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Welcome to the boards BigSleeve. Congratulations on your journey thus far. I hope you hear great news soon. As Mokee stated, this is a wonderful and great forum. The people are all too welcome in helping with questions and advice. They have become extended family. You can count on support here if you are lacking support from your friends and family. We lean on each other. I would not know what to do if I did't have this outlet to run to. I wish you all the best and please keep us updated on your outcomes. Keep your head up.

Didn't mean to leave ya out there Mczoo. I really need to keep better track of all us going to Alvarez

WOOHOO... and two days after that is Icandothis, and two days after that is ME!!.. We gonna keep Dr. Alvarez busy. Those two weeks are going to fly by for you.

This sounds delicious. I am a big spinach lover. Thanks for sharing.

I wish you all the best in this journey, but especially the best to quit smoking. I know first hand that task is not an easy one. Hope you get great news from the doctors. Keep us updated.

Wishing you the best of luck. Hope to hear from you as soon as you are able. Hope your surgery was an easy one, and your recovery is speedy.

Welcome to the boards Mensch!! Congratulations on submitting to insurance. I hope you hear good news real soon. Keep us updated.

Yes I am going to Dr. Alvarez on the 6th of August. Sent from my iPhone using VST

Great work. I think you are doing and awesome job and well on your way to greatness. Thanks for updating us.

Hi erose22 and welcome to the boards. Congratulations on having your surgery. I am glad to hear you are doing so well. Awesome job on working so hard and excellent work on losing 26lbs so far. You are going to go a very long way with your new sleeve. Keep up everythinng you are doing; its working for you. As the others would say, welcome to the losers bench. (Please save me a seat) This is a great group of people, so if you have any questions never hesitate to ask, and I am sure you will get a response quickly. Best of luck in the future. Keep us updated.

Welcome Jesser. I wish I could tell you those feelings subside and maybe they do after the surgery, but before hand, nope they stick with you. When I first made a final decision towards the surgery, I didn't sleep for days. Not out of fear or worry, but out of anticipation. I would lay awake at night staring at the ceiling and I could see flashes of my soon to be new life. I could not wait to get started. Now I am 18 days away from surgery, and my anticipation is only heightening even more. I want to wish you the very best in your journey. Don't give up. I too am a self pay, and it may take awhile for you to reach your goal, but once you do, its like winning the race, crossing the finish line. It is so worth it. Try not to get discouraged or down during the saving process cause it can become worrisome. I can't tell you how many times I sat in the bathroom thinking there is just now way to come up with that much money. I was fortunate to have a very supportive husband that made sure to make it happen. Again, stay focused, relax and it will happen. In the mean time, search the forum here, you will find tons of helpful information, and the people around here are the best. I could not have found a better place or better people to consider as my wls family.

Congratulations aznurse4u. We share the same surgery date!! The days are passing fast now, so our day will be here before we know it. I wish you all the best and hope your surgery and recovery is smooth and speedy. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Not trying to sound degrading here but there are tons if positions available but after all the previous abdominal surgeries I found that hands and knees with a pillow propped under tummy helps. Able to control tummy movements better than laying on back and on top positions can be stressful cause you forget about having surgery and eventually your hips move with motions which pulls on abdominal muscles. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I kinda disagree about the guys part. I would imagine a guy would feel worse pain/discomfort/pinching compared to a woman. After all the guys are the ones who have to use abdominal muscles constantly for the thrusting. Prob too vague on the picture, but isn't that the truth? I think depending on who is having the surgery male/female you work around positions. However despite how successful you are on finding a position that will work for both parties, a woman may feel some discomfort during an orgasm as her abdominal muscles may contract. Again not anything that would prevent having sex, but is why they say "When you feel comfortable in doing so"

I haven't even had the surgery yet, and I was given all the do's and don'ts for after surgery from nutrition (including ideas of what to have for each phase and when to start each phase), exercise, activities, lifting restrictions,. Its a whole book worth prob 60 pages.

Congratulations!! It's always exciting to see a loss on the scale, and just think, this is the last time you will ever see those numbers again. Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I wish you all the best, and hope your surgery and recovery move smoothly. Keep us updated when your able.

I think every doctor is different. I have asked my doctor and he also has a youtube video about it, but he says as soon as we feel comfortable in doing so. But again I know all doctors are different.

I actually enjoyed the atkins shake. I only bought the chocolate as I am not very big on vanilla. I hear they have a strawberry one for breakfast (and strawberry is right up my ally.) The shake was like a thick chocolate milk from the strores. It was a smooth taste-not chalky (other than the obvious lack of sugar taste that hits you) I had no burping, belching after effect like I had with the unjury Protein shake this morning. May be a difference in brands, or may be a difference in pre-made and make yourself. I have to say over all I enjoyed the atkins over the powdered unjury. I also noticed that it had a good satiety for me and it stayed with me-still with me after almost 3 hours. By far is the best of my day. I also have Premier Protein (chocolate) that i have yet to try. Maybe in a few days. Hope this helps.

You rock!!. Congratulations on your pre-op weight loss. I started semi-liquid diet this morning. I was going to completely start (were my intentions when I woke up) for Breakfast I had a chocolate classic unjury Protein shake. For lunch I had 1 cup of sugar free strawberry/banana Jello, and just now I had an atkins chocolate low carb drink. Then here recently my husband sent me a text asking if he can take me out for my last meal tonight when he gets home from his schooling. He wants to have a family night before the surgery. I guess I should have filled him in on my intentions of starting my liquid diet today. He knew I was planning on starting early, just never specified a date. So I feel like a **** for not including him in my thoughts, so I agreed to allow him to take me to dinner. All in all, the day so far on liquids has went very well for me so far. I know I will get to eat this evening, but I just found that out. I do have to say that the atkins shakes give me great satiety.

August 6th- My name is Jennifer I am in the process of starting my liquid diet early (officially has to be 23rd). So far today things are going well. I choose to start early to get a handle and hang on things. Today I had my first unjury Protein shake. I used chocolate classic. It tasted like a room temperature melted chocolate shake. No bitter aftertaste for me, no chalkiness, but I am noticing myself burping quite a bit here an hour after. But I can do this!!

I posted this in the pre-surgery forum for others, but am going to post here as well. I find this helpful when wrestling with my inner feelings, and dealing with lack of support from family. Found it on Facebook and had to share. Just a reminder for all of us to keep our heads up.

I have samples of all the unjury except the strawberry cause they were out. I will try to let you know tomorrow if I try any of them or for sure in the next few days. I know you prob dont want to spend anymore money, but their samples are 1.99 a piece. To get them all (except for strawberry) cost me 13.70 I think which included the shipped too. I figured they wouldn't go to waste. Either I would like them and buy from them again, or I would hate them but still chug them down as fast as possible. Of course that is why I am trying them before surgery so that I can chug and not waste in the event they are nasty.

So i was finally on Facebook this evening and I came across this picture. It really spoke volumes to me and I thought I would share it with everyone. It reminds me to follow my inner voices and disregard negative feedback.. It expresses some of the very reasons as to why I am on the journey I am. Hope you enjoy.

Did you contact Susan to find your sleeve sister/buddy? or did you happen to find her here. So far I have not seen anyone who is having surgery the same day as me with Alvarez. I was thinking about contacting Susan but wasn't real sure if this was proper to do. I know I am looking forward to meeting Icandothis, and am bummed that I will have missed you by a few days. I appreciate the offer to chat. I don't talk a whole lot on the phone.. (i can be very shy on a phone until I get to know others) but I do text up a storm. Thank you for your kindness. I keep stressing over this diet thing, but I know this is just me and how I do things. I prepare myself for the worst so once I get there I see its not as bad as I imagined. But I don't want anyone to be surprised so I have filled my family in on my possible mood swings. My boys (ages 15-11) said they will just close their bedroom doors if it got too bad.. lol. My Oldest gave me a huge back-breaking bear hug and said he would help me through anything, and even cheer me up if I am down. They have a heart full of gold.

Hi Christina. Welcome to the boards! We are glad to have you join us here. Congratulations on your surgery. I hear this is an exciting journey. I am still waiting til the 6th to find out that for myself. The people here are amazing! Any time you feel lost, lonely, scared, happy, sad, etc. Everyone here is more than welcome to do what they can to make others feel relieved, better, and cheerful. I have never seen a more friendly forum that has this many supportive people. I also want to wish you the best of luck during your surgery. I hope its goes smoothly and you have a speedy recovery. Keep us updated as soon as you are able. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. Again congrats for finding the forum, and I look forward to following your experience.