LosingItForMe2011

During your first week after surgery most folks can't take in much. It's VERY important to get your Fluid in. You don't want to wind up back in the hospital for dehydration. Do what you have to to get it in. Sip it but, keep it with you and sip it again after 1 minute. Your pouch is healing, and yup it can be sore or feel painful to swallow but, try a different temperature fluid and different flavorings. The liquid you put in those Protein shakes count towards your fluids for the day so kill two goals at once and find a Protein shake that works for you that you make by adding Water to it. Two Protein Shakes and you got in 30-50 grams of protein and 16 oz of water. I did have discomfort drinking plain water. My pouch would tighten up or get crampy but, I forced myself to keep taking sips...it works. If you're really having issues with lots of air getting in while sipping then you may be gulping more air...change cups etc. SF Popsicles also count towards your fluid goals and those go down much slower. licking a SF popsicle or sucking on it helps wake up your pouch too because it really goes down so slowly. It does get better but, you have to push yourself to do the drinking of at least your water. Protein and shakes are the next thing to go for. Fluid first...protein next were my docs words to me. Proteins will help you heal so you do need them.....keep trying different protein shakes until you like one enough to get it to go down YOU CAN DO IT!

Absolutely. Turns that bad thoughts of OMG I REALLY HATE EXERCISING to ...welll ok this isn't so bad and the next thing I know I've walked the distance I planned and find I want to do a little more to finish the song

welcome to the group! Yup it does get better. When I first came home they were more concerned with me getting the Fluid in. My doc said try to get in 50 grams of Protein but, if you can't just make sure you're getting fluids in preferably 64 oz. I can tell you I didn't get all 64 ounces in and more often than not, fluid was uncomfortable going in. Your new pouch will get use to it but, you have to keep sipping. After a while the pouch will adjust and feel ok taking in the fluid. I still have an occassional morning where my pouch is picky and so I switch from something cold to something warmer or room temp. Once my fluid intake is up a bit it gets better again. YOu can do it! Skim milk (I get the skim milk that tastes like 2%) counts towards your liquids AND you get protein from it. Any liquid counts towards your liquid if it's no to low calories. shakes that you add Water too also count. You will also find some liquids go down better than others. I LOVED plain water before surgery...but after couldn't stand it! I used Mio and burnt out on that so switched to SF Grape koolaid and that worked. Now I can drink just about anything but, man I was frustrated at first too. Keep trying different flavors and temps. You'll get there! it will get better Welcome to the losing side!

Nothing necessarily will happen. At 4 days out I was doing fine and dandy myself but, I ran into issues at about two weeks with an infection in one incision. Other than that I've been good with eating and drinking.

I stayed in the hospital gowns they gave me...one opening in the back then the other opening in the front.Being a Bariatric ward they had plenty in big sizes to cover everything. It was the most comfortable because of the catheter. I went to the hospital with comfy clothes and a pair of clean underwear in my hospital bag. Went home in the same outfit with the clean undies of course. So two things I actually used that I brought were my clean undies home and chapstick. Everything else stayed in the bag and were never touched. I was too busy walking around so didn't read my kindle stuff..

Make sure to stress the stenuous work and lifting etc you'll have to do. If you have short term disability it will kick in for you. I had to use it. All my surgeon had to do was complete her side of the paperwork bascially indicating a date to go back to work and her signature.

These boots are made for walking and that's just what they'll do...... (hee hee) I've made a song list just for my walking....beat paced songs that help me get a walking! It sure helps pass the time as well

I bought the Quest brownie bars in North Dartmouth and love them. I'll have to try a few others. I agree with DL on the Pure Protein ones as well. I like the Peanut Butter and chocolate chip ones. The chocolate ones are good if you like dark chocolate flavor. I'm a milk chocolate flavor girl so skip those but, hubby likes them alot. You can get your quest bars online as well. I don't believe we're suppose to post links to other websites though....you can google them

Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you bought yourself something nice! 50 pounds gone deserves a nice new pretty something

Hail Oz DL!

I would think you'd be ok as long as it doesn't sit in your lungs but, you could probably call your surgeon and ask the what if I have a head cold question

My surgeon said 6-8 weeks for most folks is the best for healing. I know desk job folks (like me) feel pretty good at 3 weeks but, for me I ended up with an incision infection then an infection in my bowel due to the antibiotics for the first infection. UNREAL! Took me 6.5 weeks to get back to work and I can tell you my first week back was rough. Not pain wise but, trying to get all the liquid and Protein in and I was light headed sometimes. I'm far from a wuss! Can take a lot of pain but, my surgery kicked my butt with the infection issues.

Awesome job!

We're a Disney family as well. during the summer months I just can't do Disney anymore. I swell on the plane ride there and my feet end up in blisters the first day. My toes go under each other so they rub and cause horrific blisters but, when we went in DEcember it was better. I'm looking forward to weighing less the next time we go so I'm more comfortable. How embarrassing it was to have to be pushed in a wheel chair because my damn feet were a mess. I know the weight didn't help! We're headed back this coming October. I've lost 40 so far from the time we went before so hoping even more will be off. I was able to ride the rides I wanted to but, still the walking is tough when you have extra weight. Hoping I can keep up with my guys this go round

I felt weak and was fighting an infection so it took me longer to drive. At about 4 weeks I could take short drives but, family members drove most of the time until I hit 6 weeks. Again that's because I had an issue. Everyone will be different and depending on the meds you're taking and how you feel. Definitely wouldn't still be on pain meds and drive so hopefully you're off those.

I bought Isopure too and took one sip and said NO WAY is that going down. I now have 5 bottles to get rid of. bleck!

Depending on what stage of eating you're on you can make your own low carb low fat pizza out of a low carb wrap. I placed a low carb wrap (5 net carbs on the one I use and it's about 8'' round) on the oven rack at 350 and let it toast up crispy. I take it out, place it on a foil lined cookie sheet (saves clean-up) and I put a little pizza sauce and some 2% low fat shredded cheese. Then add whatever veggies sit will in your pouch and/or meats such as shredded chicken or turkey pepperoni etc. Depending on what you choose you can get your Protein count up. The wrap really crisps up nicely and you taste mostly the toppings. Great substitute

Yup sugar free flavorings are ok to add to the water. I couldn't drink plain water either....I can now but, prior to I needed something in it. I started with Mio, then hated that, switched to crystal light and that was too acidic for me so ended up with SF grape Koolaid for the longest time. For me skim milk counts towards my liquid intake as well and my protein shakes but check with your surgeon/nutritionist. Chicken broth counts too usually.

My questions to the people reading this would be, after surgery were you in a lot of pain? Did they weigh you in the pre-op area before surgery? What were you most surprised about after your surgery? What happened to you that you didn't expect after surgery? 1. Pain: I wasn't in much pain when I came home, I'd say ache yes. I didn't have gas pain either. 2. weigh pre-op area: I was weighed in the pre-op area just before they had me lay down on the bed. 3. Surprised about: Nausea for me was hard while in the hospital until they found the right med that worked for me. Once they did I was fine and they gave me a prescription for some for home when needed. I only needed it for a short time. 4. What happened to me that I wasn't expecting: An infection in one of my incision sites. I asked my doctor and she said about 10% of patients will get one. It was in my main (left side) incision site and felt like a hockey puck under my skin that was read, swollen and painful. They had to re-open the incision in the office to let the infection out and I had to have the wound packed each day for about 3 weeks. Its finally closed now with just some redness and the skin still healing. I also was happy to not feel hungry and surprised I had to make sure I did eat. I know it's a grace period that won't last forever but, I LIKE IT LOL Good luck!

welcome to the boards!

My process took 3 months, that was with a few week delay after the first attempt denial. They wanted 3 months of weightloss supervision and had it but, needed documentation. Then the surgery was approved with the completed paperwork and fixes to some of that documentation.

Oh you wouldn't want to see my incision sites LOL. My left one, main one, got terribly infected and had to be packed for quite some time by visiting nurses for about 2 to 2.5 weeks. then my husband had to pack it when it finally got smaller. Other than that my drain incision healed up quick after it was taken out. I have some redness left from the infected site and one other site. The other site is because stitches poked through that needed to be cut just last week. Still healing up well though.

I believe the turn around is pretty quick for most insurances. heck some folks need surgery quick for issues so they have to. You can usually check with a case nurse at the insurance to see. sorry to hear they didn't recieve it yet but, once they do it will be quick! Good luck

I was a lapband to RNY revision. Even though my band was taken out in emergency surgery in jan/feb 2010 (getting old and can't remember which month! LOL) it was still considered revision because of the flap they put on your stomach to hold the band in was still there. The surgeon didn't remove it because my stomach was inflamed because it prolapsed (spelling). My RNY surgery took longer than folks who haven't had a lapband prior because my stomach and liver adhered together and had to be pulled apart and then the flap removed prior to the actual RNY part. Still do-able just takes a bit longer and being under longer. I had my RNY on 7/11. The lapband in the end was truly aweful but, it was a good tool for me the first 14 months. It was put in feb 13, 2006, revised Dec 2008 and removed jan/feb 2010 Quite a trip. I LOVE that there are no fills or unfills with this RNY

I told my nutritionist the same about greek yogurt...I just couldn't choke down chobani or Oki or something out there. She told me about the Dannon lite one and so looked for it and I like this one. It's still "different" from the other non greek dannon lite yogurt I usually get but, it's more protein. I've tried the vanilla, strawberry & banana and I like them both. I have a peach one to try but, not that big on peach so we'll see.