Rootman

Looks like mother and daughter Congrats!

Perhaps it's the balloon? A balloon type device is passed into the stomach and inflated to take up room.

Well at the risk of sounding like a sad sack if ANYONE has piss poor luck it's ME. I never win at anything and if something can go wrong, even with the simplest of tasks, it'll go wrong for me. I tempted fate and went to Mexico for surgery after determining I did NOT want to wait for all the crap insurance makes you go through pre-op. I went to MX, came through it fine and have had tremendous success with the VSG. Beside a few bouts of kidney stones due to dehydration I've not had any issues worth speaking of. I've had 3 sets of full blood work labs and the last 2 were stellar - dang near perfect and INCREDIBLY good for a man in his 50's. Now, having said that, YES there IS a chance something will go wrong. Let's not kid ourselves a VSG is MAJOR surgery and can lead to some dire complications. Chances are it will NOT but there is still chances it WILL. Only YOU can weigh the pros and cons of surgery VS remaining morbidly obese and determine if the risk is worth it. Do your homework, ask a lot of questions and make up your OWN mind. Don't let ANYONE, a surgeon or VST member talk you into ANYTHING, make up your OWN MIND. We all wish you the best!

I did exactly that, once I made the decision and determined I did NOT want to wait for insurance I pursued it on my own and got surgery in Mexico. I waited a few months post-op and went in to the doctor and explained I did something without his knowing it, he was very understanding and supportive and said he would have recommend WLS to me had I asked - but like many fat people I was sensitive about my weight and would not address it. He did a thorough lab workup and adjusted my Vitamin intake as needed. He understood about not wanting to wait on insurance and even took the information down to tell other people who may want WLS but either didn't have insurance or like me, didn't want to wait and jump through all the hoops insurance would make me jump through. He's been very supportive and proud of my accomplishment. He even suggested I go back for a tummy tuck after seeing what little sag I have. He even suggested I go back to the same place in Mex. for it! I will probably NOT do it but it's nice to see him supportive of me and how I look. He is consistently amazed at my outcome and my nearly PERFECT labs, he is even jealous of my cholesterol - it's lower than his!

Yeah the burping is not that uncommon and just to set the record straight you are NOT burping up the "gas" that they inflate your abdomen up with during surgery. What little is left inside you is dissolved into the blood within hours of the surgery. What you are burping up is genuine intestinal / stomach gases. Your poor stomach just got cut in (less than) half and is internally swelling, ANY gas is too much and makes you burp it up because of the discomfort. GasX strips / lozenges help but the true remedy is just time, the stomach swelling goes down and makes more room and becomes more tolerant of the small about of gas we all get. Stick it out, it's uncomfortable but it will pass.

Follow your doctors or nutritionist outline for post-op diet. Most people are eating fairly firm full foods in 6 weeks post-op. It's typically 2 weeks liquid, 2 weeks mushy and 2 weeks soft.

Yes, the shakes with little solids or Fiber can turn your stools dark. It can also indicates dehydration and / or constipation especially if they are very, very firm and difficult to push. Perhaps you should consider something like Miralax. It appears normally but if you are concerned you should ask the doctor.

NO, it IS part of a duodenal switch though, an RNY the TOP of the stomach is cut off, formed into a puch and a portion of the small intestine is bypassed and connected to the bottom of the pouch, the stomach is set aside and and the stub of the small intestine is rejoined back into the small inestine.

Just an FYI: Hair loss is common with ANY WLS to some extent, the faster the weight loss means the less calories and minerals etc. consumed and the more likely you are to lose hair.

Well I didn't want to throw in another scary "my relative had a bypass and . . ." post with my statement above but since others have chimed in . . . My brother had a RNY and has had several bouts of malnutrition and Vitamin deficiency. He has to take FOUR daily Vitamins in order to get enough vitamins to adsorb. He also has labs done every 6 months to make sure he is getting enough and has to adjust accordingly. His current issue is with Calcium, he was starting to have back pain again (the previous pain disappeared like mine did after weight loss) and found out he was starting to get osteoporosis. He has a long list of stuff that doesn't agree with him and makes him dump. He also gets anemic very quickly partly due to lack of red meat in his diet - meat makes him dump - he takes Iron supplements, calcium supplements multi multi vitamins a day and has to adjust his intake by what the labs reveal. He also had some supposed stomach pain and had to go to a specialist that scoped him by going down his esophagus, though the pouch and into the small intestine, do a U turn and back UP into his stomach - a hairy and expensive process - nothing was wrong that they could see BTW. So far I have NONE of those issues. I can eat anything I want but just don't want much. My last labs at my yearly physical were all spot on. I take a multi Vitamin A day and iron pills every other day. I am wavering on the calcium supplements as I worry about excessive calcium leading to calcium plaque in my heart - just had a cardiac calcium test and it showed some blockage in the rear descending left artery of the heart, something not all that uncommon in a man in his 50's. So again, do your homework and make up your own mind.

Well, being that you are on a SLEEVE forum the overwhelming response will be for the sleeve. I lost 170 pounds in about a year and am doing fine. I choose the sleeve becasue it was permanant - unlike the band - and did not involve cutting my digestive tract in two twice, which is what is done in an RNY. You COULD always get a bypass if the sleeve fails but are stuck with an RNY if you later develope issues.

I too look YOUNGER by far.

Congrats! I used to hate those "one size fits none" items like that - now I don't for the same reason as yours.

VERY VERY BAD, and can be DEADLY. You must FORCE yourself to drink or go to the doctor and get an IV if you must. Watching your urine color is the easiest way to tell, anything more than just slightly tinged yellow and you are dehydrated. If you are NOT urinating at all be sure to drink until you HAVE to urinate before laying down to sleep. You can die from being dehydrated and just like having a concusion you should not sleep until you are rehydrated.

Be sure to stay hydrated, I did not and developed kidney stones - 3 times - OUCH! Keep sipping and the moment you notice your urine getting more than SLIGHTLY tinged yellow drink some more. Also, BE PATIENT the weight WILL come off.

92% here. Started out 375 plus - I refused to step on the scale for the last few months so I imagine it was more as my clothes were getting real, real tight. I now weight 204. This figure is based on a target weight of 190 - which is the top end of my BMI. 185 pounds should of been lost, 171 pounds actually lost 171/185 = 92.4 I will never bust through the 200 pound mark unless I take drastic steps in my diet. I already work out 4 to 6 hours a week and eat very little. I LOOK like I weigh less, I've always been blessed that way but it would be nice to dip below 200 for once in my adult life.

Well guys and gals, this is my last post in this sub-forum, we sold the bike last night I'm sorry to see it go but glad at the money I'll be saving and the time I can be exercising and working on other stuff. Bye guys!

Yeah, the key is to EAT NORMALLY for once in our life, that is with portions that they had mid last century. Can you believe that McDonals started out selling those little bitty hamburgers as their full menu item, you know the ones that go by the simple name of HAMBURGER for like $.99 or less. That was IT back then, that and a small sleeve of fires, hardly equal to a kiddy meal today. We can eat anything that we want, but it's best to eat wisely, concentrate on Protein first, then carbs stay at or under or caloric needs and like Webchickadee said, indulge a LITTLE - VERY LITTLE - once in a while.

I too struggled with this but my change came over a year ago after the tornado ripped up Joplin. We went through our closet and donated HUNDREDS of items of clothing. I learned afterwards that probably little of it actually went to Joplin as they were overwhelmed and took donations of NEW items first, but none the less it got 'em out of my closet and into some other fatties closet (shame on me for saying that:) )

Yep, what SOS said above. You'll notice at a few months out it's easier, 6 months out a lot easier and a year no effort at all, I just watch how much I eat as I can get sick from eating too much too fast. I am no longer craving stuff constantly and gorging myself, most of my food driven hunger is gone.

I echo what the others say. Short answer is YES you can have bread, long answer is YES - but be careful. Bread as pointed out is a filling cheap high carb food. And it's largely bread and carbs are what got us into this mess in the first place. I disagree with the TOTALLY NO BREAD "rule" and say "all things in moderation". I eat bread occasionally. If I eat a sandwich I typically eat ONE piece of bread and fold it over to make a half sandwich. I will eat two whole pieces for a toasted cheese sandwich, one piece for an egg-in-the-basket. Most time I skip all buns but a few weeks ago we stopped at a burger joint and they had pretty small Jr. size burgers with smallish bun, one burger each and an order of fries between us and I was full up.

Yes, I whole heartedly agree. I went through EXACTLY the same surgery at the same place as your mom Be sure you know what you're getting in to. I had a LOT of reflux too and got an a PPI - Omiprozol which is generic Prilosec and it cleared up fine. I also ate a few crackers morning and afternoon to soak up excess acid. Mine cleared up totally and I now have no issues. It is not that uncommon for ANY sleever, the stomach is internally swollen for quite some time and makes the acid that the few proton pumps that are left overwhelm the small area. The swelling goes down and the room vs. acid ratio improves. This is one thing that people need to be aware of pre-surgery. Not only do you have no legal recourse if things go wrong you often are abandoned by your insurance without coverage for something that may or may not be directly related to your surgery. I've heard horror stories of people getting denied coverage for stuff like sinus issues or throat problems that happen to occur post op. The insurance company says the surgery caused it and it was NOT COVERED. It's a risk I took and have not had major issues. We all wish your mom the best and hope she gets things straightened around quickly.

I agree, this is NOT normal for ANYONE, sleeved or unsleeved. Someone vomiting in the night when you aren't even eating is just not normal. Something else is going on here, either she has something drastically wrong due to the sleeve, or, dare I say, causes this reaction herself somehow. I'm out over 1.5 years and have puked 3 or 4 times total, twice I think to getting a stomach bug and twice by eating too much too fast - my own dang fault.

Obese woman has so much fat that it catches crematorium on fire! http://gizmodo.com/5915905/dead-obese-woman-carried-so-much-fat-she-set-crematorium-on-fire

Welcome and we all wish you the best in your new adventure. While Sammy's terse negative comment has value please remember that for an OVERWHELMING majority of sleevers the surgery is VERY successful. Keeping that in mind do NOT approach it without concern, bad things CAN and DO occur, then again balance those possibilities with the risk of remaining morbidly obese for the rest of your life. Study it out, ask questions and seek out all the information THEN make up YOUR decision to do it or not. It worked for me.