KarenLR75

YAY! Getting close! You know we are all hyper-focused as my other thought after being excited for you was 1) What are CHG wipes and...um...Bowel Prep and 2) Am I supposed to be doing that (since that hasn't been mentioned I presume I either don't have to do it or 'Bowel Prep' = liquid diet??

LOL..no worries! Ah, adding Benefiber. I think I'd rather have the issue you mentioned...than well..ya know? You have to do an ENTIRE MONTH!!!?? 😮

LOL - Go get 'em Boudica/Boudicca. My eldest named her cat Boudicca and as she took 7 years of Latin and other assorted things, I learned the correct pronunciation too. People spell it differently but I am sure you know who I'm talking about which is why I love the Celtic warrior queen reference. That name, of course, sprang directly into my mind. My eldest is an uber nerd and used to compete in a lot of academic competitions in high school so I have loads of random info in my head (although as I read a lot, I knew of this famous warrior queen quite some time ago). You show them, girl!!!

I looked for a "smacks sibling" emoticon but alas, there was none. I've made it clear to my family what foods I consider to be 'trigger' foods - ones that either tempt me...or for now, ones that are just hard to see someone else eating. I seriously have tried to assure my family they don't need to be sneaking their food into other rooms...LOL. We all have to have some version of a 'new normal' life together. If I AM the one having a bad day or whatever is going on in my head, then I will excuse myself prior to the meal and they are not to take it personally. THEY still need to eat. What I do draw the line on in my own house (kids are technically out of the house) is any foods that were not part of the keto way of life my husband & I were followed up until my pre-op. As he has stated he will continue on keto, that is fine. My family knows the things that do NOT tempt me like ice cream or pie. If any of the miscreants bring in cake or cookies, there will be a brawl but it's not because of this surgery, I'd have had an issue with it when I was doing keto. Most of the time even that stuff no longer bothers me but like someone new in recovery from let's say 'alcohol addiction', people who are near and dear should not be drinking around them, especially not when someone is new in recovery (the exception here is that my family needs to eat to live so I do not expect them to abstain, just to be thoughtful). I see the surgery and the first few months after that as being new to a different type of recovery. Recovering from food addiction but NEVER cured just like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) treat addiction. Everyone is hopefully on some path of recovery but you are never considered 'cured' which keeps you on guard against relapsing although it can happen and you just get back on the proverbial horse. LOL, maybe next time you are presented with a temptation, imagine drinking or eating it in front of your doctor...I was going to say 'in front of a mirror' which is something I've used before when I was...eating WAY too much and that mirror thing has stopped me quite a few times. Whichever would deter you the most...LOL

Welcome sibling! We are just 2 days apart. I wonder if the liquid diet..and number of days is related in any way to a person's BMI or ??? Within the specific 'Sleeve' and 'Bypass' surgery forums I think there are topics for 'July 2019 surgeries'...but as the gastric sleeve one is not super active yet, I had thought...why not start one for all July people regardless of which surgery they are having as we surely share the same anxiety, hope, nervousness, fear, etc. Guess we'll see if anyone else joins in here, if not, we know about each other now...lol

Umm...anyone doing the pre-op diet and having an issues with bowel movements (sigh, just look @ the things we talk about). I went back through my paperwork but didn't see anything about adding any fiber products like BeneFiber or MetaMucil...anyone been told to take either of those?

OUCH! I have tried caramel before (not this brand) but as far as a 'chew' went...I didn't care for it so I ordered 'chocolate' for the Bariatric Advantage ones come from bariatricpal. I'm so sorry you got the wrong ones...I know that blows...

LOL, they are SO good....and I can CHEW! I got 2 different kinds. LOL, I said 'stare' because I suddenly now have a 'new option' I haven't been eating/drinking for the past few days. I felt like a dragon with my horde... I got the "Outshine" brand (sugar free) that has 'tangerine', 'raspberry' and 'strawberry'. I will caution that each one actually has 25 calories each. They ironically have 6 gm of carbs, 1 gm of sugar (which meets my restrictions) and 1 gram of fiber. Then I also got the "Popsicle" brand - sugar free - grape, orange and cherry. They have 15 calories each and 4 grams of carbs (no fiber). So the Popsicle brand is definitely less calories. I guess it would come down to how many Popsicle a person is having during a day as to which is a good choice for them. For ME, TONIGHT, I'm having the Outshine brand.

Oh Frustr8, was sitting here mopey with a bad headache...and you just had my whole face light up with a smile...I have never heard it stated that way before but I LOVE IT!! LOL..thank you so much!!

Love your haul! I'm waiting for a shipment from them right now with my vitamins and looks to be the same calcium citrate chewy bites. Going to shower and then come back to stare at my newly bought sugar free popsicles!

Oh wow, great to hear from you! Ironically...we are at the same point but I noticed today I was foggier than I expected (although yesterday I was LESS foggy than expected..LOL). I have had a bad headache all day today. I did not give up caffeine until..well, I guess since I had 1/2 cup this morning I haven't given it up yet. I'm used to 4 to 5 cups a day though...so that probably has something to do with the headache. I noticed my dr's list is different than the nutritionist he sent me too. They both had soft foods @ first start of the 7-10 days, but since I didn't start until 'Day 8.5', I went ahead and started full liquid diet today (regarding Day 8.5 - on the way out of my doc's office last week, I teased him about being grumpy about 10 days and he said "7"...um...ok, maybe he was kidding? When I realized I should clarify, it was already the weekend so I'm taking a day of soft foods out. I've noticed some interesting variations - there are a few ppl I've seen on here doing a full FOUR WEEKS PRE-OP....I just shudder..LOL. Guess it was good that I already had given up sugar/carbs/etc as I was doing keto. I did something similar last week - one night I went out for Mexican and one lunch at a Chinese place. But it was just 1 meal each day...not the entire days. I did have a drink '11 days' prior but I have not had any alcohol since the 10 days started even though I didn't do the pre-op diet until day 8.5 (that sounds so weird!). I feel the same..nervous..anxious..and right now...a bit hungry..lol. Best of luck to you as well! Stay in touch. I know we have lots of other early July peeps out there!

I get torn whether to post here or the general July 2019 surgery thread!! Should I cross-post?? I know we have way more ppl getting surgery - specifically VSG on July! Where are our other siblings?

Oh my gosh...my fellow 'July-ers'......are you in your pre-op 'diet' yet. I figure if you are in the first 10 to12 days of July or actually I've seen some folks post that they have a MONTH long pre-op - how are you hanging in there? I've been doing keto prior to getting approved so protein shakes like Premier were already part of my super busy work life as meal replacements as otherwise I'd have skipped meals which is not good. Gotta say...yeah, I'm hungry! REALLY hungry..the actual stomach true hunger, not head hunger/emotional hunger. I can endure stomach growling, etc. throughout day but I've always found it almost impossible to get to sleep if extremely hungry. Crossing fingers that when I pick up my sugar free popsicles today, I have something to 'chew'. Wonder how many of those I'd need to eat to make hunger go away, but isn't liver shrink based on being REALLY LOW CALORIES - like 600 or less? Are y'all tracking your calories too to make sure extra ones aren't sneaking in..although how many extra can sneak in from sugar free jello, I don't know..but I can see protein shakes adding up! Today is my first day of 'all liquids'! Well, it is odd that my doc gave me 1 set of guidelines; however the nutritionist group we all had to see - he referred us, have a slightly different set of guidelines (making my eyes cross). Going to call his office to clarify but I'm SO worried about my liver not being 'shrunken' enough to operate on me, I'm thinking of sticking with what I got from the nutritionist office anyways. With confusion from my own dr about when to start the pre-op diet - I actually started on day..um..8.5 (not 10 and he had told me '7' verbally..so confused). I figure my liver must be ginormous as my BMI is 56 so.....I decided may be best with 7 days left before surgery (CANNOT believe I'm SAYING THAT!!), that I'm going to do full liquid starting today (so 1 day early) and will follow dr's notes on doing clear liquid only Days 1-3 prior to surgery. Doc Office says: Days 7-10 soft food diet (although dr told me on way out when I teasingly fussed about 10 days, he said '7'?? Days 4, 5, and 6 - Puree Food Diet Days 1, 2, and 3 prior to surgery -Clear Liquid Diet Nutritionist Documentation says: Day 6 - 10 prior to surgery - Soft Diet Days 3, 4, and 5 - Full Liquid Diet Days 1 & 2 - Clear Liquid

Went to Mother's Day brunch at my MIL's upscale retirement center and as I had not yet had my surgery - my surgery is on 7/1, but past 15 months have been primarily keto based, I made my usual no carb/low carb choices although I did have a sugar free dessert (sugar free but it had more carbs than I normally take in). Main point is, I was surverying the usual options noting all the things I could still have at that same time NEXT year on Mother's Day...and also same for a Father's Day lunch we attended at her center - a small bit of ham..maybe...a small bit of slice prime rib..maybe, deviled egg (OH I SURE HOPE SO!), fresh fruit everywhere, a frittata..maybe...point being is there are SO many options at this place every single year that I KNOW (by Mother's Day next year I will be post-op for 10 months. I plan for a while to carry backup protein drink with me to things like this. Her retirement home is ritzy/costly/etc. but my in-laws had some money and the place is not your usual 'retirement community'. Trust me, this is Definitely a place where if I have to whip out my protein drink...could also bring the mocha Ensure one...I will fit in with SO many ppl as the population is primarily 80 and over although there are several in their 60's and 70's...if you are in the Ft. Worth area and have some money, most ppl happily move to this place when they are ready. I could probably ask for or borrow an appropriate drink from one of the residents. I've SEEN several of them with high protein shakes. Maybe we can clink our shake containers together and toast each other If nothing else, I will be there for my MIL even though yes, I'm a Mom too. My Mom is sadly no longer with us after a heart-wrenching 3 year battle with dementia (my Dad is gone as well and my parents were INCREDIBLE people). When anyone complains about having to go visit 'their Mom', and possibly their MIL...trust me when I say, one day that Mother's Day (or flip it for Father's Day) will be SOLELY about you and you will MISS the run-around that happened in trying to get to see all of the other 'Mom's' in your life.

I am buying some of the vitamins, etc. as I finally managed to re-read my pre-op checklist and noticed it said to start the vitamins and the calcium citrate stuff during this phase. I got myself a little confused around the whole 'don't take this vitamin, when you are taking this xyz' so I need to figure that all out. I'm a bit concerned that the 'all in 1 multivitamin' is a capsule that needs to be swallowed. I'm wondering if I should order a chewable/melt for the 1st 30 days post-op?? Also, as I already have thinning hair, I've ordered some biotin (maybe it helps, maybe it won't but am willing to try anything to ward off what hair loss I can...along with getting enough protein. I've ordered some of the variety packs of powdered soup, some puddings, plain protein powder as that seems to be a big part of getting enough protein during the different phases from week...1 or 2 - month 6 post-op. Already had vanilla and choc protein powder but none of the 'plain'. Ordered a food scale. Do not YET have little plates, didn't like prices I've seen yet but that is on my list to buy. Love the ice cube tray recommendation! that is going on my 'to buy' list. I know the plastic things you are talking about and I'm going to ask daughter to go after those for me. She loves Dollar Tree! You are so right about them being perfect for portion control. I thought about ordering at least 1 new set of PJ's/Nightgown...just to have something different..as a non-food reward. Also thought about ordering some resistance bands for arm/leg workouts. Phew...so much to do....suddenly..so little time! I let the time get right past me; however I got approved and got a date all within same week (and they finally pushed insurance thru as I had been asking them to do...and surprise to them..it got approved..not a surprise to me)..so I feel like I'm suddenly playing 'catch up'

You can do it!! We are here for you! I'll cheer on your withdrawal from sugar and you can bring me back to earth when I'm tripping out about my caffeine withdrawals....LOL

Frustr8: Awww....thank you! A life enrollment in the Bananarama Club...I love that! Definitely a 'committed' woman...;) You are such a kind and caring person!! You know, when I read that the pre-op diet could be hard, it is easy not to really pay a ton of attention until you find yourself doing it! LOL..... I pray for no complications for any of us, for no issues after surgery that make things harder....for the post surgery weeks 1-4 or for some 1-8...to be as easy as possible. Although we are all also aware of the things/challenges that can happen, that possibly will happen..and I pray for the fortitude to get though it all. I also need to find July Sleevers thread!

I'll be bringing my laptop and laptop charger.and my cell phone USB charger. Good call on whomever said to bring a pillow to hold against stomach. Lots of us on here too are also July-ers......lol, right now I'm trying to survive the pre-op diet..I know it's not that bad, but I went from Keto (which I knew I couldn't do after surgery) to now this soft food, tomorrow start on full liquids...and my body is like...what the heck - you usually eat enough protein to keep us feeling ok... My stomach is wondering what the heck happened...well, I have NEWS for my stomach! It's going to be...um....er..not having to worry about most of itself after 7/1. Shhhh!! Right now I'm so dang HUNGRY!

Several of us replying on this post are scheduled for JULY! I'm scheduled for July 1st!! I actually cut out sugar a year to 15 months ago as I was doing keto and trying "one last time" to lose weight on my own and ended up tearing my knee up while exercising so have been trapped with a swollen knee for over a year that needs to be replaced but ortho won't touch me until my BMI is 40 or less. At my highest...I guess my BMI was around 56 to 60? It's closer to low 50's now, not good at all but less than it was. Personally, I'd cut sugar out ASAP as along with coffee it seems to be one of the harder things to 'detox' from to borrrow a word. If I hadn't already been doing a low carb lifestyle, for MYSELF, I would have done basically a keto/low carb approach leading up to my true pre-op diet plan to shrink my liver. That way I could have gotten thru the detox/keto flu from getting all of those nasties out of my system and not have that being an additional thing that makes me feel bad when, if I hadn't done anything prior to my pre-op 8 day diet, and all of a sudden I've just removed sugar, carbs, caffeine, etc. all at the same time and gone down to 600-800 calories a day. That's a BIG HIT to anyone's system and I would rather tackle some of them earlier and kind of smooth out the negative effects (which are temporary but can be a pain in the tush). Sigh..caffeine, my last 'frontier' to give up. Ironically am planning to do what you are doing, switching to unsweetened ice tea. I'm going to have to go look at the JULY 2019 Sleevers thread - hope to keep in touch with all of you. I'm nervous, and hopeful...scared.anxious...and SO ready to get this done.

Hey Elcee, Yeah, in the U.S. we also have 'Use By' and/or 'Best buy' dates. Depends on the product. I work with supply chain logistics software so we deal with pharma and grocery store industries and many other industries. That's why I did not immediately toss. Was curious about the protein powder as to what to look for and you basically answered that, which I appreciate. Yeah, on meds and other things I do not have great faith in the reliability of dates.

I've gone from being excited about my surgery date of July 1st, to realizing the liver shrink diet for the number of days my dr requires means I need to start this Sunday (and a panic went through me as I've been so inundated with work that I am going to scramble to stock up on things that are permitted for the different 'day countdown). I then started feeling overwhelmed as I feel like the date suddenly snuck up on me. I had a fleeting thought of postponing so am not sure what that is all about. Then my mind started thinking about all of the things that freaked me out when I first found out that a gastric sleeve did NOT mean that your stomach had a sleeve wrapped around it which constricted things, instead it meant that you had 85% of your stomach removed and a little pouch left. I stupidly thought 'sleeve' originally meant your intestines would be compressed so that the amount of volume you could take in would be = to about what the true 'pouch' will have left. I've been asked if I'm sure I want to mutilate my body this way. I've been looking into this for 4..maybe 5 years and I knew in all these years that until this PAST YEAR, I was not ready to make this decision. This past 1.5 yrs I had issues come up with my knees and back to such a point that I've been in chronic pain. I started my own internal checks to see what I felt was best to do to give myself a chance at "life" since I'm turning 50 and am not getting any younger. The entire past year, I reached a certainty and a level of conviction AND enthusiasm as I decided that instead of being trapped by chronic pain (even though first MRI scans of knees was done right before I turned 50, 2 diff knee ortho's said I have so much arthritis in knees that I need full knee replacements. I have been sailing through this past year with a level of acceptance and happiness at decided that the sleeve was the right decision..the best decision to give me back my quality of life. Then I got my surgery date...was actually SO HAPPY....then husband had poor reaction..and the fact that I realized my pre-op diet starts this sunday...just hit me all at once (and I've been doing low carb for past year so it's not like I haven't had to go through some rough times in my food/WOL decisions). Is this just a case or normal pre-op nerves/cold feet? Did anyone ever postpone (and either regret or appreciate it)? I've come so far like all of us and this past year has been good and bad in my efforts to lose weight on my own to make sure I was ready to embrace a WOL and not a 'diet'. Maybe I'm self sabotaging ? I don't think we ever get completely past that...have to guard against it.....

As soon as I read your words 'more of the same'...a shiver went through my body...because I just can't...I can't...you know what I mean? I truly can't take living a half life...a quarter life...a life feel such shame for the amount of space I take up...for the looks I get...from feeling stupid relief I wasn't the 'biggest person in the room'...to ALWAYS being the biggest person in the room. The aches/pains...physically and mentally/emotionally. This isn't for those out there who choose to judge or feel disgusted...this is because I deserve better, my body deserves better. I KNOW that some of the depression and anxiety I have...are tied intimately into my inappropriate relationship with food that I had had for the past decade. I've done some head work...to get to my decision, but I know I have much work to do even after surgery..ESPECIALLY as I can never let myself forget that it is a tool...

UGH- I know that kind of dr...they should not be allowed to interact with people! The make you feel more like an 'it' than a person. OMG - YES on the 'you're going to die on the table'. When I came home and happily shared my surgery date with my husband, he asked what my last wishes were and he was NOT kidding/teasing. Sure, those type of discussions are ones that we should all have with family/friends/etc. at some point and sooner rather than later..no matter age or physical condition as there are no guarantees that tomorrow will come for anyone. Your enthusiasm is contagious and you and AZHiker are helping me get mine back. I know none of us will know what issue we might have after surgery, but I have an 'up front/in my face' realization of issues I now have before surgery and I'm willing to make the trade. This!! How did you know this?! That is what I've been fighting with the past few years. I worry so much for one of my daughters as she is 27 and although she is 5 inches taller than me...she is the same weight as I am. I worry so much about her. She has other issues, including medication issues that contribute to weight gain but these meds are not optional. I don't fear dying from my own standpoint as much as I am in terror thinking about what would happen to her if I were to die. We've lost so many people in the past 5 yrs that were wonderful, loving, incredible people who adored me and her..and we adored them back. My Dad...my best friend of 20 yrs (brain cancer), my Mom 2 years ago...after a gut-wrenching/traumatizing 3 year battle with dementia..and then my FIL 1 year ago. All of the kind of people who were truly capable of loving us unconditionally...are now gone from our lives. With both parents and my best friend gone..it's a rather stark realization to know there is no one left in this world who has the capacity to love you unconditionally as you once were loved. I'm so thankful that neither my daughter nor I ever took that for-granted and we treasured and spent time with these people long before they were gone so that is a blessing as the regrets would be almost insurmountable if we had that do deal with as well. I wish..especially my Mom and my best friend, Kelly..were here..to be with me as I wait for surgery. To make me laugh...to hug me. Kelly would have been making me laugh and giving me all the assurances I needed. Actually, having this surgery concludes me doing the very last thing she ever asked of me before she passed - I have done everything else she already asked of me with the exception of this..and that was "to get my life back...to have the surgery...to quit waiting". I miss them all so very very much. I sat outside the other night and talked to her..and told her "Kelly, I'm almost there!" Oh my gosh..my eyes are "leaking" like crazy. Part in relief at people on here caring and understanding....and because I miss my family and my best friend oh so much...their absence is STARKLY felt right now... Thank you for your kindness..and your words...your honesty...

First off...I have to say...your response made me cry. It made me cry because....you understand. You cared enough to respond...I have felt so alone...and just seeing your response and Frustr8's...made me feel...that I wasn't alone anymore. I know someone else has kindly responded but since I'm at work I have to reply when I have a few mins of downtime. AZHiker - you are right about how younger people are possibly unaware, until they are in same boat, about how much breaking down of your body occurs over the years due to morbid obesity (and even "not so morbid obesity"). I actually was not morbidly/super morbidly obese until my late 30's so that is even a bit scarier and a possible warning that the damage can happen in little over a decade of being morbidly-obese. Actually with a BMI of..um...55 or 53..I think I'm considered 'super' morbidly obese. Those words make me cringe. I have oddly escaped from some of the co-morbidities but I KNOW it is WHEN, not IF that those will develop as these past couple of years, heck even 1 year has seen an onslaught of issues like knees and back. I actually tore my meniscus on my right knee when I was trying to exercise so the irony is a bit funny. It was when they did an image of my knees that they found extensive arthritis. Why my knees never hurt before that, I have no idea but it has been a constant 15 months of chronic pain. I have a high pain tolerance but have learned I don't do well with chronic pain. I have all my female parts still...for what good they do at this age! LOL...I do not have high blood pressure, diabetes, but again, it is a only a matter of time and having hit 50, I'm not doing my body any favors with the normal things that aging can do. I cannot climb a flight of stairs at all without gasping. Some of that is from being a repeat DVT/PE survivor. Lungs are scarred. The clotting history of course is tied in with my inactivity and weight. I do not have a disorder and have clotted even when I had a brief period in the past decade of almost 9 months of quite a bit of activity and exercise. That clotting history is why my dr will only do the sleeve at this point even though I have...roughly 175 lbs to lose to reach my goal weight. My dr wrote my goal weight down about 20 lbs from what I am looking to hit. He put 150 and I'd be delighted at 170. I've been at that weight even though I'm 5'6" before (I had lost 80 lbs and kept it off for a decade in my late 20's early 30's) - and I felt great. Maybe that was also because I was much younger! Thank you so much for responding. Your story and your comments have helped me so much today..I cannot thank you enough!

Totally feeling you! I just got approved for July 1st as well so we are surgery twins...and I swung from "oh wow, this is great"...to "OMG, I'm scared"