Thanks for sharing this.  We forget how fortunate we are sometimes and it takes something like this to put our own problems into perspective.

My brother's wife had a friend who constantly complained about her husband, but never to his face.

My brother was drunk one night and ran into the lady and her husband.  She introduced him and he said, "Oh, are you then SOB who never puts the seat down, who leaves messy dishes on the table and doesn't put his laundry in the hamper?"

Surgery gives you a way to lose the weight, but it only works as long as you work it.  Many people give up and would rather have the food they want.  At nine years out, I find it is difficult to lose any regain. 

I just look at those people as examples of what would happen to me if I quit working my plan.

This does not get easier.  Every year it gets harder to maintain.  Coming to the board daily is one way that I keep myself focused.

I live alone, but still have a cabinet with things for company.  Potato chips, crackers, cookies, etc. live in a cabinet of their own.  I am short and have them in a cabinet on the high shelf, so I would need to drag out a stool to get to them.

My surgeon told me six weeks before the pool and I listened.  Then when I saw him again, he said four weeks would have been fine.

I would advise you to enjoy this temporary dislike of food.  Soon enough food will taste great again and you will have to work at controlling the amount you eat.

This is the honeymoon stage of weight loss surgery.  Real life is up ahead.

You need eight a day to get your minimum requirements.  They combine calcium and iron in the same pill which cancels each other out.  It is not calcium citrate. They are lacking copper and vitamin K.

They sell extra iron, extra calcium and B12 journey vitamins too, so it is not really an all in one.

Just a clever marketing scheme.

Deficiencies don't show up during the first year.  If you take your vitamins they may never show up.

I stocked up on cat litter in advance, cut the lids off the boxes and used a plastic scoop (not a litter scooper) to get the litter into the boxes.  When cleaning the boxes, I put the used stuff into plastic grocery bags and don't let them get too heavy.

I would suggest getting pods for the laundry so you don't have to lift heavy bottles of detergent.  Other than the ban on lifting over ten pounds I was completely self sufficient from day one at home.

For the hospital take your cell phone, charger and a tube of chapstick.

After surgery, have some canned broth and your protein shake on hand.  What you puree will depend on your clinic's program.  I was on liquids for two weeks and used two small cans of broth, a half gallon of skim milk and my protein powder.

I was also allowed sugarfree pudding and jello and had that for some meals.  Sugarfree popsicles are also good to have on hand.

I had to add Crystal Light to get the water down for the first year or so. 

The one I took has true/false questions like:

1.I like mechanics magazines
2.I have a good appetite
3.I wake up fresh & rested most mornings
4.I think I would like the work of a librarian
5.I am easily awakened by noise
6.I like to read newspaper articles on crime
7.My hands and feet are usually warm enough
8.My daily life is full of things that keep me interested
9.I am about as able to work as I ever was
10.There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time
11.A person should try to understand his dreams and be guided by or take warning from them
12.I enjoy detective or mystery stories
13.I work under a great deal of tension
14.I have diarrhea once a month or more
15.Once in a while I think of things too bad to talk about
16.I am sure I get a raw deal from life
17.My father was a good man