ssflbelle

Just a quick follow up to this posting. I stayed with the surgeon I had as the issue turned out to be not his fault. It was my PCP who was holding things up. Once I threatened to sit in his office until he gave me the medical clearance and I finally got it and had my surgery on Jan 26th 2016. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks post op and as of today I am down 21 pounds, my incisions are healing very nicely and I am not having any issues with the food I am eating. I was very pleased with my surgeon, the hospital and recovery. Since he does surgery for other things if I ever need surgery for something else he covers I will go to him.

Oh Ok I see now that was not the drink nutrition I was looking at. The drinks do have 9 to 11 sugars but the carbs are 12 to 15. I don't think I would go for these drinks but other further along in their weight loss might try them. Thanks though for posting about them as it is always helpful to know what is out there.

Thanks everyone for all the info. I found the email for the product and I sent them one basically explaining what I did here. Until I hear back from them I will hold onto them just in case they want me to send them back to them at their expense. Hope to hear from them real soon and get some good results.

WOW WOW WOW! Thank you for posting this as it says a lot of what I feel but could never put into words. I came from 497 pounds and being on an electric scooter also. Some day when I reach my goal I hope I have the voice to be able to express what you have. You made a wonderful transformation and I am so very happy for you. It is wonderful that you are paying it forward by helping others and being involved in OAC. I am hoping to go to this years conference. Maybe we will meet if I get there.

.No you didn't have surgery for just 34 pounds. I had my surgery on Jan 26th. It will be 4 weeks Tuesday. I lost 20 pounds in the first 10 days and haven't lost a pound since Feb 3rd. That is a stall. By the way 34 pounds in 5 weeks is great. That is over 6 pounds a week. I would suggest you do a search on "embracing the stall" there are several threads about this topic. It night help you understand what is going on.

You and I are at the same phase. Each dr usually has a totally different program for you to follow. But since yours didn't seem to give you much directions maybe the following will help you so your not so freaked out. My Dr has me on 1 Bariatric multi Vitamin, B-12 tablets under the tongue, and Prilosec every day. More Vitamins will be introduced at 1 month and 3 months. I have to have labwork done at 1 month post op. Then 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. My Dr all ready gave me all the forms at to what is to be done each time for the labwork. These forums are freaking me out. I feel like nobody has gone through what I'm going through. Not helping my anxiety. I have had no word on any labs or vitamins. He just looked at me and said ok you're clear to start solids. I'm almost a month out and am still eating liquids and mush. The most solid food I can stomach is refried Beans with a little avocado and the occasional ritz cracker that's chewed to death. I get horrible stomach cramps and pain if I eat anything more than that. So I'm freaking out about starting back at work and I don't have any control of my food. I don't sit at all at work and generally log in 10k steps a day. I work retail and I cannot be off the floor to eat every hour.. My boss would flip and send me back out on leave. I have a sheet of paper with some food items on it and a diet plan of what to eat and when. Nothing very detailed. Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal This week I was told I can begin to eat cottage cheese, string cheese and other shredded like cheeses, sliced deli turkey, tuna and other light white fishes, soups like miso, bean, lentil, yogurt, egg, old fashion not instant oatmeal, Pam spray and light mayo plus at least 1 shake. I am averaging about 1/2 cup of cottage cheese or an egg, or 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal for Breakfast, 2 oz of turkey or fish, and 1/4 cup of refried beans for lunch and maybe an oz or 2 of turkey or fish and a cheese stick or maybe 1/4 cup of soup for dinner. A yogurt or premade shake or Protein powder with milk as a snack. So I am getting in the 60 Protein and calories are around 400 to 600. Tracking what you eat on myfitnesspal or some other website that has food and exercise trackers would be a good idea. I get that same pain you are experiencing and when I do I stop eating as it is the signal that the tummy is full. You may not realize it but the tummy is only able to accept about 1/2 a cup at a meal. At this stage of the recovery protein should be about the only thing going in that tiny tummy. No drinking a half an hour before and after a meal. chicken, Calves Liver and non raw Vegetables and non pulp Fruit are to start at 6 weeks outs. Beef, Pork, Lamb, Ham etc can be tried at about 5 to 6 months out. Crackers, Pasta, potato, breads, rice etc is not to be eaten until 6 months out and then it is the last item on the plate and the smallest amount. I am to drink 64 ounces of Water, crystal light, powerade zero a day. coffee and Tea is not allowed until 2 months post op. As for your not being allowed to eat or drink on the store floor, I find that to be extremely harsh. I don't know if you told your bosses at work about the surgery but it might be a good idea to get some kind of notice from your PCP that states you must stay hydrated and need to have your bottle of water with you on the floor otherwise you will be out of work again and back in the hospital because of dehydration. Dhrguru gave you some good advise. You have to be an advocate for yourself if your surgeon dropped the ball. Get your PCP to order the lab work and provide you with a Bariatric Nutritionist. Order the Big Sleeve Book from this site. It is filled with lots of wonderful info that may reduce your stress and make this time of recovery a bit more pleasant for you. The offer to support and encourage each other through email is still available to you. Hopefully you will start feeling better as you increase your protein and water. Good luck!

Tuesday will be 4 weeks post op for me. The first 2 days are the worse but things will get better soon. I see the surgeon for my 1 month followup on Friday. Incisions are almost gone and all food I am eating is staying down. I have the full feeling when eating My lower shoulder back pain left when I was finally allowed to eat an egg a day for a week. This week I am averaging about 1/2 cup of cottgae cheese for Breakfast, 2 oz of turkey, or fish, and 1/4 cup of refried Beans for lunch and maybe an oz or 2 of turkey or fish and a cheese stick dinner and a yogurt or shake as a snack. So I am getting in the 60 Protein and calories are around 400 to 500. Did start to ride my trike on Friday and have been doing more around the house until about 4 pm than I start getting really tired but not enough to fall asleep. Granted I did have 3 different surgeries on Jan 26th but I am thinking come Friday the Dr will be releasing me to head back to work on the 1st of March. Still being disabled and having to use the electric scooter I hope I can do a 6 hour day by than.

I got 4 boxes of 18 shakes in Sept of 2015 with an expiration date of May 2016. two boxes of chocolate and two of the strawberry and cream. I was drinking them before my surgery. I am not having any problems with the chocolate shakes The first box of strawberry and cream I really liked and had no problems with the consistency of the shakes. This second box of shakes I seem to be having problems with them. The first 1/2 of the bottle is fine and then the second half I get thick grainy yucky mouthfuls of I am assuming Protein. It doesn't matter whether I shake up the container or don't, refrigerator it or don't it still happens. I still have about 15 bottles left of the strawberry and cream and really do not want to throw them out. Drinking only half of them does give me some protein but I paid for the whole bottles not half. This Tuesday I will be 4 week post op and still have at least 2 to 4 more weeks before I was told by my Dr to stop drinking the shakes. Has anyone had this kind of problem with their ready made Premier strawberry cream shakes? If so, what did you do to make it more drinkable? If anyone else has some suggestions I am open to trying them as being on disability I do not want to throw the shakes away. Thanks for reading this posting and for any help you can provide.

It is in Washington DC at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center! OAC has secured a competitive room rate of $129/night (single/double occupancy)! The scholarship may also pay for the hotel cost as well as registration and airplane or gas mileage. There magazines are very informative as well. I picked one up this past Wednesday when I went to my first support group. I was thinking of going this year

Looking at the nutrition info with 20 grams of sugar that seems kind of high for a yogurt drink. I am only 4 weeks post op. Perhaps someone else with a lot more experience can provide more info. Here is just one of the yogurt drinks info. Apple cinnamon Calories 170 Calories from fat 0 Total Fat 0g 0% Sat. Fat 0g 0% Trans. Fat 0g Cholest. 0mg 0% Sodium 70mg 3% Total Carb. 22g 7% Dietary Fiber 0g 0% Sugars 20g Protein 21g Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 25% Iron 0%

Yep songsmith every day for 30 days I have to give myself the shot. They taught me in the hospital how to do it. Once I knew how I was fine. 2 more days to go and I am done with the shots. Thank goodness those shots cost me $150.00 copay for the 30 days. I see the surgeon on Friday for my 1 month followup. I am doing great but frustrated that the weight hasn't gone down since Feb 5th. I have been in a stall now for 2 weeks. It seems crazy but I keep remembering what I read in the thread "Embrace the stall". I just hope some more weight comes off otherwise I will be seeing the Dr with a 20 pound loss for the month. I don't think he will be too happy with that as he expects me to lose 90 pounds in 6 months.

So sorry that your Dr and office aren't more helpful. I am a bit surprised you had a 2 week visit and was told see you in three months from now. You didn't mention if you had gotten any booklets from your Dr about what your suppose to eat and what lab work is suppose to be done and what Vitamins you should have? If your interested I would be willing to email with you and share what my Dr has me doing?

I agree myfitnesspal is the tracker for me. Plus you can track your exercise and they have sleeve forum groups as well as a new feed. My id over there is ssbeadlady. send me a friends request when you get there. Also anyone else feel free to send a friends request.

Yes songsmith is right. We do get filled with whatever it is that they blow up our tummy with to get the instruments in. Then all the IV fluids and meds we are given. I had my surgery on Jan 26th and didn't get on the scale until Feb 3rd when I went back for my 1 week follow up. By then I had lost all those excess fluids from the surgery and was 13 pounds down from surgery date. Since then I have lost an additional 7 pounds. Oh just in case you don't know about 3 weeks out you may come to a stall. If your Dr was like mine I had 2 week of full liquids. The 2nd week I got to add egg. This week I got to add tuna, cottage cheese etc real food. My body is saying hey what are you doing to me and doesn't know how to react so it has stopped losing for awhile. There is a thread on this site called "embrace the stall" that Inner Surfer Girl wrote http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/351046-embrace-the-stall/?hl=embrace%20the%20stall it is worth reading so you are prepared for that time if it happens to you. I know if I hadn't read it before I got to week 3 I would have been so pissed and would have been ranting like crazy. Now I am just following the program, exercising a little and doing what needs to be done. I know the weight will move again once my body realizes I mean business and plan to get to goal whenever I get there.

Hi to everyone who is reading my blog. I see it was viewed over 1,000 times and I thought it was time for an update. I am writing this posting 23 days after my surgery. I have posted on many threads during these past 23 days about my surgery and recovery but some how neglected writing in my blog. So today I am taking the time to post about my surgery experience. Sorry this is rather lengthy, but should offer you all in the pre-surgery stage another glimpse into what happened at least to me during my surgery. Each person's surgery is different, so yours may not be anything like mine. If in some small way it helps just one person to understand how to prepare for their Weight Loss Surgery it will be worth it to write this. Plus next year when I am at goal I would like to have the posting to read back on. I was called on Monday Jan 25th 2016 and told to report to the hospital at 11:30 am Tuesday Jan 26th. My surgery took place 2 days after my Birthday. Sunday, my Birthday I started my clear liquid diet even though I didn't need to start it until Monday. However the night before my 60th Birthday we had a Wine, Fondue and Cupcake party so I wanted to be sure all that junk was out of my system for surgery day. After midnight on Monday I was not allowed to eat or drink anything. On Monday I had photos taken, took my measurements and packed my bags. This is my first surgery and I was a bit nervous of the unknown, whether or not I would wake up from the surgery. How bad would the pain be and how long would I be in the hospital. However everything I have read on line for the past 8 years has shown me that this is the right thing for me to do. Over many many years I have lost 180 pounds on my own and the last 160 do not want to leave my body. After Jan 26th I knew that the numbers would go down a lot faster than the first 180 did. I was thrilled to finally be able to have this much needed surgery that was denied me in 2008 when I first joined the site. Come Tuesday my roommate drove me to the hospital. I remember on the 30 minute drive how thirsty I was and how much my throat hurt from not being allowed to drink even water. They took me in to the preop area within 10 minutes of my arriving at the hospital. I changed into the gown and they put on the nonskid booties as I couldn't do it. Then they put on those white support stockings and the velcro leg compressions. I have a history of lymphedema and neither one of us wanted to deal with that on top of surgeries. They tried to get an IV line started on my left hand but as soon as they put the tourniquet on me the vein they had found disappeared. So the nurse located and got one on the right hand. After that I complained I was cold on my shoulders so they put on a few blankets and even had a heater hose under the blanket at my legs. Next they hooked me up to the EKG but they were having problems getting it to register. They asked me all kinds of questions about the meds I had taken and when I last ate or drank anything. They moved the EKG pads, replaced them twice and finally replaced the lines. After about 20 minutes they had a good reading. It was about 1 o'clock when I was wheeled into the operating room. I remember thinking wow there are at least 6 to 8 people in here who were going to be there for me. Within another minute I was asleep. I don't even recall a mask being put over my face. I was the first one for the day as Dr Vaughan starts in the afternoon on Tuesday. Dr. Vaughan started the bariatric surgery program at Jupiter Medical Center in 2000. He is highly regarded among his peers for his technical skills, excellent outcomes and low complications rates. In addition to bariatric surgery, he performs an entire range of general surgery, including gallbladder removal, hernia repairs, heartburn surgery, colon and intestinal, stomach and skin cancer surgery. Since the surgery I have gotten reports as to what Dr Vaughan did in the 2 hour surgery time. First he repaired a hernia that we both knew about. I had 6 visits with dr Vaughan before he did the surgeries. During that time he thought I might have an umbilical hernia and if I did he was going to leave it in. He said during weight loss they grow back so better to leave it in and get it taken out when I have skin removal surgery. However it turns out the hernia was not an umbilical and he had to repair it After that he moved on to do my sleeve and the last thing he did was removed my very badly diseased gallbladder. I never had an problems with the gallbladder. However he told me it was a porcelain gallbladder and had to come out. According to my room mate the hospital provided a computerized following of me that day. He told me I was in the operating for 2 hours and in recovery for 3 hours. In recovery they had a very hard time getting my pain under control. I have read that people woke up with tubes in their throats and remember everything they said. I have no memory of the 3 hours in recovery. The first memory I have is being wheeled through the doors of my private room. I remember asking for ice chips as my throat was as dry as a bone. Those first ice chips in over 18 hours felt so good as they melted down my throat. I slept off and on the rest of that night. The only pain I had was right under my breast on the left side. I remember holding onto that area for most of the night and being cold. I also remember not liking that my feet were still restricted and asked of all that stuff could come off and they said no. I asked if they could at least expose my toes so they did take off the nonskid slippers and pushed the open toe support stocking up just above my toes. Oh what a relief that was as I never wear socks. So once I felt more comfortable I drifted off to sleep again until they came to take my vitals. I don't remember when but at one time in the night I saw my blood pressure bottom number had dropped down to 38. I have no idea if that wa good or bad as I drifted back off to sleep. However all the hospital staff was wonderful so I am sure they took care of the situation as they needed to. Since this turned out to be so long, I will end it here and start another posting about the Day after surgery. Feel free to ask any questions, leave a command or two or become friends with me.

Did you have your surgery on Jan 26th? If so, we are surgery sisters. Where did you have your surgery? Does your Dr not have a NUT on staff? My Dr gave us what he called our second Bible that described everything about the surgery, what the eating phases are when to get the labwork done etc. My PCP, Psych Dr and others were very impressed by the material my Dr provided. I also lost 20 pounds in the first 11 days and have been stalled since Feb 6th. The thread mentioned above is a wonderful thread to read and will help you to understand what your body is going through. Please feel free to friend me and ask as many questions are you like.

So sorry to hear the second day was not a good one for you. Right after my surgery I was put on anti blood clotting medicine and have to take it for 30 days. I am surprised you didn't get any such meds. If I may ask what kind of surgery did you have that you needed a drain? Wow you dry heaved a lot to do that to your shoulder. Glad to hear the heating pad helped. I only had one episode of that. Glad to hear you are doing better and home. Get plenty of rest and let your body heal but don't forget to walk it will help with the gas. If your allowed get your Protein Soups and shakes in as ASAP. Once I get mine down 3 days after surgery I was feeling much better. As for me since you asked. I am heading into my 4th week post op and am feeling great. I was given permission to start riding my bike again and will probably start tomorrow. I am finally done with the 1 egg a day phase and started with the next phase, cottage cheese re-fried Beans, turkey etc for the next 2 weeks. Everything I eat is staying down. However now that I have been given real food I am stalled with the weight loss. I am happy with the 20 pounds I have lost so far since surgery. I just need to embrace the stall, stay with the program and I know the weight will start to drop again. Keep us posted as to how your doing.

I am only 20 days post op and able to have just an egg plus the Protein shakes, Soups, Jello and popsicles. For lunch the last 6 days I eat the egg and some days a jello. I get this weird feeling under the left side of my breast and radiating down the left towards where I think my tummy is. It stays with me for hours and is a mild version of the same kind of pain I had the first 2 days in the hospital. I don't get this pain when I drink the soups or shakes or eat the popsicles or jello by themselves. I have been assuming it is my feeling for being full. Could it be something? Is it really possible to be full on just an egg and a jello cup?

So sorry to hear you are having such pain. Did you all have stitches on the tummy incisions? My Dr used some type of glue adhesive. I have had no incision pain or itching what so ever. I am 20 days post op and they are healing very well. I hope you all get some relief soon.

Jane it was the PCP staff who took the blood pressure reading on that Thursday and I saw another Dr from the same office the next Monday. Neither one seemed concerned. I go in this Monday for blood workup and I am sure they will take my pressure again. If it is still low I will ask when do I need to get off my BP meds.

3 1/2 hours and your heading home, I don't think so! Is the sleeve the only surgery you are having? I had 3 different procedures on Jan 26th, was in the operating room 2 hours and in recovery for 3. My surgery started at 1 and by 6:15 I was finally being wheeled to my room. In all that time I only remember being wheeled through the doors of my room. I was in the hospital until Jan 28th and got to leave around 12:30. I had a lot of pain couldn't eat anything but ice chips and did nothing but sleep. I had a TV in the room but it was never on. I guess it will depend upon your health and how well you recover but 3 1/2 hours doesn't seem long enough to me. I sure hope they don't rush you out the door. Good luck. That is the day I go back to the surgeon for my 1 month follow up.

I felt so bad for Ariel, all the pain under her breasts. It looked horrible. You could see the tears in her eyes when Dr Now looked at them. What in the world did the previous Dr do to her that the incisions were still opened and so deep. I am surprised even more surgery was done knowing she didn't heal well from the previous one. This show kinds of scares me in a way. I don't know if I would be able to stand the miles of incisions and the months of pain. I was once 497 pounds and the Dr has already told me I will have at least 30 pounds of excess skin based on the weight I have lost all ready. I am not sure a 63 year old (which I probably will be when it is time to think about skin removal) woman should even think about skin removal surgery. But than again I do want to fall in love again and who could fall in love with someone carrying around all that excess skin. I don't know maybe because I am from the older generations but it seems to me if you have all that excess skin you don't wear skin tight dresses and skirts etc like I see so many of the Ladies wearing. I plan to wear nice clothing but nothing that will be showing all my excess skin.

Thank you! I'm so OCD sometimes that my brain is always keeping a track of how many laps I've done, even while my mind is completely somewhere else! Back in my previous life when I was swimming regularly (a mile a day) I kept up with my laps more easily because I would swim sets of different strokes. Lately, I have been able to only do backstroke so I didn't even bother counting. I just went by the clock. It turns out that based on my Misfit Shine I was swimming over a mile of backstroke, just not every day. This past weekend I swam my first crawl in a long time so I will be working toward mixing up my strokes. I do water aerobics classes and water weights too so the water has been giving me a great workout. The water aerobics and water weights you do is this in a group class setting, or individual at your own pool. I have a community pool and I am not too sure even what water aerobics and water weights are all about. Any suggestions or perhaps an idea of what you do would be appreciated.

I looked online at the Misfit Shine tracker you mentioned. It is on sale now for less than $50.00. This I could afford. How do you like the tracker? Was it hard to figure out how to set it up and keep track of what your doing? I have never had a good grip on technology. Heck I still have a trac phone. If I got one of these and can't figure it out would you help me please?

Congratulations on getting your surgery date. Yes it will be the best decision you ever made. I wish my insurance would have approved of mine in 2008 when I first tried to get the lap band. Anyhow my surgery was Jan 26th. I had a 6 month supervised diet I had to follow. During that time it was discovered I had a diseased gallbladder, and a hernia. At first the surgeon told me he would leave the hernia in as he thought it was an umbilical hernia. When he went in for the diseased gallbladder removal, he found out it was a hiatal hernia so he took it out and gave me the sleeve. I have recovered really well but I must be careful not to lift anything really heavy. I don't feel it is prolonging my recovery at all. I wish you the very best for a speedy recovery.