Creekimp13

Gotalose... I'm feeling good, and could probably handle a couple hours of desk work...but it would have to be pretty simple stuff. Keep in mind...for three days I had clear liquid with no calories, and now I'm getting about 400 calories a day from protein shakes in addition to more clear liquid. It's hard to make your brain function well with so few calories coming in. You could do some simple work, but I wouldn't suggest anything challenging or stressful. (or anything that would result in big problems if you screwed it up a little)

Jade, my incisions itch today, too:) Par for the course...the healing itch.

I was the first surgery on Tuesday with my group, so with an arrival time of 5:30, I was up at 4am. Got there and it all went very smoothly. They wanted a little last minute blood, they wanted a pregnancy pee test, then on to pre-surgery where I got a couple of shots and an IV catheter in my forearm. Everyone wants to know your name and birthdate...lol. Had already taken the Emend pill for anti-nausea. Was given an antinausea patch behind my ear, and a motion sickness med. Also, a med for preventing blood clots. Surgery went well. Woke up and learned that I'd had a small hiatal hernia that my doc tightened up to help prevent acid reflux. Surgery was 7:30-9:30. I spent 9:30-12:30 in recovery. Was ready to leave at around 11, but there was a little delay getting my room ready. Got a few ice chips in recovery. Around 12:30, I was wheeled up to my room. The pain from the surgical sites wasn't bad. The trapped gas, particularly in my shoulders, hurt like the dickens, though. Miserable feeling, but tolerable. As soon as I got to my room, I asked to go to the bathroom. Got up without any problem, took myself to the toilet. (nurse did stand outside the door at first). Got out and said that standing upright made my gas pain feel much better, so asked if I could walk. Nurses seemed very enthusiastic about my willingness to walk and took me for a walk. I did a couple laps of the ward and wanted to sit down again. So, then, I was given a little one ounce cup of Water to drink slow. Got some pain meds, some more anti nausea meds, some meds to encourage my guts to keep moving. I drank my little one ounce cup without any issues for a couple hours in a row and they advanced me to drinking FOUR little one ounce cups per hour, and sucking on this plastic breathing thing ten times an hour. After a bit, they helped me put an order in to food service for some broth, Jello, and other Clear Liquids. But here's the routine I had to follow (and am still following today) 10 sucks on the breathing thingy per hour, One or two small walks per hour. Four ounces of clear liquid per hour....drinking one ounce every 15 minutes in 10 little sips. Yesterday at 6pm, they sent me home, and I've been doing the same schedule. Tomorrow, I'll alternate hours, and do 4 ounces of Protein Drink, then four ounces of clear fluid...alternating like this for at least 10 hours of the day. The goal is at least 40 ounces of Fluid per day. I'll remain on Protein drink and clear fluids until my recheck a week from surgery. At that point, if all is well, I get cream of wheat, yogurt, pudding, and oat meal back in the rotation. The toughest thing for me has been getting comfortable in bed. I'm a side sleeper and it's kinda painful...but wedging enough pillows around me helps. Also, I have a little narcotic medication in liquid form for home, that so far, I have only had to take at night. Am feeling pretty good today! Still pooped, but getting my walks in. One funny thing....they loaded me up so much with IV fluids that I actually gained about four pounds while away having surgery! All those swollen tissues must be holding a lot of water. I was told this is very common and not to worry about it. Could also be a function of them taking me off my diuretic for a while until fluids get easier to swallow in bigger volumes. Anyway...I'm doing great and wanted everyone to know the sleeve isn't that bad. The hardest part for me is all the meticulous measuring and making sure all my little recovery jobs are getting done. Walk, sip, suck. Rinse, repeat. Good luck to everyone on a safe and effective outcome!

Thanks Ruby:) Have to be at the hospital at 5:30am! Whew! Will update when I can:) Good luck to you, too!

Intimacy on the internet moves at light speed. Trust is impossible.

You know what I hate worse than d**k pix? Guys who can't communicate. If a brilliant conversationalist who makes me laugh wants to show me his parts...I might just want a peek. Yep, i'm bad. But you've gotta pay to play that game. You need erotic writing skill. You need a mastery of language. You need the ability to completely capture my mind....before I want anything to do with your naughty bits. And I don't just mean the ability to talk dirty. We need commonality, similar values, similar politics, similar creativity and twisted humor, compassion, intelligence, emotional intelligence. Yep, I've got a LOT of tough criteria. But if the guy fits THAT bill? They can send me all the skin shots they want. But not one minute before. If a boring guy sends me a shot of his junk, I use paint to make a weird cartoon out of it and send it back. Then, I delete them. That kinda stuff should never be a surprise.

I'm oldschool. Plain old Fitbit app. Love it.

Just write about your day. Write about your motivators for weight loss surgery. Write about supportive people in your life who will help get you there. Keep it positive and don't give him any concerns.....unless you have some concerns you'd like to have addressed.

This forum might be helpful for you:) https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-mexico-self-pay-weight-loss-surgery/

The reason you have to remove nail polish is because the anesthesiologist and OR nurses will want to see how your blood is perfusing your extremities. Sometimes they'll pinch your nail beds to make them go white and count the number of seconds it takes them to go pink again. This shows how well blood is reaching your fingers and toes. If you have sluggish capillary refill in your fingers and toes it can mean anything from you being too cold...to being a sign of internal bleeding. It's a tool that gives them more information about your circulation:)

Fruit and veggies are BAD next choices...too much fiber in them. It's best to follow your doctor's advice and take reintroductions very slowly. When you need to move on to the next stage, the next foods are cream of wheat or oat meal thinned with skim milk or almond milk, sugar free pudding, creamed soups with the chunks strained out, or yogurt.

Compared to the stretch marks....the surgical scars are an afterthought. I look like a bear used my belly as a scratching post. My skin didn't care for pregnancy.

Hi Jeannie, you should be able to get your EKG done in time. The only issue would be if it had irregularities that might require a stress test or more testing...,, that could get problematic. Get on that first thing in the morning! My EKG was done at my regular doctor's office. I would suggest calling your bariatric group and letting them know you still need your EKG and seeing if they can call whatever test facility will get you in ASAP. Going through regular scheduling yourself might not get the results that a call from a doctor's office would. The endoscopy would come into play only if you flunked your upper GI barium X-ray (at my clinic, anway). If you had normal results from your upper GI (if you had to do one)...you likely won't need an endoscopy.

In this gastric sleeve surgery, the surgeon fixes the hiatal hernia with a couple of stitches (go to 7:50). My doctor said he'd be evaluating us for hernia and fixing it if he found anything.

Don't worry. I had an endoscopy and found out I had gastritis, too. I'm on Famotidine for it. I never had any symptoms, either. All gastritis is...is irritation of your stomach lining. Mine was likely causes by too much ibuprofen for my athritis. I learned that Chronic gastritis is EXTREMELY COMMON in morbidly obese people...and something like a third of women who have bypass...have Chronic gastritis (many don't know it, and it's only discovered upon examining the discarded portion of stomach). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4768929/ <---read this, it'll help. From the article: "The mean operative time was one hour and 20 minutes for all cases, including the gastritis cases, and the mean hospital stay was 2–3 days for all of the patients. Five cases developed post-operative complications (three with leaks, two with strictures), but none of them was found to have gastritis. " It shouldn't be a complication. And the medication you're taking for it will help aid in the healing of your new stomach. Seriously....no worries.

It's not world ending....but don't eat anymore. In order for your liver to shrink, you need to be off carbs. That's kinda the point of the torture diet.

I'm on December 5th, too:) Pre-op diet is ROUGH...but I'm making in. Wishing everyone a safe procedure and a good outcome!

Do your best. Best to follow your own surgeon's rules. Good luck to you...and I feel your pain.

Congrats!

Good luck, please update!

Had my last pre-surgical appointment today! Learned some really weird stuff that I wanted to share. WARNING: What i'm about to describe is unique to my particular surgery protocol. Your doctor might have an entirely different approach and you should follow the instructions of YOUR doctor, always. I'm providing this for folks who are curious about an example of what happens....not what necessarily will happen in their procedure. Your particular doctor and facility might do things completely different. I've been told to take a shower with Chlorhexadine soap the night before surgery (was given a bottle), and to get into freshly laundered bedding. Was told underarm deodorant is desirable, but any other scents should be avoided. No makeup or fingernail polish (has to do with anesthesiologist monitoring your color). I'm supposed to finish all my shakes for the day by 6pm. This is the weird one!!!! From 6-9pm on the night before surgery, I'm supposed to drink 24 ounces of White Grape Juice. At 2:30 am I'm supposed to have an additional 12 ounces. Apparently carb loading the hell out of folks in front of the surgery helps to carry them through the nutritional rut, aids in healing, and helps clean your bowels out more naturally. In the morning, i'm supposed to take 1000mg of Tylenol and my regular meds (minus vitamins and blood pressure meds). I'm also supposed to take a medicine I picked up today called Emend that helps with nausea for a few days. Additionally, i'm being put on a medication called Omeprazole for three months while my stomach heals. I'll start that after surgery and break the capsule into a blob of fat free sugar free cool whip to get it down. Surgery is at 7:30am. I'm supposed to be there by 5:30. They're estimating 1-2 hours of surgery, two hours in recovery. They said I should expect to be in my room on the bariatric floor by 11am-1pm. At that point, I start the sip/blow/walk routine. if I'm able to hold down one ounce of clear liquid an hour, after a few hours, I'm told to do four ounces an hour....with each ounce being consumed in ten sips over 15 minutes. If that works out for a while....they switch it up to protein drinks every other hour. Four ounces clear liquids...four ounces protein drinks...four ounces clear liquids....alternating for ten hours per day. The hope is 40 ounces of fluid per day in the first week. After the first week....we add some other stuff in like pudding and cream of wheat and strained cream soups. With our protocol, about three weeks out you start eating semi soft foods. Takes about six weeks total to heal and have the freedom to try things on impulse. I know a lot of folks do this different...and some have no problems jumping in to semi soft earlier....have heard all sorts of stories. (and a few horror stories) We all have.... And I know we're all interested in when solid food gets reintroduced. I'm gonna do my best to follow instructions and do as i'm told. I want the best outcome possible. Strong suture line healing. All the professionals are saying slow and steady wins the race on this one. As tempting as it will be to eat...I'm gonna do my best to follow instructions to a T. After surgery, I go back in one week for a recheck with both the doctor and the nutritionist. We'll talk about vitamins...which we start taking again after week two. Then, I go back at three weeks, and then monthly for a while...then less frequently. Again...this is just the way one particular office does it....your surgeon might differ a LOT. Follow your surgeons instructions.

Mhy....you must be looking at the Nutritional Supplement version of the shake. The one I'm using is specifically for patients having major surgery and I had to buy it at the pharmacy behind the counter. This one has 15 g of Carbs per shake. It says right on the box that it's to be used only for a short time under the supervision of a doctor. While I understand that Nestle makes chocolate, they also have a huge medical nutrition line (Nestle Health Science) that provides many of the liquid food formulas given to Tube Fed patients, and special liquid supplements for people with specific nutritional needs in medical recovery. Yep, they make candy. Apparently, they're also a huge name in medical nutrition. I'm not saying these shakes are necessary. I'm not plugging them....if I were, I sure wouldn't talk about how God-awful they taste. But it's disingenuous to say they're made by a candy company and are "suspect". And like I say....since I started drinking them in place of 3 of my other shakes...I've felt amazingly clearer. They make me feel a LOT better. Also, the protocol I'm using that was developed by University of Michigan (that includes these weird shakes) is being picked up by Cedars-Sinai and some other super reputable research hospitals. I don't think they'd steer anyone to junk to make a buck because, frankly, they have a ton of money and don't need to. Their bread and butter...is in cutting edge research and having great outcomes.

I don't have to take any elimination product. No clean out procedure. My office does two weeks of liquid diet and on the last night before surgery, you carb load with about 30 ounces of white grape juice. I have a feeling the grape juice makes things move if they need to. LOL:)

UPDATE ON VANILLA ANCHOVY SHAKES**** Ok, yes they're disgusting. Horrible, in fact. BUT...and this is a big BUT.... I feel SO much better than I have since starting the liquid diet. My brain fog is much better...just night and day. I'm not concerned about being lightheaded driving anymore...I feel like myself. So while I don't like the taste of the fishy torture gulps.... they've made me feel so darned good, I have to say I like them. Just figured good news deserved a mention:)

Congrats!