gal friday

Your pre-op diet is going to make your post-op diet super easy! I didn't have a pre-op diet, but post-op I got stuck in the hospital an extra week, and then had to go back in the following weekend because they discovered I had a serious (but unrelated) kidney disorder. But even though my surgery went great, they kept me on a diet of Clear liquids the whole time, even though if I were at home I'd be on standard liquids. When I got I home for good I switched to purees, which before the surgery I thought was going to be really hard. But it wasn't! After nearly two weeks of broth and Jello, purees were a slam dunk! I think the same will be true for you. My NP told me something that I had a hard time believing pre-op. She said that all of the dietary changes would seem less insurmountable because I would be getting rewarded every time I got on the scale on saw weight loss. I had a failed lap band for 8 years, so I really had a hard time believing that I could lose weight and not miss my old lifestyle. She was right!! I'm losing the weight, so I don't miss being able to eat a ton! I went into this surgery terrified that it was going to fail just like my lap-band did, but it's working, and I'm so happy! Even my husband, who supported me 100% but was unconvinced that the surgery would work, well even he is amazed, and happy to be proven wrong. I had a horrible recovery (because of the kidney problem, you won't go through what I did, it is an unbelievably rare disorder), and looking back on it (I'm only 8 weeks out, I remember it pretty clearly), it was worth every crappy second. The extra week in the hospital, the weekend in ICU with a kidney infection, eating jello and broth for every single meal - I'd do it all over in a heartbeat! I'm telling you, this is going to change your life and you are going to be so happy!

Just because I'm curious, why not use the same doctor? My dad and I did (he had a band).

Did she ever say why she stopped pursuing the surgery? We've got a seat saved for you on the loser's bench!

I'm not hungry all the time, but I do get hungry at really odd times - like when I've just finished a meal! I would call your surgeon and see what they say. I know from my own experience that if I take in less than 900-1000 calories per day, my body stops losing weight and makes me very hungry - my doctor says my body gets confused and thinks I'm starving (literally). It happened when I went back in the hospital for a kidney infection. So I try to stay just above 1000 calories per day. This may not be what's happening to you, but it never hurts to call your doctor - they've seen everything!

Yeah, if she's telling you you are going to be anorexic, she's a little toxic from jealousy. She's trying to reassure herself that she's better off by projecting onto you the worst outcomes. She might not be the best source of support for you post-op, you need positivity. My surgery was right before Thanksgiving, and my surgeon could have called to reschedule me for Halloween and I wouldn't have felt rushed!

I have a friend who had a band (like me) and it failed (like mine). So she transitioned to a sleeve (like me) and she lost a lot of weight, but then she got pregnant, ate whatever she wanted, gained more weight than she lost on the sleeve and then gained back the weight she lost on the band. She transitioned to a DS about a month before my sleeve surgery. For months, she pressured me to get the DS. Because she is long distance, I couldn't see what she was eating, so I had no way of knowing if this was a true failure of her surgeries. So because 8 years with a failed band made me paranoid that I was the failure, not the band really took a toll, I just started thinking the sleeve would fail, and that I really needed a DS (even though my BMI was 36.1). When I brought it up to my NP at a pre-op visit, she demanded to see the texts from my friend. With her experience, she was able to tell right away what was going on. "This is behavioral. Your friend has a lot of excuses, I can't believe her surgeon is doing a third surgery. Look at all of the excuses she has for her weight gain! I've known you for almost 10 years, and you don't do this. You are honest about your failings." My NP was right, my friend had excuse after excuse. When I feel tempted to eat a cookie, or ice cream, I pull out my phone and read her texts. I do eat junk food sometimes (I had half an Oreo last night), but the threat of a DS is enough to keep me from doing something stupid over and over and over until it becomes a pattern.

Go to the ER. At 5 weeks post op, this may not be related to the sleeve. You may have a stomach bug, and you may need IV fluids. Better safe than sorry I think.

I didn't have to do a pre-op diet (other than Weight Watchers), but I am 8 weeks post op, and once I got past the pureed food stage, it didn't feel like a diet anymore. I do sometimes eat decidedly non-diet food. I have snagged some of my pre-schooler's french fries on occasion, and I had a small slice of birthday cake at my niece's birthday party. So I eat real food, I'm just eating a whole lot less of it. The only time I feel frustrated is at restaurants sometimes. The portions are so huge, but my brain is used to eating the whole portion, and it takes restraint not to try (I'm sure this will get better). I had a rough recovery (not due to the surgery, they uncovered a kidney disease I didn't know I had which which dididn't mesh well with the recovery), and despite all of the hospital time and just general insanity, I'm glad I had the surgery done. Once you see the weight start flying off, it's so rewarding.

Yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed by respond to the glass of wine. I mean, it affected me more quickly than wine did in the past, there's no way I could have driven a car, but I wasn't dancing-on-the-tables drunk like my dietician acted like I would be. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but at least I'm a slightly cheaper date.

You are correct. The Vitamin and supplement industry has a well funded and powerful lobby that has managed to keep vitamins/supplements away from the prying eyes of the FDA. I just grabbed my bottle of B12, from a nationally recognized brand, and it has the same exact label - all of them do.

The main reason the alcohol is limited in some fashion post-op is because there is an alarmingly high rate of alcoholism in post-bariatric patients. This is likely caused by something known as addiction transfer, where one addiction (food) gets swapped for another (alcohol). The first 2 months post-op are the most dangerous window, so it is common for surgeons to forbid alcohol during that time period, though some ban it for much longer. I had my first drink at 8 weeks post op (this evening actually), and it was a glass of Riesling. I am not likely to experience addiction transfer, because I did not have food addiction prior to my surgery, but my father experienced addiction transfer after his lap-band 12 years ago, becoming a functional alcoholic for ~5 years (fortunately substance addiction does not run in my family). I advise waiting at least 8 weeks after surgery before drinking, just in case. And my dietician stressed that you have your first drink at home, because you will metabolize alcohol differently with your new stomach - she has had more than one patient embarrass themselves because they got drunk unexpectedly after three sips of wine. (I didn't get drunk, but that glass of Riesling hit me harder than usual!).

Oh lord, I miss seltzer and soda. I take sips here and there from my husband's sodas if we go out to eat, but I made him swear that the only sodas he would keep in the house would be the ones I think are disgusting (you'd have to pay me to drink root beer or Dr. Pepper). When all else fails, I will get a small coke slurpee from 7-11. But otherwise, I'm a flat beverage kind of girl now.

I had the band revised to a sleeve two months ago today! Things were challenging because I had complications from a rare and serious renal disorder I didn't know I had until post-op, but surgically speaking, it's been good. The searing pain of reflux so severe it damaged my vocal cords is GONE! The daily disappointment when I stepped on the scale - ADIOS! I have lost nearly 30lbs* in less than 8 weeks - I'm down 4 pants sizes and I'm 1lb away from my pre-baby weight, which is like 7 years ago. The next time I drop a clothing size, I'm going to have to go BUY clothes, it's been that long since I weighed this little! Oh, and my type 2 diabetes? I don't need medicine for it anymore, and I don't have to follow a diet for it either. I just eat healthy, that's it. My BP was never a serious issue, but I'll bet that's down too. Sure, I throw up, and throwing up sucks. And it's not easy completely learning a new way to eat. Also I'm really bummed to give up carbonated beverages. And having had a nightmarish first month (because of the kidney disorder you don't have, so you don't have to worry about it) well, that was really hard, but when things were rough, I would step on the scale and voila, I had a smile on my face (*30lbs may not sound like much, but I am on the bottom end of the scale of of who is allowed to get the surgery, so 30lbs is halfway to my goal weight.)

My Upper GI and Endoscopy showed no signs of slippage or other trauma, so mine were done at the same time. I had no surgical complications, I think the surgery took about 4 hours. I knew I was getting the sleeve, so there was no sense in splitting up the surgeries and facing the risks of anesthesia twice. The revision worked great, I'm down 28lbs and 4 pant sizes in just 8 weeks!