Amyly2n

I am having my sleeve done by Dr. Schmitt on the 30th

Dr. Schmitt did my surgery on 9/29! Where are you from?

OMG I've just got it and am drinking it now...this stuff is amazing..no flavor at all!

@carolk36- I'm so glad to hear this. I am so excited to get it! When I emailed my dietician the nutrition facts and asked her what she thought, she said it was a great option. I have tried the unflavored Protein powders but those all have a horrible taste to them too. I truly hope this one will be flavorless (or close to it). There is a huge difference between something being unflavored and something being flavorless.

Is it chalky like normal Protein Powder?

@TEXASLADY52- I am so excited to try it! I have a lot of Protein issues since surgery. I know the Protein issues are normal. I am excited to see if it works for me!

For people who use the Musclegen GENEPRO powder, what do you mix it with? juice? I get mine in the mail today and I want to be all set to start it tonight or in the morning. I am newly sleeved (2.5 weeks post op) and I have a volume issue. I am wondering if I can dissolve it in maybe like a 1/2 cup or cup of juice and not taste it.

Oh, and does it have a particular smell to it? I have had a bad issue with Protein drink smells lately.

Thanks. I am only planning on talking to her about what she knows. That is the way I handle most situations. I find out what she knows and then talk to her about that and add what I find is important information and age appropriate. In this situation I hope all she ever knows is that her best friend at school lost their dad. At 6 I hope she is shielded from the how's/whys of the situation. But I guess a lot will depend on what they tell the daughter and what she shares with her friends.

My surgery is on Monday too! I'm on day 2 of the liquid diet! I have my nutrition class tomorrow and pre admitting testing and my last visit with the surgeon. It's going to be a packed day!

I have always been one to turn to food when I am stressed or bored. Today was day 2 of my liquid diet and things got pretty stressful today.

This morning a man shot 2 people and then himself at the UPS delivery warehouse in Birmingham (AL). A little while later I was on Facebook and noticed other friends commenting that my kid's school was on an active shooter lockdown and no one could figure out what was going on. Apparently the shooter at the UPS incident has two children at our school and they had locked down our school before they could confirm he had killed himself in case he came to the school for his kids. So for about an hour I had to imagine my children hiding ( as they are taught to do) and not understanding what was going on. And for one time in my life, when I am so hungry already from the liquid diet I didn't turn to food to comfort me!

I hope my willpower holds up because in the next few days my daughter will learn that the shooter's daughter is her best friend at school. My daughter is only 6 so I am waiting until she learns of it to bring it up to her. I am emailing the teacher tomorrow to see what they are telling the other children about the girl's father's death. That will help me gauge what to discuss with my daughter.

I know! I am excited! I started my liquid diet this morning! It's not been too bad so far. But, I started substituting breakfast with Protein shakes back in August so that I could get used to it and I have Soup for lunch often, so it hasn't been much of a change. Now when I have to do another shake at dinner time, that will probably be tough.

Am starting my pre opt liquid diet and sugery in September 29 am so scared and sad at the same time knowing that I will never be able to eat some of the foods that I enjoyed. .

I start my liquid diet In The morning and my surgery date is 9/29 too!

Wondered if anyone is still connected from Birmingham

I'm here. I'm pre-op but I have surgery on 9/29. My surgeon is Dr. Schmitt at St. Vincent's East

@@aloudwhisper Good luck! I will pray for you!

I'm September 29th

She finally approved my time off request. At first she denied the time for request off and then she came to me yesterday and asked if it was too late for me to schedule for 9/29. Thankfully I haven't been able to get in touch with the surgery scheduler so I was still on the surgeon's books for 9/29.

So, in less than 2 weeks I will have surgery! Woohoo!

Yes I'm 2 weeks of 3 shakes a day with sf Jello and sf Popsicles and occasional leafy greens. It's not fun and I'm not fun to be around right now

wow just think of what the reward will be at the end! It'll be so worth it. I thought I'd be 100% ready to start my shakes/full liquids when the time came but since I just got scheduled so close to having surgery I am not sure I am fully prepared. I have been replacing Breakfast with a shake for a while now so maybe it won't be so bad. I'm giving myself for it all to sink in and hopefully I'll be ready by Monday.

Woohoo!!! I'm the 29th also!!

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Yeah! I'm so glad to find more people having it the same day! Do you have to do a pre-op diet? It fascinates me to hear the the differences in the pre-op stuff.

That's great! I wasn't required to lose a certain amount before surgery. I just have to do a liquid diet one week before sugery and then a clear liquid diet 1 day before surgery.

@KristenLee- Have you started your pre-op diet yet? I think I start on monday (possibly Sunday). I have to go to a 4-hour nutrition class next Wednesday and do pre-op testing and see the surgeon for my pre-op visit on the same day.

This is all getting real!

I will be having my surgery on September 29th! I am so excited! Its been a long process to get the approval both from my insurance and from my boss for the time off, but I finally have both and will have surgery in less than 2 weeks!

I finally understand what all the excitement over getting a surgery date is about!

I received "the call" today telling me I had been approved and we started discussing dates. I need to have surgery on a Monday or Thursday or Friday because my husband works in another state Monday-Thursday every week and I want him to miss the least amount of work possible (he wants to be here for the surgery but my Mom is coming in town for the rest of the recovery).

So...Monday 9/29 was the next date my surgeon has open.

I was so excited because something I have been working so hard towards is finally an actual date now not just some imaginary day in the future!

Then I went in my boss's office to tell her the date and that I was taking a week off and she said that was fine. I was thrilled because I work in a financial position at a university and our fiscal year ends on 9/30 and I was afraid she'd say no because of that being our busiest time of the year. Then, while we were talking she looked at the calendar and decided because we have 3 people who will be out of the office on the day I return to the office, that it wouldn't be a good time for me to be just coming back from surgery. It doesn't really make sense to me, if I am back in the office why does it matter if I am just coming back from surgery? And the thing that irritates me most of all is that the 2 people who I am the back up for aren't even the ones who will be out of the office that day. So it really makes no sense to me but it looks like I might have to wait until October 27th which is the next date he has open on his Monday schedule.

She said she would let me know something next week. I asked her if she could tell me Monday because I still have some pre-op stuff to schedule and my Mom has to schedule coming in from out of town.

So I'm happy and stressed at the same time!

Mine wasn't exactly pushed back but it has been delayed which is just as disappointing. I have been working towards getting all my pre-reqs done and finally completed that on 9/2. In discussions with my patient care advocate at the surgeons office prior to all my pre-reqs being done I thought it'd be scheduled no later than the first week of October. After I submitted everything to her on 9/2 I was told that she received everything and it would be submitted that day or the next.

A week later I called the insurance company to find out how long it would take them to approve it and they stated that they hadn't received anything yet but it would take 2-7 days for an answer once they did.

I then emailed my patient care advocate (she never answers or returns phone calls) about not submitting my paperwork yet and that I thought it was already submitted according to her last email and she didn't answer me so I emailed her again 24 hours later (standard business etiquette says give 24 hours for a response) and she said that she had been out of the office the day before and it could take my insurance 30 days to approve (not true). So I asked her the timeline for them to submit it to my insurance so I wouldn't keep bugging her. She still hasn't answered 2 days later.

I gave her 24 hours to answer and then I called the other girl in the office that will call me to schedule my actual surgery date and is involved in the insurance submission process as well and it has been over 24 hours now and I haven't heard back from her either.

It's just extremely frustrating that I worked my butt off to get all the pre reqs done and submitted to them and I can't get them to give me a simple phone call to tell me when they are going to submit it to insurance. I would understand if they told me that it would take them a week or two to submit it (maybe they are really busy) but at least I'd have a better understanding of when I can have my surgery. Heck I'd even feel better if they'd just return my phone call or email to tell me to quit bugging them.

I've told almost all of my coworkers that I will be having the surgery. They have seen me go through so much medically that i felt they would be supportive. Everyone has been great so far! And most of them are just as excited as I am!

I had my last weigh in this morning and got copies of what I thought were the last 4 missing pieces needed for insurance approval. I scanned and emailed them to my patient advocate and she called and said she is still missing one of my monthly weigh in reports and will need that before they can submit to insurance.

I have left a message for the doctor's office to send that one sheet of paper to my surgeon ASAP so hopefully that will get done today. My patient advocate said that she would go ahead and get the surgeon to review everything else so that as soon as they get that missing piece they can submit to insurance.

I am so close to this hoop jumping being over that I just want it to be over with and get my approval and surgery date!

She did say they will submit in the next day or so and that is should take about a week for approval. Hopefully it will all be over with before I know it!

Update: I just found my copy of that one missing paper and have just scanned it and sent it to the patient advocate! Fingers crossed I get submitted today!

I am pre-op (having surgery in late September/October) but am trying to already replace one meal a day with a Protein Shake so that I can find what works for me.

I tried the ready-to-drink Muscle Milk this morning from a convenience store because I was running too late to make my own shake at home before I left for work. It was really good!

So my question is, does the Muscle Milk powder taste as good as the ready-to-drink Muscle Milk? I can't buy the ready-to-drink every day because that would just get expensive, but I saw online that they sell the powder at a few local stores and I am wondering about the taste compared to the ready-to-drink. The powder also seemed to fit into my nutrition guidelines, so I was wondering if that was another Protein option.

Anyone have any experience with the powder Muscle Milk?

Congrats on your upcoming surgery! Don't be too nervous about the PICC line. I had them put in twice while I was pregnant. If I remember correctly they numb your arm up really well and you don't really feel anything.