ChristineR

$47,000 for the surgery and 2 nights in the hospital. I paid $150 copay (should be another 150 if the hospital gets their butt in gear) and then $100 for the doctor.

The weight will come off. I gained 23 pounds in the hospital By three weeks post op I'm pretty sure most if it was off.

The sleeve can cause severe heartburn. They put me on a heartburn medicine for a year postop just in case. I suddenly can't stomach certain seafood (lobster or shrimp) or anything with a chocolate taste (chocolate sugar free pudding almost made me throw up, the chocolate EAS protein was downright awful now). I don't know why

By eating you mean drinking right? Try super tiny sips no more than 2 oz every 15 mins. might have to experiment with temperatures to see what suits you best.

I had to half my store bought protein drinks and water them down with 1% milk and that helped me a lot. Also, the days I actually felt hunger I realized I was thirsty. So I would skip some protein times and just drink more water and it helped. My NUT said in the beginning she was most concerned about hydration and then protein.

I didn't have any pain from surgery either (aside from residual gas pain in my left shoulder that cleared). Walking was easy although I found once I was home it was easy to overdo it and be super tired. I had more energy 5 days after surgery then I did on my preop diet a week before.

I find that I want to snack more if I am not getting adequate water in. I am only 3 weeks out so I'm not even close to the 5 month mark. I can only do 2 oz at a time still. What helps me a lot is following the drinking rule of 15-30 mins prior and 30 mins after because I won't ever get liquid in if I keep snacking and trying to drink.

I have to stop 15 mins prior and 30 after. Yes, it's lifelong. With our limited absorbtion you don't want to wash away the nutrients or overfill your pouch with liquid.

Centrum Kids chewable 2x a day; calcium supplement 3x a day (1.5 wafers broken up); bcomplex with b12 dot

Hi everyone! I was just curious if anyone has been experiencing the residual pain in the shoulders from the gas? At least I assume it's the gas and that's what the doctor is telling me. I don't seem to have an issue until I sit in the car and then the pain is intense and sticks around for several hours. I've been doing peppermint tea and a heating pad. I'm trying not to take any pain pills. I do lots of walking around, etc. How long should I expect this pain? My surgery was a week ago today. Thanks

Oh interesting! Will definitely bring it up with them! So far so good today ...no pain driving

I drank a lot of peppermint tea and did some heating pads on my stomach. I just realized 2 days ago that the pain wasn't there anymore but I'm not driving all that often. I'll see today when I go for my follow up. The problem was that it would start in the car and then stay for hours and it was sooooooo painful. I ended up taking a pain pill to alleviate it :-(

I've been using those new crystal light squirters. I like it SOOO much more than the powder crystal light. I have an iced tea one ... yum

I've never seen so many anti nausea pills/medicine in my life. I had the patch behind my ear the night prior to surgery, I took a pill 3 hours before surgery, was loaded up in the hospital on regular intervals and then needed 2 separate drips of something stronger. Plus I have a huge box of zofran and suppositories as needed at home LOL They should definitely give you a prescription. Just know the patch behind the ear gives very bad dry mouth.

I was told 60-70% but everyone varies. Like the PP said, it's really up to me as to how much I'll lose.

Congratulations!!

I was told no more straws due to the air that can fill in your stomach. /shrug. I'm not a big straw drinker anyways

The book I read said to visualize your stomach like a toilet. You eat and it's trying to digest but if you drink while you eat you literally flush the food away. Not sure if that helps or not I'm still on liquid phase and didn't practice too much either.

Try changing the protein drinks. We don't seem to handle them as well after especially the commercial ones. My doc sent me home with a whole slew of anti-nausea pills.

I found that if I mixed the premier with milk it helped A TON!! I could drink them pre surgery but not post.

I was 23 pounds heavier in the hospital by the next morning and then the day I left (24 hours after that weigh in) I was back down to 9 pounds higher. I'm a week out and I don't think I have Fluid retention now BUT my stomach is still slightly swollen. I'm ten pounds down from my initial weigh in so I have no idea if I'm done with Water weight or not. The fluid intake is getting easier as the swelling goes down on my stomach. I focus on water first then Protein second.

When I'm full it gets uncomfortable to drink another sip. I try not to get to that point, though. I feel like I'm always watching the clock to make sure I don't overdrink. My stomach has rumbled a few times but my brain hasnt told me I'm hungry. When I hear my stomach growl I usually grab a protein drink.

Be careful and make sure someone is with you. My biggest problem was tiring easily. Also, the pressure of the car made the gas from surgery go into my shoulder in a very painful way. Bring water to sip on.

Yes I had pressure sometimes and I think it was the carbon dioxide they put inside me trying to reabsorb. Walking around helped move it out.

I'm on a strict liquid diet for 2 weeks after. I am not allowed to sip more than 1/2 c. every 30 minutes so it's an all day drinking game to get in the protein. I LOVE the cream of chicken soup. I do 1/4 c with 1/4 milk and 2 tbsp dry milk powder and then I strain it. It's about 10 g of protein. I don't know how many carbs I'm taking in altogether, though. Some people take a long time to get rid of the excess water weight from surgery. I gained 23 in the hospital and by the time I left I was up 9. I'm 8 days out and I've lost 10 pounds from my starting weight. My nutritionist says hydration is more important than protein, which is good because I can't stomach a lot of it yet, so I make sure I'm getting my water in and then try to get protein in when I can. It will come off! Hang in there!