Hello, everyone!! So I am scheduled for surgery February 20th! Yay!!! Six weeks later, my parents and I are going to England!

I'm sure I'll get some raised eyebrows at this, but I'm going no matter what. My question is for those people in England.

What do you suggest for Protein shakes, soft foods, etc? We will be there for about 12 days. I will be just starting solid foods by that time, and I'm just wondering if there is anything I need to avoid.

Also, I'm not anticipating any issues, but if there is a problem, where are the good doctors? We will mostly be in the Swindon, Bristol, Chepstow area. Then we are heading to London.

Any advice, tips, or general motivational speeches would be most welcome!

Can't help you with the questions about England, however as far as traveling post surgery...

My surgery was May 8, 2013. On May 27th, I drove from new Orleans to Miami, back to Orlando a week later...walked around Disney for 7 days (we can't go within a 100 miles of Orlando and not see Mickey & Minnie! LOL) , then drove home to New Orleans.

The only thing I did differently than previous trips was stopped every few hours to get out and walk around for 10-15 minutes (was concerned about potential blood clots). In that it is a long flight, you may want to walk the aisle every hour or so.

Good luck with your surgery (you are in for a fantastic, life-changing journey!) and nave fun on your trip!

Get airplane seats near the bathroom.

There is a UK Local support sub forum on here...

http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/403-united-kingdom-uk-local-gastric-sleeve-support/

You may want to post there or PM some of the regulars.

Sweet! Thanks, guys!! Although, I am a little worried about the bathroom comment... Are there major problems with like throwing up or diarrhea or something? Hahaha!! When I had my band, I remember having diarrhea a lot. Oh boy!!!

Thank you for telling me about thet UK sub forum!!!

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you! We're all getting those travel compression socks to wear. Hopefully those will help! Our flight is at night, so we want to sleep as much as possible...

Not England but I flew about 4 weeks out and was fine.... I just made sure I had my snacks with me for the air plane... Also I brought my protein powder with me in my luggage......

Hi

In every town you mention there is a nutrition store called "Holland and Barrett" which has a wide range of Protein shakes. They have helpful staff so you should be able to find one with the right nutritional profile as advised by your surgeon since it may be necessary to have one or two of the meals as shakes if you find the restaurant eating a challenge.

English restaurants are not SO used as American ones to having customers specify how they want things. Generally Breakfast will be a synch- poached eggs, scrambled eggs,omelettes, kippers ( soft smoked fish) or porridge will always be available somewhere on the menu.

lunch and dinner will be tougher. You might want to look for stews/casseroles where the meat is cooked soft or fish ( sorry not cod and chips). Fish cakes are often on menus and they tend to be soft but don't forget that they are fried so not the lowest calorie.Often the inside of pies will have stewed meat and veg in a gravy- just don't eat pastry crust. Most of the vegetables will be quite soft. Just remember to ask for not to be covered in oil or butter -a common practice in UK.

ENJOY!

Thank you, UKHEIDI!!! We will definitely be going there!!