Foxbins

I had my surgery on January 13 by Dr. Aceves. I am 5'8" and started at 232 lbs and I am 56 years old. I had been a yo-yo dieter for as long as I can remember and recall my mother telling me in third grade that if I didn't stop eating so much we would have to shop in the "Chubby Girls" section of the stores. You can imagine what that did for a 9 year-old's self-esteem. Anyway, I bounced up and down between size 10-14 in my 20's and 30's. I was diagnosed with MS when I was 28 and sometimes it was difficult to find the energy to exercise, but I love to run and tried to do as much as I could when I was in remission. Divorce, a long MS relapse, and menopause led to a gain of 60 lbs over and above the pounds that crept on quietly. I initially thought I wanted the Band, but did a little investigating and discovered the complication rates. I came across a description of the sleeve and knew it was for me--why did I need a huge stomach that clamored to be constantly filled when I could have a tiny dwarf stomach? Now it is six months later and I am 61 lbs. lighter. This has been the easiest weight loss I have ever achieved. I eat what I like, which is Protein. I seem to have lost my taste for sweets, as on the few times I have tried them they have not tasted good and I threw them away after one bite. I have never been a fan of vegetables but I love fruit and incorporate it into my diet while keeping track of the carbs. I originally set my goal to lose 82 lbs, which would put me squarely in the middle of a "normal" BMI, but honestly, this weight loss is pretty easy so I may just keep going down to the 140's, where I have not been for 25 years and which would put me at the lower end of normal. We will see.

I have found that B12 dissolves quickly or slowly according to the brand. I had one kind that took about a minute to completely disappear but my present one takes quite a long time--not ten minutes, but about five. I take mine 3x week--my NUT said every other day but it's just easier to remember M, W, F.

If you look in the "Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgeons and Hospitals" forum, you will find loads of info about surgeons in Mexico.

We had surgery three days apart! I kept a pair of "fat pants" that I put on every now and then. I am hoping that one day I will fit into just one leg, but for now they fall off me when I zip and button them. i weigh every day but only graph the change weekly, so I have a chart with a steady downward trend. I had my "pity party" early on when I realized I was not going to lose 75 lbs in three months. Now it looks like I'll be at goal by month 9 and that's fine with me.

Miralax for the bathroom problem and make sure you are drinking enough water. If this is your first "not losing" week, welcome to the "Your body is adjusting to losing 30 lbs in five weeks" plateau. Don't worry, keep to your plan, and you will continue losing. The plateau happens to everyone, just some people have longer ones than others. You will be fine.

My surgeon says 600-800 calories during the losing stage and at least 60 gms of Protein, but I could not fit all that in until about 8 weeks out. I am low-carbing of my own volition, so no more than 30 carbs/day for me, although I read here about people losing just fine eating carbs. I count all carbs, simple, complex, fiber, sugar alcohols, all of them. I am naturally a meat-lover, was before surgery and I am now, so low-carb is easy for me. My first month I lost 22 lbs. I think you're doing fine.

My doctor puts everyone on an acid blocker for 3 mos post-op. I tried to stop at the three-month mark but acid woke me up at night so I started taking it again. I'll try to get off again at six months. He or she should have told you that it might happen, it's very common after this surgery.

You are gorgeous! So nice that weight loss has helped you discover your hidden strengths!

I was not a revision but I can say that my recovery was uneventful and I am really pleased with my weight loss. They really know their stuff there and the hospital was nice.

You know what you need to do so I will just try to give you encouragement and a pep talk. You are making bad choices, yes, and you are not measuring your food and undereating your sleeve, but you ARE still in control of what you buy, put in your mouth, move your body. I have seen people with a couple hundred pounds to lose keep at it and they continue to lose 18-24 months after surgery. You can do it, too. Take the steps you need to take and get back on track. Log the food and Water, up the dense Protein, jettison the junk food. We can get to goal together!

Yup, head hunger. When I was sick of bland stuff, I went for spicy. I put Thai chili sauce on seafood, chicken, fish, and taco seasoning in eggs, chicken salad, and ground turkey. I ate a lot of Wendy's chili for a while with added spices. I ate Vietnamese noodle soup (pho) whizzed in the blender. For purees, try white beans blended with pesto sauce or black beans with taco seasoning. The chips craving are because there's no texture to your food. When you are on solids, try one or two pork rinds. Great crunch and not very many calories.

He doesn't like the sleeve but is still doing the Band?? I wonder about his research skills...the band has terrible stats for complications, regain, and weight loss compared to the sleeve, RNY, and DS.

I found this abstract of a German study published this Feb. Basically, the way I am reading it it says that sleeve size doubles (approximately) by about six months after surgery. This corresponds to the reports of people here on the forum that they can eat more six months after surgery. Please note that 196 ml (the mean stomach size after six months) is a bit bigger than 3/4 cup. If there is a CA doctor with 5 years of data, it's likely to be Jossart or Cirangle. I cannot find anything new on their website but someone else may come across the published article in a journal somewhere. Three-dimensional stomach analysis with computed tomography after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: sleeve dilation and thoracic migration. Baumann T, Grueneberger J, Pache G, Kuesters S, Marjanovic G, Kulemann B, Holzner P, Karcz-Socha I, Suesslin D, Hopt UT, Langer M, Karcz WK. Source Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hugstetter Straße 55, 79106, Freiburg, Germany, tobias.baumann@uniklinik-freiburg.de. Abstract BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is frequently performed as a definitive bariatric procedure today. Quantitative data on the detailed anatomy of the stomach after LSG are yet sparse. METHODS: Thirty-two multislice computed tomography (MSCT) data sets acquired in 27 LSG patients (22 female, 5 male) with a dedicated examination protocol and post-processing were evaluated for gastric volume, stomach length, sleeve length, antrum length, staple line length, and maximum cross-sectional sleeve area. Obtained parameters were compared to time after surgery, weight loss, and the occurrence of postsurgical regurgitation. RESULTS: Mean gastric volume was 186.5 ± 88.4 ml. Gastric volume correlated significantly with the time interval after surgery. Sleeve sizes of 105.3 ± 30.2 ml during early follow-up confirmed correct primary sizing of the sleeve, whereas marked dilation to 196.8 ± 84.3 ml was found in patients with a follow-up of 6 months and longer (p = 0.038). Sleeve area and staple line length were also positively correlated with time after surgery. No correlation was found between gastric volume and excess weight loss. In ten patients an intrathoracic migration of the staple line could be noted, with four of these patients developing persistent regurgitation after LSG. Regurgitation was present in only 2 of 17 patients without sleeve herniation. CONCLUSION: Multislice computed tomography allows for a comprehensive and quantitative evaluation of the anatomy after LSG and thus provides new insights in the process of sleeve dilation. Intrathoracic migration of the staple line could be identified as a possible cause of persistent regurgitation.

I had a margarita 12 hours before my surgery (doc said I could) and i'm fine. I don't think you need to worry.

I don't know about game systems, but I thought you should know that my TV was stuck up high on one wall with one of those hotel mounts. I'm not sure you could get the cords hooked up. Maybe bring the DS instead?

The drain isn't at the port site, it's in your stomach area. They want to check the drainage for bleeding or infection. The port site hematoma that was discussed sounded like a rather rare occurrance.

Some people have better luck with different PPIs than others. If omeprazole worked for you in the past, ditch the dissolvable Prevacid and go back to Prilosec. Those pills are pretty tiny and you should be able to swallow them at 2 1/2 weeks. If that doesn't work, you might have to double the dose for a little while or add an H2 blocker like Zantac or Pepcid.

What are you eating for your other meals? Often, I just eat whatever sounds good to me, not necessarily "breakfast food." This morning I had sauteed shrimp. Yesterday I had chicken salad. Just eat what you like that is high protein.

If you are crazy, they can tell. I don't mean quirky, or eccentric, or idiosyncratic, but crazy, psychotic, demented, or developmentally disabled. The sorts of people who really and truly cannot consent to surgery because they are not thinking clearly enough. Otherwise, you are pretty much fine. If you have serious issues, you may be asked to see a therapist for a while, but truly crazy (and there are some) is pretty easy to tell. The psych eval is to see whether you have an uncontrolled mental illness, the capacity to understand and consent to a surgical procedure, and an idea of what thoughts and behaviors contributed to your obesity and what you might do differently in the future.

When I was fat, people perceived me as "not fun" and older than I am. Maybe because I look now like I can physically do anything they can, I get invited to do more active things (I was active when I was fat, I just ran and swam by myself). By being one of the group, now I am "fun" and interesting to talk to. Before, no one bothered to talk to see if I was interesting. I'm also perceived as being younger! It's been a curious experience.

food is fuel. It's not love, it's not comfort, it's not an expression of emotion anymore. It's just what your body needs to function.

This link refers to a plastic surgeon who doesn't do VSGs. The patient got a serious infection but did not die, as far as I can tell from the article. It has nothing to do with Dr. Kelly or Dr. Almanza.

I'm with Rootman on this. The guy's not doing sleeves, so how is this related to us here on the forum?

I am a 56 year-old woman and I have hypothyroidism. I don't think my weight loss has been slower because of it. In the January sleever update posts, most of us have lost between 50-60 lbs. I think two factors which have the most impact are your age (younger loses faster) and your starting weight (bigger posts bigger numbers, but the percentage lost is about the same.) Don't let hypothyroidism stop you from getting a sleeve.

I am wondering if you were dehydrated when you arrived at the club. That plus a couple drinks might hit you pretty hard. Glad to hear you're feeling better.