Re: Final Costs for a self Pay MGB - 30 day progress

[Guest guest]

Ken:

Congratulations on the awesome weight loss. I can't wait to join you on the

other side on 11/8. I look forward to your future posts!!!!

Christy

California Pre-Op

11/8/00

[Guest guest]

Congratulations Ken!!!!!!!!!!!

38 pounds is fantastic,

Ruqayya

[Guest guest]

and thanks for sharing your experience, too Ken!

Ruqayya

[Guest guest]

Dear Ken,

Thank you so much for giving us your update. I really enjoyed hearing

about what you are eating and the mixed signals your stomach is giving

you. I think that the part that scares me the most is the possibility of

having nausia alot. I've already had two laproscopic surgeries in the

past and found them very tolerable, so the surgery doesn't bother me at

all.

I've been on Prevacid for over five years for Barrettes Esophogus, so

that'll be nothing new to me either. Learning to drink and eat less may

be a bit harder. Are we banned from all soft drinks after surgery? I'm a

diet coke addict as I don't drink coffee or tea. Looks like I may be

going through some cafine withdrawls too? Oh boy....ha ha!

Well, I have bunches of other email to get through. Thanks for writing

and sharing. God Bless, Drew

Ken Grakauskas wrote:

>

> I called the hospital today to see what the final bill was for their

> part. While your hospital stay continues to drop, the hospital

> charges keep going up a little quicker. Doc R - 3200.00,

> Anesthesiologist - 980.00, and hospital - 8364.34 for a grand total

> of 12,544.34. ly, I was expecting it to be less by a couple

> grand. I was the last surgery of the day and one of the first ones

> out the next morning and I had no complications. I'm not complaining,

> just making an observation. Now for the good part.

>

> My one month anniversary is tomorrow and I have lost (drum roll

> please...) 38 pounds. I wanted to try and stay on liquids for 2

> months, but I just could not do it. I was HUNGRY!! I transitioned to

> solid food very quickly. I was eating pureed soups after 1 week and

> then migrated to soft solids like fish, whole soup, and oatmeal in

> the second. I eat 4 or 5 times a day. An exmaple day would be a 6 oz

> fat free yogurt that I eat from 8 to 9, fruit juice from 9 to 12, mug

> of soup and crackers 12 to 1, juice from 1 to 4, fat free pudding

> with strawberries from 4 to 4:30, more juice till dinner at 6:30.

> Dinner is sometimes homemade, but usually its a lean cuisine and a

> small side of vegetables. It takes about 45 minutes to eat that. I

> have had no acid or bile reflux. No problems with the Actigall either.

> I take carafate twice a day instead of 4. You need to take it hours

> after eating and an hour before drinking anything so if I took it as

> directed during the day, there wouldn't be any time for food or

> water. I take it at night on an empty stomach and first thing in the

> morning before showering. I am going to stay on the prevacid for 3

> months just to make sure the acid thing stays away.

>

> Stomach signals are still a little funny. I am occassionally hungry

> and full at the same time. Yesterday, I almost hurled after dinner. I

> had that hungry but full feeling and had JUST one more bite.

> Shouldn't have done that. I had about a half hour of hurt. Its like

> its pushing up on your diaphragm or something like that.

>

> I think I'm comfortably eating around 1,000 calories a day, so with

> the malabsorbtion component, I probably actually get around 800

> calories a day. I have a digital scale that measures in tenths of a

> pound. I weigh everyday. I know I shouldn't, and if I plateau for a

> length of time I probably won't but I still lose 2/10th's to half

> pound a day, so its fun to watch.

>

> You pre ops are making the right decision. I would do it again in a

> heart beat. I used to eat in one sitting what I eat in 2 days now.

>

> Good luck in your decisions.

>

> Ken Grakauskas

> MGB 10/20/00

> 348/310/190

>

>