep health insurance) and this is a healthcare cost. To keep healthy and keep going to school.

Don't get yourself down about this maidenari. My student loan was NOT subsidized. MY tax dollars therefore are going to pay someone else's loans. I understand not everyone can qualify for other loans, too. Anyone can get a student loan. So if this is the only way for you to get the money, then do it. And why do you think they give you so much money? The books cost this much. The tuition costs this much. Gas costs this much. food costs this much. It is always more. Thousands more. They are well aware that people do not use every penny for school related things.

What is the interest rate on care loans AFTER the 18 months are up? Seems like I read where it is in the teens or low twenties, just like a credit card. Most people do not pay them off that quickly either. Especially if you are paying back upwards of 15-20,000 dollars.

BTW, it will not take you 'the rest of your life' to pay back a student loan. I have paid off two.

Good luck to you!

You do look great! Thanks for sharing the pics. You are so right, they are very motivational!

HATE GOING TO THE GYM IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT FOR ME!!!! All those skinny little butts working out - no legs rubbing together in their preppy little workout fashion statement accessorized gym clothes. GAG, PUKE, GIVE ME A BREAK. not to mention they look at large people as if they had a plague or communicable disease. NO GYM FOR ME!!!!! I have a treadmill, in the basement, and unless i walk by it (hardly ever go into the "Man Cave Basement area") no miles racked up by me. Lovey has a bow flex, again in the Man Cave Basement, won't see me cracking on that. I would like to get an XBox 360 Kinetic and some of the excercise games they have. Has anyone got one of them??? Are they worth the cost?? thanks for letting me vent.

I have the Xbox Kinect...it is great IF YOU USE IT....Mine has dust on it just like my Wii...I am so lazy...

Someone on here said there is a Michael Jackson Kinect dance game that might get me moving. We shall see

Wow, drinking just builds up in my throat if I do it while I eat. It doesn't wash the food down at all. I sometimes wish it would, because if I eat something too dry, it is hard to go down. I guess everybody is different. Glad you got a fix for your problem!!!

I can't be sure, but I think mine was about as big as a 50 gallon drum. I could eat A L-O-T.

Seriously, that is interesting and I never tested mine out to see before surgery.

You look like a million bucks! Best of all, you are happy with yourself. That is so important. Good for you!!

That's fantastic! Great job!!

You look just like a princess. My sister got married in 1990 and she had a dress very similar, too!

Hahha Jensharley...those were the 'big hair days' weren't they?!

That is great! Keep it up!

Thanks for all of your input! It is nice to know that I may not need 4 weeks....wasnt sure, but I do help lift patients off of the scan table ( I work in a fixed base MRI scanner at a small hospital). I have applied for

STD and FMLA for my WLS as well as for my Fibromyalgia. I was also planning more time possibly due to

being dependant on a pump for my insulin therapy. Thanks for all of the great info, and for listening to my

frustrations!

Make sure you have lots of help because I was told no lifting over 10 pounds for six weeks. I made sure to follow that rule expressly even though I have a 3 year old who desperately wanted to be held!! because I wasn't about to risk a hernia or any trauma to my new tummy.

Good luck

Did you get that from your surgeon? If so, does anyone know if Aceves does that for his patients with longer flights? I just looked it up and I was wrong in my last post, travel time will be a minimum of 6.5 hours and that's a long time to be sitting still just days post-op... What are flight socks?? Off to look them up...

Dr. Aceves does not give anticoagulants after surgery. I have had a blood clot in the past and he didn't even give me any. When I had the clot, I had to give myself Lovenox shots twice a day for 6 months. Ouch!

My flight was about 5 1/2 hours total and I never got up because it was packed like a sardine can and it was not convenient at all. I have always been told that if you could not get up and move around, that you should just pump your ankles up and down. Like hold you your legs straight out in front of you (as much as you can in those cramped seats) and point your toes straight up and then point them straight forward. Just do that as much as you can if you can't get up. It will circulate your blood.

Good luck!

That is so great! My mother went with me to Mexico and she had her band out right after we got back home. Her Dr told her she needed to wait 6 months in between, so she will have her VSG in September. Apparently, her Dr. is not as experienced or competent as Dr. Aceves, because he does the removal/VSG in one go. If her insurance decides to deny her, she will be going to Mexico. She is so excited and I am happy to read all of these great results!

I used my tax refund and part of my student loan. Look, the loan is CLEARLY more than the tuition and while It is supposed to be used for school-related things only, what else can you spend that amount of money on, honestly? I have to pay it back, I will decide what I do with it. It's not like it's a grant or some other 'gift'.

One bonus, the interest is usually much lower than a bank loan or one of these online WLS loans.

I say do it. It is the best decision I have ever made.

Glad to hear you are doing so well. Good luck to you!

We stayed at the San Diego Sheraton Hotel and Marina. It was nice, about $100/night with a nice nautical theme. Some people complain of the noise, but I guess since I had just had surgery and was tired from all the shopping we did, I slept like a baby.

Also, I liked the airport shuttle service, too.

If you are looking for something for the purpose of training in walking, running, or biking, then I would also suggest checking out the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch. It's worn like a watch and tells you in real time your speed distance covered, minutes passes, heartrate and calorie burn. I am not sure how much the fitbit is but the Garmin runs $135 through Amazon. It comes ready to go for outdoor workouts. If you want to track your pace on a treadmill you'll also have to purchase the footpod which I think runs$50 more.

The Forerunner isn't for tracking calories and steps around the clock, but it is awesome for training. The data from the watch is later downloaded to a free site that shows your route on a map. You can click of any point and see your pace and heartrate in that point. It also shows overviews of the entire workout and stores all of your workouts.

I had a body bugg and while I found it interesting I wasn't dedicated enough to wear it all of the time. I like the Garmin's accuracy and detail a lot.My husband and I both have one as we train for a 1/2 marathon and we never leave on a walk/run without them. Just thought I'd toss it out there.

Good luck in your search!

Amanda

This sounds exactly like what I have been wanting. Do you know why it can track outdoor runs, but not treadmill runs (without the footpod) ? Thanks for any info on this

I have had only one or two bouts with nausea so far, but I sympathize. I also agree with the food aversion theory. Whenever I would go on Atkins, I could not stand to even smell ground beef cooking, let alone look at it or eat it. Blechhh...Same for eggs and cheese, etc. Because that was ALL I ate. I still can't drink apple juice because that is what they gave me to drink right after surgery and that was such a traumatic time for my new tummy and realizing I could barely swallow anything at all, that it makes me sick to even smell it now.

I hope things get better for you very soon

I'm sorry to hear you are having issues w/ hair loss. One of the doctors in the practice group spoke at a recent group meeting and addressed the issue of Hair loss. He said that what you do today, as far as hair loss goes, will take 3 months to impact you. In other words, if you are not getting in all of your Protein needs 3 weeks out from surgery, then you will find that the hair loss will occur 3 months from that point. Guess it takes your hair a while to grow, huh? So, the moral of the doc's story was that if you are losing your hair it is only temporary and that whatever you eat today will impact your Hair growth 3 months down the road.

I've been doing pretty well with keeping my Protein above 60g/day, with maybe 2 or 3 days below since my first week out. I'll be interested to see what happens w/ the hair growth in another month or so. I have been toying w/ trying Biotin. Do you think it will help w/ my nails? That's where I've always had issues.

robin

When I was on Atkins and lost a lot of weight really fast, my hair started falling out after about 3 months, so he's right about that part, but I was eating a TON of protein (since it was atkins..lol) and it still came out. I have read Tiffykins say the same thing about protein/hairloss. Low protein may affect regrowth, but I don't think there is any food or supplement that will prevent it from falling out to begin with. I am taking Biotin for the regrowth and am keeping my fingers crossed

Before my pre-op, I had a big 'ol cheeseburger, fries and a coke from a local burger joint. Which is way better than run of the mill fast food burgers. Yummy!

Then, the night before my surgery down in Mexicali, my surgeon let me have an "official" last meal and it was filet mignon and shrimp, loaded baked potato, and another of my beloved cokes. Dessert was a 3 milk cake which I had never tried before and it was to DIE for.

Ahhh, it was fun just sharing that...

Not sure, but maybe you are not getting enough calories in with all that working out. Just a thought.