NikkiDoc

Apparently my doctor is not worried about the carbonation stretching my stomach. I am allowed it after 6 months. Same with alcohol.

Make sure you check with your surgeon regarding which products you are allowed to use. Sennakote is one he does not let me use. Pepto Bismol is another. You should call him/his office to let him know that you have not gone in 2 weeks. For the poster asking about going to the ER try calling your doctor's office first. Hopefully you have a 24 hour nursing line and they should have recommendations. They will know the preferred drugs etc.. for post bariatric surgery. If you can't get a hold of the office in a reasonable time I would go to an Urgent Care first choice and the ER second choice. Some insurance companies also have a 24 hour nurse hot line. Mine does.

I had that post op. I brushed and gargled frequently. I also will suck on a Ice Breaker SF mint. I use Cinnamon or Wintergreen. I only suck on half of it and throw away the second half so I don't risk it breaking and me swallowing it. They are pretty strong so sometimes I don't even make it to halfway before I get rid of it. Once I moved to the soft foods stage the icky mouth largely went away. I only get it occassionally now.

I have stalled for just over a week. Yesterday was 4 weeks from surgery on 2/2/2015. Last week a wore a pair of black pants. Yesterday I wore the same pair of pants with the same pair of shoes and was stepping on the back of the pant legs. They magically got longer and way baggy in the legs. I will need to move down a size in pants even though the scale isn't moving. It is frustrating the scale isn't moving but nice to see that clothes are getting loose.

I weaned off of caffeine a few weeks before I started my pre-op diet. I did not do a huge food tour the week or two before the pre-op diet. I made sure I had one GOOD burger a few days before pre-op and a good chicken parmesan and a final beer the night before pre-op. I actually started replacing lunch with a Protein shake about 4 days before and 2 meals with Protein shakes 2 days before and kinda eased into the pre-op diet. I was on a 10 day clear liquid plus 3-4 protein shakes a day for pre-op. I was not hungry. I did not have the full carb withdrawal or the caffeine withdrawal since I didn't go cold turkey into the pre-op diet.

Before you get gummy Vitamins check with your doctor/NUT. I am not allowed gummy ones yet. I am only 2 weeks out. I didn't like the gummy ones pre-surgery so won't bother asking when I can use gummies. I have the subligual B-12. I don't know how cost effective they are but there are Vitamin Patches. Kinda like a nicotine patch.

I had steroids in my IV while inpatient to help with swelling.

I was told by a few endocrinologist it is also a sign of PCOS. I had it well before I was pre-diabetic.

Jazmundo- out of curiosity do you know what size bougie your doctor used? Mine used a 40. I also go a few steroid injections during my inpatient stay to keep down inflammation. Sorry you are struggling.

I am doing well. Had my 2 week visit yesterday. Cleared to a 25 pound weight lifting restriction instead of 10. I can start pureed on Sunday. I still sometimes feel like I have done too many sit-ups. It is more like I get tugging on the incision sites especially where the stomach came out and the camera was in. Those are my 2 larger incision sites. Incisions look good. Glue is starting to peel. My doctor does glue and no steri strips. 12.5 pounds since surgery date. 23.5 since pre-op. Even the yoga pants are fitting looser. I will redo measurements on Sunday. I know I lost 1 each on each thigh only a week out. I couldn't see much where I had lost weight but I could feel it on the top of the thigh so we measured that. I have also realized I should have measured forearm and ankles and thigh just above knee. I think I have lost weight in the wrists and ankles but didn't take baseline measurements for there. I will add them to the list on Sunday.

Okay per WebMD 15%-25% need the gallbladder removed after surgery. A percentage of those may have had issues or stones prior to the weight loss surgery.

Unless you have documented gallbladder issues there is a good chance your insurance won't cover it. Mine did an ultrasound during pre-admission a week before surgery. But he does not routinely remove them. He wants to make sue I don't have gallstones and it provides a baseline for if I have problems. 20+ years ago when I started paying health insurance the surgeon would remove the appendix during any abdominal surgery. It was an easy few hundred bucks for the surgeons. Once the insurance companies stopped paying for it the doctors stopped finding it medically necessary to remove. While I understand gallstones are a common side effect of weightloss surgery it may not happen to you. You have a very small sample size for the 50%. I don't know what percent of overall surgeries have an issue let alone enough of an issue to have it removed. Unless I had a previous issue or my ultrasound showed a potential issue then I would not want the extra stress to my body of having the gallbladder removed. While we don't 100% need a gallbladder it does have a function- unlike the appendix.

I had the sleeve on 2/2/15. I was not getting the Protein in the first week as I was on clear liquid. They didn't expect me to get it right away. Today I started on full liquid so had a Protein shake with 30 grams of protein. So almost halfway to my daily goal of 62.

Mine used a 40 and said the same as above. He also said many surgeons are moving to a 40 since it may reduce strictures.

I came home on Weds Feb 4th also. My recovery has been easier than I expected. I am pretty comfortable. Stomach is a bit tight. I had very little nausea when I first was in the patient room. I was the only patient so always had at least 2 nurses. Broth and Water are both going down well. Some gurgling, which I expected. The nurses were great. They let me know exactly what to expect and what to do to make it better. The weather here yesterday sucked so I did some of my walking in laps in the house. Later we went to the mall at lunch. Had Wonton Soup broth. Later went to Target to shop and walk. The worst part for me has been that I am not comfortable sleeping on my side so my back is killing me. I have been sleeping on my back more than I am used to.

I have to be at the hospital at 8:45 am also. I am not nervous yet. That will come Sunday night. I already checked and they said I could take a sleeping pill as long as it is before midnight.

I love those rolls at Texas Roadhouse. It is the cinnamon butter that makes them. I like steak. I hope to eventually eat a filet, or part of one. I love the veggies. I also love their ranch dressing. I don't think any of that is on my menu in the near future. Since I tend to eat out with my husband he is nice enough to turn down the rolls so we don't have them at the table tempting me.

Boss brought in Manhattan bagels with cream cheese for a co-worker's birthday. I am on the full liquid pre-op. Can't even have a little bit.

I use RoadID. It is fully custom. You can add emergency contact info. Your name, hometown, alternate contact. Allergies, ect. You can pick the band color but can also switch the id part to a different color band. They come as a couple different band styles. I got mine to trail ride and fox hunt on my horse. I sometimes ride with people that know me but would have no way to know who to contact in an emergency or the phone number. Mine currently says No Known Allergies. I have 2 band colors. These bands are designed for cyclists and runners. There is also a more expensive option where you can load a complete medical history into a website and the hospital can electronically access it based on a web address and code on the bracelet. I think that has a monthly/yearly fee.

Week 1 is clear liquids Week 2 is full liquids Week 3 is Pureed

I am down 8.5 pounds since 1/23/2015. I had final pre-admission testing down. Gallbladder ultrasound, blood work, urinalysis, and chest xrays. I saw a doc other than my surgeon that is affiliated with the hospital I will be at. He would be the one to treat me if some thing medical goes wrong while I am there. Dr. K only deals with surgical complications. Today's doctor had only one concern and that was that my sodium was a little low. He is thinking that I have flushed it out with the liquids I am drinking. He also told me to NOT take my blood pressure medicine the morning of surgery. He thought it was a little low and doesn't want it tanking the day of surgery. The pre-op diet has not been that bad. Sunday night I had a little cheat. I was making a cake for a co-worker and it had chocolate buttercream icing. I did two really really small tastes just to make sure it was chocolately enough. DH checks my vanilla buttercream but can't do chocolate. Chocolate gives him migraines. I actually am not a huge fan of icing. I used to make custom cakes a lot and got overloaded on the buttercream icing. I actually started to hate the smell of it. Not quite that much of an aversion.

Matrix and nectar both are by Syntrax and both stir up in milk really well. No blender needed. I just stir with a spoon or shake in a container. If I stir it I let it sit for 60-90 seconds then stir again. No lumps or thick sediment at the bottom of the cup. You could probably use the snack sized zip lock bags to put a serving sized scoop in each. Put the bags in a small tupperware type container and put in carry on. You could carry a few on the plane and just pick up a small container of milk at the airport. Either dump a little milk out or drink a little before you put in the powder. Shake it and and drink it. I am pre-op and have been trying some of my Matrix and Nectar samples while on the pre-op diet. They aren't too bad. I have had banana and cream, strawberry mousse, strawberry and cream, orange cream. I normally hate banana or strawberry flavored anything. I figured I would use up those samples while I wasn't miserable post surgery. I have to say they aren't overly sweet or too strongly flavored. Have fun in England.

I am about an hour outside Philly in Pottstown and we got a heavy 5 inches of snow. So they weren't totally wrong. This storm I am hearing 3-6 and 8-10 for my area, depending on the storm track. NY is in the 2-3 feet range for prediction.

That forecast does not look promising. I wish I lived closer. I have a great big 4 wheel drive truck to get you there. Doesn't mean they will have staff. DH and I occasionally bring a friend that is a nurse at the hospital to work when weather is bad. Is there a hotel that is close you could go to before the worst of the storm rolls in?

This thread is like 2 years old dude. I have a feeling the OP is long gone or already made his/her decision to try it or not. I will admit for years I have kidded that I should try cocaine for weight loss but my luck my first buy attempt would be from an undercover cop. "But officer I just wanted to lose some weight."