shrinkingpamela

You're saying the same thing every vsg patient does. We all have our moment of freak out! LOL As long as you pay attention to what you're doing and don't sabotage yourself you WILL lose weight. I couldn't imagine it working for me for more than 20 pounds but here I am 95 pounds later. It's been a year and I still have a tiny tummy. I just got home from lunch out with friends at a Mexican restuarant. Before vsg I would have eaten a whole big plate of food and a basket of chips. Today I had 1 chip, 1/2 a taco and a few bites of rice and I was stuffed. I love it! I hope all goes well with the testing and you make it thru to surgery! Good luck!

I'm sure you will be!!

It seems like no time to me but it's been a whole year since my vsg! I thought I'd stop in and say what a wonderful year it's been and how happy I am with my decision to have the surgery. I haven't regretted it for a moment. My weight is now the same as it was when I got married almost 22 years ago. If you want to hear more it's on my blog... Shrinking Pamelalala

I've never heard it mentioned in relation to a vsg. I don't think it's an issue. Of course, I'm not a doctor so don't take my word on it.

Yeah, I see ya! I also see you got the feedburner thingy figured out. LOL

I went to Dr Hargroder in Baton Rouge, LA. I was looking for someone in driving distance who had lots of experience with the sleeve and he fit the bill. Also, I was self pay and his fees were within reason.

I don't fore see having to do anything with my vsg either. The sleeve is made from the less stretchy part of the stomach unlike the pouch that is made for the rny. They usually don't stretch. I've never heard of doing a band after a vsg, it's mostly the other way around, converting from a band to a vsg. I'm at a weight already that I would be happy with if I stopped losing. My ideal is to lose maybe another 20. If for some reason I starting gaining it all back I guess I would go for the ds, the vsg is the first half of the ds. I don't plan on it!

My one year surgiversary for my sleeve is 9/13. I am thrilled with it! My surgery was uneventful as well as my recovery. I was self pay and chose to go to Dr Hargroder in Baton Rouge, LA. The cost then was 11,900 and that included everything. I considered Mexico but my husband was more comfortable with my staying in the states and Dr H was a 6 hr drive from home. If it had just been me, I probably would have gone to Mexico to either Dr A or Dr H, they both have lots of happy patients over on obesityhelp. As for why I chose the vsg, I didn't like the rerouting aspect of the DS or the RNY. I didn't like the foreign body aspect of the band. I heard too many people having to have revisions due to slippage, erosions, etc. I also didn't want the maintenance of fills and unfills. With my vsg it was one surgery and no maintenance, that's my kind of surgery. With any surgery there are risks of complications so you have to take that into condiseration as well. There was also a recent study about all wls and it said that the bigger, higher rated hospitals have smaller complication rates. If you want specifics, I posted about it a week or so ago on my blog and there's a link to the article included.

What a great success story! I love meeting other sleevesters who are working the sleeve. LOL I too love my sleeve. It's the best money I EVER spent. Getting my life back was priceless. Hope to see ya around and can't wait to swap stories.

Thanks, Karen! I just posted another recipe on the blog if you're interested.

Karen has said it well, there are many advantage to the sleeve and it has a very low complication rate. ANY surgery has the potential for complications, that is the nature of surgery. The risks of infection, blood clots, etc are no higher than in any other weight loss surgery. As for the results, I am a month away from being 1 year out and I love my vsg!! I don't dump (very few do). I can eat anything including spicy foods, I just eat much smaller portions. I am currently at the weight I was when I got married 22 years ago. I never thought I'd see this weight again! If you want to know more about my story, check out my blog, the addy is in my signature.

Hi everyone! This is my first time here. I decided to check it out after LngRedRose posted about it over at OH. Hi girl, how are you feeling these days?? I'm always up for meeting new sleevesters. And I'm always willing to answer questions if anyone wants some imput from someone almost a year out.

Hi ya'll! I heard you have a new VSG board so I decided to check you out. I had VSG last year and I'm loving it. I'm always up for meeting new fellow wls people. Nice to meet you!