bearman99

So I had my final requirement fulfilled today by attending a bariatric support group. I was the only Sleeve amongst a large group of RNY's. I was also the only newbie. It was interesting they didn't hear Gastric Sleeve because 30 minutes were the old dogs showing the new dog the tricks of RNY..... <sigh> I know their hearts were in the right place. Man o man though the stories of all the puking were a bit gruesome. Anyways, in 8 days I will be sleeved.....yay!

On behalf of all bald guys we are insulted.......... Not really. I have dropped only 20ish pounds and my payroll lady did the inquisition on me....I was preparing for this in the future NOT PRESURGERY. It floored me for a minute. It was very unexpected and a prelude to when I get down in weight further. I like the outrageous lies solution. I will prepare the most evil twisted responses....this could be fun!

We are all on the edge of the proverbial seat....wishing you safe & speedy recovery.

This daily posting on the trials/tribulations is very helpful Luminous. 9 days to my surgery. Thank you. I will try to do this also for my journey.

For what it is worth... My Mom was in OA years ago. She had bariatric surgery 30 year ago lost 140 and started to gain some back so she joined OA to help her through her head issues. Her sponsor became a life-long friend. I know it helped her immensely. I tried it but it tended to be 90% females and I was not comfortable with that at the time. Post surgery I may join too as our hunger/head issues are the same whether we try to lose without surgery or with surgery.

This statement resonated with me. I found this insight and your state of mind to be brilliant. I am 9 days away from surgery and I know getting the head right is the long-term key to success. I will have to work to get where you are mentally. Anyways, nice update. Very inspiring to me. Thank you.

Bacon gets a bad wrap. 43 calories, .2g carb, 3g Protein, 3g fat. Not bad really. Ham is low fat. You could be a ham pusher. I am a ham.....but that is a different story. Sausages - no hiding from that. Not so good all around. Know that sugars and refined carbs are (I believe) the cause of most obesity. Never malign bacon. The taste per calorie is better than most foods.

70lbs in 6 months........ Umm, freekin AWESOME! How many years prior did you diet and lose and then regain? How successful a fat loser were you previous? Better question: Have you worked on getting your mental state right? Are you prepared for the golden first 6 months to be over mentally?

This may blow some people's minds... http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/revisit-the-causality-of-obesity The laws of thermodynamics do not indicate causality. As a 334 lb man I would not lose weight on 2000 cal per day. The formulas indicate this cannot be the case, however, reality tells you otherwise. The Dr is assuming things that are not necessarily proven. The Doc is a tool. Find a new one.

Your pain and perseverance through it all shows what kind of mentally tough person you are. Your story and journey scares and inspires me. I can only hope if I am tested like you that I can measure up to your level of tenacity. Frankly, that turn of events (pun not intended) really sucks and I am sorry this is one more challenge where you get the opportunity to show your mental toughness and strength of character. I am not normally one for prayers, but, well, thinking of you and wishing you well.

Something is dramatically strange with your PCP's experience. LapBands are, by far, the least effective and most "failed" as compared to sleeve and especially RNY. Many bariatric centers of excellence are no longer doing lap bands since it requires so much special attention to keep it effective. From the research and the evidence we have this tool for being massively effective for 6 months. In those 6 months we have to fix our heads, our minds or else we will make the tool be ineffective from then on. The peer reviewed studies I have seen have the EWL (excess weight loss) for the sleeve being as effective as the RNY at 2 year mark. Five years out if you have not changed your mind you will gain it all back regardless of the surgery/tool you chose. This is no magic bullet. The first 6 months is our opportunity to fix ourselves. When the emotional crutch of numbing up and/or the pleasure of food is removed we have to address our demons. Fix the mind and the body will follow is the advice I have heard. this makes sense and scares me a bit. What type of wls did those 5-7 people have?They all had the sleeve he said he saw more people with bypass and band succeed.

Thank you. Sleeve is my choice. In a worst case scenario I can revise to RNY or DS later if necessary. I appreciate your responses and thoughts.

Now that I read "staples" I better understand the context. Please now resume the regularly scheduled repartee. It kind of reminds me of my friends from high school (of 30 years) when we get together for Green Bay Packer games and an outsider tries to keep up with the witticisms and ripostes. Which this just shared my thought on if you can have "friends" be "real" on the internet. This thread could be held up as a shining example of it. I think I will alert the social media.

20 lbs so far Preop until Dec 24

This felt like a public mocking.

With this thread I just became convinced this a forum my fucked up self can fit right in. Thank you.

http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2464740-when-things-fall-apart-heart-advice-for-difficult-times We are not alone. It is the human condition. I humbly submit with this vulnerable heart-felt thread I think this book and these quotes harmonize with what most are saying. It may give comfort, It does to me sometimes. My favorite quote: “We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. (10)” ― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Hard Times I saw a lot of this quote below in reading this thread - seemed spot on. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” ― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times You all have courage and balls of steel....err, well, you get my meaning.

So for those 100+lbs overweight and with T2 diabetes has your sleeve... 1) Allowed you to get off oral meds? 2) Allowed you to eliminate Insulin injections? I met with my surgeon and he strongly recommended RNY/Bypass based on my diabetes instead of the sleeve. Now I am not sure how unbiased his opinion is as he is a RNY specialist. Right now 80% ($26,000) of his surgeries are RNY with the other 20%($18,000) sleeves. He does not do lap bands as he feels the weight regain happens too much and doesn't support that anymore. So the raging debate in my household is RNY versus Sleeve based on eliminating diabetes and maybe eliminating my super high blood pressure. Truly this is for the health-medical improvement. I have until Thursday to change my mind to RNY instead of sleeve. Please chime in your opinion.

Isopure clear drinks may be worth a try.

If people you care about will suffer more by not having the surgery due to medical issues I could argue you have an obligation to share your experience. Including the complications statistics and a site and/or book to help with detailed research is the best you can give a person you care about. In the end every person makes their own choice. This surgery gone wrong is not on you.

$18, 750 sleeve $ 26, 000 RNY Central Wisconsin Bariatric center of excellence

The surgery is no more dangerous than gallbladder surgery. We will be fine. We need to do our part. Follow the directions. Get our heads right. Reach out to support groups / psychologists / forum members. If we do the things we need to do our odds of success and low complications are high. You got this. We got this. Breath. We will be ok.

So I have been reading and realizing over the last while I just need to freekin get over the fear. I mean seriously just do this or don't do this but stop the darn whining. It is all a choice. We choose to become healthy by using medical technology or we don't. There are risks. There will be some, a lot, or maybe no pain. So (I look squarely at me when I say) get the hell over it and be willing to risk a little or perhaps a lot in order to live life. Okay, crawling back under my rock now. Dec 24 surgery.....Merry Christmas to me with a great potential gift for ME and my family.

I am self-pay and I am also hoop jumping, however, less time between the hoops. Psych Nut Support group Tests upon tests All the same. I'd rather have saved $11,000 by going to Mexico and could have lived with a little less of the full Monty insurance bariatric path. The big book and this forum if one spends the time I believe would have been sufficient. But, due to family wishes I am doing the VSG locally and for $18,750 - yea the amount bugs me knowing the quality and less expense I could have had in Mexico.....ok I'll shut up. :-)

December 24, 2013 surgery Dr. Raymond Georgen Starting BMI 49.3 Current BMI 47.4 Copied from my first post over in the 40 something sub-heading - my summary So, I am 47 years old and I decided (finally) I want to live. This is new...... First, a little personal history. In 1966 I was born significantly underweight. I almost killed my Mom when I was born (I was always a handful :-) ). She ended up having a historectemy because of it. This was the only point in my life I was underweight or normal weight. Shortly thereafter I was always "pudgy" or "stocky". In 7th grade I plumped up even more and at 5'7" entered high school at 230lbs. I kept gaining through sophomore year up to 250lbs. I graduated High School at 270lbs. The lowest I have been since 1984 was 280. The highest was (estimated 350ish) and I was there within the last 2 years. In 2000 I was admitted to the hospital with (BS 964 - yep and I wasn't in a coma) inability to sleep, peeing all the time, and a skin infection that was pretty nasty.....yep, diabetes T2 was with me now. I remember being prescribed a diet where I could eat 2C of raisin bran and skim milk along with some fruit.....but I digress towards a scathing diatribe about 2000's accepted dietary guidelines. Now all along I have had high blood pressure. Pretty much since high school it was high. I, being a guy and purposefully choosing to ignore the silent things, didn't do anything about it for quite a while. In early 2011 I was fatigued and tired all the time. I had also mysteriously gained 30 lbs in about 6 weeks. So I went in to the hospital "not feeling well" and when the nurse checked my blood pressure hit the emergency call channel to have me admitted immediately (240/180 will do that).....I was in AFIB and it turns out had heart failure from fluid build up. I lost a bunch of weight after this getting down to 290 (from 340ish), getting my heart back into sinus rhythm. According to my cardiologist he is amazed at my hearts recovery back into what is considered "normal" with my pumping ability (his words not mine) "fully recovered". So I have Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidia, borderline Kidney issues, and gout. I am on 11 medications for hypertension and 3 meds (incl Lantus) for diabetes. My Mom had hypertension really bad all her life too, died from cancer though nothing related to the heart. And it was just a few months ago (my ability to live in denial is EPIC) I finally woke up and said to myself "I want to live"....not just live like in living to an age, I mean actually live life like this is it and not a dress rehearsal. So here I am scheduled for surgery on Dec 24 and a self-pay to boot (direct exclusions suck). I am a bit scared of the surgery. I am very scared of me. My ability to live in denial and ignore things that should not be ignored is well refined and dangerous. My Mom 35 years ago has a gastric bypass and she lost 150 lbs and eventually keeping 100lbs off while using OA as her lifelong counselling until her death in recent years. My Mom's sister had the same surgery lost 100 lbs and 2 years later gained it all back plus 50 lbs.....which one am I (says my fear in my head). I have been trying to not drink 30 min before, during or 30 min after a meal....holy crap I had no idea how much I used liquids to wash food down. This of course adds to my trepidation and general unease. So, I want to live. I have had two major health warning shots in my life. I believe the Sleeve will aid in this life change. I am a bit scared. Thank you for reading. Now, off to read all the good info on this site. I will share more as it happens.