Food_vs_Life

Ohhh okay. Reading this makes me feel much better. The crazy thing is that I just weighed myself and I went from 376 lbs to 365lbs in 3 days!!! I did not expect such a large number. No wonder my body is hurting : )

I know I would be a mess. Even though I have my date scheduled for the 29th of this month and I have been cleared, I am still fearful that something will come up and the surgery will be postponed. However, with that being said I am self pay and now that I have my surgery paid for by actually handing over the check I have a great since of relief because I know that it may get postponed but IT WILL HAPPEN! Hold on...CHANGE IS COMING!

Thank you for your reply You are sooo right. I wonder if I am getting enough water. I was sitting here thinking about it after reading your post. I am definitely drinking water but not nearly as much as I was before the liquid diet. I am guessing because I am drinking my meals I have not been sipping on my water the same. I could be wrong but looking back it is very possibly I am not drinking as much. Still going to check with the doctor though. Thank you!

Hi fellow sleevers : ) I had my Pre Op stuff done yesterday and I am scheduled for surgery on March 29th! I am extremely excited. I live in Green Cove Springs, FL (Right under Jacksonville) but will be traveling 5 hours to Boca Raton, FL for my surgery. I have a Facebook that I made for my weight loss. If anyone would like to ad me it https://www.facebook.com/Food.vs.Life Praying that we all have wonderful outcomes : )

I am going to call my doctor in the morning but thought I would post my experience and question here. I am new to the forum but have been in a Lap Band forum for about the past month. I have since decided to get sleeved instead of banded. I just had my Pre Op work ups done yesterday and I am scheduled for my surgery on March 29th!!! Very excited. Here is my question. I am now on day three of my liquid diet which has not been bad at all. The Boost Protein shakes are doing a good job at keeping my hunger at bay. The problem is that the Evening of day 1 that I started the liquid diet I started having really bad cramps pretty often. At first I was not concerned but now that the cramps have continued I am trying to figure out why they are happening. I am assuming it is from the liquid diet but found it strange to start so soon after being on it??? I am getting cramps in places that I have never had them before and that makes me believe that it is the diet. I have had the cramps in my back upper thighs, my chin/neck area, and one each side of my stomach. I seems that if I bend or stretch at times my sides will cramp up. I have never experienced these type of cramps. Has anyone else experienced or heard of this? Any suggestions? Obviously my body is probably lacking something... would it just be potassium? I just had blood work done last week and everything was perfect and in range.

No, I did not have a direct number for her. Thank you so much for offering it though! I am actually scheduled for my surgery on March 29th with another surgeon now. I still stand behind that I think Dr. Baptista is a wonderful and surgeon : ) Dr. Baptista's office did end up calling me back the following Monday (full week) and they were very nice and apologized for not returning my call sooner. I don't think anything was intentional but I think anyone else would probably be concerned if they could not reach the office when they called and then had to count on them returning a message...(after my experience anyways). I did however find a surgeon that has an office staff where the same coordinator answers the phone every time I call and if she does not answer then it goes through to the doctor's cell phone. I have direct access to the Dr.'s cell number also. I just know I am going to want to know that I can always reach someone in the office (in a reasonable) time for when I have questions or concerns.

Sooo hard to make sense of it all! I know three people personally that have gotten the band in the past 6 years. One lost all her weight but had complications and so forth and now is almost back to her original size. The other only lost 30lbs total and is now back to her original size but never had complications other then not losing. The third has lost the weight and kept it off : ) I get that it has a lot to do with us but I do not know how strong I will be plus I look at my friends that were strong and still failed. I don't know what to think : ) I got a lot of praying to do!

I will look into those things further but I have read otherwise also. Definitely looking into though. From what I understand the mortality rate is not much higher at all. Though obviously it is a riskier surgery so it is expected that it could be. As far as malnutrition .. from what I have read it is not a problem unless Vitamins are not taken as needed and that many do not need anything other then a multi Vitamin. Again... I will look into it further. As far as the dumping from what I have read that is kind of like the people that slide their way around the band by eating sliders... more of a user complication?? Will definitely check on it also.. The other thing that I notice in all of the studies is that the Super Obese (ME) do not do so well in general with the lap band. Are success is often times calculated in a separate category much like in one of the studies in the link above. Another reason why I am questioning my options. Thanks for all the info!

Thanks for the links. I am not only using forums for my information however I do get a lot from them. I have been looking at studies on both surgeries. When you talk about more severe complications... what complications are you referring to other then leakage? I just need to know what I should look into further.

Thank you for the link! Someone gave it to me earlier today and I spend all day on their forum looking for complication post etc. Yes, there are many success stories but even the success stories usually experience some complications that can be fixed but without insurance it can be quite costly. Even just going back and forth with fills to find the Green zone etc. I don't know... such a hard decision to make : ) They are both wonderful options.

I was given a surgery date of March 28th!!!! less then 10 days away and I am starting my pre op diet tomorrow. I have been set on getting the lap band done however after reading and researching (which includes these forums) I am now really considering the sleeve also. I was always so scared of it because it is permanent but it seems that there are far less complications with it among other things. I know that there are plenty of people that get the band and experience no issues but it does seem that a good majority at some point need revisions etc.. If I had insurance that would cover the procedure I would probably definitely still go with the band because I would not mind having a revision, back and forth to the DR. trying to figure out fills (more then is to be expected) etc.. if my insurance paid for it. Unfortunately I am paying for everything out of pocket and since it looks like there is a pretty good chance that in some years down the road I will need something done in the future with the band I am leaning towards the sleeve. I know that many will not agree and that this is mostly opinion but the real fact is that if something goes wrong with the band yes it will be fixable but will I have the finances to fix it? The main issue with the sleeve would be leakage but from the figures I have seen it looks like the band and the sleeve have the same rate/percentage of a leakage. Anyways, l may still go with the band but I am definitely weighing my options. Either way I am SOoooo excited that my surgery date is the 28th! I just called this morning and I did not expect everything to move so fast. If anyone would like to share some links to statistics comparing the two I would love to see them. Please don't bash me though... I am truly only trying to learn and explore my options.

I will be getting the sleeve done by Dr. Shillingford in Boca Raton, FL. He charges just $10,500 for the sleeve and $8,900 for the band. http://www.drshillingford.com/

Okay... So they performed your surgery even with the high blood pressure? That makes me feel better. Did they say anything to you about the BP? My doctor never recommended that I go on the BP medicine but I asked for it since I have seen that it has increased this past year with the stress. The kids that I have are supposed to go back to living with their mother this summer so I think there will be a huge change then and hopefully things will go back to normal. Thanks for the reply... It helps knowing that they performed your surgery even with the higher BP.

I do not yet have a surgery date but I am hoping for some time in April. I just got all my blood work back and everything is perfect and in range as always. Total Cholesterol 159 HDL 52 LDL 83 Triglycerides 118 Glucose 74 A1C 5.3 Decreased risk for Diabetes Problem is that I have always had low sugar levels and normal to low blood pressure. I took in three small children this past June and since then every time I have been to the doctor my blood pressure has been 130's-140's/90!! I can feel the difference in my body and I know it is from stress. I even had the doctor check my charts the other day and it definitely started getting high right after they came to my home. I asked the doctor to put me on BP medicine because I am worried that when it comes time for my surgery I will not be able to have it due to my BP being high. I have been taking the meds for 3 days now and there is no change in my BP other then the lower number is in the 70's and 80's again. However, the systolic? number is still very high. How long did it take for BP medicine to start working for you if you have ever taken any? Also, has anyone had experience going for the surgery and being stalled due to high BP? This biggest problem with all of this is that I am traveling to TX from FL, so if they have to cancel my surgery it would be a huge expense for me to have to travel their again. Any help or guidance is appreciated. I am taking 10mg of Benazepril a day.

I am working on getting everything in order so that I can travel to TX from FL to be banded. I am trying to find someone that has used True Results for their lap band procedure and traveled from out of state to have it done. I have questions and concerns that I would really just like to ask about with someone that has gone through the experience with them specifically.

Congratulations! I am hoping to have my date sometime next week or possibly Friday of this week. I definitely will be way more excited once I have a date also!

I will be going to Houston since it is closest. I am not on a pre op diet just yet. I assume once I schedule my appointment I will be. As of right now I have just cut out drinking Diet Coke which was a huge deal for me since that is all I have ever drank... never Water. I am waiting for my doctor to review my blood work that I had done last Thursday. The office already has the results but can't give them to me until her reviews them... uggghh. I also just went for my consultation with a GI doctor today who has ordered my EGD which I hope to have done in the next couple of days. I should have the EGD scheduled tomorrow.

I am in Florida and I am hoping to have my surgery at True Results in Houston also. I just completed my blood work and will be going for my EGD tomorrow. Congratulations on deciding to go with the lap band. I think we are all making the right choice in doing so : ) I should be able to schedule my surgery appointment by the end of this week ... I am hoping anyways.

Unfortunately I am 12 hours away so it would be about 250.00 for the gas but then I would have to add a hotel or maybe two in the mix also. If I have to I will go there but trying to get it done here. I actually just called and made an appointment with my Primary Care doctor to see if he can refer me to the hospital or somewhere else to get it done. From what I understand he can refer me to have the test done elsewhere other then just referring me to the GI doctor in general. I am just going to explain what it is for and I am crossing my fingers that they will refer me somewhere the same day like when I had to have an unltra sound done on my throat. Also, any money I spend on the EGD will atleast go towards my 500.00 deductible that I will have to pay when getting the surgery if I do have a hernia. I am also going there to get my blood work completed for the surgery. Thanks for your input : ) Wish I was closer.

I live in Florida but plan to travel to TX (True Results) for my surgery. I am doing my blood work here while I am in FL and wanted to go ahead and get the EGD done also to make sure it is possible for me to get the discounted price at True Results (due to hernia) before traveling there. I was told my primary doctor should be able to do it but when I called to ask they said they don't and that I will have to go to a GI doctor. I called around and the GI doctors are wanting me to come in for a consultation and then do the EGD. I was trying to find a way around this because it will take a couple of weeks and also because I have to pay out of pocket for two visits instead of one. Has anyone experienced this dilemma and found someone to do the EGD? I was thinking about possibly asking a bariatric surgeon's office to do it for me but not sure that would set well with them if I am going to a different surgeon. Any ideas?

Question... Where did you get your EGD done? I am traveling to TX for my surgery and wanted to get the EGD done here in Florida. I was told my PCP should be able to do it but when I called they said they are not able to. Is a GI doctor the only place to go?? Maybe I could get a local bariatric center to do it for me. The problem with a GI doctor is that I will have to go for a consult and then go for the exam all out of pocket due to my insurance.

I second what she said about True Results. I am self pay and it looks like I will be going through them. I will be traveling from Florida to TX for the surgery but it is worth it for the savings. Also, I have read so many good things about True Results... Just do a search for "True Results" and you will see. The other thing I love about them is that someone answers the phone every time I call! They have all been nice. I have my first consultation this morning. Good Luck!

Well as much as I really liked Dr. Baptista it looks like I will be traveling out of town for my surgery. I talked to his office this past Monday and they were supposed to call me back after checking on some things. The lady I spoke with said she would call Tuesday. Did not hear from them and Weds afternoon I called several times and could not reach a person so I left a detailed message. Nothing Thursday or Friday so I called again Friday and again could not reach anyone and just decided not to leave another message. I absolutely believe he is a great surgeon but it is horrible to think that his office can't return a call after 1 week. More concerning that I can't seem to reach anyone other then an answering machine when I call. I know things slip through the cracks but that means that they had to keep looking over my paper work all week, forget to call me back when they initiated it and never return a call when I left a message. I understand that maybe I am the only to experience this but to me it is a red flag.

Awww... I wish I were closer and could help. I live in FL and will be traveling to the True Results in TX. I hope you find a solution and I would definitely look into that Tom suggested.