waterlover

thank you oregondaisy.

thanks for telling me, how did i know it was going to be him? i've been torn between three different doctors and asking for 'signs' to help me decide. this is a good sign. sorry to hijack the thread. also, shelly, thanks for the info, i thought the only way to get rid of the grehlin producing places were to cut the suckers out.

i'm totally having this surgery as a 'preventative' measure. i look at my mom and my grandmother (who died of obesity related problems) and even though i haven't reached their weight yet, there is NO WAY i'm going to! both had/have problems that ruined their quality of life, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, major wear and tear on joints, you name it. i'm only 217lb as of today but i know 10 years down the road i'll be a lot more and kicking myself for not doing this sooner. for some reason in our family the women start out thin and end up having severe weight problems after having children. so anyways, yeah the few people i've told have said 'you don't need to lose weight'. well i i think they just tell me that because they are trying to 'compliment me' and make me feel better for myself in some sort of twisted support way. you know what i mean? people seem to think that WLS is a vanity thing. i wouldn't cut 85% of my stomach out for vanity only - and neither would the doctors. so if you are approved YOU NEED IT.

oregon daisy: could you do that? i want to go to him. lol. i'd like to write down everything he is accredited for. EJStorm: man, you have been through enough! i'm so glad you are doing well now. may i ask who your doctor was?

i think one of the best parts of the VSG is the way it makes your body produce less grehlin which in turn makes you less hungry. i would find it so hard to still have a huge appetite but have a small stomach. i would compare that to being on a diet. torture for me!

i think the first 15 or so pounds are excess Water. so just think you are losing REAL fat now. and that's okay that it's taking a while.

you should write a list down of what you are looking for in a doctor, even price. this is what i'm doing while i'm searching for a doctor. one of the most important things for me is aftercare. yes every doctor can make a horrible mistake, no matter how nice or experienced they are, if you have surgery and end up with some part of your body perforated or an artery slit, is the place where you had surgery or even the place where you are recovering after equipped to save your life? do they have an ICU? blood available? round the clock care with machines checking your vitals often enough to notice a drop in blood pressure if you are going into shock from blood loss? i'm really picky, i need to have all of that available in case i'm one of the 1% who gets a dreadful accident or complication.

wow! you look awesome, and so much younger than you did in the first picture. i don't know where people get the idea that losing weight will age you!

you are doing an EXCELLENT job!! obviously this nurse thinks her 'scare tactics' are some sort of positive influence. she needs to take some communication classes on being supportive instead of trying put the fear into people about losing weight. she's wrong about your future. don't let her get to you.

As a person who is presently working in the medical field of a "socialized health care" country, I think you are misinformed and insulting.

that's good to know. it's my biggest fear as it seems to be one of the more scary complications, the leaks that appear weeks later... as to what people have had to go through to get them healed.

thanks, great to see lots of high Protein foods that aren't meat. i don't eat a lot of meat now, and would like to cut down my consumption even more after surgery. am starting to look at the most nutrient dense foods now so when i do start to eat solids i will know a lot more about what to shop for. i can't post links yet but nutritiondata(dot)self(dot)com has a great breakdown on Proteins types, and also every Vitamin and mineral in each food as well as the regular carb/protein/fat percentages. you can also make your own 'recipes' (which means i just add the amount of everything i plan to eat in the meal) and they will calculate your whole meal servings in all aspects of nutritional value. once i'm done the surgery and off mushies and on to normal foods i will probably keep track of what i eat every day on a blog here. it's fun to fiddle around with all the different foods, finding great combos to help you get your essential Vitamins and minerals as well as proteins and fat/carb/fibers in a balanced fashion. and supplement as well for things you simply cannot consume with your new smaller size stomach. ps. i also really love their amino acid complete protein charts for food combining for those who don't want to eat meat.

yes, thank you to you and debic for the answer about how it feels to eat. :biggrin5:

i would go back to the point of where you felt terrific, even if it still makes you sick, like thenewme said, you need your protein and wter. don't force yourself to try something you might not be ready for. give yourself some more time to heal. it must be really hard to have to wait, but probably well worth it in the end. good luck

i wonder if it makes any difference to our healing process with how we behave before surgery. say being able to eat normally till 24 hours preop vs. eating low carb for a week vs. fluids only for a week.

shelly, i'm sorry, your post was right before mine so it probably looked like i meant you, i didn't. i thought it was a good post.

oh THANK you so much for letting me know this. i was totally imagining something completely different and i am so grateful for your shared experiences. i guess i won't know how it will feel till i feel it. but i trust what you say completely. i don't know why i got it in my mind that you would eat and it would be like, nearly impossible to swallow or something, maybe when i see people say 'was hard to get down' and read it the wrong way thinking they meant it would get stuck in their throat or something? nausea, going slow (i know i will be ultra careful at first till i get used to it and that is probably a good thing), and even heartburn and gas i can deal with (as i already deal with it lol). :thumbs_up: sounds great! fear #274 dealt with! hehe.

it's not the whole country, it's the doctor to blame. there are great talented doctors in every country, and perhaps they stay in their home country because it's their home! some of these statements are a bit xenophobic and offensive towards mexico.

how long does it take till you are 'out of the woods' for a leak then? when the scar tissue grows over?

I haven't booked an appt yet. I assume when I do it will take a few weeks to get the surgery date. So I'm looking at surgery in March perhaps. I was just wondering if I could get some good advice about what kinds of things I could do to make myself healthier the three months prior to surgery. I am going to start walking more on my treadmill and really try hard to get more Iron as I'm anemic (but I can't stomach iron pills very well so I hardly take them). I also have really bad issues with my stomach, I've had peptic ulcers in the past and if I take an ibuprofen or the prescription iron pills I end up bloated and burping and generally feeling horrible. I need to baby my stomach, so I'm thinking of really trying to eat more yogurt and got a probiotic (with cranberry extract to strengthen my bladder) to help with GERD. Any other ideas? I know Protein is so important after surgery and I think about my eating habits right now which consist mostly of white carbs. Should I start supplementing with Protein shakes now to promote healing? I'm into herbs and Vitamins. Any suggestions on cleanses, supplements or activities would be appreciated. Something that maybe you might have thought you should have done before surgery, or what you did after. Even certain exercises would help! I smoke too, and have to quit. Argh! This is probably the hardest challenge I will have as I HAVE to quit, I know that it is irritating my stomach as well as the ibuprofen etc (I get erosion in my stomach lining all the time it's awful, and I am a bit afraid of what it will be like after surgery with less stomach). Also mental preparation tips would be great too. Right now I'm learning to not take huge gulps of Water and sipping instead so I don't make mistakes after surgery because I really didn't know what a 'sip' was before I came here. I'm a guzzler!

have you tried "allen carr's easyway"? i'm listening to the cds right now, you can buy the book too. i've known several people that quit using it. it kind of brainwashes you into thinking like a non smoker and talks you out of wanting to smoke. it's pretty good. you don't have to quit until you finish the programme either lol.

can you 'feel' your smaller stomach. i mean when you aren't eating. i'm really interested in what it feels like when you aren't eating. if you feel any different. that really freaks me out. i am TRYING to imagine what it will be like and i have this feeling of everything feeling really tight in my throat and when i eat or drink it being really difficult and having to take tiny little sips and swallows like you will choke otherwise. is that somewhat right? i'm really scared because i have anxiety and i know a lot of times i get a lump in my throat feeling and it exacerbates the anxiety. i sooo don't want to be chokey. this is kind of making me hesitant about getting surgery. last thing i want to do is start having panic attacks again because i'm afraid to eat. le sigh...

my Iron pills the doctor prescribed are 300mg and they KILL my stomach, i buy liquid iron and that's not to bad but like 100x the price of the pills for the amount i have to drink vs what i get in the pills. i don't drink coffee, juices or milk, don't eat cheese but i do like yogurt/kefir, going to buy some greek yogurt. will buy some chicken breasts and fish fillets. mmmm.. thanks for the warning about seeds (like strawberries) i didn't consider things like that. going to try to start these things now so i don't go into more shock than i will already be in. lol. don't know if it will make a difference but makes me feel better knowing i'm 'preparing'. i'm such a control freak.

coconut Water would be a natural alternative to sports drinks, if you don't like to drink refined sugar and dyes etc. it's got a decent amount of potassium(600mg) and magnesium(60mg) in a cup. there are supposedly all these other 'benefits' to it, but i don't really believe the hype lol. it tastes good, but like everyone says, might make me gag after, who knows! nutritional information http://caloriecount....ut-water-i12119