Miss Mac

I took a nap, woke up, and they were done. I do not remember a thing.

Uh Oh, well that will give you some Fiber to push things through tonight. Note to self.....nuts are a slider food.

Steak on the grill with green beans and tomatoes fresh from the garden.

I agree with Waitingtoexhale that you definitley should get a second opinion. For all of the people I have encounted on this forum, I have never seen one with a post-op plan like yours. My surgeon developed the bariatric clinic for both The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland Ohio, and the Loyola University Medical Center where he teaches both bariatric and robotic surgery. Both of these facilities are top ranked teaching schools here, with outstanding national reputations. His post-op diet is one of the most agressive I have seen. I went home from the hospital permitted to start full liquids. At week two, I went on to purees, week three soft foods, week four he allowed me to start expeimenting with tolerance for moist whole foods well chewed. I had no problem with this progression. I was also advised to start substituting the Protein shakes for real food as soon as possible to avoid other problems that would present difficulties with healing. My paln is not your plan, and my bariatric team is not your bariatric team. You deserve the best in follow-up care. I wish you good luck and good health.

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can....begin it. For boldness has genius , power, and magic in it!" Wolfgang Von Goethe

My bariatric doctor put me on Bariatric Advantage AE. It is a huge horse pill about as big around as a penny and as thick as a pencil. Not only could I not swallow it whole, I could not swallow it cut into four pieces. So.......I mash it up like a fine powder, and then put it in a blueberry applesauce snack cup. No problem, but I do count the applesauce calories in my plan.

Looks like we are both up thinking when we ought to be sleeping. My insurance (BCBS Federal Employee) required two years of documentation of a medically supervised diet. So, I had my doctor's receptionist to print out my medical records for two years, and then I highlighted every mention of recommendations for diet or exercise, and my weight. Then I also had to do three months of supervised diet with my bariatric program's nutritionist. That wasn't so bad. I followed her directions and lost 22 pounds before my surgery. I think that the psychologist sessions helped to document that I was receiving counsel about managing habits and eliminating barriers to weight loss. I had my surgery at Loyola'sbariatric program in Melrose Park, and then had my surgery at the Loyola University Medical Center. I am sure that U of C has done this enough times that they can anticipate what the different insurance companies require, and consider those guidelines when developing their own bariatric programs. So, my Chicago sleeve sister, I wish you good luck and good health, If you have concerns that you do not feel comfortable with broadcasting, you can send me a private message by clicking on my picture, and then following the prompts to send a message. I am in Alsip on the Southwest side of the city.

I love men, but they are soooooo hard to train!

I pulled my bariatric manual out of storage. All it says is that it is best to wait until your weight stabilizes. Nothing else.....no recommendations.

Mine is Miss Tummy and she is the boss of me.

My experience was similar to AlwaysVegas, There was an interview with the psychologist in which she asked me nearly those same questions, and she typed my responses into the computer.I think that it helps fill in the gaps so that they are not doing such a life-changing surgery on a complete stranger. The interview helps them to get to know you so that they can help you be successful.

Prepare fo the worst and hope for the best. I cannot identify what I did any differently from the rest, but I did not lose a lot a hair. There were a few strays around the house, but that was it. Was it the 80 grams of Protein, or the red meat, or 20,000 mg of Biotin????? Who can say? Just know that hair grows back. I bought several of those turban head covers like cancer patients do, and decided that if it got too bad, I would wear a wig for a while. I worried myself sick about it for nothing. If your hair starts falling out in clumps, you can confidently assume that the people who truly love you will still love you. I wish you good luck and good health.

You could try SMOOTH MOVE teas. They come in a variety of flavors and could resolve both problems for you. I found some online at http://traditionalmedicinals.com/products/ Smooth Move Teas are herbal and decaffinated and works like a diuretic. If you are having a log jam with your bowel movements, you can drink this at bedtime and should have a breakthrough by morning. There are 60 (sixty) flavors of this stuff.

I am past childbearing age, but just wanted to mention that there was nothing about it in my bariatric materials.

I applaud your bravery in getting your plastics done. Please keep us informed of how the healing is going. There are so many of us on the fence about this, especially if insurance won't cover the surgery. I had to look up what a fleur de lis incision looked like. Oh wow, that's a lot of staples. Look ahead to a year from now when the pain is gone and the scars are no longer red and angry. I wish you good luck and good health.

Just a side comment on the thought of taping your mother-in-law to the ceiling fan. I lived with my sister for a while after a divorce. My seven year old nephew was unrepentant about leaving his dirty tissues all around the house. One day, I told him that if he didn't start using the various waste cans in every room, that I was going to tape one on him. Nothing different the next day, sooooooooo he woke up one morning with a waste can duct taped to his pajamas. Problem solved. And here is a side note on mothers-in-law. I think bras were invented by a man as a torture device for his mother-in-law! Lose4life2, just hang in there and find a way to hide the date (or tell her the date was changed). You can't undo it once you get it done, so whatever she says after words will roll off you like Water on a duck's back. Or, if you don't like the idea of little white lies, consider this remark that I heard in a sermon years ago, when the media was snooping around looking for a scandal. The pastor said that if we were approached by the media, that we did not have to lie. You just do not have to tell everything you know. This may test your diplomacy skills. Carry on, soldier.

Don't go too long without addressing gallbladder removal. Mine burst when was 21, and the gallstones went everywhere. The doctor said he had to go fishing around to get them all. I also was at risk for widespread internal infection. I was in the hospital eleven days. If you do not want to switch surgeons right now, then plan your surgery about two months out after you have some strength to keep you going. The surgeons do not cut you half into like they did back then, It is done laparascopically. I am telling you from experience that if your gallbladder goes into spasms, you need to do something about it with a sense of urgency. It's too bad that you surgeon won't do it.

Many of us here on the forum have been lifetime dieters like me, trying every reinvention for weight loss. I have been dieting since my last pregnancy in 1978. Getting the sleeve was the hardest decision I ever made, but I do not regret it. I applaud all of our younger weight loss brothers and sisters for nipping the weight loss / regain cycle in the bud. Being as you're an adult, your parents do not get to make or influence your health care decisions anymore. If family and friends cannot be supportive, then you need to excuse yourself from their presence for a while. This IS NOT the easy way out.

My paternal grandparents raised 12 children during the depression. Every time my family went out to the farm to see her, there was always plenty of homemade food on the table. The ritual went like this, oddly enough: The grown-ups ate first, and then the kids. We did not get to choose what went on our plates. Grandma plated our food, and we had to finish what we started even if it was food we did not like, such as liver or spinach wilted in vinegar. Is it any surprise that my grandparents,parents, most aunts and uncles, and nearly all of my 60 some cousins were obese? In the family history, there are many obese adults who suffered an untimely death in their late 40's and early 50s, including my oldest brother who died of a heart attack at the age of 47. He weighed 420 pounds. My mother died at the age of 67 of an abdominal aeortic anurysm. She was 5'2" and weighed 320 pounds. One of the reasons that I decided to sleeve is that as I neared my 62 birthday last year, I realized that I was follwing down my mother's path and need to divert to a healthier path with haste, I do blame a lot of this on the clean plate regiment. We could not have dessert unless we cleaned our plates. So, we finished up too much food on the plate (always including potatoes, bread, mac and cheese) and then had cake or pie or ice cream. No wonder. Geeze Louize. My sleeve has liberated me from cleaning my plate, since I can't just shovel in what I want and then have dessert. Just because there is food in the fridge and pantry, does not mean I have to eat it all. My sleeve, bossy bossy bossy Miss Sleeve insists that I weigh and measure and don't eat beyond capacity. I love bossy Miss Sleeve. She keeps me on the straight and narrow path to good health.

Behavior like his is a cycle. Things are o k for a while, then you do something to piss him off (never his fault for choosing to be pissed of for something you said or did - because nothing is ever his fault. Then when you leave or threaten to leave, he is all sorry and buys you presents or flowers and says his rotten response will never happen again. Then he wants you to prove to him that you still love him, usually in some degrading way to put you in your place. Then things are smooth again for a while as long as he gets want he wants from you.......then you go and piss him off again (in his alternate reality) and the cycle starts over. So, do not listen to the whining and crying, and get your locks and telephone number changed. If he comes to harrass you at work or at a family or friend's house or threatens you in any way.....it is time from a restraining order. Just practicul advice just in case your situation goes there. It took me three times to get it right before I found a relationship with balance. If you were nearby, I would come over and give you a hug. Sometimes we just get tired of being strong, and need some shoulders to lean on.

Both my surgeon and my primary physician have been documenting skin issues with each visit. The bariatric physician has me using Gold Bond Medicated powder for under my belly hangover and under my breasts. My insurance with cover a panniculectomy two years out, if medical necessity can be proven. Howver, it will not cover a tummy tuck....so, just skin and no muscle work. Even on hot days in the summer, the powder helps.

Dear Saggy Ass Sisters, for so long we have taken snide comments without reacting or with a bucket of tears. I am hoping that with all of the other positive changes coming from weight loss, that I, too, will find my voice and speak-up like Chelenka just did. (What a great comeback. LMAO for me too!) I tell you what, my new saggy ass is a lot easier to manage than my old 53" belly.

David Stamps has a variety of DVD's with exercises that can be done sitting in a chair. In addition to Exercises for the Bedridden and Physically Challenged, he has Chair Aerobics, Chair Boxing, Chair Salsa, Chair Belly dance, Chair Circuit training, Chair Thai Chi and Chair Yoga. I have most of those and would give them an A+. I have a Zumba series but don't use it much because there is a lot of knee and ankle twisting involved.

Mine was seven months post-op for a lipid panel and a bunch of nutrients. All was good. My primary did some bloodwork at about three months, and that was only for a lipid panel and complete blood count.

My ultimate pain reference is when the morphine wore off after knee replacement surgery. In comparison, the pain from my sleeve surgery was minimal. I get much more grief from arthritis.