Chunkysoup

So scary! I’m 4 days post op. My biggest fear of getting this surgery was not being able to drink adequate amounts of fluid, but I am doing great with fluids. My second fear is developing a leak. So far so good but I know I have awhile before I’m in the clear. Do they have any idea what caused your leak? Or was just kind of a random thing that happened?

Oh my goodness that is extreme! May the force be with you! I only had to do clear liquids one day (the weeks prior was protein shakes) and it was hard on me.

I’m 3 days post op and feeling pretty good!

Boo! That stinks I’m sorry, I know that’s a big disappointment!

On my preop diet I had to do 8 days of 5 premier protein shakes per day. I was allowed to have broth, sugar free popsicles, and sugar free jello also. It was SOOO hard. I was hungry constantly. I’m so thankful mine was only a week long. I too thought, why can’t I just eat 800 calories a day of protein and veg? I still don’t know why my diet HAD to be protein shakes only. I didn’t question it. But definitely talk to your team and ask if there is something else you can do. Come to the table with a few ideas to throw their way. Maybe you and your dietitian can come up with something more tolerable.

I agree with Matt. I’m 3 days post VSG and I haven’t had a problem getting in around 70 ounces a day. My surgeon wants all of his patients to strive for 96 oz per day. Haven’t quite been able to meet that crazy goal haha! But I feel pretty good at 70-ish ounces. And keep in mind that you’re getting hydrating fluids from several sources other than water. I just take small drinks all day long. If I wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom I try to take a few small drinks at that time as well.

As far as I know you can take cold and flu meds as long as it doesn’t contain any NSAIDS (Aleeve, Advil/ibuprofen, aspirin, etc)

We were told not to waste our money on Biotin supplements as it won’t prevent/help the hair loss.

I’m on my preop diet. It’s 5 protein shakes a day, water, and broth if I want it. Mine thankfully is only a week long. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. So I’m just curious to see if anyone knows why we wouldn’t be able to eat like a 700 calorie diet (that’s how many calories I would consume after drinking 5 protein shakes) that was strictly like lean proteins and non starchy veg, no sugar. What is the difference? I am sure there’s a reason it must be liquids only with no solids. I get having to be on liquids only for the 1-3 days prior to surgery. But why protein shakes only vs just eating a very low calorie high protein low carb no sugar diet one or two full weeks before surgery?

Thanks for the responses everyone! I’m too chicken to not follow my surgeon’s instructions. I was just thinking about it today as I was about to eat my broth. I’m three days in to my liquid diet and I’m actually glad he requires that I do it. Because at first I was like woah this is freaking hard! So I’m glad I didn’t have such a shock right after surgery. And I actually feel 100% better today than I did the first two days. I guess you just start to get used to it.

@Missouri-Lee's Summit I decided on the sleeve mostly due to the cost difference. I am self pay (in the states) and it was a $10K difference. However my surgeon also felt that gastric bypass was too aggressive for my BMI.

I go to my preop appointment tomorrow morning, surgery on 7/17! It’s getting very real! I’m sooo excited.

Im so ready! My surgery date is July 17th. Preop is on the 9th. I have a pre op diet class next week which is the day I will know what my preop diet will consist of...Honestly I'm more nervous about the damn preop diet at this point than the surgery! (I'm sure that will change!!). I used to be very concerned about recovery and immediate post op discomfort, trouble swallowing, etc. But I have had the great fortune of being able to talk to a group of patients that all received their surgery by my dr or his associate and they all had little to no discomfort, pain, or complications. I was very encouraged by that.

A couple of courtesy flushes throughout the process would probably go a long way!

July 17th!

You can finance through Care Credit, that’s how I’m getting mine done. Although I was fortunate to find a Dr in my state that does it for 10,000. You may do some research to see if you can find one with that price. I know of Dr’s in Florida, Dallas, and OK. Hopefully some others can chime in if they know of other locations where Dr’s do it for around that price. What state do you live in?

My surgery date is July 17th, I am in OK!

Hello everyone! I have surgery scheduled for 7/17/18. When I went to my nutritionist visit she suggested that I start practicing my eating by taking small bites (she said small like the tip of my pinky) and chewing the heck out of it. I still have my preop diet class that I will be attending in a couple weeks where they are going to be giving more detailed information about pre op and post op eating and of course my pre op appt (which is only 1 week before surgery). But I am wondering what those of you who have already had the surgery would suggest to prepare for the drastic change to our eating habits. I still don't know what kind of preop diet I will be required to do, if any (other than the day before surgery). Also, I started taking a daily PPI (Protonix) at my surgeon's request and they want me to continue this after surgery as I do get acid reflux a few times a week. Am I going to be able to take that in pill form in the first few weeks after surgery? Does it even come in a liquid form? The pill is pretty small and thin but I have seen a lot of folks talking about taking liquid forms of medications for the first month or so after surgery. Thank you all in advance for your advice and input, I appreciate it!

That’s great! I plan on doing something similar starting Monday!

I have recently read about a lot of folks who brought the strips and were not allowed to use them, I assume they allowed you to use yours? I guess it just depends on the surgeon.

Congrats to you! I have surgery in 42 days (but whose counting?) I will also have to have a hiatal hernia repaired, I'm nervous about having most of my stomach removed AND repairing the hiatal hernia. I have read where people feel like they can't get a deep breath afterwards. Sounds like you were feeling pretty great after surgery! How are you feeling today?

Disclaimer: I haven't had surgery yet. But I will tell you what my surgeon's office told me. They said the reason that you are supposed to lay good groundwork and create good habits during the honeymoon phase is because after the honeymoon phase your metabolism starts to get wind of what's going on so to speak and starts working against you again. Pre surgery Your metabolism fights you tooth and nail to keep you at your current weight. Especially if you don't do metabolism boosting things such as daily exercise, proper eating, and drinking plenty of water (which i'm sure most if not all of us are guilty of!). There is something about this surgery that my surgeon believes temporarily affects your metabolism (the honeymoon phase). He believes that for a period of time it is not fighting you at all. This explains why people do things/eat things they shouldn't and still continue to lose plenty of weight. They dangerously believe that since it is such small amounts of food that their transgressions aren't going to affect their weight loss. And it won't during the first 12 months. But as soon as your metabolism catches wind of what's going on it's going to start fighting you again. If you haven't created good habits during this time then it will be so much harder to maintain your weight or continue to lose weight. The sleeve is not only a tool of restriction but also a temporary metabolism reset (according to my surgeon). Use it wisely. Use that time where your metabolism isn't taking notice of the copious amounts of weight you're losing to do activities that create a more efficient metabolism. Because a bite here and there of the stuff we're not supposed to have is going to affect your weight when that honeymoon phase is over if you continue . When my surgeon explained this to me I really took it to heart and it makes me want to take advantage of that honeymoon phase to do ALL the right things. I am sure that is much easier said than done but I am hopeful that I will follow the plan strictly. At the end of the day we are all in charge of our success, as the previous poster said if you stick to the plan you will not gain all of your weight back. Best of luck to you!!

Thanks for the tips! I have been eating a more low carb diet to prepare. And I can see how eating "wet" meals will help. I was trying to practice eating without drinking and there are a couple things I have found that were really dry feeling and I had to sip some water to comfortably get it down.

My dr thinks the bypass is too agressive for my BMI. Even if it wasn't, I am self pay and the sleeve costs half as much so my hands are tied there. I have read that reflux increases after the sleeve so I am aware of the risk there. I have a hiatal hernia so I am hoping that getting that repaired coupled with my weight loss it will not be any more severe than it is now. It's very well controlled right now and I notice it is much less frequent when I am eating "normal" portions as opposed to huge portions. I am just hoping that my new lifestyle will improve it or at least prevent it from becoming worse.

Congrats on getting your approval and surgery date! I am scheduled for July 17th.