Pandemonium

This is the most basic listing I could find on Baritastic. Seems about right to me for just the meat. Sauce would be axed on to it.

Yeah, I'm asking about that awful little four letter word, Or rather initialism. So, I have never had any history of reflux. I can count on two fingers the number of times I've experienced heartburn in my life. This was part of the reason I decided on VSG for my revision. When I had my endoscopy prior to surgery, my doctor said there were some minor signs of inflammation that he attributed to a very minor hernia brought on by my band having slipped. The tissue sample analysis likewise supported that the inflammation and damage was very minor. My doctor didn't find it to be anything of concern and thus we went forward with VSG and fixing the minor hernia as part of the operation. The past six weeks have been going well, if not a tad on the tedious side dealing with my doctor's very slow diet phase transitions. Except in the past week, I've begun feeling what I can really only describe as a sensation in chest, right below the sternum. It only really occurs when I drink water/Crystal Light. It isn't a burning sensation or anything. It's more like an odd pressure that just lingers. I'd say that it's accompanied by an abundance of belching, making me suspect that it's just gas, but it doesn't really occur when I drink protein shakes. And well...post-op, burping and farting has seen a marked increase anyways. It's only in the past week that this has begun to crop up. And again, only when I drink water/Crystal Light. I've had no problems with when eating anything. So...folks who have had to deal with the nasty GERD goblin...what kind of symptoms do you experience? Am I possibly just being overly paranoid?

I actually am taking pantoprazole daily and have been since a week prior to surgery, Doctor wanted it in order to help reduce the inflammation. And I was taking sucralfate for the first 4 weeks (also to help the inflammation heal) and then I ran out. Asked my doctor if I needed a refill and he said no, since I wasn't having any vomiting, nausea, heartburn or reflux. Maybe I should get them to get me a refill just to be on the safe side.

I don't actually use ice, so it's as cold as the fridge gets it. I've been suspecting that I may be drinking too quickly since I've caught myself not quite gulping, but sipping quickly and repeatedly. I'm going to make a concerted effort to slow myself down on drinking to see how if it helps. I'm hoping that is the case!

That's what I initially was afraid of, but I'm not sure. Attitudes are similar, but their patterns of "speech" are miles apart. Plus, he wouldn't be able to go more than an hour without touting his amazing success at losing weight.

You just need to go under My Surgery in your profile.

Today is 6 weeks post-op. I'm down 4lbs from last week, which felt good since it felt like I might have been starting a stall. Still on my doctor's fairly restrictive diet. So far for normal foods I've only done scrambled eggs and pureed chicken salad with hummus and greek yogurt instead of mayo. Both went down with no problem. This will be the second week of me mixing in regular food twice in the week. Next week I'll go to three times a week, barring any issues. Exercise has continued to be a chore due to the heat, but things are cooling down this week, so looking to increase my activity some more. Yesterday was very difficult for me. I ended up receiving some really lousy news that completely devastated me mentally and emotionally. My usual routine would have been to indulge in some comfort food. Except that isn't possible now. Which is definitely for the best, but it really didn't help my mood or mental state any. Still feeling upset today and just trying to get through it.

It looks like a minimum of 4 to 6 months, based on the guidelines for a structured weight loss program being part of the approving process (which is rather common). https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/02/14/mng-bariatricsurgery.pdf

If your pre-op diet has only been liquids so far, then I would personally stick to that in the last day before surgery. The sudden introduction of a regular meal the night before surgery after just liquids seems really odd to me. I'm not sure what surgery you're having done, but I would think regardless, the doctor isn't going to want remnants of a meal sitting there being digested.

I was on a liquid only diet for the week leading up to my surgery. No meals to be had at all. You'll find that every doctor has a different pre-op diet plan. Some want liquids only for 1 week, some want liquids only for 2 weeks, some allow for liquids all day and then a small dinner of lean protein and veggies. My suggestion would be to call your bariatric office and ask for clarification, explaining that your nurse said to have a decent meal the night before your surgery but that your paperwork conflicts with what the nurse said. They should be happy to clarify it for you. I wouldn't think that a single meal before surgery would undo the liver shrinkage to that much of a degree, but the conflicting info is something that you'll definitely want to get clarified.

With the Baritastic app, I've just input the individual ingredients of the recipe I've made and then used the "Create Meal" button to save it to the app. For a salad dressing, I'd say the easiest thing to do would be to make 10 ounces worth of it, input the ingredients and the amounts you used to make the 10 ounces of dressing, save it as a Meal, and then when you use it, just select it from the My Meals tab. If you used 1 ounce of dressing, then select ".1" as the quantity (.2 for 2 ounces, etc.). It's a bit of work up front, but once it's done it goes so much faster.

I was just noticing this morning the complete and total silence from him yesterday and how pleasant it was. This just made my friggin' day!

It can vary, but it's usually between 4-7. There will be at least one incision that's about an inch long (I had two, but my procedure also removed my lapband and port) and then several about the width of your pinkie finger.

Honestly? My suggestion would be to contact your weight loss team and ask them to delay submitting for approval with your insurance for another month. That will give you the chance to adjust to a diet that will get your weight down below where you started off and start some exercise. While I was still waiting to meet my reqs, my diet was one 30g protein shake at 9am, a 20g protein bar at noon, a cottage cheese cup/low-sugar greek yogurt/another protein shake or bar at 4pm, and then 5oz of lean protein and 5oz of veggies at 7pm. I'd generally end up between 1000-1200 calories. For exercise, I would just walk outside for about 30-45 minutes since the gym was not an option. Couple that kind of a diet and routine with delaying submitting to insurance for 4 weeks and you should get back below where you started.

I would suggest asking your surgeon for the exact reason why they feel that the sleeve is the better option for you. While it is not a guarantee that GERD will get worse with the sleeve, it happens frequently enough that it is considered a risk. As part of your current situation is trying to end the issues with GERD, you have every right to know why your doctor is advocating for VSG over RNY.

Last night I ate my first "real food" since the pre-op diet over 6 weeks ago. Creamy scrambled eggs! They definitely needed salt, but I avoided it just to be on the safe side. Even still, they were very good. 2 eggs, which I was worried might have been pushing it, but I never had any overfull feelings, so I guess it was fine! After a couple of hours, my stomach did feel a little odd and was extra noisy, but I suspect that was partly from having something other than protein shakes to digest. Saturday is when I'll try something else and I'm looking to do some pureed chicken salad made with hummus instead of light mayo. I always used to make my tuna salad with hummus, so I figure it'll be just as tasty with chicken.

I’ve 5.5 weeks out now and my incisions have healed up, but I also had two larger incisions (mine were above the belly button) and four small ones around my belly. photo is from 2 days post op.

The only reason I can't bring myself to use the ignore function on him is because of the harmful things he says to other users, along side the misinformation he spreads. It galls me to think of new users coming in looking for genuine help and support and then having him there as one of the first people they encounter.

That will largely be dependent on what your surgeon says. It seems like every doctor has their own pre-op diet plan. Some require 2 weeks of pre-op diet...some only 1 week...some not even at all. Your surgeon will have their own and hopefully it'll be one of the more generous ones! I had 1 week of nothing but protein shakes and water. It was quite the task!

There isn’t really anything special about this, but the fact that it’s my first real food that isn’t a protein shake or protein bar in over 6 weeks, I was excited and wanted to share. One more step in the path! 2 creamy scrambled eggs

I wish I knew of a resource that I could point you towards. Hopefully some of the links that others provided will yield some assistance! I am very sorry that you went through so much of what you did. While you can say that the surgery failed for you, the truth of the matter is that your surgeon failed you in a horrible egregious manner. To refuse to provide you with any follow-up is beyond the pale and boggles my mind. I would suggest possibly seeking out a hospital based weight management program in your area that is NOT affiliated with your prior surgeon. They should be able to provide you with the guidance that your previous surgeon apparently couldn't be bothered to provide. I'm also sorry that you ran afoul of this forum's resident *******. No one deserves having to listen to him.

Folks, do the site and this thread a favor and click the "Report Post" link in the upper right hand corner of New&Improved post.

I am 5 weeks post-op as of today and I am down a total of 27.2 lbs. My first week was the most dramatic drop at 11.4 lbs. Then it leveled off and has ranged from 2.8 to 4.8 lbs a week. I only weigh myself once a week (used to be Fridays, now it's Tuesdays since that's the day my surgery was). I may switch to every other week once I hit the 3 month mark, but we'll see. Do not weigh yourself every day. That way lies only madness.

Thanks so much! Back in February when I was asked what weight I wanted to get to, I said 225 as that was what I weighed in my mid 20s and while it's still overweight, it was a weight that fit my body type. Being at 341lbs, I felt like 225 was probably going to be difficult to achieve, but still possible. Suffice to say, I'm kind of in shock at the fact that I'm now 10.6lbs away from that (2.8lbs lost this week as of this morning's weigh in!). I never fathomed that I would have lost as much weight pre-op as I managed to do, which obviously helped a lot to get closer to that goal. I briefly toyed with updating my goal to something lower than what I have it at now, but I think it's best that I leave my 225 goal in place for now so that when I reach it, I have something big to celebrate. THEN, I can update my goal to the next level (which my doctor put out the number "190" at my visit yesterday) and start working on hitting that goal.

I'm not really a big fan of steak, yet have frequently found myself eating at nice steakhouses and I have yet to eat at a steakhouse that did not have a couple of seafood options that I always end up going for. Usually it's scallops, but depending on what they might have as a market catch for that day, I might spring for that. Especially if it's sea bass! I almost always see a chicken dish as well, but gave up on that since I rarely find it prepared in a way that blows my mind and taste buds. On the rare occasion I'll want red meat, I'll usually spring for their filet mignon since it's one of the leanest cuts you can get and generally offered in a smaller portion in the 5-6oz range.