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Everything posted by KarenLR75
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I get torn whether to post here or the general July 2019 surgery thread!! Should I cross-post?? I know we have way more ppl getting surgery - specifically VSG on July! Where are our other siblings?
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Oh my gosh...my fellow 'July-ers'......are you in your pre-op 'diet' yet. I figure if you are in the first 10 to12 days of July or actually I've seen some folks post that they have a MONTH long pre-op - how are you hanging in there? I've been doing keto prior to getting approved so protein shakes like Premier were already part of my super busy work life as meal replacements as otherwise I'd have skipped meals which is not good. Gotta say...yeah, I'm hungry! REALLY hungry..the actual stomach true hunger, not head hunger/emotional hunger. I can endure stomach growling, etc. throughout day but I've always found it almost impossible to get to sleep if extremely hungry. Crossing fingers that when I pick up my sugar free popsicles today, I have something to 'chew'. Wonder how many of those I'd need to eat to make hunger go away, but isn't liver shrink based on being REALLY LOW CALORIES - like 600 or less? Are y'all tracking your calories too to make sure extra ones aren't sneaking in..although how many extra can sneak in from sugar free jello, I don't know..but I can see protein shakes adding up! Today is my first day of 'all liquids'! Well, it is odd that my doc gave me 1 set of guidelines; however the nutritionist group we all had to see - he referred us, have a slightly different set of guidelines (making my eyes cross). Going to call his office to clarify but I'm SO worried about my liver not being 'shrunken' enough to operate on me, I'm thinking of sticking with what I got from the nutritionist office anyways. With confusion from my own dr about when to start the pre-op diet - I actually started on day..um..8.5 (not 10 and he had told me '7' verbally..so confused). I figure my liver must be ginormous as my BMI is 56 so.....I decided may be best with 7 days left before surgery (CANNOT believe I'm SAYING THAT!!), that I'm going to do full liquid starting today (so 1 day early) and will follow dr's notes on doing clear liquid only Days 1-3 prior to surgery. Doc Office says: Days 7-10 soft food diet (although dr told me on way out when I teasingly fussed about 10 days, he said '7'?? Days 4, 5, and 6 - Puree Food Diet Days 1, 2, and 3 prior to surgery -Clear Liquid Diet Nutritionist Documentation says: Day 6 - 10 prior to surgery - Soft Diet Days 3, 4, and 5 - Full Liquid Diet Days 1 & 2 - Clear Liquid
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Bariatric surgery was a big mistake
KarenLR75 replied to Alvinchicago's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Went to Mother's Day brunch at my MIL's upscale retirement center and as I had not yet had my surgery - my surgery is on 7/1, but past 15 months have been primarily keto based, I made my usual no carb/low carb choices although I did have a sugar free dessert (sugar free but it had more carbs than I normally take in). Main point is, I was surverying the usual options noting all the things I could still have at that same time NEXT year on Mother's Day...and also same for a Father's Day lunch we attended at her center - a small bit of ham..maybe...a small bit of slice prime rib..maybe, deviled egg (OH I SURE HOPE SO!), fresh fruit everywhere, a frittata..maybe...point being is there are SO many options at this place every single year that I KNOW (by Mother's Day next year I will be post-op for 10 months. I plan for a while to carry backup protein drink with me to things like this. Her retirement home is ritzy/costly/etc. but my in-laws had some money and the place is not your usual 'retirement community'. Trust me, this is Definitely a place where if I have to whip out my protein drink...could also bring the mocha Ensure one...I will fit in with SO many ppl as the population is primarily 80 and over although there are several in their 60's and 70's...if you are in the Ft. Worth area and have some money, most ppl happily move to this place when they are ready. I could probably ask for or borrow an appropriate drink from one of the residents. I've SEEN several of them with high protein shakes. Maybe we can clink our shake containers together and toast each other If nothing else, I will be there for my MIL even though yes, I'm a Mom too. My Mom is sadly no longer with us after a heart-wrenching 3 year battle with dementia (my Dad is gone as well and my parents were INCREDIBLE people). When anyone complains about having to go visit 'their Mom', and possibly their MIL...trust me when I say, one day that Mother's Day (or flip it for Father's Day) will be SOLELY about you and you will MISS the run-around that happened in trying to get to see all of the other 'Mom's' in your life. -
Question About Preparing for Post Sleeve
KarenLR75 replied to Awesome1981's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
I am buying some of the vitamins, etc. as I finally managed to re-read my pre-op checklist and noticed it said to start the vitamins and the calcium citrate stuff during this phase. I got myself a little confused around the whole 'don't take this vitamin, when you are taking this xyz' so I need to figure that all out. I'm a bit concerned that the 'all in 1 multivitamin' is a capsule that needs to be swallowed. I'm wondering if I should order a chewable/melt for the 1st 30 days post-op?? Also, as I already have thinning hair, I've ordered some biotin (maybe it helps, maybe it won't but am willing to try anything to ward off what hair loss I can...along with getting enough protein. I've ordered some of the variety packs of powdered soup, some puddings, plain protein powder as that seems to be a big part of getting enough protein during the different phases from week...1 or 2 - month 6 post-op. Already had vanilla and choc protein powder but none of the 'plain'. Ordered a food scale. Do not YET have little plates, didn't like prices I've seen yet but that is on my list to buy. Love the ice cube tray recommendation! that is going on my 'to buy' list. I know the plastic things you are talking about and I'm going to ask daughter to go after those for me. She loves Dollar Tree! You are so right about them being perfect for portion control. I thought about ordering at least 1 new set of PJ's/Nightgown...just to have something different..as a non-food reward. Also thought about ordering some resistance bands for arm/leg workouts. Phew...so much to do....suddenly..so little time! I let the time get right past me; however I got approved and got a date all within same week (and they finally pushed insurance thru as I had been asking them to do...and surprise to them..it got approved..not a surprise to me)..so I feel like I'm suddenly playing 'catch up' -
Finally got my surgery date... when did you cut things out?
KarenLR75 replied to MeowAMR's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
You can do it!! We are here for you! I'll cheer on your withdrawal from sugar and you can bring me back to earth when I'm tripping out about my caffeine withdrawals....LOL -
My Hospital Bag..??
KarenLR75 replied to BulletWithButterflyWings's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Frustr8: Awww....thank you! A life enrollment in the Bananarama Club...I love that! Definitely a 'committed' woman...;) You are such a kind and caring person!! You know, when I read that the pre-op diet could be hard, it is easy not to really pay a ton of attention until you find yourself doing it! LOL..... I pray for no complications for any of us, for no issues after surgery that make things harder....for the post surgery weeks 1-4 or for some 1-8...to be as easy as possible. Although we are all also aware of the things/challenges that can happen, that possibly will happen..and I pray for the fortitude to get though it all. I also need to find July Sleevers thread! -
My Hospital Bag..??
KarenLR75 replied to BulletWithButterflyWings's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I'll be bringing my laptop and laptop charger.and my cell phone USB charger. Good call on whomever said to bring a pillow to hold against stomach. Lots of us on here too are also July-ers......lol, right now I'm trying to survive the pre-op diet..I know it's not that bad, but I went from Keto (which I knew I couldn't do after surgery) to now this soft food, tomorrow start on full liquids...and my body is like...what the heck - you usually eat enough protein to keep us feeling ok... My stomach is wondering what the heck happened...well, I have NEWS for my stomach! It's going to be...um....er..not having to worry about most of itself after 7/1. Shhhh!! Right now I'm so dang HUNGRY! -
Finally got my surgery date... when did you cut things out?
KarenLR75 replied to MeowAMR's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Several of us replying on this post are scheduled for JULY! I'm scheduled for July 1st!! I actually cut out sugar a year to 15 months ago as I was doing keto and trying "one last time" to lose weight on my own and ended up tearing my knee up while exercising so have been trapped with a swollen knee for over a year that needs to be replaced but ortho won't touch me until my BMI is 40 or less. At my highest...I guess my BMI was around 56 to 60? It's closer to low 50's now, not good at all but less than it was. Personally, I'd cut sugar out ASAP as along with coffee it seems to be one of the harder things to 'detox' from to borrrow a word. If I hadn't already been doing a low carb lifestyle, for MYSELF, I would have done basically a keto/low carb approach leading up to my true pre-op diet plan to shrink my liver. That way I could have gotten thru the detox/keto flu from getting all of those nasties out of my system and not have that being an additional thing that makes me feel bad when, if I hadn't done anything prior to my pre-op 8 day diet, and all of a sudden I've just removed sugar, carbs, caffeine, etc. all at the same time and gone down to 600-800 calories a day. That's a BIG HIT to anyone's system and I would rather tackle some of them earlier and kind of smooth out the negative effects (which are temporary but can be a pain in the tush). Sigh..caffeine, my last 'frontier' to give up. Ironically am planning to do what you are doing, switching to unsweetened ice tea. I'm going to have to go look at the JULY 2019 Sleevers thread - hope to keep in touch with all of you. I'm nervous, and hopeful...scared.anxious...and SO ready to get this done. -
Sealed, never opened Celebrate protein powder - exp 12/18 anyone use expired powder before
KarenLR75 replied to KarenLR75's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Hey Elcee, Yeah, in the U.S. we also have 'Use By' and/or 'Best buy' dates. Depends on the product. I work with supply chain logistics software so we deal with pharma and grocery store industries and many other industries. That's why I did not immediately toss. Was curious about the protein powder as to what to look for and you basically answered that, which I appreciate. Yeah, on meds and other things I do not have great faith in the reliability of dates. -
Anyone finally get their surgery date, panic and postpone the surgery?
KarenLR75 posted a topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
I've gone from being excited about my surgery date of July 1st, to realizing the liver shrink diet for the number of days my dr requires means I need to start this Sunday (and a panic went through me as I've been so inundated with work that I am going to scramble to stock up on things that are permitted for the different 'day countdown). I then started feeling overwhelmed as I feel like the date suddenly snuck up on me. I had a fleeting thought of postponing so am not sure what that is all about. Then my mind started thinking about all of the things that freaked me out when I first found out that a gastric sleeve did NOT mean that your stomach had a sleeve wrapped around it which constricted things, instead it meant that you had 85% of your stomach removed and a little pouch left. I stupidly thought 'sleeve' originally meant your intestines would be compressed so that the amount of volume you could take in would be = to about what the true 'pouch' will have left. I've been asked if I'm sure I want to mutilate my body this way. I've been looking into this for 4..maybe 5 years and I knew in all these years that until this PAST YEAR, I was not ready to make this decision. This past 1.5 yrs I had issues come up with my knees and back to such a point that I've been in chronic pain. I started my own internal checks to see what I felt was best to do to give myself a chance at "life" since I'm turning 50 and am not getting any younger. The entire past year, I reached a certainty and a level of conviction AND enthusiasm as I decided that instead of being trapped by chronic pain (even though first MRI scans of knees was done right before I turned 50, 2 diff knee ortho's said I have so much arthritis in knees that I need full knee replacements. I have been sailing through this past year with a level of acceptance and happiness at decided that the sleeve was the right decision..the best decision to give me back my quality of life. Then I got my surgery date...was actually SO HAPPY....then husband had poor reaction..and the fact that I realized my pre-op diet starts this sunday...just hit me all at once (and I've been doing low carb for past year so it's not like I haven't had to go through some rough times in my food/WOL decisions). Is this just a case or normal pre-op nerves/cold feet? Did anyone ever postpone (and either regret or appreciate it)? I've come so far like all of us and this past year has been good and bad in my efforts to lose weight on my own to make sure I was ready to embrace a WOL and not a 'diet'. Maybe I'm self sabotaging ? I don't think we ever get completely past that...have to guard against it..... -
Anyone finally get their surgery date, panic and postpone the surgery?
KarenLR75 replied to KarenLR75's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
As soon as I read your words 'more of the same'...a shiver went through my body...because I just can't...I can't...you know what I mean? I truly can't take living a half life...a quarter life...a life feel such shame for the amount of space I take up...for the looks I get...from feeling stupid relief I wasn't the 'biggest person in the room'...to ALWAYS being the biggest person in the room. The aches/pains...physically and mentally/emotionally. This isn't for those out there who choose to judge or feel disgusted...this is because I deserve better, my body deserves better. I KNOW that some of the depression and anxiety I have...are tied intimately into my inappropriate relationship with food that I had had for the past decade. I've done some head work...to get to my decision, but I know I have much work to do even after surgery..ESPECIALLY as I can never let myself forget that it is a tool... -
Anyone finally get their surgery date, panic and postpone the surgery?
KarenLR75 replied to KarenLR75's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
UGH- I know that kind of dr...they should not be allowed to interact with people! The make you feel more like an 'it' than a person. OMG - YES on the 'you're going to die on the table'. When I came home and happily shared my surgery date with my husband, he asked what my last wishes were and he was NOT kidding/teasing. Sure, those type of discussions are ones that we should all have with family/friends/etc. at some point and sooner rather than later..no matter age or physical condition as there are no guarantees that tomorrow will come for anyone. Your enthusiasm is contagious and you and AZHiker are helping me get mine back. I know none of us will know what issue we might have after surgery, but I have an 'up front/in my face' realization of issues I now have before surgery and I'm willing to make the trade. This!! How did you know this?! That is what I've been fighting with the past few years. I worry so much for one of my daughters as she is 27 and although she is 5 inches taller than me...she is the same weight as I am. I worry so much about her. She has other issues, including medication issues that contribute to weight gain but these meds are not optional. I don't fear dying from my own standpoint as much as I am in terror thinking about what would happen to her if I were to die. We've lost so many people in the past 5 yrs that were wonderful, loving, incredible people who adored me and her..and we adored them back. My Dad...my best friend of 20 yrs (brain cancer), my Mom 2 years ago...after a gut-wrenching/traumatizing 3 year battle with dementia..and then my FIL 1 year ago. All of the kind of people who were truly capable of loving us unconditionally...are now gone from our lives. With both parents and my best friend gone..it's a rather stark realization to know there is no one left in this world who has the capacity to love you unconditionally as you once were loved. I'm so thankful that neither my daughter nor I ever took that for-granted and we treasured and spent time with these people long before they were gone so that is a blessing as the regrets would be almost insurmountable if we had that do deal with as well. I wish..especially my Mom and my best friend, Kelly..were here..to be with me as I wait for surgery. To make me laugh...to hug me. Kelly would have been making me laugh and giving me all the assurances I needed. Actually, having this surgery concludes me doing the very last thing she ever asked of me before she passed - I have done everything else she already asked of me with the exception of this..and that was "to get my life back...to have the surgery...to quit waiting". I miss them all so very very much. I sat outside the other night and talked to her..and told her "Kelly, I'm almost there!" Oh my gosh..my eyes are "leaking" like crazy. Part in relief at people on here caring and understanding....and because I miss my family and my best friend oh so much...their absence is STARKLY felt right now... Thank you for your kindness..and your words...your honesty... -
Anyone finally get their surgery date, panic and postpone the surgery?
KarenLR75 replied to KarenLR75's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
First off...I have to say...your response made me cry. It made me cry because....you understand. You cared enough to respond...I have felt so alone...and just seeing your response and Frustr8's...made me feel...that I wasn't alone anymore. I know someone else has kindly responded but since I'm at work I have to reply when I have a few mins of downtime. AZHiker - you are right about how younger people are possibly unaware, until they are in same boat, about how much breaking down of your body occurs over the years due to morbid obesity (and even "not so morbid obesity"). I actually was not morbidly/super morbidly obese until my late 30's so that is even a bit scarier and a possible warning that the damage can happen in little over a decade of being morbidly-obese. Actually with a BMI of..um...55 or 53..I think I'm considered 'super' morbidly obese. Those words make me cringe. I have oddly escaped from some of the co-morbidities but I KNOW it is WHEN, not IF that those will develop as these past couple of years, heck even 1 year has seen an onslaught of issues like knees and back. I actually tore my meniscus on my right knee when I was trying to exercise so the irony is a bit funny. It was when they did an image of my knees that they found extensive arthritis. Why my knees never hurt before that, I have no idea but it has been a constant 15 months of chronic pain. I have a high pain tolerance but have learned I don't do well with chronic pain. I have all my female parts still...for what good they do at this age! LOL...I do not have high blood pressure, diabetes, but again, it is a only a matter of time and having hit 50, I'm not doing my body any favors with the normal things that aging can do. I cannot climb a flight of stairs at all without gasping. Some of that is from being a repeat DVT/PE survivor. Lungs are scarred. The clotting history of course is tied in with my inactivity and weight. I do not have a disorder and have clotted even when I had a brief period in the past decade of almost 9 months of quite a bit of activity and exercise. That clotting history is why my dr will only do the sleeve at this point even though I have...roughly 175 lbs to lose to reach my goal weight. My dr wrote my goal weight down about 20 lbs from what I am looking to hit. He put 150 and I'd be delighted at 170. I've been at that weight even though I'm 5'6" before (I had lost 80 lbs and kept it off for a decade in my late 20's early 30's) - and I felt great. Maybe that was also because I was much younger! Thank you so much for responding. Your story and your comments have helped me so much today..I cannot thank you enough! -
Totally feeling you! I just got approved for July 1st as well so we are surgery twins...and I swung from "oh wow, this is great"...to "OMG, I'm scared"
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Yep, scheduled for sleeve on July 1st!
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OMG - those cracked me up! I watch him all the time on TV. I always grin when they tell him...but I'm sticking to the diet (which is somewhere between 1000-1200 calories) and I have no idea why I gained 20 lbs. in 4 weeks...then he goes into a breakdown of the HUGE number of calories they had to be eating to gain that much in such a short time.
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YAY! Another July 1st-er!
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Awwww...that is sweet...how neat it will be to do that together!
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Same day surgeries although I'm doing the sleeve..or rather..having it 'done to me'...SO NERVOUS all of a sudden
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I so get this! I'm cycling away mentally over here...
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Just got my surgery date today...it is on July 1st! Alternating between being happy and thinking "Oh, my God, what if I die??" Literally when I told my husband, he asked about my 'last wishes'...and no, he was not joking/being funny/teasing, etc. Really sucked some of the happiness out of the moment.
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I totally get the date now. My MIL is taking whole family on a cruise at Christmas (she's going to be 90), it's something she's always wanted to do and has the money to do so...we need to pay for airfare...which is actually more expensive than the cruise..LOL..but we want her to have everyone she wants with her so we are just glad to go. It's like a 50% vacation discount but the memories are priceless. I'm wanting to be as HEALED as possible before the ship leaves the US. Am hoping I can get enough off to be able to do some snorkeling and for that I need to be able to climb up a boat ladder, etc. etc. CROSSING FINGERS! I meet with my dr next week and guess that is when we'll be planning the date. It truly has been one SPECIFIC person in his office, his office manager was never that specifically rude to me..and she never griped at me for calling my own insurance. LOL about Mcdreamy...my dr is a nice looking man, but not @ that level. It is his skill with higher risk cases that has me determined to have him as my surgeon. I think I'll wait until after surgery, to give some positive and constructive feedback. My goal is to never be mean to anyone..so I need to wait and not discuss it in the 'heat of emotions'. However, the one lady could EASILY chase off patients from his practice. She made it clear at the last visit I had that she was NOT happy to be having to take my vitals. I just ignored it. If he wasn't worth the extra hassle, I WOULD have totally bailed...that is for sure! He also is one of the FEW that operates at the hospital that CIGNA prefers and is a 'bariatric center of excellence'..so that part worked in my favor...FINALLY..
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Freaking out.
KarenLR75 replied to BulletWithButterflyWings's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Sorry, am not familiar with the test results you got...I only have experience with being faced with constant 'oxygen level issues'.... I've had multiple pulmonary embolisms (blood clots that went thru my heart to my lungs) and am on oxygen at night and sometimes during day. My surgeon knows this and they are still planning to operate. My oxygen levels dip down, especially after surgery into the 70's (once you hit '89' on the monitor - the equipment starts a horrific alarm). They just come in and either put an oxygen mask on me or they up the level of oxygen. Even though the clots are now gone from my lungs, ,they left them scarred so I will always face a battle with respiration issues. I have found that the more I swim and practice holding my breath, it helps a bit with stretching things out...kind of like when we were kids and could only hold our breath for maybe 1/2 a lap, then you keep working on it and gradually if you work it correctly, some ppl could do multiple laps with very little need for extra breaths. -
Loose Skin, Saggy Breasts and Hair loss...OH MY!?
KarenLR75 replied to a topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I think your bf sounds amazing and seems to appreciate the gorgeous woman he is with...beautiful inside and out. Your pictures are so inspiring!! I SO hear you on the exercise aversion. The key with me is to be doing something that is fun and burning calories but DO NOT TELL ME I AM EXERCISING. You have to be in covert/stealth mode with me. Get me in the pool and have a fierce game of water volleyball or just chasing my nephews and nieces around playing 'sharks and minnows'...that is having 'fun'...not nasty old exercising which makes me think of aerobics classes. NO OFFENSE to any of you peeps that can do Zumba, Hot Yoga, etc. and love it. I WISH I did! But...NAH! -
Loose Skin, Saggy Breasts and Hair loss...OH MY!?
KarenLR75 replied to a topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I'm so glad you brought this up. I'm in the "perfect storm" for hair loss even before I get surgery (just got approved) and have been freaking out as I just noticed recently...how much scalp is now 'showing' through my hair and I TRIPPED out over it! It wasn't like I gradually noticed it was like holy heck! WHAT HAPPENED. Well, my body decided to dive into menopause early and I've had to endure that for more than 7+ yrs now and I'm on a blood thinner (Coumadin) which also causes some people hair loss. Then I heard the same thing - that fast Weight loss/WLS often has a side effect of hair loss - was also told by my doctor and the nutritionist that for MANY of the ppl with a large amount of hair loss, it can often be tracked back to a lack of enough daily protein. I was told to hit 80 grams..I think someone mentioned they were told 100 grams per day. They did acknowledge though that yes, there could be some additional loss but ensuring I get my protein in will help me try to ward off as much as possible. However, I'll gladly trade my morbid obesity for trying to figure out what to do about my hair. Maybe when I'm closer to goal I won't always feel so overly warm (I'm in TX!)...and could endure a hair piece or something....LOL...I just had a vision of an outdated toupe...I mean....like all the different 'hair pieces'/accessories I see even very young women using (AND I NEVER KNEW!!!). I just sweat more at the thought of something covering my head like that though...LOL Will just take it as it comes..