Miss Mac

My favorite WonderSlim was the cranberry. I made it up with sugar free cranberry juice. Odd about the unjury products; I like the vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and chicken Soup, but it was the unflavored that I could stand. I got my best flavor tolerances from the Syntrax products.

Has your neurologist ordered an MRI of your complete spine to look for any discs that are pressing on nerves? Did you have any kind of accident (or fall) that would have compressed your spine? The only reason that comes to mind is that I get similar neuropathies in my right leg, from hip to toe - including the drop foot - and it has nothing to do with my sleeve. I had steroid injections for a while, but my pain specialist moved on to a process called Radio Frequency Nerve Ablation. What he does is basically using that process to "disconnect" that nerve from its compression point where L5 meets the sacrum. (L5-S1) The procedure immediately stops the pain because my brain does not receive that signal. It does not affect any motor nerves, requires no incision, and lasts from three months to two years, depending on how fast the nerve grows back. According to their website, the Mayo Clinic uses this process in a number of applications. It certainly is worth asking about, because if they cannot find what suddenly activated the chronic pain, they can at least give you some relief from it. I wish you the best and am looking forward to hearing that your medical team has found a resolution for you. Hugs from Chicago.

Giving away your power over your own healthcare to random strangers who do not know your struggle??? Don't do that. Hugs from Chicago.

Your insurance should provide you with a list of physicians who are in your network. When you call one, ask the person who answers the phone if that doctor supports the idea of bariatric surgery. Then pick one of those closest to home. Not all PCPs are in a family practice. Mine is an internist and so is his wife who shares the practice with him.

My grandma raised 12 kids during the Great Depression and never threw anything out. Consequently, we rarely got fresh food to eat. We were always eating bits and pieces of the bad apples before anyone would get a good apple. We had to drink the almost sour milk before we could drink fresh milk. Leftovers from dinner showed up for Breakfast - consequently, we never got a fresh-cooked breakfast. Anything else that just was not edible was given to the dogs and if the dogs would not eat it, it was given to the hogs. Since having my surgery, I have to remember two things: 1) Leftovers that I would eat because no one else will, just need to be thought of as hog feed. 2) I can throw dabs of this and that away or just directly tape them to my hips.

It wasn't until I got on regular cooked foods that I was able to detect any increase in energy. That was at one month (4 1/2 weeks). So if you can get by until you are on regular food, you will feel so much better.

Although I use packets from the store, I remember the hot chocolate Mom made from scratch back in the day. She would take powdered baking cocoa, sugar, and Milnot (condensed milk), and stir it up until hot enough to drink. I suppose that if I wanted to do that today, I would just substitute the sugar with artificial sweetener.

I was loose as a goose until I got on soft foods, and then I had the worst constipation I ever had in my life - like pushing a watermelon through a straw.

Ten days

Quickest ways to get it done are self-pay or go to Mexico. With my insurance, I had my first consultation in late August, then 3 months supervised diet and pre-op testing, the app sent in to insurance (BCBS Federal Employee). I was approved in two days (which is fast - some people agonize for weeks with an insurance delay here), then scheduled on the surgeon's first available date, which was three weeks out. So altogether, it took from late August to late December, four months. Everybody's insurance is different, depending upon what your employer has arranged.

Oh, man........now that is going to be my "head song" all day! Loved it.

Does anybody know if this is another manifestation of ketosis?

My boyfriend is not a big fan of pumpkin, so he usually makes a homemade cheesecake.

Past life????? Well you aren't having surgery in a past life. Makes you wonder what little it takes to get a degree in psychology.

I used to be an ice cream fanatic, easily eating at least a pint every night as a bedtime snack. If I were to start up again, I could very easily become a bariatric reprobate. What I do now, just to get the flavor of vanilla ice cream is this: I fix up a glass of milk with vanilla extract and some sweetener. This is something I also do if I start missing that big "Jethro" bowl of Cereal. I did buy one of those appliances that turns frozen bananas into ice cream, which is just okay if you like bananas.

My last meal before starting the liquid diet was Beef and Peppers Lo Mein with Crab Rangoons and Fortune Cookies from a local Chinese restaurant.

I like this guy! What a great supportive friend to have.

Like the first time your pants fall down. Check this out....... http://www.bariatric...e-nsvs/?hl= nsv

On December 23, 2013 I had my sleeve done at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, by Dr. Chand, who developed the bariatric program there and teaches bariatric and robotic surgery. I was in the hospital two days and have had an uncomplicated textbook recovery. I live in the south suburbs.

I have had a flu shot every year since forever. The only time I had a bad reaction was with the swine flu vaccine in 1976. Guess who never gets the flu.

Turkey, green Beans, a taste of mashed potatoes. Later I will nosh on a deviled egg and a cranberry relish parfait.

The pain meds contributed significantly to my nausea. About the third day home I just gave up on the pain meds and pushed through. Only the biggest incision caused any trouble. The Zofran tab behind my ear helped calm the nausea.

Miss Tummy sounded like a dinosaur fight for about three months. I was able to eat a cup of food right around one year. At 23 months, that is still my comfort level.

I started out with a horse pill bariatric Vitamin that in spite of its budget breaking cost did not want to go down, and came back up more often than not. On top of that I was taking B12, D3, and Calcium. I switched to Flintstones chewables for a while, but found a multi-vitamin at Walgreens formulated for women over 50. My labs have been spot on, except this last time two weeks ago. I was slightly below range on Folate, B12, and D3. My cholesterol was slightly high, but 20 points less than it was three months ago. So, I will stay with the Walgreens multi for the time being and pick up D3, B12, and Calcium. The D3 and Calcium are available in chewables and that is what I will get.

Wow. I have never had a boss like that.