TopTier

Right, the first thing you should reach for is the phone to check in with your doctor. It may be an 'over-fill.'

Stick in the fridge and use it in a smoothie later . . . . gratz on your "problem" !

Jerome! You are magic! My husband just pulled in from work and he brought in the door with him my order that the UPS guy just dropped off! Awesome! Now all I need is a microwave temperature probe. . . .

Thanks, Catherine, great blog. . . Here's the Post-Surgery Shopping list that my doctor's nutritionist gave us on Friday: Liquid Diet: Carnation Instant Breakfast or other fortified supplement drink (NOT sugar free, try Ensure, Boost, Glurcerna, etc.) Cream soups (no food chunks) Vegetable juice Fruit Juices (apple, grape, etc) Tomato Soup Diet Ice Cream broth (chicken and/or beef) either granules, cubes, canned, etc) Light yogurt (no fruit chunks) SF Jellos/puddings Popsicles/fudgesicles Blenderized Diet: Instant Mashed Potatoes Instant oatmeal or Cream of Wheat Refried Beans Baby Food (NO added corn syrup) eggs Soft Diet: Canned soft fruit/vegetables Canned tuna, chicken or shredded beaf Low-fat cheese Deli meats Ground beef Fish (NOT breaded) Whole wheat Pasta Brown rice Melba toast, 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Multigrain Crackers Bran Flakes, Total Cereal Other: Gas-X Chewable Vitamin Benefiber Tums Pepcid Anti-nausea medicine

. . . I'm still waiting for my unjury Protein sampler that I ordered last week. . . hint hint! LOL! I didn't expect my surgery to come this fast, so I'd really like to try these out while I'm on my liquid diet pre-op phase.

Too funny, RestlessMonkey! My doctor changed his timing on liquids after eating, too, but the OTHER direction! Now he says, 1 hour is great, but 2 hours is even better to wait! I still say that's going to be very hard for me to do!

Eric! Welcome! That's MY New Me Birth Date too! June 24!

Yes, but RestlessMonkey, keep in mind that they've also made some significant changes over time with this surgery. I know that my niece used the same surgeon I have. She was told the same as you, no protein. Her surgery was in late 2008. I think either late October or early November. They (the doctor's office) has significantly changed the pre- and post-op diets since then, based on a variety of things. So now we do get to have the protein in the second week. She didn't get it for almost 4 weeks! Yikes! Plus, on her pre-op, she was not allowed anything BUT liquids. We are allowed raw veggies, cottage cheese and tomato soup (which she wasn't). Same doctor; just different timing, I guess! BUT!! Having said that, you are absolutely correct! Whatever one's OWN doctor says to do and not do is what one should follow -- to the T.

Congrats, Melmarlem! So excited for you. Lauren, I'm in surgery next week, too. June 24. I've just started my pre-op liquid and hoping I can handle it! LOL!

Hmm. I think there are plenty of folks on here who have mentioned all that you have. There are all sorts of reasons that the various things you're going through could be occurring. But the thing is, you probably need to get into a local support group. At the very least, I think you need to re-open your line of communication with your doctor. Someone on here posted a list of Lap Band Rules -- maybe you could do a forum search and take a look? So sorry you're going through this. Hopefully some folks who have gone through it can help you out!

Welcome, too, and congrats on taking that first step! I'm a self-pay, too. The only pre-op tests I needed were blood work, and Upper GI, EKG and ... hmm. something else, but I can't think right now? I do know it wasn't a psych test! Fortunately, since I don't have all sorts of insurance hoops to jump through, my surgery was scheduled fairly quickly. For which I am incredibly thankful! I don't think I could have emotionally handled a long, drawn out process! When I make my mind up to do something, I want to do it and get it over with!

Wow! Congrats to BOTH of you!

How exciting! Best of luck and be sure to keep us posted!

Oh! DOH! How are you doing, by the way?

Best of luck to you! Sending positive energy your way. . . oh and ENJOY YOUR VACATION! THAT'S AN ORDER!

Well, with all due respect to your husband, being "big" is not "okay," and it's not "just a way of life." To be sure, being big, ultimately, is "just a way of death." I'm sending you uber eHugs because I know it's frustrating enough to get to the point where you want to do this to fix your body, and then to run into so many stumbling blocks, especially from your own family, must make it that much harder! I'm sending all sorts of positive thoughts and energy that you can find a way to have this work out for you! HUGS!!

I stopped by GNC and picked up some Isopure Protein Water thingies. They aren't half bad!

Petunia, are you sure you're thinking about the same kind of hernia? Many, if not most, surgeons will repair a hiatel hernia during the lap-band surgery, but many, if not most, will wait for the umbilical hernia repair until 6 months or more AFTER lap-band surgery. Unless they are doing the open surgery instead of the laparoscopic? The umbilical hernia is around/at your belly button. The hiatel hernia is around/at your diaphram above your stomach. Just checking to be sure.

Yup. Jenny is absolutely correct. You are defeating the function of the pouch if you drink while you eat or, basically, within an hour or two after eating. That, I'm afraid, will be my toughest challenge. The placement of the lap band is not arbitrary or random. The stomach receptors for "full" are in the upper portion of the stomach. That's why the lap band is placed where it is. When you eat, you should only be consuming about a half-a-cup of food. That will stay in the "pouch" and tell your brain, "Hey STOP EATING! We're FULL" and it will then SLOWLY pass the food through the lap-band opening into the bottom of the stomach to be digested SLOWLY. This will keep you feeling SATED between meals. If you DRINK anything, including Water, or if you consumer Soup, or anything liquid with your meal, you will "wash" the food bits through the pouch too soon. They will simply pass on into your lower portion of your stomach to be digested as normal, BUT you will be HUNGRY still, and possibly not know when to stop eating, because you are BYPASSING the pouch AND the stomach receptors that tell you to STOP so that you know you are full. That is one of the very few hard and fast rules with our "new normal." NO LIQUIDS WHILE EATING. Before meals and 1-2 hours AFTER meals you can chug all the liquid you want. But during meals: nada.

Wonder how male patients get their fills then? Ouch?! :tongue_smilie:

I guess different surgeons have different issues and requirements. Here is the intro to our instruction sheet for Pre-surgery diet: It is recommended by your surgeon and dietitian to follow a low carbohydrate, liquid diet 7 days before surgery. The purpose of this liquid diet is to deplete the glycogen stores in your liver, making the size of your liver smaller. This will make laparoscopic surgery easier. Now, knowing what I know about the liver anyway, even if he didn't require this, I think I would have done it anyway, since anything to make the lap-band surgery placement easier gets a two-thumbs up from me! But, as we all know, every surgeon is different. So as long as we are in line with what our doctors require or prefer, we're all A Students!

With all due respect, I don't like your surgeon's attitude! At any rate, there is no reason to remove caffeine from your diet. At least that's what my doctor and nutritionist both told me. You can even have soda's if you let them get sit out for a bit and get flat. Reducing sugar? Sure, but to be honest, everyone should, and High Fructose Corn Syrup is a deal breaker. Everyone, especially kids, should reduce consumption of products with this killer in it. But the "reason" why many of us are obese is very complex. Do we need to adjust our mindset? Sure, for lots of reasons and in many ways, but to say we are weak is not only not fair, does not address the complexities of what goes on in the body at the metabolic level to create and maintain an obese person. It's a shame your doctor felt he had to pull out that tired, and inappropriate, cliche to get the "motivation" going.

During my pre-op I'm supposed to take one Tums table twice a day and Benefiber tablet as well. The doctor's office has put Gas-X and Pepcid (or Prilosec) on my shopping list for post-op. They will also be giving me a prescription for Phenergan for nausea/vomiting for post-op, as well. I am supposed to take the Pepcid daily, whether I "need" it or not, so that I can decrease the acid production in my stomach, which will also reduce the chance of nausea. Or at least that's the "theory." Since I haven't done this yet, I can't say if it all works or not!

Hehe. Tell them you're recouping from a bout with Swine Flu. They'll probably stay away and not ask any more "probing" questions after that!

Thanks! some of these look very yummy!