Wheetsin

So can you have a piece of palm-sized pizza? That might be enough to satiate your craving. About 8 years ago I went on a pretty crazy low carb diet, I did the induction phase of Atkins for about 2.5 years. One of my favorite meals to make was crustless pizza. It sounds crazy, but trust me - it's good. And if you're going to eat pizza, it may as well be a low carb pizza, right? I would make this, take leftovers in for lunch, co-workers would try it and most actually preferred this to a standard crust-based pizza. 4 oz of cream cheese 4 eggs 1/3 C heavy whipping cream 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese 1 tsp italian seasoning 2 C mixed italian cheese 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1/2 C low carb pizza sauce (at the time Mama Mia's was the lowest I could find in stores) Preheat oven to 375F. Beat together cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add cream, parmesan and spices, mix again. Spray 9" or larger baking dish with butter Pam (or spray of your choice). Sprinkle 2 C cheese into dish, pour egg mixture over cheese. Bake 375 for 30 minutes. Remove form oven let stand for 5 minutes. Spread on sauce and 1 cup mozzeralla cheese top with any of chossen toppings (pepperoni & sausage do very well with this recipe). Return to oven bake til bubbly and brown. Let stand for 10-15 minutses before cutting.

If it's from surgical gas, you pretty much have to wait it out. I've never had it feel like stuck food, though. For me it's usually an ache at the top of my shoulder, or something that feels like a pinched nerve between my shoulder and neck. (My sleeve is the only surgery I've had where I didn't get this pain). Lower shoulder blades is a fairly common place to get a referred pain from the more central esophagus area. Referred pains can be really weird. When I had my lapband and would get food stuck, the pain generated in my esophagus would refer to my hips, shoot out to either side of my belly button, and then "work up" to my shoulder blades. "They say" the gas should be gone within 24 hours, but I've definitely felt it more 1 - 3 weeks post-op that immediately after. I should look into why that is one of these days. Not to be personal, but have you pooped yet? Constipation cal also cause a referred pain, and lots of the pain meds we get can cause constipation. You might to try a heating pad on front & back of the shoulder that's hurting. There's also a resting position that might help (have to look it up rq): Don't be afraid to take your pain meds if you need some help. But please do still call your surgeon. I'm not a surgeon and this is all just my best guess.

I'm only 10 days out but feel much the same way. It's always safer to expect the worst, so I completely expected lots of pain, nausea/vomiting, difficulty eating, etc. I actually feel pretty great, though my energy is definitely suffering. If it weren't for my crazy restriction, I might think they opened me up, then closed me, without doing anything. I was joking around with my surgeon post-op saying that I was very restricted, but other than that had no "proof" he had earned his money. I enjoyed his response: I just gave you a really pretty sleeve.

First, do call your surgeon. Persistent pain is not OK, I'm surprised they discharged you at a 10+ pain rating. If you're in that much pain, it is not appropriate to expect you will just "deal with it" - your surgeon and/or their team need to help you. Now just to clarify... burping/farting can get rid of gas inside your gastro tract. It won't help with the gas outside of your tract, which is what causes the shoulder/neck/etc. pain. That comes form the CO2 they pump inside if you (you are pumped full of gas during surgery so that there's room to move/see, roughly speaking). That gas unfortunately, just has to kind if dissipate out, or your surgeon can do a great job of removing it before you're closed up - usually it's a combination of the two. (I would hate to see you running to get something like Gasx, which won't help with surgical gas, and could upset your stomach, ir straining yourself trying to burp, which simply isn't going to help a pain in your shoulder). Other than upper right, where is the pain? Is it near a shoulderblade? Shoulder? Esophagus? Boob? Is it constant, or does it come and go? Post-op pains can often be referred pains... like the "surgical gas" pain I mentioned above isn't the actual gas in the shoulder causing the pain, but more likely a phrenic nerve irritation near the esophagus that you "feel" in the neck/shoulder area where the nerve starts to end.

What are the requirements of your pre-op diet? Does it exclude pizza? If so, you really should stick to your guns. If your surgeon goes in and can't manuever as he/she wants, your surgery could be converted to an open procedure (they've also been cancelled, though this is not common) and you don't want that. Here's an excerpt from a previous post on why a liquid vs. regular or low carb diet. This may help with some perspective:

My date was about 5 weeks out. It would have been about 3 normally, but my insurance required my procedure be done at a place my surgeon only works out of once a month so I had to wait for the next opening. As you've since found out, BCBS tends to be pretty quick with their approvals. Definitely one of the fastest I've dealt with (professionally and as a customer).

Isopure, IMO, is one of the worst tasting. Especially when mixed with Water. And I heavily doctor my Proteins with addins such as PB2, sugar free syrups, etc. I'm finding that the consistency of light soymilk is really agreeing with my sleeve, and it has fewer carbs than FF milk. I'm 10 days out and still cannot get all my Protein in. I can do about 32 oz a day. So I doubled up the scoops, but then I could only do about 20 oz because of the viscosity difference. Including 2/3 of a 4oz Greek yogurt I managed yesterday morning, I probably got about 40 oz of protein for the day. I'm ok with that for now, but really want to be around 60 within the next week. Every day it's a little easier.

In a generic sense, your stomach contracts to grind & move its contents about every 20 seconds. Since liquids don't need to be ground up, they tend to pretty much flow through. So in a stomach with normal gastric function, liquids could clear about every 20 seconds, but may take a few more contractions. They will clear your pylorus as they arrive there. Make sense?

I usually buy them at Marshall's/TJ Maxx type stores, or at World Market. Target/Walmart will carry a few but the selection is really limited. Earlier tonight I placed an order at www.netrition.com for 17 bottles. I guess I really like my variety! Their prices are slightly higher per bottle than other places, but the shipping knocks it out of the park (bottles are about $3 higher each, but my shipping was less than $5 compared to $37).

All just MHO... In terms of types of protein: Hydrolysate Proteins are the best quality proteins (in terms of what comes in a mix). Next would be whey Protein isolates - especially good because they come lower carb. For he slightly reduced absorption compared to the hydrolysate proteins, the whey protein isolates are my first choice (because they're low carb, I think they're much better tasting, and are absorbed quickly.)

I seriously doctor up my Protein drinks. It "masks" the flavor of the protein enough that I find them enjoyable. (BTW, when I had my lapband 6 years ago Isopure was the first brand I tasted and I couldn't stand it. Then I went to EAS CarbAdvantEdge and that was my staple for 5 - 6 years. This time around I"m still experimenting). Tonight was PBJ protein drink: 2 scoops vanilla powder 1 tbl PB2 Peanut Butter 1 pump SF peanut butter syrup 1 pump SF strawberry syrup Made in plain, light soymilk. I never, and I mean never, drink "straight up" Protein Drinks. The smell alone is too bad. Not a lot is going into my mouth nowadays so I really want to enjoy what does. Yesterday was peanut butter cup protein day (chocolate powder, PB2 peanut butter, SF peanut butter syrup). Tomorrow is feeling like it might be an orange julius protein day (vanilla powder, SF orange syrup, tsp SF vanilla pudding). I little farther out I will use reduced acid OJ instead of the syrup. For RTD, I prefer the EAS CardAdvantEdge in strawberry, but it has to be VERY cold. I can't stand them once they warm up. I buy them at Target, they look like this:

Please keep in mind that gaining weight and gaining fat are not the same thing. You should gain weight. You don't have to gain fat, but it's not horrible if you do. You've had kids before so you know the drill. I had my baby with my lapband. I think it would be easier with a sleeve, and I've run into several sleeved people who have had 1 or more children post-op. Just be healthy. Exercise as long as you're able to, focus your meals on Proteins, healthy carbs, and other stuff as you can. Your OB will be able to help you, definitely make sure they know about your sleeve. When I had my band, I was so worried about being able to finish the glucose drink for gestational diabetes testing, esp. since my band did not like anything in the am. Hopefully you won't have the same problems/concerns (capacity is still an issue with both procedures). And deep congratulations.

Oops, double post

Have you tried a juicer? It gives you all of the taste and most of the benefits without any of the texture. BTW, I'm not a psychologist but I have a master's degree in psychology. I chew my grapes, then spit out the skins. Same with apples. And I strain out orange juice pulp. Doesn't mean I have an eating disorder, it just means I don't like the feel of that crap in my mouth.

You should have labs and such pre-op. If you're running through insurance, they typically will not schedule any of your pre-op stuff until you're approved. Usually the only things that happen before approval are the things required for approval (e.g. the info/nutrition class, psych eval, etc.)

I have Anthem. They have one of the quicker turnaround times out there. My approval through them took about 2 days. With Cigna my denial, and then subsequent approval took 30 days each.

A revision doesn't have anything to do with the length/lack of time between procedures. I was 6 months apart and am still a revision. You're just having a former surgery 'revised' to something else. Best of luck.

I have a corporate desk type job. I had surgery last week and feel good enough to return, but have STD benefits so I'm home for another 3 weeks. That's probably for the better, because even though the pain is negligible, my energy level just isn't there yet and I have a long commute. If you're feeling able to go back to work, and your surgeon is OK with it, then go back. Just remember no heavy lifting. And make sure you have good quality foods with you. Energy can disappear quite quickly. As for wine, I'm not a wine drinker myself but my nutritionist recommends no tea for 4 - 6 months. I talked to her quite a bit about this and she shared some interesting literature with me. It's not necessarily the alcohol (in wine) or caffeine or anything, the tannins/catechins and other acids can be an irritant to the stomach and to the staple line. Just ask your nutritionist. The best we can tell you is to follow their advice.

My advice would be, take a look at why you're not losing weight, and go from there. Fills fall into place for some, and for others it takes months of up/down adjustments to hit a sweet spot. I personally never had what I would consider a sweet spot. I was either too tight or too loose, so I opted to stay too loose and make up for the difference myself. What is your intake? What fill level are you at, with what band size? What foods are you eating? Etc. What are your behaviors around food? I have no idea how much weight you have to lose but about 25 pounds in 3 - 4 months is not bad weight loss. I've seen a lot of sleevers with similar loss rates, so don't assume that the sleeve = faster/more loss. I lost in the neighborhood of 175 - 200 lbs with my lapband over the 5.5 years I had it. That includes about 18 months "stuck" at the same weight. I had just started to lose weight again, when I ended up on the trail that led me to need it removed. I'm glad I had my lapband, but I just don't see it as a permanent solution. Do I personally think you're jumping the gun - maybe, but I really can't say for sure unless I knew something about "why" it wasn't working.

I had a lapband in 2006, GB out in 2007, lapband out in 2011 and sleeve last week. Except for the memories and absence of pain, there's no different between pore & post GB. I was told the area where it was removed might twinge if I ate a fatty meal, but honestly there's no difference for me. If you search for gallbladder you will see tons of threads. Here is one that came up yesterday. Lots of sleeved people sharing their results.

Stoneyfield Oikos organic honey. Preop I loved this stuff with sesame seeds and honey nut cheerios mixed in.

6 - 8 weeks seems to be the "literature" timeframe. I have heard of leaks up to 3 months out, "friend of a friend" thing. I guess it's possible she had the leak longer and it just went undetected, but it'd be pretty rare for a body to sustain a leak that long with no symptoms, I suspect.

I had a band in 2006 at about 380 lbs. I dropped about 175 lbs with the band (down to about 205 lbs), then got pregnant in 2008 and I'm pretty sure my band slipped during pregnancy. During pregnancy I got up to about 280, and after back down to about 250 at which time I couldn't stand the symptoms of the slip (didn't know them for what they were at the time) and had a complete unfill. Then slowly went back up to about 290 when my band was removed. I'm a week out from sleeve surgery and so far the two procedures are comparable to me, but I was a bit unusual in that I had restriction before I had fills. If that hadn't been the case, this would be a night-and-day experience (instant restriction). Having the band has definitely helped me. Understanding how to eat. And the behaviors - the small bites, chewing chewing chewing, is all second nature. I had to really learn it the hard way with the band. I also thought the band and sleeve would feel completely different, and in a way they do -- no "pouch pain" when something is stuck or slow moving, and I don't feel hunger but I didn't with the band either -- and in ways they don't. However, I'm pretty sure that already having the behavior of paying attention to the body's sensations and what things mean has helped. I have no doubts when I need to stop eating/drinking for a while. But I'm so new to it, we'll see how it changes with time. I may disagree with this post 100% in a year.

The insurance coverage was a pleasant surprise. I knew I was not excluded, but I was also being asked to prove something that's virtually impossible to prove. I appealed a denial and was approved, then our insurance changed to I had to start over. I started over with everything submitted to overturn the denial and was approved on the first try. My approval came in February. If I had not received approval by March 1, we were going to pay out of pocket (my surgeon of choice charges $12K for sleeve). We are financially comfortable and it would not have been a hardship for us to pay out of pocket, but there's no doubt that I'd rather not pay it if I had a choice. DH had already conceded that it would be a birthday present I was not allowed to expect him to beat next year! I was at my surgeon's office today and someone was complaining about having to pay a $45 copay for the surgery. I guess it's just proof that you will never please everyone.

First, I don't see anything in the verbiage above that indicates they have to be done in the same procedure. Is there something in there that you're reading that sounds like it to you, or are you just curious? If that's the totality of the requirements you should be ok. I just had my revision to sleeve surgery last week. My band was removed September of last year after a "profound slip" that didn't give me any real option for rebanding (which I wouldn't have wanted anyway). I think it was slipped for about 3 years (I had it back in early 2006). Given the stats of revision complications, I personally would not have done both in one procedure. My surgeon requires a minimum two month period in between. Mine took longer because I first had an insurance denial, then had to write my appeal -- the denial was overturned and I was approved, and then our insurance changed so I was back to square one. Today was my first post-op appointment. When I was weighed pre-op I didn't look, I was just not wanting to know the number. They told me today and had gained back about 50 lbs in my 6.5 months without a band. I didn't eat crazy stupid and that's more regain than I would have expected, but.... it will come off. Please ask any questions you have. I'm only a week post-op but lived with a band for a long time (was a mod on lapbandtalk until I had a baby and didn't have much time anymore).