WASaBubbleButt

Congrats! You earned it, you deserve it! You've been working your butt off exercising and watching your diet. You deserve every great compliment that comes your way!

If you have been doing it for a month keep doing it and test. If you are high or low you'll need to adjust, if you are in normal range, kewl beans! Usually about 10,000IU daily for WLS patients bypass and DS excluded) who are deficient. So that would be 70,000IUs weekly. Your doc is suggesting 50,000IUs weekly, close enough! The only thing, your levels will spike one day a week and drop the rest of the week. (I'm speaking from experience) It's not a big deal but when you get to maintenance I'd be looking for a lower dose on a daily basis. I just ordered my kit today to retest... again. First I was too low, then I was way to high, hopefully I have it figured out this time. ;o)

I don't know stats but I can tell you that the US gov't is warning people about specific cities and crime, Mexicali is not on that list. Mexico

If they want you to start a low carb diet now I would do as they suggest instead of waiting to meet with the nutritionist. What they are basically asking you to do is Atkins. You can do lots of web searches for Atkins. I would call the office and ask if they mean carbs or net carbs because it makes a difference. I know my doctor does not want net carbs, he wants a maximum of 30gms of carbs daily. As a general rule, if it has flour or sugar, don't eat it. Potatoes are very high in carbs. Many veggies have lots of carbs, more than you'd realize. Peas and corn are out. Most fruits are very high in carbs. salad dressings, sauces, Pasta, rice... You can look up carb content here: Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com You can even search by low carb foods. Do little things such as use a lettuce leaf in place of a bun for burgers. For steaks instead of A1 sauce or something similar coat your steak with a thin layer of olive oil (very thin) and put lots of spices on instead. Marinate and either grill or broil. Lots of people assume healthy foods are low in carbs and this is not true, there are good carbs too but for the sake of pre op diet even good carbs are out. It helps shrink your liver.

Do you do a lot of hard labor for your employment? If so I could see it then but most people go back in a few days.

Congrats on your date!

Sounds like your insurance is paying for your surgery? Lots of people to not have WLS benefits and they are self pay. In my case mine was a revision and while insurance would have paid for it I would have had to jump through a lot of hoops, beg, plead, and appeal. I was just too ill to do it, I needed to get my band out quickly. I wanted the best of the best for revision surgeons so I self paid with Dr. Aceves. Revisions are a lot riskier than if someone has never had surgery. I wanted the best so I paid for the best. I could have self paid in the US and eventually I would have been reimbursed by my ins but I trust Dr. Aceves. For the average person (revision or not) if you were self paying would you prefer to go to someone in the US who is not very experienced for over $20K or go to a surgeon that is more experienced than most US doctors and has a better track record than any doctor you can find in the US or MX with leaks for $8750? Which would you choose? ;o)

You know, I could change that to honorary sleeve Jaf-FA if you want! HA! I feel for you with a band. I realize you are doing okay now but the restriction issues get old. I sure don't miss having to deal with it.

This is going to sound so obvious it's stupid but please do try your best not to vomit AT ALL between now and your surgery date. If you have a slip and a lot of inflammation they may not be able to revise you to a sleeve at the same time as band removal. You need for all the swelling to go down in order to have a safe revision. Risks are already triple for a revision vs. if you never had a band. Swelling makes it much worse. Milk and yogurt? (eye roll)

No, those are not standard pre op labs. Besides, doctors do not order the right Vit D test typically. There are several ways to test for Vit D and 99% of doctors test for the wrong one according to the experts at the Vit D Council. The test in this thread is the right one. Also, labs are still showing 30 as normal when it is quite low. You want a lab result of at least 50. It's like a TSH, most labs are still showing a 12 as being normal when in fact the Endocrinologists know that up to 6 is normal, not 12. It's hard to get labs to update their "normal ranges" and doctors still go by old information in some cases.

Denise.... If you are taking extra vit D you won't know what your baseline is or if you need to take extra Vit D. ;o) You want to test when you are taking your usual dose so you know if you need to increase or not.

Thankfully the produce manager caught me before I left the produce dept to make sure I knew Yucca root is poison until it's cooked. I usually try stuff raw first. Now, I'm a bad cook but who knew I could kill myself by eating something I did not yet cook??? ;o)

Yes, but now it is official. We'll see if he can find it and notices. ;o))))))

Do you know I have been working on the same counted cross stitch project for almost 20 years now? HA! I guess my heart isn't really in it but it is going to be beautiful someday. ;o)

Doctors in Mexico have been doing the sleeve and band longer than most US doctors. They have the experience you are looking for. Please, read my sig link. There is a lot of information there for research purposes. Have you checked to see if your insurance covers the sleeve? If it does obviously you'll want to stay in the US. But if you are self pay Mexico is a great option!

Anything her little heart desires! Mexican, Italian, Chinese, whatever she wants!

FRENCH ONION SOUP!! FANTASTIC stuff! After I got rid of my band I could eat the pastry thinger on top. Great stuff.

I have had the band and sleeve and I'd never get another band. Everyone likes their band at first, the scale is moving and life is good. The real problems hit at about the 2 year point. That's when people get to the point that the reflux is horrible, restriction is an issue, band intolerance kicks in, the works. Consider this, I have been posting on message boards for 3 years now and I have never met anyone that was banded for 10 years or longer. We hear about them, we see studies about them but in three years I have never met one. The longest I have met anyone that had a band was 9 years and she was contacting me for information on a revision to a sleeve. She couldn't take it anymore. First they had the mesh band, that didn't work. Then they had the non adjustable band, that didn't work. Then they had the small adjustable band, they said all the problems were because it was too small. So now they have the mega adjustable band and not only do they have the same long term problems with that but it's so big many are not getting any real restriction for 6-8 months. Weight loss is slow and low with a band, it is the hardest procedure to lose weight. It requires a lifetime of after care. I would suggest finding just 5 people that have been banded for 10 years and talk to them yourself. Not a friend of a friend who knows someone, but YOU talk to them. See how they like their bands now. Inamed has been selling bands to Mexico for 18 years and Mexico has been banding US citizens for 18 years. There should be plenty of them around, right? So where are they? I've never met one. But if you can find 5 people banded 10 years, go for it. I don't think you'll find them. 1) How do you choose the surgery, you read everything you can get your hands on. You ask people that have had their surgery for at least a year how they like it. Everyone likes their surgery the first six months. Talk to those who have had it for a year or longer. Ask if they have any regrets. Know every surgery type out there and know why you want one specific surgery and why you do not want the other surgery types. 2) I can eat anything with my sleeve. Haven't found anything yet that I do not tolerate in the way of food. Calcium tablets... I hate. Food, no problem. 3) Leaks are a risk for the first month for the most part. Until your stomach heals. It is critical that you follow the post op diet. 4) Jut like the band, you don't want to eat and drink at the same time. Your stomach only holds so much food, don't waste that room with water. I drink up to the point that I will eat and then I wait an hour or so after eating to drink. Eating and drinking together is a learned behavior, we can unlearn it as well. ;o) 5) See #4 6) You really want to ask people 6 months out what they can eat, that is when their stomach is the largest. I can eat less than 1/2 cup of food at a time depending on what it is. About 1/4 cup of solid Protein or up to 3/4 cup of soft foods and I am one year post op.

I had to come up with something that wasn't dealing with food and now it is exercise. I never thought I would write those words but it's true. ;o)

Heh... I knew what Kel Nor Reem is. Kreeee, you had me on that one.

Noooo, if you read the band board it's less evasive. ;o) Sorry, that's one of my pet peeves along with lose/loose or weigh/weight.

Yes, very much so. I wouldn't go to anyone with less than 250 sleeves and 250 bypass. The staple line is what you want experience with.

Maybe try a little bit of lemon juice in your Water, a natural diuretic. Not sure if it works but others swear by it. I've never tried it.

$33K? OMG! I can't believe it! I guess I'm not much of a fan afterall! ;o) I do like the show, I can watch reruns all day long.

It just dawned on me who the person is standing there with you in your avatar! HA!