Debbiebydesign

The next one is April 9 at IVCH, 7 p.m. It helps with insurance approval if you go, and PSG wants you to go monthly prior to surgery. It's a nice group right now. You wont get approval until after your psych eval. Oh, wait, you mean they are checking to see if you have coverage, it's not the actual surgery approval, right? That should go fast. Word of advice though, PSG forgot to call for me, so if it goes beyond a week, call them. They should be calling you to schedule your first meeting with the doctor after they find out if your insurance covers WLS. I waited 3 weeks, and found out from my insurance company they didn't call until AFTER I called them to ask where they were with that and they called me the next day to set up an appointment. It cost me nearly a month because I didn't remind them! That was something that was helpful at the group, they can give you hints to help you progress smoothly to a surgery date!

I had a really good experience. I had my surgery February 7th and have lost 39 lbs.. No major complications. Have you been to the support groups yet?

Nothing to be sorry about. My family doesn't look like what I dreamed. Whose does? I was incredibly blessed with this gregarious, beautiful girl. She healthy, smart, and kind. I guess I was meant to spend all my resources on her. I hope this surgery helps you fulfill those dreams. I know how important that is to a person.

Cream of wheat

My doctor said protein drinks count as water. There is no standard!

I had two days of food funerals before I started the preoperative diet. It was great, but the only bad thing was the second day of clear liquids, I got a serious withdrawl headache that developed into a full blown migraine, complete with vomiting. I don't know if it was sugar, caffeine, carbs in general, or what but if I had it to do over I would have started earlier and scheduled off work a few days pre-op.

Here's where personal preferences come in...I tried the isopure mango peach once. It smelled to me like a bottle of formula my kid once left in a car in the summer. I still gag at the thought of drinking the clear Proteins.

Except for grizzly bears... Seriously, it's kind of a relief to hear how common that left sided hitch/pain is. My incision side there (lap GB) also has a HUGE dent there, and a lump that is slowly getting smaller.

Don't give up yet...some people take longer to get approved than others.

I missed this board! I had my surgery on February 7. I'm trucking along, doing well, except my energy sucks sometimes.

It's a scary time, but all you can do is wait. Honestly, the week BEFORE surgery was the longest week of the whole process for me.

Don't feel bad. I lost 7 lbs before the pre-op, 11 on the pre-op, and at 12 days post-op, I lost 6 whole lbs..for a total of 24. My doctor's nurse told me that at the point I was many, most, gain weight due to water retention. I think she was trying to make me feel better. I'm just staying the course. I mean, at 600-800 calories a day, something is bound to happen.

At the hospital, I hit the button on the pump and asked for my PRN pain med whenever it was available. Good pain management makes it possible to get up, get moving, and walk. The down side is they can be constipating. (If your bowels have not moved, call your doctor to see what they want you to do. Some don't want you to go more than 72 hours without going.) I had my surgery 16 days ago. I used the pain meds fairly consistently for about a week, and tapered off. Yesterday and today, I think some nerves are waking up, because I was feeling a little achy in my abdomen, different from gas pain or incision site pain. It's not excruciating, but I did take a half dose today since it happened yesterday too. I have seen a lot of people in my work who got addicted to pain meds, but I think the more self aware you are the less likely that will happen. A lot of people who worry about the addiction seem to almost under medicate. Unless you have addiction issues already, I'm sure you'll do fine.

It's great that you have been doing well, but I think people are being honest about their challenges. The surgery does not fix the mind. Look at it this way, temptation is our teacher. How do you cope? What is really triggering you? Please don't take this the wrong way, but I teach this... I'm also seeing a common cognitive distortion a lot of us employ: "all or nothing" thinking. If we make a misstep, every thing is ruined. Try to remember if you do make a mistake, it doesn't cancel out all those good weeks.

I had no instructions like that. Told to shower the morning of my surgery and left with instructions that I could shower, but no baths.

It depends, but I was Vitamin D deficient and I resolved it just taking a Calcium citrate tab twice a day. I think it was 500 mg.

Castille Soap? Go lightly or Magnesium citrate?

My first experience with a Cath was my c section. They put it in while I was awake and the nurse was a catheter ninjas...I felt nothing. It was nice not having to get up to go. With my Rny, they did it when I was knocked out. It wasn't painful, but it was annoying. I felt the urge the whole time, and I got the stupid thing caught in the hospital chair. I'm convinced it was not draining properly. Once it was out, it felt so much better. The nurse took it out and told me I had 6 hours to void. I got up and voided some immediately. The catheter was a minor annoyance.

I had no drain at all.

Lol...I had a fentanyl pump for the first day and a half in the hospital. I hit that button every time it turned green, and I started asking for the PRN pain stuff as soon as I could have it. (Lortab) That shit was awesome! The only problem with that is I went a week with no...movement. Pain or constipation...tough choice.

Hope all went well...

My only other abdominal surgery was a c-section, and that was definitely worse than WLS. But, I'm not going to lie, that first night was a bitch. I was lucky, I did not have the gas pain. I had a Lap GB on February 7, and today I have been off pain meds four about 3-4 days, and I was only using them at night for about 5 days before that. I even cleaned, walked to get my daughter from her bus stop a few blocks away, and managed steps, etc.. For a long time, the only pain I had was standing/sitting. Once I was in position, I was comfortable. I do suggest, if don't have one, borrow or rent a reclining chair. I slept sitting up for several nights after surgery. Once I was sleeping in bed, I used pillows under my torso to help with discomfort.