tcjmom

I think that's normal. I changed my mind at the hospital Congratulations on getting approved and getting a surgery date! I can honestly say that besides getting married and having my kids, the surgery was the best thing I ever did - my regret was not doing it sooner! I think that the best thing that I brought with me to the hospital was a heating pad. It was super-soothing post-op and helped with some of the gas pains. I had very bad nausea post-op to the point where it interfered with my walking.

Mine started about ten days early - one day post-op - I was NOT well-prepared for it. I have menorrhagia anyway. I can assure you that 13 days isn't a point where you need to freak out at all. You are also highly unlikely to become anemic from one two-week long period. You might because you aren't able to eat much in the way of iron-rich foods for a while though. Call your doctor on Monday. S/he can likely put you on a course of Provera to stop the period (or possibly on the pill).

About once a week or every other week, I just try on everything...make a pile to donate and then pull out my bin of "not there yet" clothes and see what new things I can move in to my closet. Then I go shopping on thredup and get some new "not there yet" clothes.

I was only allowed clear liquids right after surgery. You do have to drink them very slowly and take your time. 16 ounces of liquid is a great amount for a morning the day after surgery.

The point of the pre-op diet is to reduce the size of your liver to make surgery easier and less dangerous. Alcohol increases the size of your liver. The higher your BMI, the larger your liver is likely to be and the more likely it is that your liver is going to be blocking your stomach. Alcohol affects the size of your liver for *two weeks* after you drink it. That means drinking this weekend will make your liver be enlarged at the time of your surgery. So....drinking this weekend will make your surgery more difficult and dangerous.

My nutritionist gave us a sheet with calorie, Protein, carb and fat requirements: week 1 - Clear liquids - less than 200 cal - more than 10g protein - min 25 g carb - 0 fat week 2 - full liquids - 200-400 calories - 40-50g protein - min 25 g carb - less than 10 g fat week 3 - pureed - 200-400 calories - 40-50 g protein - min 25 g carb - less than 10 g fat day 22-40 -soft - 300-400 calories - 50-60 g protein - min 25 g carb - less than 10 g fat 40+ days - normal - 400-600 calories - 60-80g protein - min 50 g carb - 10-20 g fat 2-4 months - normal - 600 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - min 50 g carb - 10-20 g fat 5-6 months - normal - 600-700 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - 70-80 g carb - 20 g fat 7-8 months - normal 700-900 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - 70-80 g carb - 20 g fat 9-12 months - normal -900-1000 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - 90-100 g carb - 30 g fat Lifelong - maintenance - 1100-1200 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - 90-120 g carb 30-50 g fat Lifelong - active - under 1200 calories - min 60 g protein (female) 80 g protein (male) - under 150 g carb - 30-50 g fat I'm wondering if you are at too many calories for your stage - but I'd follow your nutritionist and surgeon's guidelines. I take Miralax twice a week. Miralax increases the amount of Water kept in the stools in the intestines and makes them softer and easier to pass. It's not habit-forming unlike some anti-constipation medications. If you are constipated, it might take a day or three of Miralax to get things going again, but after that, you should be okay with just a maintenance dose 1-3 times a week.

Oh, Gina Homolka has a great Beef with Broccoli recipe (she has the blog Skinnytaste. I think the beef and broccoli is in her cookbook). Cooking Light magazine also publishes all their recipes for the entire year in a cookbook. Chinese food (NOT takeout) is fast and easy to cook and VERY easy to make light and healthy. Please don't say you'll never have Chinese food again. You can skip the rice, have it with a little leftover rice (rice which is cooked, cooled, and then reheated is much more starch-resistant than freshly cooked rice) or have it with cauliflower rice - my grocery store even sells cauliflower pre-riced. The Amazing Recipe Makeovers by Cooking Light is actually pretty amazing. Personally, I just skip the rice and don't even miss it. My favorite is homemade Mexican. We make our own non-fat refried Beans, use ground turkey or chicken, a very small amount of very low-fat cheese, and a small amount of low or non-fat sour cream. Super protein-rich, very low-fat and flavorful. Gina Homolka even has a "Tiny Taco Salad" where she uses a baked wonton wrapper to be the "shell" of a taco salad, if you really can't take not having that tortilla-like crunch. I made that for my family - it was a high Protein 75-calorie dinner for me and my teenagers LOVED it. I can almost guarantee that whatever your favorite food is, someone has found a way to make it healthier.

I am almost three months out. I have had pizza and hamburger since surgery. The pizza I had was a super-thin crust pizza and it's just very difficult to get the Protein I need from pizza, especially within my calorie limits, so it's something I avoid. I've had "hamburger" as well, but as you mentioned, it's more like two bites of a burger, and I limit the bun, skip the cheese and mayo. I have even had a chicken wing. I'll tell you that buffalo wings are definitely less appealing when you can't drink anything for 30 minutes afterward. I even had a bite of my kid's dessert once. ​The reality for me though, is that I know that I have to focus on getting my protein in first and if I eat something that is junk, I'm not going to have room in my little tummy for what I really *need* to eat, and it just doesn't seem like a hardship to forego the nacho appetizer or blooming onion. Yes, they might initially look good, but when I actually eat the food I *need* to eat, I feel so satisfied that the crap just isn't even appealing. It's kind of like after Thanksgiving dinner....yes, you love pumpkin pie, and it looks good, but, yeah.....I'm good saying no to that right now. I think another part is that after the pre-op diet and the restrictions post-surgery, you do start to (hopefully) develop some different food habits. I don't say no to favorite foods, but I do focus on healthier ways to make them and healthier options....which is kind of a big part of the point anyway. A grilled chicken breast "feels" more like a cheeseburger did to me before surgery. Breakfast before surgery would be eggs and toast. Now it's a quarter of a low-carb tortilla, 1.5 T scrambled egg whites and a 1/3 of a serving of turkey sausage - and it has the same feeling to me as a big breakfast. So...the short summary is....you'll be able to eat those things, but hopefully the surgery would be a great tool to help you change your perspective and those favorite foods won't be so important to you?

Oh! I would recommend bringing a *heating pad* and your own bouillon. The heating pad was wonderful post-surgery - both in the hospital and back at the hotel. My flight out to TJ was significantly delayed due to mechanical issues on the plane and it was really nice to be able to just get a cup of hot Water and make my own bouillon (at the airport and on the plane when we finally took off). The bouillon at the hotel was kind of meh (and the free popsicles are pretty hit or miss....mine were all misses, one person had one flavor that was fine). There is a coffee pot at the hotel and I was able to just run hot bottled water through it to make my bouillon. There will be a small safe at the CER Hospital where you can put your $$/passport. Do bring a little extra money along because Dr. Garcia has a great driver and he'll happily bring your group on a tour of Tijuana. He's not a tour guide, but he grew up in TJ and will show you the city from a local's perspective....he doesn't ask for $$, but you'll want to tip him at the end. ​Hopefully the fact that we all felt up to taking a tour the day before our flights took off makes you feel pretty good about the surgery.

I had my surgery with Dr. Garcia at the end of April and went to Tijuana by myself. I was way beyond nervous. They do give a med to calm the nerves beforehand. The surgery was done before I knew it though. CER was very clean. All but one nurse spoke English (and the one who didn't spoke enough that it wasn't a problem....I had surgery on a Saturday and I suspect it was because that was on the weekend). I didn't have any complications, but I was very nauseated by the pain medication. They were very good at giving me anti-nausea medication and switching up the pain meds to give me something which would nauseate me less. I stayed just the standard time for recovery but by the time I left, I wasn't on *any* pain medication for my cross-country flight (not even Tylenol). ​I know saying 'Don't be nervous' doesn't stop you from being nervous, but the surgery was probably one of the best decisions that I made.