ardelia

I treated myself with a new bag: Hermes Birkin 40-cm Togo in the color Iris...with palladium hardware. It. Is. Beautiful. ??

Holy cow. I did my psych visit from a Las Vegas hotel room using Zoom. It didn't last even 10 minutes! I can't believe you have to take the MMPI test at all, much less in an office! Not cool.

I had no staples and I was sleeping on my side the very first night.

You have staples? ?

Post-surgery, I cannot tolerate Unjury any longer. This is incredibly generous and I know you'll get takers!

My fear is that it WILL go down smoothly, so maybe I will hold off on orzo for a little while.

As a Greek woman, I have a philosophical issue with orzo and collard greens. ? ??‍♀️ Orzo is better with authentic feta (NOT that junk people buy in a grocery store) and lamb. I have some good orzo in my cabinets, too, so I am interested in others’ experience with orzo.

? If you had only clear liquids, then I'm stumped.

What could you possibly be consuming that could lead to dumping? At that point after my RNY, I was allowed only clear liquids with NO sugar.

I love spicy food, too, so I hope someone responds! The spicier the better, as far as I am concerned. My RNY is on Monday, so it will be a while till I can eat again.

My incredibly kind neighbors prepared my "last supper". It was unreal. Filet mignon. Lobster tail. Cheesy potatoes. Roasted Brussels sprouts. And for dessert? Spiced chocolate pot de creme. I'm still dreaming about that meal...today is Day 3 of my 2-week pre-op diet.

Long story short: I'm in PA. I had a Lap Band placed in November 2010...then had it removed in December 2020 because of complications. I'm now getting RNY on December 20th and started my 2-week liquid diet on December 6th. In one of my pre-op requirements (upper GI), a very small hiatal hernia was observed, so we're going to get rid of him. I call him Squishy. R.I.P, my Squishy. I'm excited! Ugh, though.....I have so many clothes that are going to be enormous on me...but I also have lots of things in smaller sizes that I refused to get rid of over the years, so I guess I'll be okay. Good luck, all!

I have never seen word one about this wonderful surgeon, so here I am. He did my surgery at Phoenixville Hospital (PA) and he and his team were fantastic. The nurses in the hospital were also great. The program at Phoenixville is still rather new, but he has done a large number of surgeries. If you are in the suburbs of Philadelphia and you do not want to go into the city for your surgery and follow-up care, give Dr. K a try. He really is great.

OMG. Best. Post. Ever. The OP seems to have no desire to do this, so why do we all keep replying with comforting words? She admits that she cannot comply, so let's just let her go on her own. She'll do it the right way or she will just end up fatter and even more miserable.

A moth! :rofl:

I also went with Phoenixville Hospital. The surgeon is fantastic and the nurses were just amazing! I am surprised that there are not more posts about Dr. Kaczmarski and Phoenixville Hospital. I heartily recommend both.

I was told to remove all piercings, but some just cannot be removed. I left in my nose piercing and some of my ear hoops. They just covered them with tape. I cannot remove my smiley piercing (oral) or my hoop in my inner labia, but I did tell them about these. No problems resulted in my case. I just looked odd with tape on my nose and ears.

At my pre-op hospital visit, the nurse said I "should" stop taking BCP; however, I refused. That same nurse told me to take out all piercings (also refused) and to stop taking fish oil supplements till after the surgery. The fish oil could cause clotting issues (like BCP, but opposite effect), she said. I had no problem not taking them, so I stopped till after surgery. The surgeon knew I did not stop BCP and that I did not take out all piercings. He was fine with both. Incidentally, for the piercings that were not on a mucous membrane (ears, nose), they just put tape on them. I told them about the other piercings (smiley - in mouth - and inner labia) so that they knew there were others. I had no problems other than the surgeon asking about why I had tape on my head.

OMG. I understand that! It is like HEAVEN, that Nutella. When I buy it, I eat it. It is sooooo good.

November 10th here! I am doing very well. My weight loss is not super fast because I started out relatively thin (according to surgeon), but I am losing. Since I started losing in August, I am down over 40 pounds. I am a smidge away from the 180s!!!! Novembers ROCK!

I have not been offered anything to numb the pain, but I agree with the above. You're gonna get a needle stick either way. Frankly, I don't even notice any kind of pain during fills. He has me bear down like I am going to have a BM, and maybe because of concentrating on that I don't notice the pain of the needle? Also, the needle is a very thin needle.

I have to disagree with the post above. The surgeon certainly has every right to blame a non-compliant patient. The surgeon is a SURGEON, not a Svengali who can magically make the band work even if the patient might not be doing all the right things. I am so sick of reading posts (many, many of them here) where a non-compliant patient bitches and moans about the band not working. YOU have the responsibility to work with the band and if you don't understand that, maybe your surgeon and the entire team (all the people who assessed you for surgery eligibility) are to blame for not evaluating you properly or for neglecting to convey important information to you. It really makes me sad when I read posts where people are failing and they blame everyone but themselves. For me, the surgeon put in my band and he fills me. He also gives me interesting information in my visits (like, "Yeah, you can eat 1200 calories of Twinkies and you'll lose the same amount of weight as if you ate 1200 calories of chicken breast and salad."), but I defer to the nutritionist for nutritional guidance. After all, that is HER expertise. You wouldn't ask a nutritionist to put a band in you, right? You go to the expert. This post is not meant to slam any one person, but, shit, people...YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF. After all, if you can't help yourself, how can anyone else help you? You will get out of the band only as much as you are willing to put into it. Work with the band, people, not against it. On a side note, it does seem that a lot of people have relatively little solid information about post-surgery care and that they might be being rushed through the pre-op process without the proper education. Then these same people seem to complain that they are not losing 100 pounds a week and they are confused about it.

I have been able to find them at Wegmans (I am in the Philly 'burbs.), but I can't seem to find them at other local stores. I am sure you could probably find them online, too, though!

My nose gets runny and I have a few hiccups. That is when I stop.

My surgeon told me I cannot have aspirin or caffeine, and both are in Excedrin. It is a shame because Excedrin was my headache medicine of choice. No biggie...I'll just use Tylenol. Also, I was told NEVER to use any kind of extended release product.