September Surgery Buddies!!

[Pinks 1]

09/21/2021 WakeMed 🎉 Cary, NC

Edited August 29, 2021 by Pinks

[Azalea Crosby 9]

My date is Sept 23rd, in Maine. Nervous because the first weekend of my 2 week liquid diet we are going to Boston for a show. Hoping I can do the liquid all weekend without succumbing to any solids! my hubby can enjoy all the good foods and I'll just watch from the sidelines 😂 good luck to all September surgeries

[BretBMF 22]

1 hour ago, Azalea Crosby said:

My date is Sept 23rd, in Maine. Nervous because the first weekend of my 2 week liquid diet we are going to Boston for a show. Hoping I can do the liquid all weekend without succumbing to any solids! my hubby can enjoy all the good foods and I'll just watch from the sidelines 😂 good luck to all September surgeries

This is my 11th day of the preop diet. I've been living off of Water, crystal light, and Protein Drinks. I've seen my family eat everything from pizza to pancakes to birthday cake and ice cream in these past 11 days. It's all mental. Remember the ultimate goal - you can do it!

[GooseyGirl 68]

My VSG is 9/13 in Boston! Today is day one of the pre-op diet… all liquids for two weeks. I’m excited and terrified!

[lizonaplane 1,612]

35 minutes ago, GooseyGirl said:

My VSG is 9/13 in Boston! Today is day one of the pre-op diet… all liquids for two weeks. I’m excited and terrified!

I saw from the other post that you are also at MGH - my pre-op diet is not all liquids. That's so funny! I'm excited and terrified too

[Azalea Crosby 9]

I'm sure you will do well!! not sure what MGH means? i think I might start my liquid a couple days early and maybe "snack" once per day off something my hubby eats for a couple bites. Life is about balance right? the extra days will offset anything I take in those 2 days. SSHH!!!

[lizonaplane 1,612]

3 minutes ago, Azalea Crosby said:

I'm sure you will do well!! not sure what MGH means? i think I might start my liquid a couple days early and maybe "snack" once per day off something my hubby eats for a couple bites. Life is about balance right? the extra days will offset anything I take in those 2 days. SSHH!!!

GooseyGirl is having surgery at the same hospital as me - MGH, I saw this in a different thread. Oddly, we have different pre-op diets!

[fahimarahman240286 8]

15 minutes ago, Azalea Crosby said:

I'm sure you will do well!! not sure what MGH means? i think I might start my liquid a couple days early and maybe "snack" once per day off something my hubby eats for a couple bites. Life is about balance right? the extra days will offset anything I take in those 2 days. SSHH!!!

Hi. I would defo try and practice the liquid diet as in London, Uk they didn’t request dor a pre op liquid diet. I had my sleeve on 20th august and the first week was so tough. I became dehydrated.

[happilylacey 9]

On 8/22/2021 at 3:54 PM, BretBMF said:

Class was good - pretty much everything the weight loss center has gone over already, so nothing really new. They do talk about getting ready the night before surgery and the morning of, which was new to me (never had surgery before). And also the meds they’ll prescribe for right after surgery (i.e. anti nausea, pain killers, etc.). It was only about 45 mins to an hour long.

Thanks BretBMF! I'm glad it's not too long as the hospital is almost 2 hours from me. Did you ever get an update on a date?

[happilylacey 9]

On 8/23/2021 at 10:16 AM, BretBMF said:

Just got notified that surgery is back on for September 3rd!

Ignore my earlier reply asking for an update! I've been off the forum.

Congrats!! Just days away!!

[happilylacey 9]

On 8/23/2021 at 2:53 PM, lizonaplane said:

I have just been over eating by eating the full portion at restaurants and eating ice cream and Cereal and stuff. I just stopped caffeine again today. It doesn't keep me awake and I don't get a headache when I stop, but I like the taste of coffee and diet soda - both of which I had stopped month ago and started again!

Why surgeons' instructions and protocols are so different drives me batty. It's like, don't they do clinical trials to determine which way is actually better, like every other part of medicine? Isn't there evidence for what is better??? I work in clinical research and I'm used to there being a proscribed treatment course that is used at all reputable hospitals. But maybe that's only true in oncology.

Yeah, that's very interesting! I almost wonder if they want you to lose as much as possible before surgery to show their weight loss rates being higher, but I might be a tad too cynical there 😕

[happilylacey 9]

On 8/23/2021 at 4:01 PM, Tony B - NJ said:

My surgery is August 31st but I figure it is close enough to track progress with September? Maybe? About a week to go, I am down 19 pounds from my first surgeon visit.

Totally. And you might be in surgery now, so good luck! Let us know how it went!!

[happilylacey 9]

On 8/28/2021 at 4:59 PM, hauntedhideaway said:

September 8th here! I'm on day 4 of the liver shrink diet and I'm coping worse than I thought I would.

Ugh sorry to hear it. I'm on Day 5 and I am so hangry. The first 4 days were worse though, I think I'm feeling slighlty better. Except for the random bouts of dizziness

[lizonaplane 1,612]

3 minutes ago, happilylacey said:

Yeah, that's very interesting! I almost wonder if they want you to lose as much as possible before surgery to show their weight loss rates being higher, but I might be a tad too cynical there 😕

They want you to "shrink your liver". It's not meant to lose weight, although that usually/often happens. During surgery, especially laparoscopic surgery, they have to move the liver out of the way to get to the stomach. Most people having surgery have fatty/enlarged livers but eating low carb/low fat/no alcohol helps to shrink and heal the stomach. If they can't move your liver easily, they could have to do open surgery, or might actually cancel your surgery if they don't feel it's safe.

[happilylacey 9]

1 minute ago, lizonaplane said:

They want you to "shrink your liver". It's not meant to lose weight, although that usually/often happens. During surgery, especially laparoscopic surgery, they have to move the liver out of the way to get to the stomach. Most people having surgery have fatty/enlarged livers but eating low carb/low fat/no alcohol helps to shrink and heal the stomach. If they can't move your liver easily, they could have to do open surgery, or might actually cancel your surgery if they don't feel it's safe.

Yeah, totally understandable, but liver shrinking can be accomplished even with a dinner meal of lean meat and non starchy veggies. We were curious why some of us have to do only 3 shakes a day, nothing else when others have no LSD, and others are kinda in the middle - 2 shakes and a healthy dinner.