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[rharriet62 0]

Hi Everyone!

I'm so glad I found this site. I have done all the necessary tests, paperwork, etc., and am now waiting for insurance to make the final approval for my surgery!!! I'm trying hard to be patient! HAHA. I had to lose 23 lbs. before surgery...did anyone else have to lose weight first? I've got that off and am still going while I wait for everything to come through! I look forward to getting all these great ideas and support from this site!

Rose

[nightingale2u 42]

Welcome Rose!

I gained 10 lbs before my surgery:eek: You are starting out ahead of the game! Good luck with everything!

Darcy

[New Hope 37]

Rose, best of luck to you on a quick insurance approval and minimum pain surgery! Your weight loss puts you that far ahead in the game! What did you do to lose that much weight?

[rharriet62 0]

Hi!

Thanks for the warm welcome! From other people, I have found that the pre-surgery weight loss is like a little test to see if you are motivated to live a different lifestyle. I am hearing of more and more people having to do it. I don't where my doc came up with the number, but it does lower my BMI by like 2 pts...so maybe that was it.

Anyway, I've been doing low carb and trying to keep that on the lower fat side...so lots of salad with grilled lean meat. Also, I've been working out like a dog...30-60 mins of cardio per day at the Y, along with a tough weight lifting program and a one-mile dog walk at night with the family. It's been tough, but I lost about 23 lbs in about 7 weeks. BUT...gotta get the surgery! I've been here before..down 100 and can't maintain it!!! I'm ready for the knife! HAHAHA.

Have a great day, everyone! Rose

[Kyleighp 3]

My dr said the pre surgery diet was so that you would lose some of the fat around your liver so that they can manuever better during surgery.

[GeezerSue 7]

Originally posted by Kyleighp

My dr said the pre surgery diet was so that you would lose some of the fat around your liver so that they can manuever better during surgery.

Yup...that's what they SAY. And they've been saying that for some time. But I'm one of those people who opens the oven door while baking unless I know WHY....so I kept asking. Seems that the New Zealand doctors were sure that an all liquid diet two weeks pre-op would shrink the liver. I wrote to them. They answered. They decided to conduct a clinical trial. That was two years ago and I have been unable to find any published report of IF they were right.

But meanwhile, many surgeons have bought into the theory.

Ya know, it's the same with the cranberry juice for urinary tract infections legends. The only tests that I could find were conducted on a group of people who did not have an infection to see if drinking cranberry juice would keep them from developing an infection. And it seemed to. But the last time I looked this up, there was absolutely nothing but urban legend saying that cranberry juice could help an infection once it had started. Yet when my mom calls the doctor's office, they tell her to drink cranberry juice while they wait for the lab results.

Tangent..tangent..anyway, post-op, I asked Rumbaut--who doesn't have a pre-op diet except for a day or so before the surgery--about my liver. He said it would not have mattered, because my liver went this-a-way instead of that-a-way, and was not in his way during surgery at all.

[Kyleighp 3]

That is enlightening, never thought of it that way. I was wondering why they said this 1 week before my surgery, my liver could not have shrunk that much in a week.

[New Hope 37]

My doc. had me eat off a low glycemic foods list before surgery. Basically stay off things high in sugar. This was supposed to help shrink the liver for the surgery. I don't know if that's true, but surgery went off without a hitch.

Best of luck to you!