Izuri

I'm so glad that he reacted well. It's such encouragement when we have those we love behind us.

Woohoo! I gotta say this cause it was the first thought that popped into my head and I hope it doesn't sound doofy or something - but your bum is shrinking! That's the last place my body ever loses weight - and the first place I always want it to. You are lucky! You look great, a big difference for 3 weeks! Keep up the great work. Plus you look sooo much happier =D

Haha - gotta love it! =)

Yay!!!!! Now all that extra cash can go to something fun maybe =) Or into an account you can save for clothes/plastic surgery/whatever else sounds good post-op.

I'm 25 and told my immediate family and told them it was okay to tell people. My mom is very close with my grandmother, and my grandmother is a chatterbox. As soon as my mom told her, my entire family knew. Like one day after she told her, I was getting messages from my cousins about it. Everyone has been really supportive. I haven't heard/seen everyone in my extended family yet, but I have a feeling they will all be happy for me. The classmates I have told in school all seem really happy for me. I just told another one of them the other day and he said that he knew I had lost a lot but wasn't sure if he should say anything - but that he was really happy for me. That was nice to hear. The only person that hasn't seemed as supportive is one teacher. I hadn't originally planned on telling her, just wanted to make her aware that I am 7 weeks post op from a GI surgery and she asked what and I told her and it was hard to gauge her reaction since I don't really know her. Either way, now she knows in case of emergency, so whatever. Oh, now that I think about it one of my friends was very unsupportive pre-op. I told him that I was doing it for my health and I appreciated his input, but that I would still be going through with it. And post-op I can tell you for sure anyone who says it's the easy way out (I got that a couple times) has NO clue what it's like =p I think it's easier to let it get through the grapevine than tell everyone up front - that way they know and if it comes up it does and if not then it doesn't really matter. I'm glad I told people, because eventually they will notice anyway and this way I've already dealt with the question of how I lost it. If they don't like it or disagree, that's fine,

Preop: 325 Day of Surgery (July 26, 2012): 321 Today: 284.8 Total loss: 40.2 pounds (including pre-op few) FINALLY hit the 40 pound mark today - I was beginning to think I'd never see it! Have had two long stalls so far. We are all doing a great job! Congratulations everyone =)

Over the years all of the research I've read on metabolism has pointed to the idea that small meals more often are better for keeping your metabolism up. The longer between meals and the fewer you have, the more likely your body will think you're going into starvation mode. What did your NUT say about this? I am surprised too, my NUT told me they want me to get six small meals in a day (3 meals and 3 snacks) and that's been difficult for me. Usually I get 3 meals and 1 or 2 snacks. On school days I only get in my 3 meals. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about it, if you're losing and you feel good you might wanna stay on the same pace you have been. Or you could try his opinion for a while and see how it goes. Either way 101 pounds - you are kicking butt! Keep it up =)

Yay Justine! You made it through =) It sounds like it's been a rough recovery, but it's all downhill from here. It's hard to see the good now when you're in pain, but it is there. It gets better, and before you know it you're gonna be like 6 weeks out and saying how great you feel. Congratulations!

Life has been pretty busy lately. Between school and work and having issues, there hasn't been a lot of time that I've been posting on here. I think it's been detrimental to me, so I wanted to post more. To warn you, this is going to be a bit of a rant, because I like to get stuff off my chest. I am starting to realize that my body has a pattern - and I hate it. It only wants to lose weight while I'm on my period. Not good since I was hoping I could continue my birth control through and get rid of a few periods every year. I am not losing on weeks that I am not on my period - despite having whole days of bleeding when I'm not on my period. It's so freaking lame. I am eating the right things. I am getting out doing stuff in my life and yet the scale is going up again and then wobbling, just like it did the stupid last stall. Am I going to go through this three weeks out of every month and only have one loss week per month? I really hope not, it's super discouraging. I am not even losing inches now. I was like well maybe since a couple weeks ago I've lost some inches. Nope. Zip. Zero. None. All my clothes fit exactly the same. =((( Come on body! Give me a break here! I eat like 1/1000 of what I used to, can we get back to losing??

Oh wow! An hour, 1 min and 17 seconds? You rocked it!! That's really awesome =) I bet you are feeling great. Congratulations!

I'm not there yet, but congratulations!!!! I still am loving this new word - underhunder... can not wait to join you there!!

Pros: - Life long restriction if you treat your sleeve right - Less Vitamin deficiencies than RNY - No need to go back for fills, etc - Just regular post-op doctor visits - Less restrictions on the types of foods that you can eat - No intestinal rearrangement - Sleeve is made out a part of the stomach that does not stretch easily - Lower chance of dumping syndrome - Fundus cut out of stomach means that you have decreased ghrelin, or hunger hormone for approximately a year - If used correctly can yield similar results to RNY - No foreign body (aside from staples) in your body Cons: - General surgical risk: Blood clots, anesthesia, internal bleeding, incisional hernia - Sleeve specific risks: strictures, leaks, issues related to leaks (abcesses, repeat leaks, etc), dehydration - Possible side effects: Low Iron, low B12, period of hair loss, increased acid reflux, malnutrition, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea/constipation - It is possible to stretch the sleeve with repetitive overeating, but is not common - It is still possible to eat too many "slider" foods: i.e. popcorn, ice cream, chips, etc - Regain is still possible - as with most procedures - Increased chance of gallbladder problems (As with most WLS) After looking at all the procedures, I felt like the sleeve had the lower risk complications than others, along with fewer side effects, less long term vitamin deficiencies/malnutrition. I didn't like the idea of rearranging my intestinal tract. I didn't like the idea of having a foreign body (LapBand) in my body forever, along with the increasing posts of long term complications/regain after removal. Sleeve has worked out great for me. I hope you figure out what will work best for you.

Yay! I'm glad to hear that you broke your stall and are doing well. How did the jogging feel? My first couple times were just exhausting. I'm doing alright. Having kind of a bad couple days, but trying to hang in there. Hoping tomorrow will be better. I think my hormones are just making me bummed/stressed out today. Did anything seem to help break your stall? Or was it just time?

I had my six week appointment last week, which was when I was officially cleared to take tablets. I had been planning on starting the skin/hair/nails Vitamins for the Biotin and they're not all that big, smaller than most Multivitamins. Yesterday I tried breaking it in half, but it was hard to swallow because of the hard edges, and so today I tried the full pill, since I am finally allowed to. Boy, was it uncomfortable. It was hard to get myself to swallow it, which was weird because I've never had trouble swallowing pills and then it felt like it kept getting stuck in the middle of my esophagus as it was going down. Right now it feels like it's stuck somewhere around my sternum. I imagine I could maybe break these up smaller since they're fairly soft pills, but I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem or if anyone has any suggestions that helped them. Thanks!

I agree, I like this idea. I wish I knew any kind of website design, that would probably be pretty popular.

I started at 325, was 321 immediately pre-surgery on July 26th, and am now 288 =)

I am so glad to hear that you found another surgeon that you are working with now =) It sounds like this doctor's office is much more willing to work with you. Why is your insurance rejecting paying? Do they not cover bariatric surgery? I looked through the post, but couldn't find the reason. Is it something you could appeal? Since your new doctor's office seems more willing to work with you, maybe they'd be willing to help you appeal it.

It is really incredible to see how much it costs before insurance. Mine was about $36,500 submitted to insurance and they had a negotiated price of about $21,000. My copay was $250. What a difference.

I'm glad that you did your research before paying that much for it. That one sure is expensive. Did you try the other prescription ones that come in generics that are cheaper and usually covered? Omeprazole (Prilosec), Lansoprazole (Prevacid), and Pantoprazole (Protonix) are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Just trying to think of other things that might save you money =) I know there's Nexium too but that's only brand name still. I am kinda worrying that I might have to end up back on a PPI again too. I'm having a little bit of acid reflux on and off now that I'm off the prevacid.

I just switched to IM B12 injections. I had a hard time to remember daily tablets - for some reason my vitamin is easy to get in, but B12 not so much. It was much cheaper than the tablets. Between the liquid and the syringes it cost me maybe all of a dollar after insurance. I haven't been using it long enough to comment on the effects vs the tablets, but I'm hoping it's better.

Welcome to VST! Don't worry, between tests and scheduling pre-op, you still have plenty of time to think over your decision and be certain it's the right one for you. I agree with all your reasons though on sleeve vs band and they are a lot of the reason I chose sleeve over band too. I don't regret it at all - love my sleeve! As far as telling people - you don't have to if you don't want to. Give yourself time to weigh the pros and cons and it doesn't have to be all or none either. There are a lot of people on here who have only told their close family/friends, and many that have told everyone. I am in the group that is telling everyone. So far I haven't gotten too many negative reactions (At least, to my face =p) but even if I did, I'm happy and getting healthier. That's what matters to me, and if they can't be happy for me, then that sucks for them. Those who think it's the easy way out, have no idea what it's really like. It's still a lot of work.

I'm sorry to hear your daughter's ill. I hope she has a swift recovery! October will be here before you know it =)

The only reason this annoys me is because sometimes I can't always tell if the person really knows the difference between the two. For most people it's just an interchanging of words and I know that they mean what the same thing to them, but especially when it's someone asking for advice about one surgery vs another it can be hard to know exactly what they do and don't know about the surgery. I feel like the differences between a pouch (stoma, made of a different portion of the stomach) vs a sleeve (intact sphincter) are actually quite big. This even came up with the dietitian and a nurse while I was post-op. They called it a pouch and curious to see if they realized I actually had a sleeve I corrected them and they said oh, well the post-op directions are pretty much the same. Not the same - my dietitian - who I don't really like - had given me different directions (RNY instead of VSG) than my surgeon wanted, thank goodness he actually corrected her when we talked after. She said 2 weeks soft food..he wanted 3 months. Not trying to be a pain about it, but I like the clarity of calling it a sleeve because I would like everyone to understand what our anatomy is and isn't, especially someone who is treating me medically. If I was certain all my health professionals understood what I had and all the new people and everyone reading knew the differences and which we have, it wouldn't be as annoying. I'm rereading that paragraph and I'm hoping it doesn't come off as nitpicky/self righteous? lol Ahh screw it. I'm gonna post it anyway. OP - I think everyone has really good points. If you are eating your dense Protein first you should feel more restriction. It does sound like a lot of food though. I am a little over 6 weeks out and can only get down about an egg. Every once in a while my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I cook two and then regret it because I end up throwing half away. Does your surgeon think that your sleeve looks bigger than most he does? Are you losing weight? What did he say when you told him you had a one time shot? Did he seem willing to work with you at all or anything? Especially in your second post it sounds like it's either too big or something is up. That is really a lot of food. I hope that they have more answers at the appointment for your upper GI. Let us know what they end up saying.

I'm kinda confused. What do you mean they categorized you? Like, they diagnosed you and it's in your chart now? I'm not sure why she'd call to inform you of that instead of just having told you at the physical, but I'm also not sure why it's insulting. I've got a diagnosis code of morbidly obese on my file, I'm sure. Because I am right now =p Someday that diagnosis will be off my record, but that day is not today. Just one more NSV I get to list when I get there I guess. Technically by BMI charts you are obese if your BMI is 42.6. Keep your head up though - this is the beginning - you're getting a chance to make a change in that =)

I'm a bit over 6 weeks out and my recovery was good. If I push myself my side hurts, but as long as I stay within my body's limits I feel good. Still have some issues with low energy. Surgeon says it will probably be about the 3 month point where I see a marked increase in my energy. I took 4 weeks off work (I'm a pharmacy technician) and I'm glad that I took that long. Toward the end of week 3/4 I was getting very bored at home, I probably could have gone back the beginning of week 3 if I absolutely needed to. At work I have to bend over a lot to get meds from low shelves and even once in a while now it is sore when I go too quick - so 4 weeks was a good call from that standpoint. I would get sleeved again 100% no doubt about it. It has been a great experience. I'm 38 pounds down (including 10 pre-op) and I feel much healthier.