BigKnifeLittleFork

I had one very minor complication. 1-day post-op they took me off the morphine drip and switched me to Norco syrup. Thir policy is to not discharge until they know you can tolerate oral pain medicine. A minute after I took it, I vomited bloody foam. This freaked out the nurse, but my surgeon didn't seem phased by it. Because of the blood, they took me off blood thinner injections for the day, discontinued my liquid diet to ice chips only, and switched me to a Tylenol syrup and watched me for another day. Then the next day they put me back on liquids and blood thinners and had to wait for those numbers to come back to normal. So, my one-night hospital stay turned into a 3-night/4-day hospital stay. The irony is I never once needed the Tylenol syrup once I was home.

My husband and I both are doing this journey together! I had the Sleeve on 10/21, and he had the Duodenal Switch on 12/9. The funny thing is my surgery took only about an hour, his took 6 hours! I like to tease him about how bored I was sitting in the waiting room for that long.

I take Tylenol gelcaps. My surgeon said as long as they are smaller than the diameter of a pencil eraser they are fine to swallow whole.

Good morning! I was sleeved exactly one month ago today. For my entire first month I used PatchMD's Multivitamin and Calcium/D3 Patches. I also take a sublingual B12. I had my one month check in with my Dietitian on Friday. When she asked about Vitamins I told her I've been using the patches and she pretty much went off on me about how there is no long term data. Well, yes, obviously because they are new to the market there would not be any long term data, and I took them knowing they are not FDA regulated yet because FDA approval takes a very long time. I'm a food scientist, so I understand both her concerns and how the patches work. But after thinking about it I decided to try the chewables. Over the weekend I tried them 4 times (morning and night) and each time they either made me nauseous or I dry-heaved. I guess you could argue that if I had a reaction to them they are actually working... but I obviously don't want to feel sick twice a day every day for the next 2-4 months. So, I'm wanting to go on the Patches again until I'm able to swallow Vitamin pills in a few months. The problem is, my Vitamin panels are not drawn until the 3 month mark, so I have no way of knowing if these are really working. Has anyone been using vitamin patches for more than a couple months? How have your labs looked?

I'm in week 5 now. The biggest change for me is my Dietitian said to wean myself off Protein shakes and focus on getting my protein from food. So I'm mostly having Greek Yogurt (Oikos Triple Zero) for breakfast. lunch is chili- I make it in the crockpot on Sundays and measure out a cup to take to work every day. So far I've made a turkey chili with Beans and a green chili with pork. Snacks are lunch meat, string cheese, or a babybel cheese. For dinner I try to experiment with new foods. My dietitian said to try EVERYTHING. Believe it or not- potatoes AND bread are on my plan, as long as the bread is toasted. My Dietitian even said to try thin crust pizza with a lot of meat toppings, and it worked well for me. But most nights I do some sort of protein- Turkey burger, baked tilapia, or steamed salmon. I'm not doing many veggies yet outside of what I throw into my chili.

Thanks all! It's reassuring to know that everyone's numbers are coming back great!

Anyone????

Wearing an abdominal binder to bed really helped me sleep on my side.

My hospital doesn't allow it.

I first had eggs on Day 10, which was also my post-op appointment. My surgeon's PA told me to start incorporating Purees early, which includes scrambled eggs on my plan.

I was told to use BioOil as long as the wounds were scabbed over.

Are you taking a B12 sullement? That may help with the energy.

Cream of wheat and Low Fat Chili are on my approved list also.

Try koshervitamins.com. They have a lot of kosher Protein powder options.

I did 1 day post-op while I was still in the hospital. Unfortunately it kept me in the hospital for 2 extra days because they took me off the blood thinners temporarily.

For right now I keep telling myself that if I give into those cravings I will really hurt myself and my surgeon will have to open me back up. It kills the cravings pretty fast. I'll be honest though, I've had a mad pizza craving for 2 weeks.

My surgery is this FRIDAY!!!!!!!!! Pre-op Appointment with my surgeon is this evening. I feel like I have done so much research and already talked to my Nurse so I think I'm pretty well informed. Are there any questions I should be sure to ask tonight?

So my appointment took all of 5 minutes. He went over my pre-op test results and said everything looks good, told me surgery would be about 45 minutes and said I was going to do great. Then I got my prescriptions and that was it. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Whey Protein Isolate is a more filtered version of Whey Protein Concentrate. Because of the extra filtration, Isolate has less carbs, so your body will absorb it faster.

I surprised myself. I was convinced I would keep it a secret, but then my pre-op diet started and my co-workers were wondering why I was only on liquid so I came clean. I received a ton of support, so I announced it on Facebook last week. Again, a ton of support and no judgement (that I know of). I know for me I was less worried about people judging what I'm eating and more worried about the stigma. But, an interesting thing happened when I announced it on FB: I got replies from 3 friends that had WLS and I didn't even know it. It made me feel a lot better and more supported. However, that's just me. You owe it to no one to tell them if you don't want to.

I asked those at my initial consult. this is my last appt. before surgery.

Keep on the scheduling people to make sure they get that information to you. They're great, just very busy, so you need to keep on them to make sure you don't get buried under a pile somewhere. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm 7 days into my 14 day pre-op diet. My surgeons office uses Bariatric Advantage Meal Replacement shakes, and I made the mistake of getting 2 bags of chocolate Protein powder. I was actually ok the first couple days. Now I'm so sick of these shakes that I have no clue how I'm going to finish out the next week. I went on BA's website and bought small packets of the other flavors just to see if I could change it up. But the problem is I'm really sick of SWEET flavors. The Protein Shakes, popsicles, jello- so over all of it. I've been make by homemade beef broth and have chicken and beef bouillon, but even those are starting to get old. It's getting to the point where just not eating at all sounds better than trying to choke down another shake. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I was already doing the medically supervised diet through Alexian Brothers (some insurance requires it, mine required 3 months but I had already exceeded that). The diet wasn't working alone, so they referred me to the Kane center. The first step was a 2 hour info session where they go over all the types of surgery. The second was a consult with the surgeon to determine if I was a candidate. The third was insurance verification. This was the hardest part actually. I have Aetna, and apparently the Kane center had gotten burned by Aetna before so they kept saying Aetna wouldn't cover it. It was a lot of back and forth on my part, but I kept on them. Aetna ended up sending a verification that they would definitely pay for the surgery. Next I got a document with all my required tests. Kane center requires an abdominal ultrasound, one visit to the support group, a psych evaluation, and a pulmonologist visit. The pulmonologist also orders a sleep study (mine was done at home). Once all of that was cleared, all my paperwork was submitted to insurance again for formal approval. That came back and they called me for a surgery date. They called me the last week of September, and my earliest available date was 10/11. She gave me dates for both St Alexius in Hoffman and Alexian in Elk Grove. I chose Hoffman on 10/21. She also scheduled my pre-op and post-op appointments with my surgeon. Then I picked up my pre-op diet powders. I had pre-op testing yesterday at St. Alexius (Blood test, chest x-ray, upper GI Barium swallow, and EKG). Those results were all faxed to my Primary and once she signs off I'm good to go. Right now I'm in the middle of my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. The day before surgery I only drink Clear liquids. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm going through the Kane Center in Hoffman Estates! I'm getting VSG on October 21st at St. Alexius. My surgeon is Dr. Wallace and he's awesome. I had my first consult with them in July and I'm already heading to surgery, so for me it was pretty quick. The timing mostly depends on your insurance. Let me know if there is anything else I can answer for you! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App