ChunkCat

Oh NickelChip, I'm so sorry!! I was looking forward to seeing you go through your surgery and everything that comes after! I hope the new place reaches out soon, they are probably swamped with end of the year patients, plus a pile of patients due to this closure... It never ceases to amaze me how careless hospital admins and insurance companies can be about their patients. I recently found out that the network my bariatric surgeon is in AND my orthopedic surgeon are in, are more than likely going to be out of network come January because Cigna is being an asshat about re-negotiating their contract with them. And I was supposed to have a shoulder MRI and surgery in January. This is my second shoulder surgeon as the first one's practice behaved abhorrently regarding my bariatric surgery. Does Cigna care about any of this?? Nope. Are they losing sleep over this? Nope. I'm really glad you were able to check out the policy your husband will be getting in January and that it covers bariatric surgery. I hate that all your carefully made plans have been wrecked by idiots who allowed surgeries to be scheduled knowing they would never be done. They could have at least finished out the year! And called instead of giving you a chart notification... So ridiculous.

Aww, thank you!! Big hugs to you too! I'm doing great, I have been in remission for almost two years and the weight I lose from surgery will go towards decreasing my chances of reoccurrence so my oncologist was super happy to approve it! Hope your surgery went well and you are resting and sipping and walking! ❤️

Yaaay!!! Congrats!! If that was the last of your clearances, you should email your surgeon's office to let them know it has been completed and ask what the next steps are. Usually that prods them to get everything together to submit for approval.

I had to actually have GP clearance before surgery was approved, even though I wasn't having any issues. I had cancer about 2 years back and so they needed clearance from my gyn oncologist too. But it really is just a simple piece of paper they fill out and sign. It should be done in a day! Just get the papers from the surgeon's office and send them through your online chart to your GYN, they should take care of it pronto. Make sure they know it is holding up your surgery.

If you lost a bunch of weight pre-surgery your loss post surgery may be slower for a little while. This is because the body has to recalibrate and reassure itself it isn't starving to death. It also has to replenish glycogen and rebalance your fluids and on and on. It's a lot of hard work for it!! And slow to one person is not slow to another person. I'm 6 weeks post op a DS and have lost 20 lbs. I did not lose much pre-op. I have been stalled for several weeks because that's the classic 3 week stall where the body does its thing to recalibrate to lose more weight. I'm not stressing about it, I just had a very major surgery! My body has been working hard! It takes time to recover. You feel like you are starving because you aren't getting your fluids in by mouth. Trust me, once you are getting all your fluids in it becomes a challenge to find times to eat and drink everything you need in a day. Getting fluids by IV will keep making the scale jump by 10 lbs because they fluid load you to last a few days. You are probably losing fat, it just isn't showing on the scales because of the IV fluids. Make sure you take measurements too, those often change when the scale doesn't. I wish you much luck in getting off the IVs!

My dietitian explained the reason the diet progresses so slow is because there are a lot of sutures holding your stomach (and intenstines) together and you want those raw edges to heal together without the obstruction of bits of food getting in their way irritating them. You want nice, smoothly healed suture lines. I don't think you've done irreversible damage from going off plan, but I agree with the others, I'd examine why you felt you needed to go off plan, and I'd return to it. If you feel you've healed faster than others and should advance, call your team and talk to them about it. They might let you advance sooner, or they might tell you to stay the course. This surgery and the aftermath take a lot of willpower. We can choose to stay with the guidelines we've been given from our team, or we can do our own thing, but there will be consequences for each choice. If you bend the rules for earlier food progression, will you bend the rules when it comes to what you should eat as you begin to lose weight? Will you go off course throughout your weight loss phase because you don't feel like adhering to it? We all have those moments, it is understandable, we are human. But we have to be willing to confront ourselves when we do have those moments and look deeper into what is going on there that caused us to make those choices. Because one choice is one choice, but one choice made repeatedly is a pattern, and a pattern can either heal or hinder us.

I hope you have a very boring, routine surgery!! That's what I said to my surgeon on the day of surgery, it cracked him up. LOL I had surgery 6 weeks ago so it is pretty fresh in my memory. I woke up thinking "Man am I hungry!" then "Wait, why am I hungry!?" 😂 The ice chips they gave me were very welcome...

I live every day with the awareness that I could be gone in a moment. I have an extremely rare congenital abnormality in my brain that makes me at a very high risk for an aneurysm. When we found this out I had a long talk with my partner about how I felt about them, and about our lives together, and about my last wishes. I talked to all my family about it. I vowed then to live each day telling the people I love that I love them and value them, because odds are that when I go it'll be fast and I won't see it coming... Almost two years ago I got cancer. It is hard to face our own mortality, our minds aren't really designed to do that much or it drives us crazy. Thankfully I have a great therapist who helped me process the scary brain thing so we handled the cancer thing the same way... Every time I have a procedure that involves anesthesia I say goodbye like its my last time, with an open heart and a calm mind. My partner knows this. We talk about it every time. And talking about it makes it easier for me to go through whatever procedure it is because I know in my heart my loved ones know I love them and treasure them in my world. I am so grateful for the life I have with them. For some of us, this surgery makes us face our own mortality. I was scared of the surgery. But I was more scared of continuing to live as an obese person with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, etc... I knew that those things made me a ticking time bomb. So I did the scary thing and had my DS surgery. I'm so glad I did!! But the day of surgery before we left the house I said a private goodbye to my partner like I always do before surgery. I knew the odds were this surgery is very safe, but with my other conditions you just never know... It gives me peace to do that. I hope your letters give you peace so you can have your surgery with a calm heart that knows you've spoken the words you needed to say. ❤️

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Yesterday I went out for lunch with my partner. I got some items people might frown at, but they fit in with my overall DS macros and I didn't eat as much as I felt like I did. And it didn't have as many calories or carbs as I thought it might. A tablespoon of this, a tablespoon of that adds up, but there are still ways to keep it balanced so in the end it doesn't set you off track. I wouldn't eat this every day, but it was a nice treat this week and being able to eat out normally really cheered me up!

You have just had major abdominal surgery, the body has to take a lot of resources to heal from that and some of the meds we are given can affect us for weeks after. Then you have to take into account that you lost a nice chunk of weight very rapidly, causing hormones to be released into your body that are not normally that high. This impacts mood a LOT for some people, myself included. Think of it like having PMS/PMDD from hell. Irritability is very common, higher emotionality as well, sometimes depression too. Major surgery can also trigger depression and in men depression most exhibits itself as anger. Talk to your wife and GP about this. If it continues to be an issue you might want to try a medication to even things out for while you are losing... I hate when people say they feel bad for eating around me. Eat your damned food!! LOL I'm not a child, I can handle my feels about it. It is nice when people are willing to eat (at least partly) what I'm eating so I feel like a part of the gathering instead of the one in the corner with a kiddie meal, but even if no one wants to join me, I don't need pity. I need empathy and time spent with the ones I love that doesn't involve food! Or that involves food without people feeling bad for their own food. I'm not here to food shame anyone. Are you tracking your meals in Baritastic?? If not, I highly recommend you do. It helps you keep track of your routine daily food and you can see what your macros look like and get an idea for when you have room to indulge a little and when you need to stay on the straight and narrow. Sleeve surgery is a purely restrictive procedure, which means it relies heavily on dietary restriction to help you lose the weight. You have to work with it to help it accomplish this. Make sure your first focus is WATER, then protein, at least 60 grams or whatever your dietician suggests, then some healthy carbs if you have room, and then if you still have room, a bite or two of a starch or something indulgent. You shouldn't have much room for straying right now. And you may need to talk to someone about the food struggle because the food you are eating right now IS "real food" and will need to become the foundation of your eating from here on out to be able to maintain the results you get from the sleeve's weight loss. I don't say this to guilt you at all, my indulgence is dark chocolate, always has been. But the DS requires me to adhere to a low carb diet, so I get a bite of chocolate in the evening after I've hit all my goals for the day! Hence the app tracking things. LOL Be kind to yourself, you are going through some huge changes, we all are, and our bodies are under a lot of stress. What it needs most is kindness and nurturing right now, not shame and guilt. ❤️

I've had the DS. I'm about a month post op and my highest weight was 320. At your starting weight I'd really consider the DS for its better weight loss and lack of regain, or go bypass if you have a lot of GERD issues. I have some GERD issues but it is controlled by medication pretty well and I needed the DS because I'm diabetic with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea. I had a hysterectomy for cancer. All in all so far it is worth it! I'm down 30+ lbs from my highest weight, off all diabetes medications, off blood pressure medications, my blood sugar is normal, my BP is normal, and I have more energy! I'm really glad I went with the DS. Its a riskier surgery but only by a bit, and the things you gain from it like disease remission made it very much worth it for me. I'd encourage you to read about ALL the various surgeries and then discuss it with your surgeon. They'll be able to tell you what will be most effective for your individual case based on their experiences. If you can, go to someone who can perform any of the surgeries, only certain surgeons can do the DS or Bypass.

I love goat yoga!! LOL I have cat yoga...they think it is the best thing ever. A lot of people have misconceptions about yoga thanks to TV and stereotypes. But there are actually a number of yoga styles that are gentle and focus more on the mind/body/spirit connection and toning the body than they do on acrobatics. I'm so glad the explanation helped! I was rather ignorant of all that until a friend who has some of the same conditions I do and is a yoga teacher advised me to find a Yin/Restorative teacher in my area and do some sessions with her. It made me incredibly aware of how Type A I am and how even with illnesses and disability I go through my day pushing to get things done and have a hard time resting. I did 90 minute classes and would often fall asleep in a pose because my mind quieted down and I was finally still. I really want to get back into it, when I'm doing it I feel much stronger.

That is an encouraging picture!! I am not a huge gym fan and prefer to do most of my stuff at home or at a private studio one-on-one. I love resistance bands and was wondering if it would be enough for strength training. Your arms have great definition, I would have assumed you were using weights regularly!

I know what you mean! I had to do a few mail order ones for specialized testing, it is really strange to hand that off to a postal worker. 😂 The weirdest thing I ever had to take to a lab though was a 24 hour cortisol test, where you have to collect ALL your urine for 24 hours in jugs and bring it back. And I am a water drinker. It took me a minute to find a bag big enough to hide the jugs in because they give you a clear bag! Why??

You had a bypass, right? I had the DS. Both involve alteration of the intestines. My guess is that is what causes that feeling, things being rearranged in that area. I had the same feeling after a hysterectomy. I think the surgery impacts the muscles in the area... 4 kids would definitely make taking it easy challenging!! LOL

Most definitely yes!! Felt like I had done a core muscle marathon. 😂 It lasted a few weeks but now at 1 month post op it's gone. It is there to remind you to take it easy!!

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm already doing all those things. I get 60-90 grams of protein a day (I'm a DS patient so my protein requirement is higher), I am getting all my water in daily, I'm walking when I can, and doing anything physical that is safe for this stage of my healing. Truly, there is nothing I can do to break the stall. Stalls break when they are ready. This is my body recalibrating. It is discouraging but I'm trying to be patient. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the body needs down time to rest and recover and recalibrate so we can move forward. The best thing I can do right now is stay the course so I don't give it anything new to have to adjust to! LOL I'm one month post op today!! So happy with that. My healing is going well. I'm still nauseous on and off, especially in the morning, but other than that I feel good. My incisions are almost invisible already. No more soreness in the muscles of my abdomen. I still can't lift much yet but I'm being very careful about that because I don't want a hernia. I can sleep on my side again. I'm getting the hang of estimating what portions of what foods I can eat without measuring cups. I still think anything resembling chicken breast is vile and dry and a concrete block in my tummy. But I can get all different sorts of protein drinks in now when I need them!! Aaaand my partner bought us an espresso machine for Christmas so I can have my favorite espresso drinks decaf with my high protein Fairlife milk!! That's true love man...

Yeeessss... I am 4 weeks post op and have been at a stall for almost 2 weeks. In fact, just to be insulting, I gained 3 lbs. 😐 I know it is the 3 week stall, but man it is discouraging and it makes you scared that the weight loss won't start again. I'm trying hard to ignore the scale for a few weeks, stick to my plan, and trust my body to do its thing when it is ready. It has had a LOT of stress to deal with. Major surgery takes a ton of body resources to heal from. So I'm focusing on protein, hydration, and getting some walking in. I can't really do anything else. It'll break when it breaks. I only let myself get on the scale once a week to keep from fixating. It is hard, but worth it for my mental health. LOL

I've done them for parasite testing, cancer tests, and bacteria testing, but for surgery they weren't required. I did do a breath test for H. Pylori though, which could be what they are looking for. It weirds me out to do the stool tests but I'll tell you how I do it. I fill out the bottle labels. Open a trash bag and put it in the sink with the sides up the edges of the sink. Once I've used the bathroom in the plastic thing I nestle it inside the trash bag. Do the gloves and take the sample thing. Toss everything else into the bag, shuck the gloves, pull the bag sides up and viola, everything is disposed of!! I might have had to do these a lot for a GI condition I used to have that involved GI bleeding.... There is always a method to my madness.

I don't know what surgery you had, that kind of impacts the answer. If you had a DS I'd steer WAY clear, the carbs in the corn portion will send you running to the bathroom. My nutritionist told all of us regardless of surgery to avoid anything dense and chewy for 6 months as it will ball up inside your tummy and sit like a lump. I'd be especially cautious of this if you had the Gastric Bypass. If you had one of the other surgeries you may be able to eat the meat portion. But I'd caution you to consider the spices. I'm 4 weeks out and if I have anything Mexican with sauce, or spices, or any tomato based sauce other than ketchup, I end up in agony for hours...and then in the bathroom. My healing tummy has decided those things are still just too strong. I can weirdly handle sriracha just fine and have no clue why, but other than that, nope.

That's the exact pre-op diet I had! Are you required to use a particular shake or can you use any type? I had to use either Premier Protein or Bariatric Advantage for my pre-op, but I could use anything post op. I agree with the others, samples are your friend. BariatricPal has a fair number of brands you can get samples of. You can get the samples of protein broths from Unjury. Make sure you get some clear drink samples like the Syntrax Nectar line, as I found those MUCH easier to get down post surgery. The milk based ones felt too heavy for a while. My favorite of those are the Fuzzy Navel and the tropical one I can never recall the name of. You can pick up the ready made Premier Protein drinks at places like Walmart and Target in 4 packs so it isn't a huge commitment to flavors. I like the Cafe Latte ones (if you are allowed caffeine), Pumpkin Spice, Cinnamon Roll, and Vanilla the best. They are all good mixed with coffee (or in my case, decaf because I can't have caffeine for 6 months).

Yoga is amazing when you have a great teacher and you take care of your body in the process. I'm not into performance yoga but I did private classes with an instructor for Yin Yoga (also called "restorative yoga") for several years, it is fantastic for chronic pain and really helped my arthritis and fibro. In Yin/restorative yoga you rest in poses for 10-15 minutes at a time, it is very gentle. One pose held like that has the same effect as holding that pose for a shorter time, 7 days in a row. This is because the muscle fatigues itself and resets, so you get more mobility and pain relief. It is very gentle and uses a lot of props like folded blankets and blocks. The classes are usually small and the instructors usually help with modifications if you have limited range of motion. Chair yoga is very beneficial too, I've done a fair bit of it. The good aspects of yoga are that it brings increased range of motion, pain relief, better balance, stress relief, a calmer mind, less anxiety, stronger muscles without having to get your heart rate way up, and you get those nice endorphins. It also changes your body composition, you'll look thinner, leaner, longer, more smoothed out. I got a lot of compliments when I was doing it regularly and I was 250 lbs so it wasn't like I was a tiny thing either. I still incorporate some of the poses in my daily activities, like Tree pose when I'm standing at the sink or stove. LOL It can give a boost to your metabolism and help you lose weight, but the best thing it does for the body is increases blood flow to areas that might not get as much oxygenated blood due to stagnation from set body patterns. Bed yoga is also a thing! You can do it in the morning and in the evening right in your soft, cushy bed! It helps you get ready for the day more limber, I have arthritis that is systemic and ankylosing spondylitis so I need all the help stretching in the morning as I can get. It also helps with sleep in the evening. I think your doctor's advice is good. Yoga doesn't have to be the crazy "stand on your head" performance art you see in mainstream classes with skinny 20somethings. It can benefit every body. If you don't jive with it you can try Tai Chi! YouTube has a lot of great videos for Tai Chi for all beginner levels. It is great for longevity and is a better workout than you'd think by just watching it!

You can get other Premier Protein flavors at places like Target!! If I want a ready to drink protein I go with Premier Protein purely for convenience and the fact I can keep a variety in my fridge. I usually try to find it at Target until I've vetted a flavor, then I stalk Amazon and Walmart for sales. Fairlife's chocolate shake is fine but sometimes sends me to the bathroom for reasons I don't understand. If I'm at home and doing a mix I like the Syntrax Fuzzy Navel and their tropical flavor. You can get samples of different flavors through BariatricPal's shop. I also like the Mike & Ike Sour Watermelon from MyProtein. You can often get it on a good sale! I don't like the cherry though for some odd reason. I like the Pro-Cal shakes but only mixed with milk. Otherwise I just use unflavored protein (GenePro and no I don't count it as 33grams like it says it is equivalent to, I only count it as the 11 grams on the nutrition label!!). I hated Unjury and sadly everyone else recommended it so much I bought full size containers of the soups untasted and now post op I am kicking myself because I can't stomach any of it. LOL If you can have caffeine Chike is pretty good mixed with milk too! You can get samples of those from BariatricPal as well. SAMPLES ARE YOUR FRIEND!!

Sending you so much love and good juju!! I'm sorry you are hurting. I'm really glad they were able to get you in for surgery so soon!! I hope it brings some relief until you get to March and can have the rest of it sorted. ❤️

Good luck Brandy and Meisha and everyone else having surgery this week!! Tomorrow I will be one month post op!! I didn't lose anything last week, in fact when I checked my weight Monday I've gained 2,6 lbs. I might have cussed out the scale. 😂 I know it is just the infamous "3 week stall" and there is nothing I can do but stay the course. But maaaaan, when the scale starts moving in the other direction, it really does your head in. I worry this won't work for me, that this is all the weight loss I'll get, that my weight issues are too complicated for this surgery, etc... I know it isn't true, it is just a feeling and feelings are transient, but I'm pretty discouraged anyway. I'm sure it'll only last a few weeks, then get back on track. I plan on watching how everything is fitting while the scale is being difficult. I know it is just water weight gained from a stressed out body. But boy does your headgame need to be strong for this process... In other news I am on soft foods and about 70% of what I eat is relatively fine. I'm still taking nausea meds on and off. I still keep finding foods that piss everything off, my tiny tummy is PICKY. Fish still works best of all which still strikes me as all sorts of weird since I never liked it before. My tastebuds are still behaving strangely. And I really want a muffin but I can't have it because DS patients have to low carb it. *sighs wistfully* I picked up some of the Devotion brand protein that you can bake with. Maybe I'll be able to make a muffin when they arrive?!