mountain_lover

I have completed my pre-op and going for surgery this morning. I survived the holiday without cheating on my diet. I weight only 225 on my scales, but I officially weight at the BC on their scales at 232 pounds, so that is what I am posting on my ticker. I want to thank everyone for all your prayers and I hope I can get back real soon to let you know how surgery goes this morning. I had to take my bowel prep late because of a hold up at the pharmacy so I have been up all night from that and my anxiety. I am almost ready to go to the hospital. I have to be there in 2 hours and have surgery at 7:30 am this morning. It did get here so fast. I went out of state for the holiday and I was so busy visiting that time went by quickly. I am hoping that I will be able to use the Lap-top at the Hospital. I have to only stay 2 days, if no complications. I have to take my last antibacterial hibcleanse shower and get dressed to go, so I will have to get off here soon. I want to go to the other threads on pre-op and post-op. Thanks for all your support.

I have been on my Pre-op diet since Nov.18 and time is going by so fast. Sunday- Monday-Tuesday will be the last days of my pre-op. I am going to have the sleeve on Wednesday Dec.2. I am glad that this holiday weekend is just about over and that I have not cheated. Yes the food is so tempting, but I am determined that I am going to try to do what is required of me to help the doctor and to help my recovery. I pray that later I will be able to enjoy small portions of all the good food I have missed out on over this holiday. Maybe by Christmas I will be able to eat some of the foods for the holiday just in smaller amounts. I will let you know if I make it to the end of this 2 week pre-op diet without cheating. I have got to get some sleep now if I can.

I appreciate your comments. It is now almost 2:00 Sunday morning. I did make it so far, but I still have to go through another Thanksgiving Dinner today at my sister's. She wanted to cook one for my family while we were here this weekend. It is hard being around all the food and leftovers, but I have not cheated at all on my diet. Right now at this time I am eating my frozen Protein Milkshake. I only had 2 milkshakes and 1 Protein Bar all day on saturday before midnight, so I had to fix me another one. I always try to get 4 in a 24 hour period. I am suppose to have 4-5, so I am doing alright. I never have liked those ensure or slim fast milkshake, so I thought that I would not like these, but I really like them alot. I can have fruit and nuts blending up in mine. I freeze mine whenever possible, because I loved ice cream before the pre-op diet and they seem almost the same this way. I really enjoy the strawberry flavored protein mix with pineapple and strawberry together or separate with or without pecans. In the chocolate mix I only like banana or strawberry in it.(just remember it has to be ate while frozen, do not thaw and eat later.) When she gets to feeling better and can have the whey protein milkshakes, if you would like you can click onto my profile and go to statistics and then click onto all my posts and read my comments on how I make my shakes. I think when she is able to tolerate them better, if she makes them in different varities and flavors, she will enjoy them and become healthier as time goes by. I wish her all the best. I only have Sunday-Monday-Tuesday on the pre-op diet then I will be having surgery on Wednesday. I am hoping that by staying on the pre-op diet the way I am suppose to, I will be able to have a faster recovery. I am glad I read your story, because it sure inspired me to not mess up on my trip to visit family for Thanksgiving. This is one Holiday that in the past years, I always look forward to chowing down on all that good food and great deserts. I saved me a plate and I am going to eat some of it after surgery when I can have them, pureed or soft. Thanks again and I hope and pray that all goes well for you and your family!!

Wow you are doing great. You have lost so much since your surgery. Time sure does go by quickly. Now it is so close. Only 6 more days until I go to have surgery. Thank you for your support. Have a happy Thanksgiving day.

I bought some vials of fruit punch flavored liquid Protein at Wal-mart to have on hand after surgery in case I cannot eat and I need the protein. I hope they don't taste too bad. They were beside the pharmacy where the Protein Bars were located. They only have the one flavor and they are only $1.97 each. Dr. Husted suggested them and you can also get them from Bariatric Advantage, THEY HAVE DIFFERENT FLAVORS AND THEY ARE $2.99 EACH IF i AM CORRECT. I hope this helps. I got mine here in Somerset Ky. If you have a Wal-Mart close to you, you can check with them and if they dont have them, maybe they could order them. I will post the name of them later if you need it.

I have a Question ???????????? I wander why that diet would not include fruit. My Protein milkshakes can have fruit in them. I have put bananas in them in the beginning, but now I am only putting pineapple in them. I hope I can find out soon because I only have until Dec.2 on the pre-op. I could always stop putting pineapple in them if there is a good reason not to do so. Thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving day!!

Hello "Daughter-in-law", I appreciate your story. I am glad that everyone posts on here, because this has been a learning experience for me through my whole journey, and I am learning more and more every day. I remember when I read a posting awhile back by ladiesassie about the importance of following the pre-op diet, I had already heard about why but her story made it really stick in my mind and easier to understand. My surgeon Dr. Husted really stresses adhereing to it for the whole two weeks, because it is very important to help for several reasons one being to help the liver become less fatty and to shrink from what I understand this makes it easier for them to do surgery. The reason is because the stomach is behind the Liver. Also by staying on the protein shakes and bars it is suppose to help with the healing process. My surgeon has given me all the list of complications and risks, and he encourages his patients to learn all they can by attending group sessions and getting on these forums. Each individual is different and has different health related issues. I guess what is so important is to think about everything and decide which creates a greater risk for the individual: all the risks of being morbidly obese with co-morbidities and the possibility of dying from those or the risk of having bariatric surgery and experiencing possible complications from doing so and possibly dying from them. I have had several surgeries, which one was 1 1/2 years ago when I had to have a total knee replacement. I could have died from complications from the surgery especially two major ones such as infection or blood clots. I decided to go ahead and have the surgery because I did not want to go on walking with a cane and having people to have to help me up and down all the time. I was getting to the point where I could no longer exercise, walking was becoming more and more difficult. I am so grateful that I had the surgery and no longer walk with a cane. Now I have been able to walk more and I really want to have the sleeve done because I don't want to go on being Morbidly obese. My weight was going up and up even after my knee surgery, and just recently in July I was up to 266 pounds. I am now moving closer to my surgery date of Dec.2 and I am currently doing my pre-op diet. I have really been upset due to the fact that today is thanksgiving day and I cannot eat all that good food that everyone else in my family will be eating, but it is more important for me to do what is required than to enjoy all that food. I am so glad that you posted this, because it will help me make it through this day much easier. It is so tempting to go off for only one day, but after reading your story, it also reminds me of ladiesassie's story and it will help to give me the strength to fight off the temptation of giving in to my head hunger as they call it, for all that good food. I will stick to my protein shakes and bars with God's help and all the support and prayers from everyone here on this forum. Thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving. I am sorry about your Mother-in-Law. Maybe she did make some mistakes, but she can't change that now, but she sure can do everything possible to help from this day forward. I hope for the best for her. She will be in my thoughts and prayers, as well as all her family. May God bless her with a speedy recovery. As Christians know, the Devil comes to destroy, steal and destroy, so we know that this is not all to blame on the doctors and patients. We can only pray for God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. I hope you understand what I am saying. I hope your Mother-in-law will become stronger and not give the Devil any more toehold in her life, only the power of the Lord. Also with your prayers and ours, I know that she is in good hands, because the Lord is on her side. Have a good day!!!!!!

Thank you for explaining that, I was so confused. I really hope and pray that you have a speedy recovery so that you will not have to suffer any more and then maybe they will give you the ok to lose more after it heals. I am grateful for all your comments, because that way when I do have my surgery on Dec. 2 I will be more informed. I am glad that I found this forum, because I really get stressed out not knowing what to expect in any given situation most of the time. I know your story is very touching and my heart goes out to you. You have no idea how much your story has helped others. Please come back to let us know of your progress. I hope you become stronger and healthier with each passing day.

Welcome, Your story sounds similar to mine. In the beginning I was only for the Band. I didn't want to have to go through anymore major surgery. But after attending Dr. Husted's Seminar here in Somerset, Ky I was leaning more toward something else. I decided that I did not want to go through all the maintenence of fills and unfills and getting stuck with the needles. Then I found out I had an autoimmune disorder, which the Band is not recommended for those patients. The sleeve was not an approved procedure at the beginning of my journey, but the Duodenal Switch was, so I was leaning towards that procedure. But Dr. Husted said that he would prefer to do the sleeve for me and he hoped that by the time my surgery would take place that the sleeve would be approved. He was going to try to convince Medicaid to start approving it. He really encouraged me to hang in there, which I did and now this Month I got my approval from Medicaid for the sleeve. I hope more states start approving it. It is less evasive than some of the other procedures for the people who can't or don't wish to have the band. Also it has less risks and is less expensive. He told me recently that he does not have to make 5 incisions, now he only has to make one small incision. I wish you all the best with whatever you decide. There are alot of good reveiws on the sleeve.

I cannot say anything about post-op, because my surgery is not until Dec.2, but I sure can about now. I am being weined off my antidepressant Celexa and boy did I have a few off days this past Sat-Tues. I will not go completely off my Celexa today as was planned. Now I will go down to 10 mg for the next 6 days, then I will have to go off completely the day of surgery until the doctor says I can go back on it. I was on 60 mg until the pre-op diet. They want patients to get weaned off of it so that the withdrawal will not cause complications or they won't be so severe if there is any. I guess right after surgery it is too difficult to swallow pills for a little while. I hope I don't have to stay off of mine very long. When had those off days I was on 20 mg a day, so I know that it is probably the effects of it being reduced from 60. If you are on any medications, have they let you start them again. I wish you all the best.

Glad to hear that you are gradually feeling better. Surgery is hard no matter what kind it is, but I am sure that anything involving the stomach has to be much harder, because it involves us eating afterwards. I am very glad that you are posting on here to let us know what to expect. I say expect anything, but hope and pray for the best. I am getting so much closer. Now it is less than a week before I have my surgery DEC.2. I am so excited, but I am on an emotional rollercoaster ride each day, never know how I am going to feel one day to the next. I am so grateful for this forum and all you posters, I hate to even think what it would have been like to go through all this without all this support. ( I think it would have be a nightmare, never really knowing what to expect along the way) I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

Hello Hope, I have been on my pre-op diet since last Wednesday and I have to be on it until the night before surgery on Dec.2. Mine consists of this recommended diet: 4-5 protein milkshakes 27 grams of protein each, protein bars high in protein but low in suger and fat, and 32-64 oz. of water each day for 2 weeks. I have been doing ok. I have been having a hard time getting 4-5 each day. I get 3 in ok, but I am having to do another on around 2-3am so that I am getting enough protein. I do not have a difficult time with physical hunger, but sometimes like now on thanksgiving day I am having a hard time with head hunger. It is going to be difficult being around all that food and not being able to eat any of it. I just keep trying to remember that it will pay off in the end. My sheet said that if the patient does not adhear to the diet, it may cause complications during or after surgery and could even cause the surgery to be cancelled. I have been making them into more like ice cream by using those plastic mugs with water inside of them that freezes in the freezer before I make the milkshakes. When I make the shake I make double the amount and freeze some in those mugs for later sometimes, so that I don't have to do all the clean up so many times. I hope everything goes ok for you.

Hello delitedesigns, How have you been doing on your pre-op diet? I know that you were having some difficulty. I am half-way pre-op. Everything still going ok, just looking forward to having surgery next Wednesday. Boy how time goes by so quickly. I wish you all the best on Sunday, my prayers are with you. I hope you post pictures and let us know how it is going with your weight loss.

Glad to hear that you are doing ok. Your comments are helping me. I am going to have surgery next Wednesday, so it helps to be more prepared by knowing what to expect. It helps knowing that everyone is different, and I guess it is best to just hope and pray for the best. I wish you both the best.

I had to laugh at this one. I bet you enjoyed every bite. It sounds so good, before I would go into White Castles and get 3-4 of those and a order of onion chips and sometimes a milkshake. Wow only 1 and you were stuffed. I hop e that my journey is similar to yours, I sure can handle that. Congratulations on getting below the 200 mark!!

Hello MamaAsh, Have they told you how many Duodenal Switch operations he has done? The sleeve is the first part of the Duodenal Switch without all the cutting and rearranging of the intestines. It is less evasive, it can be done lapriscopically or open. I was done with 5 incisions, but Dr.Husted here in Somerset Ky. told me that now he does it with only One small incision. I heard that the incision is 3-4 inches long. I will get to ask him Dec. 1 the day before I have surgery how big the incision will be. He has a very nice reputation as a surgeon and years of experience with many different procedures. He has a website. He is the one that started an approved procedure called a Vergito, Which has 3 kinds of procedures wrapped into one, if I do understand it right. He has some really good reveiws. Also you may want to read this article about the sleeve: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article is very good. I explained this in an earlier thread about the ghrelin. I find it so interesting that I am going to post it on here again, that way maybe more people will read it. Thank you!! .HomeLocal NewsNational NewsYour ExpertsFamily Health Watch: Local News Weight loss surgery curbs appetites, has advantages over gastric bypass from KY3 News Story Updated: Nov 2, 2009 If you're looking into surgery to lose weight, doctors have one more option up their sleeve. The procedure is faster and less complicated than gastric bypass. Ophelia Brown had weight loss surgery two months ago and, so far, she's lost 35 pounds. "I don't breathe as hard. I don't get tired as easy," said Brown. The procedure is a new approach in bariatric surgery called sleeve gastrectomy. "We remove three-quarters of the stomach, so the new stomach has a new shape, looks like a sleeve or a banana," said bariatric surgeon Dr. Alex Gandsas. Unlike gastric bypass, surgeons don't have to reroute the bowel. Other than downsizing the stomach, the anatomy stays intact so there are fewer complications. “The sleeve actually does offer an appealing alternative for those patients who are intimidated by having a major operation such as the gastric bypass," said Gandsas. The sleeve not only forces patients to eat less but they also don't crave food as much because a big part of their stomachs are gone. "This part of the stomach is in charge of producing a hormone called ghrelin, which is responsible for our appetite," said Gandsas. "By removing that, the patient not only will be able to eat less, but will feel less hungry." Gandsas is pioneering the procedure at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore because, he says, the benefits are lifesaving. "Health issues such as diabetes type 2 have been resolved in approximately 65 percent. The hypertension's been resolved in 50 percent, sleep apnea in more than 75 percent," he said. "Already I'm off the diabetes medicine; the blood pressure I just take now and then," said Brown. Now, as Brown's weight goes down, her appetite for better health soars. The sleeve procedure is performed through small incisions. Patients can lose about 60 percent of their excess weight compared to gastric bypass's 70 percent. The sleeve procedure is not yet covered by many insurance companies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope this helps you to make a decision for the best procedure. You are doing the right thing by researching and asking alot of Questions. Thank you for reading this.

Hello HeftyNefty, How much did you say you weighed right before you had the band taken out and the sleeve done? I have started reading your previous postings, and I found this earlier posting and I was wondering if the Band and the other problems you had led up to all of these complications or did the sleeve cause you the problems that you are experiencing now? This is what I read: 07-01-2009, 12:36 AM heftynetty Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 23 Gender: Female City: Dayton State: Nevada Member's Picture Albums Re: Another newbie with many, many questions! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am new here, I have a band currently, awaiting to see if I am approved through insurance for the sleeve. I had surgery January 2006 and lost weight, was doing ok, (mind you that was my second band, due to complications with scar tissue the first time) anyway, I got pregnant December 2006 and after delivering her I have had nothing but problems. I can not lose a freakin' pound (aside from the baby weight), I have been the same weight since getting pregnant. After 2 upper GI's they have found that my stomach is all twisted up over my band, they are assuming it is from being pregnant. I am scared of the sleeve due to the leaks going from band to sleeve, but I am also ready for a new start. I am hoping I am approved so I can move on to the weight loss path again! Good luck to you! LapBandTalk Click to visit the largest Lap-Band community online! Did the Doctor explain to you what would be the results if the band was removed and nothing else done.? I sure hope you never have to go through any of this again. We all really feel concerned about your situation. I sure hope and pray that you get through all this with the outcome being that you will eventually reach your goal weight of 180 or less if you desire to modify your goal weight to less. Also I hope you will have a speedy recovery from here on out and keep coming back on here to let us know how your Sleeve Journey is going. I pray that you can move on to the weight loss path again as you had hoped in your posting above. I will check in later to see if you post a reply to this. Thank you for your honesty and for sharing your story.

I found a bottle of "Spring Valley brand SUBLINGUAL DOTS B-12 500 mcg" at Wal-mart. 200 natural cherry flavored Microlozenges that you put under your tongue for 30 seconds before swallowing. They are suppose to help: formation of blood cells, nervous system, and maintain normal levels of homocysteine for heart and circulatory health (Energy Metabolism). You should always check with your Dr. first before taking suppliments. I carry them in my purse, because you can take 1-3 per day. I hope this helps. Also I found chewable chocolate sugar-free calcium citrate with vitamin E & K at Wal- Mart. And chewable Centrums multivitamins to take 1 daily. I also bought a bottle of super complex B vitamins that I have to swallow, they go down ok, but they don't taste very good. I did not buy this, but I did notice that they had a box of Liquid Sublingual B-12 with complex B vitamins. At GNC I got some CHEWABLE CALCIUM CITRATE WITH VITAMIN D-3. I had to ask what the 3 was for. The fellow told me that it means they are more easily absorbed. I hope all of the things that I purchased I will still be able to use them after surgery. Very interesting thread.

I clicked on this thread to read "Lib's" posting and when I read it I decided to read the whole thread. Very interesting, helpful and funny at times! I am on my Pre-op diet now, but before starting I had lost about 30 pounds since July. Then 3 days before my pre-op diet I really was out of control. I went out to eat with my daughter to have my Thanksgiving Dinner that I am not going to be able to eat the holiday. I ordered an All you can eat just like her entire family. I was not able to keep going back for more and more like usual and I was sharing my onion rings and even shared my Banana pudding, which normally I would have went back for seconds on a plate full of deserts. I am hoping that I never eat like I did before starting my journey and the three days before my Pre-op diet. I am going to try to find smaller portions and healthier food when I do go out to eat after surgery. I am glad that I read this. Thank you all for posting!!