Surgery on June 12th!

Caitlunn · May 25, 2017

Ray_Of_Fricken_Sunshine said:
Congrats on the surgery date!! I have to tell you, you called me out on the lurking, and your punctuation is damn near flawless, so you're good in my book!
The vlog is a great way to document your experience(I also sincerely appreciate you not calling it your "journey"), if for no other reason than to be able to remind yourself where you started!
I like the Premier drinks/powder, though I think the driving force behind my preference is price! I also really like the idea of adding the flavorless protein powder to broths.
I'm something of a Kroger fanatic, and I'm always coming across something incredible in their clearance sections! Right now, my district has Gatorade for $0.69/32oz bottle. Can't get mad at that!
Anyways, Welcome, Enjoy your cake, and Happy Vlogging!

Haha, thanks! I have to say, there are a few phrases that rub me the wrong way, 'journey' being one of them. Also, 'emotional roller coaster'.

I LOVE KROGER. The one I go to has clicklist, so I can order my groceries and the next day, drive to the store and have them loaded in my car. It's amazing. They have great deals all the time, and I like the carbmaster products a lot. At my group meeting with the NUT, they were talking about Fairlife milk, and I mentioned that there is a Kroger brand that's cheaper and has less carbs. Apparently there aren't any store that far north. What a bummer!

Caitlunn · May 25, 2017

So, I met with the NUT yesterday. It was a small group of myself and four other ladies. Talk about a LONG day! We sat through 4 presentations back to back, and then met individually with the PA to go over consent forms. All the other patients were nice ladies, though I think I was the only DSer. Honestly, that kind of bums me out. I'm so glad that I have been encouraged to do the research and find the right surgery for me.

The vitamin advice I received wasn't terrible. They do acknowledge that a DS patient needs to take multiple does of a multi+ADEK. They even go so far as to offer their own brand that comes in both a capsule and a chewable. I tried a sample of the chewable, and it was the best tasting chewable I've ever had. I was told that it was sugar free. However, I didn't purchase it. It might have a good combo of vitamins, but I didn't get to look at the nutritional facts to see what dosage it was. Also, it was the size of a quarter and about half an inch thick. Talk about a mouthful!

The pre-op diet isnt all liquids, which surprised me. But it is all their special brands of bariatric foods. I know its a small price to pay for this but what I don't like is again, they just had us blindly pick a bunch of food off of a list without seeing what was in it. And most of them have quite a few carbs, which makes me nervous. Overall, the plan is to eat 800-900 calories, high protein, with small meals every 2-3 hours. I know it would be pretty difficult to gain weight doing that, but I do get nervous eating more than about 40 grams of carbs per day. Maybe I'm crazy, but I just don't want gain weight before surgery!

So, all of that was somewhat of a letdown, but my meeting with the PA went well. She was surprised that I knew what the loop DS, and knew enough to say I didn't want it. It seems as if Dr. Kemmeter is still only offering the standard of care DS, but I'm glad I asked.

Caitlunn · Jun 11, 2017

It's show time tomorrow! I'll be sure to update as soon as I can. Crossing my fingers that all goes well. I'm not nervous yet! Just excited and ready for the next step :3