Daisee68

@@WL WARRIOR - I am so sorry you went through this! And also to so many here who had no support. It makes me want to do 2 things - maybe 3 - 1) Call my mom and my sister who were with me and were and still are BEYOND supportive and tell them how much I love them and appreciate them. (I did them flowers post-op.) 2) Contact each and every person who has ever been so disrespectful and just plain MEAN to every single one of you and give them a piece of my mind; and 3) Figure out a way to create some sort of company that would be available to bariatric centers to help with patients - physically, mentally, emotionally - who do not have support including taking them to surgery, stay there during surgery and take them home and help get them settled the first couple of days. You truly are a warrior. I have been at home caring for myself since 2 days post-op (my choice - and obviously not alone when I am at work), but I cannot imagine going through this the way you guys did. My heart breaks for each of you and I wish I could be there to take each of you to and from the hospital!!

@@xylena88 - I would wait until you contact the bariatric center as they will likely refer you to a nutrionist. If they are a Blue Distinction Center, they likely have one on site. If you cannot travel that far once a month (which makes sense), you might be able to do phone consults. The NUT I use is only over the phone. And I saw someone on here that posted in the articles section that does NUT visits via phone and Skype. Just be sure you communicate all this to the bariatric center. Re dr monitored, I don't think OB/GYN would be a problem. You may not actually have to have a separate doctor monitor it if the NUT works with the bariatric center as they sort of consider that being monitored by the doctor (I think - don't quote me on that). I just didn't have this issue because I always have an appt with one dr or another it seems. My endocrinologist was the one that wrote the recommendation letter (often required from someone other than the surgeon). Hope that helps!

@@sarahbee - Um, you might ask him for a taste of one of them first or at least buy only singles and not the 12 pack like I did. Pre-op I could tolerate because I could drink it quickly and avoid the smell. Post-op I cannot tolerate AT ALL. The smell is just too much to get past. As my co-worker so appropriately named the Coconut flavored one "coco-fart". She said "seriously how did they bottle the smell of farts?" LOL. Still making me laugh.... Lots of people like them but MANY don't. (I think there is a recent thread just about the Isopure ready made drinks you might want to search.) SORRY! Not trying to discourage you! Just don't want you to be out the same money I was! I bought some samples of the Syntrax nectar at Vitamin Shoppe today. Hoping I like those because I am getting tired of the plain chocolate and vanilla.

Are there any that you know of that are high energy, dance or Zumba? I've bought some that said they were, but they felt like slow motion to me. As long as I modify the arm moves, that would be a great option! I know you said you don't have good internet access, but if you can access (maybe from the library), you might check out www.collagevideo.com. It is a good site for all kinds of exercise DVD's and you are able to sort them buy all kinds of different workout types, goals, etc. Then they will have reviews and generally a brief sample of the actual video. That might help you to locate one that would suit your needs.

I am with you! I truly don't have cravings except I want carbonation so bad!! I won't. It's not worth it. Anything "sparkling" is carbonated so no go. I was just thinking about this today. I would like some more options. Crystal LIght has a lot of different flavors but it is too sweet for me, so I have to be careful and not add the whole packet to my Water. BUT what I have been doing that has helped is Decaf Green Tea with fruit flavors that I ordered from Republic of Teas. Now I order Green Tea because I have kidney stones (chronic issue pre-WLS - related to a thyroid disease I have) and not supposed to drink black tea (supposedly) because it is a high oxalate food, but if you don't have those restrictions, you might find some of these really enjoyable. I have a Ginger Peach flavor that I really like (has gotten me through my morning nausea) and Superfruit (or Passionfruit or something like that) that is also good but once poured in to ice it eventually turns a funny color which puts me off (silly I know). They even have chocolate teas and teas that are similar to sangria on this website. I was just looking at the catalog and thinking the new Hibiscus Herbal tea with different flavors sounded good. Hope that helps!

OK so big (for me) NSVs 24 hours. 1) someone at work who didn't know I had surgery and who I don't see very often saw me yesterday and said "you look good. Are u losing weight?". Why yes. Yes I am. I told her I had gastric bypass. I have told everyone. I am not embarrassed! 2) I mentioned to my good friend my pants were falling down and she said "not that we are talking about u behind your back and always staring at your butt but so and so and I were just saying this morning ghat your butt has gone down a lot!". Funny. I had just noticed the same thing myself. 3) I finally bought a fitness band today (I decided on Garmin Vivosmart). They come in small and large wrist sizes so I asked the sales guy to open one because I worried the small wouldn't fit. He looked at me. And looked at my wrists and said "no u definitely have small wrists". Umm can I tell u how many bracelets I have returned because they will not fit my wrist? Anyway, tried one on and yep the small fit!! Barely but just enough to get both the posts snapped and I figured it should fit even better soon. This is a silly one I know but it made me feel good. Tomorrow I am going to wear my new fitness band to walk a 2 Mile bridge here in town with my sister. One if my goals was rotten that bridge. Now I'm not sure I can go all the way across and all the way back but after a 40 minute walk today, I know I can go at least halfway - provided my stupid foot holds up. So far so good today after this morning's walk. Have had 2 acupuncture treatments in it so maybe it's working!! It hurt like crazy yesterday!!

I have Cigna and while I haven't been thrilled with the times I have had "medical director denied as not medically necessary", I have always found the customer service people to be VERY helpful. I would suggest calling Cigna yourself and see if one of those individuals could tell you exactly what was missing that caused the denial and ask if you can submit those items yourself. While your patient advocate at the surgeons office SHOULD be doing this, they apparently are not so you have to kind of take hold of the reins yourself. There are appeal procedures so you should find out what those are and file your own appeal along with all the documents and I would cc your surgeons office and send them a copy. Good luck! They did approve mine in less than 24 hours of all documents being provided. Now 5 weeks out they still haven't paid the hospital likely because they are arguing some items but they will pay eventually and I will stay out if that for now. PS have you seen the document online that tells you exactly what Cigna requires? Let me know if not and I will send you the link.

FYI, I asked my NUT about just adding more protein powder to drink in the morning and she said you can only absorb 25-30 g protein per hour so loading up on all your protein in one drink doesn't work u less you were to take at least 2 hours (for a 50 g protein drink) to drink it.

@@teamskinny_keea - No wonder you are nervous! It took me months to get used to the idea of having bypass, so I can only imagine how you feel when you were told as you were going in to surgery in addition to the issues you had. I am really sorry that happened! But again, you can totally do this. Remember how you started with sleeve and then your NUT will help you with the transitions.

OK I haven't had revision. I went straight to bypass but let me say this - if you managed to lose 110 pounds with sleeve, you totally got this. A lot of the same rules apply (from what I understand). Protein, fluids, exercise. If you have not done so, get a meeting with your NUT ASAP. And I would recommend seeing a therapist to in order to help with the adjustment which sounds like it came on very quickly. Deep breaths. We have complete and utter faith in you. In fact, you can teach us newbies a lot! Hugs!!

Same here. Went in wanting sleeve but was having terrible acid reflux that day and surgeon said that could get worse with sleeve and highly recommended bypass (plus I am type 2 diabetic). I walked out so disappointed and saying no way I was doing bypass but after a month or so, I finally came around to it. I am 5 weeks post-op and last 2 weeks of it have been no picnic but seemed to have turned a corner today and hoping to never look back! Take your time and read everything but know that the surgeon has (or should have) the best answer for you - if they are the right surgeon. For what uts worth, my endocrinologist also started with a recommendation for me for sleeve but after I showed some dedication and lost a little pre-op, he said he preferred Bypass for me but just wasn't sure I had been interested in hearing that or dedicating my time to it.

Woo-hoo! Congrats! Can not wait to enjoy that NSV!!!!

I took 2 1/2 weeks and worked from home most of that time. Having said that, I have since missed 5 additional (not necessarily consecutive) days because I was too nauseated or too constipated or just too dangerous exhausted. Really wish I had taken 4 weeks. I think it would have cut down on some if the additional absences as I think I pushed myself. Even if you feel physically able, learning to eat slow, drink fluids, etc is very hard to get used to once you are back at work and otherwise distracted. There are a lot if people on here that went back in a week and my Dr said I could return in a weenie needed. I honestly cannot imagine how people do that but there clearly are those that do. My advice is to take whatever time you can get!

Good advice. And reminder. Calling to make my appt now. ????

Ooh no but I am curious too! I found that website and thought it was a great concept!

I would say it depends a lot on how busy your doctors office and surgery schedule is. Once I finished my last NUT appt (and everything else had already been done), my Dr office filed same day at noon on a Friday and had a response by Monday morning. I got a call a few days later to schedule surgery and though I had to wait 4 weeks from that date, that was by my choice due to work conflicts. I probably could have gotten it done in 2 weeks instead of 4. To me late August sounds like a reasonable expectation for surgery.

If your urine is dark, it could be a kidney stone.

@@newbeginning77 - I really am so sorry! I completely understand! I have a few suggestions - though no guarantees for any. - I saw one suggestion where the poster's dr said to take a dose of MOM at 7 and then 2 Colace at 10 p.m. and should have relief the next day. I did the 2 Colace at bedtime and it worked, but the next time I tried it did not. - If you are taking pain meds still, call your dr. They can prescribe a med that works for "opiod induced constipation". - I went to an acupuncturist today for help. It was odd (I hadn't done that before), but I am game. He said it will take a few times to do much good, so I am going to go a few more times. In the meantime, I saw this video on You Tube yesterday, and I did the massage thing on my stomach they suggested, and I had great success this morning without any pain! Now, I also only had liquids yesterday and made sure I didn't take any meds (not even vitamins), so I don't know which specific thing worked, but I don't care as long as it worked! Here is the link to the video - https://youtu.be/dklVFMw7P1Y Won't hurt to try it - I think! Good luck! I will let you know how my acupuncture goes. Call your dr tomorrow since it's Friday so you aren't miserable over the weekend and see what they can suggest.

Sorry to be a pain but read instructions on cranberry carefully. The very strong ones my urologist told me to get said NOT to take them during an active UTI.

Totally normal. It will pick up again. Busy trying to catch up.

Same thing here. More with liquids. Drives me nuts.

I didn't have to do them. Strange. I remember getting one in the hospital then that was it.

see a urologist. It us possible that the antibiotics you are being given aren't addressing it so it has never really completely gone away. I had a recurrent UTI for nearly one year pre WLS). It was a urologist who really took the time to take care if it. Still took a couple more rounds of antibiotics

@@KindaFamiliar - Thanks! I needed that. Still laughing......

Congrats! Such a great phone call!!