Forensikchic

I was self pay and I only had to have an ekg and blood work. The cost was included in the total I was quoted. I had surgery one week after the seminar. I wrote three checks, one to the dr. one to the private hospital and one to the anesthesiologist. The testing was part of the hospital bill. I did not have to do a sleep study or visit a cardiologist. I only had to do bloodwork and an ekg which took 2 minutes.

I use a straw too. I can drink more with it and I dont get a lot of air either. I only started using the straw after a few months out. Now i use them all the time.

Thanks for the comforting words. We are gearing up for it. I will let her know what I have learned from you guys. She is shy to be on the boards, not really her thing. I am sleeved myself so I was worried about where I would eat, since I eat such small quantities and dont want to eat in front of my sister. I guess I will figure something out.

I have not figured this out either. The ones I make in the blender are foamy which i hate. I know mix unflavored in a shaker cup with orange juice and shake it up really good and drink it with a straw so I dont get the foam. It works for me. Unjury separates out and you just get the juice from the bottom and I stop before I get the foam but Jarrow brand unflavored stays in solution, doesnt separate and is not really foamy at all. I like it the best. It took me months to find this combo that worked for me. I am a OJ lover though and it doesnt change the taste of it at all!

So happy to hear that! My sister is getting her sleeve done with Dr. Alvarex on June 1st. I had mine in Texas 9 months ago and I dont know what to tell her to expect really in MX except what I hear on the boards. I love to hear good things about the Dr. we chose. I will be going with her since its only two hours from my house. She lives in Mississippi. Do you have any advice for us? How long was your liquid diet? Did you lose enough to please him? Were there any complications? Did he give you blood thinners? Any information you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Do we need to bring anything special? You can message me if you dont want to answer all this on the board. Thanks in advance! Tammi

If your iron is low you are anemic and you will feel very tired from that. Please go get some bloodwork done and see if you are deficient in a vitamin or iron. Good luck!

Im at 84% at 9 months. Its slower but my sleeve is still working. I will be at 100% by one year or bust!

I take a flintstones with iron chewable daily. My labs have all been great except low vitamin D and I take a prescription vitamin D once a week. Its a small capsule. My surgeon wanted me to take their bariatric advantage and calcium citrate, and Iron too but I found that the calcium citrate caused me to have a kidney stone (I am prone to have these) and so I stopped taking anything other than the flintstones and the vit. D. I am 9 months out and my labs are great!

I agree pdxman... the swelling can interfere with the results so thats why my surgeon didnt do one.

My surgeon does not do a leak test, or put drains, or use a bougie. (sp?). He uses the endoscope to do the procedure and can see on the inside if there are leaks. No drain was great too since I hear they can be a hassle. I am 9 months out and have not had any complications that were sleeve related. It was not a deal breaker for me. I was happy not to have to swallow that nasty crap right after surgery... besides, you are swollen then and it might not show up anyway. I know some people that had leaks and they had the test done! So, not a deal breaker for me.

Im still around, just not as active as I have been. I check this site every few days. I hope everyone is doing well. My sisters surgery is coming up in less than a month! She is getting excited now and trying to cut her carbs so she can lose some before the liquid diet. How long the liquid diet is depends on what she weighs on Friday. Fingers crossed she can cut the carbs down and lose to her mini goal and only have to do 10 days of liquids instead of 21!

SW 155.2 CW 150.6 GW 144.2 Pounds to lose by Memorial Day-- 6.4 I lost 2 pounds this week. Yay! I am keeping on keeping on and it is slowly coming off. We have about three weigh in's left in the challenge. I dont know if I will make it to my goal of 144 by then but every pound is a step closer to it. I am about a half a pound to the 140's yay! Keep it up peeps, we are doing great!

You look great!

Good luck! You will do great!

I keep forgetting about this forum! I am down 82 pounds since my surgery on 8/8. I am in a size 8 now. I still have 18 pounds to go and its slow but I am getting there. How is everyone else from August?

I puzzled over this too until my surgeon said stop worrying about it and just eat what i comfortably could. I ate three 2 oz meals and it took me an hour too. I also ate a few snacks just like you. It worked for me. I was staying around 400-500 calories a day for about 6 months. I did not go into starvation mode but I did have a plateau here and there and thats normal. I am almost 9 months out now and i still only eat about 800 calories a day. It is working for me just fine. I am down to a size 6-8 and have lost 82 pounds. Its slower now but still working. Dont worry, just eat what you can and try to make most of it protein and drink your fluids!

I just got the cutest message from VST saying I had posted 500 times since I joined and how they appreciate my active participation! I feel great about that! I love this site and it has helped me immensely during this journey. My husband lost his job last week and with all that added stress, instead of eating, I come here to see if I might be able to help someone or see if there is any new interesting ideas that will help me. I am a stress eater and a boredom eater and this really helps me get through some hard times. I appreciate the fact that we have this community that cares about everyone and we all understand what it is to be fat and all the repercussions that come with that. I have shed many tears of joy during this journey along with the tears of frustration. Its so good to have people understand and empathize, Celebrate with you and cheer you on! THANKS VST FAMILY!!!!!! You guys mean the world to me. :wub:

I never realized until I had the surgery my behaviors and what really made me run to food. When I am stressed at work, I am at my computer and I can type a post or read some other posts. It seems to help me because I cant eat and type at the same time. lol. Keeps me from getting up and going to the fridge. I also go for walks at lunch etc to reduce stress and it works.. you have time to think things through when you are walking. On days I really dont feel like it, I walk slow. I just tell myself I am going to take it easy today and I start out that way but then speed up as I fall into my routine. chatting on here reallly helps with boredom and stress! You can vent your stress and there is always someone willing to listen!

I like unjury unflavored mixed in OJ. you have to drink it with a straw from the bottom because it separates but you cant taste it. I have kids cup from Chili's that I use. I shake it up in a shaker cup and poor it into the kids cup that has a little straw and I sip it on the way to work. There is another unflavored I like better and its by Jarrow. It stays mixed and does not separate. I still use a straw because I am 8 months out. It doesnt bother me to sip with a straw now but I did avoid this for the first few months because I didnt want to have extra gas. You might try these ideas. hth

So awesome Sharon! Yay!