KellyL

I'm sorry you are going through this, I know it's not an easy decision. But I would not let anyone pressure me into a surgery that I didn't feel 100% comfortable with. Do you know how many sleeves this surgeon has performed? It's not very common any more for Surgeons to promote the Band over the Sleeve, so it would concern me that maybe he's just not as comfortable doing the Sleeve if he hasn't done that many? Is he aware of the high # of complications and revisions from being Banded? Is there another surgeon who has equal experience, that you might consider or at least get a second opinion? Keep reading and researching til you feel comfortable with your decision, there is complication and revision threads in most of these forums if you haven't already read them. Good luck!!

I had a great experience with Dr Kelly and have recommended him to my family. My doctor here has taken Dr Kelly's info to give to both her family and her patients, she is so impressed with his skills, price, and my results. Here is the link where Dr Kelly was initiated and recently became a member of the prestigious American College of Surgeons: http://www.prweb.com...rweb8910330.htm

Go to your profile, click on Edit Profile Button, then signature, then copy/paste your ticker code there. Have you ever been to Jamaica?

How long has your surgeon being doing sleeves? The reason I ask is, this seems to be more common with Gastric Bypass patients, who have issues with the opening of their pouch stretching out over time. That is because the gastric bypass pouch is man made using our intestines which is more stretchy than our original stomach. If the Sleeve is done properly there shouldn't be a need to put a band on it, in fact, I would be absolutely terrified that this would increase my risks of a leak or other complication. I don't know if that's true, but that is what my fear would be. But I also have no idea why a Surgeon would think a Sleeve would need to have even less capacity than it already does? A lot of people already have problems getting liquids in when they are first post-op with a Sleeve, and this is without a band wrapped around an already swollen tiny Sleeve. How big of a Sleeve does he make? Do you know the bougie size? I would find out how many Sleeves he's done, how many he's done with this Band, and how many leaks, complications, successes, etc. with the band/sleeve hybrid. I would definitely do more research and questioning. Good luck to you on your journey!

I did not wake up with a tube in my throat with Dr Kelly. So if they do this, they remove it before you wake up. I didn't have any throat pain or irritation, so if there was something there, they are extremely skilled at doing it lol. This coming from a person with a choking phobia by the way. You will have a drain in your abdomen, but it wasn't near as bad as I expected.

This can vary on some many things, such as how far out from surgery you are, how much swelling is still in your sleeve (usually a good bit til 4-6 wks) bougie size, etc. But an egg and 1 oz cheese sounds normal to me. My restriction feels a lot as you described, more like satisfaction. I don't hurt or throw up either. On the taking too much food onto your plate, wanting to finish and waiting 45 min to an hr then finish? It IS a way to cheat your sleeve, but only if you are eating carbs or junk. If it's high protein and you've already logged it into your calories/protein count for the day, I don't think it could be detrimental to our weight loss. I've done this too, so I hope it's ok lol. We'll hopefully get other opinions on this.

Yeah, your cycle can do this, but there's also the dreaded 3 wk stall that can last any where from days to a month or more. But stalls are unfortunately part of this journey for most of us. Just keep doing what you do, getting plenty of protein and fluids.

Yes, I did, it was Thrush for me, which is basically yeast overgrowth. I had been on antibiotics right before I had my surgery due to being sick, then I was on antibiotics from being sleeved, so that's why I got it. I've seen a lot of people post with this issue when they are newly post-op. I drank those little dan active yogurt drinks for the probiotics, and also ate yogurt. Then I started on some probiotic supplements and it seemed to help. It should go away.

Yeah, swelling, inflammation, etc from surgery. Congrats on being sleeved!

Congrats on being sleeved!! Now to the good part, being a loser!

Congrats, you are doing awesome!!

You are a great writer for sure!! Congrats on being able to see what was going on and stopping when you did. The emotional part of this is one of the toughest. We have to find healthier outlets. I can totally relate to what you went through at work, I've been there myself. I hate that feeling of having to act like something doesn't bother me when it does. You did a great job recognizing the patterns.

In my research phase, which was 7 yrs, I didn't like the high number of people that were having problems with their Band and coming on to the sites in regards to seeking revisions. Ironically your reason for not liking the Sleeve due to it's permanency was the exact reason I wanted this procedure. I didn't want to go through a Revision later to have to get the Sleeve anyway, if I had problems with the Band. I am self pay and barely managed to get one procedure, much less a second one later. Even if I had of been covered under an insurance plan, a lot of the insurance companies will only pay for one bariatric surgery, so I just didn't want to take any chances. On the Band itself, there were lots of reports of people even yrs out throwing up, getting food stuck, only the junk type food going down easy, erosions, slippages, etc. Then to see so many people have to revise, it was just very discouraging to me. Also the Sleeve is the only surgery other than the Duodenal Switch where we lose the ghrelin, the hunger hormone, which decreases our hungry greatly and in some cases completely. I can't imagine how hard it would be to only have a tiny capacity to hold food but still have my huge appetite. As someone else suggested, I would definitely check out the complication and revision boards as well as here. Good luck in your research! :smile1:

Wow, congrats!!! What a successful journey you've had, amazing. :cheer2:

Congrats!!! It's a wonderful feeling! I too was lucky enough to experience the resolution of my Type 2 Diabetes and I'm on Cloud 9 about it.

I'm so sorry, I know it must be disappointing and discouraging! What kind of test are they wanting you to have? Was there a problem? Hoping you hear good news to move forward soon!

Congrats, you look amazing!!

Great ideas!! And thanks for the reminder on the Beanitos! I had seen these somewhere a while back and meant to check around in the stores around here, then I forgot about them. Most likely, due to where I live, I won't find them, but I can order them online. They have different flavors, do you have a recommendation on which one is best or which you like? Thanks!

I'm so sorry to hear about the leak! You've been through so much, I can completely understand your stress and emotions. Then on top of that having to keep all this from your family and not being able to get 100% support from them, and then fighting with your bf. No one blames you at all for hating and resenting your sleeve right now sweetheart. I do believe you will come to hate it less, but not while you are going through the leak. I'm hoping you will have some relieve soon from your issues and will be able to begin to heal both physically and emotionally. Keep posting and venting daily, it will probably help a little. I'm thinking of you and sending healing vibes your way!!! :hug:

I guess we're all different, but I never crushed any meds. I was taking antibiotics and a PPI immediately upon release out of the hospital. I had no problem swallowing, no pain. I know having to taste the crushed meds must be gross. Maybe cutting them in half as others suggested might work? Good luck!!

Congrats on the 70lbs, that is AWESOME!! I love the shoes too! I used to love watching the roller derby when I was young, I wish I lived close enough to come and watch you. ROCK ON girl!!! :cheer2:

Wow, you look great!! You have really rocked that sleeve girl, so happy for you! :cheer2:

I do something similar with chicken as the first recipe. I put a whole bag of Tyson Chicken Tenderloins(or breasts) in the crock pot and 2 cans of Rotel, add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low overnight. The chicken easily shreds up with a fork it's so tender. Then I add the World Table Roasted Verde salsa(from Walmart) and some greek yogurt(athenos or Fage) and melt a little shredded cheese (colby jack) on top in microwave just before I eat it. I get full on a pretty small portion of this. I put in a container in the fridge and my family and I eat on it for days. I don't add the salsa, greek yogurt, and shredded cheese til I get ready to eat it. So we can all do whatever we want with our portion. My family will put their portion in a flour or corn tortilla. Or crunch up corn tortillas or doritos in their portion. They also sometimes have rice. My daughter likes regular salsa and not the green verde salsa. It's pretty tasty and gives me a little taste mexican food flavor.

Bless you for your patience! Good luck on your surgery, wishing for you an easy surgery and speedy recovery!!

Right, ALM didn't mind continuing to book for Dr Kelly long after the incident in June that everyone is now bringing back up again. Suddenly they can't in good conscious refer potential patients to Dr Kelly. They were more than happy to endorse him as long as it benefited them in some way. They were happy to try to associate their current Dr with Dr Kelly by saying he was trained under him, which he wasn't. They were happy to let people think Dr Kelly and this other Dr was associated together as a team, which they were not. They were happy to use Dr Kellys name with other Dr until they got this Dr's name out on these forums and build up a clientele, anyone who's been around these boards any length of time knows that Dr Garcia just showed up on these boards a few months ago. I'm not saying anything bad about him, because I know nothing about him other than the fact that I've been on these weight loss surgery boards for 7 yrs and I am just now seeing his name. So if it were me personally, no I wouldn't use a Dr that just appeared on the scene. I wouldn't know if that meant that he had just started doing the VSG or what. It would make me think that is the case, and I preferred someone with a lot of experience. Dr Kelly still has an extremely good complication rate for the number of procedures that he has performed, and drudging up incidents from the past to continue to try discredit a Surgeon, or his patient coordinator is ridiculous. I had hoped now that ALM isn't working with Dr Kelly that the drama and BS would die down and we wouldn't have to see folks like GOTTAGO posting this kind of nonsense on the board. Speaking of, I encourage anyone that is in research mode of these Dr's to please look at the content of members such as GOTTAGO and you will find that all their posts are either discrediting Dr Kelly or promoting ALM. They aren't here to seek or offer support for anyone on their weight loss journey. It's apparent they are working for ALM or the surgeon or hospital he uses. Go to GOTTAGO's profile, click on content, and you'll see what I mean. Don't take anyone else's word on anything, not even mine. Do your own research. If you don't feel comfortable with Dr Kelly for whatever reason, then by all means DON'T have surgery with him. But why try to manipulate other people and their decision unless you have some kind of ulterior motive. Why spend all your time trying to talk people out of a surgeon. Let's hear about who you ended up choosing and what YOUR EXPERIENCE with a different Dr is, that is what we are all suppose to be doing.