Went in yesterday (Dr. Jeff Vaughn in Jupiter FL) I can't get over the professionalism of the team from intake nurse to discharge nurse - was home around 1:00 PM - slept the afternoon - ate a little Jello last night. Woke up this morning and fighting off all the folks to tell me stay home - went to work - I feel beat up, but plenty fine to sit at a desk and use the computer. If I had a physical job it might be different. I'm only going to stay a few hours but for those of you who fear post op pain etc., if you get lucky like me - (and my sympathies for the folks that have suffered) it's not bad at all.

Down 21 pre-op, eager to be on my journey. Ignore the ticker

Hi

That makes me feel a whole lot better:smile:. I am getting banded next Thursday, and go back to work in Sunday. I am a College instructor, so at most, I will have to stand in front of a class for 2 hours at a time and try and remember about cardio-pulmonary physiology! LEt me know how you felt when you got back from work......

I own a mortgage company so I sit at a desk and use the computer and answer the phone - no real standing for me but honestly, professor, other than a vague feeling of, well best way I can say it is "different" - I am having no problems at all - I could stay here all day if "she who must be obeyed" wasn't demanding I get home to the requisite fussing and pampering - for me at least, it is really not bad at all. I feel very fortunate.

Professor!!! LOL yeah right! I am a Respiratory Therapy instructor..... would never call myself a professor!

I hope I can get your luck Floridaboy.... what have you been eating since the surgery (or drinking I should say?)

I spent about two weeks, pre op, having just protein shakes - protein whey and skim or almond milk. I in the morning and I when I got home. I read about Rex Ryan, the coach of the Jets, and how he cheated a few times pre-op to treat himself and I thought I would too, but I never did - I had a few grapes here and there but that was it. My brother is visiting from Toronto and I cooked him and my girlfriend a big lobster dinner from Florida's mini season and being honest, I really wasn't tempted at all although it was kind of weird not joining them at the dinner table. You have to remember, I just got banded about 24 hours ago and the information that I was given for the first week, says no milk - so I mixed the protein powder in some cherry jello (really not bad, I don't remember eating jello since I was a kid) - I am going to try and be brave and try the protein powder with just water later today. So I'm really not a very good source for post op. Honestly - I don't really feel much like drinking anything except water right now - still a little dehydrated from the anth. I have broth and jello lined up on the kitchen counter but whether or not they will get used is a very good question. I'd just as soon be back on the protein shakes but that's the next two weeks after this.

Hi there! My surgery is scheduled Dec 16 with Vaughan - I've heard nothing but great things about him and his staff. He banded a very good friend of mine and she loves him as well. I'm going to see him tomorrow actually, but since I got everything I needed for the first appointment done before it, they could go ahead and scheule me. Enough of my yammering tho, and on to my question - why the shakes for two weeks prior? Was that something he had recommended to you?

Hey Floridaboy! I'm from just a couple of hours north of you in Melbourne! I'm glad to hear your doing so well! I feel the same as you...other than the slight cold I had post op, I felt great! I didn't need pain meds and only had a bit of soreness the first couple of days...but it was more like the feeling of "difference," like you described.

What Protein are you drinking? I found a really good whey at Publix. It's by Pure Protein. It's the chocolate flavor, and it is really good whether it's with milk or Water. Obviously it's better with milk, and I bet almond milk would be REALLY good (I LOVE almond milk!), but it's still palatable with water.

I wish I was able to return to work as quickly as you...but I'm a police officer and my surgeon said with the belt it's gonna be a few weeks. Lucky you!

Fabulous!

Thats great you are able to recover so fast. I went back to work day 2 post op my surgery and though it was a little tough it wasn't that bad. I am a teacher so walking and standing for a while helped me recover quicker I think.

It is possible to go back to work right after surgery if you feel up to it. I found it helped the recovery because I wasn't lying down in bed all the time

Good for you FloridaBoy. I couldn't have gone back that quickly, but then I have to stand for 12 hours a day, with a lot of lifting and moving, so that would have been sheer misery. I'm also in Florida.

Ladybug, I'm in the same area as you.. Well, Palm Bay that is, but close enough. Where did you have your surgery done?

xx

I've used Platinum Hydro Whey that I get from Amazaon - it is actually very good but I'm off it right now - as an update - I really didn't lose any weight after my resolve kind of petered out until my 2nd fill - I'm still not at the 'sweet spot" that everyone talks about but it is much better - weight has started to drop now - I got through Thanksgiving without gaining - about break even which is about as good as you can hope for I think. I'm very positive at this point - my life long addiction to potato chips seems to have gone away (for the time being anyway) I do find that I have to eat 3 meals a day to lose weight though which is very different for me - I have oatmeal for breaky - I take a low cal low fat soup for lunch and have something like a small steak or chicken for dinner - (I end up giving half of what I eat to the dogs) I'm finding that simply because I have to chew longer and take my time, I eat less. Perhaps if I'd learn not to eat so quickly, I wouldn't be in this state. It was kind of cool picking out clothes to go to Thanksgiving dinner and my shirts fit that I haven't worn in a few years. Well good luck to us all - Christmas is up next - I plan on mounting a guerilla attack on that bad boy - I'm not going to let it get me. Then we have the 60th birthday cruise in January and another one in April - I'm going to get my last fill before those happen....... to SFS - Vaughn is terrific - JMC is terrific - Sheila (Shayla) the scheduler in his office is great - the billing got screwed up but I fixed it without too much drama - the booklet that they gives you talks about post op and that's where I got the shakes from - personally, i think he is being very cautious - he also tells you nothing but liquid after the fills for 24 hours - and I'm not suggesting you don't follow your doctors advice but I ignored that and it caused me no problems.

Thanks for the response I was actually asking not about what shakes you used, but why you were on a liquid diet for two weeks PRIOR to your surgery? As far as I recollect, no one's mentioned anything like that to me. Was it a liver shrinking thing?

Thanks for the response I was actually asking not about what shakes you used, but why you were on a liquid diet for two weeks PRIOR to your surgery? As far as I recollect, no one's mentioned anything like that to me. Was it a liver shrinking thing?

Most people have a pre-op diet to shrink their liver. Mine was 3 weeks of nothing but Protein shakes.

Those that don't, consider themselves lucky. I think it is a misfortune. They are missing out on valuable post band practice.

No - I wasn't instructed to and I'm not sure about the liver shrinking thing - it was never brought up to me - I mostly did it to get some momentum and a head start I guess - I did gain some weight back after the surgery but have since lost that back and on the way down. A lot of what you are instructed to do is helpful but you have to come up with something that you know you can follow - I read these boards a lot and a lot of people seemed to have this 2 week Protein shake pre-surgery, I thought I could do that so I did - its obviously not a way of life and it is difficult. I'm in a pretty good groove now - but I have to eat three meals a day no matter if I want to or not - my daughter who's a fitness freak, eats 5 times a day and that really never made any sense to me whatsoever - but it is working so who am I to argue - I bring Healthy Choice soup to work and eat it for lunch - the idea of a bowl of soup being lunch is so ridiculously foreign to me but for some reason, I'm doing ok with it - my labradoodles (who come to work) get part of the bowl though - right now as I type this, I am a few hours post oatmeal and the soup isn't calling out to me from the fridge yet - but I'm sure it will by the time its noon.