Finding_Stacy

Looking at your ticker, I'm still amazed at how far you've come. 172 pounds lost...wow. Really and truly, great job!

This was great advice. I don't know if I asked you this before, but did you have your ds surgery all at once or did they do the sleeve first, then six months later, the ds?

My doctor said something similar. He said the average weight loss is only 75 pounds. Of course I'm thinking why? If it can help you lose 75, why not 80, 100, or 150, even? But like you said, I too have read and seen in videos people talking about already eating mashed potatoes three weeks in. I think, and this is just my personal observation, is that many people can find they can still eat the variety of food that always gave them comfort and still lose. The same food that caused them to be in this situation to begin with. But unfortunately, that positive side effect most likely ends somewhere around the ninth month when the stomach stretches, and instead of eating only a few bites, they now can eat a half a plate, or even a whole plate, several times a day, and that's where the tipping point is for many regainers. Again, just my observation. I know we're all brainiacs before we are actually thrown into these situations, and I can talk like an expert because I'm not forced into it quite yet. I'm just trying to learn from others, both good and bad. For instance, I'm going to try my damnedest to not stretch my stomach by overeating or drinking, and to keep it 'small' as long as possible. The longest I've ever done low carb was ten months and I got a 100 off. I'm thinking if I can apply that same strategy with this tool, hopefully I'll be ahead of the game, and the longer I can keep it, the sooner new habits will hopefully be retrained into this thick skull of mine. So no mashed potatoes. No candy. No milkshakes (I've seen this one quite a bit and it always shocks me). So, we'll see soon if I can put my money where my mouth is. One thing I strongly urge people to do, something my mom taught me when I was in Jr. High, is to do your daily neck exercises. Stretch your head back as far as you can then say your vowels in an over exaggerated fashion, stretching your facial and neck muscles in the process. This should help with double chins and tightening up your facial muscles. I always start with fifty a day, but after surgery I'll probably be doing two and three sets of fifty.

Wow, good for you. It sounds like you're healing well. Btw, I live in Northern Indiana, right below you. Merry Christmas!

That's just crazy. I just had another gall bladder attack a month ago and after reading others say what you were told, I thought I was going to have a fight on my hands. I brought them my ultra sound I had last week, and surprisingly, that was the first thing out of their mouths-- '...and we'll get rid of that bad gallbladder of yours.' Imagine that, no fight. Hmmm. I'd keep pressing on them about this issue, especially if you already have gallstones since major weight loss is only going to most likely give you more gall stones.

Thanks so much for this. You don't know how reassuring it is to read someone who lost that much weight on a sleeve alone. I weighed in at 371 and want to lose 225 pounds--that's why he suggested the DS. Knock on wood, I've always been very healthy outside my sleep apnea and hypothyroidism--oh yeah, and cancer when I was 26 . I don't have diabetes or high blood pressure, so I guess that's why he said I'm a great candidate, I guess. He just feels a sleeve can only take me so far and it wouldn't have the lasting results that a ds would have. He hasn't gone into it further yet, but I'm guessing at six months in I'd have the second surgery. Not sure how that works if my bmi drops below 50, or hopefully maybe even 40. How would I qualify then? I look so young now, not even a single wrinkle on my face at 41, so yeah, I'm nervous. My plan of attack is low carb, high protein with very healthy veggies and berries. I want to work out six days a week to try and combat the loose skin as much as possible with a daily slather of Aquafor (best stuff for healing dry and cracked skin), and as much Water as I physically can get down, even if that means constant sipping all day. My insurance pays 85% for skin removal if deemed necessary--which they even said on the phone that losing that much weight will more than likely be necessary. I wonder how that works if the insurance covers skin removal but I'd want a lower body lift. I wonder if the surgeon gives an adjusted price for any work done above a skin removal --I know, I know...you don't have to say it. I'm getting my cart ahead of the horses

I'm glad to hear that. It's just amazing you lost that much weight! Is it hard to keep it off? I read that after time, fat will redistribute itself and help with the overall 'aging' appearance. Have you noticed any of that?

Thank you so much, Post Op! I totally missed this post earlier somehow. It was packed with some really great information. I will ask him about the length of the channel. I will admit, when he strongly urged me to do this procedure, I was completely unprepared (even though I knew it was a possibility) and shocked on the inside, but trying not to show it on the outside. After a couple of days have passed, I'm feeling better about it. More so because I will get a bunch of weight off with the sleeve first, which means I'll have more absorption time to build up on my minerals and vitamins. I guess I just saw some videos on Youtube that freaked me out. I'm not kidding. One woman looked like she was doing a side of crack cocaine along with a healthy dose of meth on a daily basis. She started the procedure looking like she was in her mid thirties and a year later she looked like she belongs to AARP. I honestly felt nauseous watching her, scared that was going to be me. But soon, I came to the realization this probably isn't the best sample size of this procedure. Who knows why she looked like that. It's hard telling. Maybe she didn't take her daily vitamins or maybe she really does do a healthy side of crack cocaine after her two bites of fish--I don't know. But really, good job with all the weight loss. It says you had the surgery in 2004-05? Have you had any regain and how do you feel? Do you ever get nauseous taking that many vitamins?

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App I'm doing pretty good now. I had my one week followup today. They pulled my drain and I don't have to wear the abdominal binder all the time anymore. I will probably sleep with it since rolling over can be rough. My incisions are healing good but my whole belly itches like crazy! I am 19 lbs down from pre-surgery appt, 8 from the pre-surgery diet and 11 since surgery. I'm not gonna lie the first few days I was miserable. The gas pain after surgery is no joke. Between that and not getting to my room until 8pm it kept me in the hospital an extra night. Then first time I tried the Prevacid sprinkled in applesauce I end up getting sick 3 times and went to ER to get checked being home less than 10 hours. I didn't want to get dehydrated my 1st night home. Nothing has sounded or tasted good to me except pretty much ice Water. Couldn't stand the SF Jello or broth. So I was happy to go up to full liquids today. I have taken it slow and only done soy milk in decaf coffee and tomato soup for dinner with my hubby and kids. Plus they told me to start the D3 again, B12 and any probiotic that is a tablet. Still a lot of gas and cramping. But I am trying to get steps in. Tomorrow will be a real test going Christmas shopping and being out for the first time for any length of time/distance. Did I mention the added bonus of having my period since surgery? I've not missed it one bit since it stopped when I got my Mirena IUD in Sept 2014. I didn't realize how much I had to say lol. I still can't believe I am on the other side of this surgery. Very surreal You poor thing, but seriously, I can't believe you're going Christmas Shopping! That is crazy...but great that you're feeling well enough to go, though. My doctor wants me to have the DS surgery, but break it into two parts. I wonder if this is one of the reasons. Maybe it's just too much soreness, between the intestines and stomach being cut all at once for some people.

Hey ThinJenne, I was wondering how've you been getting on since your surgery. Are you feeling ok or still pretty sore?

Is that the only difference between the DS and the SIPS, the longer cc?

That is truly the perfect response!Thank you for that. Don't look back, turn the page, and let your next chapter begin! Yes, there's nothing like being walked to the tiniest booth in a crowded restaurant and having to say, 'Oh, can I get a table? This booth won't work for me.' :-( It's ironic, though, that the smallest booths and bolted down tables and chairs I've ever encountered were at McDonalds. You'd think they'd have bariatric lobby sized chairs given the business they're in. Hilarious observation, but absolutely true! Back in the day, I used to absolutely hate eating inside any McDonald's. Maybe they wanted the fatties like me to stick to using the drive-thru window only. In their defense however, the newer McDonald's locations do still have bolted tables but the seating/chairs can be moved around to accommodate the biggest of bodies. Thank God! Don't look back, turn the page, and let your next chapter begin! I always thought McDonald's did that because, like you said, it forced the heavy weights to use the drive thru, so they could kind of sweep the evidence under the rug, so to speak. You know in marketing, some guy with slicked back hair and an ivy league education floated the idea that people driving by any of their restaurants, and seeing the 'average' type of human sitting in those tiny little chairs, would cause a chain reaction of drivers going by, saying, 'See Beatrice, look at all those skinny people. I told you McDonald's really isn't that bad for us. Let's buy a Big Mac.'

That is truly the perfect response!Thank you for that. Don't look back, turn the page, and let your next chapter begin! Yes, there's nothing like being walked to the tiniest booth in a crowded restaurant and having to say, 'Oh, can I get a table? This booth won't work for me.' :-( It's ironic, though, that the smallest booths and bolted down tables and chairs I've ever encountered were at McDonalds. You'd think they'd have bariatric lobby sized chairs given the business they're in.

I was hoping for the end of January, but don't get me wrong, I'll take February too. Im getting mine done at the University of Chicago. I live in Indiana, but I feel lucky that I live 40 minutes away from such an excellent place to have my surgery.

She only mentioned the blood clots and that I need a six week recovery time before getting on a plane. I thought the restrictive eating on a cruise is nice too. It will be a week where I don't have to rack my brain in finding new ways to get my Protein and exercise in. i never did ask, what city are you doing your surgery in? It would be so neat if our surgieries are semi close together. I am surprised how many on here have the same surgery dates.

Oh, good for you! It's so nice to go through this together and be able to come together here and compare notes :-) I looked up that modified ds procedure. That sounds like something I'd be more interested in, but something tells me my doctor doesn't do it. I could be wrong, and I'll definitely ask, but thank you for mentioning that. I learned two things from you now--Vitamin patch and a modified ds surgery. My insurance doesn't require a supervised weight loss, just the bmi and my two co-morbidities--sleep apnea and hypothyroidism. I had a sleep study done in June, before I ever seriously considered a wls, but I'm so glad I did. I no longer have headaches in the middle of the night and I'm not as tired during the day. Before the cpap, I used to take a nap daily. It's a great, great little machine. My doctor said I'll get a letter from them after the first of the year saying what they'll still need, if anything. My bp and lab work was good and the ultrasound showed a bad gallbladder with gallstones that he said they'll remove. Sadly, my doctor is booked till February so that's the soonest it can happen. But...I think I may have shot myself in the foot with the nurse practitioner. I told her I wanted to have this procedure done in February, if possible, because we're going on a cruise April 2nd. She seriously did a double take, then said 'A what?' Hey, I booked it in August--what can I say? I got a great deal for the four of us ???? But, she said I would need at least 6 weeks to heal to make sure there are no blood clots, so if I can't get in for surgery until the end of February, they'll have to put it off until afterwards. I was completely deflated, so I asked, 'Do you know how much damage I could do?' Hoping that would sway her to my devious side, but she simply replied, 'you won't.' Hmmm, that didn't go as planned ????

Oh gosh, I want to fit in a booth again ????

Ooh, good question. I know he likes to break it up into two procedures for the safety of the patient, since the risk of blood clots are higher the longer you're under general anesthesia. There's another big reason too, but my brain is playing peekaboo with my brain cells right now. I do know Dr. Alverdy was one of the first doctors, I believe, to ever do this procedure laparoscopically so this is his wheel house. I did see today that my insurance wants to be billed for one procedure even though it's two surgeries, hence the reason I'll have to make a decision soon even though I'll only have the sleeve done for now. He prefers this surgery since it has a 90% ten year success rate of keeping off 90% + of extra weight, unlike the other surgeries. I guess my biggest concern are the Vitamins. His nurse practitioner said the ds only has two more pills than the sleeve, but I've noticed people generally looked good on the sleeve after the weight loss. I do like that Vitamin patch you mentioned. I'd be all about that. I'm going to have to ask them about that--thanks for that little piece of info!! So, are you definitely leaning towards the ds? Have they told you what else they still need you to do before getting it sent off to insurance for approval?

I was surprised to find out yesterday that the University of Chicago doesn't make their bariatric patients follow a liquid diet either. They said they want their patients to get used to the diet they're going to follow after the surgery and that's not a liquid one. Just after the surgery it's soft foods, but yeah, that pleasantly surprised me.

That's great, amf! I had my first appointment today and I was surprised they didn't give me a list yet of what anyone needs, the doctor or insurance. They said they'll send it to me the first of the year. But just to speed things up, I brought with me today a cd of my recent chest x-ray, ultrasound of liver and gall bladder, sleep study, and lab work. Everything they gave you to do, was that a requirement from your surgeon or insurance?

Hey Catwoman, thanks for responding. Congratulations on your weight loss, that's phenomenal. p.s. I'm not sure how they can really force you to have something done you don't want. At least they're willing to do it in two stages. If you're happy with the sleeve, you can always tell them no to the DS in a few months. Unless there's something about this that isn't obvious? The reason the doctor said he preferred that for me is because he likes looking at the 10 year numbers. After ten years, I'll have a great chance of staying 180 and less. I guess, my question I should've asked, and will, is why try so hard to talk me into it right now? They're not forcing me, just strongly urging me to see it their way. And he's a very capable doctor, more than capable and I believe him and what he says....but it just terrifies me. And like I said, we're doing the sleeve first anyway, but I'm surprised it wasn't phrased as a 'let's see how you do' instead 'this is what we think you need to do.' Maybe they bill the insurance at the time of the first surgery as a ds, even if it's a sleeve--I don't know. I'm watching videos on Youtube and the ds'ers look old as hell. I'm 41 with no wrinkles yet. I get told all the time I don't look older than 30. This surgery absolutely has me terrified--between the quickly aged look and the malnutrition aspect. How are you doing with combatting the malabsorption? I was so excited today over the sleeve, and still am, but this ds makes me nervous. I'm not saying I wouldn't have it, but it's going to take a lot of convincing to get me to see the light with this surgery.

Hey Lorin, so how did it go today? Not as well as I had hoped. It looks like I likely won't qualify for insurance to pay for the surgery. I am a little taller than I thought, so my BMI is below 40 and I do not have any comorbidities (I did have back surgery for a herniated disc due to being overweight and have hypothyroidism so when we submit to insurance we will try including those). If we are going to try the insurance route I need to do a medically supervised diet for 6 months. The nurse practitioner and bariatric coordinator both said to not lose much weight though during the 6 months since my BMI is already below 40. The self-pay cost would be $18,025. I think I am going to check with one more surgeon in town to see what his self-pay prices would be (he is also at a closer hospital to my house). I will probably go with the surgeon with the cheaper self-pay price, so that if insurance does deny after the 6 months of dieting I can move forward with a loan. Awe, I'm so sorry. I'm kind of surprised they knew already that insurance wouldn't cover it. I think I'd call them myself. I know it sounds like a 'hell no' idea, but I've read so many people going to a specific place in Mexico and having it done. An all inclusive place, one week stay, for 4k. At first I was thinking they're crazy but thousands of patients go there with rave reviews. But if I was self pay and could afford it, of course I'd go with a qualified doctor state side. All I can say is don't give up. Do you have sleep apnea by chance? Have you ever had a sleep study? My three things that will qualify me with my insurance is my bmi, hypothyroidism, and sleep apnea. I don't have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes-->knock on wood. But I too had something thrown at me today that I sort of thought was a possibility, but hoping it wouldn't be the case. My doctor wants me to have the ds done and I just don't know how I feel about that. It would be broken up into two surgeries, sleeve first, then in 6-12 months the ds part. I just don't know. That is the mac daddy of weight loss procedures. I'm not sure why he and his nurse practitioner was so persistent to get me on board. Yes, I want the sleeve but I am trying to have an open mind because he really does know what he's talking about and has seen the outcomes thousands of times. But it's not like they're doing the ds at my first surgery anyway, so not sure why the pressure to get me to jump on board quite so soon before we give the sleeve a try, unless of course, it's to bill insurance even if the first surgery is the sleeve. I don't know why he doesn't say 'ok, sleeve first and if the results stop coming in, let's go ahead and do the ds.' That sounds reasonable.

Hey Lorin, so how did it go today?

Good luck! I, too, have my first appointment tomorrow with the surgeon, dietician, and psychologist. I'm doing my final run around today to pick up a dvd from the radiologist of some tests I've done last week. When I called my insurance two weeks ago, they said I'm basically approved. I hit all the criteria they need so here's hoping the surgeon will only ask for the minimal outside what I've already had done, and I can get this surgery done in six weeks or less.

May I ask, what is a prep session?