Beadingnurse

I hope to get my surgery date set at my appointment with the surgeon next Tuesday (3/15) so I have been thinking about how to track everything after the surgery. I was planning to set up an Excel spreadsheet but then I thought, why reinvent the wheel? Some of you folks who have been down this path probably have already identified the best tools out there. I'd love to find an app or a website to track the nutrients I eat after surgery. I see from the postings that some of you track every morsel you eat and calculate all of your Protein, carbohydrate and fat intakes. How on earth do you do that? :noidea: I am open to any and all suggestions! What works for you and what hasn't worked for you? Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences! Barb

Roudoudou, You have to make the decision to have weight loss surgery for yourself and not your family. You can take several months if you want to try to lose weight on your own if you think you haven't really given dieting a fighting chance. Who knows, maybe you will be in the reportedly 2-4% of the obese who can take weight off with diet and KEEP it off. If it doesn't work for you then you will go into the surgery knowing you tried your best. I would definitely encourage you to be sure this is the best route before you take it as this is not a reversible procedure. I was told at my annual physical in Feb of 2010 by my PCP that I should consider weight loss surgery as my diabetes was getting worse and I have a particularly malignant family history with diabetes progressing rapidly with bad complications. I was actually very annoyed and even angry :angry_smile: that he suggested WLS for me because really, I wasn't THAT fat...so I kept telling myself! My husband encouraged me to give it some thought but I KNEW I had never really tried "hard enough" to lose weight and that if I just put my mind to it, I could do it without surgery. So...I joined Weight Watchers and I worked very hard and still only lost 14 lbs over the next 4 months. Then I gained back 16 lbs over the next 6 months. Sound familiar? I went back for my annual physical this year with a different mind set. I know now that I am very unlikely to ever lose a significant amount of weight on my own and the clock is ticking for me with obesity related complications, especially diabetes. My knees tell me on a daily basis that the weight I am carrying on my small frame is not working for them! I expect them to send me a thank you note when I lose 20 lbs! I've done all of my prep work and see my surgeon tomorrow and expect to get a surgical date set. I have finally wrapped my head around the idea that my life depends on me having this surgery. But I totally understand that you aren't there yet and you have to do your own work. This website is fantastic to help you get answers to your questions and I don't know if I would be ready to go yet if I hadn't had it. My husband actually found it for me and maybe you could suggest that your mom and brother do some research on their own. I am sure they love you and have your best interests at heart and they may turn out to be your biggest supporters once they understand how the surgery can change your life. Good luck on your journey and do keep us posted on your progress! Barb

Thank you for sharing your pictures! You look amazing and you are such an inspiration. I agree with all who said that pink in your color...congratulations on your success!:thumbs_up:

I received my samples from unjury this week and I am relieved to learn that I LOVE the chocolate splendor and the chicken soup. I mixed the chocolate splendor with coffee at work and it was like a yummy high calorie Starbucks drink! I used the thermometer they sent with my sample packet and learned that the coffee I make at home is a steaming 160 degrees but what I buy at work is 140 degrees. Who knew you could comfortably drink something that was 160 degrees hot?? :tea: I tried the chicken soup today and that was very good too. I LOVE the idea of mixing it with mashed potatoes if I have the carbs to spare. I haven't had my sleeve yet but I wanted to get some product on hand and make sure that I like it before I am home from hospital all cranky and whiny. I haven't tried the other flavors yet but I plan to this week. Thanks for everyone posting your tips.

Tom, I don't know the answer to your question but I loved your post! Your description of your work life made me laugh out loud.... but with empathy.

Great progress....congratulations!!:horn:I haven't been sleeved yet but other post that the gas pains can last awhile so hopefully they will get better soon.

Try laying flat on your bed face down on your stomach without a pillow for a few minutes. Sometimes that position will force the gas out in the non-sleeved so not sure if it will work.....but it is worth a try. I also don't think it will hurt to try a couple sips of ginger ale (or other soda) and see how you feel.

Mike...how are you since you developed the pain in your chest? Let us know how you are when you can.

Let's hear the 100 more reasons! :wink5: Just kidding. I agree that I could keeping add them on. I came up with only a few ideas but now reading everyone's list I keep adding to mine. By the way, congratulations! I see that you are getting your surgery next week! :cheer2: Be sure and post and let us know how it goes!

I agree that you should call your insurance company case manager every darn day but be VERY nice! I am an RN and once upon a time worked for an insurance company as utilization review nurse and I promise you that the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease (or the authorization) in your case. :help: But this person may have a lot of influence over whether or not or how quickly you get approved. It isn't fair but I will tell you that I "went to bat" for people whose story moved me or who I just got to know well and I worked extra hard to get their procedures approved. I was not working with weight loss surgery but other types of surgeries and procedures and I am sure it is the same. Be nice, be friendly and polite but be persistent and you will get your answer!

Congratulations! Glad to hear your surgery went well and you are home. I am looking forwarding to reading your posts as your weight drops off!

Mike, you need to give your physician's office a call tonight. They have someone on call who can talk to you on the phone and get a feel for what is going on. You may get an answering service but leave your number and someone should call you back pronto. If you had your surgery out of the country you should head over to a hospital ER and get checked out. Ideally, you should have someone drive you if you are having chest pain. I am not doctor but I am a nurse and you can't ignore pain this soon after surgery. Good luck and let us know how you are!

Wow...are you really posting on the day of your surgery? Amazing....congratulations on having everything go well and get some rest now! :sleep4:

Thank you so much for posting this information. I just went on-line and ordered samples from several of them. I am generally not a fan of shakes, smoothies and such but I am determined that I will find some that I can tolerate, if not like. My plan is to have enough different samples so that I can find the ones I like the best. Thanks again. :001_smile:

Wow...congratulations! I just saw that SFO Travelers has lost 40 lbs and so have you...that is wonderful! Have you told your husband that you are losing weight? Even if you have told him how much weight you have lost I expect that he can't imagine how great you look. Good luck on your surgery and keep us posted! :grouphug:

SFO Traveler...You've lost ONLY 40 lbs! ONLY 40 lbs...did you hear yourself! :wink_smile: That is fabulous...congratulations! I am so happy for you that you feel like a million. Don't underestimate what you have done...40 lbs is a LOT of weight. :cheer2:

Congratulations!! We will be thinking of you and can't wait to hear about your progress once you feel up to posting! Good luck!:thumbs_up:

Oh, I see a lot of other things I am looking forward to that I hadn't thought of! Getting my Va-voom back! Yes!

Congratulations Cathy! You must be so excited on getting your surgical date. I like your idea of getting off of carbs and sodas earlier. My doc also does not require to 2 week liquid diet that some folks here have to have. I will have a 2 wk Atkins-type diet with higher protein and low carbs prior to surgery. I don't know my date yet but I have ordered some sample Unjury protein drinks to try and plan to hit GNC today to pick up some Isopure to sample. Thanks for posting and I look forward to hearing how you do! Good luck.

Funny you bring this up...probably several of us waiting for surgery are playing out our fears in our dreams. Last week I dreamed I was scrubbed in for a surgery (I am a registered nurse but I don't work in the OR) and the doctor who was already gowned and gloved touched a non-sterile container. I was anxious and told her that she had broken sterile and wouldn't she like to re-scrub? She was very casual and assured me that it didn't matter that the container was probably clean enough. I recalled feeling sweaty and panicked and was trying to figure out how to stop her from touching the patient with her now non-sterile hands... I woke up after that and told my husband how odd I thought the dream was since I don't work in that type of environment or even in the hospital anymore. He pointed out (duh) that I am just anxious about my own surgery and I am sure he is correct. :embaressed_smile:

Your progress sounds awesome and I for one am grateful that you post in detail what your day was like...helps me to keep my expectations realistic. I've read a couple of "post op day 5" posts from several people and I am relieved at how well you guys all seem to be doing. Take care and keep posting....gotta go wash my (shorter) Texas hair too!

Yeah for you! You are on your way to a whole new life...congratulations on all of your hard work. You tackled a lot of things at once; food, caffeine and nicotine...wow! Good luck to Deb with your surgery on Monday! We will look forward to hearing from you on how your post op goes. :regular_smile:

Thank you so much for posting the details after surgery! I am a nurse and have also had abdominal surgery so I should have more than a clue but I still have a lot of questions! I am hoping for a late March, early April sleeve date so I will find out soon enough. One question, did you have an NG tube (nasogastric tube) after surgery? The tubes coming out of your nose to help drain fluids out of your stomach? I was expecting to go home with a JP drain but I've heard different stories on the NG tube. It is removed of course before you go home but it is still a pain. I don't expect to get to sleep much either as I know how noisy and disruptive hospitals often are. The good news is that sleeve patients usually don't have to spend much time hospitalized. Good luck and keep posting about your results!

I considered the lap band initially but got scared off of that when I heard about all of the complications and the intensive follow-up you have to do with the surgeons for fills and all. I didn't like the idea of the foreign object around my stomach and to me the sleeve is an elegant, obvious solution. You will still have a fully functioning stomach but it will just be smaller. Are there risks in surgery? Sure, but for me the risks of my co-morbid conditions were FAR greater than the risk of the surgery. This forum is a fantastic place to get more information from people who have gone through it and I am awed by the support folks offer to each other. You should also go to a seminar put on by surgeons in your area and you will learn a lot more there. Definitely check in with your insurance to see what fiery hoops they will make you jump through before paying. If it not covered by your insurance (mine wasn't): you can consider private pay and some surgeons will connect you with financing help. Good luck!

Thank you SO much for sharing your experience as it helps me (and I am sure others here too) to imagine what our day 4 will be like. It is encouraging that you are able to do small things around the house and still feel pretty good. Congratulations and I hope to be following along behind you soon.