HappiTam

I too am back on a liquid diet after a trip to the ER on Sunday. I had terrible pain from just right of my pouch straight through to my back that was controlled that night. Tomorrow I will be seeing a surgeon and my primary physician to review the CT (which did not note gallstones), but my lipase was twice as high as the normal levels.

My case was not normal at all.

The RNY gastric bypass ended my 14 year battle with severe GERD immediately, all GERD medication gone. I'm sure if you would start to lose too much, your physician would likely review your diet plan.

If you are referring to post-op gas from what they pumped into your abdomen, it is free floating gas that for me always causes shoulder pain. The only way I could get relief was to walk as much as possible & walk some more.

Gas-X strips helped with the "musical" bowel gas.

This is going to sound so stupid, but I was only concerned about any remaining bowel prep leaving my system before surgery started. I knew I was at a great hospital with an excellent surgeon with an awesome staff. So I figured that I would be just fine relaxing and enjoy being knocked out. :-)

Before surgery I stocked up on a variety of Soups, sugar-free Jello, sugar-free pudding, sugar-free popsicles, natural applesauce, and a ton of Protein shakes. Now that I'm up to mechanical soft food I am adding lean deli meat, cheese and some fruit. The only food that I've had any problem with was scrambled eggs, but I think I ate too fast (and too much).

I admit I have tried a few bites of the potential dumping foods, but have been lucky.

Since 2001 I've have a laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication, an exploratory laparoscopic surgery, a revised Nissen Fundoplication and a laparoscopic hysterectomy.

My surgeon planned on my surgery being a 2 hour laparoscopic RNY and hiatal hernia repair, but my surgery switched to an open after 9 hours as a lap. The extra 7 hours of lap time was due to adhesions. The switching to an open was due to how fragile my pouch tissue was (due to the Nissen), it became difficult to attach my small intestine to it. In total the surgery went over 12 hours.

Starting at one week post-op , I suddenly could not stand to smell my husbands hair gel, so he wore a baseball hat during he bad hair days without it. Now 6 weeks out nothing seems to bother me & the hubby can have good hair again.

Thank you for your help. My doctor told me, but I couldn't remember the location. So I went with the intra-muscular in the upper thigh. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had hyped myself out about (blushing).

Now I don't have to worry about it until May 1st!

Today is the day (night now) that I'm to give myself my 1st B-12 injection. I have looked at videos online to see it done, but may videos have comments debating the best site to inject at. Does anybody have any tips?

Everyone needs to see my friend Melissa! She is season 1, episode 1, and she will be airing again this week. She'll totally and completely uplift and inspire you!

My DVR is set, I see she'll be on 3/30/15. :-)

I was being lazy today and watching the marathon in bed (for a while).

Thank you Penny for motivating me to get out of bed today and do anything. I've now recorded this episode to play the next time I am unmotivated. Hopefully she will find something that will motivate her.

Dr. Kellogg gave me a script for Senna, but I haven't used it yet. I am drinking tons of Water for now.

I also was having more pain in my upper right side (compared to everywhere else) and figured it was based on 2 things for me.

1. The post-op drain I had started healing over yet was warm and red, but not much drainage. Once it reopened up, drained and an antibiotic started now feels much better.

2. Gas/bloating. Took Gas-X that melts on the tongue. Pressure gone. :-)

I bought Chia & Hemp seeds, but haven't used them yet. Thank you for the recipe, it sounds like a future favorite for me. I bought a mini coffee grinder so I can change the texture (for fun and excitement in my life).

Got notified that I have insurance approval today. Now to feel out work and see when would be a good time span to be gone. I am still not wanting to share with my coworkers what I am having done, just don't want their input and some will feel I am taking the easy way. We all know that this is just a tool not a "easy cure".

I understand the hesitation of sharing with others about my surgery plan. My co-workers were aware I was planning on surgery, but until I had my surgery date I didn't go into detail with them. I researched the procedure and the major lifestyle changes that are ahead of me in advance so I was able to explain the process focusing on the process and not the obvious outcome.

Apparently I had underestimated everyone, they want me to feel better, had questions, and some even looked up Protein smoothie recipes for me. Also, by sharing what I've learned, I saved my co-worker from the 800+ calorie doughnut she was craving!!

Happy to hear you are approved too!! Since the group sessions were not available in my area, I had 1 to 1 behavioral modification counseling.

My appointments went well and am scheduled for surgery on February 17th!!

Keep in touch, we are on a big adventure.

The questions are very straight forward, just be honest about why surgery is needed and what you expect the outcome to be and acknowledge that you know that the changes that you will be making in your life are understood. It may seem like a ton of questions being asked, but in hindsight they were helpful because I had to think about and verbalize my future.

I'm still in the pre-surgery phase also, but have been spending time researching smoothies and other things that will be needed immediately post-op. My only advice so far is if making smoothies with red fruit & spinach put in not clear glass before drinking....the color created is a brown slushy mess.

So far the worst part is waiting for the next step, and the next step followed by another step.

mayo Clinic has recommended the Flinstones Complete (non-gummies) for me.

Okay, so you grazed and then spent time thinking about it. You've are aware of the behavior, you've talked to others about how to avoid it from happening again and also helped other (like me) by bringing this up so others can prepare to avoid the same situation.

I truly thank you for your honesty.

I'm also traveling to mayo Clinic in Rochester to have Dr. Todd Kellogg perform my Roux-en-Y. I was told 4-8 weeks for a insurance approval, but it was approved in 3 days, now I'm just waiting to have a surgery date scheduled. Hopefully, that when I return on 1/23 for a barium swallow image (yuck) they will pick a date.

Fingers crossed!!

Waiting patiently......,there is no such thing. Waiting stressfully is more like it, it hate that feeling!

I called the insurance company today and found out I was approved, so I immediately sent an email to my surgeons to let them know they should be receiving a hard copy of the approval in the next few days. I may come across as a possible control freak, but I am trying to be as proactive as possible to be the best possible advocate for myself as a patient.

Best of luck.

Unfortunately all insurance policies are different. I would call the insurance company a couple different times to get multiple explanations from different people that work there. Sometimes someone can just explain things better than others.

My prior insurance company would not cover bariatric surgery. In 2001, it was recommended for my severe GERD, my records had shown the need, but it was denied. I tried appealing the decision without success. Fast forward thirteen years and multiple failed surgeries, again it was denied even with many specialists stating that it now was my only option.

As of 2015, my employers insurance carrier was changed. I was prepared to again battle it out with an insurance company and stressed about it daily. It was submitted to the new carrier on 1/9/15. Today, I called to verify it was received and found out it had already been approved as of 1/13/15. I was (still am) in shock.

I'm hoping you get a similar surprise soon.

For my insurance company it was billed as Psychological Services because it was a needed step to qualify for consideration for surgery.