istytehcrawk

I work in a small office, and I've been open about it with everyone since I started the process two and a half years ago (long story), because it's not something I plan on being secretive about in general, so they'd probably find out anyway because I live/work in small, gossipy towns. (Besides, it's virtually impossible to hide sudden, drastic changes in diet when you eat your lunch in the shared work spaces because there isn't a lunch room/lounge.) So far, everyone has been extremely supportive.

Those of you who are post-op, what are the kitchen gadgets/utensils you've found most helpful? I want to make sure my kitchen is ready before my surgery in ~6 weeks. So far, I've got measuring cups/spoons, mini strainers, silicone ice cube trays (for broth and yogurt and such), and small containers for taking lunch to work. As for bigger items, I also have a food processor, blender, immersion blender, and crock pots.

I love both cats and dogs, and have had both in my life (more dogs overall but only cats in recent years).

Isopure, Syntrax, Unjury, and others have unflavored (not to be confused with flavorless -- it has a protein-y taste, just not any added flavor) protein powders you can mix in with various things to give them a protein boost. I'm not sure how well they work because I haven't tried them myself. Unjury has chicken soup flavored protein; Celebrate has chicken soup and tomato soup (at least for now -- I was told the tomato is being discontinued). Personally, I love the Syntrax Nectar powders the best; you can buy custom sample packs of them at mybariatricpantry.com so you can try individual flavors (up to 10 in a pack, I think) without committing to a whole tub. Some stores also carry single-serve packs, but stock is often limited to just a couple flavors.

I found the 2-pack of the 15-hole (roughly 1.25-inch square) silicone ice cube trays for $7 at Gordman's; they were $10 on Amazon last I checked. I like to get my SF Torani syrups at Gordman's, too, because they're usually cheaper there.

It's a series of typos that got strung together into a nickname 15 years ago, when I was a freshman and college, and stuck.

I've created a surgery-focused Twitter account and would like to follow other RNY patients (both pre-op and post-op), as well as perhaps some bloggers and such. Any recommendations for people with particularly good feeds, or your own surgery-focused accounts? (Mine's @MistchiefMgnd if you want to follow it.)

We need to start a thread for February bypass people. 15th for me!

I'm in Gillespie; RNY set for 2/15.

At CVS, are they available individually or only as a pack? I wish more protein items had single-serve options so we could try them without committing to buying a whole pack/tub of something we might end up hating.

I've got a surgery-specific Twitter: @MistchiefMngd.

I'm 424 now (BMI roughly 74 I think). I started out in a program that wouldn't do surgery on anyone over a BMI of 60, but I switched to a different program that doesn't have an upper limit. I asked about that at my introductory seminar and was told they've done the surgery on people with BMIs in the 80s and 90s. So it all depends on the surgeon, but many are well acquainted with working on the larger among us.

If you are affiliated with a program that has multiple nutritionists, PLEASE do your best to keep patients consistently seeing the same one. I was in a WLS program for ~2 years that swapped me around between approximately 9 different nutritionists over that time (*partially* due to staff turnover), and though they *said* they were all on the same page, they were very inconsistent with their recommendations/instructions, and it was highly frustrating for me.

Thanks for that information!

I haven't had it yet but will be on Feb. 15, at Barnes with Dr. Salles/Dr. Eagon of Washington University School of Medicine. 33/single/never married.

Dec. 21. I've been good about some things (getting my protein in and drinking my water and turning down store-bought cookies/etc.) but not so good about eating even semi-healthy at birthday/holiday celebrations.

I just joined today. After a 2.5-year process that included switching programs (long story short: bad fit), I finally have a surgery date of Feb. 15. My last pre-op appointments/labs are on Jan. 30, so now I've got to make sure I lose my birthday/holiday weight (roughly 10 pounds) before that so they don't make me postpone my surgery (I did not stick to my diet as well as I should have the last few weeks).

I'm still pre-op, but my program's nurse practitioner said the Flintstones chewables are the best post-op multi-vitamin.