Mz_Elle

I'm 5 days post-op and I've been up and down too. I've been focusing on keeping hydrated and sipping various combos of crystal light and, my new love....Zero Vitamin Water. I've been careful not to go over teh more than a mouthful mantra and staying away from spice of any kind. I'm eating creamy chicken broth for my "meals" and it's been going ok. The clear chicken broth kept me cramping up for some reason. My trick with the creamier broth is that I don't drink it or sip from the spoon. I use a teaspoon. Dip it and lick the broth off of the back of the spoon. It seems to be working.... I read up on things to soothe your stomach and ginger is my best friend. I broke out the Ninja. Put some water in it and cuts of fresh ginger. I pulse blended until it became a watery pulp. Let it sit, then strained off the pulp. I poured the remaining water into water bottles and put them in the fridge. Now when I'm thirsty, I put a crystal light or other SF packet in it and start working on the hydration. It does wonders. I've not had nearly as much cramping...the ginger is my new tonic and it's working well. Low cost and I can reuse my water bottles and take them with me wherever I go to stay hydrated and battle my nausea. It will get better. Everyone on these boards are so supportive. Just stay positive and remember where you're going. This is only temporary. You'll find the best fit. Just keep experimenting. Good luck.

I'm 3 days post op now. Discharged yesterday and I'm home. I'm focused on staying hydrated and keeping the water moving. I'm on full liquids for the next two weeks and I'm not even blinking at it. I have NO HUNGER at all. It's a bit shocking. To not be hungry. No cravings.... My mom stopped by a burger joint on my way home to get my boys some lunch and I didn't even salivate at the smells of french fries and bacon burgers! It phased me not one bit. (My mom was hesitant about stopping to get burgers because of my condition, but I told her to let the boys be boys for now. They eat pretty well most of the time). I tried plain yogurt and it didn't go down well at all. I used to love yogurt with a little bit of lemon juice. I've been able to tolerate creamy of chicken soup pretty well. I tried chicken broth with a little bit of spice and it did not go down well. Vegetable broth is a winner! I'm pretty sure I will not be able to do spice for a while. I thought I'd be really leaning on the sugar-free popsicles, but I find them a bit too sweet. I"m going to try SF jello today. Right now it's all about the crystal light and water. A sip every 15 minutes! I do not want to get dehydrated and that's my biggest obstacle for now. I'm also doing deep breathing exercises every two hours to ensure I don't develop pneumonia. That's a challenge, but I'm staying on course. I also have a little machine to work on my legs. It does compressions on my calfs when I'm idle to prevent blood clots. I also have a 10 day regimen of blood thinners in the form of shots in my tummy. It seems like a lot, but my doctor is very thorough and I truly LOVE the office for that. I feel well taken care of. I'm staying away from the scales until my follow-up. Initial consult weigh was 339 lbs, Day of surgery I registered 325 lbs. At discharge I was 326 lbs (mainly due all the water they were pumping into me). My follow-up is next Thursday. So we'll see where I land. Taking it day by day.... GOALS: WALK WALK WALK. DRINK DRINK DRINK.

Thanks! I'm checking it out now!

I'd agree. They look pretty good. As long as they're not smelling, painful, oozing or changing color, you shouldn't worry too much. Just take it easy and keep an eye on it.

Walking was the best medicine for me. It did wonders but there was a post on one of the strings that I think will help you. She recommended using heating pads for the back and stomach along with a shiatsu messager to help move out the gas. Personally walking and standing versus laying did wonders for me.

Thanks a lot. This sounds great and plain old chicken broth is getting boring as all out. I'm having trouble with spice and herbs since my procedure. This sounds like a healthy/happy medium. I may try adding a little bit of cilantro though....

I was able to go after my swallow test in the hospital. When you're on clear liquids I don't see how you can make a BM daily. Since discharge and being on full liquids (clears plust the cloudy stuff), I have been going ever other day.

I have the same problem. I'm programming multiple alarms in my Iphone. I'd like an app that would let me tell it when I ate breakfast then it set up my alerts based on the 2-3 hour recommended interval between each meal.

I feel your pain as I was in that place last week. Pre-ops vary so much by doctor too! My doc had a weening off type of pre-op where over the course of 3 weeks I'd bee weened to a full liquid diet for the last 5 days of the pre-op cycle. I have a friend who's doctor had her go cold turkey and do 3 weeks of full liquid al together. When she told me that I was like NO WAY could I be on 100% liquid for 3 weeks pre-op. Now.....I think I would have done better if I had at least done the full liquid 2 weeks prior to the surgery because I, personally, was able to handle my cravings better when I didn't have that "one sensible meal" per day motza ball hemming me up. I did much better on the full liquid diet believe it or not. Nevertheless. Keep moving forward and reach your goal. You're doing great! (And stay away from the Food Network shows! That Guy Fieri is the DEVIL! I love his show and it just left me in a frenzy! LOL.

@Patsy- Belly shots!! It's just an injectable blood thinner versus a pill. I'm just a chicken when it comes to needles, but it's really benign. It's a little needle that's prefilled and you just tap, angle and push. With that being said as a scaredy cat, I just couldn't do it myself. It's relatively painless, more like an accupunture... Thank heavens my mom and husband are doing it for me.

@gingersnap... I've found drinking my liquids at room temparature versus cold or hot has been extremely helpful. I also use crystal light (fruit punch or pomegranate flavor) instead of plain water. My doctor says to drink at least 3 of the tall skinny bottles a day so I shake and carry them with me EVERYWHERE. The dieticians and discharge ppl said to try to take 1 ounce every 15 minutes so you stay on track. I've found that just carrying the bottle and sipping every 10 minutes to keep my stomach active works best for me.... I don't wait around.... I just casually take a sip while talking or watching TV. I try not to go too long w/o giving my belly something..... Of course when I'm on solid or purees, that'll change, but it seem good to just keep the tummy working. When I wait longer or it seems my stomach spasms and I get gassy (belching) for a second before it goes down. I think when you're on liquids, you just need to keep things moving so your new stomach can take on the harder stuff in phase 2. I'm actually enjoying the challenge, but I'm trying not to overthink everything and take it one phase at a time to see what works best for me. All of this information from other sleevers is truly helpful and I enjoy all of the tips I've gotten. In regard to your loss, I extend my sympathies. I, too, had a relative pass with a pulmonary embolism related to a deep vein thrombosis due to lymphedema, so I'm hypersensitive to the issue.

I agree with Kathy in that 60 minutes at a stretch is a bit much. My doctor recommends 10 minutes at a time to total up to about 30 minutes a day. He also says to push if you want to, but listen to your body. We're in Texas, so it's sweltering hot. He says to work out in the early mornings/ Late evenings or go do the infamous MALL WALK.

Pat yourself on the back with your progress. I'm so happy for you! I've decided I will not be eating out very much at all. My achilles is Mexican food, bit I'm still waiting on my taste buds to adjust and see if I still have that weakness. I'm on full liquids now (only 3 days post op) so I"m finding this an exciting time to see what my take-aways will be. This board has been a trug godsend. I have no hunger now, but I'm wondering if that will phase out to and the old monsters of binging and cravings will return. I'm a little bit of an overplanner, so I have all kinds of protein shots, crystal light and broths in my pantry plus every kind of greek yogurt, lentil, and chick-pea you can name!

The belly shot doesn't hurt at all, but the process is a little frightening to me. I admittedly couldn't do it myself in the hospital and chickened out to have my mom do it for me. She's an insulin dependent diabetic so it didn't phase her. I find needles all together unappealing. I will do it myself today though. The key is to angle the needle into your flesh and not stab at it. Wish me luck!

I think you're doing great by taking the approach of pushing yourself when you feel it a not. I think what's most important is that you keep moving! Don't put yourself in a box by measuring yourself against other people. Do you. Do you at the best you can be. Just keep it moving!

Oh my. It does sound like you had an ordeal. I didn't have any drains. Did you have an open procedure or a laproscopic one? I had the lap and I just have 5 or 6 incisions that are taped up. I also was adament about not having a cath long term. As soon as I was awake I requested that it be taken out ASAP. They did. I did have a catch in my chest for the 1st two days, but it was from the hiatal hernia repair they did. I haven't seen the pics of what they took out yet, but my husband and mom said it was creepy. My husband said my stomach was 17 inches by 7 inches! I'm going to see for myself this coming Thursday. I know I was traumatized by the EGD they did in May when they showed me the hernia, bleeding ulcers and the gastritis,so these post-op pics should be gnarly. Prayers for you overcoming those obstacles and yes....WALK ON! I look forward to your updates too. How are you doing with the hunger? Are you feeling any cravings at all? Mine are absent? Wonder if/when it'll kick back in? (Not that I"m wanting it to, just curious if it'll come back on strong....)

I found that adding a spoonfull or two of Flax powder to the shakes helps a lot and provides you with Protein, Vitamins and Fiber at the same time. Flax powder bulks up in your stomach and provides a sense of fullness. It doesn't taste like cardboard either. I used Celebrate Protein Powder and found vanilla Cake Batter to be surprisingly good. (I don't typically like Vanilla flavored drinks, but I preferred it over the chocolate, which was good too). If you want to go fully over the counter with the protein powder, I found Atkins Dark Chocolate with a scoop of flax and mixed with Soy milk to be a great compromise.

Today is my big day. Checkin time is 11:30 a.m. Surgery time about 1:30 p.m. I'm told it will take about 1.5 hours. I have butterflies, but I'm eager to begin this next phase.....It really is a phase. I was talking to my 15 year old a few nights ago about the procedure. He's trying to play it cool,but he's freaked out. I realized that he has NEVER seen me under 200 LBS in his life! What's funny is that I was steadfastly 145LBS for most of my teenage and early adult hood. Even funnier....when I was 91/2 months pregnant with him, I weighed a WHOPPING 198 LBS. I thought that there was NO WAY I'd ever be able to get that heavy without being preggers! LOL. At 326LBS as of today.....198LBS looks pretty darn good!

I know what you're saying. From reading everyone's stories, it seems everyone is so very different! I'm scheduled for my sx on Tuesday so I'm curious to see what my weightloss will be too. I'm a little bummed because I have not lost the 15lbs they've requested for the pre-op regimen so that's a bit foreboding. My doc told me we may even need to cancel the surgery if I don't weigh in at the target so I've been very stressed this weekend with trying to get to that 15lbs mark. Since I've been on 100% liquid since my pre-op appointment, I think I'm there, but I can't bear to step on the scale to confirm. I'm a bit wary, but If I don't have this procedure on Tuesday, I'd be terribly disappointed. Best of wishes. And I think we'd all be in agreement that you just need to be patient and DO YOU. Follow the diet programs and you'll begin to melt away. My doctor always stresses that WLS is a TOOL, not the SOLUTION. You still have to work at it and build better eating habits.

My surgery date is 07/03/2012. My Official pre-op visit is 06/29/2012. I went to the doctor on Tuesday to get my meal replacements and pre-op diet guidelines. It's becoming more real. While I'm over the moon with how well everything has gone so far....I got insurance approval before I completed the surgeon's checklist! I guess I AM the ideal candidate for this procedure after all....I'm still scared that things may go awry. I'm almost forty, BMI is 60 and I'm a mess right now! OSA, Uncontrolled Diabetes and the beginning stages of lymphedema in my left leg! Oh....and did I say I'm only 5'3 inches. Don't even get me started on my family hx. I'm ready! Goal: 15 lbs. This week: 1 meal replacement for the 3 main meals. 2-3 snacks (light/sugar-free, high protein, whenever possilble), smaller portions, 30 minutes per meal. Chew carefully. Do not drink with meals. Water, water, water. Protein, veggies, cheese, carbs. NO SUGAR if at all possible; smaller plates, smaller utensils, WALK DAILY if possible......I'm on it.

I'm still in my 2nd phase of pre-op. Two liquid meals a day. 1 regular (sensible) meal. two snacks. Have cheated a couple of times, but off-set it by not having the 2nd shake. I know the goal is 15LBs but I haven't weighed myself on purpose. I do my formal pre-op on Friday. I will then be on a fully liquid diet until my surgery date. Getting very nervous because I have soooo much to do at work. Stress. stress. stress

Will put you on my prayer list for June 26th. All will be well. Blessings!

Brian Mirza, He's right off Westheimer, between Chimney Rock and Fountainview. He's patient, thorough and his office is tenured. Really puts a lot of time into his patient's success.

For some reason I'm plagued with fears of having all this jiggly loose skin and needing to buy multiple girdles and what nots. I have several friends and even a couple of relatives that have had other WLS, such as LapBand and bypass (more commonly the Lapband) and it's all over the place. Some are fine and just have minimal sagging. Some are plaqued with infection, chafing and ulcerations. Some have complained of smelling due to these skin problems. IT REALLY A GAMUT! Where will I fall? I'm so scared of getting sick from the skin issues I've seen. To be fair, the worse cases seemed to affect those that I know were over 400lbs and had lost weight VERY fast as a result of the more invasive bypass procedure. If anything I've always been a little off the grid....Sigh....a little late for me. I feel myself rambling....NITE NITE.

I'm slated for surgery on July 3rd and started my pre-op regime this Wednesday. Right now I'm supplementing one protein shake per day to replace one of my 3 main meals. Next week I'll replace 2 of the 3 meals, then finally all liquid leading up to the surgery. I have to admit on Thursday I went out with my hubby and had a Rib-eye dinner with all the fixins. I did not feel one bit of guilt about it. I have been doing well since deciding to do the surgery so I did not feel one last harrah was out of order. I'm back on the lean-mean meal plan and getting my exercise on!