Debbiebydesign

I did too. The largest one. It's gone.

I eat half of a low carb wrap with chicken and a little cheese. No problems.

I had dents at 3 of my 6 incisions. I had a couple lumps too. 6 weeks later they are pretty much gone. Normal, I guess.

I hear this panic about stalls a lot, just in the first few weeks post op. We need to keep it in perspective. When was the last time you lost 22 lbs in two weeks? If the answer is never, then you are probably doing just fine. My bariatric nurse told me in the first couple weeks many people gain due to fluids, and any loss is a triumph. I was mad I lost 6 lbs in the two weeks post op. I'm now just 6 weeks and my total is about 40.5 from the start. Twice on my own I was able to lose 15 lbs, and it took me 6 months one time. I gave up it was so slow. I'll take 40 in 6 weeks.

Anyone from IV area getting surgery soon?

No, the group is open to pre and post ops, support people, etc.. Its free. Even though it's OSF's groups, we even had a few post ops from other bariatric programs there. Contact me if you have questions!

The next one is April 9 at IVCH, 7 p.m. It helps with insurance approval if you go, and PSG wants you to go monthly prior to surgery. It's a nice group right now. You wont get approval until after your psych eval. Oh, wait, you mean they are checking to see if you have coverage, it's not the actual surgery approval, right? That should go fast. Word of advice though, PSG forgot to call for me, so if it goes beyond a week, call them. They should be calling you to schedule your first meeting with the doctor after they find out if your insurance covers WLS. I waited 3 weeks, and found out from my insurance company they didn't call until AFTER I called them to ask where they were with that and they called me the next day to set up an appointment. It cost me nearly a month because I didn't remind them! That was something that was helpful at the group, they can give you hints to help you progress smoothly to a surgery date!

I had a really good experience. I had my surgery February 7th and have lost 39 lbs.. No major complications. Have you been to the support groups yet?

Nothing to be sorry about. My family doesn't look like what I dreamed. Whose does? I was incredibly blessed with this gregarious, beautiful girl. She healthy, smart, and kind. I guess I was meant to spend all my resources on her. I hope this surgery helps you fulfill those dreams. I know how important that is to a person.

So, I'm required by my doctor to attend a support group once a month until surgery. Being a group leader where I work, I was dreading this, but I came to enjoy it, The people were really helpful, and I looked forward to announcing that I had a date at this meeting. It ended up being a "speaker" who was basically giving us a sales pitch for vitamins. Such a let down. Since there is no meeting in January, and my surgery is right before the February meeting, I won't be back until March. A SALES PITCH? Really?

Cream of wheat

My doctor said protein drinks count as water. There is no standard!

I had two days of food funerals before I started the preoperative diet. It was great, but the only bad thing was the second day of clear liquids, I got a serious withdrawl headache that developed into a full blown migraine, complete with vomiting. I don't know if it was sugar, caffeine, carbs in general, or what but if I had it to do over I would have started earlier and scheduled off work a few days pre-op.

Here's where personal preferences come in...I tried the isopure mango peach once. It smelled to me like a bottle of formula my kid once left in a car in the summer. I still gag at the thought of drinking the clear Proteins.

Except for grizzly bears... Seriously, it's kind of a relief to hear how common that left sided hitch/pain is. My incision side there (lap GB) also has a HUGE dent there, and a lump that is slowly getting smaller.

Don't give up yet...some people take longer to get approved than others.

I missed this board! I had my surgery on February 7. I'm trucking along, doing well, except my energy sucks sometimes.

It's a scary time, but all you can do is wait. Honestly, the week BEFORE surgery was the longest week of the whole process for me.

Don't feel bad. I lost 7 lbs before the pre-op, 11 on the pre-op, and at 12 days post-op, I lost 6 whole lbs..for a total of 24. My doctor's nurse told me that at the point I was many, most, gain weight due to water retention. I think she was trying to make me feel better. I'm just staying the course. I mean, at 600-800 calories a day, something is bound to happen.

At the hospital, I hit the button on the pump and asked for my PRN pain med whenever it was available. Good pain management makes it possible to get up, get moving, and walk. The down side is they can be constipating. (If your bowels have not moved, call your doctor to see what they want you to do. Some don't want you to go more than 72 hours without going.) I had my surgery 16 days ago. I used the pain meds fairly consistently for about a week, and tapered off. Yesterday and today, I think some nerves are waking up, because I was feeling a little achy in my abdomen, different from gas pain or incision site pain. It's not excruciating, but I did take a half dose today since it happened yesterday too. I have seen a lot of people in my work who got addicted to pain meds, but I think the more self aware you are the less likely that will happen. A lot of people who worry about the addiction seem to almost under medicate. Unless you have addiction issues already, I'm sure you'll do fine.

It's great that you have been doing well, but I think people are being honest about their challenges. The surgery does not fix the mind. Look at it this way, temptation is our teacher. How do you cope? What is really triggering you? Please don't take this the wrong way, but I teach this... I'm also seeing a common cognitive distortion a lot of us employ: "all or nothing" thinking. If we make a misstep, every thing is ruined. Try to remember if you do make a mistake, it doesn't cancel out all those good weeks.