DarlaHood

I drove after 10 days. Just make sure that the seat is adjusted and if your e-brake requires you to bend over and pull, you do that before you get into the car. The bending and stretching to do those things can make you sore. However, no problem driving.

One thing that helps me is to drink Clear purple Isopure instead of Water or G2. I stress purple because the other flavors are nasty. Purple is pretty good as long as it's cold. It's available at GNC in 20 oz bottles, and each 20 oz bottle includes 40 grams of Protein. Also, I like the Myoplex Protein shakes - 17 oz has 42 grams of protein, and they taste good compared to some of the others I've tried. These are available at Target and grocery stores. Just in drinking the 37 oz. of Fluid over the course of the day, I get 82 grams of protein.

My daughter had surgery in mid August last year, and she went back to college at the end of September. She lives on a very large campus with hills and stairs everywhere. She had no problem with it. The good thing is that you are young, and you will heal quickly. However, i would keep the weight down as much as possible for the first 6 weeks or so. Make arrangements to leave your things somewhere where you can take only what you need to each class if that is helpful. i think you will do fine. btw, today was a big milestone for my daughter. At 8 months, she has now officially lost 100 lbs and is feeling wonderful. I wish you all the best in your new life!

I think if we could be perfect with our diet, we would not need to have WLS! Some slip ups are expected and happen to everyone. The surgery hopefully gives us the ability to continue past our stumbles to continue on our journey of acheiving and maintaining a healthy weight. I do think that we've been on so many failed diets that it is hard to get that little voice out of our head that fears we will somehow fail at this too!

I self-payed, and also paid cash for my daughter's surgery. Our insurance paid for pre-op tests no problem.

My daughter had gastric bypass in August. She is 19 and at college. She has lost 96 lbs. She has worked out with weights faithfully, and she does have some skin under her arms and her belly is not taught. She also has some skin on the inside of her thighs. However, she is young and it is pretty minimal considering that she is only 5'1" and started at over 250 lbs. I think you have to follow the doctor's dietary recommendations, and do muscle building exercises to maximize tone under the skin. You are young, and things may not be perfect, but you can minimize it with the right exercise. It also depends upon how much weight you have to lose.

Just wondering if you guys take preventative heartburn pills - like Prilosec? My doc has me on that.

One thing that has helped me is Peppermint Tea. That is very settling to my tummy. I sometimes put a bit of vanilla almond milk in it with some splenda. Also you could try some flatbread crackers, which are usually very low carb. Just one with your tea maybe.

I am wondering the same thing cuz I'm only 11 days post-op. But I know that I'm supposed to stay 40 - 60 carbs max/day until I reach 75% of my weight loss goal.

That does seem super stressful. I would be freaking out too! I didn't have that cuz I was self-pay, so things sort of speed up a lot, but I know just waiting for the time I did was so hard. I wish you a very rapid approval!!

I am 11 days post-op and just joined the forum today. I love your post. Although I think I have been lucky because after the first few days, I've felt mostly well. I am sleeping in my bed in my normal positions, although switching on to my left side is a bit painful at first. I still feel tender inside, and I'm definitely not cleaning or walking long distances, so it's good to know that in a couple more weeks it should happen. I also appreciate the heads up about the impending weight loss stall because somewhere deep inside I have this fear that even with the surgery I will somehow fail to lose weight. I'm sure that is just from feeling so hopeful when beginning a thousand diets and then getting nowhere. It is really inspiring to know what ups and downs might be coming! Thank you

Yes, I had the same thing on one of my incisions because I had a drain, and had to retape every day for the first week. But I'm 11 days post now, and it is finally gone. I had to really wash with antibacterial soap!

My surgeon also says no carbonation forever because it stretches the pouch. I don't care about soda, but I'm kind of bummed that a beer won't be on my options. Although they contain much less carbonation than soda. But if I have to trade carbonation for ending my battle with weight, then I don't really care that much. I'll do it. I would just take one day at a time. Who knows what the future holds. Forever is too long to worry about!

I self-payed for both my daughter's bypass and my sleeve surgery. I think that $5,000 is really, really low. I've seen Mexico prices that low, but I personally would never have surgery in Mexico. Our price was inclusive of doctor's visits, hospital, anesthesiologist, meds, pathology, and post-op GI. My daughter's was slightly more than $20K. Mine was about $19K. We have insurance, but unfortunately it has a bariatric surgery exclusion. Just FYI, if you have access to retirement funds, such as a 401-K, you can take a hardship withdrawal without penalty for uncovered medical expenses, and you can write medical expenses over 10% of your AGI off on your taxes. You did not say where you are from. I am in Southern California, so that is where our doctor is. I will say that self-pay speeds up the process quite a bit. There still are tests required prior to surgery clearance (and those are not included in the cost). Chest x-ray, EKG, Doctor's clearance, Upper GI or Endoscopy, blood work, and Psych Eval. But there are no long waits for surgery if you get those done promptly.