Kaze

Mine's on the 21st. Started the two week pre-op diet late as I'm having it done before the end of June for insurance purposes, but the surgeon sees no reason it shouldn't be enough time. They suggest two small meals and protein drinks + water. I'm going to do just protein drinks and water since I've got less time.

My first surgeon (before I switched because I'm 'high risk') told me that they are, within the next few years, phasing out the Lap Band as are many other bariatric programs just due to its complication rate and lack of concrete success for everyone. I originally went in wanting it, too, because I thought of it like a tool to help me get to a weight where I could do the rest myself, but since I was diagnosed with diabetes in March and the sleeve has greater success with relieving comorbities, and a constant back and forth with all of my doctors including my kidney transplant doctor, the sleeve seemed more appropriate for my situation. My SECOND surgeon made the very good point that because the Lap Band is a foreign object, it is highly likely to become infected or be an infection magnet for someone like me who is a medicated immunocompromised patient (for my transplant). So yeah, I'm having the sleeve on the 21st and I'm both nervous and excited.

I'm having my surgery on the 21st but I've had a LOT of surgeries before, so I can chip in on those questions. It's actually really surreal. Surgeries and anesthesia really differs. Sometimes you'll be in and out in a blink of an eye and sometimes you'll have vivid dreams or hallucinations. The most important thing is either way, you'll be without feeling and you'll be off in your own world if just for a minute or what feels like a lifetime. For example, I had a major urologic reconstruction in 2008. It was an 18 hour surgery. It felt like I was down for...5 minutes? I had my kidney transplant in 2013 and felt like I was down for hours, and it was probably my only "freaky" surgery experience in that, and this is hard to explain, but it felt like as the nurse was talking to me it just stopped being talking and it started being a droning that circled around me. As far as recovery pain, I can't give WLS exacts, but for most surgeries it's painful. BUT you're lucky for the first few days you'll have a PCA (patient controlled analgesia) pump to use at your leisure when it begins to hurt. That's for the first few hours or days (depending on the surgery) so your body can recoop a little bit. After they cut you off, though, it'll hurt but laparoscopic surgery usually isn't too terrible. I'm not going to sugar coat it and say it won't hurt, because it will, but you should be given stuff to help and it usually gets better and becomes more of an irritant than a pain after a few days.

Hi! This is my first post and I'm going to assume there's some sort of introduction thread somewhere, but I'm been trying to navigate through the site and found this section which is relevant to me, so I'll find the introduction area afterwards. Short story: I'm a kidney transplant recipient and I'm pursuing VSG on June 21st. My surgeon has assured me there's no problem associated and has performed procedures (mainly the bypass) on transplant patients. I was wondering if there is, hopefully, someone else on this forum that possibly has an organ transplant of any kind? If you have a kidney transplant, that's even better! Do you feel like you can get your medications taken as expected? Do you have to take some separately? Did you have to alter any? Can you reach your Fluid goals for the day? Any experience is greatly appreciated and I'm mighty glad I found this forum! Thanks, Weston