educationrulz

Best wishes Maddie. Please let us know how you are after the gallbladder surgery.

This is definitely a learning process and sometimes very day by day. Yesterday, my schedule was a little off and I went a long time between meals early in the day. Then, I ate a larger than normal dinner and grazed all night. Uuugghh! But, I'm totally back on track today and have no desire to graze or eat anything off-program. Sometimes, you just have to start over and go from there.

Maybe Prilosec doesn't work for you. I started off on omeprazole and it didn't do the trick for me. I switched to Prevacid since that's what they gave me in the hospital and it's working much better. Try another PPI...

Remember that all fluids count - not just water. I try to only count clear liquids and make sure at least 20 of my 64 oz is water, but some days I do better than others. There are some days when my stomach does not tolerate water. It goes down like a brick. Other days, it's no problem. When I'm having trouble with water I used diluted fruit juices, gatorade, and clear protein drinks to count for my 64 oz. But, your protein shakes and other similar drinks also count toward the 64 oz.

Congratulations! This is great progress. I can't wait till I can get back into real weights and strength training. I know it's going to make a big difference in how my clothes fit.

I have found that attempting to "blast" a previous doctor in front of a new one will often get you nothing but silence. They shy away from these issues with their colleagues. Been there, done that. However, most doctors will treat anyone for the medical issues they are currently dealing with. Be sure that you are approaching any prospective doctor from the standpoint of needing help with your current condition and symptoms, not from the standpoint of what the previous doctor might have done wrong. Leave that issue to a lawyer. It might even be good to not even mention your previous doctor's name (unless asked) so that there's no pressure on the new doc to make a judgement call. Have you contacted a doctor that specializes in respiratory issues? There's no reason that kind of doctor should have any feelings about a bariatric surgeon and they should be more than willing to treat your condition. Don't continue to seek out bariatric surgeons. Take care of the respiratory issues and then get a GI followup so you can be sure there are no leaks as someone else has suggested. Any GI doc can do a leak test just as they do the upper GIs for our preop appointments. Let them know about your surgery of course so that they can be aware of your postop issues. I also sent you a Private Message. If you can give me some more info, I may be able to give you some advice, especially about specific hospitals.

You need to avoid heaving as much as possible since your stomach is freshly stapled and needs to heal without stress. I say take the nausea medicine IF it will keep you from vomiting. I dealt with nausea the first couple of weeks but it didn't make me vomit so I didn't take anything after I left the hospital.

I think this is something you could just inform your surgeon and hospital of on your history and physical forms. I can't see how it would affect you having surgery. Surgeon's are used to operating on people with various health conditions and they would just take to proper precautions - although I can't see why they would need any in your case. But, I do think it should be part of your medical record. For example, they may catheterize you. In this situation, they should have this info in your record just in case.

I'm not as far out as you, but I definitely have some days that are better than others. I've been doing good overall the last week, but yesterday I had to take a 3 hour nap while my daughter stayed up and played on the laptop. I couldn't keep my eyes open. You're probably just in a slump that will pass soon. If it doesn't get better after getting back on your Vitamins, you might want to see if you need to have some bloodwork done.

Hey Stacey. I remember that you mentioned in another thread that you are about to start adding strength training to your routine. For me, strength training is the only thing that balances me out. I have always tended to be larger on top, but a few years ago after I lost a lot of weight and got heavily into strength training/weight lifting, everything finally balanced out. It's pretty much stayed that way even after I gained the weight back, but I could see myself heading back toward that unbalanced state a few months before surgery. I'm really looking forward to being able to get back to weight lifting. It never made me look masculine, just nicely shaped up.

I think french onion without the onion would be a clear. I once took some progresso chicken noodle and strained it down to clear liquid. Yummy!

Hmmm....try the Green Apple Isopure RTD. Now that will pucker your lips and you'll get Protein to boot. :thumbup1: Alot of people don't like them but it's been working for me.

I finally made this a few days ago and it is heavenly!!! :thumbup1: After following the original recipe, I took it out of the oven and added a layer of high quality jar spaghetti sauce and a layer of mozerella on top of that. I then baked it for another 10 minutes or so to heat the sauce and melt the mozeralla. I put several servings in my little mini glad tupperware bowls to have on hand in the fridge that week and put the rest in the freezer. I love this recipe because it tastes great and goes down easy.

I too have been using small dessert plates for my meals. I also use the small sizes of tupperware dishes that come in the variety sets and I bought some of the small round disposable plastic bowls (which I don't throw away). [ame=http://www.amazon.com/GladWare-Round-4-Ounce-Containers-8-Count/dp/B000EGBLBM]Amazon.com: GladWare Mini Round, 4-Ounce Containers with Lids, 8-Count Containers, Case of 12 (96 Containers): Health & Personal Care[/ame] (This link I posted has a good picture but it's for a bulk order. They can be ordered in smaller amounts if you can't find them in the store.) These are going to be a life saver for me when I go back to work because I'll be able to pack several different meals/snacks in these little containers and fit them all in my work cooler with my drinks. I'm sure I'll get lots of comments on my small little bowls of food, but oh well, who cares!:thumbup1:

There are some great recipes on the recipe forum here on VST. I made the ricotta bake and it's GREAT! My eyes want to eat the whole pan but of course my tummy says no-go. I added jar spaghetti sauce and mozerella to the top of mine for some extra flavor. I actually use some fast food to my advantage. I love Wendy's chili. Chick-fil-a strips have been a life saver because they're so moist I can eat them without a lot of drama - well, I can eat 1/2 of a large one. I also go to Taco Bell and get one of the steak strips chalupa and eat the meat, sauce and cheese out of that. The meat is very moist and easy to eat. I sometimes eat a tiny bit of the breaded part. I know fast food is a slippery slope so I do have to watch myself there, but it's nice to have some options for when I don't have the time or desire to cook. I do plan to do more cooking when the amount I can eat stabalizes. Right now, most of what I cook gets tossed because my daughter doesn't eat that much. It's kind of frustrating to me right now so I avoid cooking alot.

I know it sucks to have to wait for your sleeve but you'll probably be able to heal better without those teeth throbbing away. The healing/postop phase is very important - especially getting in fluids and establishing eating habits so you don't want to have dental pain at that time. Good luck!

Thanks greeneyes! Now you've got me trying to figure out where I can get a piece of banana bread. :biggrin0:

Scales are EVIL!!! :001_smile:

Does anyone have any thoughts about the type of milk we should be drinking right now? I'm thinking about this because when I came home all I had in the house was 2% since that's all I buy for me and my daughter. My preop diet does call for skim/1% but late one night during my full liquid phase, I really wanted some milk. I was weak and thristy, so I drank the 2%. It tasted like heaven! I just didn't think about it much after that and continued to occasionally drink the 2%. I probably drink about 1/4 cup every other day, if that much. I actually drank it a couple of times because I was getting SOOOO little fluids and food in that it seemed like a good source of nutrients for my body. At least it has some substance to it. I'm still strugglng with eating and drinking and not getting enough of anything in on a regular basis. I know it's more calories and fat, but I feel like my body needs something more right now. I finally bought some skim yesterday, but went to put it in my Cereal this am and it was totally unappealing to me - as it always has been. So, I poured it out and put the 2% in there. I wanted to try the skim now so that I could bump up to 2% as needed when I hit the maintenance phase but I couldn't bring myself to drink it. This is honestly the only thing I've strayed from on my postop diet. Does anyone know of a reason this might be a problem to just continue with the 2%? BTW, I think I'm going to fess up to my surgeon at my 2 week followup this week and see what he says. I can just imagine.

Becca, I think you did a great job researching this fairly new surgery beforehand and made sure that your doctor explained things clearly. It sounds like you're doing well already in the postop phase. Dr. Watkins, Thank you for taking the time to post answers to some of the question that we have been discussing about the plication procedure. There seems to be some misleading info or terminology from at least one other surgeon about this procedure as it compares with the vertical sleeve ("super sleeve") and that has caused some animated discussion in our forum. It's good to know that you are providing detailed, accurate, and honest information to your patients.

I'm very concerned that some people who are planning to get surgery, or may have already gotten it, don't seem to understand the difference between plication and "super sleeve". Although the info from one of the doc's websites that has been posted here by several different members explains it - if you read very carefully - it still seems that the docs website uses the term "super sleeve" in a misleading manner. At some point, a person could go in asking for the "super sleeve" thinking they are get the less invasive plication procedure and wake up to find out their stomach is gone. As others have said, be clear about what you're asking for and getting. If you are even mildly confused, make the doctor's office explain it to you until it makes sense - and call them out on using the correct terminology!

I think you'll be fine with that. They had me swallowing small pills in the hospital after my leak test. I never had a problem with them. I think the main problem with the bigger ones is the possibility of them getting stuck when everything is still swollen after surgery. But, of course your surgeon will have to have the final say on this stuff.

I think you can do a plication as a revision of a bypass or a sleeve. Maybe that would be better than a band.