Post op prescriptions

At my pre-op testing yesterday, the surgeon’s office called in three presciptions.  One was for the Lovenox injections, another for Prevacid Solutabs and the third for an anti nausea med that is normally given to chemo patients.  My insurance covers exactly zero of any name brand medicine.  Nothing.  Nada.

Let me break it down.

Lovenox — there is no generic.  This beastly thing comes in at a whopping $519.  That’s $51.90 per injection, my friends!  Actually, it’s probably more since I’m only on it for 10 days post op and am in the hospital until day three.

Anti-nausea med — $60.  I could do that if I had to, but I’m not going to because Patti at Dr. V’s office said if it isn’t covered, don’t worry about it, I will get something at the hospital for nausea.  So, that’s off the table. I don’t need to worry about it.

Prevacid Solutabs — This one is tricky.  Prevacid has a generic, but not in the solutabs.  I found out today that I can, if I want to, get the capsules of the generic and break one of those bad boys open.  I could do that.  Especially if it means I won’t have to pay $182 for it.

The solution to all of this mess, apparently, is for me to call the office, explain what’s going on and basically end up being a middle man between the office and the pharmacist.  I quit, or got fired, from my middle man position and was told to tell the pharmacist to call the office directly.  So here I am.  Waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting…for an answer.

The office tells me that they will talk to the rep about getting me some “samples” for the Lovenox.  I can get a new script for the generic form of Prevacid and, again, the anti nausea is a moot point.

What the hell?!  Why can’t this be a little easier?  It is in my best interest to have the Lovenox so why does it have to be so damned expensive?  It just. isn’t. right.  It just makes no sense that we pay for insurance and are still forced to either go without or try to find a way to pay an astronomical amount of money to do something that is necessary to my well being for ten days.

Ugh.  /tangent

Getting ready

This past week, I’ve felt very much in need of being ready for surgery.  I really don’t want to have to go to the store for anything while I’m on the liquid diet that starts in a short 4 days.

I now have enough chewable and sub-lingual vitamins to get me through the first few weeks post op.  I have some sports bras so the girls can be cradled, but not stuck in an underwire bra.  It’s all about comfort, peeps!  I have protein on it’s way.  I have prescriptions at the pharmacy for post op stuff (which is a whole ‘nother post).  Last, but not least, I have most if not all of the things I can drink and eat until surgery, including and completely limited to SF Jello, Diet Minute Maid Lemonade, SF Hawaiian Punch packets, Crystal Light, low sodium broth and hubs is going to bring home some cream soups tomorrow for me to strain and sip.  This should be fun, right?!

The second week of my pre-op diet doesn’t take much preparation.  I have to order the special drink Dr. V wants me on, drink plenty of SF, low cal fluids and drink ONE protein shake/drink a day.  Yup.  Fun, fun, fun.

Syntrax Nectar Latte (Cappuccino)

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!

Syntrax Nectar Latte Cappuccino is soooo good.  This is one of the only Nectar’s that I am really into.  Eventually I’m going to do one big post of all the Nectar flavors that I could not tolerate, but right now?  Cappuccino gets its very own post.

Let me preface this by saying I have recently given up my drug of choice…caffeine.  I did this in anticipation of my surgery and am very sad to see it go.

Okay, so when I mixed this up, I fully expected to dump it down the drain like I did so many of the others.  The first thing I noticed was that it mixed better than most of the others.  Then I noticed that it didn’t have any of that “whey” scent.  I’ve been tricked before by the scent so I didn’t put much faith in my sniff test, but it was one mark on the good side.  I put the cup to my lips and tipped it up.

Oh. Emm. Gee.  It was Gee double Oh Dee.

It tasted like coffee. And milk.  It was creamy and delicious.  It was a frozen (I added ice) cappuccino, people!  AND!  I would venture to guess that this wonderful beverage would be just as good warm.  And another thing — I could totally add different flavors to this to change it up.

The thing I know for sure is that this would be my new breakfast drink… if it wasn’t so pricey.  Maybe my treat of the week drink?

It’s pre-op testing time!

I got to the hospital on time…a bit early even… and did the upper GI (barium swallow) first.  It pretty much sucked, but the barium wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be taste wise.  The worst part was that they gave me the crystals that expand your belly when mixed with water then had me swallow the barium.  They took a few pictures standing then had me turn to face a table that lowered.  Picture it.  My stomach was distended from the crystals and they are laying me on it.  Good times.  Did I mention that they told me half a dozen times to “not burp”?  That was super easy.  Try drinking a can of diet soda and not burping for, like, 10 minutes.

Okay, so then I have to swallow more barium, but it’s different.  I don’t know how, but it is honestly different from the first. The tech even had me hold the bottles as she was mixing them to show the difference in weight.  Anyway, that was that.  I would have loved to see it on the screen that was 3 feet from my face, but they took my glasses so I was blind.  Bummer.

After the Upper GI, I was whisked over to have a chest x-ray done.  Nothing like trying to fit thick thighs into hospital pants/scrubs that were made for man thighs.  I was sexy, I tell ya.   Braless and pants falling down, I was able to finish the radiology portion of the day with a tiny speck of dignity left.

After this, I went to see Dr. Verseman, Gwen and Patti.  I cannot say how much I love this team.  They are an inspiration…Gwen with her 130+ pound weight loss through bariatric surgery and Patti with her 80 pound loss using diet and exercise and Dr. V who I just love.  I’m sure he’s going to do an amazing job.  I just hope I don’t let them down.

What do ya call a book, a dvd, a sharps container and some alcohol pads in a box? The Lovenox Box!  I got one.  I feel special.  I also learned the basics of giving myself *gasp* injections.  That’s scary.  I also got more info on the surgery, cost, pre and post op stuff and lots of well wishes and luck.  Have I mentioned how much I love Dr. V, Gwen and Patti?  If they ever read this, I want them to know that I fully intend on making it onto the Wall of Fame and I would love to see  before and after pictures of the entire team on my 10 day post op appointment.  Just sayin’.

Okay, so then I had to go get 6 or 7 vials of blood sucked from my body and an EKG.  The phlebotomist did both and was SUPER.  I didn’t even feel the needle poke.  I’m not afraid or anything, but I am not thrilled with those who poke around my arm for the vein that I told them they wouldn’t be able to get.  Seriously, the tape left a bigger bruise than the needle.

Last, I had an interview with a nurse.  She just had to get a full history, ALL of the meds I take on any kind of regular basis.  Have a headache about once a week and need a Tylenol?  She wants to know!

I arrived at 8:20AM and was in radiology by 8:35.  I was in Dr. V’s office by 9:15 and had one lag of about 20 minutes waiting for him to finish up with a group he was giving a seminar to.  I was back down to the lab at 11-ish and out the door at 11:52AM.  It was a fun filled day that puts me one step closer to surgery.  I am so ready for this.

Pre and post op diet.

I had my Group Bariatric Pre and Post op Diet Class yesterday.  It was pretty interesting.  Of course, the class was made up of about a dozen RNY’ers, one lap band’er and me — the lone VSG’er.  A lot of time (read: $$ as it was $33/every 15 minutes) answering RNY questions and going over the diets for RNY vs. LB/VSG.

ANYWAY, I have a two week pre-op liquid diet.  The first week will consist of 6-7 protein supplements per day and I *CAN* have one of four options for something to eat.  I can have a yogurt, one cup of strained cream soup, 1/2 cup cooked cereal (oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, etc.) or SF pudding made with skim milk.

Of course, I can have all the SF, under 5 calorie/serving drinks I want.

All in all, I don’t think that first week will be too bad.

The second week, though, could be painful.  I will have two Impact Advanced Recovery drinks along with one high protein drink and all the SF, under 5 calorie/serving drinks I want.

I’m skeered.

11 days and counting until I start the pre-op diet.

Post op is a slow progression.  I can have water as soon as Doc gives the okay.  When I can hold that without nausea/vomiting, I can go to clear liquids until day three when I will move on to full liquids.  At two weeks, I will progress to mushies/purees until one month post-op where I advance to soft foods.  At six weeks, I should be able to eat more normally.

Wish me luck!

Syntrax Nectar Roadside Lemonade

I got my big box ‘o Nectar at about 6:05PM this evening.  By 6:45PM, I’d decided to try the Roadside Lemonade.  I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, so again, I weighed out 13g of the powder and mixed with 8oz of water.

Before I go any further, let me state that this should NOT be mixed using the handy dandy Magic Bullet.  It makes it wayyyy too frothy and no amount of pouring it back and forth from one cup to another will take the froth away.

I took a sniff.  “Hmmm…self?  This doesn’t smell all that wonderful.”  I sip.  “Hmmmm…I expected more lemonade flavor, Self.”  I took another sip and remembered that a lot of people recommend mixing a lot of the Nectars with different Crystal Light flavors.  I didn’t have any CL, but I did have a Lemon Berry SF Hawaiian Punch packet.

The heavens opened, the sun was shining and I had found a mix that was pleasing to my palate!  Woot!

The recipe…1/2 scoop Syntrax Nectar Roadside Lemonade plus one single serve packet of SF Hawaiian Punch LemonBerry mixed with 2 cups water.  I would probably be just as, if not more, happy with a bit more water.

Chike Strawberry Burst Protein Drink

Chike Strawberry Burst Drink is quite possibly the best strawberry drink I’ve ever had. I’m not a fan of strawberry drinks, either. I don’t like strawberry ice cream (unless it’s the real deal with chunks of real strawberries) or milk. But this…this, I like. I mixed it up, added some ice and it was yummy. No clumps, no lumps, no grit.

Building Blocks Chewable Calcium (Orange)

Building Blocks Orange Chewable Calcium was palatable, but not great.  I have tried three brands of chewable calcium — this one comes in third.  The flavor was nice.  It wasn’t overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination.  What killed it was the grit factor.  I bit and it fell apart.  Into a mouthful of powder and grit.  Kind of like a mouthful of sand at  the beach.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 meaning that would eat the product as a meal instead of a supplement), I’d give it a 4.5.  Very mehhh.

Chike Orange Creme Protein Drink

I can sum Chike Orange Creme up in 2 words.  Melted. Dreamsicle.

Holy yumminess, Batman!  Just when I thought I would have to suffer through weeks of icky protein drinks, I found one that I love.  I had a sample of the stuff, but only made half since I fully expected to have to give the leftovers to hubs since he’s been sucking down the proteins I’ve found to be too gross to tolerate.

Oh, you want the deets?  K, so this stuff rocks.  I mixed it in the Magic Bullet…a little over 1/2 cup skim milk with 24g (yes, I weighed out exactly 24g) of powder.  It looked like it might be gritty so I did some extra shaking just to make sure I got it all in there.

I smelled it cautiously.

I put my lips to the rim of the cup.

I tipped it up.

My face went from crinkled in anticipation of my hatred to wide eyed and surprised.  I didn’t just like it.  I wanted to marry it.  It tasted delish!  I have it in the freezer right now getting all Orange Dreamsicle like.  Once it freezes a bit, I’m going to mix it up with the other half and that’s dinner, kids!

I. Can’t. Wait.

Building Blocks Mixed Berry Multi

Okay, so ya know how when you open a new bottle of multi vitamins, you get hit with the smell?  Yeah.  Building Blocks Mixed Berry Multivitamin was stink-a-licious.  Instead of my normal chewing, letting the vitamin coat my mouth, really tasting it, I chewed then swallowed.  Hey!  It was either that or spit the thing out.  I couldn’t handle the smell.

That being said, if this was the norm for all chewable multi’s, I’d suffer through every day.  I’d be a good girl, pull up my big girl panties and deal.