Katie Loesch-Meyer

Thank you all for sharing. Sounds like 2 is more common, but some places do one night. This surgery would be at a Center of Excellence.

I believe those guidelines have changed recently. They are now saying it is a good option for women with no children. As for placement, I HIGHLY recommend a cervical block. Not all doctors do that, but it helps a LOT. I had someone try without that first and it was really painful, and my cervix had closed up a lot and was hard to manage. I went to a different doctor that did a cervical block and it was a piece of cake. The hormones are very very minmal, fractions of a percent less than in the implant or depo, from what I understand.

FYI, depo is known to cause depression in a lot of women. I was never depressed before in my life, and after the second shot was nearly suicidal. And I gained 15lbs in a month. Never did it again. I know have a Mirena IUD which is a MUCH lower dose of hormones. No complaints. Also, oral BCP are not as effective after bypass, from what I read.

I want to be away from my family as little as possible. I will do anything and everything I can (follow orders, etc) to go home asap, but I have no idea what is normal for RNY surgery. The hospital I'm looking at does use the DaVinci robot, which is supposed to cut your hospital stay, but I don't know what that adds up to. I will be attending an informational session soon. This is one of my biggest concerns, and thought you all could help me out. I realize it seems silly, but although the teenager won't miss me, I've never been away from my little ones overnight. Youngest is 2 and still sometimes wakes up in the night wanting a drink, or to be settled down by mama. I know my husband can handle it, but still. I honestly just hate hospitals. I even had homebirths with the last two kids, to avoid being in one, lol. So...is the idea of just one night in the hospital realistic at all? I'm 38 yrs old, almost 39. Healthy for the most part, BMI of 40. Only complications are GERD, joint pain, etc.

What about wearing more skirts instead for a while? if you can find some with an elastic waist it seems they would fit longer than pants would. They would also be easier to adjust than pants, i'd think.

Yikes, I hope not! It really feels like either I'm getting anemic again (totally possible....I tend to stay at the low end of normal on a good day, below normal otherwise due to the reflux meds), or the fat is just in the darned way, like when I lay on my belly. Or, I could just be out of breath from hauling around too much weight. I hope. It makes sense that exercise would be easier thinnner. I mean, i look at thin girls doing squats and laugh, because I'm lifting twice what they do when I squat. I'd love to be able to do say, Zumba and not have my feet hurt. Or, yoga, which I used to LOVE, without my belly being in the way.

Also, I'm assuming i wouldn't get so out of breath if I have this done, and lose the weight? Just now I had to dash to take the trash out (heard the trucks coming) and after a whole 3 minutes of exercise I'm panting like I ran 3 miles. Sometimes at night, too, when I'm trying to sleep, I feel out of breath when i lay on my stomach. I think the fat in my abdomen is compressing my diapghram, like when I was pregnant. Or maybe I'm getting anemic again, from the stupid acid reflux meds. That does this to me too. I'm having a mini physical next week for life insurance purposes, and they will be doing some lab work so I'll find that out then.

Thanks. That was a very logical way to phrase it, and you are right. "That's weird" is not a medical reason for or against surgery. And although it does freak me out a bit, dying from a heart attack freaks me out more. Can anyone share how long they were in the hospital? Obviously, that wont' determine my procedure, but I'd like to know.

So, about me. I'll be 39 in a few months. I'm 5'1 and 213lbs naked first thing in the morning, lol. BMI is right at 40. I have GERD (no hiatal hernia according to GI series done almost two decades ago) that I have to take nexium for or I'm in agony. My teeth are all messed up from the reflux (we assume that is what the issue is....no cavities until after I had my first kid and the reflux got bad, then 7 in one visit, since then multiple issues, etc). My feet hurt when I exercise. They cramp up worse than labor pains almost. I've had bouts of plantar fasciitis that flare up if I exercise too heavily, and I wear special shoes to keeep it at bay. My last labwork was about a year and 20lb or so ago, at the time I was blessedly still healthy on paper, ideal blood sugar and ideal cholesterol/trigs. (bad cholesterol was actually below normal, as were trigs). I eat healthy food, I just eat way too much of it. But I can't see how I can keep this up...if I keep gaining weight I'm GOING to end up diabetic, if nothing else. The scariest thing is that my father and his twin and his father all had heart attacks in their 40's. That terrifies me. He also has diabetes now, barely controlled even with meds. And his mom (who I look just like) had type 2 diabetes as well. And was also morbidly obese and often super obese. She was a a tough, strong willed lady. That she couldn't win the battle with food shows me just how hard it is. If it was just "will power" she'd have been thin. I've lost weight before, 70lbs once, but it always comes back, with more. Lately I lose 10 and gain 15 or 20. I started researching diets to see what has the best long term results and the answer is, none. None do. Nonehave good long term results. Then I looked at medication. But dear lord, most have horrid side effects and people only lose about 5% of their body weight! Which led me to the idea of surgery. I could put it off, I'm not that "sick" yet. But then I think, won't I heal better if I'm NOT sick? And if I wait until I have diabetes, won't that mean I end up with some permanent damage to my body? So maybe I should just do it. I have zero confidence anything else will work. I've been dieting since Jr high at least, and if something was going to work long term I think I would have found it by now. I've done Atkins, Paleo, WW, Vegetarian, Vegan, Jenny Craig, etc. I'm running out of diets. Anyway, I started out thinking lap band, because it isn't permanent and is the least extreme. But I'm reading conflicting things about it and GERD/acid reflux. And stuff about esophogeal issues. I've had esophogeal spasms in the past and they SUCK. That feeling of nothing going down, and basically foaming to get the slime out of my throat that won't pass. Lap band seems like it will cause that in a lot of people, and that sucks. Also, the results long term seem iffy.....at best. 25% don't lose the weight? Gastric sleeve seems like a good safe option, and reduces grehlin, so that sounds awesome. I see a lot of people with great results. But research tells me it isn't a good choice for people with GERD. That leaves bypass. I went into this thinking, well, I won't do bypass. That's too extreme. But, it's the best option for GERD from what I'm reading. In fact, doctors that treat GERD patients are telling their patients to have bypass instead of reflux surgery, because it's a better cure. So that seems like the best option. But...it scares the crud out of me. Honestly, I got weirded out the first time I had a filling....the idea of my body being modified freaks me out a bit. But, i got over the fillings, and I assume I'd get over this. Any thoughts? Also, there are a few places near me that do this. Two hospitals claim to be centers of excellence, but when I look them up they are not listed? And if they both really are, how do I choose between them? One seems to have a better program in place, I think, but that's judging from a website. Complicating things is my hsuband's fear of me doing this. His mother died from surgical complications a few years ago...after a back surgery her bowl ruptured. Now, she was in poor health anyway, a pill addict, had diverticulitis, etc that no one knew. But still. Also, she had bypass a long time ago, and she was an awful person who made awful decisions a lot of the time. Generally, we never do the same things she did, so this is a bit weird to him. But we can get past that, and he's supportive of me doing what I need to do. Just scared. Edited to ask: if you did Laproscopic Roux en Y, how many nights were you in the hospital? I've never been away from my 2 yr old before, overnight. Or my 5 yr old, but she'd be fine. I know my local hospital uses the Davinci robot which shortens hosptial stay, but I don't know what that means. I'm hoping for only one night, if at all possible.