ShooterInTheSix

It's my first day of purees. I just blitzed 4 mini Italian style meatballs with 1/4 cup of tomato basil past sauce and 1/6 cup of shredded skim mozzarella, and it's entirely possible that it was the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. 220 cal, 13g protein, 15g fat, 8g carbs

An old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in many years had RNY two years ago. We reconnected a couple of months ago before I had my own surgery two weeks ago and spent as couple of hours talking about his experience. He went from 355 on his surgery day to 180 and said one of the things that really struck him was that he's very often cold now.

My program is; 1.Clear fluids (1–2 days while in hospital) 2.Full fluids (2 weeks) 3.Pureed diet (2–4 weeks) 4.Soft diet (2–4 weeks) 5.Regular diet Full fluids after the hospital stay are defined as; Blended broth/cream-based soups (no chunks) Cooked cereal, thinned with milk (e.g. cream of wheat) Milk or alternatives (e.g. soy, almond, rice milk) Low-fat, sugar-free pudding Vegetable juice Low-fat, sugar-free yogurt Protein shakes/powder 70-100g protein daily 

Tired but feeling good. I do still feel a little achy in my abs but it continues to improve daily. I had a Zoom call with a nurse this morning and she was happy with my healing progress and with what I've been eating (averaging 80-85g of protein every day). My scale this morning said I'm down 11 lbs since surgery day last Thursday and now 31 lbs since the beginning of my two weeks of pro-op liquid diet at the end of last month.

I had my RNY on Thursday morning & was discharged from the hospital today. So far, so good. I didn't experience any gas pain at all, primarily just intense ab muscle pain...but only when I move. It's definitely gotten much better since Thursday afternoon and now broadly feels like I did way too many sit ups. I didn't have any last minute second thoughts and have zero regrets. Now the real work starts.

Let's try this again. I was booked for my RNY for Aug 28 and after waiting in the hospital in my gown & booties for 5 hours, it was cancelled due to an emergency trauma case. Tomorrow is my new day, arrival at 6:00am, surgery at 8:00am. Let's gooo!

You've got this, and don't worry; you'll get plenty of sleep over the next couple of days!

You've got this, and don't worry; you'll get plenty of sleep over the next couple of days!

If I had a smoker, I'd be all over trying that. I haven't heard of baking them until I read this, but I have tried hard boiling eggs in the microwave. It is absolutely possible to do without them exploding; cover 3-4 eggs with water in a microwave safe dish and -the critical component- add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the water; about 1/2 tsp per egg. Run the microwave on high for 4 minutes, let them sit for a minute, then zap them for another 4 minutes, then immediately get them into an ice bath for a few minutes. All of that said, I don't recommend it. Ultimately the eggs do get hard boiled, but the egg white massacre is truly horrific. I ended up having to cut the eggs in half - while still in the shells - and scooping the egg out with a spoon as successfully peeling them was absolutely impossible.

I used to put the eggs in cold water and heat just until the water boiled, removed from the heat for 8 minutes then into an ice bath. Tore up the whites every time. Recently I've started boiling the water first then adding the eggs one at a time with a spoon to the boiling water & letting them go for 8 minutes, then dropping them in an ice bath. Perfect every time now with no massacre of the whites at all. Edit; I just made a batch an hour ago and taking the pot from the stove to the sink, bumped my elbow on the corner of the microwave (it's between the stove and the sink) and splashed some just shy of boiling water on my leg just above my knee. Fun times! Put some cold compresses on it right away - thank you already prepped ice bath - so hopefully I'll live to see the morning. On the upside, after I pulled them out of the ice bath, I peeled a couple of the eggs and they're perfect.

I'm now in the September group. I was booked for my RNY yesterday and after sitting in my super sexy drafty gown & see through blue booties for 5 hours (I was the last case of the day and they were running behind from the start), an emergency case came into the hospital and 'stole' my nursing team and my surgery was cancelled. Definite lunchbag letdown. I'm now booked for the first slot of the day on Sept 14. Thankfully I've been given an alternate real food diet and don't have to work through another two weeks of OptiFast, so I'm taking that as a win.

Lunchbag Letdown. Was scheduled for my RNY today at 2:15pm. Arrived at the appointed check-in time of 11:00am and sat patiently for a couple of hours with an IV started wearing a very drafty gown and see through blue booties. The surgeon dropped by to let me know they were running behind and it would be 2-3 hours longer as they were taking the RNY case before me next. 2-3 hours turned into 4 then 5, then I was advised an emergency case had come in and had 'stolen' my nursing team and my surgery needed to be cancelled for today. Now I'll wait to hear from the surgeon's office some time over the next few days to get a new date. If there's an upside, the surgeon gave me a 'free pass' to eat whatever I want tonight and to just follow a low fat/low carb diet from tomorrow until my new date; I won't need to hop back on the OptiFast liquid diet train again. Yes it sucks, but it can always be worse - I wasn't the emergency case, so I'll take that as a win.

Can you elaborate? I'm having my RNY tomorrow.

It's my 'last weekend'. Surgery is on Monday at 2:15pm (hospital check-in at 11:00am). Here goes nothing...or everything 🤷‍♂️

You absolutely will be intubated while under general anesthesia and will be monitored the entire time by the anesthesiologist who puts you under; that is their entire role during your surgery. While you may be tired and a little groggy, you will not be discharged while still under anesthesia; that completely dissipates while you're in post-op recovery. As Anomalia said above, if you're staying over night at the hospital, they'll tell you to bring your machine (if you're actually diagnoses with sleep apnea following your sleep study). If you're having your surgery as an outpatient, you should use your machine while you're resting the first couple of days because you definitely will sleep. After that, just use it as you normally would.

Surgery is two weeks from today. Had my pre-op admission appointment this morning and also started my two week OptiFast liquid diet today. As I type this, over the course of the day I've now had three shakes, two cups of vegetable broth and a couple of sugar free popcicles and haven't felt any genuine hunger to speak of.

I recently reconnected with an old friend who I hadn't talked to in years. I saw I picture of him that he'd posted on his social media and reached out. He's been a great resource in sharing his experiences having had RNY a little over two years ago; he's lost half his body weight, is no longer pre-diabetic and is completely off the hypertension meds he had been on for years prior. When we spoke about diet and supplements post-op, he said he'd been told by his team to take prenatal multivitamins. He takes two Equate (Walmart house brand) Prenatal Multivitamins each morning and for the past two years since his surgery, his bloodwork numbers have been perfect.

Are going with a private care provider or does BC have a bariatric program that you get referred into by your family doctor? In Ontario there is a bariatric program that covers most of the costs (you have to buy your own OptiFast for the pre-op liquid diet, but broadly everything else is covered, including all consults and tests (sleep study, endoscopy, bloodwork, etc) if you meet several criteria; BMI greater than 40 or BMI between 30-40 with one comorbidity which are defined as coronary heart disease, hypertension, Type II diabetes, or diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. Once you're enrolled in the program, there are several appointments and classes including a general orientation (virtual), a meeting with a nurse (in person), a social worker (virtual), a dietician (virtual), an internist (in person, who will likely order a sleep study if you haven't had one or have not already been diagnosed with apnea), a nutrition class (virtual) then a meeting with the surgeon (virtual, and who may require an endoscopy to have a look inside your stomach). They will then decide if you're approved for surgery and you'll receive a surgery date shortly thereafter. Next you'll attend a pre-surgery class (virtual). Lastly, you'll need to go in to the hospital two weeks ahead of your surgery where you'll see a nurse, an anesthesiologist and a pharmacist. During this appointment they'll draw blood, give you an ECG, discuss anesthesia and whether you should continue or stop any medications you may be taking before surgery. From being referred into the program to getting my surgery date took almost exactly 4 months (March 7-June 8) and my surgery date is Aug 28, so roughly 6 months total.

I underwent a sleep study as a requirement of this process and as a result have now been using an APAP machine for the past month. A friend of mine had his surgery two years ago and while he no longer physically needs to use his machine having lost 175lbs, he told me he loves sleeping with it and continues to use it.

I've been very specifically told that all carbonated beverages after surgery are completely off the table for a number of reasons including the high risk of stretching of the stomach pouch, suppression of nutrient absorption, bloating, irritation of the stomach lining, and especially in the case of regular sugared versions, they're 100% empty calories. There is also a study that was done by the University of Wisconsin that found soda and other carbonated drinks decrease weight loss after bariatric surgery and that they heavily impacted how much weight patients lost. Over 80% of patients who quit drinking soda after surgery achieved their weight loss goals while almost 50% of those who continued their drinking habits had unsatisfactory results. University of Wisconsin predictors of weight loss after gastric bypass study The section that addresses soda consumption is 3.3.1 with the breakdown in Table 3 Edited to insert this section quoted from the study; "Patients who did not drink soda preoperatively or quit by the surgery date were more likely to experience successful weight loss compared with those who drank soda preoperatively and were not able to quit. Given that all soda drinkers were counseled by our dieticians to quit soda consumption preoperatively, this variable may be a proxy for postoperative dietary compliance. Those who were unable to quit soda consumption preoperatively may have been less likely to comply with our dietary recommendations postoperatively. Furthermore, given that consuming liquid carbohydrates such as soda leads to poorer satiety compared with eating solid foods, caloric intake may have been significantly higher in patients who continued to drink soda postoperatively [34,35]. Given these findings, cessation of soda consumption preoperatively continues to be an important part of our preoperative bariatric patient evaluation process."

I'll be doing two full weeks of liquid diet ahead of my surgery which will start, coincidentally, on the day of my hospital pre-op appointment.

I'm in Toronto

From my family doctor referring me into the bariatric program to my surgery date was 6 months to the day.

Six months almost to the day. My family doctor submitted me into the bariatric referral program here in Toronto the last week of February. I attended the virtual orientation session on March 7 and my surgery date is August 28. In between those dates, I've attended (either virtually or in person) meetings and consults with a nurse, psychiatrist, a social worker, the nutritionist, an internist, did a sleep study, met the surgeon, and had an endoscopy. It's actually moved quite quickly.