groovygal

A few things I wasn't expecting 5 months out from surgery.
6. I would have to get smaller shoes. I was a size ten 1/2 in shoes and now 8.5.
5. Also always being cold, I wear thermals almost every day to work , but I live in a cold environment. I always wear a scarf.
4. Loosing hair was a bit traumatic for me, but it has stabilized
3. the amount of time I think of food has been transferred into new coping skills, like crafts with yarn and having fun science experiments with my kids.
2. the need for silence to be alone with my thoughts.
1. how anxious I get when buying new clothes. what are some surprise that you had?

I make a shake and get all of my Premeir Protein in first thing. I use half a chocolate and half a vanilla proein shake. You can use what ever you want. But that is 30 grams. I add a scoop of unflavored whey protein 18 grams. and a scoop of multi collagen protein 9 grams and half a tub of what ever flavor of Triple Zero yogart 8 grams with some crushed ice and blend it. That is a 65 gram Protein Shake and I could and will drink one of these every day from now on. It is delicious to me. Give it a try.

After months of waiting because surgeries were on standby due to covid. My surgeon called yesterday and told me if i was ready to go on March 2nd... so 10 days from today.. I am so excited!

Same! (Mine is a week after yours.) Somewhat nervous with all the unknowns that come with this, but excited too. This past year has been a long waiting game doing all the requirements and now that I have a date things are speeding by. 😂

Dates are coming up for us! I am so anxious nervous excited - all rolled into one lol

March 25th! Just got my new date like an hour ago lol. I’m so excited and nervous

I’m brand spanking new. In fact, hit sign up after I read your post. I’m March 10 as well!
I am 3 weeks with 5 Protein Shakes per day. As a vegan, I am on the Vega brand premade.

I’m brand new to the forum too! Just got my date: March 22nd
So excited and nervous right now- been mulling it over for nearly a year but finally decided to take the plunge

I am on the 10th day of my liquid diet. I have to do 2 weeks. Surgery is Tuesday the 23rd. I am fed up with broths so I have moved onto orange Power Ade Zero. Mixed with my Protein Powder it tastes just like an orange creamsicle. The sugar free popsicles I have too but they taste tart to me.
Good luck on your journey. The smell of food will be overwhelming for you but then the thought of eating it will disgust you and then you will feel SO proud of yourself!! In 10 days I am down 23.6 pounds!!

I also only told my immediate family, sister, parents and best friend. I have a friend at work who was sleeved six months before me so she is my support buddy. I work from home at this point due to Covid so no one from work knows except my supervisor (unless she shared my private medical information; HIPPA issue then). I had my procedure Dec 14 so I took "PTO" on the schedule to "get ready for Christmas" with a staycation although it is really FMLA related.
At this point, 61 pounds less in total I do look smaller and may or may not share depending on how I asked about my appearance.
I am so happy I did this and last week was the first time that my husband stated "you are so small" now and I shared with him how much this meant to me. He was just more concerned if I was eating my Protein, feeling good and able to exercise.
Life is really good and I am happy so that is important.

I am scheduled for March 1st. So excited and a bundle of nerves all at the same time.

I am scheduled for March 15th. My sister works for a COVID clinic near where I live and they are expecting another spike in cases around here. I hope they are wrong and my surgery can go as planned!
I just found out I’m only allowed to have 1 visitor the whole time I’m in the hospital, and it has to be the same person the whole time, so I feel bad that some people can’t be there to support me who wanted to be there.
I will be on a liquid diet 2 weeks prior to surgery. I can have popsicles, Jello, fruit and vegetable juice, milk, Protein Drinks, broth, etc.

Same day as mine!

Hello!
I'm 4 weeks post op and thought I would come back here to share what I have learned over the last 4 weeks.
My experience since surgery has been nothing short of incredible. I'm not speaking in terms of massive weight loss, but my energy, focus, well-being, mental clarity, and state of mind. The weight loss is a bonus.
Looking back on my 8 month journey to the OR, I realized that the most crucial piece of advice I received came from the most unlikely of individuals on my path, the psychologist who did my psyche evaluation.
She told me that the single best thing I could do for my recovery in the time before my surgery was to practice hitting my program Protein and fluid goals before surgery and to practice liquid Meal Replacement.
I had more time than expected between this appointment and surgery (5 months versus 8 weeks due to multiple delays and reschedules), but I kept on doing this. I started by replacing Breakfast with my Protein Shake and monitoring my Water intake. I eventually worked up to hitting 70-90 grams of Protein daily and my minimum 90 ounces of Water. I still ate, but only after I was at my minimum protein goal.
It wasn't an doctors order, it wasn't required, but I took her advice to heart and it has paid off in droves.
Within days of my VSG, I was well on my way to hitting my goals again, with little head hunger or emotional discomfort with a liquid diet. I wasn't stressed or had any 'buyers remorse'.
This is one small thing you can do for yourself on the way to make the lifestyle change a smooth transition. Best of luck!
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Hello everyone I am having gastric bypass surgery on March 17th. I was initially supposed to have the sleeve but due to a small tumor found on my stomach I had to switch to gastric bypass with a tumor resection. Either way I am very excited and nervous. Good luck to everyone!

Hello! My husband and I are both scheduled for sleeve on March 12th 2021! Excited but nervous!

Hey! Guess what happened today?! My insurance company got my sleep study info yesterday and now my surgery is APPROVED!!! I’m thrilled! 😁🎉

Five days into the liquid diet and the mind games are insane. My poor family.
Tomorrow (Monday) I'm meeting with anesthesia, getting blood drawn (again), and doing the big meeting with the team and finally meeting my surgeon in person. OF COURSE we're supposed to get our most significant snowstorm of the year tomorrow, too. Fingers crossed that the roads are decent.
Nine days until surgery. NINE. MORE. DAYS.

After what seems like a million years I finally got my approval!!! I am ecstatic and overjoyed! Now that it is really happening I can’t lie I am kind of nervous because I never had a surgery besides a c-section almost 20 years ago lol I am waiting to speak with the nurse so I can pick a date but I know it will be sometime in February omg!!!! Any helpful tips and tricks will be highly appreciated!

Absolutely surreal to be posting this as I have read so many of these threads! I didn’t think the day would ever come! Excited and petrified. My date is 2/22/21!!
Any February 2021 bypassers out there? I would love to connect and share prep plans and how things go after surgery.

So many great ideas here! I would definitely make sure you have enough water/protein/sugar-free popsicles. Also a comfy bath robe, a cozy hoodie, a heating pad and ice-packs, I like the old school Popsicle brand sugar free popsicles; I tried the Red classics, Tropical, and the Assorted fruit.

This.....is 100% bang on. Take only a change of clothes, lip balm, hand moisuriser and standard toiletries. You will sleep or be up walking in the hospital.

When I got home, I lowered the temp in our bedroom and got extra pillows. I sleep on my side and knew it may be uncomfortable. I slept with a soft but plump pillow under my belly to add support. Pajamas were no elastic waist, just a long tshirt and the softest undies I could find.

If you have refreezable ice packs, great. I wrapped them in light towels and put them on my forehead when I got caffeine withdrawl headaches.

Get the very best thermal cup. One that will keep your liquids cool for at least 12 hours. Sip sip sip, and sip sitting upright, and stay upright until you are comfortable it's gone down.

Get some waterproof wound covers. I had to replace three of mine between days 1-5 after showering.

Be prepared to get up and walk if you get gas pains. Gas from the surgery, or gas in your belly. IT HELPS!! While you may feel exhausted, walking moves the gas, and be prepared for flatulence. Be careful though, from about day 3 don't trust a fart!! [emoji23][emoji23]

Be good to yourself.

I'm 7 days out and agree with AZhiker that you should consider walking--especially outside-- an act of self-care. I had a couple of days where I was in pain and couldn't so much as take a few steps without wincing, but when you're able, take advantage and go out for a walk.
Don't underestimate the power of a hot beverage, even if it's just plain Water. Very soothing and a nice change of pace, especially if the rest of your diet is full of cold Protein Shakes and waters.
Also, get yourself a couple of nice, comfy bathrobes. I love the one I have from Target and have lived in it since the surgery. Some days you just don't want to wear pants!

This is what I posted in the post op section.

I have to say, being day 3 after surgery I have asked myself a number of times what the hell have I done....then I have moments of comfort which removes all concern.
It took me nearly 12 hours to come out of the anaesthetic properly, and I had the awful sweats and nausea, but no vomiting. I remember only the Ice packs put behind my shoulders and the cold towel on my head.....ooh it felt so good. The nurses were just smashing and I'm going to send a thank you hard to them at the ward. I came home the day after surgery.
I've had two bad nights, but last night felt so much better and slept 8 hours straight. I am already 4kgs down since surgery so that gives me hope.
My first night home I was worried about my intake of Fluid. I struggled to consume even one cup of liquid a day. Yesterday I got through an entire Optifast shake, one cup of warm coffee, and about 500ml of Powerade zero.
What has worked for me through trial and error (haha that auto corrected to "terror")
1. Don't drink laying down. Try and sit upright as possible, it reduces the chance of pain.
2. Small sips mean exactly that. Wet the inside of your mouth, and don't do more than two at a time.
3. Room temperature liquid gives me less issues
4. Make a shake in the morning and aim to complete by midday. Same for the afternoon
5. Keep on top of standard pain relief. Here in Australia we have panadol which is safe for bariatric patients. I tried dissolvable ones but the contain effervescent bubbles... not a great outcome
6. When pain is felt, stand up tall, take s deep breath through the nose and slowly out through the mouth. At most it has been two breaths and the pain is gone
7. A cool shower, clean hair, clean jammies and clean sheets make everything feel better
8. My headaches are likely to be caused by coffee withdrawl. I added 1tsp instant (powdered) coffee to a choc or vanilla shake. Voila!! Headache gone
Just my thoughts, and hope some of these ideas can help others just having had surgery.
Day 1 I was 7/10 discomfort, and full of unfounded regrets.
Today, day 3, 1/10 discomfort, totally happy with my decision to have taken this route.
How are you all doing?



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I have had the surgery about 6 hours ago now...feeling weak and in pain...woke up very nauseus and pain...not as nauseus now but a lot of pain in my stomach. Struggling to drink Water, can only drink ridiculously small sips without hurting my stomach. Staff are taking care of me though. Hospital bed so uncomfortable! Wll that's me done, best of luck to everyone with upcoming surgeries this month.