Pookeyism

Sounds like you are being really proactive. Good for you! depending what diet you are on, if ti gets too bad, have some veggies or a piece of fruit.

8 and 10 year olds are hard to predict. It really varies. What they watch on TV and personality type might help you address this. You know your kids. Last emergency what happened? Do they panic, revert? Want answers, get in the internet? Read? Pull out their art supplies? http://www.aboutoperations.co.uk/explaining-hospital-stay-to-children.html I am a little different than most when it comes to children, I think because my Mother started taking seizures when I was 9 years old and I was pretty much a beta mom after that. My philosophy is your kids are tougher than you think, BUT you can still ease a situation and find a medium between protection (to sooth your worries) and buffering it too much (what I call the process of letting them know what is going on). As a kid, I began to get extremely anxious as I was coddled or talked to in an overy simplstic manner, mostly because I think I linked it back to the way I was treated in regards to my Mom and her care. One more thing, I would highly suggest you not promise everything will be ok. If you must promise, promise that you are folllowing all the doctors advise and rules, that they will be taken good care of while you are gone, and they will be kept updated. Also spell out what they can do, so they can own the situation. Let them help prepare your food, pack your clothes, and make a list of responsibilities while you are away and recovering, something they can see, that they can see they are contributing. Good luck. I only had rabbits...

Just ship it one of the flat rate boxes from the US Mail or via UPS. keep your tracking info and package it well. When I ship powders I tend to put them in a tearless envelope THEN in the box. Tape well, write the physical address, return reference number and tracking number in at least two locations on the box and I would include your contact number on the flip side of the innermost protected flap. If it is only 3 canisters I would not insure it, USPS insures to 50$ and USPS insures to 100$ automatically. It is a wee bit overkill, but return departments can be loosely organized. (Logistics Supervisor also in charge of S&R, AR& AP so I am somewhat paranoind!).

You can always start eating sensibly before your diet, but I do not know if I would be so restrictive at first. How about trying that but adding an additional salad and an additional fruit serving in between?

Get into the consigment shops now - look around and make note of the stores that will have the sizes you will need, and also get the information on who to return your clothing to resell, either for cash or credit...just a suggestion.

That is great! Keep it up!

Get it itemized. Check with other doctors to see if costs balance. My guy was a bit more pricey but it was an almost totaly up-front cost if I were to have only had the sleeve. also - save every reciept, every DIME you spend in travel, etc. this is surgery. Out of pocket can reduce the taxes you pay this year.

The nightshade family causes inflammation in the stomach, is most often acidic and like tomatoes are extremely high on carbs. I avoid all nightshades. Pasta too but I eat no grains at all.

I have been eating a mostly (80% =/-) raw lifestyle for almost a year now. I eat no refined sugars, no grains. I eat almost no cooked veggies BUT will steam or such if it enhances the flavor. I try to eat seasonally and regionally as this reduces food costs drastically. I also think our altered tummies do a little better with some things heated sometimes. It has been amazing for me. I have energy and vitality and I heal quickly and have thicker hair than I did before surgery. I still eat meat, but mindfully, just enough to provide the protien I need daily. Diabetics and immune-compromised people should proceed with caution in this eating program. If raw does not suit you there is a good argument for finding the “time & temp” for your foods, and cook them separately, then blend or mix. Different plant materials provide optimal nutritional value under different cooking temperatures. I think a good lesson for raw is to learn the difference between a pretty veggie or fruit and a fully ripe veggie or fruit. Check out http://fullyraw.com/. In Houston we have Rawfully Organic the largest 501c veggie and fruit co-op in the nation. Organic veggies and fruit, all volunteer effort, and it reduces cost by almost 20%.

I don't want to dismiss the burping in response to a particular set of muscles moving (mild pinch or hernia? is that possible?) But I would be concerned that you woke up under anesthesia - that needs to be discussed and an understanding that another anesthesia be used from now on, whenever that may be. I woke up during JAW surgery, and then knee surgery years later. For the VS/tumor removal it was a whole different class of anesthesia. Went very smoothly and recovery (waking up) was non-existent, as part of the anesthesia that was used on me kept me from remembering recovery.

I want to take a second and explain why I listed this in Success Stories, as opposed to other forums that depending on the individual it might seem more relevant. I put it here because it is not just relevant to veterans, or it is just about food, or coping, or 'finding myself'. It is an NSV; in addition to everything else I consider it a vital part of who I am now and wanted to share with my support community. I have come to adopt a way of life now, or honestly I feel more often anymore that it has adopted me, it is something I have come to call my "True North". It is a paradigm shift, it is incredibly simple but seems so deceptively complex, but it is not complex at all. It is the small steps that along the way have helped me cope and become who I needed to be in order to succeed post VSG. Everything I do I ask myself, gently, is this making me happy? Is this helping me heal? Sometimes it is physical as I experienced complications, or mental as I deal with losing my Mom (she died a week after my surgery). Maybe it is the dreaded combination of the two - the head hunger and thirst and heartburn for some noteworthy examples – just constant questions of “does this put me where I need to be”. I just return to the Goal of Me, by asking am I healing by doing this? Is this lining up with my needs and goals and abilities? If I were a compass, by doing this, am I pointing to my True North? At first I shouted it at myself and it was so harmful, looking back, I had this strong person, yet really frail and tired and I almost pushed too much. I was able to catch myself, with the extraordinary love of my Husband - I will never understand how he even stood me sometimes. I don’t question it too much however, and that is a part of the process. I just try to reciprocate and shine back to him what he offered to me. That comes back to the True North. I love to love my Husband. It is the ‘N’ on my compass, so I reciprocate all I can. Food is that way now also. I love the foods that love me back. In the process I try to stay away from any treats or the thought process that would associate a poor choice of food from being a "treat". Each bite for me I try to make it an active choice, an aware process and I tell myself "I am not what I was, I am not what I will be tomorrow, and this gets me there, while celebrating this moment." Food is for me to guide now, not the other way around. I FEEL alive when I eat bright, colorful, foods full of life. I am the energy 10x returned for the energy expended to learn about, choose, and prepare and even grow my meals. Exercise is much the same, and of course there is the less fun moments like work, traffic and bills, bunny poop and mosquitoes and Mondays. I just make an effort to live each moment, and in that instance also gently keep my needle pointing ‘N’. Be awesome to yourself and keep pointing ‘N’! Namaste.

Eating gluten free and eating tasty, hydrating, nutritious food is not too hard to do. Consider the 80/10/10. I am 20 months out and almost totally raw foods. I don't follow the 80/10/10 but I eat the '5 colors' of veggies, minimal but necessary animal protien, no grains, no refined sugars.

Wow! Now act like they are going to pay nothing, and make a 'payment' each month (to yourself) and you will have your plastics covered in no time!!!

Beans are a slider, and it is so difficult to know what you are interpreting as a salad (sorry) if you chewed it up well and the proprtion of beans to letuuce was greater or even, it may have reacted like a slider food. Also, 'full' can be a relative term. I think satiated is a better word. You should never reach for that volumous feeling again. I think for many of us that is a difficult step on its own. Just eat very slowly, and wait for that satiated trigger to kick in. No matter what, realistically, 4-6 oz of food will be enough for you even with a large pouch, so just remind yourself your stomach is full.

if you are not having issues, you should be OK with any shake over about 20 g for 8 oz. (you should be drinking as much liquid as you can, so as long as the calories are reasonable you should be ok - but really, truly, truly, be good to yuor body in this process. it cannot do it on protien alone!

I haven't had soda in over two years, but I now drink coffee ALOT, lol. I drank lite teas, infused Water, diluted juice, etc...it sounds bland but tastes awesome, you just have to experiment. It takes awhile, but I do not even like the smell of soda anymore. If you want I can post recipies.

I cut it short for the loss, it grew back - I kept it short.lol

MoSt AwEsOmE sTorY!!!! yay for you! The one thing we cannot control is time, we can only 'spend' it, it is so inspiring you have chose to spend it this way!!!!

If you make the drive like that, at least consider doing some homework on some places you can stop, where the local clinic would be, etc. Should you have a complication that would need attention urgently. Keep a really good, consice list of what was done, what meds you are on, etc. I had complications mid-flight (a long story, on my way back from my Mom's funeral after surgery). I cannot imagine having gone though that in a car, on Nevada roads, and then have to stop ? somewhere? Is it one of the docs that will meet you across the border on the US side? Maybe you could get a really inexpensive rental car and drive down (check groupon and the like for rental car discounts), they meet you like they were picking someone up at the airport (saving you the cost of an international rental). and drop you back stateside again, then you fly home? or you fly home and hubby drives?

Call and talk to your doctor - not the nurse - the doctor. Tell him your concerns and point out that you have a history of slow weight loss. Maybe you can compromise with a promise to follow a strict but not impossible diet, drink lot's of Water, etc. Just to be safe amp up your water, sleep and exercze. This is just a sugestion, and it is easier typed than done, probably. See if you can't back off worrying about it a bit. Stress can really hinder the weight loss process. I had a stomach tumor and while I did monitor all the sugested and or mandiory conditions with my doctor, I knew they HAD to operate on me, so I think, oddly enough, the lack of stress I had in meeting conditions made it a little easier. I met all my conditions, because I was really worried about what else I could be facing and needed the surgery to go as smoothly as possible, so there was still stress, just not from that angle.There was a lot of stress, actually, from many angles, butt he diet edge was removed, and I think made it easier to follow. Sorry typing fast at work, I hope that made at least a little bit of sense

I don't eat grains at all. I eat a combination of leguime, annimal and whey protiens, and also spinnach, kale, etc.

I can see it across your collar, and in the bicep and arm and wrist. I can also see it in the span of your breastline (forward pics), and your arm set against your sides differently now. I can see a dip under your breat line along your abdomen - your waist! Most definately see changes! Keep it up!

Just don't stop. You know what to do, you have been doing for over a month now. Water, nutrition, exercise, sleep, love yourself. Measure, track and pay atention to your foods. Small bites, no fluids with your foods. No sliders, no "bad foods". You have hit your body with food that will, literally, make you crave more of the same. Avoid tha carbs, the trans fats, the salts, grains. Make every bite count, be full of wonderful, full of sunshine and health. Cantaloupe and melons and peaches, banannas, berries, squash, Beans and nuts, figs (OMG FIGGS) - all are in abundance right now - it's literally the time of the harvest. Don't look at is as doing without or back to anything mundane - get creative with your 'back on track".

In my opinion, depending on what you do, and what you are calling tired will help determine when you return to work. I define tired and fatique a bit differently (webster what-ever-smether)...I guess I think of tired as OK. Like "I am tired but no problem, another load of laundry, another flight of stairs", fatigue is what I think of when I worry about truly running out of steam. Falling asleep on the way home, or so tired I lift something wrong and hurt myself, etc. If you are just tired, returning to work should not be an issue, if you are fatigued still, before you even step back into your work setting, might be a sign you should wait.