KOLaficionado

I don't know about any Dr's south of the border, but I would say that if you don't have a lot of cash, the fills are going to put you in the poor house. It took 8 fills to get me to a good level, and they cost anywhere from 150-400 bucks a pop. That said, I recommend the surgery to anyone who's willing to use it right. It is a tool, you'll only loose so much if you're not willing to eat decently right(+ no carbonated beverages) , and do some moderate exercise.

Hello, I had this done when the surgeon had only done a relative handfull of them. But he's great, a prior vascular surgeon, so my big fear of something going wrong and the vena cava being compromised, was well relieved with his particular skills. The surgery took 30 minutes, plus 15 to close me up. I arrived at the hospital at 6 am and was home at 11am. Crazy. It's great so far the port sight was sore for a week and a half, but I was off meds within a few days and the scar is only about two inches long on the left upper part of my stomach. Can't complain:)

I had my surgery Monday and it's now Friday and I almost feel back to normal! The port site and the gas they blow your stomach up with were really the only two pain issues. The gas problem went away in 2 days and I am still having medium pain around my port site. I have two incisions, one little one right under my left boob...and a 2 1/5 inch one in the middle of my stomach on the left. They didn't use stitches just that liquid band aid or whatever it's called. I got to the hospital at 6am and was home by 10:45. I was only under anesthesia for about 40 minutes and then in recovery for a couple of hours. The hardest part was being ready to be wheeled back but having to wait till the doctor got there(for an hour and a half...). I just got in this weird mood and started sweating so I just closed my eyes and dosed. I don't know if it was nerves or something they put in the IV or what, but I just felt soo weird! After I woke up in recovery they had me do a barium swallow and it went right through, and one of the nurses said I'd probably need a few fills before I was happy with my level of restriction. But yeah, I can manage by myself now pretty well:) I'd do it again in a heart beat! Down 4 pounds since surgery and 15 lbs altogether!

Well I just got a bomb dropped on me. My EKG from my pre op came back abnormal and unless my cardiologist will fax over a clearance for surgery, I'm screwed. My surgery is scheduled for Monday at 9am(arrive at 7) My insurance requires it to be preformed at a particular place and my surgeon only does it there once a month. If I don't get the clearance today, it could easily be 2 even 3 months before I can be reschedualed. Talk about going from euphoria to devestation with a phone call:sad2:

I'm so happy for everyone who's had it done already! I can't believe that THE time has actually rolled around! Mine's Monday and I'm not a bit nervous anymore, that might change come the day of, but right now I just want it DONE!!

This diet just makes me mad. I understand you go off carbs for a bit and your liver uses up it's energy store and shrinks a bit making the surgery safer and easier. THAT SAID what is up with all of the pre op diets with all the milk and yogurt, applesause and fruit???? My own doc said eat all the soup you want! ANY kind except la Madeline. Also yogurt and low fat cottage cheese! What the heck kind of good is that going to do shriniking my liver?? I just don't see the point! Sorry for the rave but it's frustrating being on a diet that doesn't seem to be doing any good!

Yes congrats on the quitting smoking! I've been smoke free for three months now and I just now feel like I can breath so much easier. I also seem to sleep a lot better too. Finally stopped hacking crap up:ack2: (TMI I know..) For all of you looking for good Protein shakes, try Isopure. There's actually an add for it over on the right of the page a lot. It's the best quality protein and is very very low fat and carb. I think with a little added sweetener and even some various extracts, it tastes great. You don't even need to blend it, it mixes fine with a spoon. Just a thought. Good luck on the preop diets everyone I'm struggling, but getting it done without cheating, so far :thumbup:

Man! What a nice doc! I also have Tricare Prime and my surgeon said he'd give me a fill at surgery then two weeks after, then once a month after that. I'm not sure if that's his requirements or the insurance but I'll sure ask next time.

For the diet, just stick to it now to the 'T' and you should be fine. the goal is no carbs fat or sugar...low low cal. if you have to chew something eat a couple of ounces of lean meat and veggies. As for this being the right decision for you, only you can answer that. I read a post yesterday that summed it up perfectly for me. It said something along the lines of how you will be loosing a part of youself, your best friend to some of us, in all-you-can-eat-food. She also said gaining her life back was completely worth it. It really is up to you and I wish you the best of luck:thumbup:

I've been reading up on fatty liver and it seems that what shrinks the liver is glycogen being used up. I was under the assumption that it was actual stored fat that made it large. And with that thinking, I assumed that you'd have to literally lose the fat from it. Now I'm just confused! Is it both that you loose?

Thanks Jaqui, makes a ton of sense. Well, the way I see it this diet sucks as is, sooo I might as well go the whole 9 yards. Just give my body what it needs to keep it healthy for these two weeks and nothing else. I'm sure my liver will appreciate the effort and I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HEALTHY AGAIN! So I'm not gonna take any chances with a big ole liver!! On the plus side, my ketone strips are nice and purple and that almost makes the violent mood swings and nausea worth it:tongue:

Thanks for the info! Well I'm sorry you had to go through the operation twice. I think I'll just suck it up and do the plan your doc had you on the second time round. It's only for two weeks, but I started a few days early because I'm concerned that my drinking has probably led to mine being larger than an average obese person:eek:. I did have an ultrasound of it and she said that I didn't need to see a specialist, but that I did in fact have fatty liver, so in the realm of bad news, not as bad as it could be. Well, I guess I'm off to buy protien shakes!

Hmm interesting. I do know that there are gobs of fat around the liver in overweight people, and I can see how that could be hard to see and work around. If you google fatty liver(images) the liver is clearly larger and paler in color than healthy livers. There are several causes for fatty liver, but the appearance is basically the same for all. The fact that it's paler in color would go along with actual fat lipid deposits, but I have no clue what color the sugar stores would lend it... I'm on day four of my pre op diet and my instructions are to eat any Soup I want however much I want, yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, and sugar free drinks. I'm opting to do a very low carb diet because I was a heavy beer drinker utill 7 days ago. It just seems that I would consume too many carbs, sugar AND fat with the diet he recomended. I'm still going low fat, but I'm worring more about the carbs and I have been enjoying eggs:redface: I guess that's why I'm curious about what actually makes the liver smaller. If mine is inflamed due to alcohol as well as my bad diet, I should probably eat a lot less fat as well:frown:

HI Nicole my date is the 8th as well and my doc is doing the two incision also! I could care less about all the extra scars from the traditional multi site surgery because I have so many stretchmarks anyway, but I think it will be nice to only be sore in 2 places instead of 4! I just learned about this yesterday and have yet to research it, but I'm just about to. If you're still on for the 8th you're prob. on the pre-op diet like myself, stay strong and GOOD LUCK:thumbup:

Congratulations! What an extraordinary story. It just amazes me what the human body is capable of! I wish all the best for you and your new one, and be sure to keep us all posted on all of your progresses!:thumbup:

It sounds like you meet their criteria and then some. You do have Prime right? Sounds like the run around to me. I got a surgery date a month after my consultation so hopefully the process will be smooth for you this time around!! (((((((((((Good Luck))))))))))))

Wow, I'm really surprised that those on Tricare Prime have had to pay anything. My husbands not retired if that makes a difference, but I haven't had to pay a penny for anything except $3 for prescriptions. I've had three sleep studies, a ultrasound for my liver, an EKG, a 24 hour heart monitor, all with no copay. My psych and nutritionist appointment will be free as well, although I did have to go to a hospital in Humana's network for that to be the case. But, that said, if I'd have had to pay a few hundred for all of that I'd do it gladly!