Kristina J.

Geez... Welcome to VST! Funny, I just read an old post toady that talked about people asking old questions that had already been asked. Has it been asked and answered on this site before? Yes, probably a few times over. Does that mean she can't put herself out there and ask the question and get her toes wet? It is her very first post!!! You're going to have a lot of questions at a lot of different points along this journey. Some you'll search for and some you'll want to talk to people about. Don't let people discourage you from reaching out!! With that said, I have heard of a lot of people who have had no pre-op diet and a lot of people who have had month long pre op diets!! But I'm with Kristen... I wouldn't ask too many questions about it (to your SURGEON she means) and just enjoy your lucky break!! And welcome to VST!

Omg pickles!!!! I miss pickles so much!! I still have my band in until my revision in May and pickles are a guaranteed "stuck" food with my band so I haven't had pickles in YEARS and they have been one of my favorites since I was a toddler!!! I didn't even think about being able to eventually eat pickles again! You guys just made my day!!!

No way!!! Do you know how zombies work?! lol "BRAINS!!!!! Must have BRAINS!!!!" It's the one sole purpose that drives them! We'd all be doomed. Lol

Lol that's only because you're post op and have cat like skills now!! I have bull in china shop skills!! Lol for now anyway... Hahaha

We drive back and forth from Phoenix to San Diego at least once every month or two to visit my family (that's how we'll go for my surgery in fact and just drop the girls off with my parents and sister). I tend to go a lot with just the girls when the hubby works 4 days straight, so I know how a lot of driving can take a toll on your body and that's less than half your drive time!! Best to be safe for sure.

I worked for Marriott for 5 years here in Arizona (best job I've ever had) before becoming a stay at home mom... Is it kinda weird that one of the things I am really exited about is staying at an international Marriott?? lol Obviously more so the life changing surgery... But kinda a lot about the Marriott too! Hahaha

Oh yeah... Ouch. That would be a very long ride, and a dangerous one considering the heightened risk of blood clots after surgery! Best to go for April... Like make her come back with you so you can go as soon as you can get home... But April!

I'm pretty sure, given a badass samurai sword, I could find a reason to wield it like a badass. Perhaps not a valid one. But I could find a reason. You bet your sleeved and soon to be sleeved butts!

This is very true... if we become zombies, we'd just be a bunch of fat zombies... which means we'd all just be fat bitter and angry zombies!! Otherwise known as, the worst kind.

Well I'm going with Dr. Garcia and I'm STILL over 2 months out!!! I had to book May 11th for my husband's work schedule and to have enough time to change my name on my passport! I think the wait might kill me! lol Good luck!!!!

Oh I've got a total whack job survivalist friend... he says he can make jerky that can last me 5+ years!! Now that I say that I realize it seems odd that this has recently come up in conversation... but it is what it is... hahaha

If insurance provides you any option for revision coverage, that's a good thing. The hoops that they make you jump through, while a pain, are a pain a lot of us wish we had lol. I know for me reflux is horrible with the band so while a lot of band to sleevers find some relief, I'm not banking on it, though I would welcome even the slightest bit of relief. I take protonix daily and still have a lot of burn through! I think anyone considering a band to sleeve revision should visit both the band to sleeve revision forum and the complications forum of the VST website for sure. There's a lot of valuable information to be found on both sides, people who have found the success they were hoping for with the revision and people who have found the sleeve to be just as difficult (if not even more so) in different ways!! At this point, I don't really have much of a choice and just need to take a leap and pray... but research should be our best friend when going into something like this! My insurance won't cover my band out or my revision. My insurance has a full exclusion on all WLS. Ugh!

Well, with the exception of Joatsaint, we're all pre-op, so the zombie's better take their sweet time... we got some work to do first!! lol

Oh, I was at Hiranandani Hospital! I loved it I'm sure you will have a wonderful surgery!! No worries!

Seriously!! lol That looks like my clothes compared my 3 year olds! haha I'm a big fat fatty... those small pants look like doll pants to me!! hahaha Very nice!!!

I thought about this. A lot. I think this is saving us in the event of the zombie apocalypse. food will be in short supply. We can survive on less. Sleevers will be the survivors. Done. I paid my deposit the next day. Cut me open doc. Let's do this.

Fitinmumbai, what hospital are you going to?

The real answer here is that no one is going to be able to give you the answer. I am 5'1, I weighed in this morning at 254. That puts my BMI at 48. If I could get down to your BMI and no comorbidties, I'd be dancing for joy. I really wouldn't consider WLS at your size, especially not something permanent like the sleeve. But I understand the emotional pain of feeling too fat for the world around you and the desperation of not being able to do it on your own. But I know it's all a matter of perspective and our personal starting point. But please, please spend some time reading through the complications section of this forum before you make your decision. We need to know the risks we open ourselves up to, no matter how desperately we need this surgery.

5? My goodness... I'm exhausted with two!! lol Thank you! I'll have my eye on you too!

Sherry... dude... I don't even know you and I feel so relieved to hear that!! hahaha Seriously. Those of us that have been down that path and didn't end up with your result have had a really tough road to get back to where you are now. I know it has to be really nerve wracking, but it sounds like your doctor and even more surprisingly your insurance really have your back!! And Surprised... I know this has been a really REALLY hard adjustment for you given the way things happened, but I think once things settle and you get adjusted, you'll be relieved that you didn't have to struggle with the ups and downs of losing the band, then waiting for a revision and the havoc that can wreak on your body. Still thinkin of you!! Hope you're feeling better about things!!

Well, and if I have learned anything with my yo yo weight over the years I have learned that inches mean more than the scale sometimes. I would find myself stalling, but still dropping sizes sometimes. Especially with the high Protein intake, we can build muscle as we are dropping fat, so we can be dropping inches even though the scale stays the same! The scale will catch up That sounds a lot like my band. I did start having problems with it last year, but like I said, it's been in since 2006. I initially lost maybe 40 with it in the first 6 months or so, but never was able to really keep it off and try as I might I couldn't get it back off. Last year it started dilating where my stomach was pulling up through my band creating an expanded pouch. To fix it they release all the Fluid, let it heal then slowly refill, but it happened twice. Each time it was unfilled for 3 months to heal and I would just gain again. Just so very frustrating. And I had to have a kind of sudden hysterectomy this year, which while unrelated, meant that I was for sure not having any more kids (part of my decision to get the band in the first place since I was only 18), so I decided to make the change. I have a 3 year old and 1 year old and they deserve a healthy mom! My date is all set for May 11th. Since I wasn't really prepared to do all this just yet, I didn't have my passport in my married name lol so we have to stall a little to get that all in order before we head out. The waiting *might* just kill me, but it's worth it!

Sherry, my dear, I'm going to put this as calm as I can... take it and RUN with it!! There are so many of us who have had horror stories that started like yours. I was banded, I was successful... 100lbs down successful. Then I started having problems. When my band needed to come out I didn't have the sleeve option, it just wasn't really around yet. Oh how I wish it had been. I ended up losing my band and battling insurance for a year to get it back, unsuccessfully, and gaining all my weight back in the meantime. I self paid for a new band, which never worked to get the weight I had regained back off. And here I am now, finally ready financially to self pay yet again for the sleeve revision. If I had a magic wand, I would have gone from my first band to a sleeve and never done this 10 year roller coaster and I would have been HEALTHY this whole time. I know it doesn't seem like the normal path to a sleeve. And honestly, it isn't. But bands are failing. Over and over again, for a lot of people. If I could go back and get insurance approval and revise back when I was 100lbs down, ESP knowing what I know now?! I couldn't have run into that O.R. fast enough! lol Your doctor is right, your body will only lose what you need to lose and then you will plateau... even with the sleeve, you will likely plateau about 10lbs before you'd like to! If you were my sister, I'd be begging you to do this for yourself! Best of luck whatever you choose!!!

You just won coolest surgery story I've heard! lol I'm using Dr. F Garcia, so I'm going to ask. I think it would be so cool to keep it. I think I'm as fascinated by it as your 9 year old! I have battled that band since 2006. I had my first one placed in 2003, but I actually got along really well with that one... well, right up until they day it slipped severely! The one they replaced it with in 2006 has been minimal weight loss and tons of problems. I'd love to meet it face to face! I do have the video of that one being implanted. That was pretty neat.

Jana... Did they seriously let you keep it?!?! I wanna keep mine!! lol That evil little nugget needs to be pinned to my dart board or something!! hahaha Who was your doctor at MiDoctor? I am going to beg and plead!! hahaha