Stacy160

I have the Isoflex vanilla (which I love in tea), chocolate, and chocolate Peanut Butter. The Vanilla and Chocolate are ~eh~ with milk, but mix up very well in a smoothie with some frozen fruit, although that with the milk is more calories and carbs than I like to have from a drink. By far, my favorite has been nectar. It mixes with Water, goes down very well, and tastes good! I love the Fuzzy Navel and strawberry Kiwi flavors. If I make them with 10-12 oz of water instead of 8, they're not so sweet (plus I get more water :001_tongue: ).

Morning: one sublingual B12, one chewable multi and one calcium citrate chewable from Bariatric Advantage. Mid-Day: Another multi and calcium. Evening: Another calcium and B12. I also take the Pearls Probiotics, but they don't do a dang thing for me (bm-wise) so when this box is gone I won't get them again.

OK then, my own opinion: Lap Band: Should be banned in the United States. If you've done your research, you know the amazingly high complication and failure rates (not to mention permanent structural damage to the stomach). VSG: Absolutely wonderful!!! All of MacMadame's answers above pretty much summarize my feelings. It's just amazing how NORMAL I feel getting full on so little food, and not feeling like I'm missing anything.

No catheter for me (that would have freaked me out too). I don't know what a Levine tube is, but I'm assuming it goes through the skin into the area? I did have a drainage tube in for a week post-op. Most people will tell you that having that tube removed is a weird feeling, but not painful. For me, I felt literally nothing at all... no weirdness, no sensation of it coming out through the hole. I didn't even realize the doc had pulled it out until I saw it in his hand. So don't worry about that part! And as I said, I personally didn't have a catheter, but I know that lots of people did, and I've never read anyone complaining about any pain with it being removed. Seems like that alone would make you want to pee like mad though LOL!

Before surgery, for the last 20+ years, I could never figure out why I had a weight problem, when I'd look at skinny people who were eating just like I was and didn't have a problem. Later, when I was eating horribly, I could never figure out why I ate so much and so often, and ate when I wasn't hungry at all... never figured out anything mental or emotional--I ate out of want, not need. I also never felt like I had a "full button" ... "full" to me meant stuffed to capacity and unable to stuff anything more in there. Through all my reading and research, I've come to think of my "old" stomach as defective. I'm not placing ALL the blame on it, because God knows I consistently made HORRIBLE food choices, especially these last few years when I've given up hope so many times and resigned myself to living life as a fat person (so why bother trying, you know what I'm saying?). But that damn ghrelin...I'm convinced that most of us over-produce it and THAT'S what makes it almost impossible for us to lose weight and keep it off. My old, super-stretchy, ghrelin-producing stomach gladly helped me get fat, which caused problems with heartburn, reflux, back pain, knee, hip, and foot pain, and apparently the beginnings of high blood pressure, which I'd never had a problem with before going through my pre-op testing (that was a nice surprise). Looking at the family history, at what I'd most likely be facing down the road if I didn't have this surgery... well, I knew what I had to do. With that "defective" thing gone, I actually physicallyl feel normal already, at one month out. Well, except for the fat itself. I feel like I have a nice, healthy stomach now. My joint pain is gone already and I've had no heartburn or reflux at ALL. Think of this as repairing your old, problem-causing stomach and starting fresh... 'cause that's what you're doing. :001_tongue:

You're both very welcome... enjoy! :thumbup1:

Plain Greek Yogurt--tastes like sour cream!

My surgeon uses a 32, but he did say that he doesn't snug the stapler up as tightly to it as he used to... he still goes right up to it, but doesn't want to get it so tight that it increases the risk of stricture. I'm not even a month out yet so my results aren't really very relevant, but I can drink normally, and eat couple ounces of mushies (refried beans, ricotta cheese), and a 1/4 cup of canned chicken mixed with a little cheese soup (rather than mayo), very slowly.

Oh yeah....Duh, I forgot that I won't be able to eat a plate of them!! :001_smile:

I bet you'll have 50 lbs. gone by October! How wonderful that you're taking this step so early in your life and that it's an available option for you. I hope you become a bariatric surgeon. :frown1:

As your write the letters and copy them to various people, you should also make an extra copy for whatever institution it is that deems someplace a "Center of Excellence," and send it all to them too, with a cover letter summarizing everything. And copy THAT letter to the surgeon's office as well, so they know... 'cause that place sure as hell is not "excellent," and they need a SERIOUS reality check.

Oh, I luuuuve me some pork rind nachos. Used to make them every time I tried Atkins... now you've got me thinking about them, I want them! Now that calories matter, I'll throw on some cheese, a little ground turkey, tomatoes, olives, taco sauce, and some Greek yogurt... oh, I can't wait! :thumbup1:

Excellent!!!

My clinic didn't try to sell them, but they used what the had as examples (and let us sample them all) and had them available if we wanted them. Their prices weren't any higher than online prices so they weren't doing it for profit. I'd have gotten my multi and calcium there, but they were out of both at the time.

WOW!! Holy cow, that averages to almost 8 lbs. a WEEK! How awesome is that!?!! NIIIIICE!!!

But you DO love you... that's why you're doing this!

Ohhhhh... that is SO on my list for when I get to full solids!!

That is awesome...you've got a good one! I'd say go for it too...won't be much different than a protein shake, just without as much protein. But you know.... don't have that much LOL.

What she said! You'll be fine, and if there is nausea, they've got stuff for that. Four more days for you, how exciting!

I haven't watched a VSG with band removal, but I've watched a couple of straight VSG surgeries. I have a copy of my own surgery on a zip drive, but haven't watched it yet (only because I want to watch it on the new flat-screen TV that I don't understand, so I need my hubby to figure out how to play off the USB ports!).

That is one of the things I was DYING for during my liquids-only stage. The other night my hubby decided he wanted Taco Bell and I said "YAY!!" and had him get me a pintos & cheese. Could only eat half of it but it was SO good!

HI Xandria! I'm in Michigan too. I had my VSG three weeks ago today at Doctors Hospital in Pontiac, with Dr. Mark Pleatman. This was my first major surgery, first time under general anesthesia. I had some slight anxiety for a couple of days after I scheduled the surgery, which was 12 days later. It wasn't a scared-kind of anxiety, it was more the anxiety you get over any major life-change, like getting married or having your first baby...knowing what's going to happen, but not understanding how it'll BE. Leading up to the surgery, I was surprised to find that I was just more and more excited, and not nervous at ALL. I half expected to cry when my husband and son walked out of pre-op. But I was totally relaxed, completely into paying attention to what the nurses were doing, how the whole process went... I found it really interesting. My husband and son had already been back to pre-op to see me beforehand, and after they went out my parents came in. While they were there, the nurse slipped the happy juice into my IV, and within 4-5 minutes I started feeling reeeeally sleepy. I vaguely remember my surgeon coming in but don't remember a thing he said. I remember my parents leaving and asking if I wanted them to send my husband back in one more time, saying yes, but I'm not sure if I remember seeing him again, or if I'm just imagining that LOL. After that--I was completely out of it. Don't remember a thing, not being wheeled off to surgery, just nothing at all. What felt like 5 minutes later, they were waking me up in recovery. Waking up, I had to PEE like a racehorse, which induced my first experience with a bedpan. Which I was privileged enough to have to use twice while in there LOL.... they pump a lot of Fluid into you!! After they got me to my room, my family came in and visited for awhile. I learned that my surgeon actually showed my husband my removed stomach! He was good with it, he was a Navy corpsman in the first Gulf War, and was at Oakland Naval Hospital when the big earthquake hit in '89, so he's seen a LOT. Anyway, after they left I started using the bathroom about every 2-3 hours (morning AND night). Lying still there was no pain at all... I felt bloated but wasn't having any gas pains yet. Sitting up in the bed, there was some mild-moderate pain at the main incision, and my stomach muscles felt like I'd done a thousand situps and then got beat with a baseball bat LOL.... all of which were completely gone within 6 days. They'll want you to get up every once in awhile and walk, and they'll come in at all hours wanting to test your oxygen, take your blood pressure, change your IV, add stuff to it, but it's all good... When you're not up walking or peeing you're pretty much gonna want to lay still and sleep anyway. I thought the whole experience was pretty neat!

Lucky you for getting to go out to dinner! We (me, hubby, son) went to see Avatar for the second time yesterday, this time on the Imax screen. Afterwards I asked if they wanted to go out and grab something to eat (cause I kinda did!) or go home and I'd cook steak.... they chose the steak. I had the ricotta cheese stuff. :crying: Gotta say, I'm looking soooo forward to being able to have a few bites of steak!!

Wow.... thanks! :crying:

CHILL, child LOL....first, you don't know that yours isn't going to go as well. In fact, odds are in your favor -- GREATLY in your favor -- that once you're past the first week or two, things will go much more smoothly for you than they will for your mom and sister. Visualize it...you WILL have very sore stomach muscles for a few days after surgery and you'll have to stand up slowly. You WILL have some pain at the main incision site when you sit up and/or change positions... again, that'll go away after a few days. You'll be very dry. Water won't taste very good and you won't be able to eat or drink much to start with. NOW, visualize how you're gonna deal with all that. You just do--and before you know it, you'll be feeling wonderful, and sooner than you think. NOW, visualize not being stuffed to the point of discomfort all the time, not being bloated, not feeling like a slave to food...and that all comes within the first few days too! After that the sky's the limit. Isn't all that worth feeling a little crappy for a week or so? You might even get lucky and be one of those people (like me) who never felt crappy--just a little sore, and totally normal by a week out. It'll be sooooo worth it in the end, just to get your life back. Are you anxious about the surgery itself? Try to relax and be interested in the process once they take you back to pre-op. I'd never had surgery before so I found the whole thing interesting, and once they slipped the sedative into my IV.... well, I don't remember much after that LOL. Next thing I knew they were waking me up in recovery. I know it's hard to imagine, but you really wake up thinking "Wow--it's done? Really?" Just take deep breaths, know that you're doing a wonderful thing for yourself, and you'll be fine. :crying: