Hi All,

For those of us having the surgery in South Carolina's Coastal Bariatric with Dr.Morris Washington, I thought we could start a thread over here in the general topics forum so we can keep in touch.

My surgery is July 11

Thinking of Jafter. Hope everything went ok and he is recovering nicely. :-)

Anyone else anxiously awaiting his reply??? LoL every time i go near the computer I check to see if he posted his experience yet!!! Thank god Dani will be texting me even WHILE she is IN surgery in LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!!!

Ow sorry, got excited lol!!!

Hey everybody!

For those of you already doing the preop liquid diet like Dani and Jafter, can you guys tell us what shakes your on and what exactly do you do? Do you take just five shakes a day an Water or do you include anything else. For those who are not on the preop diet yet but know exactly what you're going to do please tell me too. I would really like to know because I'm trying to figure out which shakes I should get.

I drank 3 doubles a day but do what is best for you. If you want 3 as meals and 2 as Snacks do it that way. I recommend using water and crushed ice and putting it in a blender tastes like a milk shake. I was on that for 3 weeks and did pretty well on it.

Anyone else anxiously awaiting his reply??? LoL every time i go near the computer I check to see if he posted his experience yet!!! Thank god Dani will be texting me even WHILE she is IN surgery in LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!!!

Ow sorry, got excited lol!!!

Sorry everyone I just have not been on my computer, I am doing great. I went to the hospital last Wed at 5:45am I was the first surgery of the day for dr Washington. I was in the operating room at 8am and out cold 8:01 LOL. I remember waking up in the recovery room and Dr. Washington came in and said that everything went great. I was groggy from the anthesia but pretty coherent. They wheeled me up to my room very nice to have a private room. (All rooms in Conway hospital are private). The nurses were very nice and attentive. (Sometimes it may take them a little time for them to come to the room when you need them.) They are working on multiple patients.

Remember you not going to be able to eat or drink until the next day. My mouth was so dry I was dying. They give you these frozen swabs with a little moisture in them ask for them and a cool compress. The nurses will have you hooked up to ivs for nurishment and dehydration. The first day I had the shoulder pain and the pain in my abdomen from the procedure nothing to bad. I also had nausea they will give you medicine for that. They will get you up walking it really helps relieve the pressure

Luckily Thursday morning came by quick and they had me do the leak test around 8-8:30. It is not as bad as they say. Kinda wild to watch the x ray as you drink the liquid.

I passed the test and was finally able to drink some Water. YEAH!!!!!!!!

I sat in the chair in the room for a good part of the day more comfortable than the chair. I also did laps in the hallway walking around was good to get the blood moving. Plus helps from getting blood clots. MOVE YOUR FEET even when laying in bed and also breathe deep and cough so you do not get pneumonia.

Dr. Washington came by around a few times and he let me go home on Thursday night. (I had a good friend stay with us who is a RN so that helped). You dont get much rest in the hospital since they check you vitals every 4 hours.

I will start another box.

My routine for the first week was to drink a bottle of Powerade (sugar free) you can use G3 (Gatorade) and then a bottle of cytomax (40 grams of protien) So I am getting my 40 grams of protien and over 50 ounces of liquids. I am also walking more. I started walking up and down my block and have now worked up to walking around the block.

I went to Dr. Washington's office yesterday to get my firs post op weigh in and to have my drain removed. (Ouch). I lost 13 lbs from last Tuesday. My stitches are healing well and as mentioned in other threads don't look at the drain being removed. It was very tender all day. I layed low all day yesterday.

So sorry I did not get on sooner. Good luck to everyone going in this week. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and I will think of you this week.

Glad to hear your doing so well Jafter!!! Great loss so far! Keep us posted!

Jafter- what cytomax drink do you use ? I was looking at them online but im not finding any that are 40g protein

Hey guys! Well..... So much to say, My family and I got down here Sunday night. Monday I met w Effie the nutritionist. Very, very nice lady gave me some good info and I felt really confident in my post op diet. After that I went and did all my pre op admission stuff and bloodwork. I also met w the anesthesiaologist. Everyone I met was beyond nice... A clean hospital. I felt totally safe in the facility.

I went to bed very nervous and concerned, just about the surgery in general and the "what ifs". Pre op jitters :-)

This morning I finally met Dr. Washington. He is wonderful. He took myself,my husband and daughters in his office. He went over the entire procedure..... Then everything changed for me.

I am down to 211lbs and only need to lose 55-60lbs to be where I want. Dr. W said I could EASILY lose 100lbs by next yr. At 111lbs Id be UNDER WEIGHT. Also, He could see me losing my boobs and curves.

Then we talked about post op nausea. I get very nauseaous after any procedure and many medications. At that point he said he could almost guarantee Id be sicker than I've ever been post op and it COULD last weeks!

Then we went to complications.... Leaks are the most worrisome and very difficult to heal. He said leaks scare him and he's only had 1 out of 270 surgeries. I knew about leaks from this forum but I didn't realize how bad and difficult they could be to heal. Months and months in the hospital.

I left his office and had an hour to kill before my endoscopy.

I cancelled my surgery at that point. I know how low of a risk I am for complications. I probably would have done great but honestly I just don't want to chance that.... Not with 2 very young girls to take care of. Im in good health and I wanted to do this for vanity reasons. I've always used the excuse of not having any willpower but I proved myself wrong with this preop diet.

I am gonna do my very best to lose on my own and teach myself and my family better habits.

If I can't do it I will do this surgery down the road, when my girls are older.

I can't say enough good stuff about Dr w and his staff. Even after I cancelled they treated me wonderfully. I don't regret my decision, am a little sad things went this way but im so thankful Dr w was so open and honest.

Hey guys! Well..... So much to say, My family and I got down here Sunday night. Monday I met w Effie the nutritionist. Very, very nice lady gave me some good info and I felt really confident in my post op diet. After that I went and did all my pre op admission stuff and bloodwork. I also met w the anesthesiaologist. Everyone I met was beyond nice... A clean hospital. I felt totally safe in the facility.

I went to bed very nervous and concerned, just about the surgery in general and the "what ifs". Pre op jitters :-)

This morning I finally met Dr. Washington. He is wonderful. He took myself,my husband and daughters in his office. He went over the entire procedure..... Then everything changed for me.

I am down to 211lbs and only need to lose 55-60lbs to be where I want. Dr. W said I could EASILY lose 100lbs by next yr. At 111lbs Id be UNDER WEIGHT. Also, He could see me losing my boobs and curves.

Then we talked about post op nausea. I get very nauseaous after any procedure and many medications. At that point he said he could almost guarantee Id be sicker than I've ever been post op and it COULD last weeks!

Then we went to complications.... Leaks are the most worrisome and very difficult to heal. He said leaks scare him and he's only had 1 out of 270 surgeries. I knew about leaks from this forum but I didn't realize how bad and difficult they could be to heal. Months and months in the hospital.

I left his office and had an hour to kill before my endoscopy.

I cancelled my surgery at that point. I know how low of a risk I am for complications. I probably would have done great but honestly I just don't want to chance that.... Not with 2 very young girls to take care of. Im in good health and I wanted to do this for vanity reasons. I've always used the excuse of not having any willpower but I proved myself wrong with this preop diet.

I am gonna do my very best to lose on my own and teach myself and my family better habits.

If I can't do it I will do this surgery down the road, when my girls are older.

I can't say enough good stuff about Dr w and his staff. Even after I cancelled they treated me wonderfully. I don't regret my decision, am a little sad things went this way but im so thankful Dr w was so open and honest.

My routine for the first week was to drink a bottle of Powerade (sugar free) you can use G3 (Gatorade) and then a bottle of cytomax (40 grams of protien) So I am getting my 40 grams of protien and over 50 ounces of liquids. I am also walking more. I started walking up and down my block and have now worked up to walking around the block.

I went to Dr. Washington's office yesterday to get my firs post op weigh in and to have my drain removed. (Ouch). I lost 13 lbs from last Tuesday. My stitches are healing well and as mentioned in other threads don't look at the drain being removed. It was very tender all day. I layed low all day yesterday.

So sorry I did not get on sooner. Good luck to everyone going in this week. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and I will think of you this week.

Jafter!!! Congratulations. I am so happy for you! Please continue to keep us posted

Jafter- what cytomax drink do you use ? I was looking at them online but im not finding any that are 40g Protein

I got my cytomax from the Vitamin shoppe if there is one near you go in they reduced the stock that they had on the shelves because of a new packaging by the company. So I got my bottles for 1.89 a piece instead of 4.00 a piece. I use the tropical and the watermelon. Like I said it takes me all day to drink the bottle of cytomax and Powerade.

I just bought some more powerade yesterday at walmart no calories and has Vitamins and electolites.

Dani,

Cancelling the surgery is not an awful decision especially having 2 young children. I have come to the realization that this program is an atkins on steriods. You may want to look into weight watchers, that way you can eat normal food but just the correct portions and incorporate exercise into your life and you will lose the extra weight.

I was an extreme example I weighed 361 when I started and have heart disease in my family. I need to lose 160 lbs, but if you need to lose 50-60 you can do it on your own.

Stay focused and do it for your kids, your hubby, and most of all do it for yourself. We will always be here for you.

I am glad Dr. Washington doesn't sugar coat things he is an honest man and he wants the best for you. Good luck on your journey. If you ever need support you can always come back for a shoulder to lean on.

Thanks so much Jafter. I've been a little sad today but not because I regret my decision but because I was so excited and ready to drop this wt fast. I really surprised myself doing the 2 wk preop. I kinda feel like this is my wake up call.... If I don't get a grip now I will do this surgery down the road but I have a super supportive (and active) husband who's gonna push me to do this on my own.

I am also glad at how honest Dr. W was. It was almost like even he didn't want me to do this.

I do have to say- someone must have been looking out for me- I woke up feeling yucky along with my daughters and low and behold....we have strep throat.

It just wasn't my time today and things happen for a reason.

I wish you a happy healthy life from here on out! Im so happy for all of Dr. Washingtons patients bc he really is wonderful.

I will keep checking in on you guys and I can't wait to hear everyone's updates! Thanks again for your kind words Jafter :-)

Dani

I meant to respond yesterday but got sidetracked. I personally think you made the right decision. I know for sure that I probably would have done the same thing if I only had 50-60lbs to lose. Not that it's easy but why go through such drastic measures? I totally get it.

You can make small changes in your life that will make a huge difference in your life. Cutting out anything but water and crystal light perhaps and walking a little more. You can do it! You made a very sound decision. Best of luck in everything!

Thank you mimi :-) You are right, any amount of wt is hard to lose but I can get this amount off. Im just gonna have to work hard and learn how to get healthy. Ive eaten healthy and walked a lot yesterday and this am.

Thank you all for the support... It's made me feel much better :-)