MacMadame

They pick the tests based on your medical history (and, to some extent their philosophy). I had a cardiac stress test because I told my surgeon that sometimes I get a pain in my shoulder when I exercise. Most people in my surgeon's practice don't get one. Some get a chest x-ray and some an Upper GI. I got the Upper Gi because of suspected hiatal hernia. But it turns out I really didn't need the stress test. My heart is in great shape. :biggrin: But better safe, than sorry... I did have a hiatal hernia though. It's good to know that ahead of time.

1) Weekend plans? Watch as much of the Ironman World Championships (Kona) as I can. A picnic with an old friend and his son who just got a lapband. A dinner dance tonight with my Ice Dancers group. Open Water Swim/Run brick tomorrow AM. 2) Beatles: Overrated or Musical Geniuses? Geniuses. I went through an Overrated period but my family has been playing Beatles Rock Band for over a month now and I'm not sick of it and have been enjoying the variety. There are very few artists out there that have their body of work and that you don't get sick of after a month of constant listening to. 3) Name something positive that happened to you this week. Apple replaced my iPhone that was acting up and now I have cell phone coverage again! Oh and I fixed a bug that I've been working on for over a month. (It's more of a feature than a true bug.) 4) Do you like your job? I like the work, but I hate my work situation so much that I can't even enjoy the work lately.

Okay, new weekend, new questions: 1) Weekend plans? 2) Beatles: Overrated or Musical Geniuses? 3) Name something positive that happened to you this week. 4) Do you like your job?

The Hawaii one is happening tomorrow. You can watch it on the web!

I remember when 30 min. on the treadmill was my max. You just have to build up slowly. There are still roller skating places around, but not as many as there used to be. If you hate the gym, how about Crossfit? My group meets in parks and we do something different every time. It's intense but SHORT.

I went up a cup size too at one point. Thankfully, I lost on top eventually so that I'm now well-proportioned and not overly top heavy.

My only complication was also from not getting enough Fluid. I passed a kidney stone. Yuck. But no blood or long-term damage. Guys... it's REALLY IMPORTANT to get enough fluid!

You definitely need to find something you love to do or you'll stop doing it. I love to swim and bike and I was willing to run because I wanted to do a triathlon. I'm totally hooked now and I even like the running! I never thought I'd say that. But there are other things. I like Pilates and Crossfit and TRX. There is also ballroom dancing and all the different classes at the gym where you workout to music. Some people like team sports and join leagues. There are so many choices out there!

I was rather impressed with myself. :thumbup: I thought it would take a lot longer. Instead, I had a top 20% finish in my age group! Top 30% among all the women regardless of age.

Btw, I finished the race in 2:11:07! I can't believe I did that fast... of course the winner did it in around an hour. :thumbup:

A lot of program say you can swallow pills the size of an M&M or smaller immediately after surgery. Mine did.

Yep. Going back to work takes a lot of energy out of you. That's not very much at all. Current recommendations for an unaltered, menstruating woman are 55 to 65 g a day. For those on a very low calorie diet (i.e., us), it should be somewhere in the 70-90 g a day range. Otherwise, you will lose too much lean muscle mass and not have any energy. A stall is when you go at least two weeks without losing. Not losing for a few days is completely normal and a result of Water fluctuations in your body. If weighing every day is getting you down, just weigh once a week. Then you won't see these minor fluctuations. There were times in the early days that I had to hide my scale as weighing every day was driving me insane. Now that I'm at goal, it's different and I weigh most days and watch what I eat whenever the scale goes over 113. http://VerticalSleeveTalk.com/vertical-sleeve-talk-forum-assistance-suggestions/267-vst-tickerfactory-ticker-tutorial-pictures.html

I blogged my early experiences. Link in my siggy.

You can't just stop drinking the Protein drinks when you go to mushies. Mushies are for learning to eat and for variety. You aren't going to get adequate nutrition from them. You are still getting most of your nutrition from liquids at this stage. And starvation mode is a myth. :001_wub: You don't have to worry about this - just worry about learning to eat again and making good nutritional choices. Over time you'll be able to eat more and the calories will take care of themselves.

1) Plans for the weekend San Jose Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon!! Tomorrow I pick up my race packet and probably go shopping for a Halloween costume. Sunday is the actual race. 2) What's your favorite food and has this changed since you got surgery (assuming you are post-op)? It used to be brownies. And Indian food. Now it's eggs. 3) What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Up! It was awesome, btw. 4) How many states have you lived in? Five, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, California.

New weekend. New questions!! 1) Plans for the weekend 2) What's your favorite food and has this changed since you got surgery (assuming you are post-op)? 3) What was the last movie you saw in the theater? 4) How many states have you lived in?

I have to be careful with pasta as I will think I'm done and later it expands and is painful. Sometimes it lumps up too.

No, you don't stay on them forever, at least most people don't. Most people get off them around 6 months out. It's not something you need to worry about now though.

Zantac is not a PPI though. You want to find something that stops the acid production rather than sops up the excess as that's better for your tummy and esophagus. If prilosec doesn't work, there is Prevacid, Nexium, Protonix, etc. that might work.

It takes about a week for prilosec to work for me. Different people respond differently to these drugs so sometimes you have to try different ones. I've been lucky with the prilosec, but it does take a while to kick in.

Where they really tight or were they not very moist? Once we lose the weight, we have less estrogen in our system (because all the estrogen stored in our fat is gone along with the fat) and that can lead to being dry, which can lead to uncomfortable sex.

I'm glad you have people looking out for you, DownInSoCal.

No, Dr. C. is not contracted with Kaiser. Dr. Rabkin has a contract with them to perform the DS, since no one at Kaiser does it. LapSF does a lot of Kaiser patients as self-pay for various reasons. For example, because they weren't doing the sleeve for a while, because they have a LONG waiting list, because they sometimes insist they do the surgery they want you to do and not one you want, etc. I heard on Sat. that Kaiser Fremont is starting to offer people the choice of the sleeve and will start doing them in Oct. btw.

You can't really overload the sleeve with fluid. As soon as fluid hits your pylorus valve, it opens and lets it out. As long as you don't drink so fast that it hurts, you should be fine.

What people like is just so variable. You just have to experiment. See the thread on how to get samples so you aren't buying tubs of the stuff and finding out you hate it.