OK…so here are some random thoughts that I have been having and please forgive me if these are redundant as I’m sure they have been discussed before. (I am slightly new to the site...love y'all by the way!) My surgery is set for 2/26/10. I have a sit down job so I plan on going back to work 3/8/10. Is that too soon? It seems like plenty of time considering I am 29 and having a closed RNY. I plan on discussing it with my surgeon when I visit with him on 2/11/10 but I just thought I would get your suggestions.

I start my liquid diet on 2/12/10. I plan on sticking with 2 things that I know I can tolerate because I have tested and tried them out. That is EAS Carb Control Protein Shakes, Broth, and water. Is that going to be enough?? It sure doesn’t sound like it….lol I am not real thrilled about my protein shake choice but it is the best of the worst so far. Any other suggestions for shakes I might like more?

Lastly, I have not opened up about my upcoming surgery to anyone at work. Everyone thinks I am going on vacation in February…..which technically I am not lying about….it will be a vacation of sorts. I do not wish to keep my surgery a secret because I am not ashamed of it what so ever - - but I am also trying to be realistic and I know people will judge me and have negative things to say and I just don’t feel like having that negative energy with be right before surgery so I was just thinking of letting people know once I come back from “vacation”.

I have a wonderful support system. My mom, dad, best friend, girlfriend, and one and a half sisters are supporting me 100%. What are your thoughts on letting my co-workers know?

Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts.

Sara

First off- your thoughts are totally normal!

Second, a little over a week  to recover may be cutting it close. I know some people are fine and go back within two weeks, but 1 seems to be pushing it. I personally needed 4, but that was because I don't have a sit down job.

Thirdly,   your tastes and tolerances may change after surgery. I loved loved loved the Crystal Sky by Nectar before surgery, but now my body won't tolerate it! So, you may have to find other kinds after surgery- but if it's working now keep doing it!

*I personally don't like the milkshakey shakes (except for Click!) so both pre and post Op I had the RTD Isopure shakes as they taste more like Gatorade/powerade which I really like and reminds me of my younger years as an athlete!

Fourthly, telling people is a personal decision- but I tell everyone. I am so proud of myself for making the decision to save my life that I love sharing, however, not everyone is so open. Plus, I'm a teacher so I don't have a group of co-workers I see each day to judge me, which many do.

Well I hope you found some of that useful- good luck and we can't wait to have you join us on the losers bench!!!

greetings sara

congratulations on your upcoming surgery!

i can't really comment on how long you plan to be off of work as i had my rny as an open procedure - i was off for 6 weeks. and i didn't have to do a liquid diet, so i'm not much help with that either! i can tell you that i've been drinking the EAS advanedge protein shakes for nearly 5 years now, and i love, love, love the cafe caramel flavor. i actually continue to drink them cause i like them! i've not seen the cafe caramel flavor in stores, but it can be ordered online - i get them from an amazon vendor.

about telling your coworkers about the surgery - you'll have to decide what is the best way to handle that issue for you. i can tell you how i handled it, but that may not be what will work for you. i work in a large company - over 1000 people in just the location at which i work. i weighed 463 the day i had surgery. i thought it was silly to think that people weren't going to notice a drastic, rapid weight loss on a person of my size. i told the people i work closely with beforehand, and anyone else who approached me and brings it up - i tell them the truth about the surgery. i've gotten only a couple of negative responses over the years - nearly all people are happy for me and delighted with my success - at least to my face! and i really don't care what they may be saying behind my back -- i'm sure those are the same people who had plenty to say about me when i weighed 463 lbs!

good luck to you, and all the best!

deb

I love the muscle milk and the muscle milk light. bothe the RTD and the powder forms are really good.

I told my family and two close co workers, but not anyone else.  The others see me dieting and exercise.  Despite what you may think its still a lot of work. and it is a complete lifestyle change.  I no longer eat bread, rice, potatoes, or pasta.  People notice the cut back.  I no longer eat sweets either.  I used to be the first one to get a piece of cake, but now I just pass.

Its good that you have a good support system.  But with all the hormone fluctuation and adjustments the last thing you are gonna need after surgery is negativity.  I send you my prayers.  See you on the losers bench.

Sara,
I too have a totally sit down job and I had my surgery on october 20 and was back to work on november 1st, so it can be done.  I was however extremely tired that first week and wished I could have taken another week off but only had 2 weeks of what my company calls PTO (paid time off) so that was all the time I had.  You will be extremely tired but it is definitely possible and time has a way of passing and before we know it we are back in the swing of things.  I think the first 2 weeks I was back I was plodding along and tired but by the third week back I was back to full capacity again.

As far as telling people, I work at home over the internet so I just informed my superviser I needed the 2 weeks for an operation.  I did not elaborate and he knew better to ask.  I work in a healthcare industry.  As far as other people, my closest relatives know and ones I only see once a year will just assume I am on yet another diet and eventually they will realize that this time I seem to be really keeping it off.  At three months out, if someone who is overweight/obese asks me, I will tell them.  For example, a lady who I recognized as working at the grocery store I go to asked me and I told her.  I don't even know her name but I  recognize her as an employee at the Stop and Shop I go too and ran into her at WalMart and she asked me.  Now if she was a skinny lady I would have probably just said been watching what I eat or something, feeling it was none of her business.  My point though is, if you feel in any way that telling a specific person would impact you negatively in any way, it is none of their business.  You can choose to tell or not tell anyone you like and you don't owe anyone any explainations.  

As far as the shakes go, dont purchase too much.  At 3 months out, I barely use any and have not really for a good 2 months.  I prefer to eat my protein.  They come in handy the first month when you can't eat that much and want to get in your protein but now I prefer to eat things like greek yogurt for breakfast to start with about 15 g protein in the morning or the eggbeater with some low fat cheese for about 18 g protein.  But I had a VSG so your RNY expereince will probably be different.

Congrats on the upcoming surgery!

Hi Sara!!

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery. I just wanted to share that I had to do a three week liquid diet. I too liked the taste of the EAS shake at first. But after a couple days it really tasted like chalk to me. I did the shakes, chicken broth and sugar free popscicles. The first three days were the hardest, I cried and my body was wanting food so bad I was getting migraines,but after day three I was able to get into routine. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water!!

I planned two weeks off of work, I did tell my coworkers but I knew they were really supportive of me. I ended up spending three days in the hospital post surgery went home for the weekend and was back in the hospital for a week cause I got an infection in my drain tube area. I am not telling this to scare you but I want you to know that you may want to let them know this is a serious procedure you are having and you may spring up and be able to get right back at work or you may not. Everybody is different.  I am completely fine now, the biggest problem I had was the pain was so bad I wasn't breathing deeply enough or making myself cough. They want you to walk and cough to release that gas...so just make sure to do it!!


Keep us posted on your progress, you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Nicole

I really like Chike and there is an ad that runs on the OH home page - you can order a sample package - which I did.  I liked mixing it with ice with an immersion blender.  I used that a couple of others that I wasn't too crazy about (including EAS - it was OK, but didn't like it as well).  I didn't have much trouble after the first couple of days.  I wasn't even hungry.  I got tired of "sweet" so used chicken broth for my savory - and that helped.  Good luck.  I did it for two weeks, and it wasn't bad.

As far as telling people, that's up to you.  I wasn't going to tell anyone, but then I did and now it doesn't bother me at all.

Hi,
     Right now I am also loving Muscle Milk Light a lot.  It doesn't have much aftertaste and it reminds me of chocolate milk.  I am about to start the pre-op diet and have been sampling different brands.  
     I have been really open about the surgery to my friends(lesser and close)  and family.  I don't work outside the home but I understand wanting to keep it to yourself in the office.

  Can you eat sugar-free jello during the pre-op?  I know that some people mix the protein powder or the transparent protein bullets like Profect with Gatorade or Crystal Light.

Good Luck!

My tastes with protein powder completely changed from preop to postop.

I've tried and hated EAS, Designer Whey, Muscle Milk light, Adkins, the one they have at Wal-Mart (Body Fortress), one my Nut recommended from Trader Joe's, and a couple others. Mostly they are too sweet or the texture turns me off. Others I've eliminated because they cost too much. Or they were okay when I first tried them, but I can't handle having it more than once every 2 weeks now -- lookin' at you Mango Nectar!!

So, I recommend getting samples from Vitalady.com, Chike, Unjury. Try not to buy a big bucket of something you may end up hating.

Right now the protein I like the best is Isopure Zero RTD. I'm really  not too fond of 'milkshake'-like protein. But I do use the generic protein powder from Whole Foods -- I make chai tea and 'cocoa' with it. I have some unflavored Isopure powder I mix into stuff (it does funny things to baked goods).

I do buy the Premier Chocolate RTD from Costco. It's vile, but I 'chug' it down in about 10 minutes while I'm driving to work -- 30 g of protein is nothing to sneeze at. It helps me avert my eyes when I walk past the donut box on the way in. (No chugging for early postops!)

Regarding telling people, it's a personal choice. I do think because we all started out super morbidly obese that people don't give us as much crap as they do lightweights, but we do still get crap from some people.
 
For the most part, I don't care who at work knows. I haven't had anyone freak out on me about it. But don't go and join the "Weight Loss Challenge" at work because most people don't realize that postop you have to work for weight loss even with the surgery.

I do have a couple of people who watch what I'm eating.   One of them congratulated me when I brought a salad for lunch a couple of weeks back. She didn't see me eat the meat off of it and throw most of the greens away. But for so many people diet=salad. You can't escape it.

You do need to memorize this for dealing with concerned waitstaff at restaurants: "I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was." The questions about if the food is okay get really annoying...

Don't tell the people at work that your having the surgery. I made the mistake of doing so and I've had to endure/put up with everyone's weight issues and how my weight loss is affecting them. Yeah its a bunch of bs and I wish I had kept my mouth shut about the surgery.

I like the EAS carb control dark chocolate shakes. I liked the before my surgery and still like them after. I'd get just enough to get you through the preop diet. Vitalady.com has samples of protein powders that you can buy for after your surgery. You can try them and see which one's you like.

Well, how to start......
Please tell at least some people and especially management where you work. You will NOT return well rested and happy like you just got back from a cruise. Some people need to know that you are having MAJOR surgery. This is a big deal. You will be sore, tired, and on a very limited diet with very specific requirements about getting liquids during the work day. Your co-workers and supervisors will have to know they must make certain allowances for you and it is illegal if they won't do this.
I understand your reasons for not telling. I probably had the same ones. You don't want people to judge you and, goodness knows, you don't need "well meaning" idiots telling you all these surgery horror stories about "somebody that somebody else knew the cousin of". One of my biggest fears was that I would be the one person that the surgery failed and couldn't lose weight, and I didn't want people to think of me as a failure. I work in the hospital where I had my surgery. I told only a few of my closest friends at first, but with only about 50 people in my department, most everyone found out sooner or later. My co-workers have been very supportive and are my biggest cheerleaders. Now people I barely know who work in other areas of the hospital come up to me and tell me how good I look. They can see me loosing weight, but don't know about the surgery. I'm sure that after you start loosing and can really see the difference in yourself, you won't care who knows. I'm almost 4 months out and love what is happening to me. Trust me, you will love the changes you see very soon, so don't worry about what others think. This is for YOU.
BTW- I had lap RNY and took off a full month. I have a semi-sitting job that can involve a lot of standing sometimes. I didn't start to feel human again until about 3 weeks after. My surgeon's minimum was 3 weeks off for lap and 6 weeks for open. Anyone can have a minor complication that could have you out longer than you are planning. What would your co-workers do if your "vacation" lasted for a few weeks? It's just something to think about.
About the protein shakes-- try the Unjury chicken soup flavor powder. You will get really sick of the sweet stuff really fast. I liked the Atkins drinks both before and after surgery, too. Oh! Yeah is the brand I used a lot when I was on the full liquid phase after surgery. One 14 oz. bottle has 32 g of protein. It took me half the day to drink a whole one, but it really helped get my protein numbers up.
Welcome to the loser's bench! You're gonna love it here!
Leslie

Your surgeon's minimum was 3 weeks! Wow.

I tried to get 4 weeks off, after talking to several people who'd had lap RNYs. My doc's office wouldn't sign off on any disability paperwork for longer than 3 weeks.

My surgeon's office prides themselves that some workaholic client went back to work after a lap RNY after 4 days. Of course, they didn't say anything about whether that person was taking naps under her desk. Maybe it's because my surgeon's office is in Los Angeles. I don't know.