Navigating the Wilderness

Awesome, let the airline know I intend to give them some more of my weight.

Fantastic. I wish you all the best!!

Very sorry to hear of the setback. I hope they at least gave you a path to lowering your blood pressure.

I changed my mind 5 days before I was scheduled for RNY. The surgeon was very mad, but who cares? I did get set back like 3 months for surgery, but I am very happy with my VSG. There are a bunch of people on here who have lost over 200 pounds with the VSG, but the RNY works very good too. It is really a matter of preference.

Sounds like you have the right plan, and are working it properly!

I have a friend who has gone through the VA for cancer treatment, and they have pretty much neglected him until he is at death's door. It has been a sad experience.

Perhaps it was low blood sugar? I would also ask the doctor to check for anemia. Both should be monitored fairly often in the year after surgery, and both could cause exactly what you had happen. It is especially of note is if after you had some juice you felt better. Can't tell from your post if that was the case or not.

Best of luck, keep us informed of the progress!

The pats are the high fructose corn syrup of the NFL

Yuuuuuuck. Steelers fan, wife is die hard Seahawks fan.

Great attitude! All the best.

My answer? I don't deal with it very well.

1. Ghrelin is released in the small intestine, pancreas, and brain in addition to the stomach. Additionally Leptin is what signals your brain regarding satiety, it is common amongst larger people to have developed a resistance to the leptin hormone and thus it does not work as intended and you feel hungry. I personally have never had an 'I forgot to eat today' moment. The hunger is there, but it is easier to control. 2. Your stomach shouldn't stretch, but you can keep packing food into the sleeve and it will either make you throw up, or push through the pylorus and into your intestines. With RNY there is no plylorus in the food channel, and the pouch can most definitely stretch. This is why people can eat so much after surgery. 3. You absolutely can eat all the bad food you could eat before surgery. There is no automatic barf mechanism when you eat bad food, though in RNY and some VSG you can get dumping syndrome. Even as such, my guess is those people who have dumping and continue to eat poorly, either have learned to live with the side effect, or their bodies have changed to the point where sugar in the intestine doesn't cause them the same physiological issues it once did. The bottom line, like said by sooooo many people is that WLS is a tool, you can use it, or not. It's fantastic to see you are using yours.

Very good choice losing all that weight pre-op!

That sounds ridiculous! Honestly if that is the case I would continue to lose weight as healthily as I could and push back the surgery. Yes there are ways to lose 8 pounds in a week, but they are unhealthy and I would want to go into surgery as healthy as possible to avoid any setbacks.

Try not to beat yourself up too bad. Lap Bands have a notoriously poor success rate. I had mine for 5 years and the most I ever lost was 50 pounds, but was back to starting weight within two years. I converted to VSG in one operation in February and the results have been far better than those I had with the band.

I don't get it, are they refusing to do surgery unless you lose 8 pounds by June 1?

Hmm, I was about 50 pounds heavier than you at surgery, and am at about the same amount of weight loss since surgery (80 pounds). My surgeon said I was ahead of the curve for weight loss, so not sure why your's is giving you crap about it.

That is pretty darn cool!

It is most definitely NOT the easy way out. If someone breaks their leg, does getting it set and having a cast put on it 'the easy way out'? No, it is the medically correct thing to do, just like seeking WLS is the medically correct thing to do if you are to the point you will die due to your weight. Not the easy way out though, the easy way out is to keep eating like **** until you die.

The correct answer to that is 'Go f**k yourself'.

Damn, I'm very sorry to hear that. I wish I had some ideas for you, but you absolutely do not want to get so dehydrated that you need to go back to the hospital. I'd speak with the surgeon ASAP. Until then, keep up the ice chips at least.

Yeah, I had the same issue. It got to the point where I felt more dehydrated drinking 64oz than 32oz of water and I was getting bad headaches the more water I drank. I also had really dry skin when I was drinking 100oz/day. Protein shakes, jello, and SF Popsicles are all ways you can up your fluid intake. It got better for me right around week 5.

Don't discount this option either. It is a fantastic exercise!!

Tell them you feel pretty good but that you have a side effect which makes you grab boobs uncontrollably.