catwoman7

yea that's pretty high - but it might be what they're charging in California now - plus nationally-known surgeons are always on the high side. I actually did an email consult (so I did four consults, not three as I stated earlier - but three in person) with Dr. Francesco Sauceda in Mexico. He's also very well-known for working with massive weight loss patients and worked at Parkland Hospital in Dallas at one time. Anyway, it's been a couple of years, but I think he was about half of what US surgeons were charging - and that included air fare (which he was going to reimburse me $600 for) plus a few day's stay at a hotel (or maybe it was a recovery house - I can't remember). I was just a little leery about going abroad for surgery, but evidently people do it all the time.

yep - Chicago surgeons - or at least the really well-known ones - featured "big city prices" 😥

I think this was directed at sillykitty, but I figured I'd respond as well. if I'm understanding this correctly, those quotes are really low. I was told by other people who've gone through this (i.e., other massive weight loss patients) to expect about $8K-10K per procedure, with the lower bodylift counting as two procedures because they do so much there (extended tummy tuck, butt lift, mons lift). So in other words, around $16K-20K for a lower body lift, and another $8K-10K for a breast lift, and another $8K-$10K for an arm lift, etc. I had three consults, and I found this pretty much rang true. Prices can vary depending on location, experience of surgeon, whether or not they do their surgeries in a hospital or in an ambulatory surgical center, whether or not they have you spend the night, etc - but that range was a pretty good ballpark.

he's retiring? Wow! A lot of people are going to really bummed about that!! He is super well known in the bariatric community! And yes - Joseph Michaels. A lot of people on another forum I'm on have gone to him. I went to Lawrence Zachary in Chicago. Actually, I think I first heard about him right here on BP.... btw - Dr. Zachary works out of two hospitals in Chicago. He's on the faculty of the Univ of Chicago, so he works at that hospital of course - but I think it's mostly insurance-covered patients who go there. He also works out of Weiss Hospital, a small community hospital on the north side of the city. He does the self-pays there, because the facility fee there is lower there than it is at U of C. I was self-pay, so my surgery was at Weiss.

unfortunately, no 😥

I didn't look on the west coast at all, so I don't know who's all out there. Peter Fisher in San Antonio is supposed to be reasonably priced and is nationally known. My guy in Chicago is also well known, but he's pretty expensive. There are some on the east coast - like Dr. Capella in New Jersey and Dr. Michaels in the DC area. As I recall, they were pretty reasonable price-wise, too - or were a few years ago, anyway. Both very respected in the subspecialty (i.e., body contouring for massive weight loss patients).

you're supposed to chew your food slowly because your stomach won't churn nearly as much as it does now - so you have to "help" it. That said, I don't chew for 10-15 minutes anymore - but I do still chew more slowly and thoroughly than I did pre-surgery.

I've never heard that one (i.e., to avoid black pepper). I suppose he thinks it'll irritate a healing stomach, although again, I was never told that and have never heard of anyone else being told to avoid it, either.

it's hard to say because everyone's tastes are so different. I like Syntrax and Unjury products. you could always pick up a bunch of individual packets from somewhere like GNC or Vitamin Shoppe so you're not blowing a lot of money on a huge tub of something that you end up hating. If you don't have one of those stores nearby, you can order online from either them or amazon (Syntrax has a variety pack of individual flavors). Bariatric Pal store may carry them as well.

hormone release is pretty common after surgery. It can last a few months...

some people become lactose intolerant after surgery - some temporarily, others permanently. It's possible that's what's going on with the dairy products.

yes. I lost pretty rapidly the first six months or so, then it slowed down quite a bit. Once I was a year out, it REALLY slowed down - like to maybe 2 lbs a month.

I continued with cortisone shots for the first few months after surgery, but then stopped. I just didn't hurt much anymore with all that weight gone (my arthritis is in my knees and right hip)

it varies tremendously from person to person. I lost 16 lbs the first month. I would say most people lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range. Of course there are those who lose less or more than that, but I would say (just from observation from hanging out on bariatric boards for the last five years), that that's about the average range. I learned really quickly NOT to compare myself to others. After losing 16 lbs the first month and being a slow loser the whole time, I would have been very disappointed had I done that. Just stick to your plan and the weight WILL come off, whether fast or slow. I was very committed to my program and ended up losing all of my excess weight.

I bought everything (except underwear and swimsuits) from Goodwill and other thrift stores until I hit maintenance. I was blowing through sizes so fast that it just wasn't worth buying new things.

yes - those last 20 lbs are a real b*tch to get off. It took me FOREVER to lose those!! Not sure what to tell you other than to keep at it...

I haven't heard or read about that...but this article suggests it can happen after upper abdominal surgery and anesthesia (I don't know - and maybe the researchers don't either - if it's the surgery or the anesthesia that causes it. I can't see the whole article, so...) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2360740 update: I have access to my former university's databases (retired staff member), so I just looked up the article (we had it - yay!). Basically, they don't know what causes it. There are several factors they considered (post-surgical trauma, endocrine reactions, anesthesia, use of opioids for pain following surgery), but any one of those factors is probably not likely to cause it. It's probably some combination. They weren't really able to figure it out and suggested further research on this. They did say that in the patients they studied, REM sleep (when you're most likely to dream) was greatly diminished for a couple of days after surgery, but then in the middle of the week post-op, it goes into overdrive for a few days (and again, they're not sure what exactly is causing that). But yes - it sounds like what you experienced does happen to some people)

I've heard the same things that RickM mentioned - they work well for some, but not for others. Also, deficiencies often don't show up until you're out at least a couple of years. Your body has stores of several nutrients that it can use for awhile, but eventually, they'll be depleted.

RNY patients can take either sublingual B12 tablets (but not regular tablets) or B12 injections. VSG patients are not as prone to deficiencies, so you may be able to take a regular tablet. But if not, I would think sublingual would work for sleevers as well since they're fine for RNY'ers (who again, are at greater risk for vitamin deficiency).

Two Good is pretty good.

hey they got the rest of us on that table! And into the hospital bed, too! Don't worry - Dr. Now's patients are all 600+ lbs, and they get them on the table and into the bed, too!

it's not just early out - for some of us, it's a chronic thing. I also take a capful of Miralax every day. And if I still manage to get backed up (which happens once or twice a month), I take Milk of Magnesia for a night or two to clear it out.

I'm still pretty obsessed with anything related to bariatric surgery and I'm over four years out! But then, reading about it every day and checking into a couple of these internet forums every day keeps my head in the game, so I won't give it up. I'm afraid if I didn't keep it front & center in my brain at least an hour or two a day, I'd stop being so disciplined and my weight would start to creep up.

actually, bypass is pretty well known in Europe, so I wouldn't be particularly worried about that piece. complications aren't very common, and when they do happen, they're almost always minor. I had a stricture when I was about a month out, which is an easy fix. I was told that it happens to about 5% of bypass patients, so it's considered the most common complication. I'd hardly call something that happens to 5% of patients "common", but there you go. Suffice it to say, complications just aren't all that common. You can also get vitamin deficiencies, but those usually happen to people who aren't consistent with taking their vitamins. The one exception to this is iron deficiency. Some people just don't do well on oral iron and have to do infusions. But again, the vast majority of us do fine on oral iron supplements. I guess you could call dumping a complication, but only about 30% of RNY patients dump. You can avoid it by not eating a lot of sugar at one sitting (which we shouldn't be eating *anyway*, so...) I'm not sure what other complications you've heard of - but anything outside of what I mentioned are pretty rare.

when I was in the hospital they had those things on my legs that a machine "massages" continuously to keep blood clots from forming, but once I was out of the hospital - no. I didn't have compression stockings.