Pac-woman

If you got blue cross and your surgeon offers the nasal b12 once a week, the blues may pay for it. It is called Nascobal Home Delivery. They send you a package of the nasal spray, Calcium, multi and Iron.

@@2NewBeginningsxoxo check out my blog and download attachment. Vitamin info there. Got this from my surgeon and dietician at the hospital. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9892/entry-33688-gastric-sleeve-documents-interesting-info-and-recipes/

How bad is this hair loss. Are we talking like baldness?

@@RedSalamander every week it gets better. The recovery part is like riding a bicycle up a hill. Once you heal, you can ride the bike down the hill with your hands up in the air and legs stretched out yelling weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. lol

@@BLERDgirl Well said. Also, like my psych doc said once, "what is normal"? lol

Yes! I did read somewhere that wrap dresses will last longer through the weight loss too!

@@laurenella82 Girl, there is nothing about my 2x / 22w clothes I like. As a matter of fact, I keep getting coupons from Lane Bryant and I laugh at them. Like hell I am going to spend another dime in there. I am going to wear my stuff until it falls. Then I hear the best transition is dresses. They are more forgiving because it is okay for dresses to be lose as opposed to droopy pants.

@@2NewBeginningsxoxo HI there, I will give you my honest opinion being that I am 3 weeks out of surgery. Everything you felt I did and then some. First, I went with the surgery because of your very same reasons. Health issues. No doubt about it. This is not to become a diva, a fashionista, an Olympic athlete. This is to get off the "feeling like shit" wagon. Pre surgery jitters? _ I sure did. I was doing so well on the pre-op diet I said, I can do this myself. WRONG. I still went with the surgery because I knew deep down inside I am not disciplined that way. The only reason why I did so well on the preop diet is because of fear of contaminating myself for surgery or any other life threatening thing that may happen. Yes I cheated too. I even looked up how long it takes for digestion (2 hrs) so I know when I can cheat. (chicken soup never tasted so good). Normal life? - You will have a normal life once you get over the hump of healing. Which healing alone is 6-8 weeks, meaning you will eat like a chipmunk. I hear at 6 mths it starts getting better and at a full year, you will be able to eat a kid's portion meal and get full. (It will be up to you if you cheat, eat more and stretch it) Going out to dinner? It will be a struggle the first 6-8 weeks, no lie. On my8th day I went to Boston Market and got chicken soup. I was only able to put down 2 ounces of broth down. I had to take the rest home. Yes, it was embarrassing, and frustrating. But shit happens. Your esophagus is the size of a pencil because of swelling. So figure putting food down at the width of a pencil. Your taste buds will change after surgery. At first it will be a radical change. (But it gets better after a while). You will feel like a pregnant woman not liking anything and things that smelled good to you will stink. (It did for me anyway) You will be able to eat enough Protein with time, but at first they rather you concentrate on hydration if anything. The hair loss thing, I hear it comes like 4 mths after and it is temporary. Some shedding nothing dramatic. Heck we lose 100 hairs a day normally. When I stress, I can grab handful of hairs from my head in the shower. So that will be nothing new. Doesn't matter how many Vitamins or protein, it will happen from what I have read in the forums. (I am not there yet) Wrong foods? Your stomach will be so small at first that you will WANT something nutritional, and not crap. Because one noodle can fill you up. lol during your 6-8 weeks of internal healing you will know what your stomach can handle or not. It is your very own little newborn to nurse. You will go through a testing period of food. You will nibble here and there and see what you like or not like. Common sense will be to stick to protein first always. Enjoyment of food- Yes you will be able to enjoy food eventually after you heal and learn your quantity. Instead of having an entire wrap sandwich you will eat half. (You will have lots of leftovers!) Think of it like this, you will eat the portion that should be given to a child. It is nutritional and satisfactory with no gluttony whatsoever. Now, ask yourself. Do you want to be happy with food and fat forever? Do you want to diet on your own and fail eventually and start all over? Or do you want the surgery to help you have self control and live a happy energetic life without focusing on food as the main event?

Very well said and inspiring! Thanks

@@Ashy76 No problem girl. Believe me, I will be pulling my own post as a reminder, because when you are hungry and can't get the shit down, you forget what was said and get depressed. (I do). Can't wait til I can swallow with out worrying if it is going to go down or not. Yeah, he said pencil. You should have seen my eyes as he pointed to his pencil in his hand. I go back in a month and I am still in that stupid stall. But I understand..... The struggle is real!! lol

No problem, anytime!

I want everything I CAN"T have.

@@bewell could it be from the anesthesia? I made it a POINT to tell them that I get very nauseas after anesthesia which is no lie. They had cocktails of anti nausea ready for me. So if you don't feel well, stop heaving and throwing up and hurting yourself, grab a nurse and tell them you need nausea meds.

OMG. Before surgery, I always put my AC in "igloo" coldness. lol But now after surgery I actually put the heater (mind you I live in Florida) and I am always walking around with socks, and a sweater. Last night I put thermo underwear. Pure ridiculousness!

@@Ashy76 Hello there, I went to my follow up and I advised about my struggles with the calorie intake, the Water intake, the stuff getting stuck going down, blah blah blah. He advised that the first 8 wks, the insides are still swollen. Things should get easier after 6-8 wks or so. He explained that after surgery, the esophogus was at thick as a pencil. Imagine trying to put food through a pencil. Well, that is why it gets "stuck". He says if it is still uncomfortable, to stick to liquids and try again the following week. He said, each week should get a little easier. I asked about my stall and he said the body is in starvation mode because of the low calorie intake. Once I am able to increase the calories, it will leave starvation mode and start burning fat again (this includes exercise of course). However, right now....until I can increase my calorie intake, he is more concern with hydration. He rather me drink water all day and eat next to nothing, then not drink water and spend time trying to shove stuff down. Hydration will keep you out of the hospital and help your body heal. Because while we are going through this, your body is creating bile from all the crap we have stored internally from poor eating. So it is important to help flush it out. He said that the stomach is designed to stretch. Eventually, I will be able to eat a kid's portion of a meal and feel full faster than a normal person. Which prevents overeating. You really have to stretch the shit out of your stomach with food to be unsuccessful. Just got to be aware of what you eat when that "normal" period comes. So I am drinking water. Still I feel a little down today because today makes one month that I have not been able to sit down with a plate of food and eat. Getting by on shakes sucks. He actually even said to graze during this hard time to help increase calories. The max calories expected is 800 calories- 1000 is pushing it.

@@heynowkc Your surgeon/NUT should give you docs on what you will be taking after surgery. But I have a document that can help you get an idea and then you can compare to whatever your surgeon gives you. It is in my blog and it is an attachment. Has lots of good info. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9892/entry-33688-gastric-sleeve-documents-interesting-info-and-recipes/

Think kid's portion.

Sometimes older folks are the best to listen to. Just saying...... Struggles, pain, complications are not age prejuduce. But experience is a gold mine. Something to keep in mind

@@GreenEyes604 You just never know. My friend had the lapband. She lost a lot of weight, took her 5 yrs. Well, she had surgery for something else. Even though she advised of her lap band, for some reason, something went wrong in the operation room. Her esophogus is messed up and they had to deflate her band. She has gained half the weight back and still cannot put the band back on until her esophogus heals which is taking forever. Because of that reason, and because there are many nurses and CNAs still not familar with the sleeve surgery and all the complications that can come with it if directions are not followed, I think the bracelet is a good idea. Not to mention, there are many average people out of the healthcare field that are clueless when it comes to the sleeve. I know it would suck to wear one, but the idea is a proactive one.

@@shawnee1973 Found you, just added you! Yeah I have trouble with Water intake too. Same here, always did and now that it is more crucial to drink it....

Anyone ever heard of the Davinci Robot? This is what they used to do my sleeve. http://www.wonetwork.com/images/500_davinci-robotic-surgery.jpg

@@shawnee1973 Great thanks! I am on my fitness pal too under pugboston. Can we be friends? It would be helpful to try some of the things you are doing to see if I can increase. I had my follow up today and apparently, I am in starvation mode. But, they want me to focus on Water right now.....

@ check out my blog where I uploaded a document. It has the over the counter products that you can or cannot take after surgery. Plus other helpful items. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9892/entry-33688-gastric-sleeve-documents-interesting-info-and-recipes/

Anyone got good suggestions of where to get one that is not so expensive?