clairec

Hi, Well I am planning ahead for what to take into hospital and what to have readily available afterwards... I agree with everything said already and I am thinking... Washing stuff including shampoo, conditioner hairdryer, deodorant etc Robe, nightgown (but there will be hospital gowns I am sure) and slippers as well as spare underwear Wipes - hand, personal and toilet Pillow to put between me and the seatbelt for the journey home which has been suggested strongly Mouth spray to help with dry mouth - I am not sure what but I have been advised that I am taking no added sugar fruit cordials to dilute with Water but I know that these are not readily available in the States. they are in the UK and they really help water taste nicer. Any meds including Vitamin supplements. I am also taking Sea Kelp to help with future hair loss I have also been advised something to help with the trapped wind. We have Windeze here but the contents are Simeticone if that helps Magnesium hydroxide to help with constipation Lip balm and moisturiser as well as make up and mirror Something to read - a magazine to flick through if attention span not brilliant and book/Kindle/Nook Something to listen to at night if I wake up and if things are noisy - iPod etc Simple things to distract - So Dukos, crosswords, puzzle books, iPad games ( I have a jigsaw app which I find restful) Something to keep up with bariatricpal - at the moment this is on my computer but perhaps should be on my iPad or phone My gastric bypass big book and other info Also trying to stock up on things I might be able to drink / eat(?) afterwards for home. A bit much, do you think???…. Thinking this week of Erin, Kim, dreaming big, tkauki and nnegrete this week, you go for it and I hope all goes as well it possible can for you all. We are next Claire x

Hi, Kim I am really glad that you have some antibiotics. I do hope that feel better in the next two days, then all set for Monday, I am thinking of you. Ken, that is amazing that Pam's date is so close to yours. I think we are all feeling a bit nervous and jittery, I know I am! Erin, I hope you are feeling ok before your op on Monday, I will be thinking of you Doris, not long now I think these mixed feelings must be very normal ,looking at everyone eles's posts. I do find reading them so helpful. Mine is on the 11th so only a few days before you. Take care all of you Claire

Oh Kim I do hope you feel better soon, That's all you need with your surgery so close. Thanks Ken for your message too, I hope I get some more info on monday. Planning is everything I think! Take care both of you

Hi, I am nervous enough and I am a whole week after you! Stay strong and let us know how you are after your surgery and keep in touch here until then. We all know what you are going through, because in different ways we all seem to be feeling anxious and concerned about it all. It will all be worth it in the end, or that's what I keep telling myself! Take care

Hi, I think a pre op class is really helpful, we don't have those where I am having my surgery. I am having my pre admission tests on Monday and meeting the bariatric nurse so I am sure that will he helpful. Only just over a week after that until my surgery. Several of you will be having yours next week though and my thoughts are with you all with your diets beforehand and any last minute jitters (or maybe that's just me!) Take care

Hi, I think I am so lucky really with my pre op diet. I really don't like milk so I am glad that I don't have to do that, which was the other option I had. That was 1 salty drink , 40 fl ozs of fluid plus 80 fl ozs of milk. I am on 3 pieces of fruit a day, 10 fl ozs semi skimmed milk, a diet yoghurt and any amount of vegetables and restricted amounts of meat,fish or eggs each day. So breakfast is a 2 egg mushroom and tomato omelette . Lunch is chicken or beef soup made with 3 ozs meat, stock and vegetables and a diet yoghurt Supper is 6ozs fish( or could be meat) with vegetables and one piece of fruit Banana milkshake made with second fruit and the milk plus one other fruit as snacks. So I am not hungry at all, it is just way less fruit, and variety and quantity than my day to day Slimming World eating plan. Obviously if we were going out or seeing friends I would have eaten different things but still following those principles. I have to do it for 3 weeks rather than 2 weeks for the milk diet and now my op date has moved forward by a day but I think I will be ok. I am missing all my normal foods and it is having a real impact on going out etc but i am not going through what so many of you are going through on your pre op diets. I wonder why they vary so much. Just keep hanging on in there, it must be so hard. You will get there I am sure Claire

Hope it all goes well and that you feel better at the end of today - more info, more shared thinking and support.

All this has definitely helped and I'm so glad I'm not alone on these mixed emotions. Thank you for your kind words and postivity. It's very nice to have an outlet with people who know exactly what you are feeling. Everything that is lost is just another thing gained and I just have to remember that when I feel like I'm at the bottom. I definitely think the unknown of post op is what gives everyone the most nerves and possibly doubt. We try to cram our heads full of facts and knowledge but you just never know your body is going to react after surgery. But all in all everything is good, we are on our way to better days and amazing things! Absolutely, and knowing people are going through the same things definitely helps! Take care

Hi zomgjj, I know that mourning so well and I don't eat for comfort so I can only imagine how losing that friend must be. The fact that food is a toxic friend at this point is no help at all. Knowing you can't do something again, and the impact on your social life, if only for the next few months is a real loss. I had a recent holiday and I was so very sad throughout, feeling that everything that I was doing i would not do again. I am now trying to focus on all the things I will be able to do post surgery, although the fact that I am not sleeping very well is probably a sign that it is not totally working! Personally I need to stop thinking about all the potential problems I might experience, because I won't have them all. Not knowing which things I will experience and being able to plan for them, which is my way to problem solve, is my main problem I think and adds to that mourning. However, we are both going through it on the same day, together with at least two others on here, so we can all support each other. Others are having their ops next week and will be a week ahead of us and our experiences might help those who are having theirs in the days and weeks after us. We are all in this together which I hope helps a bit, it is certainly helping me. Take care and stay in touch

Hi MizNola, We are on the same day! I am also on restricted diet at the moment and not finding it too bad. The food mourning and the social life mourning, at least for a while I can really identify with. It feels as if everything is a permanent or temporary loss at the moment, but there are a lot of huge gains too. I think that my main problem is knowing what I personally will experience, I am trying to prepare for all the potential problems! It feels really difficult emotionally I think. I have found the honesty on this forum really helpful though as well as the support and i have only just joined in the last week. Please don't feel isolated we will go through it together on the same day. Take care Claire

Hi, Well my date has now moved from the 10th to the 11th. Only one day unlike some of you but when you have psyched yourself up….. I think I am now on the same day as zomgjj and janieitstime. This is such a friendly group and it is so good to hear that we all having little worries and concerns, it makes it easier somehow. PrincessErin I hope that you are ok, it is hard at the moment I know. Take care all of you

Hi Erin, Right I have found you on facebook and have sent you a friend request. My name is Claire Chambers and i am always a bit confused about what is a personal message on fb and what is visible to everyone. My excess weight is 224 pounds so I hope i am being realistic in wanting to lose about 140 pounds. How about you, much less I am sure by your BMI? How are you feeling now? A little less worried or a little more? For me, I think I just need to get it over with and then the positive stuff can start as well. I do really appreciate your honesty because it is so good to know that I am not the only one who is not feeling over the moon about having to make this decision. It is the right thing to do but I am feeling so well now and don't really want to do anything to change that balance (after the recuperation period that is). The pre op diet is fine though and in 2 weeks I will be over the immediate post op period. For you that is only in a week's time! Take care

You and I clearly are feeling the same way. I am exactly a week behind you and am having my op 2 weeks today on the 10th. I really hope you keep in touch because you will always be a week more experienced than me. I can see you live in Florida and we had 8 nights in Key West from New Year's Day. I was so sad on that holiday because everything seemed like a "goodbye". The flights also worried me because we often go so much further and I really don't know how they will work out. We have only been able to postpone our trip to Hawaii until May otherwise we would have to pay anyway. We are used to these journeys but that is pre bypass. We have a lot to look forward to, we just need to get through this major transition and hurdle. We will do it! In many ways I wish I was next week now too and I will be following any posts you make with huge interest. I really will be thinking of you next Monday and hoping it all goes really really well, and I am sure that it will. Take care and just get through the next week the best way you can, it will soon be over

Hi PrincessErin, I know what you mean. I think that it is really difficult not being able to know what foods/drinks we might not be able to tolerate on an individual level. I think that from what I have read these things can change from month to month so things that you can't tolerate you might be able to at a later stage. However, there seem to be different foods for different people which stay as a permanent problem. It seems like we are grieving for all foods and all difficulties of eating and drinking (well I am anyway) when we won't experience them all. I like to problem solve and I don't know what problems I will need to solve which is my greatest problem at the moment. I am anticipating all potential health problems just to be on the safe side, this is not being negative it is just my way of coping with things. It is all very difficult and although I don't want to having the op 2 weeks today in many ways I do because all this worrying about everything and anything will be over. Does that feel similar for you and when is your date again?

Hi, It sounds as if there are quite a few of us having surgery in the next few weeks. It would be so good to keep in touch on another thread with how things go for all of us, or whether we can just continue this one. I am a newbie here so I am not sure what is normal. Good luck to everyone with an op next week. I like the fact that people are being honest about their mixed emotions and that this is a big decision. Sometimes these sort of forums are so positive all the time that it is difficult to admit this. I am sure that we will all be fine but I would think that these sort of feelings must be normal. It is good to know that we are all in this together. Take care

It really will be good to be able to share experiences Autumn Breeze. Good luck with the weight loss...

Hi clairec, Welcome! I am scheduled for surgery on February 18th. My surgeon wants me to lose 15 pounds before surgery. I have a team meeting/class on February 6th and I will find out if I need to do a pre op diet then. I wish you much good luck on your journey. Please keep me posted on your progress. Wow Autumn Breeze, 15 pounds in a month will be a challenge, though easier with some sort of pre op diet I would think. So you will only be a week behind me. I will certainly let you know how it is going, it is good to know someone who will be at a similar stage to me. Thanks for getting in touch and do let me know what happens on the 6th, I have my pre op assessment on the 3rd.

Hi to you all, Well you all have dates close to mine. I am not on the milk diet thank goodness and I am coping on my version of the diet. No bars but as much as veg as I want and measured amount of meat or fish and 3 pieces of fruit and a little milk. I hope it goes ok for you all, I am nervous too but want it to be out of the way too.

Hi, I think that I might have posted something in the wrong place. I will try again. I am new to this forum. I have a date for the 10th Feb and am one week into my 3 week pre op diet and things are going ok. I have mixed feelings about it all but I just want to get on with it now. I am from the UK but we spend a lot of time in the States. In fact we have our next vacation in Hawaii in May. This seems a bit soon really but we had already booked and we couldn't postpone it any longer. I think we will be fine once we are there but the journeys to and from I think will be challenging that soon. We are very used to the long flights from here, however food and drink will be difficult i think. It will be around 3 months post op so hopefully all will be ok. We want to plan a trip following the Mississippi in the Fall but not being in one place will be difficult, or perhaps not 7 months down the line. I think I will wait and see how it goes before we commit ourselves. Has anyone else got a date near the 10th Feb?