Pac-woman

You do have to feel comfortable and confident in the person that is going to slice you up. ( not to sound morbid, but it is the reality) But other than other things you have been seeing about this surgeon that one statement he made was not an "wrong" statement. Surgeons can only do their best. They do textbook surgery. But so many things can happen that is out of their hands that this is probably why his response was the way it was. In other words, he is telling the person....have faith as faith has a much higher power than he can ever have, as he is just a man with flaws like any other.

I feel that I need to share a statement that was written by someone who is a friend of my coworker. I wish I knew who it was so I can give proper credits. But this statement will really explain how it is to people who dare to say that "surgery is the way out". There is absolutely NOTHING easy about weight loss surgery. Enjoy. Why surgery is the "easy way out" for weight loss! Yep, you heard that right. I've decided that I agree with the myriad non-surgical, gym-loving, overwhelming weight loss successes that feel strongly (and vocally) that surgery is the easy way out. They really are correct. We all should be ashamed of ourselves for taking the shortcut approach and racking up an "un-earned win". Just think about it. To successfully lose weight without surgery, all you have to do is two things: eat less exercise often With surgery, you only have to do one thing: pay a surgeon to make you lose weight Well, perhaps that's a minor oversimplification. There are a few other steps, but they are tiny and insignificant. Not everyone has to do them either! But, just for the sake of objectivity I’ll list most of them that I can think of. (I might miss a couple, but since surgery is the easy way out who cares really.) Let’s see, there is: Convince yourself that you want to do this. This is much more complicated than it seems, so take your time. Don’t get sick before you make a decision. Convince your doctor that this is medically necessary. Convince him/her that you really do want this and you aren’t just someone unwilling to sweat a little. Convince them that you won’t die on the table. Convince them that you aren’t doing this so you can keep eating cake for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Because that’s the only reason big people are big people. Spend anywhere between 3 months and a year working with your PCP to make a preliminary run at losing weight. This should include: A special diet Exercise Constant office visits to measure progress Significant expense to participate in the diet (Nutrisystem, Medifast, and Jenny Craig, I’m looking at you!) Lots of documentation Likely (if not anticipated) painful, humiliating failure (PS, this is a requirement!) [*] Spend hours to days or more working with your insurance company website, phone reps, and via letter to determine if weight loss surgery is covered at all, assuming they will admit to it. [*] Once you find out it is covered, find out what exactly is covered. Type of surgery, location, type of doctors required, pre-op programs necessary, pre-op medical requirements, pre-op diet requirements, and documentation. Make sure you understand it all clearly because… [*] Meet with your PCP to go over all of the above. Explain to them what most of it means, because they don’t understand. Make sure your work so far will meet the needs of the insurance company. Convince him/her to do the work to get the approval. If not, return to step 1 and try again. (Note: make sure you do all of this quickly- most of these rules are subject to change on January 1, even if you have a 12 month diet requirement. You’ll need to find a way to violate the laws of space and time on your own.) [*] Get a psych evaluation. People who want this surgery are invariably crazy, so we need to confirm that. Don’t use a doc you know. Go somewhere you’ve never been so that they can get that first-blush, cover of the book impression of your particular brand of crazy in the 45 minutes you get with them. Let them write their report confirming your “crazy flavor” to your docs and insurance. They will approve you anyway. [*] Take an online class that confirms the crazy diagnosis. [*] Take another online class that basically tells you if you have the surgery you will likely die horribly on the table, if you’re lucky. You might just become a vegetable and be a possibly fabulous looking skinny burden on everyone you know and love! [*] Find a surgeon that can both perform the surgery (practically, legally, and allowable by the insurance) as well as doing so without causing Errors Infections Hernias Leaks Death [*] Make sure that doc can take your insurance. Not just yoru insurance, but your exact insurance. This may require them to check at least a dozen contracts. [*] Do the same for the hospital. [*] Make sure that hospital you’ll have the surgery in isn’t a festering wound itself. The surgeon can only do so much if when you get to the floor you’re placed in the same bed last used by an Ebola patient with a cold and cleaned by “Blind Larry”. Fortunately there are many websites sponsored by government agencies to help you with this. They will all disagree with each other. [*] Get insurance authorization to have the surgery. Fortunately this process starts the weight loss, as one arm and one leg weigh a surprising amount when removed and given to them. This should take no more than a day or two, tops. [*] Have a discussion with your employer. Let them know that you’ll need a full week off from work in the near future. You know, when you aren’t busy and won’t be missed. Again, if you’re lucky you’ll have vacation and can use that. If not, think of how much extra weight you’ll lose when you can’t afford to eat for lack of a paycheck! OH, you may need more than a week. If you come out healthy. If not, it’ll be more. A lot more. [*] Have a discussion with your family, if you haven’t yet. If you haven’t yet, shame on you for your discretion, personal space, and recognition of the gravity of this decision. Make sure that you convince them that you won’t die, runaway with David Beckham or Eva Longoria (or both if you’re flexible), or otherwise ruin the home. [*] Get answers to all of the questions you have. Fortunately ObesityHelp is a great place for that. You will get no less than 10 answers to every question. Some may actually agree. ☺ [*] Make sure that this is really what you want. This isn’t like buying a car or getting married. This is permanent and there is no going back. Still confident this is the right choice? Now you know your flavor of crazy from item 7. [*] Go on a liquid diet. You may not have anything that you cannot “read a newspaper through”, is solid, has calories, has carbs, has protein, has flavor, or is made of a natural substance. This will last anywhere from two days to a month. Your surgeon will tell you how long. [*] While on the clear liquid diet, please try not to cheat on the diet. More importantly, please try not to defecate on yourself. Here’s a mantra for you: “Never trust a fart!” [*] Have the surgery. This will include: Large, but not quite large enough gowns with special butt exposing panels Freezing rooms Needle fears Vein scavenger hunts Panic attacks Several other fun moments no one will spoil for you to discover [*] Recover from the surgery. This will include: Amazing drugs that will make you fear for the poor 110lb nurse that will help you walk at first. Please don’t fall during this time or you will crush her. You’ll fear this, but only briefly (great drugs remember). Just don’t fall. Walking. Yes, you’ve just had your entire insides rearranged and have more stitching in you than a rented tuxedo, but hey, let’s go for a walk. Every hour. Eating. This is really a game. You have a 3ish ounce container that replaces your stomach. It is swollen, but you don’t really know how much. If you over fill it, you will be in serious pain, and may hurt yourself severely. Here’s the fun part- you’ll be given a selection of hald a dozen clear liquids to choose from. Some will make you retch. Some will taste like heaven. All are more than 3 oz. You- the person who’s complained that Mickey D’s quarter pounders have never once been a quarter pound – now get to determine what 3 oz looks like. Don’t forget two very important things. [*] Going to a bathroom. The author of this article is a male, so with that perspective in mind, consider the male stereotype of urinating. Now imagine that sharpshooter in the hands of someone who cannot see straight, or single vision, is falling asleep on their feet, whose prostate is not yet awake from surgery but whose bladder most definitely is, and who is currently on their 4th IV bag of saline with lactated ringers running wide open. Don’t forget to measure your output! [*] Go home! This is the easy part. Stuff your swollen and now anesthesia free self into a car and try to avoid potholes, cough, sneeze, or breathe too hard. [*] Continue the clear liquid diet for a few more days [*] Progress to protein drinks. These are a joy. There are few if any samples, so make sure you get the 5lb bottle to be sure you love it. [*] Progress to pureed or baby food [*] Progress to cat food or tuna [*] Progress to gourmet cat food or flavored tuna / canned chicken [*] Progress to dog food or chunky soups / heavily cooked soft and unflavored chicken [*] Progress to human food. During this time you will need to learn a few things. These will include: How to eat. Remember you’ve been doing it wrong all your life so this should be easy. You may only have dense protein. You must take in no more than 3-4 oz. You must take an entire 30 minutes in which to do so. You may not drink before, during, or after the meal. You may not have anything spicy. You may not have anything with carbs. No alcohol for at least 6 months, or maybe forever. Nothing liquid. Carbonated anything is permanently off the menu for the rest of your life. Nothing with caffeine. Nothing with less than a 10:1 ratio of protein to carbs Keep calories as low as possible. Learn to keep something that meets all of your dietary needs handy. If you need to eat, not every place can meet your “special needs”. Make sure that you understand that you need to do this for the rest of your life. You can’t change this. Non Surgical people can indulge once and awhile. They can cheat. We rupture. [*] Please remember to keep your intake to levels that would make Ethiopians send you food. This is generally 800 calories, less than 40 carbs, and more than 80 grams of protein per day. You must do all of this in 3 meals with no snacks. [*] Take your supplements: Calcium. Note that it isn’t the same calcium that you can get for a dime on any gas station shelf (Calcium Carbonate). This is a highly refined form of easily absorbable calcium (Calcium Citrate). It will come in three forms: A disgusting snot textured liquid found at Wal-Mart for $11 per week, a myriad of chewable pills that all taste like flavored drywall and cost about $20 per month, and delicious chewable candies that cost $40 per month. Multivitamin. You’ll be doing double doses. Get the adult gummy ones. Find the ones with no carbs. Fiber. Get the adult gummy ones. Find the ones with no carbs. Iron. Some people will take iron. Get chewables. B12. You can do pills under your tongue that taste like yesterday’s fish for $10/month, injections at the doc’s office every 3 weeks, or a nasal spray that costs $350/month. Do all of the above for the rest of your life. Don’t stop or you’ll die. [*] Start to exercise! What, you thought that you didn’t have to exercise? Yep, here’s the trick. You are going to lose weight even if you don’t. Here’s the other trick. It’s easier to take that weight from your bones and muscles if you don’t exercise, so if you don’t work out, all that’s left will be fat! [*] No really, you have to exercise. [*] Yes, that means sweating. [*] Make sure that while you’re going through this easy time in which every hormone you have is at full tilt, every part of your body looks and feels funny, nothing fits, and you generally are proud that you’re losing while also being weirded out by how different everything feels you also take into account everyone else. Remember, this is about them and how they perceive you. You can’t be the popular kid. The healthy person without diabetes, hypertension, edema, or apnea. The more confident employee. The more confident lover. The physically stronger person. The person who wants attention. The person with self-esteem. You need to apologize frequently for these failures and must work hard to gently help these people along to where they can think of you as a lesser person for altogether different reasons than they did before, to preserve their psyche. Stop making your weight loss about you. See? Even with these minor things, it’s obvious. Surgery is the easy way out. Don’t be a sucker. Be strong, and just eat less, and exercise more. It’s that simple! You are stoned on anesthesia. Your judgment aint what it should be. So is your stomach. It’s not going to help you by saying “I’m full” for about 2 weeks to a month.

Here is a statement that was passed on to me regarding the "easy way out" reference. So, it is my turn to pass this on. Enjoy. Why surgery is the "easy way out" for weight loss! Yep, you heard that right. I've decided that I agree with the myriad non-surgical, gym-loving, overwhelming weight loss successes that feel strongly (and vocally) that surgery is the easy way out. They really are correct. We all should be ashamed of ourselves for taking the shortcut approach and racking up an "un-earned win". Just think about it. To successfully lose weight without surgery, all you have to do is two things: eat less exercise often With surgery, you only have to do one thing: pay a surgeon to make you lose weight Well, perhaps that's a minor oversimplification. There are a few other steps, but they are tiny and insignificant. Not everyone has to do them either! But, just for the sake of objectivity I’ll list most of them that I can think of. (I might miss a couple, but since surgery is the easy way out who cares really.) Let’s see, there is: Convince yourself that you want to do this. This is much more complicated than it seems, so take your time. Don’t get sick before you make a decision. Convince your doctor that this is medically necessary. Convince him/her that you really do want this and you aren’t just someone unwilling to sweat a little. Convince them that you won’t die on the table. Convince them that you aren’t doing this so you can keep eating cake for Breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Because that’s the only reason big people are big people. Spend anywhere between 3 months and a year working with your PCP to make a preliminary run at losing weight. This should include: A special diet Exercise Constant office visits to measure progress Significant expense to participate in the diet (Nutrisystem, Medifast, and Jenny Craig, I’m looking at you!) Lots of documentation Likely (if not anticipated) painful, humiliating failure (PS, this is a requirement!) Spend hours to days or more working with your insurance company website, phone reps, and via letter to determine if weight loss surgery is covered at all, assuming they will admit to it. Once you find out it is covered, find out what exactly is covered. Type of surgery, location, type of doctors required, pre-op programs necessary, pre-op medical requirements, pre-op diet requirements, and documentation. Make sure you understand it all clearly because… Meet with your PCP to go over all of the above. Explain to them what most of it means, because they don’t understand. Make sure your work so far will meet the needs of the insurance company. Convince him/her to do the work to get the approval. If not, return to step 1 and try again. (Note: make sure you do all of this quickly- most of these rules are subject to change on January 1, even if you have a 12 month diet requirement. You’ll need to find a way to violate the laws of space and time on your own.) Get a psych evaluation. People who want this surgery are invariably crazy, so we need to confirm that. Don’t use a doc you know. Go somewhere you’ve never been so that they can get that first-blush, cover of the book impression of your particular brand of crazy in the 45 minutes you get with them. Let them write their report confirming your “crazy flavor” to your docs and insurance. They will approve you anyway. Take an online class that confirms the crazy diagnosis. Take another online class that basically tells you if you have the surgery you will likely die horribly on the table, if you’re lucky. You might just become a vegetable and be a possibly fabulous looking skinny burden on everyone you know and love! Find a surgeon that can both perform the surgery (practically, legally, and allowable by the insurance) as well as doing so without causing Errors Infections Hernias Leaks Death Make sure that doc can take your insurance. Not just yoru insurance, but your exact insurance. This may require them to check at least a dozen contracts. Do the same for the hospital. Make sure that hospital you’ll have the surgery in isn’t a festering wound itself. The surgeon can only do so much if when you get to the floor you’re placed in the same bed last used by an Ebola patient with a cold and cleaned by “Blind Larry”. Fortunately there are many websites sponsored by government agencies to help you with this. They will all disagree with each other. Get insurance authorization to have the surgery. Fortunately this process starts the weight loss, as one arm and one leg weigh a surprising amount when removed and given to them. This should take no more than a day or two, tops. Have a discussion with your employer. Let them know that you’ll need a full week off from work in the near future. You know, when you aren’t busy and won’t be missed. Again, if you’re lucky you’ll have vacation and can use that. If not, think of how much extra weight you’ll lose when you can’t afford to eat for lack of a paycheck! OH, you may need more than a week. If you come out healthy. If not, it’ll be more. A lot more. Have a discussion with your family, if you haven’t yet. If you haven’t yet, shame on you for your discretion, personal space, and recognition of the gravity of this decision. Make sure that you convince them that you won’t die, runaway with David Beckham or Eva Longoria (or both if you’re flexible), or otherwise ruin the home. Get answers to all of the questions you have. Fortunately ObesityHelp is a great place for that. You will get no less than 10 answers to every question. Some may actually agree. ☺ Make sure that this is really what you want. This isn’t like buying a car or getting married. This is permanent and there is no going back. Still confident this is the right choice? Now you know your flavor of crazy from item 7. Go on a liquid diet. You may not have anything that you cannot “read a newspaper through”, is solid, has calories, has carbs, has Protein, has flavor, or is made of a natural substance. This will last anywhere from two days to a month. Your surgeon will tell you how long. While on the clear liquid diet, please try not to cheat on the diet. More importantly, please try not to defecate on yourself. Here’s a mantra for you: “Never trust a fart!” Have the surgery. This will include: Large, but not quite large enough gowns with special butt exposing panels Freezing rooms Needle fears Vein scavenger hunts Panic attacks Several other fun moments no one will spoil for you to discover Recover from the surgery. This will include: Amazing drugs that will make you fear for the poor 110lb nurse that will help you walk at first. Please don’t fall during this time or you will crush her. You’ll fear this, but only briefly (great drugs remember). Just don’t fall. Walking. Yes, you’ve just had your entire insides rearranged and have more stitching in you than a rented tuxedo, but hey, let’s go for a walk. Every hour. Eating. This is really a game. You have a 3ish ounce container that replaces your stomach. It is swollen, but you don’t really know how much. If you over fill it, you will be in serious pain, and may hurt yourself severely. Here’s the fun part- you’ll be given a selection of hald a dozen Clear liquids to choose from. Some will make you retch. Some will taste like heaven. All are more than 3 oz. You- the person who’s complained that Mickey D’s quarter pounders have never once been a quarter pound – now get to determine what 3 oz looks like. Don’t forget two very important things. You are stoned on anesthesia. Your judgment aint what it should be. So is your stomach. It’s not going to help you by saying “I’m full” for about 2 weeks to a month. Going to a bathroom. The author of this article is a male, so with that perspective in mind, consider the male stereotype of urinating. Now imagine that sharpshooter in the hands of someone who cannot see straight, or single vision, is falling asleep on their feet, whose prostate is not yet awake from surgery but whose bladder most definitely is, and who is currently on their 4th IV bag of saline with lactated ringers running wide open. Don’t forget to measure your output! Go home! This is the easy part. Stuff your swollen and now anesthesia free self into a car and try to avoid potholes, cough, sneeze, or breathe too hard. Continue the clear liquid diet for a few more days Progress to Protein drinks. These are a joy. There are few if any samples, so make sure you get the 5lb bottle to be sure you love it. Progress to pureed or baby food Progress to cat food or tuna Progress to gourmet cat food or flavored tuna / canned chicken Progress to dog food or chunky Soups / heavily cooked soft and unflavored chicken Progress to human food. During this time you will need to learn a few things. These will include: How to eat. Remember you’ve been doing it wrong all your life so this should be easy. You may only have dense protein. You must take in no more than 3-4 oz. You must take an entire 30 minutes in which to do so. You may not drink before, during, or after the meal. You may not have anything spicy. You may not have anything with carbs. No alcohol for at least 6 months, or maybe forever. Nothing liquid. Carbonated anything is permanently off the menu for the rest of your life. Nothing with caffeine. Nothing with less than a 10:1 ratio of protein to carbs Keep calories as low as possible. Learn to keep something that meets all of your dietary needs handy. If you need to eat, not every place can meet your “special needs”. Make sure that you understand that you need to do this for the rest of your life. You can’t change this. Non Surgical people can indulge once and awhile. They can cheat. We rupture. Please remember to keep your intake to levels that would make Ethiopians send you food. This is generally 800 calories, less than 40 carbs, and more than 80 grams of protein per day. You must do all of this in 3 meals with no Snacks. Take your supplements: Calcium. Note that it isn’t the same calcium that you can get for a dime on any gas station shelf (Calcium Carbonate). This is a highly refined form of easily absorbable calcium (Calcium Citrate). It will come in three forms: A disgusting snot textured liquid found at Wal-Mart for $11 per week, a myriad of chewable pills that all taste like flavored drywall and cost about $20 per month, and delicious chewable candies that cost $40 per month. Multivitamin. You’ll be doing double doses. Get the adult gummy ones. Find the ones with no carbs. Fiber. Get the adult gummy ones. Find the ones with no carbs. Iron. Some people will take iron. Get chewables. B12. You can do pills under your tongue that taste like yesterday’s fish for $10/month, injections at the doc’s office every 3 weeks, or a nasal spray that costs $350/month. Do all of the above for the rest of your life. Don’t stop or you’ll die. Start to exercise! What, you thought that you didn’t have to exercise? Yep, here’s the trick. You are going to lose weight even if you don’t. Here’s the other trick. It’s easier to take that weight from your bones and muscles if you don’t exercise, so if you don’t work out, all that’s left will be fat! No really, you have to exercise. Yes, that means sweating. Make sure that while you’re going through this easy time in which every hormone you have is at full tilt, every part of your body looks and feels funny, nothing fits, and you generally are proud that you’re losing while also being weirded out by how different everything feels you also take into account everyone else. Remember, this is about them and how they perceive you. You can’t be the popular kid. The healthy person without diabetes, hypertension, edema, or apnea. The more confident employee. The more confident lover. The physically stronger person. The person who wants attention. The person with self-esteem. You need to apologize frequently for these failures and must work hard to gently help these people along to where they can think of you as a lesser person for altogether different reasons than they did before, to preserve their psyche. Stop making your weight loss about you. See? Even with these minor things, it’s obvious. Surgery is the easy way out. Don’t be a sucker. Be strong, and just eat less, and exercise more. It’s that simple!

Girl, a crouton. A CROUTON got stuck in me for a good 2 hours. I thought I was being slick and snuck in a crouton as I prepared a salad for my partner. HA. Since then, I only eat flat pretzels or saltines and that is only because it is holding some kind of Protein on it. I pile up the protein on it. I can barely fit 3 saltines. Two is comfortable. Also, saltines breaks down fast and doesn't get stuck like other things do. (Like that darn crouton). So, if you must, eat a wheat toast, a small one. But biscuits? I don't know honey,but that is just asking for trouble. Biscuits is full of butter or lard or both. There is nothing nutritional about it . Sure, it taste like heaven on wheels but, those same darn things is what got you (us) into this mess to begin with. I say, embrace a new way of eating. If you must have toast, have a healthy one.

I am going into my 5th week and I am finding eating so unpleasureable and an unhappy event. I miss looking forward to eating. Now, I just do it out of survival. I still feel comfortable with shakes, Protein bars, Soups, yogurt and cashews flat pretezels with no yeast. Everything else is a struggle. I try grilled chicken and chewing 1000 times is hard for me. Many times I have gotten the chicken stuck and I have had to throw up to feel better. Same thing with very soft moist roast pork. Doesn't work. I am really starting to wonder if it is not about swelling, but the stricture. Is it something they can loosen up? I miss gulping cold Water when I am really thirsty and the relief that comes with it. I can be in the hot sun and wanting to drink water, and I have to sip it slowly and frequently, it sucks and not satisfiying. I went to a festival today at a park. The food section had that strong fried smell. I was repulsed. I couldn't even breathe with out wanting to throw up. That smell was horrible. A smell that didn't bother me before. They had your typical stuff, fried cheese, donuts, corn dogs, hamburger, pizza, fries, fried fish, etc. I could not find one thing that was decent for me. Thank god I had a Protein Bar in my purse, it got me through the day. I kept looking at other people as they ate and I see kids with plates full of Cookies and sugar. I see heavy set girls with a plate full of fried, greasy food. You know the kind that you bite and the grease pops out? Yeah that. Eww. I would look at other people and the amount of bread in their sandwiches. Others were eating funnel cakes with lots of powder sugar and downing it with a regular pepsi. I was like wow. The things one notices when you are a bariatric patient post surgery is amazing. You start paying attention to all these details. At least I did. I was even looking at my BF as he was eating his fish and chips and thought wow....I need to get a life insurance policy on him. lol. Sounds mean I know, but paying attention to how he is eating and others, reminds me what I used to do. How can I not understand why I was fat? It is so obvious as to why. All I want now is to just be able to sit and have a normal dinner without worrying if it is going to get stuck. That is all i ask for. I don't care if it is a tiny portion. I just hate eating scared. It is how I feel about food now. I fear it.

I feel it is about balance. Having absolutely no carbs is unrealistic if you ask me in the long run. Saltines are great, somehow they do go down well. Doesn't mean you are going to eat a box of it. What I do , I get 3 saltines. I put a small slice of cheese and pile up shredded turkey from the deli (you can have them "shave" it, it is better than "thin". Two saltines go down well. Usually I have to stop on the third one half way because I get full. Another thing that goes well are the flat pretzels. The plain ones do not have yeast in the ingredients. Yeast is what makes bread grow. So these don't feel like they inflate inside you. lol http://www.abetterbagofgroceries.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Pretzel-Chips.jpg

The hardest part is getting the approval from the insurance company. You have an approval letter with a "date". However, if there are some testing to be done or finish , the date can always be pushed back. (Very important that the doctor's office keeps the insurance company updated of any surgery date changes, just to make sure the authorization in their system is updated as well, so there are no claims nightmare afterwards. But to be honest, usually the staff at the doctors office knows this since they do it so often. They know the protocol. ) Just be excited, but don't set your heart on that date until you get the "ok" from your surgeon, because it may move.

Thank you, I will keep that in mind. Mushies are okay, but when it comes to solids, I struggle.

I know how you are feeling. I have fought the idea of WLS for many years. I was totally against it. Yet, I tried working out, being active, careful of what I am eating (without success obviously) and my turning point was a trip to Canada. I went there for a wedding and when I saw I could not buckle the seatbelt in the airplane I wanted to die. I was so embarrassed that I flew the trip hiding the belt from the stewardess so she doesn't ask me or call me out. Stupid huh? Then I saw what I looked like in all the wedding pictures and I was at my heaviest at 275 and I literally looked like a cow in the dress. I couldn't stand the sight of myself. Then the walks up and down town in Canada tore my legs up. I had swollen legs every day. On the airplane back (same thing with the belt) and my ankles and feet looked like the size of elephants. They were so swollen and painful. I got home and after being pist with myself I made an appt with the surgeon for a consultation 4 days later. He recommended which one would be best for me, but I had to option to pick. I went with his recommendation the sleeve. Having the piece of organ taken out of you is not the hard part. I will be honest here and not sugar coat a thing. The hard part is: 1. Passing gas those first few days. They stuff you with so much air for surgery that it lingers. It is what actually feels painful. Once you fart (I am not kidding), you will see rainbows and butterflies. 2. Going through the motions of the eating phases and teaching your newborn tummy what to eat, and see how it reacts to it. Taste buds will change; stomach will be temperamental and may not like certain things. It is a journey and not an easy one by all means. I am at 5 wks post op and still struggle with solid foods, because if you chew to quick (yes you have to chew like a camel until the food becomes dust in your mouth before you swallow) food can get "stuck" in your esophagus giving you an uncomfortable feeling. Not life threaten, just pressure on your chest and you will want to barf it up to relieve yourself. This will teach you to slow down in your eating. (I am still learning). All the veterans say it gets easier, and it does a little daily and weekly. But nevertheless, it is a process to be dealt with. I personally, have no regrets as I am happy I have lost 44lbs so far from my heaviest weight back in May of 2014 when I started the entire process before and after surgery. I feel better, more energy, I smile in pictures more, I love myself a little more. I just have to learn how to eat properly with my new lifestyle and the quantity of a toddler. That is the honest truth.

Good for you Bill! Hope all goes well and if you feeling like asking or ranting...that is what the forum is for. We don't know each other on here, but we all help each other out with thoughts , ideas, and just a lending "ear" at times.

Here is the document I got http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9892/entry-33688-gastric-sleeve-documents-interesting-info-and-recipes/

I am no expert in medication, but I don't believe morphine is a proper pain killer for this type of surgery anyway. They will most likely give you Vicodin, or Percocet (I was given Percocet). And honestly, I used it on the first day home to go to sleep. I did again on the second day to make sure I sleep well since you have to sleep on your back. On the third day, I was over it. I was able to get a good rest because by then I did some walking (minimal) but some and it got me tired enough. Unless you have had a real issue in the past or you suspect something that may happen, I don't think you have an issue. But regardless, speak your concerns with your surgeon and Case Mgr/Nurse. BTW, at the hospital, I don't know what was in the IV bag, but I believe it wasn't morphine. I have had morphine for migraines(big mistake) and I don't like the way it made me feel. So I would certainly know if they have given it to me. Once they took my pain pump away, they had me on Loratabs. Makes you drowsy and sleepy and you sleep of your recovery time.

Lucky you! I have restriction of Water for a while now. I wish I can gulp water like I used to. Now I can't. Specially when you get the water burpees as I call it. It is funny you say that, I feel the same way. Turkey chili works great for me. But there is only so much you can eat of it every day. I am tired of chicken Soup too, so yeah.

I am afraid. I get full with just 2 ounces, 3 is pushing it. If I put lettuce, it will take up the space for the Protein. I have become afraid of solids to be honest. The only thing I know that goes down easy that is somewhat solid is Protein Bars. I have a follow up with the surgeon next Wed. I will be asking what is up with this.

Cracker pretzels have no yeast. I can eat 4 and be full

Yes, you will be a total mess and be on the pitty party train for yourself. Hunger will make anyone cranky and miserable, even worse for women I think. Specially around your period. It is normal. Hang on tight.

My pain was gone on the 7th day.

Gummy multivitamins from walmart.

I am in Florida and I wasn't told to go to a seminar or class. I got tidbits from the dietician and me reading online. Maybe the class would have helped. I wonder if it would have changed my mind?? I am having a hard time eating.

I was driving home from work dreaming of a meatball sub from subway of course. It is nice to dream. Got home and BF did homemade grilled burgers. Two bites and it got stuck. (I chewed! I drowned it in bbq sauce) So aggravated!

Look my blogs, i have a doc with recipes

Did u up your calorie intake? You could be in starvation mode