Doctor in Ashland
Hi Green eyes, I had Dr. Wheeler and I give him and his staff the highest marks. When I first went to the informational seminar I thought he was was kind of dry and matter of fact, which for me was not that big of a deal. After my first visit with him my wife and I were very pleased. He took all the time we needed to go over all of our questions. I chose him because of his record and the fact that he has not had a death. With all the testing I had to do before hand I can see why. He is very matter of fact about it is not an easy fix and I liked that. I had Lisa as my Physc. and Angie was my Nut. Nothing but good things to say about both. When I went in for my 7 month check up Lisa saw that I had signed in to see Dr Wheeler and came out and asked me if I would come and talk to her a minute. She just wanted to make sure I was doing good. I had to do a six month docotor and Nut supervised diet for my insurance which turned out to be a blessing. It allowed me to start changing my eating habits and I shrank my liver. My surgery only took 45 minutes and Dr Wheeler said it was because I had followed the diet and it made his job easier.
As you can see by my ticker I have been very successful. I have done so by following what they told me I needed to do. You can look at my pictures on my profile. As far as soups I ate cream of just about everything, just run it through a strainer. Don't thin it down to much and it will stick with you longer. The yogurt I still eat is Kroger brand Carb Master. At first only eat the vanilla. After I was on reglar food and had no restrictions I tried the other flavors. There was a name brand the they recomend but I liked the Kroger brand better. If you haven't been to one yet they have their support group meetings the second thursday every month. pan head
thank you so much for writing an awesome answer for me. I have done my 6 months, now just waiting on insurance approval, I have been trying to drink a protein shake a day, it is hard, I have changed one meal a day to a salad. I totally gave up caffeine 3 weeks ago to the day,lol. It has been 3 weeks and so far no word on the insurance at all. I am getting worried. I live so far away from the support meetings it is hard for me to go to one. I live almost 2 hours from Ashland. Can you eat the cream soups as soon as you get home. or just broth and jello? thanks again for your help. Lisa
I had to give up soda, that was about the hardest. I was a soda junkie. I quit when I started with the Nut and haven't drank one since April of last year. The shakes are trial and error thing. I use Isopure from GNC. It is kind of high priced but it also has vitamins and minerals in it. It costs $51.00 for a 3.5 lb container, with the GNC Gold card you save 20% the first ten days of the month making it $35.00. I like it because it dissolves pretty good and the chocolate tastes good to me. There are some web sites that offer sample packs. www.bariatriceating.com offers sample packs with different brands to try. There is also one called Any Whey unflavored which is great to add to soups and such. Phase 1 is the clear liquid stage and you will be on this in the hospital. When you leave the hospital you will start Phase 2 or full liquids. It consists of skim of 1% milk and protein powder. I like the taste with water instead of milk. I would drink the milk by it's self when I drank it. You can also have SF "sugar free" pudding or jello as well as strained cream soups. You can add a little of the unflavored protein powder to the pudding or the soup and get a little extra protein that way. You can also have the yogurt also. The name brand is Danon Light 'n Fit Creamy Yogurt. Don't eat any with fruit chunks. You can drink most any liquid as long as you watch the sugar content. I started with Crystal Light adding it to water, some people tell me that they add a little of it to yogurt. I like the Kroger brand fruit punch and Walmart grape and cherry lemonade. I keep the single bottle packets at work and drink it all the time. I buy the larger size and mix up a half gallon jug or in a milk jug and keep it in the fridge. It will be hard to get the water and protein in at first, just try your best. It will get easier. Don't panic over it. Dr Wheeler's PA"Phys. Asst." told me the whole thing about 3 oz every 15 minutes is so you don't try to chug to much liquid to fast and strain your pouch. At first it will be swolen and take several weeks to completely heal. He said liquids will pass straight through though. His name is Dr. Flowers, I really liked him as well. They will give you a whole list of liquids you can have. Matter of fact I dug out my paper work they gave me at the mandatory pre-op class. They will give you all this information and much more and give you take aways so you don't have worry about trying to remember it all. I think what helped my recovery the most was the walking. I didn't wait for them to tell me to get up and walk. After about two hours I asked my wife to help me get up and use the restroom and told her it was time to get moving. Also use the pain meds. In recovery I had pain from what I later relized was the largest incision site, so when they asked if I was in pain I said yes till they gave me enough to take the edge off. After I was in my room they put me on a pain pump so I was pushing the button every 20 minutes. It really wasn't that bad but statying on top of it allowed me to get moving and keep moving. Oh I almost forgot SF Popsicles are a must. You can have these when you get out of the hospital on Phase 2. When you want something solid to chew, these are great. I still buy these every week. Kroger has their own brand of these that are great. They are Two Fruity Pops. Popsicle brand are good also. Sorry this turned out so long. I hope there is some information that will help. pan head
I gotten so much from surgery and OH that I feel like I should give something back. I had high blood pressure, GERD, triglycerides were sky high and sleep apnea. All are now gone. The only thing I take now are vitamins. I had bad pain in the knees as well, they would get stiff and could hardly bend them. Now I can walk for miles.
I don't want to diminish the risks, but my only regret is not doing it sooner. I am not a real religous person, but I do relize for some reason I have been blessed. Must be my wife. I hope you get a date soon and everthing goes well for you. One thing I didn't put in about the hospital stay is take some chap stick. The day of the surgery they will not let you drink till the next day, after you have a leak test. My lips got very dry and the chap stick helped alot. Some one else here on OH suggested it to me and they were right. the only other thing is maybe a pillow from home and maybe something to play your favorite music to listen to, like a small CD player with head phones. I took a couple of magazines and never touched them. You may be in a fog for a day or so from being put to sleep. It takes a while to wear off. I was told the walking helps work it out of your system. pan head
The main thing to watch with the protein is the sugar content. You want it to be as low as possible. They want you to keep it under 10 grams per serving, also try to get the lowest carb count as well. I don't remember what they like tokeep it under right off the top of my head.. The whey isolate protein is supposed to be absorbed best by the body.
It amazes me the difference in my life in less than a year. Most people don't even know me when I walk up to them. The motorcycle club I belong to had our annual hog roast this past weekend and at first I enjoyed the way people went on, but after a while it got embarrassing. Especially when the women keep going on. Good thing I am a happly married man. It could quite easily turn a persons head.
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