MyGastricSleeveLife

Many doctors charge te insurance companies $45,000 - $60,000, but they have special rates for self-pay patients. I'm in Austin, TX, and ended up paying $15,100 for self-pay. Mexico is cheaper, but I wanted a local surgeon in case of problems & because of easier followup care.

I like Chike & Unjury the best.

I'm only 3 weeks out, but just wanted to chime in that I was given guidelines to be between 800-1000 calories by the time I'm back on all regular food at 12 weeks out & was told to stay at that range through my whole losing phase. I'm actually getting that many now because of being on full liquids & having more Soups & such, but I know as I start more solid food it'll go down again because of being able to eat less solid stuff than liquids. Oh, and I was told to always aim for 70-100 g of Protein & less than 60 g of carbs.

Someone made one for the May Sleevers, which I'm part of. It's nice to have a place to go that is easy to find since it's not always easy to keep up with threads here. They made it completely private so nothing we post there is seen by other people on FB & you have to be a friend of the owner or a member to be added to the group. I'm not sure exactly how it was set up, but it is nice. Hopefully, someone in the June set can set something up for y'all!! :-)

new blog post - http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/learning-to-love-myself-again.html

Are you doing measurements too? I gained weight last week, although I know it wasn't really a gain, and then did lose 1.4 lbs when all was said & done this week. However, I've lost 5 inches this week! We need to be patient as our bodies adjust to everything! Major surgery, different kinds of food, different activities - our bodies need time to adjust! I've written a few posts on my blog about this recently & about looking at the NSVs too. Stressing about it doesn't help weight loss either, so it's important just to let our bodies take the time they need to adjust. :-)

The plain or vanilla flavors have less sugar than the fruit flavors. I was told to stay away from the fruit ones, and be sure to get the fat free kind. Greek yogurt definitely has more protein than regular yogurt.

The problem with these is that the main source of protein is collagen, which is not what our bodies can really use. Therefore, even though it says it's 42 g of protein, we can only use a fraction of that - I think I read someone else's post that said only 10 g or so actually count, although I haven't researched it myself. My dietitian said to stay away from collagen protein sources & only stick with whey or soy isolate sources.

Welcome! I had my sleeve done 3 weeks ago tomorrow & couldn't be happier with my decision!! Feel free to check out my blog (listed in my signature) of you want to see more about my journey. Good luck with everything moving forward! Feel free to ask any questions here & don't be afraid to use the search feature on here! There is a ton of info here!

My dr said V8 is fine, but said to use the regular stuff & not V8 Fusion because of the fruits/carbs in it.

Ribbing alcohol can work. However, be really careful with it. The Bariatric Coordinator at my hospital said just to keep doing soap & water & it will eventually come off. He said they've seen many people come back to the hospital with infections because of trying to use various things to get the residue off. Therefore, if you try something else, be very careful!

It's only about 2% of all the surgeries done from what I've seen published before.

I have an outside blog, but wanted to post about it here too, so I'll try to remember to post here too when I do a new post there. Feel free to follow me. I have email, FB, Networked Blogs, and Google+ ways to follow. http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-new-four-letter-word-compare.html

My Bariatric Coordinator said that as long as I wasn't getting nauseous drinking, then I wasn't drinking too fast. I never measured exactly how much I was drinking, but I normally take about 2-3 hours to drink a whole water bottle full (I always forget if the one I use is 24 or 28 ounces). As I've progressed a little in my food, I've noticed that plain liquid goes down much easier & faster than the thicker liquids/foods.

My doctor said just to do walking until 4-6 weeks out. He said I could get in the pool at 2-3 weeks once my incisions healed, but said to still be careful. I was also told not to lift anything over 10 lbs until 4-6 weeks out. I've been to the gym a few times to use the treadmill, but went a lot slower than I did before surgery & listened to my body when I got tired after about 25 minutes & stopped. I will be 3 weeks out on Monday. (had surgery on 5/14) I went in the pool once for about 40 minutes last week, but didn't really do much. I went in again today for an hour & did more, but was still careful not to do a lot with my abdominal muscles. I know everyone heals at different rates, but it seems like everything I've seen from most people the 4-6 week timeline is standard.

I would think that any of the Mio flavorings would be considered clear liquid, although I'm not 100% sure.

the trackers are under the Tools tab & then click on Tickers and/or Badges depending on what you want. It will give you the code to put into your signature. As far as the notification thing goes, I'm not sure. I know sometimes mine gives me problems, but if I go back later or the next day I'm able to hit "accept" again and then it goes away from the notification page. i hope that helps some.

Ditto to what Pevette said - most doctors have special rates for sel-pay patients. Mine was $15,100 in Austin. Doctors charge a lot more to insurance companies!

Many doctors have special rates for self-pay patients that are significantly less than what they charge insurance companies. I paid $15,100 for mine here in Austin, TX. I would suggest taking to a surgeon and seeing what their self-pay rate actually is first.

Yes. It's normal as our bodies adjust to what we're eating & also because of the shock of surgery & healing. Are you doing measurements too? Last week I was at the same week for 4 days, but lost 7 inches throughout my body. This week I went up in weight & then down again, but have only lost 1/2 a pound so far. I haven't done my measurements yet this week, but I'm hoping I lost some more inches. You just need to give your body time. Just stick to your plan & your body will respond at some point!

wow! Sorry she's like that! That's terrible!! My primary care wasn't all "gung-ho" about me doing it either, but she knows I've struggled with weight for the last 2 years I've been seeing her & when all my tests were cleared, she gave her "clearance" to my surgeon. I haven't been back to see her yet, but need to go in a few months. It'll be interesting to see what she says then. Her biggest thing w/ the sleeve is that it's not reversible! I thought that was funny b/c of all the issues with the bypass & also because no matter what I ended up doing I wouldn't have a plan to reverse it in the future anyway! Good for you for not letting her completely get to you!! Keep up the good work!!

Sounds awesome!

I was told no carbonated drinks or caffeine for life after surgery, but I know not everyone even with my same surgeon follow the guidelines. However, I plan to follow them.

wow! amazing story! thanks for sharing! If you haven't seen it already, you might want to check out www.300poundsdown.com - about lady who had sleeve surgery too. She's on here too, but I don't know her username here.

It really depends on the doctor, but basically,yes, anything that is runny. My suggestions from my doctor are V8 juice (but not other juices), cream soups without chunks of stuff, SF pudding, & protein drinks. I know some who consider runny oatmeal & grits & yogurt part of full liquid, but I was told those were more for puréed/soft stage. However, I guess if you made anything runny enough it'd be considered liquid. You just want to ease into things & not do anything too "heavy" right away.