dancinglamb

Harley- I had a sample of the nectar Iced Tea sitting in my kitchen and decided to mix it in with my Crystal Lite this morning. I don't know if the sample was old (I only got it in the mail about two weeks ago), but it did NOT mix up well at all. When I went to take a swig of it, hooooooo boy. That was a mistake. It was like getting a mouthful of oatmeal in with my tea. ICKIES!!!:huh2: I *so* wanted to like this stuff. But between the problems I had trying to get it to mix (I even went back and added some hot Water to try and get it to dissolve before finally giving up and tossing the entire batch), and the smell of milk from the whey, I think I'm not going to have luck with the Nectar. I still have one sample of the Tea left, but I'm really scared to try again. It really was that bad of an experience. (I do have to say that I like the Muscle Milk Lite chocolate shakes though!) -m

16lbs!! That's AWESOME!!!! Woo hooo!! You've got to be just thrilled. Congrats and good luck next week. :thumbup: -m

I normally don't consume that much aspartame, either. I've been getting some seriously nasty headaches, mood swings, and my back/hips have been bothering me much more than usual (oh, yeah - I'm a real Little Merry Sunshine to be around at the moment :crying: ). I don't know if it's due to the artificial sweetener/chemicals or from the extreme change in diet, but it's pretty awful. I take migraine meds to begin with (Topamax daily), but even worse, I'm finding that I'm having a hard time concentrating. NOT a good thing one week before Anatomy finals.:thumbup: Good luck with the Dr appt! hugs -m

Feteiha is doing my surgery at Overlook Hospital in Summit. :thumbup: -m

Cheryl- Sounds like it was a relative breeze. I had hand surgery at NYU and they really are great there ( the view from the room wasn't too bad either ). Are you hungry at all? How are you able to sleep at home? Are you in your bed? hugs! I'll be right behind you in less than 2w! :sigh: -m

LOL, yeah, with two kids at home, that's not gonna happen. Besides, I'm kinda excited to have the relative peace and quiet of having a bed to myself! No husband, no dogs, no kids! Sounds like a kind of heaven, believe it or not... -m

Gotta say I laughed when I saw the word "menu":wink2:. My 'official' menu is supposed to be three Optifast shakes a day and with up to 64oz of Clear liquids to accompany (broth, tea, Water, Crystal Lite, etc.). I was told that if I was going out of my mind, I could add "a small salad, a hard boiled egg, or a very small piece of chicken or turkey". Well, lemme tell ya. I've never been so freaking hungry in my life. I'm on day three of this preop diet. Today, so far (it's 11:15am), I've been OK, but the past two days, I did have to give in and have some turkey. It was to the point of being nauseous. And last night, I even got a little dizzy. I have been switching up the Optifast with Muscle Milk Light chocolate shakes (Dr ok'd them), and since they are higher in Protein, they've helped), but it's definitely hard. Good luck and Godspeed, Girlie! hugs -m

Has anybody attempted this? The 14g of Protein per shake is just *not* cutting it for me on this pre-op diet (I'm supposed to be doing the 3 shake/day preop thing and the 'whopping' 42g/day of protein just isn't enough):thumbup: I'm considering taking a ride over to GNC tomorrow to pick up some unflavoured Protein powder so that I can add it to the Optifast stuff I have. Any input? TIA -m

I've been chugging the Crystal Light like crazy. In fact, I don't think I've peed this much since doing Pub Crawls back in college:blink:. Good idea about adding the protein to that. I do have a couple samples of that nectar stuff, I could try that tomorrow as well... I've not been able to find the sugar free popsicles (only the sugar ones - I have to try Whole Foods), and I honestly can't stand Jello. It grosses me out. -m

Were any brands better than others (I need to get one that I can buy in a B&M store rather than online b/c I can't wait for shipping at this point)? I just figured the unflavoured ones would be the easiest, because then I could add it to the Soups post surgery... -m

K- She sounds like she's closer to 6 than 5? -m

I have Bariatric Advantage ones that I had to order through my surgeon. They actually taste pretty good (they gave me free samples to try first from the office. I actually still have some if you want to try 'em). I have this multivitamin: Bariatric Advantage - Bariatric Advantage VitaBand Chewable Multivitamin - Watermelon (180ct) and this calcium one: Bariatric Advantage - Bariatric Advantage 400mg calcium citrate Lozenges w/ Vitamin D - Wild Cherry (180 count) The website has a deal where you don't have to pay for shipping if you do an automatic drop ship for refills on the Vitamins. I've not started taking them yet, though considering how paltry the 'food' is on this pre-op diet, I'm thinking I should probably start... HTH -m ETA - I also just started taking the Biotin 2500 from GNC.

Laura, I have a very similar recipe for Butternut squash, pumpkin and carrot soup that absolutely rocks. I'm planning on using it post op. I don't think that I can use this now pre-op. It's too far off the path from the clears/protein only from what the surgeon has asked me to do. Thanks for the recipe, though! :frown: -m

Well, today I decided to switch it up and do the Muscle Milk shakes instead of the Optifast ones since they have 20g of Protein (Optifast has 14g). It really seemed to help a bit. I did a shake at 10:30, followed by a 1/2 liter of Crystal Lite. Then another Crystal Lite at 11:30, a second shake a 1pm with about 1/4 liter of Water, then 1/2 liter of Crystal Lite at 3:30 with 8 quarter-sized sesame crackers. I started to get the nausea thing again, so I had 1tbs. of chicken mixed with yogurt and celery (kind of a chicken salad), and another 1-1/2 liter of Crystal Lite. I feel like my teeth are floating. The Muscle Milk is definitely making a difference, as is the incredibly disturbing quantity of water/Crystal Light. I am going to do an Optifast for dinner since, well, I have a freakish quantity of it and I can't return it.:drool: I really thought I would've been able to stick it out and do the diet as instructed, but the low protein is just killing me. Has anybody tried adding unflavoured protein to the Optifast shakes? I'm thinking about swinging by GNC tomorrow to see about picking up some Isopure. Maybe that would do the trick? One other thing, I've absolutely noticed a direct correlation between my stomach not being upset and not drinking the Optifast. :frown: I did buy some cucumbers and celery in case I really feel like I need to chew something, but will try and hold off as long as I can. I also think that being out of the house today and in school certainly helped. Gonna be home tomorrow, though. Waiting for the Sears guy to come fix the washing machine, so I'll be kind of hostage till he shows up. I will *not* be a happy camper. *sigh* -m

Kammi- What are you telling your 5yo about your surgery? I've not yet figured out what to tell my kiddos. Part of me wants to tell them nothing, and another part of me wants to try and explain the whole thing in a way that's easy enough for them to understand. But then, I'm afraid that will totally freak them out about food in general, kwim? -m

Just wondering if anybody has thought to try this instead of/in addition to Gas-X. I remember when both my kiddos were babies and suffered from gas, this stuff was my saving grace. It's a homeopathic combination of fennel, ginger, bicarbonate soda (baking soda), etc. Here are the ingredients from the Water Vegetable Glycerin Sodium Bicarbonate (15 mg) Organic Ginger Extract (5mg) Organic Fennel Extract (4 mg) Fructose Citrus Bioflavonoid Extract Citric Acid Grapefruit Seed Extract I used to be able to only find the stuff at Whole Foods, but it seems to have gone more generic and you can get it at drugstore.com, Walgreens, Babies R Us now. Seriously, *nothing* used to help my first daughter who had reflux as a baby and would just scream and cry with horrible gas pains as a newborn. We'd give her this, and she'd let out a burp like a truckdriver, then be happy as a swaddled clam. I thought it was a fluke, but it worked with the second kiddo, too. Though this one burped -- and continues to -- like a longshoreman.:purplebananna: I'm thinking that this might be handy to have in the cabinet post surgery.... -m

LOL. I'm 30 minutes on the *other* side of NYU (in NJ), and start my 2w pre-op diet today. Good luck and keep us posted! hugs -m

Kris- Have you tried Miralax? It's supposed to be, well, magical. It used to be by prescription only but it went OTC about a year ago. In fact, I saw it at costco today. Now, dunno if you want two gianormo industrial strength sized bottles of it in your kitchen.... but it's there 2 bottles for $30.:regular_smile: I thought about picking some up, but usually I have the, uhhhhh, opposite problem. I figured I'd hold off for now to wait and see what the end results are (sorry, no pun intended!) Feel better! -m

The Muscle Milk Lite ready to drink chocolate ones are surprisingly good. You can get them at GNC 4 in a box for $7.99 and when I went there yesterday, it was buy one pack get the second one half off. A lot of people have been saying that the unjury (isn't that the dumbest name ever? I immediately thing 'injury'...) ones are good, but I haven't found them IRL yet, only online. I kinda want to taste them before making the investment. Since I have a full stash of the Optifast ones (from my doctor - both in RTD and the powder), I'm pretty set for a while. Oh, and I do have a sample of the nectar Roadside Lemonade and Nectar Lemon Tea ones. Supposedly you mix half of that stuff with half a Crystal light and it tastes like a regular drink. :confused2: -m

Yep. Went to NYC Chinatown to the Peking Duck House. Had some amazing Peking Duck. Nom nom nom!! Tomorrow, I'm going for my all time fave pancakes before I start the two week liquid pre-op diet. Technically I know I could probably eat duck again but without the wrapper. The pancakes, I'm not so sure about, so definitely want to get them in! -m

Another April 21st person here. In NJ, though. I've got the passing fear of something happening. But ya know, something could happen any day of our lives. When it's time, it's time, kwim? The way I look at it is, we're taking this step to make sure that we're going to be around FOR our kids. So, by the grace of God or Buddha or whatever Deity you subscribe to (or not) :thumbup:, we'll make it through. And then there will be the Bandster Hell on the other side and the *real* fun begins. Hey - at least you'll be in Mexico! hugs -m

I'm Marisa. I live in Northern NJ (about 1/2hr outside NYC) with my husband, two little girls (5 and 3yo), and three French Bulldogs. I am finishing up prerequisite classes to enter into nursing school. In my previous life I did project management work in architecture and construction. -m

Yep, this seems to be pretty standard with a lot of insurance companies. It really does fly by, though. I was surprised. Between all the other tests and appointments you have to go through (apnea, psych, nutritionist, pulmonary, cardio, gallbladder ultrasound, etc.) it doesn't seem that long. I was worried that I would fall below threshold, too (I have Aetna POS), but my surgeon told me that if you have enough co-morbidities and a high enough BMI, losing even 20lbs won't make a dent . As it stands, I lost 18lbs (without honestly trying hard), and the scheduler said I was one of the fastest approvals they ever got back from Aetna. Go figure... One thing you MUST make sure of, though, be CERTAIN that they mark down in your chart that you're there for OBESITY CHECKS (not blood pressure, not back pain, not sinus infections - ** OBESITY**). And have them put in big honking numbers your current weight and blood pressure. I had problems with the nurses aides not doing that. They'd put in the chart that I was there for follow up appts or whatever, and then not put in my weights, and I didn't find out until the following month. Thankfully, I was doing double appts and seeing both my PCP *and* my surgeon. The surgeon was keeping really diligent notes about weight, bp, what I was doing to try and lose weight, etc. And that was what Aetna went by. NOT what the PCP did. I can't say that I necessarily blame the PCP since this isn't his thing and his office staff has no clue about the tricks they need to do to get the insurance companies to pay for the surgery, kwim? In retrospect, I am just glad that the surgeon really was good about keeping on top of stuff. So... now you know what to keep an eye out for! Good luck! -m ETA- If you can provide any sort of documentation from your PCP referencing your weight being discussed on a regular basis that can be used to bolster the six month thing. My surgeon had me send over 9m worth of records for them to go through, but no dice on my part. He was also worried that I'd get to the six month mark and then have to wait another couple months for approval then surgery. So, what you might be able to do is try and get the ball rolling around the 5month mark. Is there any reason why you have your PCP doing all this and not the surgeon? The surgeon schedulers seem to have the ins/outs on this stuff down pat. Maybe give them a call and pick their brain?

My surgeon doesn't require an endoscopy (one of the few hoops I didn't have to jump through!). I did have to do an H.Pylori blood panel, though. -m

Holy COW! 23 DAYS on Optifast Stuff? The guy must have stock in it! I start the Optifast Fest on Monday for two weeks (of course I'm going out with a bang and went out for dinner tonight for Peking Duck in Chinatown with my husband - no kids! :tongue: ). I tried one of the powdered chocolate Optifast shakes and was pretty, uh, unimpressed. I have the ready to drink chocolate ones sitting in my kitchen but haven't gotten brave enough yet. I'll be allowed only 3 a day starting Monday, and can have 64oz of clears to go with. I was told that if I am utterly STARVING I can have a *small* salad, or tiny piece of chicken, or hardboiled egg, but they said that I should really try and stick with just the liquids. I did get some of the sugarfree DaVinci chocolate syrup to doctor up the shakes. Gonna try that over the weekend. *sigh* Good luck and keep us posted! hugs -m