gamergirl

Yes she will. They send you a whole big packet of paperwork and honestly if you read it all, you will be better prepared than a lot of people here who have had surgery in the States, but weren't given good directions on what to do after the surgery. I did have surgery with Dr Alvarez. My husband and I were both sleeved on 8/2 by him. He and his staff are amazing. Most of us had virtually no pain with him, no drains, no leak tests where you drink nasty stuff (they do 2 of them while you are unconscious) and it was a great experience! I wrote a review of it if you want to search for it, that gives details on how it all works. You will do great, don't worry about the surgery side of things.

I think we will just need to be patient and allow some healing to happen. I'm 3 weeks today, first day of soft foods. I had a Protein shake, I egg, 2 babybel cheese lights, an egg drop Soup, and 1-2 oz of fish. I really need another shake to hit my protein, but guess what? It ain't happening tonight unless I want to spew (and so we are clear, I do not want to spew). Oh well. We'll try again tomorrow.

Our primary wanted a complete blood work up, cholesterol, Vitamins, thyroid etc. Dr. Alvarez didn't need any of this from us. Once you fill out the papers Susan sends you, it's a very smooth process, and they fell you exactly what they need when. If, after looking at your charts, he wants you to do some tests, they will let you know. They're very organized.

He asks your PCP to do one for you. They want to figure out if there are any problems BEFORE you show up in Mexico. It was part of our screening process.

You know I've only been blogging on VST so far. Once I start work full-steam, I'm not sure I'll have time to maintain a proper blog. But you never know. My husband wants to post recipes too, so maybe we'll do it together.

If you are u comfortable, take one. If you're taking one because you think you should have pooped by now, just give it another day or two. I never took one, but my husband really should have. He had "issues". If you just want to be cautious, be sure you take a stool softener and not a laxative, and it can't hurt you.

My husband and I got sleeved the same day and we were able to take care of each other just fine. Same days he had more energy, some days I had more, and when we were both exhausted, we made the 13-year old help us I think it makes couples grow closer together. It's so wonderful to take such a big step with someone who understands exactly what you are going through. Good luck!

Yeah no rice for this Asian girl I thought I would be craving some, but really it's so hard to eat this early on, that I dot seem to be missing anything...yet

I thought about this a lot when I was on pre-op. I think the ones that restrict you to liquids only are tying to keep it simple. The accepted way to reduce fatty liver is low carbs, very low fat, and no excess of calories. Perhaps they believe that if they open the door to actual meals, that someone might have chopped brisket thinking it's lean, or cook steaks with butter, or fry the fish etc. It's very hard to go wrong with shakes and veg Soups or sf Jello and Popsicles. It's quite easy to go wrong with meat and vegetables. But I do think this is not just about liver shrinking. It's about getting your head in the right place, getting ready for post-op etc. Believe me, the hunger does go away. Head hunger haunts you for a bit longer, but you won't be hungry once you "detox" from the sugar and carbs. It took me 5 days of needing naps, but then I went back to my routine travel which often had me on 18-19 hour days....and I did just fine with the liquids. You will get there too.. Just have faith that you will.

Actually it's reassuring to know that in another month we might be able to eat 3.5 oz. My husband is still buying as much food as he ever did. I have to wait until he cleans out the fridge 1-2 more times and ends up throwing out food before he will realize that needs to change.

Omg I can't believe it! I'm making half of the food I used to make, and we have sooo many leftovers in the fridge it's crazy. And my dad hates leftovers so I will need to find someone to give the food to.

Oh and two baby bel lights. Nom nom nom.

Ooo that sounds yummy!

I will find you one. My absolute favorite Indian cookbook is Raghavan Iyer's 660 curries. I keep reaching for that one again and again. It's not simple, but it's very, very authentic and the sheer variety of flavors us amazing. I'll find one and simplify it for you.

Yeah you have to buy it online. It's a bit of a pain But I think Richard is right, wait and see what sounds good later.

Yes Unjury makes a chicken broth flavored Protein Drink. It's nice because it's not sweet like the other Protein Shakes so its a nice change. Sometimes after the sleeve, warm liquids go down easier.

Keke, you can also do unflavored whey isolate, and unjury chicken broth protein that first week in clear liquids. The unflavored cn be mixed with crystal lite if you want.

All calories are not equal. In obese people, calories in and out do not equal weight loss I should look like twiggy if that were true and most of us would eat a lot more than 800 when sleeved and still lose weight. If you have gained and lost weight before, you have irrevocably changed your metabolism, and can now get fat on a lot less than a naturally thin person. Sugar converts to fat easily. Sugar triggers a glycemic response and if you are insulin resistant, it also causes other havoc, primary of which is ushering fat I to your cells rapidly. Protein on the other hand is thermogenic. You burn calories to digest protein. We will all approach this different ways. One way to approach it is to accept that our old logic, and old ways were not working. That we were powerless over our addiction and/or our body chemistry. That the sleeve comes with a clear-cut eating plan like the one a couple of us outlined. And that perhaps we have nothing but excess weight to lose if we follow the plan that has worked for others--even though parts of it are substituable, at least based on our lay perspective on nutrition.

You should try chike coffee protein drink. Yummy and 21 gms of protein in each scoop. It's a little expensive but cheaper than buying drinks outside I think.

So in comparison, my husband and I are eating 600 calories a day. And he's 6 feet tall and 248 lbs. AND even at that, we stalled for a week. 1200 calories is a lot. Some vets in maintenance can eat that, but most can't lose on that. Moreover, we're keeping carbs under 50 all day. A Starbucks medium frappe into has 72 gms of carbs and 430 calories even before whipped cream. Just for comparison, many days I eat less calories and less carbs than that ALL DAY. My advice to you is to not drink your calories. We all know that drinking your calories will make you put on weight as it is considered a sure-fire way to eat around your sleeve. I'd suggest download something like my fitness pal and track everything you put in your mouth. Eat at least 70 gms of Protein, less than 50 gms of carbs, and drink 64 oz of fluids in a day. I think you will love the results! Good luck and I'm sure you can do this!

Honestly my advice to you is to not worry about the pain. Rather spend your time reading everything you can on people's recoveries. Several of us have blogged about it. It's a good time to get educated about nausea, chest constriction, not being able to drink fluids, worrying about Protein intake, 3-week stalks, etc. Those topics are relevant and if you are educated about them, you won't freak out if you feel bad.

I birthed my older son with 19 hours of labor, no drugs. But that is COMPLETELY irrelevant you know why? You should be comparing it to getting a bruise on your body or spraining a muscle. Hurts a little when you get a sprained shoulder and try to use it right? About like that. Very mild pain. Trust me, you've had period cramps that are much worse than this. Of course this is based on just my experience, YMMV