SouthernSleever

Hi everyone. I've always wondered if people who get futher out fall off the wagon and just are too embarassed to come back and check in but it seems like you just love life too much to post on here. At least that's how I've felt recently! I went to Bonnaroo music festival in June and it was amazing. Let me say that at least 30 times over those 4 days I thought, "The sleeve is the best thing I've ever done for myself." I'd go through all the trouble and pain 100 fold if I had known how it would turn out. The reason I'm here posting is I wanted to issue a little warning and perhaps see if others have had a same experience. I'm not looking for guidance or to be preached to so if that's what you are here to do I can save your fingers some typing and tell you I don't care. Here's a very honest (perhaps too honest) tell of what happened. I went out with a couple friends to a bar on a Saturday night. I had been eating crap foods for the last week or so but still yet had eaten that day an egg and 1/2 a sandwich. I had not drank anything but maybe 6oz. So I went to the bar and as soon as I get there she orders me a Tequilla sunrise. Yuck but since it was a gift I drink it over then next hour or so. I was also smoking ciggerettes something which has crept back up on me in the last month. I had quit for years, started preop, quit preop, started again at Bonnaroo and I've been struggling since. As I started drinking I said I was hungry and one of the cooks we know brought me two chicken tenders with honey mustard. I ate. About an hour later we went upstarirs to see a punk band that a friend was in and then went to talk to them after the show. They had several party favors, I decided to partake in only a tiny bit of the least of the evils, after smoking I ordered a cranberry vodka and we were sitting around talking. I began to see the room swim. Right as a guy came up to hit on me (haha) all the sounds in the room changed as if I were in a tunnel. I started getting very hot. I told my friend I needed to go to the bathroom now! We started walking down the hall and I felt as though I was going to passout. We went into the bathroom and my body started shaking back and forth quit violently and then I fell. My friend caught me and I laid on the floor. She started putting wet clothes all over me. I felt as though I might die at that point. There wasn't any pysical symptoms I can remember but it was like my body was trying to shut down. My face was white and my lips white and blue. I couldn't have physically gotten up if I had needed to. She kept pouring cold Water on me and wiping my face. After 20 minutes or so I was able to sit up and then stand later. They placed me infront of a huge fan outside and then drove me home. I haven't felt anything like that since. Thoughts I've had are: I thougth it was bloodsugar but I had just eaten and infact had some bacon 10 mintues before this happened. Two drinks usually does nothing to me. Especially over a 2-3 hr period. The party favors weren't anything I hadn't had before and came from a trusted source. When I say a little I mean a very little. One other thing to note is the very same experience happend to a DS friend the week before. She had 1 drink and had eaten, none of the same other factors, and straight passed out in the middle of a club we were at. I was the one who caught her and took her home. She went to her Dr had a full blood panel and they said they had no idea what had happened. SO.. That's my experience. I thougth a couple times about posting or not posting it but I figured if someone else has had this happen they could shed light. If it happens to someone else on here they might be comforted that it happened to me and here I am a week later fine. I'm so glad I had a friend with me, I don't know what would have happened had I not and I'm so glad I was light enough for her to catch. I didn't bat an eyelash when the guys were going to carry me out either.

Good for you! You have done amazingly well and you look like you weigh 150 and not 185. I swear I thougth you were 5'8" because you look so small. Over the last month I have been very lax with my carbs having a little here and there. I even had a coke a few times :X I lost well at the start of the month because of Bonnaroo but now the scale is showing a 2lbs gain. Now I know, (in my mind way back deep) that I didn't eat enough for a two pound gain, but I also know that the slide to my old habits is a short fast one. So with much love I say to keep checking in and more than watching your weight, watch your habits. You have done fantastic and you look AMAZING!

I'm pretty real, on facebook with real family and everything. You can find plenty of horror stories about certain Drs in Mexico. I had a great experience and very much researched my surgeon. Good luck!!

SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal DJackson........198...................182.............180...................2 Missed my goal by two but with the way I've been eating I'll take it!! Thx for putting this together yet again

Hi y'all! I'm from right outside of Knoxville and went to Mexico for my surgery. I started at 276 and i'm 182 this morning (Oh happy day)! A friend had her VSG done by Dr Boyce adn she's not too thrilled. I don't know her eating habits but she has only lost 50lbs and is 1 year out. I think she was his 3rd or 4th vsg.

Hi y'all! I'm from right outside of Knoxville and went to Mexico for my surgery. I started at 276 and i'm 182 this morning (Oh happy day)! A friend had her VSG done by Dr Boyce adn she's not too thrilled. I don't know her eating habits but she has only lost 50lbs and is 1 year out. I think she was his 3rd or 4th vsg.

SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal DJackson........198...................187.............180...................7

Right outside Knoxville, are you close?

Who's going to Bonnarrooooooooooooooooooooo this year? What ya eating while there?

Woohoo! Now if I can convert some of this boobage to buttage I'd be good The inches seem to be more important to me than the pounds at this point!

I could take the same pics as you well...except I have some bewbs on top. My top 1/2 looks fine and it looks like a size 10/12 but then from right above my belly button and down I still just look like a smaller version of my fat self. I still have two fat rolls that are driving me mad! I read an article the other day about how our bodies conserve estrogen in our midsections, a lot refer to them as the "spare tire" and it's the last to go in weight loss usually coming off at the VERY end. As far as loose skin goes I know I will have some, my thighs already look like drapery curtains but I plan to build muscle in there instead. I, like you, do not like to think of another major surgery. The risk of infection and just not being 100% happy with results isn't worth it...not to mention the money.

Wow you are really working it! Now, lets see a front shot

Can I add one? Hells yes to being able to wear shorts and tank topt today even though I looked like a total skank I was not nearly as uncomfortable as I would have been this time last yearh in 90+ degree temps.

NtvTxn always has her panties in a bunch. Just learn to pass over her posts.

Okay stop now and get back on track. You were doing so well, just keep on with what you have been doing. Everyone stumbles but don't let yourself fall stay down. So get back into low carb, I'd do 15g - 30g for a while. It is so hard to lose weight and stay on track preop and it's SO easy post op. You will be there soon enough!

I will tell you I was able ot eat whatever and keep my carbs under 30. I believe that putting your body into ketosis is the fastest way to shirnk your liver. Doesn't sound like your Surgeon is giving you a lot of guidelines, I'd call and get clarification or do a very low carb diet.

Okay my fav meal was to get a rotissery chicken and pull some meat off, put some hotsauce with butter on it and dip it in blue cheese. Tasted just like chicken wings. Also you can dip it in bbq for a pulled pork kinda taste. Baked potatoes were fabulous. Watermelon yummy!

If I were you this is what I'd do. First off LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I would not start cardio at all I would do weight training if you want to but being able to eat such a small amount could lead you to dizziness when doing cardio. I would up your meals to 5-6 of protien. I wouldn't think about calories but rather having good protien. Look at our ancestors they ate very low carb high protien diets and worked all day long.

Not to break your balls but you don't want to get prepped for surgery, they get in there and find your liver is too fatty to continue, sew you up and send you home. It's happened, I've read about it. So get your ass in gear, I know it's hard ....no no...it's HARD but listen you are climbing the stairs where at the top you will see the most beautiful view you have ever seen. One step at a time, one lousy drink at a time. Do it! You can!

Reynee you are no dumb and we would not jump all over you! Again I hope that Dr A and his team learn from this that Fibro has to be treated differently. Out of the group of us who had surgery that day, I was the only one who had pain. There was no moaning in the halls like some of my friends here in the states have told me about when they got their VSG. This is NOT a Mexico vs US thing. And I did respect him not wanting to hand out narcotics like candy. I delt with a very real addiction to hydros after my ankle shatter in 03. I was given a drip of morphine while in the hospital in Mexico, the little brown bulb you carry around. I was in a car accident the day before one which I continue to have PT for so it wasn't minor. All being said, *I* would go back to Dr A in an instant. That is not to say that Reynee should or that he shouldn't be called out on how he managed her case. I will be writing a letter to Nina to tell her how concerned this has me because I sing his praises from the rooftops however I wouldn't want anyone else having a bad experience on my suggestion. After working in hospitals here in the US and then being a patient of Dr A's I know where I was given better care. Reynee I hope you continue to recover well and that you are able to sort through the emotional issues that come with distress like you experienced.

I have heard that coconut and celery can cause problems if you eat big amounts of them. I had the link saved but it's a broken link now.

I'm right outside of KNoxville and I went with Dr Aceves in Mexico. He is cheaper and has MUCH better results and more experience.

I'm a firm supporter of Dr A and his team but no one is perfect and they did NOT handle your case well. I posted before about waking up in a lot of pain and them saying I had a low tollerance for pain. I told them I had 17 hours of pit labor, walked on a broken ankle for 4 hours, and had a Home VBAC all that without meds. Don't TELL me I have a low tollerance for pain. Dr A did talk about them being very careful with pain meds so not to cause an addiction and that some pain would be expected. I hope you are able to heal from this and the word will be loud and clear to them that they need better pain mgmt skills. I did have a car wreck the day before I left for surgery and so I didn't know how much of the wreck played into my pain.

I'm at 8 months and have lost about the same as you with about the same starting weight to lose. Good job, keep it up and we will get to goal!

You will love Mexicali and Dr A!!