triciavr77

OK, I'm on day 2 of my full liquid pre-op diet. I have the Ketogenix vanilla shake that my doctor recommended I use. Here's the thing - it tastes absolutely horrible!!! There's nothing redeemable about this stuff. The chocolate is fine, and I can tolerate that, but I have 2 more weeks of this and need to use both flavors. So, to the vanilla I added 1/2 pack Carnation Instant Breakfast and used 1% milk instead of water. Does that really count as cheating on the pre-op diet or an ok modification. I tried to do just liquid the way you are supposed to - 3 to 5 shakes in the day, but I only took in 330 cals and I don't want to put my body in starvation mode. Doing this will assure that I get at least 600 calories a day? Any thoughts??

I have a sedentary job and requested 3 weeks. I'll see how I feel after the 2 week post-op if I feel like I have the energy to go back sooner.

Thanks guys. I'm 1/2 way through the container and once I finish and start on the choc shake, I'll drink that as is. I don't think it's gonna seriously screw up my surgery. I just don't want to waste the product or the $40 I spent on it!

Hi everyone, I'm Tricia from Raleigh, NC. I'm having surgery 2/15. Starting liquid pre-op diet 2/1 and my pre-op hospital visit is 2/12. My surgeon is Dr. Paul Enochs from Bariatrics Specialists of NC. I've been overweight and struggling w/ my weight since I was a kid. I lost over 100 lbs back in 2000-2001 and slowly gained it back. I'm not nervous today about surgery...too busy trying to get everything in order beforehand! I've been married for 4 years and we have a dog named Shelby. I am a tech junkie and love reading, listening to music, and shopping

Finally another 2/15 sleever! Just ordered my shakes and picked up groceries for post-op. Starting full liquid diet 2/1 and all set for the big day

Ok, I've had to do some journaling to stop and change perspective. Instead of focusing on what's ahead of me, to focus on what's happening today and what I've done this week. 1) Stopped drinking alcohol and I have only wanted to have a drink last night when **** hit the fan at home. 2) Stopped drinking soda and didn't miss it, crave it or anything. 3) Have gotten better about watiting at least 30 min between eating & drinking fluids 4) Consistenly getting about 68 oz of fluids each day 5) Reduced my caffiene intake (on 1/2 caff, not extra bold) coffee. I had caffeine withdrawal one day, and I've been fine since 6) Started exercising each day on my bike at home. 7) Started logging my food again and wearing my fitbit 8) Writing in my journal daily about EVERYTHING! That's a lot ot accomplish and I'm just gonna focus on this for today!

Ok, I have officially 15 days & 18 hours to go until surgery. Yes, I know this because there is a countdown feature on my iPhone! I am compulsively wanting everything to be PERFECT right now! I want to have all of my shakes/protein drinks/vitamins in the house NOW. I want to get answers to last minute questions and I've already started getting my bag backed for the hospital! I bought new clothes to wear while I'm there!!! I don't feel like I have enough time to get things together beforehand and it's so frustrating. I want to get everything just right so that once I come home from the hospital, I can just relax and focus on getting in fluids, walking, and relaxing as much as I can. But the stress of getting things just right is on my mind all the time. I've become obsessed w/ reading books about life after surgery and finding out what to expect and how to cope because I don't want to screw this up!!!!

I've never had a baby Shrinkythinks, but I guess that nesting would be a way to describe it! That's exactly how I was feeling earlier, like once everything is done, I can relax a bit, but I'm driving myself crazy to get there. Nice pic of the fish

When I started thinking about WLS I thought about doing the band too. After talking to my doctor, I decided on the sleeve. For one, the amount of work you have to do to make it work, plus all of the complications make it not worth it. And I've heard of so many people who ended up getting a reversion to get the sleeve. And something else my doctor told me that really swayed me against the band - other doctors are very leary of working w/ band patients. So if you move, need to change practices, or move, you have a hard time finding another bariatric practice willing to take you on. You don't have that probem w/ the sleeve. Hope that helps!

Thank you all for your help. Overall, my health is fine. Other than obviously being overweight, my health is pretty good. I guess it's part shock/sadness and of course the manner of death that surprised me. So, it made me question what's going on. I spoke w/ the nurse in my office and she said in the couple of years she has been there, she hasn't heard of any patient w/ that outcome. In fact their rates of complications/deaths is almost nil. I'm not backing out of this surgery. I need this too much and while I know I don't have issues now w/ my health, that won't continue to be the case as I get older and keep the weight on. So, I'm gonna soldier forward and have my sleeve surgery

I've been back & forth today about vsg surgery. My mother-in-law had knee surgery last week. She developed a blood clot that traveled up to the heart/lungs and she passed away. I've talked to my surgeon's office today and they did tell me what they do to help prevent that while you are in surgery and post-op. I know the best thing I can do is simply move as soon as I can, as often as I can. Nothing in my medical records made the doctor concerned to even mention using a filter to prevent clots. Did anyone develop a clot post-surgery and if so, how was it caught/dealt with?

I've told no one but my husband and the head of HR. And I only told her because she has access to everyone's files and needed to give her the letter from my doctor's office. Little did I know the letter would not mention anything specific. As far as everyone else, I might tell 2 friends post-op. I don't feel like being the "wls expert" among my family & friends nor do I want to have everyone watching and judging what I eat and how the weight loss is going.

My pre-op is on the 12th and surgery is on the 15th!

My surgeon is Dr. Enochs in Cary, NC. Bariatric specialists of NC and they seem to be a really good office. They got everything through insurance and the doctor is good at answering all of my questions.

Wow!! I've been waiting for this news for a short forever, and now that it's here, it's just crazy!!! I got approval for surgery and scheduled a time to meet w/ the doctor to go over the labs and get the official date. I'm kinda freaking out a bit too....Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to finally have approval. That was such a huge hurdle. But now that I do, and I know I'm meeting w/ the physician to pick a specific date, I'm a bit shocked to say the least. I need to give the office 30 days notice and get ready for all the usual pre-op stuff. So, I'll keep people posted as events happen. WhooHoo!!

I'm meeting w/ my doctors on 1/22/13 to set the official date. I'm soooo excited !!!! I can't believe orientation and the next step takes 4 hours of meetings! Yikes! I'll keep you posted once I know the official date. My hubby is happy but skeptical for me. I found out about WLS in 2011 and turns out even though I've been dealing w/ weight issues all of my life, according to Blue Cross I hadn't been fat enough long enough, so I was denied in 2012 (low bmi in 2010) so I had to wait a year to show a high enough bmi in 2011 & 2012. He won't really be happy until I have the official date and I understand. He's more cautious about things than I am. I just wanted to get through the insurance portion to be honest. I'm also being cautious at work in not really telling anyone until I have a date and then just I need to take a medical leave. I am thinking of scheduling around the end of February since I need to give 30 days notice. I'll be sure to post the official date soon!

If you are in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) I am in need of a buddy. Please contact if you are available. Thanks.

I am still Pre-Op. Doing the last step (psych eval) today before waiting for insurance to approve. I work in the Chapel Hill area. Do you go to any of the Meetup groups in the area? If so, I'm going to try to attend the one on 1/7/12 w/ One Step @ a time. Keep in touch.