clau1tx

SleeveNZ, You look amazing!!! Have you worked out like crazy this whole time? 93 lbs in 6 months is an amazing result. That's a lot of weight in very little amount of time. That is EXACTLY what I am hoping to acomplish. What's your secret? or should i say what are your recomendations? I have heard post ops have loose skin issues and you seem to have NONE at all. I am still pre op so NO WAY is my bikini pic going on here. Keep up the good work.

I read that book and didn't related the VBG to VSG at all. Hmmm, maybe I need to check my reading comprehension skills! I know nothing about VBG, so I can't comment on that. But, I know a little bit about VSG, and it involves some fairly new techniques added to an old surgical procedure. Removal of all or a portion of the stomach has been done for many years for things like stomach cancer and ulcers. My late mother in law had most of her stomach removed because of stomach cancer.
The difference with VSG is that the techniques to remove part of the stomach have been advanced to the point where the surgery can be done laparascopically most of the time. The stapling technique has also evolved into a fairly simple procedure wherein a tube (bougie/bougle) is passed down the throat into the stomach and the surgeon uses an automatic stapler/cutter to close off the removed section and the remaining section, then removes the excess stomach through a laparscopic incision.
In traditional stomach surgery, the patient is opened up with a midline incision and the stomach is removed. My mother in law had a long scar on her tummy and she said the doctor hand-sewed her stomach closed after removing the cancerous part of her stomach. I do believe that her remaining stomach was more restrictive than my sleeve is.
Most of the WLS procedures that involved stapling or re-routing the stomach before left the excluded part of the stomach intact in the body. That did not keep people from getting ulcers or cancer in that section, nor did it remove the part of the stomach that produced ghrelin, which is the hormone that makes us hungry. So, you have someone with an intact urge to eat, but without the stomach capacity to eat enough to eliminate the hunger. My sister in law had a gastric bypass and says that she fights the actual hunger every day. Those WLS surgeries also often involved re-routing of the intestines and, sometimes, removal of the pyloric valve. That's the valve at the bottom of your stomach that releases your food into the intestines to be digested.
Sleevers keep their pyloric valve, lose the ghrelin, and can eat most foods safely, although in smaller quantities than before. Some never get the hunger back, some do. Overall, though, VSG is safer, with fewer side effects and guaranteed complications than most of the other WLS surgeries available, In my opinion anyway!
I think that's a fairly complete description, but please, anyone, correct me if I've given erroneous information.
Good luck with your decision!!