heidikat72

the fact that you lost any weight the first two weeks is a bonus! chances are you left the hospital weighing more than when you went in thanks to all those iv fluids. plus your body is completely reeling and focusing on healing. If you are going to compare (which i highly caution against comparing your journey to anyone else's) at least compare to a full sample pool. I lost nothing - NOT EVEN ONE TENTH OF A POUND - in the first two weeks after surgery. At three months out I had lost 48 pounds - so the weight loss does come. Be patient and just focus on healing and following your post op plan.

just try for a little more each day. and Christinamo is right, you hit a point where suddenly it is a lot easier - for me it was about 6 days post op (4th day home). I went from struggling to hit anywhere in the 40's for Fluid intake to not having any trouble getting in 64oz seemingly overnight. Don't worry about weight loss the first couple weeks. Between the swelling, the iv fluids and your body focusing on healing you may not lose much if any. At my two week post op follow up appt. I hadn't even lost a tenth of a pound. I was told not to worry and sure enough in the two weeks after that I lost 20lbs. Oh and the 64oz doesn't have to be just Water - all liquids count - so include your skim milk, Protein shakes, even your strained cream soup. Is there a reason why you are only doing 2oz of Protein shake? when I was on full liquids the first two weeks - I had three 8oz Protein Shakes a day equaling 24 oz of fluid and then did water or crystal light for the rest of my fluid.

I'm glad you are thinking a little more clearly this morning. Definitely try some broth if you need a savory change. I had a cup of warm broth each day to break up the sweetness of the shakes. It does help. Hang in there, this phase will pass. We all want you to succeed!

I can't remember where I saw it (probably eggface's blog) and I haven't done it yet but it's on my list. Someone took empty Protein tubs and the fancy tape (think patterned duck tape) and wrapped the tape around the tub. Then uses it to store craft supplies, desk items like paperclips etc. This one I know was on eggface's blog, she had a lot of jeans with fancy embroidered bottoms of the legs. When the jeans got too big, she cut the embroidered bits off the legs, stitched them up with a zipper and made little pouches that can be used as wallets, makeup bags etc. if you garden, you can use the empty yogurt cups to start your seedlings indoors rather than buying seed flats. another garden idea - if you eat a lot of eggs, save the shells and add them to your garden. As they decompose they add Calcium to the soil and if you have a slug problem, put a ring of eggshells around your plants. The slugs won't crawl across them because the sharp edges hurt.

I love your post! and isn't it a great feeling when you do that last blood thinner injection? seriously, even though they really weren't a big deal, I swear with each one it took me longer to give myself the pep talk to do it than it actually did to do the injection - every.single.time

your surgeon's office should be able to give you an idea of how it takes them to get approval from that insurance. and they'll also have an idea of when your surgery will be once you get approval - it depends on their surgical load. If they don't have many getting approved/scheduled it could be very quick or it could be a couple extra weeks. because my surgeon's insurance coordinator had a lot experience with my insurance company and knew my case was an easy approval - they went ahead and scheduled my surgery as soon as they submitted the paperwork to insurance for approval. She knew my insurance would take two weeks to approve and that literally took 2 weeks to the day and because my surgery had already been scheduled, I had surgery 3 days after approval. I had started my 2 week pre-op as soon as my paperwork was submitted.

Does your surgeon's plan allow for solid food at 8 days post op? Just because you feel fine drinking liquids, doesn't mean your suture line for your sleeve is healed enough to handle solid food yet. The post op liquid phase sucks, plain and simple. But the surgeon isn't trying to torture you, it is because your stomach needs time to heal. Serious complications can happen if you transition phases too quickly. In a couple months, this liquids phase will be a memory. Remember, you had most of a major organ removed and the remaining bit stapled together. Your overall health and you are worth going through this safely and appropriately. So rather than wish you luck in progressing to solid food too quickly, I'm going to wish you a realization that you are too important to risk your recovery. At about 6 days or so post op - I had the head hunger return with a vengeance, but it is just that head hunger. Find activities to do to distract your brain from thinking about food.

Congrats! you are doing great and i bet you feel amazing

surprisingly, yes you do use your ab muscles when sneezing. If the pain has already subsided and the incision doesn't look like it opened at all, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I know immediately post op, they suggested I hold a pillow over my abdomen when I needed to cough. Granted a sneeze comes on without much warning, but if you can grab a pillow before sneezing, the pressure against your abdomen helps.

Also, your bowel habits will be quite different post op compared to pre-op, especially while only on liquids. My bariatric center's general guideline was if you go more than 3 days without a BM, then use milk of magnesia.

Constipation post op is quite common. Try a non-stimulant laxative first like milk of magnesia or miralax. A single dose of milk of magnesia typically worked for me although one time, after several doses over two days and no result, I did resort to a stimulant laxative (generic correctol) and that did the trick. Also, if you aren't on a stool softener (I take Colace although at this point, not every day) you might want to start taking one - check with your doctor.

A friend who had VSG a couple years ago was able to drop down to just a multi-vitamin about a year or so after surgery. So it is possible to wean off some of them - by monitoring your blood work, you and your doctor will be able to make that determination together. It will depend on what you eat and your own personal body, some people just naturally absorb vitamins/minerals easier than others. I have friends who have never had weightloss surgery, eat healthy diets and still need to take a supplement in addition to a multivitamin simply because their body doesn't absorb enough from the food.

If you look at the blod "the world according to eggface" (she's the lady that came up with the ricotta bake recipe) she has a whole post devoted to the puree stage. Refried Beans are fine. If you have chili - puree it, when you get to soft foods you can have it whole. Things I had: tuna or canned chicken or salmon blended with a little plain nonfat greek yogurt. Those flavored tuna pouches are great for this! ricotta bake, refried beans, small curd cottage cheese - no need to puree, just chew really really well, and greek yogurt because you are only blending small amounts of foods, I used what is called a mini chopper - looks like a teeny tiny food processor, and you can pick them up for about $15. http://www.target.com/p/black-decker-1-5-cup-mini-food-chopper/-/A-12705256?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=bing_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Appliances%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Appliances_Kitchen+Mix&LID=700000001230728pbs&network=s&device=c&querystring&gclid=[*GCLID*]&gclsrc=ds

decaf tea is ok too. and herbal tea is automatically non-caffeine so you can have any herbal tea. And yes,, something warm is nice to have. a lot of people immediately post-op find warmer liquids go down easier than cold. Granted for some, it is just the opposite

I didn't have to give it up preop. but you might want to start weaning yourself off. You don't want to be going through caffeine withdrawal immediately post-op. You'll be dealing with enough just dealing with the uncomfortable-ness immediately post op from the incisions etc.

It's not unusual that early out to still need to supplement your meals with Protein powder in order to meet your protein goals. Your need to supplement will go down as you get to a point where you can get all your protein in through meals and high protein Snacks. With your meals - make sure you are focusing on protein. The addition of any veggies/fruit/whole grain carbs should only be AFTER you have met your protein goal for the day. For the person who asked about unjury and hot liquids. THe instructions when I got it said to mix with warm liquids below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Any hotter than that and the protein will coagulate and clump up and be generally disgusting.

For my program, they wanted us off coffee for two reasons - caffeine and dehydration (yes I know that's controversial and there is evidence that there is not a connection) and the acidity on a healing stomach when you are at risk for ulcers. However, they only temporarily ban coffee (and they allowed decaf as well as decaf tea). For us, we could have coffee again after we routinely reach Fluid goals (64oz per day) for at least 3 weeks. Then we can have 1 cup of caffeinated coffee or tea a day - and by cup they mean a normal size coffee cup, not a giant 24oz cup (yes they made that distinction!). I personally waiting though until I was 3 months out but I've been overly cautious on all progressions post-op. Had my first cup post-op last week - it was divine. Instead of sweetener and cream, I add Premier caramel Protein shake to it to get a sorta caramel latte and I figure hey, I'm getting a couple grams of protein too!

You have done extremely well pre-op! And all that work pre-op is really going to pay off and make your recovery much easier. Good luck with surgery and let us know how it went as soon as you are up to it.

Bring it up at your post op appointment. It could just be that any nerves that were cut/damaged during surgery are regenerating

wow! Phenomenal success!

OJ is pretty acidic which might not be good on your healing stomach. My bariatric center actually preferred we not do juices because of the high sugar content as well but said if we did do them, to dilute them in half with water. And they suggested apple juice or diet cranberry juice. Just make sure you are buying a juice that doesn't have added sugar to it and even then still dilute it down with some water.

have you talked to your surgical team? they may be able to prescribe something to help with the nausea. Mine actually gave me a script for nausea meds before I left the hospital just in case. Fortunately I didn't need as I would only have a brief bout of nausea once a day and it would pass quickly. It is not uncommon to find the shakes to be too sweet post op. Have you tried an unflavored Protein powder mixed with broth (just make sure the broth is below 140 degree F or the protein will clump). That would give you a savory and warm change and might be easier to get down. I hope you find something that works soon, getting protein in critical for aiding the healing process.

Welcome to this wonderful, crazy and yes, sometimes frustrating ride! You will find a lot of great advice and support on this forum - although, it may not always be what you want to hear. That tough advice is often the best though. For your own peace of mind - choose very carefully who you tell about your plans for surgery. Most people, unless they have had or at least researched the surgery themselves, know very little but think they know everything and can be very judgemental about. And even more, just don't understand the concept at all and may not mean to be unsupportive but if they've never struggled with weight themselves, don't get that it isn't as easy as "going on a diet". And you will most likely hear from those types that you are taking the "easy way out" - which just shows their ignorance because there is nothing easy about undergoing surgery and having to completely change your relationship with food. Check with your insurance company now regarding their policy for weightloss surgery and ask for it in writing. They should be able to clearly tell you if THEY require any sort of medically supervised period prior to approving you for weightloss. Some don't require any, some require 3 months and some (like mine) require 6 months. If you do have a 6 month period - don't get discouraged. It will go by MUCH MUCH faster than you think! I'm actually thankful I had that 6 months to prepare. It gave me time to get all the pre-op testing done (and don't worry if one test comes back with a result that requires additional testing) and more importantly do my own research and fully prepare mentally for this. It also gave me a chance to work on changing my eating and starting to practice a healthier lifestyle prior to surgery. This gradual change in eating/exercise helped tremendously with my initial recovery from surgery. Best of luck to you and keep us updated on your journey!

I struggled with fatigue for a couple months post op. Your body is adjusting, you aren't getting many calories etc. My only advice (because I've only recently gotten to the point where I have more energy) Make sure you are getting plenty of fluids And as hard as it may be to get started, the more active you are, the more energy you'll have. At this point you are probably still only cleared for walking but try to walk as much as you can. And you are still pretty early out - be kind to yourself and let yourself rest while you are healing. It will get better, but it takes a while