Frankie

Thanks everyone. STCYT - You will do great. Looking at your stats you are really a lightweight going into this and if you are already motivated to walk/exercise afterwards you will have no problem. sickofrollercoaster - I went to Dr Aceves - and I see that is who you are planning on going to. Good luck! It will go fine and they are very nice.

Teresa - You are just 4 days behind me and we had the same doctor. I am still doing a protein shake once a day but that is just to boost my protein - I could get it all from food. Have you tried adding protein powder to your mushies instead of doing the shakes? I wouldn't recommend drinking something that is making you hurl. How are the mushies going down? You may want to call Nina to see if she has other ideas or if you can advance to soft/reg food now that you are so close to 4 weeks. Then you should be able to get all your protein with real food. Good luck!!

I had my surgery on 3/22 so we are about the same length out from surgery. I have a protein shake in the morning. Then for lunch usually some pudding with a little bit of protein powder added. I try to get another shake in the afternoon. In the evening I will have some more pudding with protein. I am now starting on mushies (can't stand the thought of blended foods though). I have had some rice crispie cereal in milk after it has gotten soggy and some saltine crackers with peanut butter and really chewed them to liquid. I know that the cereal and crackers have lots of carbs but I figure this is just to get me through the mushie stage and I don't have much of it.

How nice to hear how others are doing. I don't post much but log on every day. I had my surgery on March 22nd so I am 16 days out. I was a lower BMI (36) and have lost 15 lbs since surgery. I find the scale so strange and at times frustrating. It dropped pretty fast the first week but now it goes up and down a few ounces daily. I have been halfway been keeping track of my intake. I know that I am not getting in all the liquids in even though I am not having problems drinking - it just seems like I run out of time. I am doing 2 Protein shakes a day and just can't stomach another one to finish off my protein requirement for the day. I also am having problems transitioning to mushies since the thought of liquified food just grosses me out. I just am holding on to the thought of real food soon to get my protien in. my plan is to really start tracking my protein and carb intake at that point. I feel that the last 2 days I have turned a corner and am starting to feel much better than I did the first 2 weeks. Not that they were all that bad but just not normal. But I have been walking 3 miles a day since I got home from the hospital (even though at first it made me so out of breath even though I was used to walking). And now that I am taking my Nexium 2x/day my stomach has finally quieted down. I have only told 3 friends at work about the surgery but I had 4 different people tell me yesterday that I was looking thinner. So I guess this is a good thing.

I am a registered nurse and would strongly encourage you to tell your PCP about your sleeve. It is important for any health care provider to have accurate medical information including any surgical procedures you may have had done. This helps determine what care you may need (and could prevent damage to your sleeve). More and more information is being stored in an electronic medical record that can be shared with a PCP clinic and a hospital(s). It could be important to have this information in your record if you are brought to the hospital in an emergency and can't speak for yourself. I too have a lower BMI. I told my PCP that I was going to have lap band and she didn't blink an eye (skinny little thing that she is). I then changed my mind and had the sleeve and will be telling her at my next visit - and providing her with the op report that your surgeon should provide you before you leave Mexico. Good luck.

I just did it 2 weeks ago (surgery on 3/22). I had no problem at the airport or during my 3 1/2 hour plane ride home. I was just so grateful to be feeing OK and going home to see my family. You should be fine. Good luck with your surgery and the trip.

Thanks for everyone's replies on the hunger and gurgling. I still feel really lousy with it. But Dr Aceves did increase my Nexium to twice a day so maybe that will start to help. I also think I am just getting weak from the lack of calories and that is really making me more intolerant of the stomach gurgling and upset. I am on full liquids and can't really find anything that my taste buds will tolerate. I tried yogurt and sugar free fat free pudding and they were both yuk. I am trying to drink the chocolate protein drinks 2-3 times a day. I am just praying for this 1st month to be over with so I can have real food and start to get some energy and feel better. Sorry for all the whining.

I am taking Nexium 20 mg daily as prescribed by the doctor and it doesn't seem too help. I will email him to see if I should increase the dose. Thanks

I am wondering when everyone started taking vitamins postop? My doctor didn't say anything about it other than all pills needs to be crushed for at least a month. Did everyone crush their vitamins or is there a decent liquid vitamin (I gagged on a liquid one I bought at my local hospital pharmacy and threw it out). Or did people not take them (I am paranoid and want to start taking them due to the upcoming hair loss). I have the chewable vitamins but don't know when I can start taking them since I have to be on liquids for 2.5 weeks post-op. Are there any vitamin lozenges? I had my surgery this Monday 3/22 in Mexico and I am feeling just fine. Not sure if I am drinking too fast - get kinda tight in the chest but nothing else. I walked 3 miles today. Thank you for any input you can provide.

Thanks for your replies. I am just so afraid of putting anything in this sleeve before I should and then having problems.

I am 8 days post-op, my surgery was on March 22nd. I had read lots of posts and it seems most people weren't hungry. So I have been surprised that my stomach is so hungry and gurgling all the time. It has been the worst thing for me along with the heartburn. I did start on chocolate protien shakes mixed with Water about 3 days ago hoping that would help. I hate to say that it hasn't helped with the hunger at all. I am hoping that it gets better when I move to full liquids in 2 days and can have pudding and yogurt with Protein mixed in. I don't seem to have any problem getting the shakes or liquids in at a fairly fast sleeve rate - I have to remind myself not to drink too fast since there does not seem to be a problem with swallowing (for which I am thankful). If anyone else has experienced issues with post-op hunger I would love to know when it gets better. The good news is that I am down 12 lbs in 8 days which I don't think is too bad for someone with a lower BMI.

wannalise - welcome to Mexacalie. There are several of us here who look at this site and occasionally post. We had our surgery done on Monday and will be leaving tomorrow. come see us after your preop today. My real name is Mary but I post as Frankie (my husbands name). Good luck and see you soon!!

I am new to this - I have actually been reading and lurking on this site for awhile. It has lots of great information and there seems to be lots of great people here. This site really made me more comfortable to go with the gastric sleeve versus the lap band, which had been my first choice. Anyway I am scheduled for surgery in 2 days on March 22nd. I am self pay but money really wasn't a player in my decision on where to go for surgery. I checked out doctors and facilities both in the US and Mexico. For my own reasons I decided on Mexico. More background information on me is that I am a registered nurse. The problem that I have right now is that I saw a poster on a thread last night blast another doctor out of the blue. This person was a fairly new registered user to this site. When I logged on this morning the same poster had blasted another doctor. The way things were spelled and how everything was worded makes me very suspicious that there are ulterior motives. The really big problem that I have is that in this last blast against another physician the poster promoted the doctor I am going to use!! So if the poster thinks that this is making that doctor look good then they had better think again! I am rather sick to my stomach over it and will mention it to the physcian when I see him. Wish me luck on my surgery Monday morning. I am nervous about not being able to drink liquids very fast but am hoping that I will be like a lot of you a few months out and have no problems.

I am a new member to this site but have been reading all your helpful posts. Reading this site helped me decide to have the gastric sleeve vs. the band which is what I had originally planned. Thank goodness I found out that it was an option before I was banded. I was really having doubts about the band and life with the band. No one in this area is yet doing the sleeve - most likely since it is not covered by most insurance companies yet. But I do know a few surgeons who are interested. And thank you for helping me find Dr Aceves. I just lined up my surgery and it will be in just 11 days on March 22nd!! I too will be traveling alone, flying into San Diego. I am hoping that it goes well and is not too painful as I have never had surgery before. Wish me luck.