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I am with Northern California Kaiser and did not have to do any classes. I had to have my psych evaluation, and have other screenings complete like my female annual, and yearly physical. I did have to meet a pre-op weight loss goal before my surgery would be scheduled then a 2 week liver shrinking diet before surgery. I had my surgery in Fresno.

I had issues swallowing even the tiniest sip of Water for the first few weeks post-op. I would go through this whole process where first I felt constriction in my esophagus, then there would be this gurgling coming all the way up into the back of my throat, and then I'd have to burp. The good news is, it seemed to just be a product of the swelling, so once that went down after a couple of weeks, it became much easier. The key is you still have to drink as much as you possibly can, no matter how unpleasant it is. You need to be sip, sip, sipping. Aim for an ounce of water every 15 minutes, so that's 1/2 cup per hour. I know how tough it is. I remember how miserable it was. But, it is SO IMPORTANT to stay hydrated so you don't end up back in the hospital. As for that dryness and burning in your throat, my guess is acid reflux. Did your surgeon prescribe a PPI?

I still feel weak. I drink my protein shakes and water and I still feel weak. I have no energy to do anything. I'm on puree diet and 8 still feel like this. Sometimes I wish I didn't do the surgery. I was active always on the go and now I'm a total different person. I hope things get better.

Just thought I'd do a boring formal intro...:thumbup::ohmy::thumbup: I am Katherine... 26yo from Australia... I work in the medical field.. I work crazy oncall hours.. sometime 60-70hours a week! but I do love my job... I've been overweight my whole life at least the last 20years! Ive got high blood pressure, kidney problems and now some insulin intolerance! I am desperate to loose this weight so I can live a long healthy life and maybe one day have a baby! I have approx 60-70kg to loose... :thumbup: My op date is the end of March 2010!!! I just cant wait:tt2::wink5::ohmy::wink2: K xxxx

It took me, unfortunetly, about three weeks to relieve all the gas and I did a lot of walking. It was such a yucky feeling but it does pass! Good luck to both of you.

My gas pains went away within the first week. I had the very painful left shoulder syndrom. I'm so thankful that it has left!!!!

Good luck and enjoy the process. I found using an elliptical first worked well to learn how to breath better. Less bounce and could keep track of my speed and resistance. Then I started C25K. To get the 5K done I used this Couch to 5K program. (http://www.coolrunni...2_3/index.shtml) I was getting distracted and not paying attention to the timing then I found this cool little site c25kplaylists.com. The music is OK, but the nice thing is the voice prompts to remind me to walk or run. I can concentrate on form and not look at my watch. I just saved the 30 minute song as an MP3 file and put it on my iPod. Speaking of form - http://www.jeffgallo...m/learn/videos/ Jeff has some great tips. Most important take away, short stride, shuffle, feet close to ground to prevent injuries. When I last tried to start running, I didn't do this and ended up hurting myself and was not able to walk for nearly a week. I used his tips and it has lead to pain free running.

I can only answer for myself and even then, my answer will be askew for the simple reason that I am pre-op and do not have a surgery date yet. However, I have tried to incorporate some changes into my lifestyle so that hopefully the transition will not seem as drastic once it occurs. I have made changes such as replacing two of my meals with a Protein shake and have incorporated a 25 minute daily walk for at least 5 days a week. I also try not to drink carbonated drinks, mainly sodas. Most of my liquid intake comes from plain Water, unsweetened green tea and/or coffee. Albeit, to be completely honest with you, there are days were I falter and I end up having two solid meals instead of one or sometimes I will have a glass of soda. But every time that happens, I have no other option than to just stick to it the next day and make sure I follow through. I don't know that I will have the will power to keep up my post-op program, but that is one of the reasons I am making these changes, so the transition will not seem as huge.

I was banded yesterday (7.8.08) and although I am in a bit of pain, I'm doing suprisingly well. What stinks is all these amazing smells coming from my mother's kitchen (we're staying with my family for a few days post-op) and not being able to EAT. I don't want to eat, my stomach is full, and I feel restricted, but the smells are so good! It's such a confusing situation! You really do have to train yourself. In any case, I'm proud to now move over to the Post-Op thread. I'm on clear liquids for 3 days, and full liquids for 5 weeks (although the doctor will allow mushies about week 4 or so). Hard to just have 2 oz at a time! And the gurgling is weird, too!

Mine took a little less than 2 weeks to get the approval. Good luck!!

I'm so frustrated! I had my husband hide the scale because it was freaking me out. I'm 3 1/2 weeks post-op (June 28th), and Ive only lost 1/2 a pound since 4 days after my surgery. I'm getting all my protein and water in. I'm currently on mushies, and I'm doing my best to watch carbs. One of the biggest problems is that I can't actively exercise. I badly broke my ankle at the end of May, so rehabbing it is standing in the way of exercising. How can I not be losing weight...I'm only eating about 400 calories?!! I did Medifast a couple of years ago, weight just fell off, and I was eating ALOT more:(. I'm so discouraged. I know everyone stalls, but I didn't think it would be so soon after surgery.

Hi, my file is on the last person's desk at my doctor's office. I've been told there are files ahead of me; it could be a few weeks before it's actually submitted. Yikes! I've already met my deductible this year, I start grad school Jan 3. I feel like I'm running out of time. If you have UHC, how long before you received a response?

My job put in a stipulation that i had to go through a 6 week nutrition consult before approval. However, once that was done, it took only a week to get an approval.

As was said above, you proablly need to up your Protein intake. Also make sure you are getting enough fluids in. It is common to stall. Also protien really does play a huge help in your weight loss. If you don't take in enough your body thinks it is in starveation mode. A great protein that has no flavor and can be added to anything is GENEPRO it is the only one I have found that has no flavor and won't change the taste or texture of whatever you add it too. Good Luck

you're just in a stall. Stick to your program and it will pass. Your Protein *is* a little low, though - most RNY patients are supposed to get a minimum of 60 grams.

Im also 4 weeks out and have been stalled for close to two weeks. I can't give encouragement yet but I can sit and hold your hand and we'll wait together for the numbers to drop.

I wouldn't be too disappointed as you're ahead of the one pound per week estimate that my surgeon suggests is typical. Congrats on the weight loss.

I was the same way..I have had 3 fills and after the 3rd I finally had restriction...however, the really good restriction only lasted about 2 weeks than I was able to eat more again. after my 3rd fill I had a total of 7ccs in 10 cc band. My doctor told me most people start feeling restriction at around 7cc's. I still can eat close to 2 cups before feeling full. It depends on what I eat..somedays I feel more restriction than others and some meals I can eat more than other meals..I havnt figured it out yet. I got banded july 29th. before my 3rd fill and for the first few months after surgery I had no restriction! and it sucked! Im waiting for my 4th fill which is scheduled on Jan. 11th. I think this fill will get me at my sweet spot,at least I am hoping. I do get stuck occasionally now and can't eat a ton of food but I still can eat more than the half cup they reccomend. You will get there...before my 3rd fill I was freaking thinking I had 6cc with no restriction and that I may never get there ...but I thikn now with each fill I will feel a little more. I asked my doctor what happens when I get to 10cc?? and he said "not be able to drink water"..lol..so not saying everyone is like that but you may not feelgood restriction until closer to your max.

Hi I am 6 weeks out and also having a hard time drinking. It feels like I swallowed a rock. I only take small sips and same results.Warm tea and broth is a lot easer. I was told by a freind that had the sleeve that it gets better with time.

My Visa debit card is my right hand gal. On the back I've written "SEE ID". It never ceases to amaze me when people flip it over, read that, and hand it right back w/o asking for ID. And worse - when someone does ask for ID, they're so timid - like they expect it will make me mad. Carlene, that's great advice. Here's something else to watch out for. This isn't one of those "tell all your friends" email mass hysterias, this actually happened to me. We bought something at a store that will go unnamed. In retrospect we could remember making the purchase, but not thinking twice about it. Anyway - what happened was that the clerk swiped the card, and the transaction didn't go through. So he swiped the card at another reader and it went through just fine, end of story. Haha. I'm really bad about following up with our account, I know more is coming in than going out, so I just don't pay any attention. We use online banking and every few weeks I'll scan the transactions just to make sure everything looks OK, taht refunds were credited, etc. Well I go to scan, and see a lot of unexplained transactions, and by "a lot of unexplained" I mean over $4k worth of porn subscriptions. Sites for pedophilia, beastiality, snuff, etc. So I call our bank, and they launch an investigation. Ends up, I guess this isn't all that uncommon (from what the bank told us) that people get jobs as store clerks to have access to customers/credit/debit cards. They bring in their own "bogus" scanners that do nothing other than record the information from the swiped card. So the customer goes to buy something, they swipe it once into their recorder, "Oops, doesn't look like that transaction went through" (they've just captured all of your information), "let's try it again on this reader, that one might be broken" (on the actual store scanner that will go through). Our bank was awesome and they credit the money back, no questions asked, but I know there are people out there with online banking who are worse about checking it than me. One lesson learned we took away from this is that we now limit the amt of money we keep in checking. On payday X amount is automatically transferred into savings (we've always done that), X amout is automatically transferred into what we call "liquid savings" - savings for purchases, taxes, vacations, whatever... not real savings, just a way to store up money we know we will spend eventually), and X is automatically transferred into investments, and the rest goes into our checking. Now I keep a max of 4k in checking unless I know I'm going to make a big purchase. I'll check every few weeks and if we're over that, I'll transfer to one of the other accounts. I talk to my friends who keep 100% of their cash assets in their primary checking account, and I share my story with them, and usually they change their ways. We had ewnough to cover the fraudulent purchases, but if we hadn't, all of our bills are done on autopay, and that means everything from our cable bill to our mortgage could have bounced. That means lots of penalties, fees, and the potential for credit impact.

@ nailed it. I had a long post-op liquids phase by most standards (6 weeks), after a five day clear liquids pre-op. Talk about cleansing your system. It was hard, but doable. I'm glad it's over, but grateful for the benefits it gave me.

it's the infamous "three-week stall". If you do a search on this site for it, you will literally find over 15,000 posts on it. Almost everyone has that. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. It typically lasts 1-3 weeks. Your weight loss WILL start up again. And just so you know, you're likely to go through several of these on your journey.

I think that is great! 28 pounds in two weeks is amazing!

Today was my 2 week check up from my revision. I am so happy that I am down 12 lbs!! I am very excited about this. I also get to start back on my Zumba class and lifting weights to music class next week. It is strange I am feeling the need to do more of that type of exercise than I am of walking.

it'll slow down. I had a big drop the first month, then it's been like 2-3 lbs a week. Plus like many, you may hit the "three week stall" soon where you won't lose anything for a week or two....