September 19th is surgery day!!!

I am on day 2 of pre op diet. 2nd day of the best of my life!!

Hi Debum My surgery is also scheduled for September 19th .. at 2:20 PM . I'm so scared and nervous but need to do this. I'm having the sleeve gastrectomy.. my understanding is that this will replace the RNY (gastric bypass) possibly sometime in the near future. I just hope it works.. lol I have not been put on pre surgery die except a couple of months ago doctor & nutritionist told me to lose weight (because of the liver etc).. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have to go to the hospital for pre-surgery testing and a nutritional class (for over hours).. maybe thats when I will be put on the pre surgery diet. Good LUCK to you and I hope ALL goes well! If you can drop me a line and let me know how it went... sorry for carrying on.. NERVOUS!! LOL Take care, Esther fr Orlando Florida

Hi Ester, Thank for the support. I haven't got to the nervous point yet, just excited to get on with losing!!! My surgery is scheduled for 7:00 am. Day 3 of liquid diet wasn't too bad only 7 to go!!! Good thing is I've lost 9 pounds in 3 days. Water I guess. My hands and feet aren't swollen like they were so I feel much better already. I will be praying for you after I wake up. Good Luck and keep in touch. Debi fr Choctaw, Oklahoma

Hi Debi, I'm sorry about the typo and mispelling your name.. sometimes I think I type so fast and thats where the typos come in. Thank you for your very nice email. It is so nice to be able to talk to someone who is having bariatric surgery on the same day. WOW.. now its only 6 days.. it seems that the days are going SO FAST now.. or is it just my sack of nerves? Whatever it is.. I just can't seem to find enough time to do all that needs doing before the surgery. Today (Thursday) I have an appointment at 11 am with the surgeon and I guess I will have a gazillion questions for him. Poor surgeon, I'm going with my daughters and they have both had gastric bypass surgery.. I bet they will drill him really good. Are you just about done with all your preparations?.. or is it just me? I want to make sure so much is done, but not even half will get done, i'm sure. Tuesday I went to the hospital for the nutritionist class, pre-op testing and pre-admittion.. got all that done. Now all I have to do next Wednesday is go straight to the surgery floor and get ready to meet the anesthesiologist. They told me that we get to talk to him for about half hour before the surgery.. i sure do have a lot to talk to him about.. (a long story, don't want to go into it now, but maybe later I will share). I was told that I can eat (probably lightly) up to about 8 pm the night before the surgery and nothing the next day, not even chewing gum. BUT not to have the "Last Supper Syndrome" the night before. So I plan to do that this weekend (just one day and I don't plan to pig out.. I just want to eat my favorite meal at my favorite restaurant). I was put on a "liquid" diet starting today, but I had none of the necessary foods such as the no sugar added Yogurt (Yoplait preferably).. or the sugar free jello or the protein powders... NOTHING.. I am totally unprepared for this part of this endeavor. Tomorrow after my visit with the surgeon, I will go an buy some of these foods plus the vitamins. I want to be as prepared as possible. I am SO glad to hear that you have been doing well with your liquid diet and have been able to lose so many pounds so quickly.. You go girl!! I wish was doing as well.. but I will try for the next 5 days.. hopefully I can manage to lose at least a couple of pounds. Debi, I do so wish you the best in your surgery and much luck and good stuff afterward.. I'm sure you will do well because you are doing so well in your pre-surgery diet and losing so many poinds in such a short span of time. Please keep in touch.. I will let you know how it goes with the surgeon today. Oh, I almost forgot.. while at the nutritionist class on Tuesday, I met a man who is having the same surgery as me with the same doctor on the same day.. wow, that was cool.. I asked him what time he's having the surgery and he told me 12:20 PM, well I told him, "I guess the doctor will move from your surgery straight to mine since my surgery is at 2:20 PM" .. lol Goodness, I'd better stop typing, I almost wrote a novel here.. lol! Take care and talk to you later. Warm regards, Esther

Hi Ester, It was good to hear from you. In answer to your questions I am very prepared. BUT I have been at this since May. M y first round of labs showed I had hyperthyroidism so I had to start on Synthroid and my doctor wanted me on that for 6 weeks before we rechecked the level. Thank God it came down. Then I had to have a sleep study done and was found to have sleep apnea so now I am on a CPAP machine. Then had to go see a pulmonoligist because I flunked the pulmonary test. My next set of labs showed my liver enzymes were high so I had to have a liver ultrasound. As you see I've been through the wringer. But my doctor is very insistant that he won't do surgery until he checks everything out. That makes me feel better anyway. I went on Friday and got my last lab drawn and filled out the pre admission papers for the hospital so all I have to do is walk in and get it done!! This is now day 8 of the liquid diet. I've had a couple of bad moments through it (even cried a couple of times cause I wanted something to chew) but it's almost over now. 2 more days and guess what I have now lost 15#'s. I am feeling so much better already. I know what you mean about Last supper syndrome. I love seafood so we went to this place in Oklahoma called Crabtown and pigged out!!! It was so good. I better stop thinking about it or I will get myself all teary eyed again. I can't really say I've been hungry just really wanted to eat something instead of drinking it. My cabinets and fridge are stocked for the next two week liquid diet after surgery so I guess I am ready as I ever will be. It's good that you have so much left to do these last two days it will keep you busy and time will fly. How's the liquid diet going? I know you can do it if I can do it for 8 days. Sounds as if you have a good support system with your daughters having WLS in the past. Good for you!!! Well if we don't chat again before Wednesday, Good luck and keep in touch. We will make it through this together. Best Wishes Debi

Hi Debi, It was so great to hear from you again.. wow it sure sounds like you have been very busy these past four months getting ready for your surgery. I am so happy to know that you are ready & waiting for the19th to arrive. I was to have this surgery last year and had to go through the wringer myself.. that other surgeon insisted I needed pulmonary clearance, cardiologist clearance, psych evaluation, nutritionist visit, stomach ultrasound, vein ultrasound (venous doppler?).. and he also had me do an endoscopy & colonoscopy (oh JOY!! ).. plus four or five different bloodwork and chest x-ray. WHEW!! It was a good thing I had the colonoscopy because they did find polyps which were removed & tested, found to be pre-cancer. Now I have to go every year for a colonoscopy.. Anyhow, after I went through all those tests and had turned all my papers into the doctors office, I waited for my surgery date but they kept putting it off. In the meantime, I went to the hospital to have a biopsy done and when they tried to bring me around from general anesthesia.. I had trouble breathing on my own.. so I woke up and was still on life support.. talk about major FREAK OUT .. I was supposed to have gone home the next day and instead was in intensive care for four days. can you imagine? After being home two weeks I received a call from the surgeon informing me that he no longer was accepting my insurance. So I was left out in the cold.. back to square one.. and, of course, after my experience at the hospital I thought, "I guess it was not meant to be" and decided not to have the surgery after all. Then in May my health started getting worse, my lung capacity is very low and I was gasping for air whenever I walked a short distance and I realized I needed to lose the weight in order to live longer. I decided to have the surgery after all.. I felt that if things did not work out during the surgery then at least I had tried. And yes, at first I was really really scared and nervous.. but NOW I am SO CONFIDENT and happy. I am SO looking forward to the surgery and especially for the emergence of the new me that is somewhere inside this body. I did the same thing you did.. last Tuesday I went to the hospital for pre-op and had a nutritional class for a few hours and then had final labs done.. then I did the pre-admission and like you, all I have to do is walk in and get it done. How wonderful is that?? No stressfull paperwork to take care of surgery day. YIPPEE! To be honest with you Debi, I have not gone on the liquid diet.. I haven't got a clue as to what to eat.. yes.. they gave me a liquid diet but I do not drink milk.. I do not like protein shakes and have never tried protein powders (I believe they would be the same as protein shakes yukk). I don't like anything sugar free or crystal lite etc.. and do no like protein bars. But I plan to take this one day at a time. Luckily I LOVE water and lemon water (without sugar).. and after the surgery, I will get myself into new eating habits.. I have to get used to not eating and drinking at the same time (I find this very hard since I always always do this).. and I gotta get used to sipping.. still haven't mastered this either. I know, I sound like I'm whining, but I'm not. I know that this is not an easy way out as some people think it is.. I know I have to adjust to my new eating Lifestyle. I know I'll be fine.. just dear Lord, let me get past the surgery first and I will be right on with getting on with the rest of my life.. a much much healthier life. Getting back to the diet, in June, when I went to my new surgeon (who is totally awesome! he told me to lose weight or he wouldn't do the surgery.. I went on my own diet, just cutting down and stopped drinking soda's period.. just drink water all the time. When I went to his office last Thursday we found I had lost 28 pounds.. woohoo! The doctor was pleased.. and of course, I have been pigging out ever since.. ironic right? But tomorrow, I plan to be really good ****il evening when I plan to go to my favorite restaurant for my "last supper syndrome" dinner). Tuesday I plan to be really good and not eat much.. even though my surgeon did not put me on laxatives .. he just told me to not eat after midnight. . You have your cupboards full of liquid foods for your first weeks after the surgery.. that GREAT.. PLEASE Debi, can you sort give me a list (if you can) of the things you have ready for after your surgery? I went to the store the other day and was clueless.. only bought a six pack of Yoplait light (peach & strawberry).. and a box of protein snacks.. I would really appreciate it if you could help me with this. Okay.. I wrote a longer novel than the one before.. My goodness did I have a lot to talk about!! Please keep in touch and let me know how your surgery went and fill me in on your progress. I will do the same here. Good luck with your surgery, may you have a smooth and full recovery and may you be one of the BIGGEST LOSERS ever! You have my prayers and may God Bless you. Warm regards, Esther

Ester, It's here!!! Tomorrow is our day!!! Bless your heart you have really been through it, I thought I had been through alot but you got me beat. Just be sure to tell the anesthesiologist your problems with anesthesia. I'm so proud of you for losing 28 pounds. YOU GO GIRL. My liquid diet has consisted of Chicken broth Beef Broth Sugar Free Jello (really isn't bad at all) Sugar Free Fudgesicles (really good) Sugar Free Popsicles (also really good) V-8 Juice Sugar Free Carnation Instant breakfast with skim Milk Apple juice Grape Juice Yoplait light smoothies (I like the strawberry banana) For protein drink I get Isopure at the health food store. One bottle gives you all the protein you need for a day. I only drink 1/2 a bottle a day and get the rest in other drinks. Sugar Free pudding (not bad) Skim milk with sugar free chocolate syrup (I don't care for plain milk either) Water at least 64 ounces a day Thats what I have lived off of for 10 days now. My doctor requires 2 weeks of liquids after surgery also but I can have cream soups so I got Tomato soup, pea soup, cream of mushroom, and cream of brocolli soup. Hope this helps you. God Bless and may he keep watch over you tomorrow. I will be in touch. Debi

Hi Debi, WOW!! Its's midnight here in Florida and already its the 19th!! Yeow.... I hope you get to read this before you leave for the hospital (I'm not sure the time of your surgery).. if you do.. Please know that my prayers and thoughts are with you today and my well wishes for a SUPER SPEEDY recovery. I can't believe that this moment is really here.. it took so long in coming but now it just sort of pounced on us. I guess next time we communicate, it will be when we are recovering or during our first stages. I do hope to hear from you. I have a huge support team here.. my brother and sister flew in from Chicago, my other brother from Palm Bay, my sister from Miami and tomorrow my other brother who lives in West Palm Beach will arrive at the hospital to meet up with us there.. plus my three daughters and son and two brothers in law and my first ex-husband will also be there.. I already warned the doctor that he would have his hands full with my family but he said he looks forward to meeting them all. I will keep it short today, because I know that you are probably reading this right before leaving for the hospital or maybe even recovering from surgery. Thank you SO MUCH for the list of liquid foods list you gave me. I was not aware of how many things I can get to satisfy my palate while on the various stages. I REALLY do appreciate your help, Debi. Now i have a game plan.. I will have my daughers buy me most of the items you gave me on the list while I'mrecovering in the hospital so that when I get home I will plenty of food to stuff my self with.. (just kidding) Please keep in touch.. you are so nice. I will call you my sister-in-surgery... how's that sound? Catchy? LOL Take care of yourself, Debi. My prayers will be with you all day. God bless you and good bye for now. Warm regards, Esther

Esther, Well its 3:00 am here in Oklahoma and I can't sleep!!! You are so lucky to have so many people love you and want to be with you during this time. How long will they stay with you? My husband is the only one going with me to the hospital. I told my kids I would be fine it was no big deal. You are very welcome for the grocery list I hope it helps you. Go ahead and print it off and ask your doctor if those liquids are okay for you to consume after surgery. Just to be safe. Well I'm going to go shower and head out to the hospital . God Bless and I will talk to you soon. Debi

Hi Debi, How are you??? Hopefully when you read this, you will already have been done with your surgery and happily on your way to a REALLY SPEEDY RECOVERY. Its about 10 am here and I just showered and will be leaving for the hospital in about an hour or so. My surgery is scheduled for 2:20 pm but have to get to the hospital at about 12:20 pm but the hospital is about an hours drive and its really rainy here today. In response to your question about the time my family will be here.. a few will stay a couple of days to make sure I'm okay and back on my feet, and they will have to leave because jobs.. but a few will stay at least a week and of course my daughter just moved here last month (she's the one that had WLS before) and she will be helping me for a longer time. Thanks again for the grocery list Debi.. I'll show it to doc but I think all is good because my daughter saw the list and agreed that it was a great list. Okay, I already showered, but will be getting dressed because I think everyone wants to leave early for the hospital and word is that we may be leaving in about a half hour so I best get moving.. We'll be in touch. God Bless and keep you safe. Warm regards, Esther