Julie_JJ

I have a Fitbit and the Aria scale and LOVE it. It was my surgery gift to myself. I love that everything syncs between the scale and the Fitbit app (and other apps, but I just use the Fitbit one), and I love seeing my progress over time without having to manually log everything.

The NP in my surgeon's office told me warm liquids, NOT cold liquids, when I had tightness in my chest from the stomach swelling the week after surgery. And when I go in for a fill, they have us drink room temperature Water rather than cold water immediately after the fill to make sure it's passing through.

I couldn't stand the protein shakes, so I made my own drinks - Crystal Light (fruit punch is my fave) and a scoop of unflavored whey protein isolate (no carbs at all). One "drink" is about 25g of protein, and I don't taste the powder at all.

Our doctor gave us a card, but it's less for eating out (although you can use it for that) and more for notifying medical staff if you're unconscious or incapacitated so they don't try to stick something down your esophagus and into your stomach without knowing what's going on. Eating out, I typically get an appetizer. We don't go to buffets typically - too hard to keep track of portions and I've got heebie jeebies about food sitting out under heat lamps. My own little paranoia.

I use the Isopure version (unflavored whey protein isolate) and LOVE it. I add it to Crystal Light instead of making protein shakes (I don't like the milky taste), and I can't detect any additional flavor, just a slight thickening. I also add it soups (after cooking and letting them cool a bit), yogurt or pudding, mashed potatoes... it's been awesome.

I didn't have to do purees for the mushy phase - as long as the meat was soft and moist and I chewed it well, it was allowed. In this phase, our surgeon also allows a bit of low-fat mayo to help the meat stay moist, if needed. Laughing Cow light cheese wedges were also great; I'd mash them with a bit of unflavored protein powder to give them a boost. Egg beaters, refried beans, yogurt, cottage cheese.... I also added the unflavored protein powder to whipped potatoes - because of band tightness in the morning, I needed something warm and don't always have time to make eggs, so the potatoes were nice because I could just nuke a couple tablespoons. The potatoes aren't great for my solid diet, but my surgeon is okay with them now (especially with the protein).

Mine is one week liquids, three days "pre-selects" (certain soft foods that are high in protein and well-tolerated by most people), two weeks of all softs, and then solids.

I got liquid everything - liquid Tylenol, liquid multi, liquid calcium, liquid Omega-3. I'm paranoid something's going to get stuck, so for the time being it's a "better safe than sorry" policy. I also bought one-ounce cups with lids on Amazon (like the kind used to make Jell-O shots) so I could measure out portions of certain things and have them ready to go. Broths, Jell-O, Crystal Light... I couldn't do the shakes very well after surgery (tasted too "milky" to me) so I would make up a single-serve Crystal Light (about 16 oz) and dump a scoop of Isopure's unflavored whey isolate in it. Much easier to tolerate and a good amount of protein. I also dump the isolate into broths and other liquids that already have a flavor (so, not plain water). It thickens them slightly, but doesn't really affect the taste. And when I needed a little more flavor than broth could offer, I made chicken noodle soup and strained out the noodles. Popsicles and Jell-O are also great when I wanted something with a texture other than "sippable."

My surgeon actually recommends cottage cheese (and refried beans and yogurt and a few other things) in the stage after liquids but before mushies. He calls them "pre-select" foods, and they're easy to digest and have a good amount of protein. We stay on "pre-selects" for three days to make sure we're tolerating them, and then we move on to all mushies. So, short version - cottage cheese isn't off limits for everyone.

So you're probably looking forward to the weekend, weekend?

I don't have any fluid in there, so there's nothing to remove yet.

I haven't had a ton of pain, which is great - the worst part is the gas, and I'm managing it. I've urinated, I've had a bowel movement (TMI, right?), everything seems on track. But I can't manage to get in the water and protein I'm supposed to. After a couple sips, I have a tightness under my sternum. I can breathe fine, and it's only marginally uncomfortable, but... is that my band? And how long before it loosens up? Also, I feel like I've got phlegm in my mouth sometimes that needs to be swallowed - what's causing this? I haven't had any nausea since the first day, but I also think I'm maybe playing it *too* safe because I'm scared of vomiting and slippage, and I haven't figured out what little twinges are the band or my stomach, and which ones are related to surgery and my incisions. Help!

Do you have any fill? My surgeon said to come in immediately and get the band unfilled completely if I'm sick with something like the flu in case I throw up and the band slips.

Mine started two or three hours after surgery, after I'd had my upper GI and once I started walking around.

The hospital sent me home with a bottle of Isopure, and I've been nursing that today. Tomorrow, I'll mix up some of the shake mix I bought (Designer whey strawberry). I've also got Isopure's unflavored protein isolate to sprinkle on foods when I can start to eat them.

The Gas-x strips are fine - like a strong mint, and they dissolve pretty quickly. I'm not really hungry, no - at least, not as hungry as I was the day *before* surgery. When I drink I definitely get a "full" feeling, and my tummy occasionally rumbles so I drink a little more. I'm trying to get in 60 oz of Water and at least 40 oz of Protein, which is tough right now because I feel full pretty quickly. But the discharge nurse said just to keep sipping every so often, unless I'm nauseous. So far, no spitting up or anything like that - everything has gone down. So I might "push" it a little to gauge the size of my stoma. I've only had a couple times when I've craved food - and it's been when my husband, who's working from home this week to hang out with me, heated up some leftovers for Breakfast and lunch. Smelled so good... *sigh* But the fear of making myself sick and damaging my stomach or the band overwhelmed any thought of trying to eat something "real." And after a few minutes, I didn't really want the food anymore anyway. If I get the urge for food "sensations", I've got some Jell-O cups and popsicles to try. I'm expecting to feel "hungrier" toward the end of the week, when the swelling goes down and I've got more room in the pouch. Luckily I only have to do liquids for 5-7 days, then I go to a pre-selected list of soft foods. Those will be the best tasting fat-free refried Beans I've ever had.

Congrats! I feel the same way - so excited and ready to begin the rest of my journey.

I have liquid tylenol, and I also got a prescription for Oxycodone to take after surgery. And before I left the hospital, they gave me a vial of Tylenol in my IV for the road. The Oxycodone pills are small, but I've been crushing them just to be safe - might wait a few days to take the whole pill to let any swelling in stomach subside a bit.

So far, so good. The most discomfort actually hasn't been from my incisions, but from the CO2 they pump you full of during surgery - the bit that was left in my body has settled in my shoulders and chest and is pretty gnarly. I'm taking Gas-x (the dissolvable strips), using a heating pad and walking around to work it out. But moving also makes the bubbles move and causes more pain, so plowing through it is difficult. I'm also trying to figure out what's soreness from an incision or the band itself, and what "full" feels like. I'm alternating sips of Water and Isopure and playing it by ear.

Just got my bad yesterday! Port is about three inches to the left of and one inch above my belly button.

Got my band yesterday! So far so good - I've got some trapped air in my shoulders and chest that's bothering me, but other than that I feel great for having had surgery yesterday.

I just had to get a Vitamin D prescription filled this week - my level is 14 and my surgeon wants me at 35, whatever that means. My insurance covered it, although it was more expensive than the pain and anti-nausea meds I filled to get ready for surgery on Tuesday - the pain and anti-nausea were about $7 a bottle and the Vitamin D was about $11 with insurance (I was to say it was $25 without). I take it once a week; I think it's the 50,000 dose. For after surgery, I bought liquids *and* a pill crusher - I didn't want to risk something getting stuck. I have a liquid multi, a liquid calcium+D, and a liquid omega-3 that comes in little honey-sized packets. I even got liquid Tylenol (and not just the kids' version!).

Ahh! After working out self-pay (thank you, husband's Christmas bonus!) and getting my pre-op taken care of... my surgery is THIS Tuesday! The hardest part so far has been quitting my Coke Zero habit - I used to drink three 12 oz. bottles or more a day. I had been tapering off, but I finally just went cold turkey a week ago Thursday. Now that the headaches have passed, it's not so bad! Our surgeon's pre-op diet is just a "balanced diet" or "eating clean" - still an adjustment, but not terribly difficult. But tomorrow - liquids only! I've got a fridge full of virgin Jell-o shots waiting for me this week.

My surgery will be a little over two months from my consult, but it could have been faster. We were waiting for my husband's Christmas bonus to come through before we scheduled, to make sure we had the money in hand, and I also wanted to wait until after the holidays since we were traveling with an infant (my husband couldn't have carried everything *and* the baby). All the pre-op appointments - psych eval, nutritionist, labs, etc. - were done within a month, and once I called with the money, surgery was scheduled for within two weeks.

Hi, all! My name is Julie, and I'm having lap-band surgery. (Hi, Julie...) I've been overweight all my life, but in the past few years it's been creeping up on me. And then I had a baby a year ago, and things went downhill fast. My mother is on dialysis as a result of Type 2 diabetes, and she can't walk unassisted. Having a young child has made me realize what I missed out on as a kid with my mom (and what she's missing out on now), and I want to make changes now rather than wait for my health to take a nose dive. I also want to be able to crawl around and run after my son, while I can still keep up with him! I'm working with Dr. Michael Snyder in Denver, and I've just about done with all my pre-op appointments - one last visit to my primary care doctor next week and I can schedule my surgery! I'm self-pay, thanks to working at a small business and having an exclusion on our group coverage for bariatric surgery, so once my husband and I get our Christmas bonuses I'll be able to set the date. I'm shooting for mid-January - huzzah! So, hello everyone! I'm glad to be here!