SerendipityHappens

YES!!! The first time I ever went into ketosis. My tongue turned white and felt like a giant caterpillar and all the skin on the inside of my cheeks peeled off! This time around, it's not quite as bad.. but my tongue still feels weird.... and I got BO galore!

LOL, 50C here too... and they're not even a full C.. they're an old lady deflated C already and I've only lost 60 pounds from my highest weight. I shudder to think what they will look like when I'm at goal. Yeah, I'm totally getting those things lifted and stuffed!

You got this! We're lucky, at least Cabrera has a comparatively generous pre-op diet allowing a salad and a portion of lean protein!

This may sound counterintuitive but, When I am struggling, I cut out everything except for protein shakes made with something other than milk and maybe a serving of cottage cheese or egg/meat... If I could get my carbs under 20 or 30 for a few days and that would seem to curb things for me. Then after a few days I was ok to add back in the non-starchy vegetables and my beloved kale juice and a bit of milk keeping my carbs under 60. I know it's really hard to do this over the long haul. I've been at this since December and have less than three weeks to lose the last five pounds before surgery and I think I'm going to come in just under the wire with 40 pounds lost in 3 and a half months.

Ahhh, yeah, I get it. It's a huge decision. I think many of the doctors you've been considering are fantastic based on their records and patient reviews.. but I think the overall experience you might get with Aceves or Alvarez is definitely enhanced so I can definitely see why you might be more comfortable there especially if you are exceptionally anxious. No matter what you choose, you won't go wrong.

March 13th Dr Carbera/valenzuela, Mi Doctor hospital/Marriott hotel. Amanda, I must have missed something or it's my preop diet brain fog but... you're with Aceves now?

Yup yup yup... I'm a stinky, stinky girl. Not just my breath but EVERYTHING. Ketosis.. Also my b-complex vitamin makes my pee STINK. On the plus side, it's also neon yellow so that's kind of fun. I've been doing twice a day showers, two daily applications of deo on both my arm pits and my leg pits.. (yes, deo on the leg pits works wonders) and some body spray to mask the rest.

I use jay robb protein powder. dissolves completely by just stirring with a spoon and it makes a really thin drink. Can be mixed with milk, coffee, or a sugar free drink of your choice.

I'm not a huge caffeine person anyway but I do enjoy daily coffee. I was told two cups coffee/black tea a day is fine. Green tea is also fine with no limit imposed. I know that some doctors don't allow any caffeinated beverages though.

I'm also with Cabrera/Valenzuela

Hey I'm sorry you didn't get your flight.. but excited that we're on the same day! I'm already doing my preop diet. Are you going with Cabrera or F.Garcia?

I just noticed a newer thread with lots of feedback first hand experiences about Jerusalem. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/65082-notes-on-mexico-jerselem-hospital/page__st__20#entry695295

Sara, I get it. food is something I think about from the moment I wake up in the morning until I go to sleep at night.. and often I DREAM about food. Saying "no" is a constant struggle. Someone who does not face the same challenges as we do with food cannot know what it's like. My exhusband and I would go grocery shopping together.. we would always one candy bar each. I would eat mine on the walk home.(duh) and he would put his in the fridge. It would sit there for days. I would think about that candy bar constantly throughout the day. If by the third or fourth day, if he hadn't eaten it, I just couldn't control myself any longer. He couldn't understand why it was so hard for me to say "no" why I was so weak. I tried explaining to him that I was able to say no to that candy bar thousands of times. I literally thought of that candy bar THOUSANDS of times and didn't eat it... I only ate it once, but 99.9% of the time when I thought about the candy, I DIDN'T eat it. Did HE think of that candy bar THOUSANDS of times? No, he didn't so how could he really understand my struggle?

I'm on day four of a 21 day preop. I've done lengthy liquid diets in the past, and just know that the first three or four days are the hardest. Once you get through the first few difficult days, you'll be feeling much better and feel a lot less hunger. Today was actually a really hard day for me. I work in a convenience store and I wanted to EAT ALL THE THINGS!!! I was even a little surprised by how MUCH I wanted to eat, But I know from experience that cheating will just prolong the agony of this hunger and make it worse so I resisted. You can do this. You are not powerless over food. YOU have made this decision to take control. Just keep all the things that are on your preop diet handy and try to stay busy and keep your mind off of eating.

Add me to the "couldn't afford self pay in PA" list.. Heading to Mexico in three weeks. I looked into some low cost providers in Michigan, Las Vegas, Texas and even some doctor in New Jersey... but the package I'm being offered in Tijuana just seems like the best for me in terms of care and price.

Nikki, you going to Mexico for the surgery? Mine is costing just $4500!

Thanks for the update! I'm so happy that everything went so well for you!

I considered Jerusalem for about 30 seconds and then read too many poor reviews and I did not feel confidant that they could handle an emergency... I also chose Cabrera/valenzuela at MiDoctor, I did read one bad review of MiDoctor (the person said toilets didn't flush, the nurses were inattentive, the smell of food from the kitchen was inappropriate for bariatric patients to have to smell, nurse couldn't draw blood properly, the hospital was too small and the person wound up walking out of the hospital and going to a different place. ) the one bad review just seemed such a contradiction to all the glowing reviews I've read about people experiences at Mi.... Now Jerusalem on the other hand, I've read threads with five or six people all saying the same negative things about it.

I'm on day 4 of my pre-op only 17 more days before I start clears. I'm on 3 shakes plus one "lean and green" meal (a lean Protein plus a dark leafy green based salad). I can also have sugar free drinks, broths, and sf Jello. For the shakes I mix my morning shake with skim milk, and the others I mix with Water or sugar free drinks like diet berry green tea. I also can enjoy cottage cheese instead of one shake. This isn't really much different than the 800 calorie high protein/low carb VLCD I've been doing for the past two months so the adjustment has been easy.

I used to use a whole chicken but now I use mostly backs because they're cheap and give fantastic broth. I boil a bunch of chicken backs and leg quarters in a pot of water with bay, onion celery and carrots, salt pepper and garlic cloves. Boil for 1 hour take the meat off the bones. save the meat for another use. return the bones and skin to the pot with veggies and simmer for 5 hours. Strain the broth but do not try to squeeze out the veg/bones just let the juice gently drain from them. refrigerate until it sets up. I scoop off ALL the hardened fat from the top. This makes quite a concentrated stock, I thin it down with water and add a little adobo seasoning (or garlic salt) before drinking. for a nice different flavor, I'll sometimes add a bit of ground sage. How ever you make your broth, homemade broth is soooooooooo much nicer than canned! BTW, if you've roasted chicken legs in the oven for your family, you can scrape all the drippings into a pot (especially the really sticky brown bits... TRUST ME on this one you want to scrape ALL of those fabulous drippings), and save the bones and add those to the pot too.. add some veggie scraps and boil for 5 hours. then skim the fat. The resulting broth is dark in color, but has an AMAZINGLY delicious taste

YAY! Congratulations on your weight loss. Looks like you're just about 1/4 of the way through this journey... I'd say that's pretty darned encouraging!

Most doctors recommend everything from all liquid Protein shakes to an Atkins(ish) approach. My diet is two or three low carb Protein Shakes per day plus one "lean and green" meal. (lean meat and a salad or side of dark leafy greens) No other carbs than what might come from a bit of skim milk that I use to mix one of my Protein drinks or the greens.

^ This! Suffered for YEARS.. With attacks growing more severe and frequent. (at first only one or two mild attacks every few years.)Finally I had an attack that never went away. I literally thought I might die and made my unlicensed 15 year old sister drive me to the hospital. (yeah, in my feverish state I wasn't thinking clearly!) Then after several hours of waiting in the emergency room, I started just wishing I WOULD hurry up and die because the pain was so severe. My gallbladder had turned gangrene and ruptured and that's why the pain had turned from bad to worse. Sepsis is NOT FUN. The surgery was much longer than it should have been because the doctor had to search inside for pieces of gallbladder and pockets of infection. He had to scrape pieces of gangrene grossness off of my liver. I spent several days in the hospital for what should have been a quick and easy in and out procedure. If you think you are having gallbladder pains, get it checked by your doctor. Don't be stupid like me.

Every area of the country is different... Where I live it nobody would touch me for under 20K.... I could have traveled to Las Vegas, Texas, or Lousiana and had surgery for just under 10k... but since those places are all very far from me, I'd have to travel to get there and stay in a hotel, etc and pay 10K for it PLUS hotel expense, I'd rather go to Mexico and get it even cheaper.. There is nothing about crossing into Mexico that is scary to me and the doctors are perfectly competent so I see no reason to go to a US doctor when I can save thousands in Mexico.