COsleeveDude

My doctor only uses one size, makes sense to me. He can't control the length of the stomach, but he can consistently control how close he staples by using one consistent size of bougie.
It wouldn't make sense to me to, say, measure the length of individual stomachs and then adjust the "horizontal" size to accommodate. You can only take something so big through an opening no matter how long the stomach is.

There are a whole host of things that happen after surgery. It can take weeks for anesthesia to get out of your system, for example.
If you combine the anesthesia with changes in hormones, decreases in blood pressure, better blood flow, changes in blood sugar, etc., it's not surprising that vision could change some.

hCG is a scam. There's no peer-reviewed legit mainstream human scientific evidence to support its efficacy. It's a placebo at best, and dangerous at worst. You will lose weight if you basically quit eating:

For comparison, hCG diets typically recommend calorie intake approximately half that of the inmates at Auschwitz , where inmates engaged in heavy labor received 1,700 calories per day and those on light work 1,300. [29]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin#The_.22HCG_diet.22

Human flesh..but, you know, only in a pinch.

If you can fall out of love, you can fall in love again.
My guess is most of us will face challenges again down the road. It took me several tries in my 20s of trying to quit smoking to finally be fully successful and kick it forever.
I don't think success is impossible, I think PERFECTION is impossible. And when we think perfection is the goal then we risk ruining the whole thing over a few mistakes. If we get used to making and managing imperfect decisions as part of the path to success, that one bump wont be a sinkhole.
But, just my opine. We should all check back in 2-3 years and see who is wrong. And then make them cry.

Seems there are a lot of opinions on this subject. I worry about people wasting money on things that don't work and non-permanent solutions. Reminds me of scams like breast and penis enlargement pills, preying on the desperate.
The skin is an organ; it can stretch, grow, shrink and heal. All of that takes time, and nothing goes back to the way it was after it stretches out enough.
Can anyone actually cite any real, scientific studies that show anything works beyond surgery?
My guess is you're better off staying moisturized and working out, and saving those dollars you might spend on other products for surgery down the road if you so desire.

Seems there are a lot of opinions on this subject. I worry about people wasting money on things that don't work and non-permanent solutions. Reminds me of scams like breast and penis enlargement pills, preying on the desperate.
The skin is an organ; it can stretch, grow, shrink and heal. All of that takes time, and nothing goes back to the way it was after it stretches out enough.
Can anyone actually cite any real, scientific studies that show anything works beyond surgery?
My guess is you're better off staying moisturized and working out, and saving those dollars you might spend on other products for surgery down the road if you so desire.

You can deduct medical expenses, but only if they meet the IRS guidelines and exceed a certain percentage of your income: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502.html:
Topic 502 - Medical and Dental Expenses
If, for a taxable year, you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. You may deduct only the amount by which your total medical care expenses for the year exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. For years beginning after December 31, 2012, you may deduct only the amount by which your total medical expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. You figure the amount you are allowed to deduct on Form 1040, Schedule A.
IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, contains additional information on medical expenses including who will qualify as your dependent for purposes of the deduction and how you figure and report the deduction on your return.
Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or payments for treatments affecting any structure or function of the body.
Medical care expenses include the insurance premiums you paid for policies that cover medical care or for a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering qualified long-term care services. If you are an employee, medical expenses do not include that portion of your premiums paid by your employer under its sponsored group accident or health policy or qualified long-term care insurance policy. Further, medical expenses do not include the premiums that you paid under your employer-sponsored policy under a premium conversion policy; for example, a federal employee, participating in the premium conversion program of the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, may not include the premiums paid for the policy as a medical expense.
If you are self-employed and have a net profit for the year, you may be able to deduct (as an adjustment to income) the premiums you paid on a health insurance policy covering medical care including a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering medical care including a qualified long-term care insurance policy for yourself and your spouse and dependents. You cannot take this deduction for any month in which you were eligible to participate in any subsidized health plan maintained by your employer, your former employer, your spouse's employer, or your former spouse's employer. If you do not claim 100% of you self-employed health insurance deduction, you can include the remaining premiums with your other medical expenses as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A. You may not deduct insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in Box 1 of your Form W-2.
Deductible medical expenses may include but are not limited to:
Payments of fees to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nontraditional medical practitioners
Payments for in-patient hospital care or nursing home services, including the cost of meals and lodging charged by the hospital or nursing home
Payments for acupuncture treatments or inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction, for participation in a smoking-cessation program and for drugs to alleviate nicotine withdrawal that require a prescription
Payments to participate in a weight-loss program for a specific disease or diseases, including obesity, diagnosed by a physician but not ordinarily, payments for diet food items or the payment of health club dues
Payments for insulin and payments for drugs that require a prescription
Payments for admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to a chronic disease that you, your spouse, or your dependents have (if the costs are primarily for and essential to medical care necessitated medical care). However, you may not deduct the costs for meals and lodging while attending the medical conference
Payments for false teeth, reading or prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and for guide dogs for the blind or deaf
Payments for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses, such as, payments of the actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance or for medical transportation by personal car, the amount of your actual out-of-pocket expenses such as for gas and oil, or the amount of the standard mileage rate for medical expenses, plus the cost of tolls and parking fees

You may not deduct funeral or burial expenses, over-the-counter medicines, toothpaste, toiletries, cosmetics, a trip or program for the general improvement of your health, or most cosmetic surgery. You may not deduct amounts paid for nicotine gum and nicotine Patches, which do not require a prescription
You can only include the medical expenses you paid during the year. Your total deductible medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement of deductible medical expenses. It makes no difference if you receive the reimbursement or if it is paid directly to the doctor, hospital, or other medical provider.
See Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, for additional information. IRS Publications may be downloaded from the IRS.gov website, www.irs.gov, or ordered by calling 800–829–3676.

Interesting, but unfortunately it's BIA? We used professional Tantia scales at facility I work out at and they tend to be not very accurate. Fluid balance is a big issue with BIA readings in general and unfortunately still effects even expensive versions of these scales. I would be curious to know if these are any differenace(perhaps better body composition equation thus better readings).
- http://www.tanita.co...ssional-scales/

This afternoon was wonderful. nothing has been going on since Aug. I finally gave in, so happy I did. Bomb.com lol.

Smooth.

Same here, I have Kaiser Colorado and they didn't use one.
I would suggest you request they don't use one. They can always put one in later if you are having trouble. I asked them not to use one before they told me they don't usually do them for that surgery because of the short duration.
And I was definitely having some trouble squeezing it out at the same rate as before surgery, but I had plenty of time on my hands and good reasons to not mind getting up quite a bit if I needed to.
Good luck.

My surgery was done at Kaiser and my surgeon told me they wouldn't use one unless I was having trouble urinating after surgery. Needless to say, I was up within an hour of surgery and headed to the bathroom.

I was also told to bring my CPAP to the hospital and there it sat, never used my entire stay. You should do what they instruct you to do but it may wind up just being one more thing to carry to/from the hospital:(

I live in the country too. I have found that hiking shoes are the best on gravel roads. You don't need big heavy hiking boots, but something that is kinda medium duty. They tend to have stiffer, thicker soles for walking on rocks If your roads are anything like these around here, regular walking or running shoes aren't gonna cut it. If you're light on your feet, you might be able to get by with trail running shoes.

So I am 15 months post-op.....
Just thought I would share my experiences and what life is like for me as a sleever in maintenance. I made my weight loss goal ( a very modest goal in fact...) at about 8 months out. So I have maintained my weight loss with ease for the last 7 months. I chose a higher goal than many sleevers for several reasons....
1.) easier to maintain
2.) no lose skin. That's right people, I have no lose skin, my butt is still round and the girls are still perky!
3.) I am normal, curvy healthy and average. That's all I ever wanted!
4.) I wear normal sizes. I am in a 12 and as a nurse I wear medium scrub tops and large bottoms. I LOVE BEING NORMAL. (preop I was in 2x and 24s)
I don't really care that my BMI is not "normal" it never will be, I am happy and healthy. My surgeon and primary agree I am in a great spot.
So what do I eat? a typical day is about 2000 calories. I was eating 1400 a day for weight loss.... I got up to 1000 cals as soon as I could post op so I wouldn't tank my metabolism. I don't eat low fat anything, I don't drink diet anything, no sugar free toxic crap. I eat small and healthy amounts everything. I have a vanilla latte everyday.I eat cheese at least twice a day. I eat lots of fruit and veggies and of course Protein. I go out to eat, have dessert a few times per week. I eat like a healthy, normal person.
I still have started a real workout routine at the gym... I have a fairly physical job as a nurse and I take the dog for walks all the time, I plan to workout at the gym this winter for health purposes.
All in all my point is.... I am so happy I was sleeved!!
below is a before and after.....:-)

Seems there are a lot of opinions on this subject. I worry about people wasting money on things that don't work and non-permanent solutions. Reminds me of scams like breast and penis enlargement pills, preying on the desperate.
The skin is an organ; it can stretch, grow, shrink and heal. All of that takes time, and nothing goes back to the way it was after it stretches out enough.
Can anyone actually cite any real, scientific studies that show anything works beyond surgery?
My guess is you're better off staying moisturized and working out, and saving those dollars you might spend on other products for surgery down the road if you so desire.

Seems there are a lot of opinions on this subject. I worry about people wasting money on things that don't work and non-permanent solutions. Reminds me of scams like breast and penis enlargement pills, preying on the desperate.
The skin is an organ; it can stretch, grow, shrink and heal. All of that takes time, and nothing goes back to the way it was after it stretches out enough.
Can anyone actually cite any real, scientific studies that show anything works beyond surgery?
My guess is you're better off staying moisturized and working out, and saving those dollars you might spend on other products for surgery down the road if you so desire.

Admin!

Do I get a free bottle of snake oil if I buy a wrap?

I asked if you're making money selling people this stuff, and you won't answer the question. Recommending a product is one thing, soliciting without disclosing your interests is another.
I told you I will leave you alone when you answer the question. Answer it so it's on the record. It's not that difficult.

Oh yea! I'm almost 5 weeks postop and I have been indulging in the SwissMiss Diet hot chocolate made with water-I add a little squirt of whip topping spray to the top and it is awesome!!
Only 25 calories and tastes like the real deal.

Smooth.

I can't answer #1. I had hesitation about RNY, but once I learned about VSG and knew it was covered I was decided.

I haven't regretted it once. Everyone has some slight buyers' remorse at some point, most often in the first few weeks. But regrets? None. Some people who have had more difficulties or complications might disagree, but the benefits outweigh the risks.

And, it is not like you won't be able to eat again. That's the biggest misnomer. You will be able to eat again, and maybe eat whatever you want. Just less of it less often.

Good luck.