Victoria_Faith

Thats crazy - with the whole big internet in front of me I never thought to try youtube. Thanks!

Yes, it seems to be somewhat of a unicorn. Can you tell me how long yours lasted?

I have been working to normalize talking about WLS among my friends and family. I even went so far as to start a daily post counting down to my surgery day, educating them on the process I'm following, my emotional journey. Each day I hit on a different topic that might resonate. Sometimes people don't realize how hurtful words can be. I think I'm in the minority of folks when I say I will have no issue sharing my experiences. So far it's been nothing but positive feedback, but if/when someone asks me why I took the 'easy' way out - I will ask them why they took the easy way out of being a decent human being by asking judgemental questions.

For all the "big boned" comments I heard growing up, I should have been over 6' tall! That's a classic. You look great, by the way!

I was told that I needed one just to clear me for surgery. Mine didn't say anything about a murmur, but I had to do one. I think for some doctors it's routine for the anesthesiologist.

I'm so sorry! It must have been so disappointing to get that news. There are so many reasons that this might have happened, but that's not really important. Something someone told me a long time ago is that life is 20% what happens to you, and 80% how you react and respond to it. Try to put a spin on this, that you'll get your getting a bonus birthday! You can call it your "belly birthday"! Hopefully by your special day you'll be on your way through recovery without much pain. My doctor told me that a lot of people are up and about and doing just fine within a week. I hope that's true for you! Based on your previous post I would definitely take this time to talk to the nutritionist and settle on a solid plan for your liver shrinking/pre-surgical diet. Anticipating an all-liquid diet is probably giving you a bit of anxiety. I can assure you, it's not as bad as it sounds, and maybe you and your team can come up with an alternative plan. Good Luck!

I'm on the liver shrinking diet and my sleeve is on 2/21. From what I understand there are several variations of these pre-surgical diets. In my case I am allowed to have 'free' foods like plain cucumbers, celery, and sugar free jell-o. I am also supposed to have three protein shakes per day, and one meal consisting of 4oz of a lean protein, and 1 cup of cooked veggies. I'm almost supposed to have 64oz of water as well to keep me hydrated. (It's been really hard to do the water thing on TOP of the shakes). Not going to lie - this has not been easy, but I keep thinking about all of the time I've spent with doctors over the past 6 months getting ready for this surgery, and all of the weight I've already lost and it keeps me going. It helps me to weigh myself every other day - seeing a few pounds come off every few days is an added bonus. In 8 days I have dropped 14 pounds. If you don't have as much weight to lose, you may see smaller numbers, but if you follow the diet they gave you, I promise you'll see results in the short term - and your surgery will be here before you know it! Don't worry - you got this!!

Sleeve scheduled for 2/21/23. The day my life will change forever - I just know it. Day 8 of liver shrinking diet and feeling like my stomach is eating itself some days. I'm sick of jello and cucumbers, and these protein shakes are just too freaking sweet. Why do they make them so sweet, don't they know that we're trying to change our taste buds? Has anyone else found the Premier Protein clear "juice" drinks? How does your provider feel about them? I think I'll talk to my dietician about these. I have been ordering protein shakes by the case to stock up in preparation of this journey - for anyone post-op, how many shakes did you go through before you transitioned back to soft and solid foods? I have so many questions! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!