renee3846

This is why I love these sites! Everyone can post their thoughts, feelings and suggestions! What works for one individual may not work for another. Being able to see all the different options others have choose to make the surgery work for them, makes it so worth while to come and read the posts! Trial and error is part of the road to success! Never give up, just try another pathway if the other did not work! Renee'

Well said. Whatever works for each individual to reach their goal is the right way! Just take day by day! Renee'

After reading all the replies I am alittle confused why so many post-op patients are keeping so close track of everything they eat. I agree about making sure you get all your protien in and vitimans and avoiding sweets and lots of carbs, but really we got surgery to get away from all the craziness of counting calories and tracking, or at least that is why I did. It did not work for me prior to surgery. I have not since surgery tracked my daily in take of food or calories except for Protein and take my vitimans. I have blood work done every few months and everything is great. I guess my point is, is to try and relax, take a deep breath and hopefully this may get you going again. Keep on excercising and having a positive attitude towards yourself. I recently had a 8+week no loss, I feel for you, I know that it is very frustrating. The slow loss can happen at any place of our weightloss journey. Just remember, our bodies are trying to figure out what is going on too. It needs to catch up sometimes and recharge for the next leg of the journey. Take care and keep up the awesome job! Renee'

It could be both. Eat slow, and chew thoroughly. And I agree, wait to drink any liquids until at least 30 minutes after you eat. I still drink a Protein drink everyday for one meal with add Protein powder to get my protein in. Make sure you are taking vitiams too. It does get better and easier the farther out you get post-op. At this point patience is a virtue. I wish you the best! Renee'

I can not believe that it has been almost 10 months since vsg surgery (10/2008) and over 5 years since I started my research into weightloss surgery. When I first started looking into WLS I was probably at a weight around 250 pounds. In some ways I wish I would have had surgery sooner, because then I would have not developed diabetes (which I no longer have) and maybe have not have stretched my skin as much, but in reailty, my time was when I finally got it. I truely believe if I would have waited too much longer, I may not be here. Also, finding the right surgeon and surgery was such a blessing.The journey so far has not always been a breeze but compared to where I was heading, it is a piece of cake! The head hunger is a real sympton and can make you crazy if you do not get a hold of it right away. I know before surgery I was an emotional eater (and still am occassionally), whether I was up or down, food was the reward, the soother. I even ate in private sometimes, like going through the drive-through and getting fries and tarter or whatever it was for that day. I guess I figured if no one saw me eat it, I did'nt eat it, I was in huge denial. Now with the stomach restrictions of my surgery, I have to watch what I eat because I get full really really fast. I am more aware what is going in now and see it as a source to stay heathly now that I am feeling healthier and looking healthier. I had to have a lot of talks with my self and ask if what I was ready to put in my my mouth was worth it, sometimes, my heads wins and I eat that bite of cake or ice cream or whatever it may be at the time, but I also came to peace with myself that it is okay to have that "bite" and not the whole thing. My head thnks it won because I ate the bite, but I won because it was only a bite! Not something I could do before surgery. I recentlly started water areobics again which has kick started my weightloss again. I was at a standstill for almost 5 weeks and was really getting discouraged. Here I paid thousands of dollars for a surgery and I ws not losing weight. (I was also focusing to much on losing and not staying focused on how healthy I was becoming) I am glad that it has passed and I am preparing if it happens again. I was talking with my PP and she said it may have been your body taking a breather, after losing that much weight it a short amount of time it need a break and to adjust and prepare for the next chapter of my journey, makes sense to me! I work in an organization that has about 1500 employees and have worked there for over 8 years. On a daily basis I see people I do not see often and they are all coming up to me and sayig how wonderful I look and almost always ask how I did it. I have been very open to answer that I had WLS, but the farther out I get, the more it feels almost like a burden to explain, maybe because I have explain so many times. Please do not get me wrong, I appriciate that people are noticing and it is nice to hear that my accomplishments are being noticed. I can not wait until my next visit to see Dr. Trotter at the end of this month, it will have been 2 months by then since I seen him and up until now it was every month but he decided to take almost all of August off...I am sure he deserved it! I am hoping I have maintained my muscle mass or even better gained muscle..we will see!

Hi All, I am Renee' from Washington state. I am a wife to a wonderful man (together for 17 memorable years), mother to 2 fantastic children, one beautiful daughter (who has given me 2 beautiful precious granddaughters and a wonderful son-in-law) and a handsome fun loving son. I think my weight story starts in my memory when I was about 10-11 and in 4th grade. I really was not extremly overweight just "chubby". I now do not even think I was that chubby but the teasing from the other kids assured me I was. Once I hit teenage years, I started dieting and got quite thin. I had my daughter at the tender age of 16 and after birth started the "Jane Fonda" craze. It was easy becasue at 16 and 17 you have all that energy anyways. I even got thinner then before pregnancy. At the age of 24-25 the weight started creeping up slow at first, then I was in a car accident that messed up my back and neck and the weight really started to pack on due to the lack of phyiscal excercise (which I really needed to lose and keep it off). I remember when I hit about 200 lbs, I was looking at my knees and I thought something was wrong with them because they looked different, not really realizing it was because they were fatter. From that point on, I think I blocked out my weight gains, even though I have weighed myself every week now for 26 years and have kept a weight diary just as long. I had joined Nutrisystem when I was about 27 and was able to lose about 35 lbs at that time. I joined a TOPS group about 1999 and got down to 246 at the time I stopped going. What a wonderful group of people. I have joined Weightwatchers at least 3 times, all with some degree of success, only to stop going due to finances or other reasons and gain it all back and then some. In 2003 I really started looking into weight loss surgery. I even attended a couple of seminars put on by the surgeons only to find out my insurance did not cover it. In August 2008 I weighed in at my highest weight ever, 305lbs, an extreme amount on a 5'4" frame. At this point my knees were so bad I was heading for a wheelchair fast. I learned in 2005 that I have Degenerative Joint disease in both knees and also arthritis in both knees. In October 2007 I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. My father died at the age of 39 (when I was 12) from a heart attack. He was extremly obese as well. Being a long haul truck driver did not help his weight. All of these aliments and all the odds against me and having such a wonderful family, I finally got serious about doing something about my morbid obesity. Wow what a hard word to say about yourself, morbid obese, morbid meaning death. When the realization came, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was way too young to keep on living this way and my family watching me suffer, how unfair to them. In April of 2008 I started the battle with my insurance. Even with all my co-morbitities and several doctor recommedations and appeals, I lost. Talk about a punch in the stomach, it hurt hard and deep. It also did something else, it made me so determined to find a way to get surgery, that I was like a freight train with a vengeance! My husband attended yet another seminar with me that my surgeon Dr. Lee Trotter was putting on, this was in early September 2008. Out of all the seminars that I had gone to, this one was "the one", the one that really insipred me, informed me and gave me the strenghth to pursue a Bariatric Surgery. It was at this that I learned about the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. I had heard and read up to this point about RYN and the band. I was leaning towards the band until this seminar. After I got home, I researched the VSG and at first thought I must say I was like no way, I am not removing a good portion of my stomach! The more I researched though, being that I would have to self-pay, the band would have extra costs for fills and possible slippage (which would be extra cost which I do not have), and the RYN was way more extreme (and more costly) then I wanted to go. At the seminar the surgeon handed out the paperwork if you were interested in WLS you had to go out and get several tests. Within 2 weeks and the hard work of me and my husband we got the finance part figured out and I got all the tests that were required. I made my appoinment with Dr. Trotter. At the first appointmnt we discussed the different surgeries. I shared with him my research and felt that the VSG would be best for me, he agreed. I was able to make my sugery date for 2 weeks later on October 20th, 2008, a date I will never forget! The day of surgery I was at 292, down 13 pounds since my high at the end of August. I remember being so at peace, I knew this was for me. My surgery went well and I went home after about 28 hours. My surgery cost me 17,000.00 which included 1 year monthly followups with Dr. Trotter, labs done every 3 months and a BIA (Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis) at each visit. My experience from start until now has been phenomenal and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Within 3 months of surgery I was off of all my diabetes medication. I am still currently on Hypertension meds but only a half a tablet a day now. I can now walk more then a mile at at a time which I could not do for so long! To date (8/1/09) I have lost 93 pounds since surgery (just 9 months) and 106 lbs (less then 1 year!) since my high last August 25th, 2008! I am like a whole new person which and I am so thankful to have met Dr.Trotter and for his tremendous talent, experience and compassion, he helped me get my life back! My family is so supportive and I am so glad I am here for them and they for me. I wish each and every one of you reading this, the best whether you have had surgery or seeking surgery! Dont give up, you are worth it! Renee'

I had very little upset stomach and heartburn at the beginning and still do not get it much even now. I rarely got it before surgery so I guess I am lucky for this. There are some foods that did not agree with me at first but now I can eat them. If at first you try a food and it does not sit right, try it a few weeks or a few months later, it usually gets better. I eat very little bread, feels like it gets stuck and also no real nutrition. I can eat almost all types of meats with no problem, just need to shew extra good. I stay away from spicy foods but I have never really liked a lot spice even before surgery. Take care and I wish yo all the best! Renee'

Thank you all for the wonderful and kind words! The journey has been amazing so far and I am looking forward to someday getting to my destination! My personal goal is 145, but whatever weight my body stops at and is happy at, will work for me! I love reading others stories, journeys, struggles and successes..we are all in this together and going for the samething, health and livelong happiness! Take care, Renee'

What a wonderful story of struggle, challenges and success, thank you for sharing!

Dr. Lee Trotter was my surgeon and I am so thankful when it came for me to finally get weight loss surgery he was the one to do it. After a long battle with my insurance company and not getting approved, my husband and I were able to come up with the funds for me to have surgery. I went to Holy Family Hospital for a seminar that Dr. Trotter was doing about the WLL surgeries he performs. At that time I had not even heard of the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and he did not even have this surgery as one of the ones he offers on his slides, even though he did talk briefly about during the seminar. After the seminar he stayed after and answered a lot of questions attendees had for him. I went home after that and reseached the VSG and my first thoughts were "OMG, that is so drastic, removing a good portion of my stomach". But as my research went on after looking into the RYN (way to drastic for me) and the lapband (cost of fills would be additional and ongoing), the vsg ended up being the one for me, I am so thankful it was an option. I would recommend Dr. Trotter to anyone,. The hospital and the staff were also very nice. My cost for the surgery ended up being 17,000.00. This included 24 hours at the hospital, all surgeon costs and 12 monthly follow appointments pre-op with BIA results at each visit. Dr.Trotter also has labs done every 3 months. Results from having my VSG surgery is an endless list if victories. I no longer have diabetes, my arthritis is more tolerable, both my knees (I am bone on bone on the inner compartments) do not go out on me as much and I am able to walk a lot farther and longer these days. I have reduced my high blood presuure medicaion to half a tablet a day and hope to be off that soon too! I have more self confidence and I am trying new adventures all the time! If you are deciding to have WLL, my only suggestion is to research, research, research! For me it saved my life! Thank you, :wave: Renee'

Hi Susan, I did upload some before and after (so far) photos last night. It has been an amazing journey and can not stress to anyone how wonderful it feels to "take a load off" literally. I still have about 60-70 lbs. to go, but I am over the top of the hill, someplace I have not been for a long time. Take care, and again, thanks for the warm welcome. I look forward to using the site and getting to know other members!