About a decade or so ago, When I was an active RN, my unit was chosen to be a pilot for initiating the TOYOTA system to nursing. It is now more commonly referred to "just in time" inventory control. I was on the committee to help roll out the plan and get feedback from the other nurses. The representative for this change wanted to calculate materials used in dressing changes. Right down to the inches of tape used. I thought this was very humorous because at that time I had over 30 years of nursing and one thing was very plain to me. Nurses were very defensive about how they changed a dressing and even how many 4x4 gauze's they used. Inches of tape? Preposterous! He felt a dressing change was a technical task that could be broken down into a specific list. He was not happy with my response that when it came to changing dressings, it can be an art, not a task. There are a lot of factors to consider and even on the best day..... Nurses do things the same but differently. After some time and collection of data....he finally agreed to take some variable factors in consideration and an average of high use materials and low use materials and get an average for a particular dressing.

Why this story? Well I have been reading blogs and posts. One thing that stands out is we are all doing the same things ..... differently.

Beginning with the pre-op phase. Some of us are required to lose weight others are not. Some have pre-op liquid diets again, others don't. Either way.... the surgery gets done. Which is our goal.

Post op is changing also. Some have a drain and need the barium swallow while others get a leak test while still in surgery and don't need the swallow.
Even the drain is not always present.

The post surgical treatment seems to be slightly different also. While my surgeon forbid ice chips and hot foods, others are encouraged to take ice chips. One thins for certain is we go through a phase of food toleration change. Tastes change. Some foods that were enjoyable are barely palatable any more. It is as if someone took a deck of cards and tossed them in the air. Finding out what we can enjoy eating is like picking those cards back up and re-sorting them.

I am amazed at the success stories on this site. I am so glad that on on of my internet sojourns I fell onto the site. I can't even retrace my web hops that got me here in the first place but this site is invaluable to anyone considering bariatric surgery and definitely for the post -op person. The individual journeys to goal weight are inspiring. I find the honesty of those who have drifted and returned to be the most inspiring because I find that it is human nature to test the limits of anything. Can I eat that food again without repercussions ? It may not be the indulgence of a single serving of a food but the return of a bad eating behavior.

So here we are post op, a month, a year, longer ... facing our demons. Again... facing them them the same but dealing with them differently.

I hope all the folks who dropped in over the years and became hit and runs did well in their personal journeys. Perhaps like me they fell onto the site but without a book mark could not find their way back. I wish them well.

For those of us who have stayed (and i have not been here very long) the sharing of the differences is another in a series of tools to stay on target. We have received, or are trying to obtain, the biggest tool in weight loss. Surgery. I have seen successes and have personally seen failures. I will take any support, any advice, anyone's little "trick" to keep me on track. The more information the better.

So in closing I want to thank each and everyone out there who has posted anything. There is strength in numbers. There is greater strength to struggle together at the same task and succeed. There is no shame in falling down when you have help in standing back up and to continue the struggle.

Thank you all for making a huge difference in my journey.