SerendipityHappens

This put a smile on my face. Story of my life! I love Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Talbots.... Can't wait until I can actually buy something in there for MEEEEEE!

I'm only two and a half weeks out and I'm over 600 calories already. I plan to hang at 800 calories for a few months and take it from there on increasing. Also, there really isn't much concern about getting too thin unless you have some sort of complication with your surgery.... It's not a physical problem because there is no malabsorption.. even if you can't eat all those calories, just add an ensure or two to your routine in order to stop losing.... although psychologically some might have issues since most of us already suffer from disordered eating, we are at risk of developing some sort of eating disorder.

Celebrate the victory!.... AND the first three or four days are the hardest, so after tomorrow you will be golden! You're doing a great job, and you are really proving to yourself that YOU really are in control of your food! Sticking with your preop like you are will benefit you in so many ways.. not just physically for your surgery, but also the mental victory as well!

I would suggest not stocking up TOO much on Protein powders/shakes. Many people have reported that what they loved prior to surgery, they hated after surgery, so I'd hate to see you get stuck with any. I'm a bargain shopper so for me getting good prices on things was super important... I looked around online for all the best prices on the Vitamins I'd need post op and stocked up. I also got the acid reducer ompezerole that my doctor recommended when it was on sale at walgreens. Gasx strips were a life saver because my stomach had a lot of gas for the first week or so. Honestly, I didn't really worry about packing everything for surgery and I went all the way to Mexico for it. The biggest thing I did was prepare my body for surgery. I was on an 800 calorie diet for three months preop and I made sure to get at least 70 grams of protein a day along with taking vitamins. I also added some kale and ginger juice to my Protein drinks for three months prior to surgery and made sure I had lots of leafy greens and I avoided grains for the three months prior to surgery. I just wanted to bathe myself in protein, micronutrients, and anti-inflamatory foods as much as possible prior to surgery in order to have speedy healing time. I don't know if it worked, but I can say that I had very little inflammation of my sleeve post surgery... Could be a fluke, but I like to think it was a combination of having a fantastic surgeon, taking my daily kale and ginger juice, and making sure my body was not in any way Vitamin or protein deficient prior to surgery.

March 13th in Tijuana Mexico. I have been blessed with an extremely easy recovery thus far.. Just hoping to get past the DVT and leak "danger" window and then I will breathe easy. My sleeve has had almost no inflammation, I didn't take any pain medicine since leaving the hospital and wasn't even given any narcotic pain medicine when I was there (I asked them not to give me any since narcotics make me feel yucky.. I'd rather have pain than take narcotics). I've been able to drink freely since the day after my surgery (drank 80 ounces of fluid the very next day after surgery with no problems at all) No nausea after day two.. I did have some stomach spasms that lasted the first several days. For the first two days, they'd stop me in my tracks, but reduced in intensity over the next week until they went away completely. The diet is progressing amazingly. I enjoyed a scrambled egg for breakfast this morning with 1/4 cup of curried lentils pureed with spinach and carrots and I added a few splashes of hot sauce. VERY yummy! Getting 70 grams of protein a day.. about half from food and the other half from shakes and I'm able to get all my water. Getting all my vitamins in pill form so no need for yucky chewables. I'm back to work at my boyfriend's store and not even tempted by all the chips and pastries we sell there, I'm working full days on my feet, but not doing any lifting or extensive bending/streching yet. Incisions healing very well. I couldn't be more thrilled with my VSG experience so far!

Congrats! I TOTALLY understand this NSV and you're not a dork for being excited about this. I am watching for mine... any ... day.... now...! Seriously, I've never ever had knuckles and I'm 41 years old! I'm quite small boned and I have "baby hands" When I make a fist they look like balloons!

1. How far minutes wise is the MI hospital from the border? Minutes Or airport? Crossing the border into Mexico was fast, it took maybe 1/2 hour from the Airport to get to MiDoctor 2 how much did u tip your driver once u got to MI hospital? I gave Victor $5.00.. Some give $10.00 and some don't give anything 3. After your tests on the day you arrive do you go straight to Marriott to check in? What tests do they run? This can vary from person to person. Some people go went straight to the Marriott on day one and didn't have tests until surgery day. I was scheduled first for the next day so I was taken straight to MiDoctor and they took blood, and regular vital signs and did an EKG. I was admitted to the hospital that night so I'd be right there available as the first surgery of the day. While I was in surgery the other people arrived from the hotel and started their processing. 4. How far is Marriott from the Mi hospital? Minutes 5. Do you have the same driver to the hotel from the Mi hospital that first day? No, I had the Marriott driver who took us in the Marriott shuttle. The driver who brings you from the airport is hired by the coodinating company. Did you tip him again? No I didn't tip him.. I was whisked inside to check in and he was gone. How much? How much for the luggage guy? I gave the guy who brought my luggage to my room two bucks. 6. Once you get back to your hotel that first day and all checked in, did you go out and about? I wouldn't know, I was checked into the hospital for the first night I know at that point I will need to order broth etc... Ill prob be hungry lol...Who takes you places or did you walk? How much did you tip on small trip!? I didn't go anywhere even after surgery. If you need to go somewhere arrange with the front desk. To get your broth/popcicles you just call roomservice.. Most of the packages come with 3 free broths 3 free popcicles and 2 free waters. If after surgery you can't eat your broth fast enough, you can put it in the coffee carafe to keep it warm. When I checked out of the hotel, I left the maid $10.00 That was for three nights. If I had asked for her to make up the bed/change the sheets during my stay, I would have given her $20.00 but since all she did was empty trash and bring new towels I was an easy room for her, I don't feel bad about leaving $10.00 Victor brought me to the airport. I tipped him again $5.00 for driving me to the airport... The van was FULL of people so I figure $5.00 was a pretty fair amount.. If he was making the trip for just little ole me, I would have given him more.

I'm two weeks out and not sorry... but there are some here who ARE sorry. There ARE some people who have tough recoveries. There are some who experience leaks. There was recently a forum member who passed away from a blood clot. NOW, did this stop me? NO. Surgery is a risk, but at my BMI and quality of life, I knew that the benefits by FAR outweighed the risks. I did everything I could to mitigate the risks and went into surgery happy and without fear, trusting in my surgeon. This is a relatively low risk procedure and there are AMAZING benefits to having it.. but there are still risks... VSG has about the same complication rate as getting your gallbladder out, most people wouldn't think twice about getting their gallbladder out.

I was self pay and I had my surgery in Tijuana. My local bariatric center wanted 20K for self pay and there was no way I could swing that. I figured since I had to travel far anyway that relying on follow ups or a support system from the bariatric center were not something I'd be able to take advantage of, so why not look out of the country... My surgery was 4,500 including everything but airfare... The surgery was great no problems at all... I chose Dr. Cabrera for my surgery.. but if you have a bit more money to spare, you can get Dr. Alvarez or Aceves who both have excellent reputations internationally. (though honestly I couldn't be happier with the surgeon I chose) Check out some of Alvarez' videos on youtube at his station is endobariatric.. watch enough of his videos and you'll never even need a seminar.. (and he's easy on the eyes too so watching is videos is quite enjoyable)

I've read where it is one of that last things we an add and it may take longer to tolerate it than other things..... I will definitely want to add some rice here and there at some point too, but I'll be using it more like a garnish than the main event like I used to!

I am putting 1/4 to 1/2 of a slice of american cheese on my beans and melting it in... I totally didn't even notice that I shouldn't be doing cheese until next week until checking with my paperwork after reading this thread. D'oh.. and I've been trying so hard to folllow my Dr.'s instruction to the letter... looks like we're in the same boat!

I did low carb in the months leading up to my preop phase.. being in ketosis helped me stick to the strict diet. Also, having Protein shakes/soups you actually LIKE goes a long way. I'd be spending my time now replacing one meal a day with a protein supplement to get used to the protein and find ones you like.

You SHOULD. with eating only 1/4 cup servings.. there's enough for everyone!

When I was having gallbladder issues, I couldn't eat pizza without running to the bathroom within about half an hour.. when I did, ****TMI ALERT*** the toilet would have oil just floating on top of the Water. Same with Chinese food. I'd NEVER leave the restaurant until I had gone to the bathroom because I had to GO within minutes of finishing my meal and it was EXPLOSIVE.. and again grease just floating there. Oddly, I could eat pastries with no trouble.. and we all know pastries are full of fat, so I don't know why the fat in chinese food and pizza was different in my body?!

I had a scrambled egg topped with 1/4 cup pureed curried lentils, yellow peas and spinach.. with just a dash of franks red hot sauce for breakfast.. it was SO DELICIOUS, I'm thinking of an encore of that for lunch!

By "eating until satisfaction" I am following my doctor's instructions. As outlined in my post, my food was measured. The concern is the amount of restriction we feel. the whole point of the surgery is so that we will be able to eat until the point of "satisfaction" but not necessarily "fullness"... and be satisfied with a small amount of food.

I've been the same.. I ate two cups of broth in one sitting my first day out of the hospital.. Was able to drink my Protein shakes with ease once I was cleared for those.. I assume I can drink so well because my sleeve is not inflamed... but on my first attempt at eating I ate nearly a whole egg WITH 1/4 cup of refried Beans... I read about people who can't get past a tablespoon of food when they start, and I'm chowing down on what is considered the "maximum" for my stage.... AND I didn't eat to the point of "fullness" just until I was "satisfied" Granted that's still restriction, but I just figured it would be more so early on. I've had a few people tell me not to worry, that I should really feel the restriction when I start on my denser Proteins. We'll see on Wednesday when I can start adding some meats.

THIS! I know that it will fluctuate back up, but I simply ignore the increase and only record new lows. there have been times when I've seen a new number on the scale, and then it's bounced up a few pounds and stayed there for a week... but I still stuck to the new number because I knew it was going back down eventually anyway... Now if I was misbehaving and actually thought I was gaining real weight.. I'd go in and change my weight to show the gain.

Hello VST friends. I know that a lot of intake early on has to do with sleeve inflammation and not necessarily the size of the actual finished product.. but still I can't help but compare... I am two weeks out and this morning for Breakfast I had 3T of refried Beans, 1/4 slice of american cheese, and nearly a whole egg. Now of course yes, this is much less than I would have ever eaten in the past, but still I was shocked by how much it was.. I ate it in about 10 minutes. .. from a baby spooon... putting the spoon down in between bites to chew (chewing refried beans and eggs is something that I've NEVER done in my life) I ate to the point of being satisfied, though I know I could have gotten the whole egg down if that was my mission. On my recommended menu it says that the MAXIMUM I should eat at this stage is 1/4 cup of beans and a whole egg but that I'll likely only be able to eat a few spoonfulls and be done. I was shocked that I ate almost to the maximum and could have kept going if I ignored the signal of "satisfaction" ! I've been able to drink fluids since day one almost as easily as pre surgery so I have almost no restriction for fluids.. I was expecting to feel more when I graduated to eggs and beans. So here's the question, how much were you eating at 2 weeks out and how does that relate to how much you're eating now? I'm trying to tell myself that this is just because I don't have a lot of inflammation (which is a good thing) but I'd like to hear other's personal experiences. I'd especially like to hear from any who were able to eat more than expected early on.

Multi-vitamin- I actually chose Bariatric Advantage capsules because they can be divided into several servings throughout the day and they don't have Iron to interfere with calcium absorption.. but my doc said any good multi Vitamin will do. He said he likes Centrum. Iron- He told me to take 18 mg of iron daily until I'm back to eating a well rounded diet... then keep close watch on it with my PCP and I shouldn't take the iron pill unless I need it. calcium citrate with D-3 He advises 1000-1500 mg of calcium citrate per day for women sublingual b-12 - Doc says this is another one that may not be necessary, and that I should take it for now, but my PCP should check my levels too.

FANTASTIC.. It's all so exciting, No?

I contacted pretty much everyone.. I finally wound up going through Mexico Bariatric Center and used two doctors who had a lot of experience with Bariatric surgery, but were new at serving the international market. These doctors were the lowest price among doctors who met all the other criteria important to me (more than a thousand surgeries, surgery in a hospital- not clinic, not too many surgeries in a day, is not moonlighting with a separate non-bariatric practice, bariatric specialty, available for questions, reliable coordinator) If money was not a concern, I think I may have gone with Alvarez but I couldn't justify spending almost twice the amount for him, when the doctors I ultimately selected were well qualified and were able to meet my needs.

popcicles, various flavors of protein shakes, strained french onion soup (nice break from chicken broth) hot herbal teas of all flavors.. sometimes sweetened with splenda, sometimes not. Green tea, iced or hot (make sure your doctor allows it, I was drinking it in the hospital and my doctor has no restrictions on green tea, he only said to limit my black tea/coffee intake to two cups a day) jello, treat yourself to sugar free drinks you might not ordinarily buy.. I enjoyed some vitamin water zero in all flavors except citrus(not allowed) At first I didn't love water, so I did drink a lot of flavored drinks.. now I'm back with water and I'm enjoying it just as much as I used to.

Whew... very frustrating, but glad you can see it as a blessing in disguise.

I had the same doctors and they suggested that I just follow up with my regular PCP and have my vitamin levels checked regularly for the first few years.