Malaika

I freaked out when they brought me jello -- it was lime - I don't even like lime jello - but by golly I would have eaten it -- that was day 3. I said something to Nina's Mom (WOULD SOMEONE PLEAE TELL ME HER NAME!!!) and boy that jello was off my tray in a blink of an eye! That's when I knew I was in for a long 10 days :confused1:

Trust me - 5 days makes a heck of difference -- everyday it get easier (except those damn clear liquids) ... I am with you on the sight of Jell-O! Hang in there and keep a positive attitude -- and your sense of humor -- it helps!

I did the post-op diet for 3 weeks -- my liver looked GREAT! Do whatever you can do, it's not going to hurt anything as long as you do the pre-op diet.

I have the same thing -- I upped my nexium to 40 mg. in the morning; however, that doesn't seem to help in the evening - so considering doing 20 in AM and 20 in PM before dinner

I second that thought!

Congratulations and welcome to VST. I love our attitude and with it, you WILL get to your goal. Hang in there.

The benadryl worked its charm again last night - another good night's sleep. Hopefully not only is it allowing me to sleep, it's also drying up the excess mucus. Two full nights sleep in a row -- and even better, no weird dreams. I might actually get used to this...LOL

Welcome MIA and congrats on your surgery and your positive experience. I know Tiffykins is military and she is in Florida. Keep coming back and let us know how you're doing. This is a great forum with a weath of knowledge shard by many.

I got the coolest book at Borders the other night -- just started thumbing through it more thoroughly this morning. It is entitled The Complete Book of food Counts - The Book that Counts it All. It is by Corinne T. Netzer. The cost was $7.99 (plus I had a 40% off coupon). It counts everything -- Calories, Proteins, Carbs, Cholesterol, Sodim, Fat and Fiber. Not only does it have generic descriptions - i.e. Peanut Butter. It has named-brand listed as well - i.e. Jif - Jif Creamy, Jif Crunchy, Jif Extra-Crunch, Jif to Go, Jif Reduced Fat, Simply Jif. It also has counts for foods purchased at restaurants, i.e., Panera Bread, Taco Bell, etc. It's nearly 1000 pages and a bit larger than what I would consider "pocket-sized" however, it could fit in a large purse. There's also several blank pages in the back for notes. I believe it will come in incredibly handy for preparing menus, etc. I also purchased The Ultimate Pocket Diet Journal by Alex Lluch. The cost on this was $9.95 (again I had a 40% off coupon) and each 2-page has room for the date, weight, and a place to list the information on what you had for Breakfast, lunch, evening, Snacks and a daily total. Plus there is a small chart for Daily Physical Activities, Vitamins/Supplments intake, what your energy level was and your Water intake. (They also give you 120 little gold stars that read "I did it!" and a place on the journal pages to place the star with the words Daily Goals Achieved. In the front of the book there is a weight-loss progress chart, a section for notes, and "Nutritional Facts on Popular Food Items" which containc the cal, fat, Protein, cabs and fats. It is quite small and will fit perfectly in a purse. Everything I've read indicates you do better if you keep track of what you eat -- and having been on WW I find that is true - it makes you more aware of what you are putting into your mouth and whether it's worth it. Thought I'd share.

I'm going to try this one, too. I bought the tofu when I went to whole foods and I have the cocoa, thought I had the unsweetened chocolate, but I don't - so have to go to the grocery this evening and get food for Bob, so will add it to the list and give it a go.

The excess mucus is a problem that has only developed since the sleeve. I've always had a problem with post nasal drip - not every night, but some nights. What I have now is what you are describing with your flu ... however, the benadryl seems to have done the trick. Went to bed at 11 last night and slept until 6 this morning uninterupted. Well, one coughing fit before I fell asleep, but nothing more. Hopefully in the very near future the excess mucus will dissipate and I won't have to take benadryl to sleep at night. I'm not a big medicine person and don't like to have to take anything any longer than need be. Vitamins and supplements are fine; however, I just don't like taking prescribed medications or unnecessary OTC meds if I don't have too. Plus, even though I took the benadryl at 9:00 last night, and slept all night, I feel drugged and groggy and could probably go back to bed and sleep several more hours. I think I'll move it back to 8:00 tonight and see if that makes any difference.

I have UHC; however it specifically stated in my policy under Exclusions that all WLS is excluded. I even called them and they confirmed that my company's policy had a WLS exclusion. Based on that, I became a self-pay and went to Mexicali and Dr. Acves performed my surgery. Knowing what I know now, I would have gone to Dr. Aceves even if my insurance did cover WLS - in my opinion, he's the best there is.

Or at least threaten her that you're going to do so and let her squirm for awhile.

I wondered that, too, however then realized that Key Lime Pie is made with raw eggs. Curious as to the answer though.

So, in celebration of getting to start full liquids tomorrow, :party4:I went on Eggface's website and found the following ice cream recipe to make (there are soooo many good ones; however, I had the ingredients for this one) Shelly's chocolate Caramel Protein Ice Cream 1 cup vanilla Soy Milk (or Regular Milk) 2 scoops Chocolate Protein powder 1 Tablespoon sugar free Torani Syrup (I used SF Caramel) 1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Torani Syrup (SF Chocolate) (recipe called for 1 teaspoon Sugar Free Caramel Sauce; however I didn't have any) Mix all ingredients together - I aerated mine in the blender to be make it airy and lump free. Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. Makes 1/2 pint. You can eat it then (it's soft servish) but I like to put it in the freezer for 1 hour to harden up a bit. Eggface suggests the following toppings: Land o' Lakes SF Whipped Cream, Chopped Walnuts, Smucker's SF Hot Fudge Sauce, and a Maraschino Cherry [however, none of these are full liquids, so mine will be bare.] It will be 280 calories, 40 g protein, 14 g carbs for a 1 Cup serving. I hope it tastes good - will let you know.

What brand is your's Daisy -- and is it really unflavored?

Okay this is too wierd -- if I open Chat in the same window, it won't load until the 2nd time ...however, when I opened it in a separate window - 5 out of 5 times it loaded first shot. So I have no problem with opening it in a new window - that way I can still check posts while chatting

Dana, don't know if it's an option for you or not, but you could put a portion of it on a charge card if you need to - they will charge you a 3% fee and if you decide to do that, be SURE you notify your credit card company that you will be using your card in Mexicali. Just a thought for a possible option to get you to where you need to be to be able to have surgery. Hope it all works out for you.

You will find that EVERYONE on Dr. Aceves' staff is friendly, nice, courteous, respectful and informative.

He's running a special for July - $8950 I believe - and that includes EVERYTHING - Preop tests, 1 night a resort, 3 nights in hospital, surgery, medication, EVERYTHING ... not sure what prices you have received; however, I would never let price be the process by which I chose my surgeon with any surgeon, most definitely not this one. He has performed over 600 sleeves and never had any leaks. Good luck on your decision; however, I would definitely put Dr. Aceves at the very top of your list .. Southwest generally has pretty good fares into San Diego.

Well you'll get all kinds of support here. WELCOME! I strongly suggest you check our Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, MX -- in my opinion he's the absolute BEST!

It went pretty good - however, the only Soups Applebees has is Chili, French Onion and Tomato Basil. Chili, obviously as definitely out, I HATE onions - although I did ask for a tiny bit to see if my tastes might have changed -- NOPE ... and so I opted for a bowl of the tomato basil -- YES, I know, not a clear food, but the best I could come up with. It wasn't totally Soup either - there were really tiny chunks in it ... so I did the best I could to just get the soup part -- I ate about 5-6 bites and brought the rest home. However, I noticed as the time went on, I had terrible acid reflux. So when we got home I took another nexium and that got rid of it ... and then I got to thinking -- DUH, you're tummy doesn't like basil ... and that was what was in the soup - so go figure! I also had an iced tea -- which I nursed all night long and still didn't finish.

Well for one thing your stomach is about as big around as your ring finger and it's pretty hard to eat very much with a stomach that size. Pluse as so many others have said, the sleeve is not the magic cure for weight loss -- it is nothing more than an aid in helping you lose weight and if you use it properly and change all the bad habits you've developed over the years and focus on eating 60-70 grams of Protein, less than 30 grams of carbs and stick to 600-800 calories a day, then you're going to lose. Of course, as the experienced sleevers have attested, you can eat around your sleeve and gain weight (meaning ice cream, high fat foods, carbs, etc. ... things that go down easy that they refer to as slider foods.) That's my take on the matter; I am sure others will have much more to say on the matter.

White cheese is generally lower in fat than the yellow cheese and it does taste good -- we buy the big bags at Sam's Club -- it's a great good snack and easy to grab instead of something bad.

You'll get LOTs of paperwork from Dr. Aceves' office ... here is the most "step-by-step" description I could find in my emails from his office: Here are a few ideas concerning the post op diet Day 1 thru 5 ( clear liquids Only ) fruit juice ( apple, grape, cranberry ) Propel broth Jello-O Water Tea Protein Water by Kellogg?s Water popsicles Clear Protein drinks only ( example Isopure, unjury ) Day 6-10 ( thin liquids ) All of the above and: Natural Vegetable Juices ( example Carrot, V-8 juice ) Protein drinks mixed with water ( example Matrix ) whey nectar Protein Mix Day 11 thru 20 ( full liquids ) Cream Soups Yogurt Jello-O Boiled pureed fruit ( example apple, pear) applesauce Watermelon, papaya or melon in small pieces Low fat milk 1 or 2% Water, Propel, tea Soy beverages sugar free pudding Protein shakes and protein powders mixed with milk Day 21 thru 30 ( soft food ) Soft food should be the consistency of a thick liquid ( no chunks or solid material ) and it should be chewed very well before swallowing until it is a liquid consistency ) Tofu Low fat cottage cheese Cereal oatmeal Precooked pureed rice Low fat Yogurt Yogurt mixed with fruit very well blended Cream soups eggs Boiled pureed fruit ( example pear, apple ) Watermelon, papaya or melon in small pieces Boiled pureed vegetables Beans Day 31st and beyond ( solid food ) Fish, Chiken meat Turkey Vegetables Fruit A diet consisting of 800 calories and 70 grams of protein should be your goal. There is a book called " Weight loss Surgery for Dummies" Authors: Kurian, Thompson and Davidson You might find it helpful. I contains several recipes and ideas on what to eat after surgery Grilled Marinated Tuna with Lime Herbed Beef Patties Turkey Meatballs Seafood salad chicken Salad