cajun

Dr Jossart, Have you ever encountered a traction epiphrenic diverticulum in a post-op VSG patient? What could cause this kind of thing? Thanks for your response.

Yep, this all sounds "normal" to me too. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, follow the recommended eating patterns, and you will be amazed as the weight drops off. Congratulations and welcome to the loser's bench.

way to go, gonnaloseweight!!!

The good news is that all of my 3 month labs are NORMAL. I was very surprised and thrilled. It surprised me because although I do eat some fruit 2-3 times a week, I'm not really getting in any veggies...no room for them after getting in the required protein! I think that the Vitamin Water I'm sipping on all day helps a lot. The bad news is, the upper GI xray showed that I now have a small traction epiphrenic diverticulum. Bummed. I never knew that the esophagus could have a diverticulum so have been reading research online to learn about it. Luckily I'm not having any symptoms so it's probably going to be just "watch it" scenario. I'll see my gastroenterologist after the holidays to see what he recommends. Dr Aceves thinks it's from "overeating". He's recommended I go back on mushies and liquids for now and reduce the volume I ingest at any one time, to prevent pressure on the diverticulum. I'm going to see a local gastroenterologist after the holidays. Wish I lived closer to Mexicali so I could get to Dr Aceves' office but it's not in the cards for me. At three months out, how much of a Protein shake can other folks drink over a 30 minute period? I've been doing one cup, which is one shake. Now I'll have to cut it back to 1/2 cup. It's going to take me longer to get in everything, but I guess no one every promised that this would be easy. No solids means no Christmas dinner with my family! Double Bummer for Christmas! Today will be the first time some of them see the new me, 68 lbs lighter! I've not told them so they will be very surprised! Does anyone have experience with this, or know someone who had it? I'm looking for all the information I can get. Apparently it's rare.

AWESOME work! Keep it up!

hang in there kermit...things will improve!

There are liquid Vit D drops. I don't have any reference on it, but maybe you can google it. After one nauseating try, I did not focus at all on solid Vitamins the first month...just made sure to open up the nexium and take the granules without chewing, in some liquid. I took liquid Vit D from my Dr's office, and sublingual B12. Now at almost 3 months I can take most pills. The big calcium pills I break up into smaller chunks and take with liquids.

By now it is all done and you are sleeping...let us know how you are when you feel able. We're cheering for your. Welcome to the loser's bench!

RIGHT ON, SISTER! You've got your priorities straight!

My internist did not bat an eye when I told her I had gone to Mexico for the VSG. She ordered all my 3 month post op tests, and has been fully supportive. If your PCP has not been supportive, look around...you can fine one who is. You will love Dr Aceves and Dr Campos. And you will be impressed at how much more personal and how awesome the care is at their hospital, compared to U.S. hospitals.

Yep, can't do that in the summer down here. But right now we are having a cold snap and I'm covered up to my chin!

Tracy, There is a physiologic reason, and it is the greatest gift of the sleeve in myopinion...the part of the stomach that was removed is the part that produces grelin...the hormone that causes hunger. That will help you lose weight as long as you don't give in to "head hunger" or habit. And after what you've been through, you are also probably much more ready to work the sleeve optimally. Good luck!

Some people have more trouble with others, having "head hunger"...longing for certain foods and feeling "hungry" for them...but after getting in some fluids often that feeling goes away. I have not had much of that, in fact, am still having some days when nothing tastes good but I eat because I have to get in the protein. It's a slight nausea but not really...hard to describe. But it's so great to not have that old hungry all the time feeling that kept me obese. What a miracle, really. I have to remind myself to get in the fluids and food...just get busy doing things and remember that I forgot to eat and drink.

This is just about the saddest thing I?ve ever read! >> > >> > As a bagpiper, I play many gigs.. Recently I was asked by a funeral >> director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family >> or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky >> back-country. >> > >> > As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical >> man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the >> funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. >> > >> > There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch..I >> felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of >> the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't >> know what else to do, so I started to play. >> > >> > The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out >> my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've >> never played before for this homeless man. >> > >> > And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I >> wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and >> started for my car. Though my head hung low my heart was full. >> > >> > As I was opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet >> Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting >> in septic tanks for twenty years."

I wear turtleneck tops and they hide a lot of the turkeyneck!

Barring any complications, you should feel fine. Just stick to the diet. I'd take along some packets of protein powder. Occasionally my tummy gets "unhappy" and I have to revert to protein drinks for nourishment. That could happen if you try out some spicy Thai foods on your trip (which is what I would do!...I love Thai food but have not had any yet since surgery.)

Drummm ROLLLLLL.... Soon you will be post op and the pounds will start falling off! Keep us in formed on how you are doing! We care!

If you have been advised to do it, it is extremely important. It will help your liver to not be so slippery and large, so you will have less chance of getting it nicked during surgery, which could cause hemorrhage, blood transfusions, or worse. For your own good, do exactly what the surgeon recommends. Some people who are not so big are not required by their surgeons to do a preop diet. Mine required it. I lost 17 lbs during that pre op period, and it was not easy. But I was very committed.

More funnies: These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning? WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?' ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you? WITNESS: My name is Susan! ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact? WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks. _____________________ ______________________ ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active? WITNESS: No, I just lie there. ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all? WITNESS: Yes. ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory? WITNESS: I forget. ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot? ______________________________ ____________ ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo? WITNESS: We both do. ATTORNEY: Voodoo? WITNESS: We do. ATTORNEY: You do? WITNESS: Yes, voodoo. ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning? WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam? ______________________________ ______ ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he? WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ. ______________________________ ___________ ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken? WITNESS: Are you shitting me? ______________________________ ___________ ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th? WITNESS: Yes. ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time? WITNESS: getting laid ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: She had three children, right? WITNESS: Yes. ATTORNEY: How many were boys? WITNESS: None. ATTORNEY: Were there any girls? WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney? ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated? WITNESS: By death. ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated? WITNESS: Take a guess. ______________________________ ______________ ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual? WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard. ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female? WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male. ______________________________ ______ ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney? WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work. ______________________________ ________ ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people? WITNESS : All of them.. The live ones put up too much of a fight. ______________________________ __________ ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to? WITNESS: Oral.. ______________________________ ___________ ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body? WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m. ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time? WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished. ______________________________ _____________ ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample? WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question? ______________________________ _______ And the best for last: ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? WITNESS: No. ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor? WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar. ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless? WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law..

Some clean ones: TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE 1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't... 2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it. 3. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them. 4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke. 5. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive. 6. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me. 7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. 8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe. 9. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing. 10. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes. 11. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine. 12. God must love stupid people; He made so many. 13. The gene pool could use a little chlorine. 14. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps. 15. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again? 16. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it! 17. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up. 18. Procrastinate Now! 19. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That? 20. A hangover is the wrath of grapes. 21. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance. 22. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere! 23. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken. 24. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD. 25. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory. 26. Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig. 27. The trouble with life is there's no background music. 28. The original point and click interface was a Smith &Wesson. 29. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.

I think it was day 5 or 6 when I had my first, and it was actually several days of diarrhea...purple peacock poop from the stuff we were given for the sleeve test. Once I was cleaned out I had to start taking Metamucil clear every day, to keep from being constipated. The high protein diet does not produce much bulk, so gotta take something. You don't want constipation or hemorrhoids, so get on it and stay on it until your diet is more normal. I do fine with one tsp of metamucil clear in a glass of fluid daily. Even with that I only go twice a week.

DeeDee, you look beautiful! You've done a great job working your sleeve! Congratulatins!

Welcome home...glad you made it back to your own bed? I remember how good that felt! Keep in touch!

Super job Katrina. Your attitude and determination will get you to your goal before you know it!

DeeDee, You could have it altered to fit for not much cost. I've "taken up" some of my scrubs, and (TMI my underpants which were falling off...) If you can sew, some alterations are quite easy. Others...well, get to know a good seamstress for the dresses and clothes that you love. Great job working your sleeve!