senickisncis

I've seen several people on here mentioned that they took a PPI during the post op period, and I was on them before the surgery, but haven't been taking them since because I wasn't sure how to do it. I don't think Prilosec is supposed to be dissolved, so are you guys just taking it like normal? TIA!

Yesterday was my one month "surgiversary" I am down 16 pounds since surgery and 27 pounds since pre-op diet. I was hoping for a little more weight loss in the first month, but I feel good. I get full on small amounts of food, and don't have the junk food cravings that I did before. I never had any pain or nausea to speak of. My incisions are tiny, and I don't notice them at all. I don't have any heart-burn. I attribute this to Dr. Watkins fixing my hiatal hernia. I am a happy girl, and I am hopeful that I can reach my goal of dropping 100 pounds in one year. I think I lost about the same amount of weght when I was on weight watchers, but the difference is that I am going to actually keep it off this time!

I hope I become addicted to exercise. :thumbup:

The biggest reason for having the VSP instead of the VSG was because I was afraid of leaks. I've heard some horror stories about that, and it just scared me. The other reason is because of the fact the VSP is reversisble. I had a lot of what ifs. Most people don't worry about these things at all, but it was a big deal for me. One thing you might want to try is to make your decision for either one and then see if you can live with that decision. Try it out for a few days. If you choose the VSG, ask yourself if you can live with the risks. If it's the VSP, just ask youself about whatever concerns you may have about going this route.

Most of what to eat and when is decided by your physician. I had Dr. Watkins, and he required one week of liquids preop and 800 calories, but I think for a higher BMI it was two weeks on liquids before the surgery. Liquids are anything you can sip through a straw. So, you could mix soup in a blender. One thing I liked was to whip up a protein smoothie with cottage cheese. It took away some of the sweetness and was very good. I think some other doctors want you on just liquids. You also need to be around 60-65 gm of protein a day and 60 oz of fluids. The first week after my surgery, I was on one week of liquids (sip through a straw type) and two weeks of mushies which is any food that is mushy, i.e. scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.
I don't know that I have any advice for preop surgery other than to follow your doctor's recommendations. Postop diet is a little hard, because mushies go through you pretty fast, as do liquids, so you need to eat a little more often. Keep in mind, you will get hungry, but are easily satisfied on less. I now understand why this is called a tool. You still have to watch what you eat, because you can put a lot of ice cream and potato chips in that little stomach. But it's not the same hunger as before, and it's a lot more manageable and easily satisfied. I think the best part of this is that once I have lost all the weight, It will be easier to keep it off.
Postop, I didn't have any pain or gas, and I think that was thanks to Dr. Watkins. There must be something he does differently, but I'm not sure. I hope that's what you wanted to know. Let me know of any other questions you might have.
So I guess you decided on the plication?

Thanks so much and it is very appreciated. I love this site. Everyone has something of value to share and say:) Yes, I almost certain that I'm going forward with VSP but I have not totally ruled out VSG. I will visit more about the pros/cons with my doctor. And of course I welcome any "sleevers" comments as well. Why again was it that you elected plication over vsg?

Thanks for posting and Congrats on the weight loss!! Any advise pre and post surgery? What to eat? How to eat? Any suggestions??

Hi Lguidry,
I'm sorry to be late in posting, but I haven't been on here for a few days. I am doing great. I'm down 27 pounds since my preop diet. My surgery was on Aug.6. I think my weight loss has slowed down a little because I came off of one of my blood pressure pills, and it was a diuretic. But just being able to come off my BP meds is great news! I'll be taken off the other one soon, and it's a diuretic as well. I've gone from 210 to 183 in two months, just 33 more to go. I feel good and no more joint pain. Let me know if there are any specific questions you have.

Want to stay in touch with anyone who has had this procedure. Welcome any comments from those who have "gone before me". Keep posting please!!!

Dr. Ortiz will be doing my procedure at the Obesity Control Center in TJ, Mexico.

Hi,
Congrats on your surgery date. Who is performing your surgery?
Good luck and please keep us updated on how your surgery goes.
genepha

Well, I will be having my plication surgery 10/4/10 and I'm excited. Would love to communicate with anyone who has had this procedure.

Hi Karen. I had my surgery on Aug. 6, and I'm doing very well. I've lost 24 pounds including the one week preop diet I was on. Unfortunately, I didn't lose any last week. You will sometimes hit a stall. If you click on Dr. Watkins' name in one of his posts, you can read everything he has written regarding the plication. That will give you a lot of information.
Joanie

Regarding plication after Nissen fundoplication (surgery for severe heartburn/reflux/GERD):
My thoughts are that if the Nissen fundoplication is working to control the heartburn, then leave it intact - leave that area alone and then plicate the remaining stomach below that. This way, you have an intact anti-reflux mechanism and an excellent weight loss tool as well.
If the previous fundoplication was done through an open surgery (large incision in the middle of your abdomen), then the scar tissue is expected to be greater than if it were done laparoscopically and that would be something to contend with during the surgery. If the fundoplication was done laparoscopically (tiny incisions) then you would expect very little to no scar tissue and therefore this wouldn't add any grief to another operation.
When you re-operate on a patient with previous fundoplication, what you find varies quite a bit. Sometimes the wrap (fundoplication) has completely fallen apart and it looks nearly like nothing was done. Sometimes the wrap is very much still present with lots of accompanying scar tissue associated with it. Generally, if the fundoplication is still providing excellent relief from heartburn, chances are good that it is still intact. This correlates very strongly. If the heartburn has returned as bad as ever, chances are good that the wrap is apart. The status of this wrap, which would be easy to evaluate during surgery, might alter a surgeon's opinion on what is best to do surgically during plication surgery.
Like so many situations in surgery, great judgment is required to evaluate the endless potential findings and make good decisions about how to proceed. This is an example of evaluating what you are dealing with and making decisions to maximize benefit to the patient while minimizing complications and/or frustration post-operatively.
The simple answer is, it would be possible to perform plication after Nissen fundoplication. Surgical findings would dictate how best to proceed regarding takedown the fundoplicatino and plicate the full length vs. leave the fundoplication intact and plicate distal to that.
Brad Watkins MD

Hi Joanie,
Thanks for the support! I was concerned about how this would work for pre-op workup then having surgery and being so far away in case of problems/questions.
When did you have your procedure and how are you doing since? I've been researching lap-bands but this is a new procedure to me.
Karen

I love the idea of making of list of "thing I want to do" and gardening is something I love. I'll be having two total knee replacements in a few months and really feel I'll have my life back once the rehab is over.

I also think making long and short term goals with rewards is important. We're working to be healthy and rewarding milestones is a good thing. When I get out of the 200's, I am definitely going to take a weekend trip.

Thank you so much, Dr. Watkins!

I had my GPS done on 7/23, by Dr Watkins. I am now 5 days post op. The pocedure was recommended to me because I had the band for 3 years and never had great success. I was commited to the process and diet, but I could never get the "sweet spot".
So far I have had less pain then with the band. However, I don't remember it being so hard to get liquids in with the band recovery. Yesterday was a great day and I was able to get down almost 2 slim fast and about 2 bottles of water. Today was bad, about 1 bottle of water. I sip all the time. The pain in my chest is so tight because of the swelling it hurts to drink. I am hoping everyday will get better and I will not get dehydrated.
I did lose 12 pounds since the week prior to surgery. I am happy about that!

Regarding questions about the history of plication, it seems to have started in India as a low cost alternative to band and stapling procedures. It has also been done in Greece, Brazile and Mexico with everyone reporting essentially the same results - about 60% EWL (excess weight loss) at one year with no evidence of regain so far although the data is young (not a lot of long-term data).
There was a clinical trial with 45 patients from Brazil, Cleveland Clinic and OSU. The trial is closed but ongoing data is being collected.
We have now completed 7 cases in Cincinnati with several more scheduled. I'm going to spend time with Dr. Cottam in Utah next week to watch him do cases and compare our experiences with the new procedure.
I haven't seen nausea be a big problem post-operatively but I read about this a lot from the small number of published papers.
The biggest thing I see early after surgery is that some patients have difficulty drinking liquids for a short time until the swelling goes down. I've had one patient that required intravenous fluids for one day since he wasn't able to drink enough with the swelling. This patient is already down 40 pounds in about 6 weeks.
I think it is important to eradicate the "stomach bacteria" (Helicobacter pylori) prior to surgery and continue PPI's (Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, etc) for 2 months post-op. I have patients do 2 weeks of liquid Protein to shrink the liver pre-op and do one week of liquidy food (think applesauce consistency) post-op and then 2 weeks of soft mushies and then on to regular food.
Originally, I thought that plication patients could drink with meals but I am already finding out that it's best to drink before meals and once you eat solid food, wait for at least an hour prior to drinking again. This allows you to be full on much smaller quantities of food.
Always keep in mind that all weight loss surgeries are tools for weight loss and work best in combination with the patient's good efforts. Also, all weight loss surgery tools work best when combined with calorie burning. Calorie burning doesn't have to be sophisticated - even walking is an excellent way to burn calories. All weight loss comes from calorie deficit - burning more calories than you eat. Therefore, adding calorie burning to the help of calorie reduction with surgery is the best way to lose weight.
I've put a bunch of medical weight loss lectures on YouTube if you search "Watkins Weight Loss Class" it will pull them up and hopefully help in the pursuit of weight loss success.
Brad Watkins MD

Ok guys, I've fallen in love with my blender...on liquids and have discovered I can blend just about any Soup I like.
If I miss Thai, I get some red thai curry with chicken from the local randall's/vonn's and blend it, with additional Water or ff milk....in the mood for italian wedding, well zippy up and blend that up....
I mean some of these are higher calorie, but when watered down I don't get the full 1 cup serving of calories....if you need the Protein (my shake has 60gr so I don't need to add unflavored often) add unflavored.....
blend, blend blend and enjoy! So many Soups and so little time!

Good to have you with us.

Hi Ellen. I will be getting gastric plication from Dr. Watkins in Cincinnati on Aug 6. I live about six hours away from him, so I am leaving today for consultation with him tomorrow. I am so happy this went so well for you and that you are happy. Can I call you a loser? :-)

I am 1 week post op , at this time I sip little bits all day , if I do more it is very uncomfortable for a few sec.

Questions for GS Plication post ops..
1) Can you drink, let's say, a full cup of coffee within 15 min? Or maybe a glass of Water? I know stomach is smaller, limiting solid food, but I was wondering if liquids are limited. Or does it depend on how far out you are from your surgery post op?
2) Do you feel the food/drink hitting the plete or folded in part of the stomach?
3) After being healed up from surgery and returning to solid food, will the stomach stretch out a little bit like a regular sleeve?
Thanks!

That is awsome!