JamieLogical

Congrats on taking the first steps toward your new life!

It's the same as the link as I'd posted above.

Well, if you are going to try to go through your insurance, that would be the very first step. Contact your insurance company and find out what their requirements are and whether or not you might meet them. Also, research research research. Once you are able to meet with a surgeon, they will likely have some advice on which type of WLS might be best for you, but it's good to come armed with the information beforehand. Learn about the pros and cons of each type of surgery. Factor in how much weight you need to lose and what other health issues you might have. Even if you haven't made up your mind before you meet with a surgeon, at least you will go in being able to have an intelligent discussion about your options.

I don't really see how it could be related to your stomach at all if it was on the right side and under your ribs. The stomach is on the left side of the body (I guess more just in the middle once you're sleeved and don't have that lobe hanging out to the left anymore).

I don't think juicing would be all that useful one week-post op, since you should only be thinking "protein, protein, protein" right now.

I pretty much lived on the Ricotta Bake recipe from this site.

So glad to hear it went well! What an exciting time for you! Enjoy every second of it.

So great to hear from someone a few months out and know you are doing so well. Thank you for posting! I think it's great encouragement for all of those that are behind you. Congratulations on losing 100 pounds already! That is completely amazing! @@newbiesleever Glad to hear you are doing well. Hopefully all goes smoothly tomorrow with getting your drain out and that you aren't feeling too bad. Remember that drinking is a little easier if you march in place!

I've lost 40 pounds in 3 months and no one has said a word. I think it's because my weight has fluctuated a lot through yo-yo dieting and I always put the weight back on, so now people probably think it's a sensitive subject with me.

Congratz! Now you'll only have to do a week of pre-op diet, since your surgery has been moved up!

You are looking amazing! Wow, that is a lot of weight to lose in 7 months!

That was very similar to my situation. My insurance required a current BMi of 40 (I was RIGHT on the cusp) as well as a BMI over 35 for the past 5 years. Well, back in 2010-2011, I had managed to lose 90 pounds on my own and didn't regain the weight for a little over a year. So my BMI wasn't back over 35 until sometime in 2012-ish. Which means I'd have had to stay fat for another 2-3 years to qualify with my insurance. Which seems so completely absurd, because it was basically like they were punishing me for having TRIED to lose the weight on my own! I ended up having to self-pay and went to Ariel Ortiz at OCC and it was a great experience all around. Your daughter will be in excellent hands!

Don't get discouraged. Everyone's experience is different. And hunger is natural. You SHOULD feel hungry when your body needs nutrients. If you didn't you'd just stop eating altogether and would starve to death. I can tell you that my personal experience (a little over one month post op) is that I rarely feel hungry now. I really just eat on a schedule to make sure I am getting enough Protein and calories. In the first week or two I was legitimately hungry, because I wasn barely getting any calories in on the clear and full liquid diets. Once I was able to start having purees and mushies, I was able to start getting my calorie intake up and that helped a lot.

It seems completely physically impossible to stay the exact same weight from day to day. A cup of water weight half a pound. If you retain ANY water at all, or shed ANY water weight at all, you will gain or lose weight. I weigh myself every morning and I can count on one hand the number of times i have weighed the exact same weight two days in a row over the past 3 months. To weigh the exact same weight day after day for 6 months is impossible. I can't believe neither your insurer nor this program have any wiggle room whatsoever built in for normal daily weight fluctuation.

It was for me. I was having a lot of constriction and spasming in my esophagus in the early days post-op. That subsided about a week and a half in and now I only get anything like that if I eat or drink too much or too fast.

The 30-day mortality rate for VSG is 0.08% according to this information: http://asmbs.org/resources/studies-weigh-in-on-safety-and-effectiveness-of-newer-bariatric-and-metabolic-surgery-procedure That's less than 1 in 1000 and remember, that 1 in 1000 likely had other health factors and risks, like heart disease, respiratory problems, etc. If you are an otherwise healthy person (aside from being obese) and are not super morbidly obese, your odds of dying are VERY VERY slim.

Take measurements as well. I measured pretty much every part of my body, so I could track the changes all over. It's very encouraging to see inches lost in places you might not expect, like my neck or my ankles.

You can't have coffee right away because caffeine is hard on your stomach. That's the reason people who drink like a pot a day end up with ulcers. I was allowed decaf coffee 10 days post-op and regular coffee 30 days post-op. But the regular coffee had to be mixed with milk and I was only allowed one cup a day to start.

VSG has a lower complication and morbidity rate than knee replacement. Are there risks? Of course. There are risks associated with any surgery. There are risks associated with getting in your car and driving to work in the morning. The question you need to ask yourself is whether the potential benefits outweigh the risks.

Well your link didn't work, but I did a Google search of my own and posts like this make me disinclined to take anythinng he says seriously:

Are you still running a fever? If so, you should see your doctor right away. Fever can be an indicator of infection and is NOT a normal symptom post-sleeve.

I had surgery on Sept. 1 and went back to work on Sept. 16. I ended up having to take a half day off the Thursday after I went back and a whole day off the following Wednesday. I was just sooooooo tired in those early days. Not sleepy tired, but fatigued. It seemed like a lot of work physically just to get ready for work in the morning. And any time I had to do a lot of walking around or any after-work activities, it just wore me out! However, once I was able to start eating purees and soft foods like cottage cheese and eggs, I was able to start consuming a reasonable amount of calories again and that really made all the difference. I can't imagine anyone needing more than 2-3 weeks off if they have a desk job, unless they have complications. When I had OCC fill out my FMLA paperwork, they put down 15 days (that was their judgement, not mine), so if I had wanted to take off any more work than that, I would have had to have one of the doctors there or my PCP file additional paperwork.

You should read up and/or talk to your nutritionist about how much protein you can absorb at one time. If you are getting 65 grams of protein from two 8 oz. drinks, that means each drink has over 30 grams of protein, which is likely more protein than you can absorb in about an hour. Maybe cut the drinks with Water and spread them out more throughout the day? Also you said Syntrax Nectar only has 25 calories for 14 grams of protein? That's mathematically impossible. A gram of protein has 4 calories. So something that has 14 grams of protein would have to have a minimum of 56 calories...

I was told to eat every 2-3 hours in the early weeks, but once my stomach is healed and can I can eat more in one sitting, I should cut down on snacking.

Lower BMI definitely means lower risk of death. Fewer comorbidities also means less risk of death. I remember reading one study during my research that showed that the risk of death from VSG is lower than the risk of death from knee replacement.