VSGAnn2014

I've been told it also depends on your size -- and the size of your liver. If you're a big girl or boy, your liver needs to be shrunk more than the liver of someone 100 or 200 pounds lighter. So all pre-op instructions are not interchangeable.

No experience here, but I have seen popcorn referred to on many threads as "slider food."

Things happen. I know a guy who went to Stanford for hip replacement and had a heart attack on the table. He was in great shape at one of the best hospitals in the country and he didn't make it. The odds are in your favor. You never know what medical conditions people have going in to surgery unless you know them personally. It's a terrible tragedy when things don't go the way we want them too but again things happen. You are using a surgeon who has lots of experience and many many positive outcomes, you are also young. You should be informed of course but we take chances every day. Especially on the freeways. My sleeve was so easy. The best decision I have ever made. Think positive, be positive and look forward to the future. This comment made a couple of posts above is not relevant to the situation at hand. Yes, surgical deaths and complications happen. But just because a patient dies in surgery or has complications as a result of surgery is no basis for an award / settlement to the family. The surgeon OR the hospital OR some caregiver involved in the patient's care must have been judged by someone with legal or financial authority to have been at fault for an award to the family or for a settlement to the family to have been made. It absolutely makes me bonkers that a patient considering a patient like is effectively barred (by the surgeon's schedulers) from even discussing this with the surgeon or his representatives. Patient are consumers, fercrissakes! They're not inmates who have to go where and when they're told. (That last bit is a little over-rhetorical, but I hope my point is made.)

This is the BEST FREAKIN' THREAD ON BP I have ever read! Please, more stories about how boringly easy recovery was. More! More! :) :)

Yes, people should not insult each other. But what's with locking up threads when there are disagreements? Often good information is revealed in threads with the biggest disagreements. This happens to be a controversial topic. That means there'll be controversy. And debate.

My surgeon (who's been doing all three WLSs for 10+ years (maybe longer?) strongly discouraged people at the introductory lecture I attended from getting a lapband. He said there are now problems with scarring, slippage, and finding the right amount of fill so it's not too tight or too loose. He also described the lapband experience as one that sounded to me like you are in and out of the surgeon's office pretty frequently. His non-verbal, facial and other cues when he was talking about lapband communicated clearly that he seriously disapproves of it. Just sayin'.

My surgery is a week from tomorrow. I'm spending all my time online looking at designer clothes.

Enjoy your rant. That's what we're here for. I have a similar confusion -- God bless 'em, but how can girls who weigh 240 wear 16s? It's a weird clothing world. We just live in it.

You'll have to keep all your stories straight, but here are some possibilities: 1. Recovering from food poisoning 2. Post-gall bladder surgery limited diet 3. Doing a liquid diet 4 Doing a post-liquid diet diet 5. Cleansing diet 6. Taking medicine that requires you to limit what you eat when 7. Testing for food allergies 8. Discovered GMOs are in all fast foods and all restaurant foods and will never eat those foods again! 9. Converted to [Religion no one has ever heard of] and can only eat full meals after sundown 10. Have become a Breatharian [hey, google it!] and are now living on light and air Whatever your story, commit fully to it.

Wowser! You've lost 106 pounds in 18 weeks (at an average of 5.88 pounds weight loss/week). If I have anywhere near that kind of weight loss, I will thank my lucky stars! Surely, your body is taking a deeeeep breath and adjusting to this massive change of events! My advice would be to just keep doing what you've been doing and don't try anything weird. Are you measuring yourself? If so, what changes have you seen in the last 3 weeks? And congratulations -- yours is about the fastest weight loss I have seen on this board.

Kindle, thanks for that list of foods you are eating. And for the description of your lifestyle / eating style. It's considerably different from my life -- but it is still fascinating. I'm sure I will wind up taking things that have worked for you, even if I haven't been close to a horse in years! Thanks,

@ ... Some advice from an older, wiser woman ... Don't strive to be perfect. You aren't. You won't be. And if you think you're supposed to be, you will avoid learning anything new for fear of failing to be perfect the first time you attempt a new activity. That's just not how we learn and expand our lives. Failing is part of growing and learning. And with "phd" in your nickname, I know you love learning.

Email? Phone call? Text? In a coffee shop? Cancel your next date?

Well, just suck it up and do it? Do you have any good Protein shakes? I'm using the GNC Lean shake Swiss chocolate one. It's pretty damn good! And very, very filling and satisfying. You know you CAN do this. No drama llama -- just do it.

I love these. Am seeing them for the first time today. Thank you, Success!

Yo, veterans! (That’s anyone who’s gotten through post-op Stage One) Here are some things I will try to focus on during Stage One post-op. What have I forgotten? 1. Yes, I will feel normal again. 2. Yes, I will enjoy food again. 3. Feelings of depression or anxiety may mean I’m grieving the loss of my emotional food-fixes. 4. I’ve had major surgery and must recover from that. 5. However, I am not an invalid and need to move my a**. 6. If something weird happens, I will call my surgeon pronto, not try to diagnose myself. 7. None of this is my husband’s fault, and I should not bite his head off. 8. Water is my number-one priority. 9. Protein is my number-two priority. 10. Meds are my number-three priority.

Not to obsess about this thread, but ... If you look at the surgeon's reviews at http://www.obesityhelp.com/profiles/bariatric-surgeon/dr-alexander-abkin/reviews you will notice that many of those written in the last few years may have been written by someone who has a recognizable "writing voice" and merrily capitalizes nouns, waxes ALL CAPS enthusiastic, and is fond of ... ellipses.

Halloween Baby, Sounds like there are a lot of barriers in place between you and your surgeon already -- all of them erected by him. So if you can't talk to him, can you talk to his ex-partner, Dr. Bertha? If not Dr. Bertha, then can you talk to someone who has worked with your surgeon, e.g., a shrink, a nutritionist, etc., who isn't "in" his clinic, but has worked with his patients before?

Cool post. I can imagine how that could happen. Congrats.

Terry, that's a great link. Thank you!

^^^ Not sure I understand. You have three weeks during which you are expected to lose 25 pounds? How is it that you find yourself in this situation?

Tomorrow's Day Six of pre-op. Nine more sleeps.

nickiec, I don't know the BBW community at all. But I'm delighted to support you in the new life you have chosen. Welcome to BP.

Yes, shit happens. And all we can do is our best to weather the shit that we didn't invite that comes our way anyway. But I would say the far greater "danger" of WLS is that the patient is not sufficiently capable or educated or committed or supported to make the significant lifelong changes necessary for long-term success. I can't stop shit from happening. It either will or it won't happen. But the odds are that it won't. But I can do my best to avoid the greater likelihood (40-50%) that I will not achieve my goals of physical health, normal weight, psychological health, an active retirement. Those are the risks I'm focused on -- the big ones that I CAN mitigate.

Hmmm ... my surgeon's online ratings certainly don't look like these. That's a lot of smoke.