heidikat72

awesome NSV! I took one of my nieces to see a movie sunday afternoon and realized I am going to have to start bringing a sweater to the movies - even in a long sleeve tshirt I was freezing! and i never used to get cold...ever.

Centrum has an adult chewable - actual chewable, not the gummies. Can be somewhat hard to find in stores, I ordered on amazon. But they are an adult complete vitamin and chewable - orange flavor (somewhat reminiscent of the old school chewable baby aspirin). You should only need chewables for a short while until you can easily swallow regular vitamins again.

There are so many variables at play with regard to rate of weight loss - please don't make comparisons to others, it will drive you nuts. Follow your plan and keep active and the weight will come off.

Take a deep breath...now exhale. You just did major trauma to your body - it is confused and reeling and trying to heal. The only important thing right now is to heal - focus on fluids and protein and stay off the scale. You got pumped full of IV fluids in the hospital and most leave the hospital weighing a bit more than when they went in because of fluid retention. In fact, at my 2 week followup appointment - I hadn't lost anything - not even a tenth of a pound! Nothing to worry about. I still ended up losing 22lbs that first month. Seriously - focus on healing, the weightloss will come.

yes the chicken soup one is amazingly good - and such a nice savory change from sweet shakes of any brand!

I just looked up the nutrition stats on a couple of the flip flavors and in my opinion, the carb count is too high. My preference for yogurt are the dannon light and fit greek yogurt followed by the oikos triple zero. Other breakfast options I use are low fat cottage cheese or a scrambled/hard boiled egg.

I was about 5 or 6 days post op before I turned the corner and could get fluids in more easily. Just keep at it with the sipping - seriously, the first couple days home i would start sipping at 6 am and not stop until midnight and still only get about 44oz in. Then one morning the sips went down MUCH easier. Most programs don't want you doing any core exercise until 6 weeks out so you can heal. However, you can walk walk walk starting immediately. Just try to walk a little further/longer each time. At 6 weeks I added in some resistance band work and more intense exercise DVD's.

The Protein powders are such a personal matter of taste. For me, the unjury ones are my favorites. Did you make the strawberry sorbet with Water? I made it with crystal light lemonade and it wasn't bad. I do the same thing with the fruity Syntrax nectar powders - mix with crystal light - cuts the "protein-y" taste and smell a bit. The isopure zero crab ready to drink are a good option for the clear liquids phase - you can find them easily at any GNC - although I'll be honest, while I didn't think they were horrible tasting, I struggled to get those down and I would only drink half a bottle a day and then switch to drinking something else.

I take two stool softeners a day. and Milk of Magnesia once a week. which has worked out ok up until this week, doesn't seem to be working anymore. (I'm 9 weeks out today).

I am OVER the chronic constipation...my only real complaint about the process.

You'll really have to check specifically with your insurance plan - ask for a copy of the actual plan. I know with mine that pre-diabetes would not have been considered a comorbidity - only full-fledged diabetes.

And my insurance plan required I not gain even a pound during my 6 month supervised period. I didn't have to lose but I could not gain from one appointment to the next or the 6 month clock would start over. I'll just offer up that even if your plan requires a 3 or 6 month supervised period - don't fret about it. I was upset at first but honestly I needed that time to get all the pre-op testing done and learn as much as possible and really truly prepare myself for post-op life. And it seriously went by faster than i could have imagined!

I'll throw an alternate idea out there. A salt craving can indicate a potential mineral deficiency or other problem that your body interprets as a need for salt. Since you say the salt cravings seem to be a new thing for you - talk to your primary about this new craving. If it turns out to be more of a "head craving" than an actual physiological one, then seek therapy for ways to deal with/get past the craving rather than giving in to it.

I never cease to be amazed at the things I learn about on this forum. Clearly, I've been very sheltered up to this point! hahahahahahahaha

I just commented about this the other day! I had surgery in June and I sweat so much less now! In fact I was outside saturday afternoon for 3+ hours in 99 degree heat and barely broke a sweat - think "glistening" instead of dripping. It is a great side effect!

Mild reflux probably won't prevent you from getting sleeved - but only surgeon can give an definite answer on that. You may have to play with dosages of reflux meds for a while after surgery. There are people in my support group who had reflux before sleeve and just had to really work on finding the right dosage after but for most of them, they were still eventually able to come off the reflux meds.

Don't stress about it. As other's have said - it is mainly to make sure you understand the surgery, the risks, the post-op plan and why the different phases and progressions and rules are there, and that you have realistic expectations. They also want to check that you have a support system (any support system - doesn't have to be your family). I don't think you can "fail" the evaluation, they may recommend you get some counseling to help with any underlying issues and they do it from the standpoint of wanting you to be as successful as possible.

sadly I won't be at the valley forge one this month (have to go out of town that weekend for my niece's birthday party) but hopefully I'll see you at another support group meeting soon!. Smaller crowd at valley forge (I wish they had them every month). The perelman center ones draw a bigger crowd and there are some vets who are several years out that come regularly who provide great insight! Even though you only need to attend one pre-op, try to go to as many as you can pre-op. Everyone's stories definitely help prepare you for what to expect. My one advice for HUP is do not assume you will end up in the bariatric surgery ward after surgery. They tell you that at the info session - that post-op the ward you are in is all bariatric surgery patients and nurses who only deal with those patients. Not true - where my room was, they had never had another bariatric surgery patient before and the nurses didn't know the protocol at all. I had to keep explaining things to them. Seriously, the day after surgery they tried to get me to drink ginger ale with a straw at least 5 times times. and every time I refused (explaining why), they would bring me full caffeine coffee which I then had to explain why I couldn't have caffeine. So make sure you ask enough questions of the nurses at your nutrition class and the pre-admissions appointment that you fully understand what needs to happen post surgery while you are in the hospital.

call and ask to speak to her directly

Greetings back from Montgonery county, PA! I live in Pottstown and also had my surgery at HUP (June 17th) with Dr Kristoff Dumon (same practice as Dr Williams). I have a desk job as well. Stayed out of work 2 weeks but probably should have taken a third off just because I was still very tired all the time. Plus week 3 (when I went back to work) is also when you transition from full liquids to purees and have to start separating out drinking and eating. So between those 30 minute windows and being "distracted" by work - it was hard to get all my fluids in that week. I think if I had stayed home that week to get the whole drink, wait 30 minutesm eat, wait 30 minutes, drink again routine down before adding in the additional variable of work it would have been easier. Pain-wise you'll most likely be fine - my pain post-op was very mild - did half the prescribed amount of narcotics once i got home for about 4 days and then switched to plain old tylenol twice a day for another 5 days or so. Was completely off pain meds by the time I went to work. Let me know if you have any questions about HUP or the Penn Medicine protocols etc. Do you attend any of the support group meetings? I go to the saturday ones at the perelman center regularly and try to make the valley forge ones when they have them. they are a great resource!

I would request a face to face meeting through the HR director's admin. A week is plenty long to wait for a response.

While I was allowed yogurt as soon as I started full liquids - on day 3 post op, I didn't actually try it until two days before my 2 week post op appointment. Honestly, before that I don't think i would have done well with it because of the thickness. even when I did try it - I only had one ounce very slowly per day for a while, then 2 ounces. Last week (week 8 post op) was the first time I ate a half carton (little over 2.5oz) at a time. So this early out - if you're struggling, back off it for a while and try it again in another week or so.