three sixty six

My belly is purple and yellow (Go LSU!!!) :biggrin:

Isopure is saving me these days. I bought a big can of unflavored Unjury, took a whiff, and almost gagged. I tried it in some iced tea and nearly threw up! I need the protein so I bought a bunch more Isopure drinks. They're really good!

hi everyone, just checking in. i go back to work tomorrow. i am armed with isopure drinks and pureed soup. unfortunately my mom had to go back home today - it was REALLY nice having her around (and taking care of me). i have my post-op with Dr. Irgau on friday. i am PRAYING he will make me move to mushies b/c i am so ready. had my first restaurant experience yesterday. macaroni grill with my sis, mom, and b-i-l. i did great! had soup (a few slurps, really) and some sorbetto. the waiter made me feel perfectly normal. good experience. took my steri-strips off today. was not prepared for what i saw! four of the five incisions are teeny-tiny. the last one is huge and kinda bumpy. it freaked me out. i'm getting hungry, so i must be feeling better

Question.... Farina for full liquids... not a good idea, right? Wait for mushy stage?

Every day gets a little easier. I'm moving around a lot more. Still pretty sore and bruised, but I'm sleeping more on my side and almost on my tummy (a big deal for me to be able to do). I haven't had any pain meds since Sunday, and I'm getting all my liquids and proteins in. Hopefully Dr. Irgau will let me move to mushies early b/c I am really getting sick of liquids!!!

Hi Caelyn, I have Dr. Irgau, but Dr. Peters was assisting at my surgery and he came for a visit afterwards while I was at St. Francis. He's very nice! Welcome to the DE board!

"high risk of pregnancy" hahahaha that sounds like a made-for-tv afterschool special about unprotected sex.

omg i saw this on sunday and my heart stopped. my "holy shit" weight was 366 and i'm 25 at surgery time too. this card looked like it could have been written by me in the future!!

I'm finding that I'm 'gulping' more without straws. I think I have a lot of air in me right now ('cos I'm way uncomfortable). I think tomorrow I'll experiment with straws to see if there's a difference.

YUCK! I just tried the unjury flavorless (my ass!) in crystal light. First, it turned the CL a nasty color. And it SMELLS! I tried three sips but I GAGGED. Can't do it. There goes $20. I'm going to switch to isopure now and see if that's any better. Blechhhh.

I'm home! I'm alive! Thanks to all for your well wishes. Surgery was textbook, however for some reason I was in recovery for over 2 hours. Not sure why. Hospital stay was not fun. I hate hospitals!! I had a lot of trouble walking on Friday b/c I got very dizzy and nauseous. I could barely make it to the door without feeling so sick. Saturday was a lot better. I had my gastrografin study (yuck! but only 4 sips so not THAT bad) and they started me on clear liquids. HOWEVER, they only let me drink 2oz/hour on Saturday. Is that normal??? I wasn't released until almost 7pm on Saturday b/c my temp was 99.4. Finally got home and had a shower (yay!). I slept well on Sat night. I stayed on clears yesterday until dinner, when I had some blended/strained cream of chicken soup. It felt really good to "eat." I even sat at my dining room table! I felt normal again. I've had some.. erm.. bathroom issues. I wanted to ask you all about.. is it normal for number 2 to be all liquid right now??? A lot of gurgling going on in my belly still. I am sure this is normal. That's my update for now! I'm going to enjoy some sugarfree carnation instant bf now

i hear ya. liquids are rough. i try to chew some flavored sugarfree gum (like orbit) when i want to chew something. it's not the same, but it helps. also, today i have major cravings for sushi (oh yummm). my buds wanted to go get some for lunch today, so that's probably where it started. i sipped my chicken broth as i scrolled through the sushi place's website. i felt a little better knowing that i didn't spend $20 on sushi today, and the craving subsided a little bit. you can do it!

I'm finally there! My surgery is 48 hours away!!! I bought so much sugar-free Jello and chicken broth last night that the supermarket folks probably think I'm nutters. SF Jello kinda has a funky aftertaste that I'm not loving, but whatev. I will survive. I did buy every flavor, so I can experiment. :sad: Yay for clear liquids! It means I am nearly there! :biggrin2:

that's EXACTLY what I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just finished my optifast diet yesterday. It was pretty rough, BUT, like everyone has said, the first three days are the worst. Stick through those and the rest will fly by. Trust me!!

I went home to the shore for Memorial Day, and a family visit... that meant the annual family barbecue. Fresh lobster with drawn butter, all the Jersey corn one could imagine, my Aunt's FAMOUS and so so so wonderful potato salad, my favorite hot dogs with lots of kraut, fresh hamburgers, cole slaw, and, of course, fruit and whipped cream on angel food cake. YUM! Too bad I didn't eat any of it :smile2: Yesterday was the hardest day of my two-week pre-op Optifast diet. I had a diet coke. That felt like cheating enough for me! No caffiene, but I haven't had soda in ages. I'm still starving!!!!

thanks!! i'm sooooo excited. i just want this DONE already. gimme my band! i've been on optifast for the past -almost- two weeks. i did not enjoy! loved the juice box shakes, hated the powders. soups were pretty good. bars were GROSS. i felt really weak a lot so i've been having some "real" protein here and there - like skinless grilled chicken (no oil, just pam) or ground turkey. no fat anywhere. no carbs. also didn't do that everyday, but some days i felt like i was gonna pass out. i went to bj's and got a six-carton box of organic free-range chicken broth (i'm big into the free-range stuff, believe it or not. i'm sure those mcnuggets i'm used to are so not free range. or even chicken. but that's neither here nor there). also got 5 boxes of crystal light (looove that stuff anyway - the iced tea. also got raspberry and lemonade). today i went to shoprite and got sugar free popsicles, sugar free jello, cans of creamed (healthy request!) soups, sugar free carnation instant breakfast, and gas x strips (i read somewhere on this board that they were important). i've got tons of stuff from the chrias store - i got soups, isopure drinks, unjury, and healthwise hot chocolate (15 gms of protein in that!) i had my GP fill my regular Rxs in liquid form. i've written my advanced directive and had it notarized (GP has a copy; i'm bringing a copy to the hospital). i'm cleaning my house, doing laundry, and expanding my netflix queue. tomorrow i inflate my brand-spanking-new double-high aerobed that i got just for Mom! she arrives thursday. the bed is a surprise. she thinks she's sleeping on my couch, which she says she loves, but i want her to have a "real" bed for her week here. i'm setting up my office for her. definitely nesting! i think i am nearly ready. let's GO!!!! ~megan~

I'm self-pay because my insurance has a bariatric policy exclusion. Doctor's surgery fee is $6,000 Hospital fee is $11,000 Program fee is $550 Pre-op visits, consults, and tests: so far, over $5,000(!) luckily, my insurance picked up most of that.

three days! three days! three days!

now that post deserves rep power, haha! i agree!!

Ugh I can totally relate! I'm doing my preop optifast now. I started last friday and I've slipped. I felt really weak, so I've been "cheating" with some grilled skinless chicken grilled w/Pam -no oil! I still feel bad. I've done it 4 times. But I still get under 1000 cals/day. Don't worry about one bad day. Its not even that bad - from what you've posted, you didn't go all out. It could have been worse. Just get back to it NOW. Don't wait for tomorrow. Best wishes.

Actually Lexapro is targeted to people with anxiety problems, not depression. It's a bonus that depression may be helped by it.