Trav

There are some soy products that resemble cheese as well. before my surgery, I made all my own pizza..(unless I was just pressed for time) The things I've learned about pizza...if you make your own dough, you can get it REALLY thin...(so that when it's baked, it's not quite cracker-like, but not doughy like deep dish) if you gotta have meat, make a good choice here, and get yourself some ultra-lean hamburger, or some roast-beef and make a Philly pizza. a good combo is onions, green peppers, and black olives, (or green olives) The crux of pizza..(here's some science for you guys)....pizza is a "devil food"...why? You've got a LOT of carbs, but because it's also high in fat, it elevates your blood sugar longer than normal, so you're going to crank out extra insulin because your body isn't seeing the blood sugar levels go down, so it cranks out extra, and gives you a low, which makes you hungry again. (something about the high fat combined with the high carbs makes it exceptionally bad) So, pizza...yeah bad idea. i'd reserve that for a special occasion food if you absolutely miss it. (like a birthday or christmas or something). I can't say I'll cut it out completely, but I'll at least try to make it as healthy as can be had....(which isn't saying much, because it's bad for you by its very nature.)

Well, I'm not medically qualified to say "yay" or "nay". All my advice is purely anecdotal. Given that you're 100lbs or more overweight, I would say that's (should be in a perfect world) an immediate qualifier. Reason being: If you catch it soon enough, you don't have to suffer the other co-morbidities that come along with being heavy. When I spoke with Dr. Ortiz afterward, he could tell just from my anatomy that I had fought this thing for a long time. I've bounced from 200lbs to 340lbs for the last decade. With me, it's either work out all the time and be a slave to your body, or get fat. Pre-op, I could eat enough for 3 people, and still not feel full....30min after dinner, I'd be hungry again....so it was either be extremely active, or gain weight. You combine that with any personal turmoil in your life, and you're setting yourself up for failure. I've lived it first hand. Break ups, job loss, anything can set it off, and then you're back to square one. Eventually, you kick someone down long enough, they stop getting up, and they need help. I'd reached that point. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and if you're already to the point where you're looking into it, I'd say do it. ...again, my advice is anecdotal, take from it what you will, but that's my recommendation.

Yeah, as I was waking up, I had to thank everyone in the room for helping give me my life back. I didn't want to have a heart attack by the time I was 40.

That might be something to add to the knowledge base. If you have complications, don't go to the ER, go to a fill centre, or someone knowledgeable about the band. We don't want to get our bands removed unless it's absolutely medically necessary.

I'll chime in here too. Nicotine restricts the regenerative processes of you body. (i.e. you won't heal as fast as someone who isn't smoking) Also, to give you an example, I'm a non-smoker, but in recovery, I had a problem coming around. My blood O2 was a little low (nothing major, 90-92%)..but I'm a non-smoker. If you have any kind of apnea, or lesser lung function, you could suffer complications. So, bearing those two bits of information in mind, reduced healing capacity, and decreased lung function, it's a pretty obvious choice, imo...even if you just quit for the surgery. It's sound advice.

Straight from the nutritionist's mouth, "No, don't quit caffeine right now, if you've been drinking a lot of caffeine, you don't need to deal with migraines right now." That being said, I had maybe two cups of coffee since my surgery, and I haven't had any caffeine since....no headaches...(don't know if that's from being knocked out or the Supradol.)

Experiences thus far: Hotel Lacerna, everyone was very nice. Of particular interest. Vincento (bellman), is a wonderfully helpful and friendly person. Daniel (waiter), takes pride in his work, and does it very well and professionally. At the clinic: Myself, "Cindy", and "Sherry. who also has a really nice daughter (and cute haha)" I was slated #1, but some mixup, I still had to talk to the anasthesea doc. Cindy went first, she was all worked up. But as she was coming out, I was going in. She changed her toon. "Everything's great..." Nurses, they're sticks are excellent, bar none. I'm a former phlebotomist, and I consider myself to have the best stick west of the Mississippi, and I would say the nurse who did mine did it equally or better than I could've done. Mamma Ortiz, very sweet to me. Dr. Ortiz, to the point, "guy version" of the "speech" is short and sweet. "Use it as a tool, don't lean on it, you'll do fine." Dr. Martinez, very nice, thoughtful, and calm soul. Gabriella, (nutritionist, and forgive me if I spell it wrong.) Very pleasant to talk to, she enjoyed my "Hank Hill" impression immensely. Wheeled into the room. Got on the table. They kinda shanghai'd me on my anesthesia, wanted me to pick out some music, got it chosen, but they had already shot me up. I felt like I was havin' a beer buzz ---> passout episode, so I was fighting it. (then I felt it go up my arm and asked them if that's what they did.)...fought it a lil' more, and then woke up. Something weird about my experience, I lost the weight they called for, (and then some.) 325, the goal was 309, and dropped to 301 day of, but my liver was still pretty big. Apparently if I understood correctly, because I had gained the majority of my weight this year, I had a really fatty liver, and it hadn't had time to stablize, so the pre-op diet wasn't as effective as it should've been, still, don't let that discourage you, I'm sure I'm a special case. Surgery went off without a hitch, 4cc band wouldn't fit, so we had to go with the 10cc band. all in all, I haven't had much more than bruising at the port site, and everything else isn't more painful than a papercut. The lateral trochar site on my right side about 10cm down from my right nipple, is a bit sore, but everything else is fine. Hurts to cough, but I handled broth just fine. still kinda gassy from the CO2, hasn't settled in my joints thankfully...walked to the convenience store across the street and got some gatoraide and water. No issues...just taking it slow. On a side note, I'd like to send a special thanks to "Themelena" (if I spelled that correctly). Your 3yr post-op video was the deciding factor in choosing Dr. Ortiz. (that and you made me laugh about the "skinny b*tch" comment), I had a similar experience when I tried atkins and got down 'round 200, so it really touched home. Anyway, I've this plastic in my gut, let's hope for the best! -Trav Tulsa, OK

This was the doctor I was originally going to have, the insurance would've covered it, but got laid off. So I opt'd for Dr. Ortiz...(better choice, imo.) However, Dr. Lafon has said that he would do fills for us OK types. I think he charges $300