JamieLogical

@@labwalker I'm sorry you feel this way. I don't think that most of the people who say negative things about lap-band mean to be offensive or "on the attack". Obviously all of us chose the surgery that we felt was best for us and therefor we had reasons for NOT choosing the other options. For every down-side to band, there are down-sides to the other options as well and I think this thread has just created a dialog about the down-sides of band. Someone who has been banded could just as easily come on here and list some of the down-sides of VSG, such as the fact it's not reversible or the fact that it hasn't been around long enough to have strong outcome data available. But, that's not what this thread was about, so it maybe feels like everyone is "piling on" about the down-sides of band. I am actually VERY grateful that we have a site for all of the WLS options, because it really helped me when researching and reading accounts from people who have experienced all of the procedures. I also think that by-an-large, we are ONE community as we all have shared experiences, no matter which WLS we've chosen. I hope you won't let some of the comments in this one thread deter you from participating on these boards in the future.

My Multivitamin is a capsule, the kind you can open up. So they wanted me to try to dump the contents into my drinkable yogurt a few days out and mix it in, but that was SO GROSS. I just couldn't do it. I was allowed to actually start swallowing the whole capsule at 7 days out, so that was when I was able to actually start taking all three of the vitamins I was supposed to every day (one with each meal). I had to wait a little longer than that before I could start taking my Calcium, because those are really big horsepills and I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle them, so I started those maybe two weeks out. I'm also on a sublingual B12, which I was obviously able to start taking right away, since it dissolves under the tongue. As for all of my other supplements that I had been taking pre-op, I was allowed to restart them 7 days out, but I just gradually reintroduced them one at a time and I would spread them out throughout the day, instead of trying to take them all at once (I was on garlic, coq10, Vitamin C, and Omega 3). Oh, and my nutritionist also wanted me to start a probiotic, so I started that 7 days out. I am also on a prescription for birth control and I took that all the way through after discussing it with my surgeon. I didn't miss a single day of it, although on the day of my surgery, I had to wait until after surgery to take it, whereas I usually always take it in the morning.

I didn't puree a single thing through my pureed stage. However, I was allowed scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, and shredded tuna and chicken. Ask your nutritionist or surgeon if you are allowed any of those things. I tried tuna salad early, but it was too much, so I didn't try it again until later in my pureed stage, but I ate a lot of the Ricotta Bake mentioned above, cottage cheese, scrambled egg with melted cheese, and a slow-cooker Indian Chicken dish that my husband makes that results in very soft, shredded chicken. And two protein shakes a day, of course.

If you are going to stray from your liquids that early on, crackers are a terrible choice! I'm not allowed to eat anything crispy or crunchy for three MONTHS post-op!

You're hungry because you truly are starving. It will get easier when you can have protein shakes and full liquids again. But right now you are getting next to no calories at all, so of course you are hungry.

I had surgery on September 1, so just over a month out.

Keep in mind that bypass and sleeve are two different surgeries. RNY leaves a stomach pouch the size of an egg. VSG leaves a sleeve that will hold 4-6 ounces. But yes... you will be shocked at how tiny your portions are post-op. And you won't have multi-course meals! That is for sure!

I'm so jealous! I've lost almost 40 pounds (24 pre-op and 15 post-op) and I still haven't gone down a pants size. Though, truthfully I think that's because I was SQUEEZING into pants that were much to small for me before and now they are loose and baggy, but not falling off yet.

Being put to sleep is the best part! You wake up and it's magically all over! Seriously though, as far as surgeries go, this one is pretty mild. It may seem extreme to have almost your whole stomach removed, but if you look at the actual studies, VSG has a lower mortality rate than a knee replacement! You'll be fine.

My surgeon has me on a PPI for a full two months post-op, so I haven't had any reflux issues and I'm hopeful I won't have any after I go off the meds in another month.

I think if you are month out and still having trouble swallowing, you might want to talk to your surgeon. My discomfort from swallowing subsided after about a week and a half. Of course, I didn't have a hernia repair, so that may be factoring into it.

Glad to read such a positive post from you after the troubles and doubts you were having a while back. It sucks that you had to jump through so many hoops (multiple times from the sound of it!), but you persevered and now you are in the home stretch. Here's hoping you get a surgery date soon!

I would assume he's already discussed his reflux with his doctor and, like others have said, maybe he's having a hiatal hernia repair at the same time. But I don't see any reason NOT to talk to him if he's a friend. Just make sure you approach it in such a way that you don't come off as though you think he's made a bad decision.

Oh! I forgot to mention! One thing that helped me sometimes in those early days was to march in place while I was trying to drink.

It sucks so bad in the beginning and it's hard to keep perspective. But, I promise you it gets SO MUCH better! I'm a month post op now and I feel a billion times better than I did week 1. I honestly feel almost completely normal most of the time now and back during those early days I couldn't even remember what normal felt like. So hang in there!

Oh yeah. Then it's completely normal. The tissue of your stomach is still swollen from the surgery, so it's very sensitive and there's VERY little room in there for anything. For the first week and a half for me, every time I took even the TINIEST sip (like barely getting my tongue wet), there was this whole routine that my body went through. First there was this gurgling in my chest. Then my esophagus would constrict (painful part). Then I would have to burp. EVERY SINGLE sip was like that. But it got better and better and now I don't feel anything at all like that unless I am eating food way too fast or taking really big bites. So hang in there! Once the swelling goes down, things get MUCH easier.

My husband is the cook in my house and we don't have any kids. Since I started my pre-op diet (I'm now a month post-op) we typically just do our own thing for dinners. There are a couple of our old standby dinners that I can sort of eat now that I'm on soft foods. My husband makes an Indian dish with chicken in the slow-cooker and I was able to have that, just not over rice like I used to and in MUCH smaller quantities that I used to. Last night we had Jack Daniel's Pulled chicken (comes in a microwavable package), which was one of the old meals we used to have together. I just porting our my half into two servings and stored one in some Gladware to have later and ate the other serving out of a coffee cup. My husband obviously still had his on rolls. Other than the couple of meals that he makes that I can eat, he still makes the same things in the same quantities that he used to when we were both eating together, and saves the leftovers that would have been my half to have another night. It's working out pretty well so far. There have only been a couple of times when he's made something that used to be one of my favorites and I've been sad that I couldn't eat it with him. The one time that was SUPER hard was when he brought home leftover pizza from work. As soon as he started reheating that in the oven, I had to go up and lock myself in the bedroom. I couldn't even handle the smell of it, much less watching him eat it! Pizza is BY FAR my favorite food in the whole world and I just can't be near it right now without wanting to cry.

Check out the Self-Pay & Mexico Gastric Sleeve Surgery forum for LOTS of info on Mexico surgeons. I read a million posts on there while choosing my surgeon and it really helped me find the right surgeon for me. I had my surgery a month ago and everything went wonderfully! I hope you have as much success in choosing a surgeon and recovering from your operation as I did!

How far out are you from surgery? I had all sorts of discomfort while sipping for the first week and a half or so, but it was better once the swelling went down in my stomach.

It's tough. You have to find the right balance for you. If you are exercising a lot, then you need to up your calories in order to sustain that level of activity. It seems so counter-intuitive to eat more in order to lose more, but it really does work! I'm not doing intense exercise yet, but I was instructed to start doing 60-90 minutes of "brisk walking" at three weeks post-op. Well, at that point I was only getting under 600 calories a day and according to my heart rate monitor, 60 minutes of brisk walking was burning about 600 calories. Clearly I needed to eat more in order to be able able to sustain that. So I've worked very hard in the last two weeks to increase my calories and I've gotten up over 900 a couple of times. It's definitely made my walking easier, because now my heart rate doesn't go as high. When I get to increase my intensity and start weight training at two months post-op, I intend to try to get my calories up over 1100.

In Mexico the going rate seems to be $4500-$6500 including hospital and hotel stays, but not including plane tickets. You can get great surgeons in the lower end of that range, but I opted to go with the top end of the range in order to be 100% confident in my choice and I don't regret it.

I would tell. I'm 3 years out from plastics and my scars are still very visible when I'm naked. So there really is no keeping it secret unless the sex is in the dark. You want to mentally prepare your partner for seeing a scar that runs all the way around your body!

I emailed my FMLA paperwork to my surgeon's office (Obesity Control Center) and they filled them out, scanned them in, and emailed them back to me, which I forwarded on to my HR department. Didn't have any issues at all.

Well, I'm lucky on that front. My nutritionist is only making me stop drinking 5 minutes before eating and 20 minutes after. So it's not too bad. Plus I'm able to drink quite a bit of water pretty quickly now, especially during my 60-90 minute "brisk walks". The only time drinking water causes me discomfort now is first thing in the morning... the first few sips feel weird. Or if I really do try to take like 3 big swallows right in a row. Edit: My water schedule is usually something like a half cup between when I wake up and go to work, three cups while I'm at work, a cup and a half while I work out, and one and a half to two cups throughout the evening before bed.

I have been working hard to get my calories up, since I had to start exercising again. The nutritionist wanted me doing 60-90 minutes of "brisk walking" starting 3 weeks out and at that point I was lucky to be getting 600 calories a day. Now that I'm a month out and on soft foods, it's been WAY easier and I can consistently get about 850 calories per day. I think I'm pretty content sitting at 850 until I can increase my exercise intensity next month. I'm not supposed to increase my intensity above brisk walking until two moths post-op.