Kat Crowder

Nice job, neek41! Yeah, never count the little ups, they don't matter in the scheme of things. I started at 198 and am currently at 142, down 56 pounds.

May 21st, down 52 pounds in 3 months, 3 weeks! I just had my 3 month check-in and my surgeon's happy, as that constitutes ~70% of my excess weight already gone.

A reminder to folks, there is a May 2012 Sleevers group on Facebook that's pretty active if you're interested. If you want to join, send a friend request to Sharon Ivanauskas stating youre a May 2012 Sleever and would like to join the group.

-Kat

I don't know if there's as much data out there to show that sleeve helps cure diabetes like RNY, but there is no reason why it shouldn't, and I think eventually it will be shown to be just as effective, especially if your post-surgical diet is low in carbohydrate. I'm a BIG proponent of low carb, sufficient Protein as a way of managing blood sugar, and I've kicked my pre-diabetes several times in the past that way, but I couldn't stick with it without the surgery. I was on metformin for my pre-diabetes before my surgery, was taken off it the day of, and haven't been on it since.

The sleeve was originally developed as a pre-RNY surgery for those too heavy to get a safe bypass, and doctors found that the patients didn't need the bypass to lose the weight they needed, unless they had a metabolic imbalance that really warranted the malabsorptive effects of the RNY. And it's slowly gained ground as a primary surgery, and for lower BMIs. It's also a safer / less drastic surgery, which can always be revised to an RNY later if necessary.

Maybe you can discuss that with your doctors? They seem to be very conservative regarding proven surgeries, but I think they should consider the risk side of the equation as well. Would you be willing to have a second surgery if the sleeve isn't successful? I truly think it's the best option.

From what I have seen in my "May 2012 Sleevers" Facebook group, month 4 has a lot of us getting into the "experiment and eat too much" zone. We're pretty much healed up, and the things you absolutely couldn't eat post-surgery are now able-to-eat foods. One woman's saying to herself has been "Just because I can, doesn't mean I should."

My biggest problem is carbs. Eating sugar begets the "need" to eat more sugar, and I go into a downward spiral. I definitely recommend getting back on the clean Protein like someone else recommended, because many of us are sensitive to carbs in our system (lots of people who tend to overeat and need surgery are), and they just stoke the hunger fires.

The good thing is, because of your small stomach, you generally aren't able to do a lot of damage to your weight too quickly. 1500-2000 calories is a dessert at many restaurant chains, and if you're getting exercise, that's not necessarily a lot of calories. A very general rule of thumb has been 10 calories per goal weight to maintain. It's also a lot easier for me to get the sugar-hunger out of my system when I can't binge like I used to. On monday I had a cupcake and a brownie, and I felt horrible like it was the end of the world, but I easily got back on track. The carbs also do a number on my mood, which may be why you're feeling so down about things now.

Just do better now, and don't stress about stretching your sleeve. They cut the stretchier part away. We keep having more room because of healing, and I believe some of the swelling can last for up to 6 months. We've learned the right eating and exercise habits and we've done so well so far! Remember that the sleeve's a tool to help you do the right things to lose weight, it doesn't make things happen.

Where do you get Unjury Soup?

The only place I know of is unjury.com.

Surgery set for next Friday 8/31!! Hospital has to confirm in the morning but it should be good. So excited! Not however excited about the gas and other effects (ahem) of the Bariatric Advantage meal replacement powder. It's going to be a long 8 days...

Woohoo! Great news! I personally still like the Orange Cream BA powder. That and the Unjury chicken Soup are great stuff. It's a little warm for Chicken Soup right now, but I was good with it in May.

I agree with Carol's comments - you want to follow your doctor's orders, but don't kill yourself about it. I also "failed" at my preop diet, and I was terrified the surgery would be cancelled, but it wasn't. Do the best you can, and talk to your doctor about it. Getting your Protein in, drinking lots of Water, those are all important things to get your body used to the low calories. See if you can get your doctor to talk you through the benefits of the pre-op diet - lowering your visceral fat to make the surgery go easier is a good thing to work toward. Messing up once isn't going to ruin things, but introducing those carbs into an un-carbed system makes it even more miserable going forward. sugar free popsicles and Jello should be acceptable, and are wonderful ways to satisfy the urge to snack.< /p>

Good luck! The fact that it's so hard to do it is why we are getting the surgery, but try to persevere.

Hi everyone! My surgeon asked if I wanted to have my VSG with a single incision vs. the multiple small incisions. He said there was a slightly higher risk of a hernia with the single incision through my belly button, but that it was up to me. Is anyone else having this? Or, has anyone else had this with success? I'd love to know if you had complications, how you felt, etc.

I did a search and found a few people who had it done, but didn't see a ton of comments about it. Any help would be appreciated!

Sorry for getting on the bandwagon late - I love-love-love my single incision, done by Dr. Wallace of the Kane Center Bariatric Program with Alexian Brothers. Such an easy recovery, such a tiny scar inside my belly button, such nice undamaged belly skin! I would have done it with multiple incisions, but I'm so happy Dr. Wallace suggested it. The fact that my torso is short and I was relatively low BMI made me a perfect candidate. I get excited to show people my scar!

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Kat

If she needs to reassure herself that she needed the bypass, don't begrudge her that. You're going to become happy with eating your Protein first then some veggies after that, and the weight is going to come off and you'll see how much healthier you are and you won't be hungry like you used to be. Yes, you may be able to eat the occasional "bad food" without horrible consequences, but you won't be able to eat a lot, and you'll be able to get back on the wagon more quickly than before because of it. If you're carb sensitive like many overweight people are, you'll still respond negatively if you eat too many (carb crash, tummy ache, tired, depressed) and it'll remind you why you have this lovely tool to help you with your weight loss.

I'm 3 months out now. Do I cheat a little - yes. Does it make me feel crappy? Yes. But a cheat is ONE square piece of pizza, or three french fries, or half a scoop of ice cream. When would we ever stop there before?

It's still just a tool, but with the education we get, and habits we form for eating and exercise, I think it's the best tool out there with the fewest down sides. The only place I strongly differ with any of the education I've gotten through the Kane center is the nutritionist pushed complex carbs and my body does not handle them well. I know I'm carb sensitive and eating them will sabotage me, so I stay low carb as much as possible.

Anyway, be happy for the woman who loves her bypass, but be confident in what you've learned about the sleeve. It totally rocks.

That's so wonderful! Congrats!

Anyone interested in meeting, message me with your email address and I'll try to get a group together for coffee. Or tea. Or whatever.

I'm actually at fairly loose ends this weekend, except for pole class Saturday morning. I'd even drive into the city!

Hey all! Got into the dietician early (woo-hoo!), went to the pulmunologist today, going to the cardiologist Thursday, then have my sleep study Friday. Then I'm done with everything will just have to get BCBS approval. I'm so excited!

I'm in whenever you guys want to get together.

Kat - did you have the surgery at St. Alexius or Alexian Brothers? Anyone else go to either of those places, and how was it?

Great news, Diva!!

I had my surgery at Alexian Brothers - everything went really well there. The only problem I had was that I was sent up to my room after recovery with my CPAP machine, and then other people were searching frantically to try to find my CPAP machine because it had been checked in with me and they couldn't find it. A wee bit disorganized in that respect, but that's SO minor.

LOVE my sleeve! Today seems to be the day when people are noticing - 44 pounds later, right? Two people asked today if I've been losing weight. Actually, one asked me, and another asked my boss, because he wasn't sure and didn't want to say anything. *laugh*

And, I'm back to my pole dancing classes in Naperville tonight, after missing the last 8 week session! Being healthy is awesome!

So nice to here a handful of you went to the Kane center. I'm in the beginning stages and (also in the nw burbs) just went to a seminar last weekend in Hoffman with dr Wallace.

Good luck to all of you.

Good luck to you, kshorts! Feel free to ask me anything, I loved Dr. Wallace and the Kane Center. I'm 10 weeks out, down 40+ pounds, and thrilled as can be!

Did you all meet up? Please keep me in the loop because I would like to go to the next one. Thanks!!!

We didn't get together - it was just me and Skye that were possibles, and I wasn't up to it after moving friends all day yesterday. MyFitnessPal told me that, with my calorie deficit yesterday if everyday was like that, I'd be down 50 more pounds in 5 weeks! Ha! Skye was very helpful and willing to go with the flow. Another weekend when Sherry's feeling better, I think!

Sherry, I don't want to push you out and about too fast, I didn't want to go be social the first week after surgery! So far it sounds like me and Skye can get together, with a Sherry-maybe. Any thoughts on where? I'm so used to planning restaurants for get-togethers, and that's a habit I should really get out of!! Maybe we can take this offline to regular email - if you're potentially interested in meeting in Schaumburg this Sunday, email me at katcrowder@gmail.com, and I'll put us all in an email discussion thread.

Schaumburg is great for me too. Thanks for geting us organized Chitowngirl...I'm downtown quite a bit too if you want to meet for lunch or a smoothie/protein drink

Do we want to try something this Sunday?

NicksMom and Kat - how about meeting in The Schaumburg area? (and anyone else who wants to join us!!)

Schaumburg would be great for me!

Hi all.. I'm getting my surgery done by Dr.Rantis out of Alexian Brothers on July 30th.

Thinking of you!

I've been concerned for a couple of months that I have apnea because in the morning I feel so tired it's like I haven't slept. I am so exhausted every day I have to take a nap. I wake up with headaches fairly often. So bc of this info Dr. Wallace wants me to have the sleep study done.

Having sleep apnea is one of the comorbidities that "helps" you get approved for surgery. It's also pretty important to know before surgery because it's harder to wake yourself up when you stop breathing after surgery, and the anesthesia and painkillers can exacerbate that.

I'd like to get together, but I'm tremendously busy. I'm in the NW burbs myself.

Thanks Nicks mom :-). I'm getting nervous. As far as the pre-op diet ugghhh. Honestly it was hard for me. I only lost 11 pounds over the 14 days so far. It seems like it should be more after drinking only liquid. The Kane center tells their patients to use Bariatric Advantage. I thought the vanilla was sickenly sweet, but the give shake recipes that help. Example: 4oz of diet orange soda, mandarins oranges with the juice drained and 2 scoops of the Protein powder blended with ice (was my fav). It's nice to hear from others in my area keep in touch.

I loved the vanilla pre-surgery, but it's wayyyyy too sweet post-surgery. I got the orange cream after surgery and it's my go-to Protein Shake right now. I ran out on Thursday and I just have vanilla and chocolate left.

Good luck!!!

How cool.. Dr. Rantis didn't mention this, so I'm assuming I wont be a candidate. Thanks for the info. How would you rate the Kane center post -op care?

Huh. I don't have any complaints, but I haven't really dealt with them much post-op. I was flooded with info at the hospital before I was released. I had a week followup, then a month. There are seminars and support groups on Saturdays in Hoffman Estates which are very inconvenient - I've only been to the one required pre-op seminar, and I really like Dr. Crane the psych. Everyone has been very helpful in offering that I could contact them if necessary (like the nutritionist), but I've had a relatively easy recovery, my weight loss is good, and this forum and the May 2012 Sleevers Facebook group has given me all the info and support I need. I can't really say how they deal with post-op difficulties. :-/

Hi all.. I'm getting my surgery done by Dr.Rantis out of Alexian Brothers on July 30th. When you say single incision, is it still done laparoscopically?

Yes, Dr. Wallace did a Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) for me, through my belly button. I'm 9 weeks out and have a teeny tiny leetle scar inside my belly button that's visible IN my belly button, and it might show a little bit when I get slender if my skin tightens up. He also had to put a liver retractor in at the top of my abdomen, which was a puncture that healed really quick.

There are videos of this kind of surgery on youtube, it's actually pretty cool to watch. You need to have a fairly short torso for them to be able to get the instruments up all the way.

Consult with Dr. Wallace went great. I am too long from breastbone to belly button to do single-incision, but that's ok. Now I wait to hear from the coordinator to set up the psych eval etc.

I'm glad your consult went well! I just got home from work about half an hour ago, after staying at work 'til 1:30 this morning to make sure I had my project done today; I was going to let you know that I thought it was torso-length that made the difference in the single-incision, but apparently I'm too late to do so! I really like the psychologist who does the evals at Hoffman Estates - Dr. Crane. He also does the education classes and moderates the support groups.

My one negative about the whole experience was I do not trust their insurance coordinator Maria. I think she's very overworked, but she doesn't pay attention and she's sure she's always right. I had several delays because she insisted on doing things her way. She also refused to call me on the phone number I asked her to call me at 6 different times, delaying things further. Just keep an eye on your insurance processing, and always call the insurance company to follow up after she says she's done something.

Keep in touch!

Kat - did you have your surgery at Alexian Bros or St. Alexis? I have a friend that had it at St. Alexis and they were wonderful. I haven't decided which hospital yet. Also, is the recovery easier with the single-incision? I was told that I may not be a good candidate for it since I'm longer from my belly-button to my stomach area and the instruments cannot reach.

I went to Alexian Bros. and everyone was very nice. It's just a little closer for me, I didn't really have a particular preference. Yeah, I'm a bit on the shrimpy side so I was a good candidate for the single site. I do believe the recovery is easier with just one incision, but that's just based on general logic. After a few weeks everyone's at about the same level.

Hi, I just had a sleeve from Dr. Wallace on 5/21. Do you have a max out-of-pocket? I would say if so, you're likely to hit that. I have a big project due this week, but if you send me a message as a reminder I can give you my exact calculations. The hospital charges alone were $65K, but that's before the provider discount. I also had to stay in the hospital until the 4th day because I didn't pass gas - frustrating! I had already accumulated a number of medical bills that year, so I just ended up having to pay the rest of my out-of-pocket maximum ($1500 left out of a $2500 OOP max) and that was it.

PS, Dr. Wallace was great! I had a single-site surgery, with my tiny little scar in my bellybutton, and a little puncture for the liver retractor which is already gone, and I still have a mark from where the IV was in my hand. I love showing people my tiny little scar!