GreginMI

It all just plain sucks. I hated the liquid stage. All I can say is trudge through it to get to solids. I feel your pain.

I'm 8 weeks out and I eat steak all the time! Totally not against my doctor's instruction. Great protein food!

I can tell you my experience. Everyone's experiences seem to differ. I had an 8 day pre-op diet. The first 5 days were to be only 1000 calories and no more than that. The last 3 days before surgery were full liquids which were mostly Protein shakes. The night before the surgery I could have nothing. Some people have like a 2 week liquid diet. It depends on what your surgeon wants you to do. The tests were things like an EKG for your heart, an upper endoscopy, bloodwork, and a gallbladder ultrasound. No biggie. I also had to take a nutritional class to show me what I can eat and when after the surgery. That was very informative. Probably the worst part of the surgery is the day of and the week after. People experience different pains and challenges. You don't really know what yours will be (if any) until you have it. Some people have gas pain, some have incision pain, some have nausea, etc. I personally had incision pain the most. It sucks right after surgery because you can only eat ice chips the first day until they do a leak test, then you can have sips of Water. I had NO physical hunger after my surgery so not eating was no big deal to me. You have to walk the halls a lot while in the hospital to help with blood clots in the legs. I also had these "braces" (for lack of a better term) on my legs while I was in there that massaged my legs constantly. I also had a drain in my abdomen and a catheter. Some people don't have either of those. The catheter came out when I got out of the hospital but the drain stayed in for 10 days. When I came home after about 3 days after surgery I was tired and still had incision pain. It was hard to get out of bed by myself and I had to sleep on my back. I'm a side-sleeper so that wasn't good. I got a good recliner and slept in that a lot and it helped tremendously. I could get out of it easier. As far as eating, I couldn't really eat anything for a few weeks and then got put on soft food. Soft food was gross to me because it was mostly blended up regular good and the consistency grossed me out so I kept drinking mostly Protein Shakes for the nutrition. After about 4 weeks the protein shakes grossed me out too but I was almost to solid food by then. When I first started eating solid food it felt like it would get stuck halfway down and then finally go down. This was the swelling in my stomach. But after a while it subsided and now at 8 weeks I can finally eat pretty normally. My appetite has returned and I enjoy food now but when I first starting eating I got nauseous after eating. My incisions are mostly healed and my energy has returned and I really feel great and am glad I did this. The worst part is that first 4 weeks or so after surgery. It's not unbearable though. You can get through it and be on the losing side like I am. 8 weeks out and I've lost 57 lbs so far. Good luck to you and I hope some of this helped!

That part just sucks and you can't do anything about it. You have to get through it. It's awesome when you get to regular solid food stage. Hang in there, you'll be there soon.

Or put the food in a measuring cup. Sometimes a scale doesn't work well because of the differences in density of food. Our stomach holds volume, not weight. But the scale will get you close.

Just the opposite for me. I used to LOVE shrimp and salmon and most seafood but I can't stand it now, which sucks because it's such good Protein. All I can taste is a fishy taste now and it makes me gag. Darn!!

That's hilarious! Thanks for sharing.

For me the pre-op diet wasn't the worst. It was the 4 weeks of liquids and soft foods that I had to be on after surgery. The protein shakes and consistency of the blended food grossed me out after a while. Although your hunger will be little to none after surgery, the liquids just get old. The happiest part of my surgery experience was going to regular solid foods. Ahhhh it's a breeze after that. So consider this pre-op diet the "easy part". That after-surgery liquid stage is the real sucky part. Sorry to be a downer.

All I can say is you're doing everything right and your body can not withstand that for very long. It'll be giving up the pounds soon. Just hang in there.

I have a hard job working in a factory lifting heavy stuff and he kept me off work for 5 weeks. It depends on what you do at your job.

My surgeon said I should find a Protein shake that has 20 grams of protein per 8 ounce serving and less than 12 gr of sugar per 8 ounce serving. I used the BSN Lean Dessert protein and I bought it at Amazon.com As for Vitamins, immediately after surgery they had me on Flintstones Complete twice a day. I switched to a pill form after 30 days.

She sounds whacky to me! Can you get a different dietician?

If you don't like the shakes, try the protein bars. I find them more palatable than the shakes and I get 20 gr from them.

My surgeon used some sort of super glue to close my incisions and let me tell you, that stuff is tough!

I have a divot where my drain was. The doctor said mine wasn't as bad as most and it will go away as I lose weight.

I didn't have to do any pre-op diet other than the 8 days low fat diet before surgery. What my insurance company meant was that I had to fill out a form in the surgeon's office and write down the years and types of diet attempts. i.e., 1988 Richard SImmons Deal-a-meal, 1993 Weight Watchers, 2001 Slim Fast, 2006 Nutri-system, etc. That's all I had to do for my insurance to approve me. I guess what it actually means varies from insurance to insurance. You should call your insurance person at your surgeon's office. She should know. They have to find out that kind of stuff. I would think if yours is like mine then all that stuff you mentioned would indeed count.

I've been getting some of that kind of attention lately too and I must turn three shades of red when I do!! I'm not complaining, though!!

I had my drain removed after a week. It was a pain in the butt for sure. Don't be scared about getting it removed. It was a really funny feeling coming out but there was little to no pain. It's great to get it out, trust me!!

I too have lost 55 lbs and people are telling me I look great, even though I have 75 lbs to go. It's so exciting because I KNOW this is going to happen! YAAHHH HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

My previous doctor wouldn't even TALK about bariatric surgery with me and guess what? He was about 400 lbs himself! So I found a "fit" doctor who was more than pleased to refer me. I honestly don't see how a doctor can eat that unhealthy and then be able to help you with your weight. So if yours won't refer you, like everyone else said, find a new one! I did and my sleeve is awesome! I'm 55 lbs down (including 8 days pre-op diet) and 75 to go after 6 weeks post op!

I know my follow up care includes blood work to make sure all my levels are okay and monitoring on weight loss and meetings with the nutritionist to make sure I'm eating right. It's quite helpful.

I grew up in Adrian and graduated from there. I live near Saline now. I know where the Barix clinic is in Ypsi. I had mine done in Livonia at St. Mary's hospital with Dr. Zeni but I know some people that had their surgery at Barix and they were happy. Good luck to you, neighbor!

Are you sure you have to wait 8 days for your disability to kick in? That's the way mine is UNLESS you're in the hospital the first day of your claim so mine paid from day 1 because my first day of disability was my day of surgery and I was hospitalized. Maybe something to look into.

It took me such a short time to get my surgery date that I was shocked! I went in for a consultation with the surgeon and THAT DAY I got my surgery date. It was April and they said they still had some openings in May if I wanted it but I said I'd wait until June 6th. Even that date wasn't very far off. I did all my tests and pre-requisites in 6 weeks. It couldn't have gone any smoother. I have Michigan BCBS.