1959JimmyJames

Hi JacobsMommy. Me again. I am 4 and a half weeks post-op and I have lost 26 lbs. You will definitely lose weight the first month for sure because you are consuming liquids mainly and you will be very good at following the diet plan because you will be too scared to do anything else. You will have the runs almost daily. At the very least, it will clear out your bowels and intestines thoroughly. I am on a regular diet now. I don't eat like before, even with the band. I am not hungry anymore. I don't know if this will change for me. I am going to find out though as time goes by. You should look through the patient profile list on this website. Look for people who have lost a lot of weight and ask them specific questions. You can do private messages and I have found that all of the people on here that I have asked questions of, all took the time to respond. It's wonderful. You can see how they dealt with problems and got through it. Stick with the success stories. You have to convince yourself that this will work and you will make it work. I don't think that you need to worry about eating very much because I can't and I am a big guy. I am worried because I can't exercise the way I used to. I retired a few years early because I was developing back problems. I can't do high impact aerobics or walk fast or jog, but I do need to move and walk, and I am, but it takes me a while to get anywhere. Good luck to you.

Never trust a fart. I hear that Lipstick Lady. LOL.
Jacobsmommy. Why would your first doctor completely reverse himself? That would really bother me. You have a good relationship with him because he operated on you before, with good results. I would go with doctor #2, because I think that it is better to do it all at once. The more surgeries that I have, the harder it is to bounce back afterwards. My doctor did my original band surgery and my sleeve revision. This was over a 10 year time span. He has lots of experience at this. He said that if he saw problems while operating and wouldn't be able to finish, in a timely manner, then he would stop after removing the band and then let me heal and then come back for round 2 to do the sleeve. He said that he has never had a problem with doing both procedures at once. The patients all did well. His main concern was that if the surgery was going to take too long then he would stop because it is not good to be under anesthesia for too many hours. My surgery took about 4 hours and he did both procedures at the same time. He removed the band, performed a Gastric Sleeve, and fixed a Hiatal Hernia. I am 4 and a half weeks post-op and I feel pretty good now. Your first doctor is being very cautious and that is a good thing too. You have a tough decision to make. I just went through the surgery and I am glad it is over and it was done at one time. Good luck to you.

Surgery is set for March 17th. Nervous but anxious to get it over with. I like the post that said, "only spent one night in hospital and already up doing things around the house, plus didn't need pain medicine". You gotta love that. Mine is a lap-band conversion to a sleeve. Hope that I have the same information to post 4 days post-op.

My first choice surgeon pushed me so hard for gastric that I left him 3 months into the 6 month process andhad to start over. I wanted the sleeve, he said he would do it if I insisted but I was making a bad decision. After finding a new surgeon, I met up with a nurse who worked with surgeon 1 previously. She loved him, but said that he had only done a dozen or so sleeves, one that went horribly wrong so he hated them.
I don't doubt he was a brilliant surgeon and that the particular patient who had the leak would have had it with anyone, but I still feel as if I dodged a bullet. I want a surgeon who goes in like he's God and can take on the world, not someone who is not completely enthusiastic about what he is doing.
Go with surgeon 2.

I had surgery 3 weeks ago, today. I feel really good now. You are worried about the first few days, and those are the worst. I am a band to sleeve revision. Surgery took about 4 hours. The doctor had to do something else that I needed. That is why it took longer. When I woke up in post-op, I had a bad headache. I didn't feel my abdomen pain yet. I just had a headache. They give you ice chips and that helped the cottonmouth. I kept saying," my head hurts", and the reply was, "I can't give you anything yet", then I would raise my hand to my head and feel it being pushed back onto the gurney, and heard someone say "lay still". Then I would say, "my mouth is dry", and ice chips would magically appear on a spoon in front of my mouth, and the whole cycle would be repeated again and again and again. When you get to your room you will be hooked up to a pain pump. You will have the control in your hand and when the button is lit up you push it and pain medicine will will enter your IV and you will feel better. I didn't have a catheter. I was up the first night for a walk and a bathroom break. The second day was about the same and the second night. The morning of the third day I was taken to radiology for a swallow test and after a couple more hours I was released to go home. I was given a liquid pain reliever that helped alot. It is very strong but tasted horrible. The only time I hurt was when I would get up to go to the bathroom or move from side to side in bed. Around the fifth day post-op I stopped drinking the pain reliever because the taste made me want to puke and I didn't really need it anymore. I am not making light of this. The pain was strong and I felt like I had been beaten up real bad, but if you drink the pain killer and try to stay still and sip Water constantly then you will get through the first 5 days. After that I was moving around pretty good with out any pain reliever. Thank God for my wife. I feel wonderful now. I am down 26 lbs already in 3 weeks and I am not doing any kind of exercise yet. Just walking around the house and helping out with the kids. Watching TV is bad. But it is boring without it. It's not the shows that are bad, it's the commercials. I am not hungry anymore, but when I see a food commercial for pizza or hamburgers or steak and lobster or something else that is delicious, I start to feel like I am starving. It is an instant reaction to the image. I am just amazed at how much control these images have over my behavior. I am being very good and following the plan that I was given. One more week and I can eat a normal diet again. I am waiting to find out what that is like. Good luck to you.

I had surgery 3 weeks ago, today. I feel really good now. You are worried about the first few days, and those are the worst. I am a band to sleeve revision. Surgery took about 4 hours. The doctor had to do something else that I needed. That is why it took longer. When I woke up in post-op, I had a bad headache. I didn't feel my abdomen pain yet. I just had a headache. They give you ice chips and that helped the cottonmouth. I kept saying," my head hurts", and the reply was, "I can't give you anything yet", then I would raise my hand to my head and feel it being pushed back onto the gurney, and heard someone say "lay still". Then I would say, "my mouth is dry", and ice chips would magically appear on a spoon in front of my mouth, and the whole cycle would be repeated again and again and again. When you get to your room you will be hooked up to a pain pump. You will have the control in your hand and when the button is lit up you push it and pain medicine will will enter your IV and you will feel better. I didn't have a catheter. I was up the first night for a walk and a bathroom break. The second day was about the same and the second night. The morning of the third day I was taken to radiology for a swallow test and after a couple more hours I was released to go home. I was given a liquid pain reliever that helped alot. It is very strong but tasted horrible. The only time I hurt was when I would get up to go to the bathroom or move from side to side in bed. Around the fifth day post-op I stopped drinking the pain reliever because the taste made me want to puke and I didn't really need it anymore. I am not making light of this. The pain was strong and I felt like I had been beaten up real bad, but if you drink the pain killer and try to stay still and sip Water constantly then you will get through the first 5 days. After that I was moving around pretty good with out any pain reliever. Thank God for my wife. I feel wonderful now. I am down 26 lbs already in 3 weeks and I am not doing any kind of exercise yet. Just walking around the house and helping out with the kids. Watching TV is bad. But it is boring without it. It's not the shows that are bad, it's the commercials. I am not hungry anymore, but when I see a food commercial for pizza or hamburgers or steak and lobster or something else that is delicious, I start to feel like I am starving. It is an instant reaction to the image. I am just amazed at how much control these images have over my behavior. I am being very good and following the plan that I was given. One more week and I can eat a normal diet again. I am waiting to find out what that is like. Good luck to you.

I had a band for 10 years and never heard of your problem till now. If you are thinking about the sleeve now, so early after the band then I think your doctor didn't discuss this entire situation with you to your understanding. I just converted to a sleeve on March 17th. The band failed and started leaking and I gained a lot of weight back. I am 11 days post-up. I have never felt this miserable, but I am feeling a lot better. The first 4 days were pure torture. The incission where he removed my stomach and the band is bigger than the rest of the incissions, and is where the port used to sit. Now that the pain is almost gone from there, I can feel that the port is gone and that is a nice feeling. This is very serious stuff. I do know that if the sleeve would have been available 10 years ago, I would have done that operation instead of the band. I just had my 1 week post-op checkup. It was actually 1 week and 3 days post-op, and my numbers are great. I am already down 20 lbs and my blood pressure is back to normal. Now that the pain is gone, I am feeling so much better. I am almost to soft foods. 3 more days. The band worked very well for me for about 9 years and then I started gaining weight. Now that I have the sleeve, I feel better about it. I feel relieved that the band is out of me now. Good luck to you.

I had a band for 10 years and never heard of your problem till now. If you are thinking about the sleeve now, so early after the band then I think your doctor didn't discuss this entire situation with you to your understanding. I just converted to a sleeve on March 17th. The band failed and started leaking and I gained a lot of weight back. I am 11 days post-up. I have never felt this miserable, but I am feeling a lot better. The first 4 days were pure torture. The incission where he removed my stomach and the band is bigger than the rest of the incissions, and is where the port used to sit. Now that the pain is almost gone from there, I can feel that the port is gone and that is a nice feeling. This is very serious stuff. I do know that if the sleeve would have been available 10 years ago, I would have done that operation instead of the band. I just had my 1 week post-op checkup. It was actually 1 week and 3 days post-op, and my numbers are great. I am already down 20 lbs and my blood pressure is back to normal. Now that the pain is gone, I am feeling so much better. I am almost to soft foods. 3 more days. The band worked very well for me for about 9 years and then I started gaining weight. Now that I have the sleeve, I feel better about it. I feel relieved that the band is out of me now. Good luck to you.

The day you have surgery I will be 10 days post-op. Today is 6 days post-op and I feel much better. I can roll over in bed now without the incissions hurting. I can sit up without too much discomfort. Walking around is not difficult. I get lightheaded but I think that is because I need to eat. I stopped the pain medicine on day 4 post-op. I feel weak from lack of food. I am not hungry. I drink regular amounts of the liquids that I was told to drink. None of the Protein shakes or Vitamin supplements taste good to me. I hope I can find one that tastes good soon, because it is a long time until I can eat real food again. I was 2 days in the hospital and my surgery had no complications. I am a band to sleeve revision. When you wake up after surgery and they move you to your room don't forget to punch that pain medicine button. Whenever you see it lit up you push it. Good luck to you and to all of us.