Question you might have about Weight Loss Surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking

about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT

THIS OUT TO READ if you don't want to read it all at one time.

1. First thing is to start asking people on the board you are on all kinds of

questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask

more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you

educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don't

rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of

feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss

Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times

during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still

wouldn't be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never

regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very

proud of you for looking into this. Don't give any more days of your life being

overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is

your answer.

2. How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price

shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at

this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve

surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a

person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico.

(a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or

anything else. ( NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or

medications—thank goodness this person didn't have any. ( The lab did NOT

label tubes of blood with the person's name on it—very dangerous. © Day after

surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day

2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said

this person wasn't allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had

clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this

person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative

report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it

yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about

the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose. My choice after 6 months of

research was Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. What I can tell you in my opinion

is that he is the very best you will ever find to do your surgery. I can only

speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice

for a surgeon.

3. Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a

small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear

to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too.

Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for

your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure

you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and

the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the

surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue.

Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to

use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if

you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these

companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit

card or debit card vs cash it is much easier to use. Take small amounts of

cash for tips—I took $45.00 in 1's for tip money for various things. If you go

to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or

other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer &

cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave

all jewelry at home. If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need

it removed to see your nail beds during surgery.

4. The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have

to do. You do 10 days of nothing but clear liquids to start with—that means you

have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the

protein they want you to have the 1st 10 days—I couldn't find anything I liked

that was clear during the 1st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz each

day, and I don't think I could ever get that much water drank—just do the best

you can. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will

only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much

better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days. You can now have some

creamy soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a protein drink that you

like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at Costco. When looking

for a protein drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier

has 30 grams of protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too.

I know there are a lot of other protein drinks out there that people like. When

it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask

others what kind of Protein drinks they liked and where they get them. The last

10 days are mushy foods. So this is a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I

make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what

will work as mushy foods for you.

5. Starting the 2nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food.

Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY

BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid.

From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and

chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don't

eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn't like a lot might

taste good and something that you used to love don't taste that great anymore.

Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories

per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to

have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing

them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest

this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion.

http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/ It really is good to write down and

track everything you put in your mouth to start with—that is how you know that

you have not had more than 800 calories per day.

6. I want you to understand weight loss surgery is just a tool. The fat doesn't

not just melt off of you—they is NO miracle cure. Now you have to put a lot of

effort into eating healthy and starting to exercise. Everyone has some kind of

exercise that works for them. I love walking and try to walk about 5 days a

week.

7. For many of us we started to lose some of our hair 3 or 4 months after having

WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is

pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no

magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo's or take Biotin.

It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil

straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now. I already had

thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until

my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the hair loss to lose 105 pounds.

8. Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from constipation. You need to

have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each

morning with MIRALAX. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a

good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in

the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my breakfast. 3 years

later I still have this for breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me.

9. You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing

everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a

week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don't panic the weight loss

will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing.

10. Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to

convince us of—We call these " Head Games " and they really are tough times to

work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain

and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are

eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE

amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the

you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with

yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat?

11. You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is

good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able

to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will

morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food

and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that. You will notice how fast

people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating.

That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small

amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a

bottle of water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you

will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh

I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food.

12. When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who

have already done this. We are here to help and support you.

13. Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again

after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be

able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have

new clothes.

14. Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience

with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH

patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS

this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a

Clinic. One clue that it is a clinic is if they send you to a hotel room to

recover—that is why they cost less, this is also dangerous too. YOU are worth

the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best

Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the

RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this.

Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a

lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky

because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery.

For many of this, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There

are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate

is high. Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give

loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient.

You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow

the money for this surgery just look at this as " body payment. " It will be the

best money you have ever borrowed. Please PRINT this out to read later. If

you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery

almost 3 years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to

help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was

63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this.