educationrulz

Jolanda, Do you think you're going to have to eat more than 1500 calories a day to maintain?

Well, I poured it into a glass but left it in the fridge so it could stay cold. Do you mean I should take it out of the fridge? I'll try the metal spoon.

I'm still kind of craving my soda. I did finally drink some and spit it out. Then, I decided to try the thing with letting it go flat and then drinking it. Has anyone tried that? I've seen it recommended in some of the surgeon's postop diet plans. Unfortunately, it is taking FOREVER for the soda to go flat. It's been in the fridge for like three days and still has little bubbles in it. I actually took a sip one day when I though the bubbles were gone and discovered later that there were still bubbles. It freaked me out but nothing happened. How long does it take for soda to go flat enough to drink?

First ask them if bariatric surgery is a covered part of your policy. Then ask about the sleeve. Most importantly, have them tell you where you can find all of this in writing because I've gotten different answers from different cust service reps before. Once you get to the written policy, it will tell you what to do to initiate the process. I found all the info I needed online by logging on to my personal insurance page.

Nothing like a hurricane to take your mind off preop jitters. Congratulations!

I can't wait to see the sides of my car seat. That'll be cool. Today I tried on some clothes that I haven't worn in about 5 years, since before my daughter was born. I saved the ones that I knew would still be cute if I ever lost weight again, and they actually fit nicely on my body today!!! I can't freakin believe it! :blushing: The crazy thing is that I couldn't bring myself to put it on when I went out today. For some reason, I didn't feel like I should wear it. I put on some boring clothes. They were a smaller size but not the cute stuff I used to wear when I was smaller. My mind isn't keeping pace with my body...

The only thing I cheated with was drinking 2% instead of 1% milk. But, I have a fairly progressive postop diet. I know it's not popular to say, but if I had been told to do clears for 2 weeks postop, I can't honestly say what I would have done. I'm not saying that to suggest that people should cheat. Just being honest. I actually stayed on clears one or two days longer than I was supposed to because I was nauseous. But, once that passed I jumped right in with full liquids. I was very weak as it was and moving along in the food stages gave me some strength when I needed it most. But, I like to think that I would have stuck with it and did what my doctor said. I would suggest to experiment with some creative options that fit in with the stage of the diet you are supposed to be on. If you're on mushies/pureed, look through the food forum here on VST and check out the recipes and suggestions from other members of what to eat. I always find something new and creative there when I read those threads. Also, call your doctor's office for some suggestions. There's also a lot of stuff out there on the web. In terms of actually stepping back in the meal plan, how far off track are you? If you're eating softs and supposed to be on full liquids, start by stepping back to mushies/pureed. Then, incorporate fulls for at least one or two meals a day. The time will fly and it will be time to progress your diet in no time. Let us know how you're doing...

For now I have added my bariatric surgery status to my ICE (In case of emergency) contacts in my cell phone. This is also one of the areas police officers are trained to look in emergency situations. They recommend that everyone set at least three emergency contacts in your cell phones under the name ICE. I just added a 4th ICE with the word medical after ICE. Then, under work phone I entered Bariatric Surgery Patient. Under mobile phone, I entered my drug allergies. Your phone might give you some issues with entering text in these numeric fields but you should be able to do it if you play with it. I did a copy and paste from a text field to the numeric field and it worked fine. This allowed the info to show up immediately when the contact was selected without anyone having to go further into to contact to view my info. (Dang Windows Mobile phone crab I guess.) I am going to add this info to the emergency card in my wallet and will check into adding it to my driver's license as Tiff suggested. I thought about getting an alert bracelet but I know I wouldn't wear it everyday, so not sure it will really be helpful for me. I do however have my wallet and cellphone with me everywhere I go.

Ok, Tiff, so you're saying I'll probably be able to eat cornbread dressing and eggrolls again one day?? Yippeee! I know you'll keep saying you can eat anything after a while, but it hasn't quite sunk in with me yet. Daisy, I know you stress that a lot and I'm looking forward to that phase of things but also a little scared of it. All this stuff about sliders really freaks me out -especially since I've experimented with a couple of chips and a piece of cookie recently and discovered that they went down way too easily. It's so easy to grab quick Snacks like chips when you're busy and on the run and that's always been a bad habit for me. Got to stay away from that stuff as much as possible...

I agree with Stacey. For someone who's nervous about eating, oatmeal is a great starter. Also, try some mashed potatoes with a little butter. The instant kind are great cause you can easily play with the consistency. I know the potatoes are strictly carbs, but they are a safe way to see what your stomach will tolerate. For a first meat, I would suggest tuna or some type of baked fish, if you like it. It doesn't require much chewing and goes down pretty easily.

Marilee, I think you've got two separate issues going on here and that's why there appears to be a conflict. It sounds like the second "typical" diet IS the type of diet you would follow for long term weight loss, like a 3-month or 6-month supervised diet for insurance purposes. I didn't have to see a nutritionist beforehand for UHC but this is the type of diet that my PCP recommended. The high Protein, low carb diet sounds more short term, like what you will need to do 2 weeks before your surgery. I suspect that's why the doctor's office told you to follow the out of office nutritionist's diet. The in-house nutritionist is probably used to working from the preop/postop diet perspective as opposed to the long term insurance hoops diet. But, this is all conjecture on my part. I think we are using the same surgeon so I can verify that I was told to do the high protein, low carb diet for 2 weeks prior to my surgery. This is the only dieting advice I was given by the surgeon's office as related to my eating before the surgery. Everything else they gave me was about the postop diet. I did lose 14 pounds! on the preop diet over the course of 2 and 1/2 weeks. I started a little early to drop some weight I had gained since my initial consult. It really did the job. But, it's not something I could have done for 3 or 6 months. It's just not varied enough. I think right now you should focus on doing what your insurance wants you to do. Do they expect you to lose weight before surgery, or just to provide documentation that you ATTEMPTED some type of doctor/nutritionist prescribed diet? For me it was the latter. If that's the case, it doesn't matter which diet you choose. Pick the one that you can follow the most or use a combination of the two. Just be sure you don't drop below the mandatory BMI for surgery or the insurance will deny you. That's what I was most concerned about in terms of my 6 month supervised diet.

I feel your pain! I bought 10 sample packs of the Unjury unflavored and have 7 or 8 left that will never see the light of day. I tried mixing small amounts in yogurt and various other foods and each time I tried the smell and taste became more intolerable. I even tried pinching my nose first so the smell wouldn't get to me, but once the taste hit my mouth that was it! Total FAIL! I almost puked the last time I tried to use it and that was enough for me. Can you trade the ones you didn't open for something else?

YAY!!! I'm glad to hear that everything is going well. 50 pounds is great!!!:thumbup: Thanks for letting us know how you're doing.

I don't think it sounded rude Stacey.

I wish the diets were more standardized across doctors - at least among ASMBS surgeons. I think it's discouraging and tempting for some people when they know others who had the same surgery are far ahead in the diet stages. I posted my postop diet in my blogs.

My postop diet recommends 5-6 small meals per day (4-6 tablespoons). As the diet progresses through soft to regular, it decreases to 5 then 4 meals per day with an increase to 8 to 10 tablespoons per meal in the final phase. Since it's phrased this way, I think of everything in terms of tablespoons instead of ounces. I'm still averaging 2 tablespoons per meal although the plan says I should be at 4 to 6 tablespoons. But, things are going down easier now and my volume is increasing slightly each day. I might have only gotten in 5 meals once or twice. Even though I have cravings every now and then, I really don't want to eat real meals so it's hard to force down 5 meals right now. I'm doing my best to focus on my Proteins and those are just too much sometimes to eat 5 times a day. The cravings are scary because I've already figured out a couple of things that are sliders and see how I could get into trouble with those if I don't watch myself.

We all know that you may never get at the truth of what happened. So if you work under the assumption that midazolam actually caused your reaction and you choose to go foward with any surgery in the future, could you request an alternative drug at that point in the surgical process so that you don't have to worry about the possibility of having this reaction again?

I discovered during my preop appointments that my surgeon had recently changed his postop diet to advance more quickly than it had in the past. I got the impression from someone at the hospital that the nutritionists were not thrilled about it, so it sounds like they are a more conservative bunch. I decided that there is no way my surgeon would allow the diet to advance without proof from his earlier patients (or other doctors' patients) that it has been safe to do so. Why would he risk messing up all his hard work on my insides?

Maybe they noticed and just weren't comfortable saying anything because they weren't sure. I think you should focus on the fact that someone has noticed - meaning the folks at work. Oh yeah, your scale has noticed too, right? You can't argue with that. :scared0:

Well, today I am officially two weeks post op and still not quite sure how I actually feel about the surgery. I definitely don't regret it, but it hasn't been a breeze. :scared0: I struggled quite a bit the first week and a half with being able to drink and eat. I ended up having a hiatal hernia repair with my sleeve surgery and I think this increased my pain level post op. It also made my esophagus very sore and restricted, making it painful to drink and eat. Getting that hot poker sensation every time something went down my throat was NOT conducive to me getting in my fluids. So, I ended up with a slight case of dehydration a few days after coming home from the hospital and it was not pretty. :crying: I discussed this with my doctor's office on several occasions and was always told there was nothing that could be done about it. I'm not convinced that is really the case since I've talked to at least one other person online who was given medication for esophageal spasms. But, at two weeks out, I have improved significantly with my ability to get liquids and foods down, so I don't feel the need to push the issue anymore. I just hate it when doctors and medical people are misleading, for whatever reason. It's insulting to my intelligence. Anyway, I've been very lethargic feeling even though my body is clearly healing well. I can tell that everything is fine on the inside, so the lethargy was either from PMS or from a developing sinus infection. I hope to see a big improvement by the end of week 3. I haven't been walking nearly as much as I need to because I've felt so weak and lifeless. But, last night when I went walking at the park, I noticed a big difference in my stamina. I think it's also related to me not getting in enough nutrients to support my body. But, my food intake has increased over the past few days and I can now get in a decent amount at each sitting. I started out being able to get in a couple of teaspoons of food. Now, I'm at about 2 tablespoons of solid food per sitting. My postop diet progressed pretty quickly, so I'm able to eat most foods now, but I don't push it by eating anything too extreme. I've also discovered that I like the Isopure protein drinks and I'm really excited about that because I know I wasn't getting in enough protein. I've only tried one flavor so far, but I plan to get some more today. Even though some people feel they are expensive, I've saved so much money on food since surgery, that it'll still be a bargain to just buy the ready to drink Isopures. As I understand it, the Isopures have the best quality of protein, the whey isolate, so this is good news for me and one less thing to worry about. As for my weight loss, it is definitely coming along. I lost about 14 pounds on the preop diet, which is amazing. As of the last time I was weighed, I had lost 7 pounds since surgery, but that was last week. So, I should have a bigger loss to report this afternoon. My 2 week followup appointment is later today. I'll probably come back and update this blog with the outcome of that appointment. Overall, I know this surgery is what I needed to do for myself even though it still seems drastic to me sometimes. I have had some food regrets since surgery, but nothing that has lasted more than a couple of minutes. I've been able to talk myself through those moments by reminding myself of why I did this and the outcomes I expect in the end of the process. I have had some dark moments, but it does get better each day as my body adjusts to the changes. I guess you just have to keep on pressing on and deal with the changes as they come. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from doing this surgery by not painting a rosey picture of life post op. You just have to be prepared for a few rough times post op and know that it does get better. I thought I was preparing myself for that preop, but there's nothing like the actual experience. :ohmy: Update: My 2 week followup appointment was uneventful. The doctor was not in the office so I talked to the nurse. She said my incisions look great and I'm cleared to take baths. I will have to wait until all of the scabs and surgical glue fall off before I go swimming. I am cleared to do light hand weights and elliptical, which is great because I want to start working on these arm flaps when my energy level increases. We reviewed what I had been eating and my supplements. She said I am right on track with about one pound a day of weight loss. I'm sure that won't hold up, but that's okay. I'm determined not to stress about the stalls that will be forthcoming. I did ask about the medication for the esophageal spasms and gave the name of a drug that someone else said they are taking for it. She said she would ask the doctor about that. I really don't expect an answer. I just want them to know I'm not a dummy.

I have been able to eat cereal after letting it sit in the milk and get soggy. Even after that, I chewed it to mush like everything else. Seems like it could be a slider food to me eventually after my stomach can take more volume but I don't eat a lot of it anyway.

Anybody heard from TiffanyisMajor? I'm kind of worried about her since she hasn't updated here or on youtube. It's like she totally dropped out of sight after that stuff with her incision sites. I hope she's ok.

DDP is Diet Dr Pepper. My postop diet went to full liquids to pureed all by the end of the first week, so I think that did help cut down on a lot of craving issues for me. By the time I was able to eat stuff like scrambled eggs and oatmeal I fell almost like I was eating regular food. And no, I didn't put the doritos back in the bag. :confused:

I just tried my first Isopure RTD. After reading everyone's comments, I expected to "puke" immediately after taking a sip. :tongue_smilie:Surprisingly, it's not bad. I got the Mango Peach flavor because the lady at Vitamin Shoppe said that's a popular flavor. I guess I'll try the grape one next. I hope I can continue to tolerate them because I am getting in little to no protein at this point.