Richard Foor

The preop diet is different for the different surgeons. Most surgeons use some sort of preop diet to cause liver shrinkage prior to surgery to help prevent nicking the liver. Other surgeons seem to use it as a way to ensure the patient is truly commited to the dietary changes that must take place after surgery.

Unfortunately post op pain is affected by many factors making it a different experience for everyone. People who tend to have a lower threshold for pain tend to experience more of it post op, or at least they acknowledge more of it. Therefore it is difficult to gauge how long your pain will last based on others experience. That being said in my personal experience most of the post op pain was being caused by excess air/gas in the stomach and esophagus and the best thing for relieving that was to walk as much as possible as well as to sit up or stand up if tolerable. This is because the air is lighter then the other gasses in your body and as such the more upright you are the more likely it will move back up through the system and out, the action of walking also helps keep the gasses moving. As an extra benefit the action of walking also helps to prevent blood clots from forming which is also a serious concern post op. Hope this helps, good luck.

It all depends on how much swelling was in your stomach. I was able to drink that much pretty much right away but some people have more swelling which causes them to not be able to tolerate as much. Remember that the fluids don't stay in your stomach they leak straight through the pyloric sphincter into the intestines so fluid intake is not as limited by the size of your stomach. Hope this helps, good luck.

The main benefit of the greek yogurt over regular yogurt is the lower carbs as well as a small increase in protein. As others have said it doesn't need to be plain greek yogurt the flavored ones are just as good you just have to keep track of the carbs because some of the flavored ones will have a lot more carbs, also remember that the ones with the chunks of fruit in them could be a problem post op when your aloud full liquids because the fruit chunks won't be aloud. You said you like MIO in your water, you might want to try adding that to your greek yogurt remember mio can be added to anything not just water to add a little taste. Hope this helps, good luck.

The Drain itself didn't hurt but since mine had been in for over a week it started to hurt towards the end where the skin was trying to heal around it and then everytime you bumped the drain it would hurt the new skin. So it mostly depends on how long they keep it in, in my opinion. Hope that helps, good luck.

You do not need to be on shakes for the rest of your life, just till you get to the point you can get enough protein daily without them. I am on my puree stage and have already cut out shakes because I can hit my protein numbers with the food I eat. As long as you get enough protein daily it doesn't matter how you get it. Hope this helps, good luck.

Everyone goes through the anxiety a couple days before surgery this is a life changing decision you have made to have surgery and that is a scary thought. You just have to remember the reasons you decided to have the surgery and measure the benefits vs the risks and you should be fine. Hope this helps, good luck.

You won't get the full feeling until you start eating food. You should get some slight full feeling with soft food and then you will get the true full feeling when you get to full foods. Good Luck

I took 2 and a half weeks, but I am a paramedic and therefore am pretty active at work. I know that after a week I felt like I could have worked if I new it wouldn't have been to busy but obviously at my job you don't ever expect it to be quiet. good luck

It is possible that as you loose weight you are actually sleeping more effectively so your body which is used to not having effective sleep is now adjusting to the more effective sleep you are getting, my guess is that it will stabilize before to long and you will be sleeping more regularly.

Carbs are a hard thing to kick, because everything always tastes better on bread or over noodles. Unfortunately the only way around it is to convince yourself, which unfortunately is never easy, I am worried that I may end up having problems with carbs again down the road because even though I am only a month out I still think every time I eat anything how much better it would be with bread. I wish you the best of luck with it, it's not easy but since you are on here seeking advice you are definitely ready to make the effort. As for the protein shakes, have you tried any of the unflavored ones, also I find sometimes it's easier to mix them in instant sugar free pudding and make a protein pudding and eat it. Another option maybe using protein bars instead of shakes, most of the Atkins brand bar taste like candy bars and are very low carb. Hope the helps, good luck.

My surgeon actually told me to stop drinking the shakes when I started Puree. He feels it is better to start early learning to get your Proteins from real food, Also the protein shakes are quite high in Calories when you look at them which makes it interesting trying to drink them and eat without going over your calorie limits. So I have been eating 4 or 5 tiny meals a day, choosing foods that are high in Protein and low in carbs, most canned meats(tuna, turkey, ham, chicken) are good at this stage because they are already puree and are almost all protein. Also cheeses including cottage cheese, and of course eggs or egg substitute. I also found a really good Turkey chilli by Hormel with no beans which is high in protein. Hope this helps, good luck.

Sometimes you have to just enjoy your life especially while you are on vacation. I think that being able to have a fun vacation without putting all the work into your usual diet and exercise routine and only gaining 1.5 lbs is an amazing success. So don't beat yourself up, just get back to your usual routine and that 1.5 should come right back off. I always remember when I go on vacation that part of taking vacation is accepting that when you get back you will need to catch up on everything you normally do that didn't get done while you were on vacation. Good luck.

This is not a simple answer because the actual number vary depending on your weight, gender, age, and activity level. I personally am male, currently weigh 333, am 41, and now that I am back to work as a paramedic am fairly active, I am currently into my 4 week out, My surgeon states my calories should be no more then 1200 at this point to lose weight, I actually have been keeping it down between 600 and 800 which he says is ok as long as I am not feeling overly weak or tired which I'm not. If your still on liquids you shouldn't worry to much about calories yet just protein and hydration. Moral of the story this is best discussed with your surgeon or NUT who should figure out the right numbers for you. Hope this helps, good luck.

Make sure your getting enough protein, if your not getting around 60 grams of protein especially while on liquid diet you will be very tired. I is also possible to be tired from being dehydrated so make sure your getting your fluids. Hope this helps and good luck.

I do not try to hide my surgery from anyone. But it is everyone's personal decision. I will say that since I work as a paramedic and the majority of my friends and acquaintances are in the medical field it is less likely for them to be unsupportive. For that matter so far no one I have talked to has said one negative thing about me having the surgery. and I have had several obese friends ask me lots of questions because they are considering the surgery, I try to answer there questions and be as supportive as possible because I know that is what I wanted when I was considering surgery. You should always remember if you tell a friend something personal and they give you a hard time they probably really aren't you friend.

Sleeved 12/10/12 starting weight 379 weight this morning 333.

Liquids do not stay in the stomach very long they go leak through the pyloric sphincter into the intestines that is why you don't get a full feeling from liquids after the swelling has gone down. When you start eating anything thicker that can not go through the pyloric is when you will start getting the full feeling.

The increased drinking amount is due to the swelling going down. This is normal.

I went on full liquids the day after my surgery while I was still in the hospital immediately following the leak test. I have now been on the full liquids for 2 weeks, and will be released to puree's at my next appointment which is unfortunately not till Friday due to the holiday.

It is possible that the endoscope loosened the valve. If this is the problem it will probably get better over the next couple days. Over the counter prilosec is available at any drug store or walMart.

Nausea varies based on the patient. It is also increased by the pain medications they give you. So it is hard to say how long it will last, but your doctor should give you some antinausea medicine like Zofran.

Acid Reflux is when the flapper at the top of your stomach lets excess stomach acid out into your esophagus. It does cause the burning feeling you spoke of, it tends to be worse when you lay flat. It is usually treated with nexium or Prilosec which are meds that lessen the churning of the acid.

The heartburn is normal since your not eating anything solid you will have an excess of stomach acid which causes the heartburn, any time you drink it will stir it up, my doctor also has me taking a Prilosec a day for this but says it will get better in a couple weeks. Also the Prilosec my dr has me taking is the same as the generic available over the counter at walmart, but you should probably ask your dr if he didn't put you on it.

The Vagus nerve is one of 12 cranial nerves that control body functions. The Vagus nerve tells the brain if there is injury to organs and causes a response of dilating the blood vessels, dropping blood pressure and lowering heart rate. It travels right along the stomach and a common maneuver used to manually stimulate the nerve is to have a patient bear down like they are going to have a bowel movement this causes the stomach and throat to stimulate the nerve, when you have dry heaves it can easily cause the same effect. The fact that you became flushed in the face when this happened also indicates vagal stimulation. here is a WIKI link for the vagus nerve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve If it was vagal stimulation the passing out is not as important as what caused the dry heaves in the first place, since passing out is a natural result of vagal stimulation. Anytime you are dry heaving you should try to stay as calm and keep the heaves as slow as possible to avoid this, but I know that can be difficult at the time. Good Luck.