Cinderella

For the gas and farts, my surgeon prescribed "Powdered Nexium." You mix it with a Tablespoon of Water and drink it down, it tastes orangey. Helps a LOT. Good luck with the pain! Call your doctor and ask for PAIN KILLERS. Cinderella

Hi Lisa: Maybe the liquid yogurt would help you. Regular yogurt is fine too, I was just looking for ways to cram more Protein into my 'Protein shake," and adding the liquid yogurt is one. There are a number of different brands... it is sold right beside the regular Yogurt in the dairy case. They usually come in 4 little plastic bottles packed together. They are much thinner than regular yogurt, so easier to get down. Dannon calls their liquid yogurt line "Dan Active," or "Daranimals (for kids). Trader Joe's calls their brand "Organic Yogurt Probiotic smoothie." They're great! Good luck with the rest of your liquids phase. I keep reminding myself, "this is just a few weeks out of your life... and you're getting thinner!" Cinderella

Hi Everyone... just an update. SEVEN days out... and still no problems with my "early mushies" diet. Granted, I can eat only the teeniest, tiniest bits of food, but no leaks or staple pulls so far. I have lost 16 pounds since the day I went in for surgery, how about those numbers? My nutritionist said that on the follow-up eating plan we have, we are getting between 440-500 calories a day. She said that now, instead of counting calories we need to count Protein, and that's why we do the "mushy meats," to help us get up to that 40-60 grams per day. Myself, I knock it all out in one fell swoop with a power shake, but it also counts that I might eat an ounce of cottage cheese here, and an ounce of pureed egg salad there.... Good luck to everyone, I'm happily embarking on Week 2 of my journey1

I am 7 days out, and get what you mean about not being able to eat a bite. I can eat about a "nibble," not even a thimble full of food.... BUT... isn't that WHY you did this? Everybody's different, but to me food is now repulsive. My husband was chowing down and a big steak and huge (I mean mixing bowl sized) salad last night, and I thought... "My GOD I'll never eat that much food again," but I didn't feel sad, I felt HAPPY!!! Try to accept that we are different, genetically and hormonally, than our thin friends... but rejoice that you now have the tool. Try to think in terms of TASTING. Yes, you can't eat the whole enchilada, but soon you will be able to TASTE anything you want. Savor that taste, lick your spoon, chew a long time... be GLAD you got the chance to have a nibble and leave the rest... and have the cute little body to prove it! Cheer up, you might just be having a bad day. Don't go out with the boyfriend's crew for awhile, and turn the TV channel to something like WHAT NOT TO WEAR.. that might help. Good luck! Cinderella

Congratulations!!! By now you must be sleeved. If you feel at all sick, tell them right away, they will give you some meds pronto. Welcome to the first day of your new life!!

Dear Isabug: Congratulations on being strong and getting through this surgery on your own, without ANY support. Always remember, you did it for YOU, not for him. If it makes you feel any better, we are in similar situations. My husband also threw a fit and refused to take me to, or pick me up from, or visit me during my surgeries. I had to HIRE a woman to do it, and it cost me $360!! Now that I'm home, he won't eat with me in the room, even though I told him that I have ZERO appetite, and am not envying him his steaks and salads.... he says it makes him feel guilty to eat in front of me, so I now have to wait until he has eaten dinner and then go in and make my little mushie plate. I am just concentrating on getting through this three weeks, and getting recovered, and then I will figure out what comes next. But I have not doubt that there are some big changes in this relationship in the air. One post in this thread that interested me was one that said something like "figure out whether he was always like this and you didn't notice it, or did his behavior change.." In my case, I think hew as always an A**hole, but I ignored it because I felt so lucky to have a husband, being that I WAS a fat girl and lucky to get one. Now, I may feel differently about his behavior and I hope you do too. Thank GOD for this forum!! The ladies and guys in here are so wonderful and their support is just like a family. You are surrounded by love... just take care of yourself and know that you have done the best thing ever for yourself! Good luck to you. Cinderella

I am no doctor, but I think that an appetite suppressant is the LAST thing that I would take. Most of them contain huge amounts of caffeine, and some have strong herbs that can cause heart irregularities. They also often contain dieuretics, which you DO need to keep your fluids in. Could it just be a matter of time, and maybe incorporating behavior modification... something to distract you from the hunger... even a hypnosis CD, until your head gets used to your new, slim body? I am pretty much fresh out of surgery, so food still seems gross to me, but I have taken up Crochet, to keep my hands busy and distract me from eating. It works great, and I've already finished 1.5 beautiful scarves! I also like the idea of the Slim Shots, although I tried them a long time ago and they did nothing for me, maybe it would work different now. Cindrella

I am learning that every plan is different. My plan is: Day 1 Post-Op - nothing by mouth, Day 2- clear liquids, Day 3- Full liquids, Days 4- 3 weeks, soft pureed foods. After three weeks, begin to add small quantities of all foods back in, one food per week. I also loved this plan because the "pre surgery liquid fast" was only three days. Guess you have to find the doctor with the plan you can live with! Cinderella

Congratulations on being approved!! This is fabulous news, you ladies have arrived!

Hi everyone, now I'm on the other side!! I was sleeved on Thursday morning, had one day of mostly sleeping with a couple of bouts of nausea... but the nurses did NOT want me to throw up, and got me anti-nausea injections right away... and now I'm back home!! I don't feel too bad. A little gas going on, but the doc gave me a prescription for Priolosec, which I will fill on Monday. I'lll make it through the weekend as I am. New York Presbyterian has a GORGEOUS surgical recovery wing, with really nice nurses and every kind of care you could need. I wasn't afraid for one second, but always surrounded by loving, expert care. I wish all of you could have as good of an experience as I did, and thank you, Dr. Alfons Pomp. Sleeved and happy at last!

To all the Sleevers out there, sitting and worrying about the surgery.... for me, it was not nearly so bad as I feared. I do think that having the best, and most experienced surgeron, is everything. ASK THE QUESTIONS, and do your research. When you talk to your surgeon before surgery, ask the important questions, such as. "How do you handle post-surgical nausea in the Recovery Room and after?"... and "What size Bougie do you think you generally prefer using?" Boguies are the instruments they put into your stomach and shape the new stomach around. They range in size, and the smaller the Bougie, the smaller your new stomach. My surgeon used a Size 60 Bougie... but they go down as small as Size 32, and up as large as 70 or 80, I believe. The smaller the stomach, the harder it is going to be for you to eat after surgery at first, because of the swelling. Remember, that aside from making the stomach smaller, the most important thing is to remove the line of "hormones" that secrete Gherlin and other hormones, make sure they plan to remove that. Ask whether you'll have a "pain pump" after surgery, and for how long. Make sure that the doctor leaves orders for pain medication and nausea medication after he leaves for the day. Be SURE you find out whether the surgical staples will be oversewn. This is very important, because when the staples are NOT oversewn, there is more chance of leaks. Some surgeons even add an outside row of "adhesive tape" to make an even stronger seal. Nobody knows how a person is going to react to surgery, and this is fairly major surgery. But if you follow your doctors instructions for the pre-op diet, and do as much as you can to get your abdomen in shape, it will make you recovery much faster and your surgery safer. Good luck, everyone!

Yes, my doctor is pretty liberal in our program. We have to be able to tolerate mushies before we even leave the hospital - oatmeal. But for the first three weeks after surgery, we eat mushies, and those include pureeed food, things like cottage cheese, pureed tuna or chicken salad, mashed potatoes, things like that. After three weeks, we start adding regular food back in. Stuff like really thin sliced chcken or turkey, soft cooked vegetables, etc. So far so good.. .but I'll lay off the spinach souffles for a few weeks, LOL.. Pop them back in the freezer. Thanks for the tips! Cindrella

WOW! That IS restrictive!!! In my program, they wouldn't even let you leave the hospital until you could tolerate mushies... oatmeal, to be exact. When you get home, for three weeks you eat mushies, which include pureed food... cottage cheese, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, soft boiled egg, pureed tuna salad OR chicken salad, anything mushy. However, they specify really TINY quantities... like 1/8-C pureed tuna salad and 1/4 Cup chicken broth is lunch. Liquids DO feel best, however... lol. Maybe I'll dial it back a bit and cleve to the power shakes for the rest of the week. Thanks for the good advice!

I like the unjury chocolate Protein Powder, because in one shake, you can knock out your daily protein requirement (40-50 grrams daily). Here's my favorite recipie for a tasty shake: Put in your blender in this order: - a handful of mini ice cubes - 1/4-Cup Liquid Yogurt.... flavored, or plain (Trader Joe's Protein Shake in strawberry is nice) - 1/4-Cup of Skim Milk Plus - 1 Scoop Unury Chocolate Powder Blend on Liquify Yummy...

Hi everyone: Last night was my first night home. I felt pretty OK, nervous about NOT being in the hospital, but no major pain or nausea. DID have gas, though. Took the crushed Prolosec and GASX strips, they helped. The one problem that I ddi have was, since I no longer have IV's of fluids attached to my arm, I was waking up every couple of hours wtih HORRIBLE dry mouth! I was so thirsty, and it is a pain to haul it out of bed in the middle of the night so soon after surgery just for a sip of Water. Today I went to the food store and went into the Baby section and bought a "sippy cup," one of those non-spilll cups for Toddlers with a little drinking spout and two big kind of handles. I plan to keep that next to my bed for when I get thirsty in the night. I'll let you know how it works out. Am counting my glasses today, it's HARD to drink that much water so soon after surgery, LOL, but dehydration is one of the dangers to guard against. Cinderalla

Well, I'm only 4 days out from sugery, and I am definitely losing fast... but that's what I wanted. It is a little disconcerting... I have worked months and MONTHS to loose this much weight, and now it all m elts off in a matter of days. Let's see... on Nov. 30, I weighte in at 200.1, and began my liquid 3-day diet. On surgery day, I weighted 217, so I did lose 3 pounds on that diet. Now, a full 3 days post-opm I just weighted myself, and I am down 10 pounds!!! All of the sudden, I weight 207.4. It's OK with my doctor, so it's OIK with me, and I have no doubt that this will slow down once I began to eat a little more... but honestly, I am so NOT hungry. Tried to eat my 1/4-cup of tuna salad puree for lunch and could only eat half of it... it was like UGH, this is disgustting. So I went to the store and got some spinach souffles, and frozen mashed butternut squash and stuff that is more appealing. I also picked up an advocado... I think I coulid mash taht up real good and eat some Ilove advocados. Funny thing is, I think my tastes may have changed! chocolate is wayyyy to intense for me now, and I crave vanilla instead. That is a shocker! Anybody else have their entire taste pallate shift after surgery? Cinderella

Mama: I had my surgery two days ago, and everything went like clockwork. I was scared too. To avoid a heart attack, you make sure the doctor does a Cardiac Stress Test first. That simulates the strain that surgery will put on your heart. Of course, anything can happen, but look at all the survivors in here!

Unfortunately, Aetna are real sticklers for the documented weight loss attempts under doctor supervision. They also require that you prove you have been overweight for at least 2 years. I got around that las one with pictures.... would never let my doctor weigh me! LOL! Good luck with it.

Hi Y'all.... here I go. This is IT!!! My husband is driving me to the train, where I'll go in alone. Hired a woman who is a "Medical chaperone" to sit and wait for me during surgery.. Didn't want the husband there as he is NOT supportive of this surgery and thinks that I have gone completely insane. I'm surprised he didn't try to have me committed!! But I don't care.. this is BY ME, FOR ME, and ABOUT ME. In a lot of ways, working through the hard process of getting yoruself Sleeved is a very American thing to do. It's all about the rugged pioneer spirit of finding a better life, despite the hardships. It's all about individualism and freedom, and it's also really darned exciting to think about how much better my life is giong to be. Strangely, I am not scared at ALL... already been through that. Dried my tears of doubt and facing the rising sun now. I will say.. I have total trust in my surgeon, and the hospital I am going to (New York Presbyterian - Dr. Pomp) and that is everything. Ladies, I'll see you on the other side now. So long for awhile. Cinderella1

My parents are divorced. I am telling my father's side, because three other family members have had WLS, and they are very supportive. I am NOT telling my mother's side, because they are all rather puritanical and consider getting any kind of unnecessary surgery to be "not honoring the body God gave you." NOT telling my in-laws, at my husband's request, who is totally against the surgery. NOT telling the people I work with.. Telling certain friends, but not others. I thought about how I'd handle it when I began losing so much weight and everyone wanted to know how... and for those "haters" in my life, I will say that I had to have a HERNIA operation, and it was a bad hernia and they had to take out a piece of my stomach and, gosh darnit, it just seemed to make me less hungry. Ain't that grand! I am not, by nature, a liar (or BIG FAT LIAR, as the saying goes), but I agree with SASSY that it is nobody's business what I do with my body. I am not a child, and the world is not my mother. As my grandmother used to say, "stick to your knitting" (meaning, mind your own business). And if she were still alive, she would be supportive. Cindrella

Dear Sleevers: I have appreciated your comments SOOO much over the time that I have been lurking here, and now that tomorrow is the day I get sleeved, I want to step into the light and say THANK YOU. Of course I am a bit nervous now, mostly HUNGRY, no food for 2 days.... but I feel strangely calm about my decision. Hope I can trust that! Well, I'll be offline for a few days, but please keep me in your heart for awhile.... Cinderella