StormWarning

You are looking fabulous, and obviously working that sleeve. It really is heaven sent. I hope I have as great of experiences. Keep up all your hard work.

Congrats on getting a surgery date Bigsleeve. Sorry that the appointments are seeming useless. Are they willing to take your travels into account? Seems a pre-op diet explanation can be discussed over the phone. I received mine through email, and have phone support if needed. I hope you are able to balance out the rest of your leave days, or figure out how you are going to make that work after your surgery. I wish you all the best, and good luck on your diet.

Love this, and I have to say bacon is high in fat, but we all (most of us) love it anyway. I agree about frying it in its own grease. I have tried several things over the years. The microwave trays that try to keep the bacon out of the grease but fail most of the time, to baking on a cookie sheet while its laying in its own grease. Well my husband will make his own chunky Jerky out of deer meat every year, and i started watching how he will do a batch for his brother, (a special way from the other) he would take a strip of meat and shove a toothpick through the top, and then drop the meat between the racks of the smoker (similar to oven racks) until it catches on the toothpick. The meat just hangs there while he dries it out in the oven. I got to thinking about this with bacon. I so i did the same, put a pan under the bacon to catch the drippings, and to my surprise I got crispy unsoaked bacon. Still high in fat as thats natural meat but I did manage to cook with the grease just dripping away from it, and not laying in it.

This sounds really great. Thanks for sharing. I love all the recipes that everyone posts.

I can imagine. I have had strep twice in my life. One was so bad my throat actually bled. Did you pick this up from your nephew when they were in? Thank god they gave you liquids. Those pills for strep are HUGE!! GO figure tho, medicines need to made over. Ailments like flu (no sore thraot) take a very tiny pill (tami-flu) and then strep, (sore, swollen throat) takes one of the biggest pills there is. I know you will overcome this in a few days. Best wishes.

Wishing you all the best, I hope everything works out just fine. My family is saying extra prayers for you. You are in our thoughts,

Glad to hear that you are recovery well, and so sorry to hear about the monitor that the doctor forgot to take out. Hope they can get it out the easiest possible way. Best of luck to you and hope you continue to recovery smoothly.

Glad to hear from you again Susie, and so sorry to hear you have strep. I can think of many things allot worse than strep. In about 2-3 days your throat will start feeling much better. did they give you a shot too? I hope you have a speedy recovery and get feeling better very soon.

Hi my August Family!!. Well today started out as a good day, but then it somewhat went downhill. Alarm went off this morning, so I got hubby out of bed and ready for work. I lounged around a bit and watched my true blood that I missed this past Sunday. I suddenly realized that I promised my dad I would give him a haircut today, so I scrambled to get out of my pj's and into regular clothes and make the drive to his house. It was almost dinner by the time I made it. I did his haircut, visited with mom and dad for a bit longer and then made the journey home. I have to say they had lunch in front of me. My dad even slipped up and asked if I wanted some BBQ. I just gave him a sassy/sarcastic look and he was like Oh Shoot. I forgot. I did very well. I have to say food doesn't hold a pleasure with me at the moment. I came home, had me a shake for my lunch and started following up with emails. Watched some tv and talked with my kids who are out of town visiting with their grandparents. Then came 4 o'clock central time. The strong urge that I needed something. I was not hungry, don't feel hungry, but that urge was very strong. I kept ignoring it, would concentrate on something else, but then I caved. I went to the icebox and got exactly what my urge wanted. I piece of cheese. Oh the Al' Mighty Cheese. I have been doing this liquid pre-op diet for 8 days now. I even started sooner than was requested. I was doing so good, and now this? Why now? I have to say that one slice of cheese sufficed and my urge went away, But I strayed from my planned/required diet. Now I am almost certain that "One" slice of cheese would not interrupt my surgery on the 6th. But I have a severely wounded pride right about now. I have let myself down, and it feels like crap. Am I going to continue to beat myself up over it? NO! I made a mistake, I fought an urge, I lost, it's over and done with. Move forward and think positive. I;m just curious where the strong urge came from and why all of a sudden. I am down 8lbs since I started my liquid diet. Just had to share my frustration of the day, and to let those who are struggling that we are only human. We are not perfect, but we can overcome and prevail!! I had my mind set that I would not stray once from this diet, and I will follow things to the letter. But if something happens, dust yourself off, get back up and continue on.

Glad to hear you got your approval. I wish you all the best in the future to come. You can do this. Just stay focused on your goal, it will help keep you motivated.

Actually the spider method is a single incision usually in the belly button and a device that once inserted has multiple arms like a spider. I watched one of those surgeries performed on one of the early morning shows. Not sure if it was good morning america or not.

I have not had my surgery yet, but my doctor also sews a suture line over the staples. He performs this method in some of his youtube videos.

Just wanted to wish you the best of luck. I hope your surgery is uneventful and your recovery is speedy. Please keep us updated on your status as you are able. As far as the packing, I have no suggestions as I have not had my surgery yet. But if you find something you wished you would have had, please let us know. Again Best of luck hun. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I have never heard of them before. Just a question here, please I am not trying to be rude, just trying to be informed. Are these seeds cleared for the liquid diet? I have no problems with satiety right now but may look into the future if I have problems. But I am worried. Do these seeds cook up? do they stay seeds? How well do they empty from the stomach? What happens if we are using them, our stomachs don't get rid of all of them and some small tiny seeds get hung in the staple/cut lines. Will they cause harm?

They have biotin that dissolves under the tongue if needed. http://www.evitamins.com/biotin-5000-mcg-superior-source-13894 http://www.vitacost.com/Superior-Source-Biotin Just search online and see what you come up with, check your walmart/target/drug stores to see if they carry it on hand.

A very merry Congratulations to you. It feels so great to have a final actual set in stone day!! Best of luck to you.

Amen Sister!! That is the perfect attitude to have. We are all on our way; and we are going to rock it very well!!

I completely agree. I had asked Susan about follow-up blood work with Dr. Alvarez cause I do not have any insurance and even the yearly blood works are outrageously expensive. She said I was always welcome to come back for follow-ups, and also stated that if anything was wrong that Dr. A would do his best to fix it. That is an awesome feeling.

I did not know that til I read your post. I was like 'WHAT" I had to go look. Of course I couldn't find it, so I went to the help section where I watched a tutorial on how to use it. Thanks for the heads up. This is going to come in very handy now. Hopefully less self typed entries.

OH wow. so glad you are ok. Was this your first time being put to sleep? The issue is not unheard of, but yet it is very rare. I am so glad that your heart turned out to be in good shape. They may have to lessen the sedation for your next surgery. My mom is a rare case that has a hard time coming out of sedation, so she gets like half what they would normally give a person. I wish you the very best of luck for your next go round on July 30th. I hope you can have your dream come true. Please keep us updated.

I kicked my major dr pepper habit a few months back. Then somehow I got a taste for Coke Fountain drinks. I threw those away a few weeks ago. I am now in my pre-op diet phase and I have to say, water definitely is my drink of choice NOW. I can't stand tea, can't stand fruit drinks everything is too sweet. I enjoy a bottle water over anything. Sometimes I may flavor it with water enhancers, but I find those seem too sweet too.

WooHoo, congratulations. Talk about working hard. You sure show how hard you worked. You look fantastic, fabulous, Inspiring.

you look FABULOUS. You are doing such a great job. Keep up all the great work. I love seeing the transformations everyone is making,

you still have the fever this morning? I am so sorry I fell asleep last night. I hope you didn't try to get ahold of me.