La El

23 hours ago, nymisc said:

I am so happy to see this. I am 12 days out, but I do have that weak dizzy feeling still. I am so happy to see that you are overcoming it. I dislike my calcium citrate pills so much; I will be going with the chewable after I finish the ton I have. Right now, I use the Bariatric Melts for Vitamins.

I got the pills because I was afraid I could not tolerate the chews because presumably they are sweet. I gag with anything sweet. Sadly, I ordered three months worth. I may need to make a trip to the drug store and try different forms.

Anyone else in Kentucky?

Today is the first day I have felt good when I got up. Okay…bad terminology. I’ve been feeling good, but super weak and dizzy from time to time. Today I felt NORMAL! Thank you, Jesus! I’M BACK!!!! 🤣

Sleeved on 9/2…down 29 lbs and I feel good! I was starting to get worried there.

So…vitamins. I am taking the Bariatric Pal Multivitamin ONE. It is not going to be sustainable for me due to the sheer size of the capsule. I cannot fathom taking this every day for the rest of my life. Has anyone found a smaller size? Even if you have to take 2. I just can’t keep gagging this down every day.

Second…anyone try the dinner mints for their Calcium? I originally ordered the calcium pills. They are as big as the Vitamin (or higher) and I would have to take 9 a day! That’s not happening. Was going to try the chews or mints next. Any suggestions?

Hope we are all doing great!!!!

5 hours ago, Cassandra Maughan said:

Is anyone else struggling with a feeling that everything is overly sweet? Even plain Water tastes sweet to me. I just started full liquids today, any suggestions for something not sweet? Other than Bone Broth I am so over that lol.

Yes! I can’t use any of the things I was depending on. No G2Z with Protein, no Protein Shakes, no popsicles, no sf Jello, no sf pudding, no yogurt….nothing sweet. It makes me so very nauseas. Blech. Sweet tooth is gone! During my week of full liquids, I pretty much lived on Progresso’s Creamy chicken Soup broth and Manhattan clam chowder broth. They were all that tasted good to me.

I had my two week follow up today. 23 lbs lost. Staples removed. Everything is looking good. They did permit me to move on to soft foods a day early, so today I had that glorious fried egg that I’ve been craving. I also had about half a cup of cottage cheese, and I made Ricotta bake and had about half a cup of it. Tomorrow I’m making some refried Beans with red sauce and cheddar…like Taco Bell used to make. I may survivor this after all. 😂

23 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

Wow, lots of new folks joining us this week. Welcome all!

I'm finishing up my first week of my pre-surgery diet today. I'm on 3-4 Protein Drinks and 64 oz Fluid per day. No meals.

Honestly, it hasn't been a big deal at all. I think what's helping me is lots of variety and just staying busy to keep my thoughts off things I'm not supposed to eat. Plus, I wasn't really eating all that much before this, so the transition wasn't too drastic.

My Protein sources:

• Premier Protein Caramel - I drink this as Creamer in 2 very large cups of Decaf coffee
• Fairlife Nutrition Plan chocolate
• Homemade Bone Broth
• Bariatric Pal hot chocolate, Cream Soup variety pack & variety pack pudding Mix

My Fluid Sources:

• coffee
• Herbal Iced Tea
• Store Bought low-sodium broth
• Millie's Sippin' broth (these are a nice change of pace)

Other:

• I'm allowed 1 cucumber or pickle a day (it's nice to have something to crunch)
• sugar free Jello (I don't really count this toward my fluid intake, though I could.

What will you do if after surgery you can no longer tolerate anything sweet..like the shakes, Jello, pudding, etc? I ask only because I relied on those items and my Gatorade Zero w/protein and after surgery I have not been able to stomach any of them. I would not have survived if it weren’t for creamy chicken Soup broth. 😂 Just something to think about. Tastes sometimes change drastically, apparently.

1 hour ago, kellyarw95 said:

Well f**k. I was hoping recovery was gonna be easy breezy and I wouldn't need to take time off.

Maybe it will be. That hasn’t been my story, but it has certainly been others.

4 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

I'm honestly a bit surprised so many of you are trying to (or supposed to), drink Protein Shakes so soon? In my program I'm supposed to do Clear Liquids only for the first 3 days. Considering that dehydration is the number one reason for hospital readmission, I think it's critical to stay on top of your clear liquids. The Protein is important, but probably a bit less so.

My first week was clear liquids and Protein Drinks weren’t allowed. This week I have been allowed, but they are just sickeningly sweet to me. I was able to get down a third of an Atkins shake by cutting the whole shake with about 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Mostly I’m living on Creamy chicken Soup broth and it hits the spot. So good.

Before surgery, I loved the Gatorade Zero with Protein. Now I hate it. Ditto on sf pudding…yogurt…protein shakes…anything sweet. All I want in this life is a fried egg with half a piece of toast.

5 hours ago, Angela_85 said:

For those who have already had their surgery, have you guys met your daily Water and Protein goals? It seems so hard for me and I’m on top of it. It seems impossible

I’ve probably met Water goals but Protein? Not even close. Doing the best I can and as I am allowed more foods, I will get closer to my goals.

On 9/2/2022 at 3:59 PM, tx2az said:

Had my VSG yesterday. Came home today. No nausea, no pain (of course that may pop up) lol

Now on to the Stage one for 14 days. - broth, and Premiere Protein Shakes, SF 1 popsicle . 1 SF Jello.

So stinking proud of you! Feeling like a failure in comparison (not really…we are all different) but I am so glad you could skip the nausea. It is truly the worst. Congratulations!!!!

On 9/3/2022 at 12:58 PM, Giovanna628 said:

Hope all went well.

Thank you!

Surgeon said it went beautifully. He said I must have followed his directions to the letter because the liver was perfect. I don’t understand why some have a two week liquid diet and others a two day diet. Anyway…

The first ten hours or so of the gas pain was awful there was no way to turn for relief. It was in my shoulders and neck and truly unbearable. Then I started the walking and it very quickly started working its way out.

I ended up staying in hospital until yesterday. The nausea has been brutal. It would come in huge waves. I was able to get up and walk fine and the pain was next to nothing except when you twist or use core muscles to try to sit up. That one large incision can cause a great deal of pain. It’s like a tearing feeling if you aren’t careful.

I am doing fine with hydrating with Water. Not so well with broth and Protein. But…better today than yesterday.

The nausea is much better today. I have slept a lot. I got up and showered on my own and overall feel much better. None of this is pleasant. There are some moments that you think will never end, but it’s doable and I am not sorry.

I got the call to be at the hospital at 10:00 am tomorrow. Surgery is around noon. Here we go!

On 8/27/2022 at 4:07 PM, tx2az said:

Thursday Sept 1st for me. There are a lot of different dr requirement, isn't there? Mine is 2 weeks of Protein Shakes, 3 oz lean Protein and 2 cups non starchy veggies per day. Day before surgery only Protein Drinks and nothing not even Water after midnight. Good luck, it's getting close!

So it turned out that there is two days of Clear Liquids and then nothing the morning of surgery. The letter posted to MyChart was pretty far off from what I was told at my appointments today. I am deeply grateful I did not have to do weeks. I applaud those of you who are doing that because I know it is NOT easy!!!

So today is your big day!!! Yayyy!!!! The first in our group. You will do great. We are all cheering for you!

Today was my pre op appointments. I first met with the resident, then the surgeon and then the nutritionist. Then I went for my Covid test and then on to anesthesia and finally the lab. It was a busy day, but I managed to stop on the way home for a hair cut. 😅

I am starving!!! Today I drank three Gatorade Zero with Protein, 3 sf Jello cups, the broth from a can of chicken noodle Soup mixed with a packet of ProCel for an extra 10 G protein…and probably half a box of sf popsicles. Okay, not really…but a LOT of popsicles.

One more day and then surgery. Hopefully I won’t be hungry anymore after that. A big, fat taco with mild sauce would taste so good!

2 hours ago, tx2az said:

Thursday Sept 1st for me. There are a lot of different dr requirement, isn't there? Mine is 2 weeks of Protein Shakes, 3 oz lean Protein and 2 cups non starchy veggies per day. Day before surgery only Protein Drinks and nothing not even Water after midnight. Good luck, it's getting close!

I've changed the way I'm eating anyway. I keep feeling like there must be some mistake, but the letter I got was pretty clear. I still want to shrink my liver...just in case. 😂 Why make it harder on them than it has to be?

3 hours ago, Slwhurst said:

So when is your surgery date? Must be really soon, exciting! Good luck with the FMLA. Hopefully its just being extra slow. I start my 2 week diet a week from monday, so I'm still just in waiting mode and a cheerleader for those of you going first. Sept is almost here finally!

September 2....just a few more days away. I've had no pre-op diet. In fact, I can drink Water all the way up until 2 hours before surgery. I'm so confused about this. They are very casual about it.

On 8/3/2022 at 10:01 AM, Gucci73 said:

This. I honestly didn’t mean to quit, ( before testing and all that jazz), but my husband accidentally bought zero nicotine vape juice and we didn’t even know for several weeks ( I will add here that during those weeks I did have strange cravings for cigarettes- but didn’t give in). Just had nicotine and cotitine (?) testing and it was zero! I still vape from time to time, but no nicotine is awesome!

This is exactly what I did. I went from the high salt nicotine to zero nicotine and had zero symptoms of giving up nicotine. It was like magic. It took three weeks for me to test nicotine and cotinine free on the Amazon strip tests, and at 4 weeks, I also tested negative on the blood test ordered by the surgeon's office.

I've been receiving all of my pre-surgery appointment check-ins. I see the surgeon on Aug. 31, then have a COVID test done, and then see anesthesia. The countdown has begun. FMLA still hasn't responded to papers submitted on July 31, so if I have to appeal or provide more info, that leaves me no time in which to do it. Things like that add so much stress, but I'm trying hard not to get caught up in worrying about it.

How are my September peeps doing????

43 minutes ago, Hope4NewMe said:

Welcome to so many new people! This is going to be an awesome group!

Make sure you are clicking on your name instead of the picture. It should be a drop down list and my surgery is towards the bottom after tickers. Tickers are neat because you can count down to surgery or the weight you have lost. Fun to me at least lol

Found it...finally! It was in the only place I had not looked for it...hehe. I will add a ticker as soon as I start dropping weight. This pre op stuff...well, I have lost and gained and lost and gained the same few pounds since I started the process. Its looking like I may be 3-5 lbs. heavier than my first visit. Or perhaps not. I still have a couple of weeks.

37 minutes ago, SpartanMaker said:

Honestly, it's not very intuitive. Click on your name at the top right and look for "My Surgery". Most of it's in there.

I've clicked on everything and can't see a way to edit the My Surgery tab.

5 minutes ago, SpartanMaker said:

Welcome all!

If you can, please update your profiles to help us know more about you, such as type of surgery, surgery date, starting weight, goal weight, etc.

These will help all of us as we support each other through this process.

Done...well...not completely. I seem to be a little dense and cannot figure out how t

o edit that section. 😚

On 8/6/2022 at 2:26 PM, loli_lotus said:

Maybe! Around 5 years ago my liver numbers started to look troubling but I got it under control. No one has said anything, and I'm not getting blood work specifically from my surgery center for another two weeks, but I think back when I started the process my primary ordered labwork and probably shared it with the surgeons office. So yeah maybe that's it.

My surgeon doesn't require a pre-op liquid diet, either...just the day before.

New here! My surgery is scheduled for 9/2. I joined here on the suggestion of someone I watch on YouTube. They said it was really helpful to have a place to discuss things with people who are at the exact same stage you are. Good luck to us all!