I start my shakes tomorrow, the count down is on....

I have everything laid out and ready.  I really wish I would have gotten to go the store today to get some things to flavor them with and some fruit and pickles, but there just wasn't time.  I am going to make a list and rush in in the morning.  I know I don't want to go grocery shopping when I can't eat anything. 

My mom had a mini stroke on Sunday night, she was talking to my brother.  We were in the ER, which is a joke in our town,  for most of the night.  They let her come home because her speech was back to normal by the time they got around do doing something and the labs came back.  Not 5 minutes after we left she started doing the same thing again.  I really didn't now what to do, I just kind of sit in the middle of the street for a while and she got better.  I don't know if this was another TIA or if it was the effects of the same one after she got up and was moving around.  We went to the doctor today and he increased her blood thinner that she was already on and they are doing a carotid Doppler on Thursday.  She is my biggest supporter and my child giver while my husband is going to be with me during surgery.  It is so scary to think something really bad could have happened last night. 

I hate to say this but I have eaten so much this week.  Everyone has called me and wanted to go out on our last lunch/dinner date for a while.  I couldn't think of one thing that I really wanted tonight.  I did weigh while I had my mom in the doctors office because that is the same scale that I will use to fax in my weight on the 14th and I thankfully haven't gained any weight since I was in Dr. Baker's office.

How did you all do the shakes when you still had to feed your families.  I have bought a lot of really quick dinners.  My girls will eat canned quick foods, I know they aren't healthy but the love them and I am just proud when my little one eats. 

So here is to the HMR SHAKES in the AM


Amy
 

Prayers for your Mom Amy! 

And just take it one shake at a time!!  Everyone down is one less you have to do and one more closer to achieving your surgery!!!!!!

Prayers for you and your mom!!!!!

I'm probably not the best one to ask about my family's eating habits.  I basically let the responsibility of feeding everyone fall to my husband during my shakes & recovery phases.  It was a rough month or so for the family, but they hung in there (I'm so proud of them!) and got through it and now I feel like cooking again.  Just keep in mind that it's a short time and you've all got to do what you have to in order to make it through... you'll all be better for it in the long run.

((((hugs))))

MAKE THE MOST WITH YOUR SHAKES!! 

I had to cook for my roomie while I was on the HMR Shakes for 4 weeks (FOUR WEEKS).  I only cheated once, and that was one week into the shakes and it was a bite of bread.  Don't cheat once you start, if Dr. Baker opens you up and sees even a tiny little piece of food he will close you back up without doing surgery and send you home. 

You can do so much to the shakes to make them better.  Fresh or frozen fruits added to the shakes make great smoothies.  Add extra ice and you can make ice cream.  Crystal Light (or walgreens Wylers brand, cheap only $1 box) you can add one of the sugar free flavor packets to the shake and change the flavor around.  My favorite was sugar free pudding.  I had a bunch of little bowls with lids (like the small ones you use to tote around a handful of cheerios in for a toddler), and I had them labeled with the pudding flavor.  I would add a good spoonful of the pudding powder to the shake, and you can make a dozen or more different flavors this way. 

Chocolate HMR Shake + Dry Banana Cream SF Pudding
Vanilla HMR Shake + Cherry Wylers SF drink packet
Vanilla HMR Shake + Frozen Fruit + lots of ice
Chocolate HMR Shake + Dry Cheesecake SF Pudding

See where I am going here?  LOL

I think you can also have fruit juice right?  I can't remember it's been a while.  I know if I really got a craving for something OTHER than shakes, a bullion cube and ho****er makes a great little broth.  Watch out for the salt though, so don't do this much.  Someone once on here when I started the shakes told me about broth from time to time. 

There is no reason why you can not still cook meals for your family.  You will need the practice anyway for after surgery when you are still early out.  It will help prepare you for the mental aspect of post-op life.  My roomie ate better during the shakes and early post-op life than ever before.  I cooked all kinds of elaborate meals for him when I couldn't eat.  He loved it.  I also started making him buy the better cuts of meat, healthier foods, and started baking or pan cooking foods to prepare him for my post-op eating lifestyle.  This is something you can start doing now, to get your family ready for healthy lifestyle. 

Syokeve, my hat is off to you.  I can't imagine doing four weeks of shakes.  That is come great will power and determination.  How much weight did you lose in those four weeks. 

I am wondering if Dr. Baker has ever done 2 weeks of protein shakes.

On October 4, 2008 at 7:39 PM Pacific Time, Amy R. wrote: I am wondering if Dr. Baker has ever done 2 weeks of protein shakes.

LOL!!!  Hey you should totally ask him that when you go in for your surgery!  LOL

If I am correct, he usually does 2 weeks of shakes.  Those with higher BMIs (such as I was) need to lose more before surgery to lessen any risks during the surgery.  Also the liquid diet is meant to prepare you for surgery by cleaning you out and to rid some of the fat that is on your liver.  The liver, if I remember correctly, has to be moved out of the way for just a moment for them to do the surgery, and if its covered in fat (picture lots and lots of yellow chicken fat) it makes it very hard to do the surgery.  Now I don't know if this is something more for laparoscopic surgery, since they puff you up and do the surgery and need to kid of move things around anyway.

In my 4 weeks of liquid diet I think I lost 38 pounds.  It may be in my signiture line below, I really can't remember without looking in my journal I kept.