The Greater Fool

Caveat: I'm a tall guy, so things may be different for me as opposed to you superwomen who are used to pain. I suggest a helper. My tummy tuck hurt more than my open RNY surgery. Any movement was agony. Non-movement was agony. Maybe two helpers. When you point at things you need done it will hurt. After your surgery perhaps I'll favor you with my tummy tuck horror story. Exciting times! They removed 12 pounds of flesh from me. When I was wheeled out of the hospital, I was surrounded by balloons my parents bought announcing "It's a Boy!" I got a lot of strange looks. Good luck, Tek

Generally, there are a lot of variables that go into how well medications work post-op. Variables like you, your surgery, how much was bypassed, where the drug is absorbed (which they probably don't know), and other stuff we'd never think of. It often just comes down to trial and error. Generally, time release meds MAY be a problem. I took some time-released pain meds that didn't work. They increased it to 8 times the appropriate dose, still nothing. Changed to non-time released and the appropriate dose worked fine. Other things, like Slow-FE which is time released iron works well enough for me. For me, meds generally last 1/2 as long as the should. So, work closely with your Docs, Lamictal is something you want to keep right. Good luck and take care of yourself. Tek

Hi, my name is Tek and I'm a dumper. Dumping is usually forever. We can dump on sugar or fats. I use dumping as a learning tool and it has helped keep me honest. Early on, I learned that my dumping meter is sensitive. It taught me to avoid sugars and fats. Now it's somewhat built into my decision making process I simply don't even consider the stuff that will make me dump. The length of time between dumps widens because, as I said, I learned. Now, dumping is generally pretty rare and usually require an unlikely set of circumstances. It's still a learning experience. Good Luck, Tek

You misunderstand my cryptic and leading question. I asked if you dump. Diarrhea is part of dumping syndrome. Thus, if you dump you have a solution to your problem. I dump. I have [rarely] added a sugar drink like orange juice to address constipation. I only do it in the most extreme situations as playing with dumping is like playing with fire. Good Luck, Tek

It doesn't seem you are a natural English speaker. The translation product you are using isn't doing well with just short thoughts. It may help if you tell us more, using several lines of text, then we might get the sense of what you're telling us. Gosh, I hope this translates decently. If you are an English speaker, then give us more complete information. Good folks here are anxious to help. Good Luck Tek

Congratulations. The pain, unfortunately, has to run it's course. When you see your Doc for you surgical follow-up, if you still in this much pain I would make sure he understands your situation. I admire your effort on walking 2 blocks, and am I reading this correctly, multiple times a day?. Until your pain subsides a bit, you might want to reduce it a bit. Walking uses abdominal muscles to keep you erect and balanced. At this point, I would run an experiment: Reduce my walking to 1/2 a block, just once, and see where my pain goes. But that's me, you do you. You've got an adventure ahead, a lot of learning to do things you thought you knew how to do. Enjoy! Good Luck, Tek

Welcome to the forums. I'm thinking now is not the time for surgical horror stories. I have moderate OCD, so when I have something like an upcoming surgery on my mind, it's on my mind all night long. This is my way of saying I understand what you're going through. With something as big as surgery it's hard to keep your mind from going to the dark place. If I had a magic bullet way of stopping this, well, I'd have used it myself. My 'go to' solution that at least helps is distraction. Immerse myself in something positive. So, in that spirit: Create a list of 50 things you want to happen or that you want to do post-op. My #1 was wake up after surgery, then there were things like running, kayaking, hiking. Also 'odometer' goals, like a weight beginning with 5,4,3,2, clothing sizes, lost weight. You get the point. If you like games, play games. I did a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Very immersive. You get it, something, anything that can get your mind away from the dark place. You are at the beginning of a thrill ride. Remember to enjoy it, even the scary parts. Good luck Tek

I appreciate your take on things. Thanks for taking the time to discuss things. Tek

Welcome to the forums. Tek

Again, to be very clear, I do not disagree with cautions against alcohol. There are a lot of things we should not be playing with in the first few months of which alcohol is one. The OP made no allusions to alcohol abuse or full blown alcoholism, we're talking a few sips, which themselves are not life threatening. What you are describing is a series of events each building on an unlikely result of the predecessor. The most common cause of staple line issues are too much food or drink causing staple line stress, which if constant and consistent start the series of events you are describing, which can then cause ulceration and bleeds, which can be life threatening. Pinning all of this on sips of margarita as the claim of a life and death situation is a stretch, at best. It's closer to scare mongering. Now, if it serves good causes, scare mongering can be effective. It can also itself be problematic. [Looking back, I realized you weren't responding to me directly. It's an easy mistake to make when you realize the world actually does revolve around me. ] Again, I'm not arguing that it's OK to drink in the first 6 months post op. As you say, I too have never encountered a program that said alcohol was acceptable in any quantity in the first 6 months. I've heard of at least one program where the surgeon asked patients to swear off alcohol forever. I am all about compliance and staying on plan. When it comes to the OP, the no drinking ship has sailed. It's water over the dam and under the bridge. It's a historical fact. All I am arguing is that sips of Margarita at this point in the OPs journey is not a "Life or Death" dilemma all by itself. Addiction and cross-addiction post-WLS is an issue. Ultimately, new addictions can turn into life or death dilemmas. No question. Kids at home, stay out of mom and dad's liqueur cabinet. Tek

Thanks ever so. Somehow I was expecting: Add Cheese; Bake; Oh well

[I quoted so that I could see more pictures of the Ricotta Bake] Since I have a tendency to be brutally honest, I don't see any point in changing now. Cheese being a source of pleasure in my life, I am sometimes overly critical about cheese products. I'm sorry if I step on any toes here. I must admit that I am a cheese freak. CHEESE FREAK. I'm one of those people that can eat ricotta out of the container. I like all sorts of cheese from the most flavorless American cheese to the Limburgers that peel paint off the walls. Don't get between me and anything cheese. Now for the cold, hard truth: 1) The size of this 'Ricotta Bake' is unacceptable for WLS patients. I'm willing to take the hit for the team, so just send it off to me. Give, give, give, that's me. 2) I assume there is a recipe around here somewhere? And I bet you expect me, of all people, to go looking for it? No, I say. No. This will not stand. If I were to go find the recipe, how will you learn? 3) It's hard to tell but exactly how many layers of cheesy goodness are there? This is important; 4) Portion size. Really, this must be considered. There is no possible way that this pan represents a single serving of cheesy goodness. It must require, 3... no 4 pans of this size to arrive at a single portion. You really need to think ahead on this sort of thing. This looks like something that is worth eating until I am sick. Shame on you! 5) It looks overcooked in the top picture, and undercooked in the bottom. Being the caring, sensitive person that I am, I simply cannot allow you to consume such substandard product. You need to gently pack it up, and send it to "The Greater Fool Laboratories" and my team will figure out what went wrong. Of course, to do it right we may need several samples a week for the foreseeable future. We're willing to put in the work to see this through, no matter how long it takes; 6) To help defray your shipping expenses, TGF Laboratories will help with some of the shipping expenses. We are committed to helping you get this done right. As I said before, give, give, give, that what I'm about.

I noticed it was old, and tried focus more on the more recent, only read the first 3 or so on the first page. The short cut cost me this time. I had no better word to describe the top as bread, and could only imagine what the whole thing looked like. Bread-like substance? I'll accept that my flippant "2 slices of bread" description was flippant. I still have no better description looking back at it now. I have a hard time believing that she did not receive ANY guidance. As I've said before, I've been in sessions where people came out with the exact wrong impressions of what to do. Others were just in a daze and overwhelmed. So, my biases force me to take such with a huge grain of salt. It's hard to believe that any practice would be this criminally negligent. I'm finding it difficult to even accept it as something that must have happened somewhere to someone, though undoubtedly it has. If the OP is the mythical unicorn, then I probably would have stayed my hand and just let it go.

I hate when that happens. I've never gotten decent information form a dietician. Dietitians are about creating menus. Nutritionists are about, well, nutrition. They are typically better educated and better informed. Sounds like you are doing well with your post-op life. It also sounds like you've done research into your situation, which I tend to value more that general knowledge a dietician might have. As long as not going doesn't impact your insurance coverage, you sound like you are in good hands (your own, if that wasn't clear). With all this support I'm giving you, I think 'Tek' would make a good name, don't you? Good Luck, Tek

First, you dropped my entire post except what she did wrong. That is an interesting choice. It tells me that you, at least, have an issue with an honest appraisal of our actions. You apparently prefer the "oh, there there, you poor thing" approach. You dropped the action items she could take to actually help. I saw the picture, and it appeared to be a mostly eaten thing. We each have different approaches to life. This is a message board where one of the main functions is to explore those different perceptions and approaches. Honestly, how do YOU know she learned a lesson? And what lesson do you suppose she learned? You don't know. I don't know. She may not know. She certainly didn't indicate what she learned. Nothing indicating how this might affect her future. Sure, she felt terrible. I heard regret that she got sick. I didn't read regret about breaking the rules. I didn't see a plan for not repeating the same 'mistake.' Telling her to talk frankly to her Doc is not out of place, I'm heartily rejoicing that she plans to do just that. Suggesting mental health help is by no means out of line. I'm shocked that you so boldly declare such as not helpful. That is pure and simple amazing of you. Telling her to get back on plan and stay on plan, well, you're right. It's pure and simple evil of me to even suggest this. When I made greater and lesser errors, they weren't things I needed sympathy for as if it happened to me. I didn't except nor want people making excuses for me. I expected honesty. They were things I screwed up, things I did to me all by myself. Things for which I had to take responsibility. I enjoyed your giving me your honest perceptions. Interestingly, why don't I deserve the whole compassion and empathy thing? It's OK, I know why. Keep up the good work, Tek

Wow, I'm shocked you would be able to eat (or more likely) drink the sugar necessary. I love learning new stuff.

I remember going to my 1 month follow-up. I was still my my 6 weeks of pureed food. The morning of the appointment, I was a little rushed so I took a bite of a banana, chewed thoroughly, and everything went swimmingly. In fact, I was so proud that I told my doc. I don't remember the exact words of the lecture I received. It as a scathing rebuke of me thinking I knew more about his surgery than he did. He explored my deficits both moral and intellectual. He made it clear that MY decisions got me to needing surgery. What in the blue hell made me think my opinion about the plan was the way to go at this point. That if I can't follow simple rules I will fail both fantastically and completely. As I said, I don't remember the words, but I got the message loud and clear. Follow the damn rules. Darned if it didn't turn out Doc was right. So, let's look at the rules the OP not only broke but demolished: 1) During puree stage, EATING a breakfast sandwich. Why not puree it first? Then you would at least be within that rule; 2) Were the actual foods on your plan? 2 slices of bread? Really? 3) Taking 2 hours to eat it. This is not eating a meal this is like climbing Everest. You were set on conquering this breakfast sandwich regardless of cost. This is the fast track to not losing weight, and in fact, gaining it back quickly; Tell the Doc about this post. Maybe he can include it in future documentation on "How not to do it." It's STILL not too late. *IF* you take the following steps: 1) Talk to your Doc about this 'achievement'; 2) Get thee to a mental health professional. Get help. 3) Get back to and stay on plan. Good luck, Tek

It's mostly about washing food through allowing you to eat more. There is a lot of the same rules with RNY. Food and drink volume restrictions are about stretching. So stick with your Doc's rules on volume. While the times when to stop and when to start vary with Docs, as you indicate, they work to achieve the same thing. Some Doc's overcompensate, some give the minimum reasonable. Doc's also learn what to say based on what past patients have done. OH, also remember that Doc's don't do the same surgery in the exact same ways, so there is variation. So rules may be different between Docs for very good reasons. Just a thought to ponder. So, for 6 months give your Doc the benefit of the doubt. After all, you trusted him to move your insides about. As you get MUCH further out, as a natural course of things, you will test what happens if you shorten or lengthen the times. You may even... horror of horrors... test drinking with meals. But, knowing WHY and WHAT the Doc is working to achieve with your rules, stick to them in some way that honors the intent.

You need to have a frank discussion with your Doc about your current nicotine based habits. If you wait until day of surgery and the Doc just happens to find out, he may cancel on general principle. If you deal with it beforehand, it doesn't look like you are trying to get over on the doc and then the Doc may have a solution of which you haven't considered. Heck, Doc may just say "screw it" and not worry about it. Doc may simply have you discontinue the nicotine product for a period of time. Frank and honest are almost always the best path forward. Good luck, Tek

I don't recall them doing an urinalysis. You might talk to your Doc beforehand expressing your unusual anxiety. Perhaps the anesthesiologist if the Doc doesn't pan out. Try some relaxation techniques.. If you're worried about vitamin D or Iron go to the local pharmacy and get a supplement. Slow-FE works well for me, still. Unless you have extraordinarily low iron I can't see it being an issue. D even less so. You're finding stuff to worry about which is not unusual. Hang in there, address whatever you can if it will relieve your anxiety. Post op, if you're looking for something to read, I recommend "How to Make Yourself Miserable" (Dan Greenburg, 1976). I found it quite enlightening and entertaining. Good Luck, Tek

Just noticed, you have the sleeve? Just to be clear 'dumping' will be extremely difficult to manage. RNY is where 'dumping' is an issue. I'm sure you know this, but just want to be clear for the audience at home. Though, my non-op spouse managed to dump once. Now she understands better. Good luck Tek

First, let me say I agree with the whole 'don't break the rules, stay on plan' thing. If I were to look back on my posts here, I suspect I might find a post or two saying just that. Over and over. Could you expand on the alcohol and the idea it is a life and death decision? I've never heard this, and obviously, never heard medical support for it. In my personal situation, I had and have liver issues which for me mean: Alcohol and many drugs that may be hard on the liver I have to stay away from. But this is because I have specific medical concerns. DS: I don't remember the ins and outs of DS well enough to make any claims. Sleeve, Band: For surgeries that leave the pyloric valve in tact food/drink digestion works pretty much as pre-op. The restrictive nature reduces volume and things related to volume. RNY: the 'bypass' part causes anything one eats or drinks to dump directly into the intestines. As such, any alcohol consumed forces the body to work on it all now. This can be overwhelming to the liver. You can hit alcohol poisoning on much less alcohol. Drink often enough and cirrhosis can become an issue quicker. In the weeks can take for your innards to heal completely after surgery I've never heard that alcohol poses any sort of unique life and death threat. A good choice: definitely no. A life and death choice: I'd like to see the math. I do so enjoy learning new things. Thanks, Tek

There is no rule that says you have to take all your pills at or even near the same time. Spread them out more. I didn't have many pills back when I was early post-op. I'm 17 years post-op, I take a fair chunk of pills morning and night. About 1/2 the time when I take them I sneeze which is a sure sign I am 'full'. Early post-op is the most difficult period. You just can't eat because you had surgery recently. Your pouch and surgery points are swollen and angry, so getting any food or drink near it is tough. You're also learning how to eat again. Just go slow and you'll get through it. Keep trying. Good luck, Tek

I get late dumping. It typically involves sweats, palpatations, lethargy, gastric distress with as a big finish: diarrhea. I don't recall exactly when and why I dumped over the years, but it would probably started at 6 or so months. I was feeling pretty confident about things by then. Probably something innocuous, like a glass of OJ, or some equally stupid choice. How do I get through it? Not really anything that can be done. I bought the ticket I have to finish the ride. Good luck, Tek

Welcome to the forums. You don't indicate which WLS you've had which can change how such could impact pregnancy. I don't have experience with Kaiser. Nor do I have experience with pregnancy after WLS. I'm just here to keep you company while you are waiting for the informative replies that are soon to show up shortly. In the meantime... how about a little chit-chat? I can completely understand insurance wanting to ensure you are supported if you've had any of the malabsorption surgeries (RNY, DS). It's important that everyone involved understand this aspect of surgeries and how you will have to compensate for the health of your fetus. If you've had a restrictive surgery (RNY, sleeve, most current varieties of DS [I'm told]), then it is a matter of getting all the standard and special nutrients that are hard to achieve when one is eating small volumes of food. Effectively, you will have to figure out how to eat around your surgery now through a couple years post-pregnancy without continuing it when you don't want to. So, speaking with a dietician, though I would go for a nutritionist, would be a monthly meeting well worth going forward with even if you keep all your benefits if you opt-out. Once the meetings get repetitive and you are not getting anything out of them then you might consider opting out. Be careful if they say it's OK to opt-out. Be sure you clarify that an order of 'opt-out is up to you' does not come with a side of 'we won't cover pregnancy costs we think are related to WLS." Good luck, Tek