Tiffykins

Things accomplished over the last 15.5 months post-vsg for me. . . They were all on my list. Fit into an airplane seat, and see seat material on both sides of my thighs Fit into a restaurant booth Wear 4 inch heels without wincing in pain after 20 minutes To wear true SKINNY jeans and look good doing it To hump with my husband and not have my fat get in the way To get checked out because I'm hot, not because I have to turn sideways to fit somewhere To be seen, and I mean really seen, not just as the funny fat chick To have my son say "I'm so proud to have you as my mommy" To join the PTA executive board and not worry about what all the other "hot" moms think of me To be called a MILF - that was a great moment LOL Things yet to be accomplished, but are works in progress: Get pregnant, have a healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy, happy baby Accept that being fat all these years has destroyed my skin's elasticity, and without surgical intervention, I'm left with the excess skin and itty bitty boobs. Have plastic surgery Look at myself in the mirror, and know that I've made it completely. (I know this won't happen until plastics) Ride horses again Run into an ex and ask " was I drunk our entire relationship?" (okay that one isn't very nice)

I was required to remove my solar nails (pink and whites) along with any nail polish (clear or color). I did have my surgery at a military hospital, and they're pretty strict with stuff. I also had to remove my toenail polish, couldn't put on deodorant, and use the icky, drying, Dial antibacterial soap the morning of surgery.

I don't think anyone that has made it to goal, or close to it would flame you. I know that my core personality has not changed since losing weight, but I sure as hell don't feel the same as I did pre-op. Hell, life is pretty fabulous as a skinny bitch. I love it, and won't lie that most of the issues I dealt with being fat are GONE ! ! ! For the love of everything holy, I rode a mechanical bull! ! ! I couldn't have lugged my huge, mammoth body up there to save my life pre-op. I can roll around on the floor and wrestle with my husband, and dogs. The best part is that I don't have to waddle my way up back to my feet. I can walk around the mall for hours, and never have to stop to take a break, or let my knees rest. Sure, I have my little quirks about my body, but at least I have zero issue fitting into normal people clothes, and I'm not scarfing down enough food for 3 people when I'm out with friends. Not being the fattest girl in the room is an amazing feeling, and more importantly, not feeling like everyone is judging me because of my weight is the best feeling in the world. I'll shout it from the rooftops that being skinny has made my life so much better in so many ways. Maybe some of it is shallow, maybe it's not what people want to hear or accept, but I challenge anyone that flames you or me or anyone else that agrees to really think back to their pre-op weight and admit that they were perfectly content being fat, and the only reason they had surgery was to be "healthy". I had surgery for many reasons, healthy (mental and physical), I want a baby, I wanted to feel like a normal person, and not have food control me. AND, a huge reason is because I was ready to wear clothes that didn't look like they were made by a tent maker! ! !

Here's my standard reply to this question: Plus you can read others opinion on carbonation. Carbonation Quote: It doesn't even apply to the band. There are tons of band and RNY patients that drink soda, carbonated drinks without issue. I drink soda, rum/cokes when out with the girls, and have zero issues. It hasn't stretched my sleeve, and I've been drinking soda since I hit goal nearly 7 months ago. My stomach holds the same amount of food, and I was scoped at 8 months out, my sleeve is tight, slim, and perfect. Soda is a liquid just like Water, tea, coffee, it goes in, hits the pyloric valve and empties into the intestines. If all other liquids do this, why would soda sit in there and hang out? That's my surgeon's and many other surgeon's opinion. This subject is just about as controversial as the WLS patients should never eat rice or Pasta for the rest of their lives. Sodas are empty calories, it does leach the Calcium out of our bones, it's a lot of sodium if you drink too many, and it's not recommended for the weight loss phase. Moderation is key, I have a couple sodas a week. If I'm out at the bar, tying one on, I have umm several, and I think the rum is probably more detrimental than the stinkin' Coca Cola. Here's another thread on carbonated drinks: Soda's...what is the deal?

Cravings are mental. So, none of the surgeries are going to stop those. I still get cravings, and could graze all day if I wanted to do so. I especially crave Mexican and Thai food. Both of them are definitely not great options, but none the less I crave both of them. Every once in awhile, I'll crave something sweet, but I stick with the miniature candies to help with those cravings. The big difference with me is that I'm never, ever hungry. I literally never experience physical hunger, but I can eat, and I eat a lot more now than I could at 2-3 months post-op. If you aren't on a PPI (true acid inhibitor), you might want to see if you can get on one. I've been on Prilosec 20mg since I was about 6-7 weeks post-op because I was having this funky, twinge in my stomach an hour or so after I ate. It was false hunger caused by acid. Started on Prilosec and never felt hunger again. I was a revisioner as well, the part of the stomach that is banded shouldn't affect if they get all the fundus out which is the part of the stomach that makes the majority of Ghrelin. Our pancreas also makes ghrelin and some sleevesters do not experience the zero hunger thing like I and many others experience. I don't eat tiny portions anymore. For example: Saturday night my husband and I went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. We ordered a fried sushi roll, shared the entree of filet mignon, scallops and shrimp and veggies. Before the meal, they brought us a cup of Soup. I drank all the broth (this relaxes my stomach, and allows for more food intake, sadly it's a way to eat around the sleeve). Sushi roll: I had 3 pieces of the fried sushi roll covered in eel sauce. YUM. Entree: I had 1 piece of shrimp, 1.5 large scallops, and 5 small bites of the filet mignon. I ate about 6 of 7 bites of the steamed rice, and some of the veggies that were served with the meal. NOW, with all that said, that dining experience lasted 1.5 hours so it was a lot of eating, sipping, eating, sipping, eating, taking a break for 10-15 minutes. I was not overly stuffed, I was not sick to my stomach. I ate a lot of slider foods. The only thing remotely dense was the filet, and it was cooked medium rare, and it pretty much was melt in my mouth smooth/tender. Scallops slide right on down as does shrimp. Rice is a slider food for me. I can eat tons of rices, but I refrained, and only had a few bites. I also eat with chop sticks and that slows me way down on eating. I hope your surgeon has some ideas for you. Cravings do suck, but in my mind, I don't know one naturally skinny chick that doesn't get cravings. So just from my perspective, cravings are normal. It's the refraining from those insane cravings that is my biggest struggle. Edit to add: On the full signal, it took months for me to get mine back. The first signal for me was hiccups, and if I took one more bite, it was over, and that one last bite was coming back up. Now, I get this little sniffly, runny nose, and rarely get the hiccups anymore. I measured my portions until I was well past 4 months post-op because I had no full signal until it was too late. Some people experience a twingy, discomfort in their shoulder/collarbone area as their full signal, some get hiccups, some get nothing since our nerves have been severed, and stapled off.

I lost 25lbs below my goal weight of 150, BUT I'm only 5'2" so being 125ish isn't unhealthy or too skinny. It puts me right in the middle of a healthy BMI range. I just added back in carbs, and healthy fats to get my body to stop losing. It was a bit a balancing act, and it was weird to continue to lose weight, but my body settled right where it wanted to be and I'm perfectly ecstatic with my results. I also started at 270 so you can imagine that I never thought I'd get to 125lbs. Heck, I didn't think 150 was doable. Please do yourself a favor, and read my blog on here. I have tons of information on the band and VSG. I've had both. The band sucked the life out of me in just 8 short months, destroyed my stomach and it was not reversible. I lost additional stomach tissue during my revision because of the band. Just research, and when you think you've researched enough, read some more. I've sent you a friend request so you can access my blog on here. You'll find current stats on the band, research information on the VSG and tons of my posts of my personal experience from band to sleeve. Best wishes! ! !

What a great post ! ! ! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm a military wife as well, and had my VSG revision at a MTF. Best wishes in your recovery, and congrats on getting your sleeve ! ! ! Hopefully, you don't have to keep breaking pills up for too much longer. I'm so glad I didn't have to do that with my Prilosec, and I was able to skip the stool softener as well.

It only took one time for me to learn my lesson. I tried a couple of small bites around 3.5-4 months out, and I was in pain. Same thing happened with stovetop stuffing. I didn't try it again for a couple of months. Fried rice seemed to work better than other rices. I can now eat quite a bit of rice with zero issue especially if I'm not eating a bunch of dense Protein.

I don't take additional iron as my multi gives me 100%, and can eat iron rich foods. Also, b12 can be taken in pill form as well. My multi has 200% of my daily for b12 and I take a sublingual b12 a few times a week so we don't all have to have injections. I've never had any deficiencies of any Vitamin or mineral including copper and selenium. Just wanted to throw out that iron is not always required as a supplement on top of our multi.

I can eat sushi and have been since about 7-8 months post-op without issue. Did you not get any nutritional/dietary guidelines to follow? If rice hasn't been a problem, then you should be okay, but I would check with your surgeon or nutritionist before.

If you've been released for rice and veggies, you should be fine. I can tell you that rice was very hard on my sleeve until I was several months out. Now, it's a slider food, but around 3-4 months it hurt. I know a lot of people love the sashimi variety.

I hate to hear of your complications, and hope you are able to get some answers soon. Since your surgeon isn't addressing these issues, have you considered finding a new surgeon? I consulted with several doctors including an oncologist, gastroenterologist, my PCM, and my ob/gyn before considering VSG as a second surgery from the band, and none of them knew each other professionally, or personally, all of them had the same general consensus that VSG is the one WLS with the least complications short term and long term. My oncologist actually gave me articles on how having VSG decreases my risk of cancer. The deficiencies and complications you are experiencing are not the norm, and definitely not published in any articles as being the norm recovery based on this surgery as a WLS or for the 100000's of patients that suffer from stomach cancer and ulcers. Complications happen, I had a whole slew of them, but with my medical team behind me, and my desire to be healthy, I overcame them, and am living a very healthy, active, and fully-functioning life. So, not all journeys start off daisies and rainbows, mine sure didn't, but there is hope, and people do recover from their complications and go on to lead very wonderful lives post-VSG. Best wishes in your recovery.

I was that same oxymoron of the "healthy fat chick". I had absolutely no co-morbidities, and my labs were pretty fabulous pre-op. My bp ran in the 110-120/60ish. The only thing I really dealt was joint pain, and fatigue. Losing weight wasn't an issue for me, but keeping it off was pure hell. With VSG, I lost my hunger completely, still at almost 16 months out I never experience physical hunger, I don't battle the volume eating that led me to 270lbs. I love being able to eat small portions, and being able to be satisfied with less a cup of food is absolutely amazing. The best thing about VSG has been the sheer loss of desire to binge. I still have cravings, but what skinny chick do you know that doesn't have a crazy craving for Thai food? I don't know any skinny person that doesn't have an occasional craving. The best thing about the VSG is that it's easier to make the "best" choice. I'm not 100% "good" all the time. I eat junk food, I still eat Snacks, but I'm not scouring the pantry for junk food every day. I dodge a lot of bullets by having VSG before any of the co-morbidities set in.

Totally normal, and don't be alarmed if your cycle is wacked out for a couple of months post-op.

I take Prilosec 20mg once daily and have never had acid issues. I could wean off of it if I wanted to do so. But, my thought process at this point is "why fix something that isn't broken". The risks for taking a PPI are so minimal for my age group, and personal health that I'll pop a Prilosec every day and not think twice about it. A lot of sleeve patients wean off their PPI by 3-6 months and have zero reflux issues. It is a concern, but can be treated. If one PPI doesn't work as effectively, the recommended option is to find one that does work or take it twice a day until our bodies figure out that making huge amounts of acid is not necessary when 80% of our stomach has been removed. I know more RNY and band patients with reflux issues than I know sleeve patients.

For me, the spicier the better. I found this to be a huge help during that stage where food was simply unappealing. The more spice I used, the happier I was to actually eat. Of course, not all sleevesters experience that boredom, complete loss of appetite, nothing sounds or tastes good that I went through, but without curry, ginger, and tons of ground red pepper, I'm fairly sure I would have never eaten. I can eat super spicy Thai food without issue. Other spicy foods I enjoy are chilis, Soups, enchiladas, salsa, I even like a spicy ranch on my pizza occasionally. There's only been a couple of occasions post-op that spicy food irritated my stomach, and I honestly think it was more to do with me overdoing the portion than the actual spiciness of the food. It was a quesadilla loaded with fresh unseeded jalapenos, and this super spicy chipotle ranch sauce that I used for a dipping sauce. I stretched that meal out over an entire hour just so I could eat more. So far so good on everything else spicy! ! !

If you believe it will be the solution, it can be. I was bashed heavily when my failed me. What you need to accept is that the band is just crap. Honestly, I fought to make mine work because I didn't want to fail. BUT, I really sat back and thought "what has this damn thing done for me lately?" It caused me to be in severe pain daily, the food restrictions were numerous, I'd puke on Water some days, so it definitely wasn't "my" fault that it had to come out. Just have faith in yourself, and the sleeve. Seriously, I dropped all but 7lbs with the sleeve alone. AND, I did it in less than a year. So, if I can do it so can you. Get the band out before you end up with permanent damage like I did in 8 short months. I know people that wait and wait and then wait some more hoping it resolve on it's own, but sadly the numbers don't lie. We just happen to fall into that 1 in 4 bandsters will have to revise. You're not a failure, and you won't be with the sleeve.

Awwww Brian that is so awesome, and I'm sure your wife is just glowing with pride because of your progress, and your amazing strength ! ! ! Cheers to your victory, and many more that are sure to come your way.

I loved to cook pre-op so cooking post-op has been fabulous as well. My recommendations for those that don't enjoy cooking is to get a small crock pot, and a little George Foreman type grill. You can cook meats in any of the cream of whatever Soups, season them with various spices, and it's not really cooking. meat freezes well out of the crock pot so you can knock out several meals with 1 easy preparation. The GF grill is a godsend. Seriously, I don't know how I survived before I had it. And it's super easy to clean and cook on. I wouldn't rely on frozen, prepared meals as most of them are super high in sodium and pretty carby. But, that's just my personal opinion. If you need any help with how to prepare stuff, let me know and I'll be more than happy to share how I convert recipes to more sleeve friendly meals.

I missed this when you first posted it, but I had a similar experience with my band. The sleeve obviously worked for me. I'm still never hungry, and live a really normal life. I've posted my story here, and have a blog on here from my earlier months post-op. I'll add you to my friend's list so you can view my stuff. I wouldn't trade my sleeve for anything in the world. I've had great success, I'm easily maintaining, and enjoying life post-sleeve.

I didn't have reflux with my band, and I take Prilosec to prevent reflux now with the sleeve. If Prilosec isn't doing it for you, Prevacid works pretty good from what I hear from a couple of the members here. Even some people have to take 2 doses to reduce the acid enough early out from sleeve surgery. I was super worried about Barrett's esophagus if I developed reflux with the band, and I can imagine how miserable you are right now. I do not have any acid issues at all, but I'm also not willing to go off my Prilosec. Good luck with your research. Hopefully some of the other band to sleeve revisioners will chime in.

When we lose the bulky, bumpy fat, we're building lean muscle and sadly a pound is a pound. Be it a pound of feathers, or a pound of gold, it's a pound. Same concept goes for fat and muscle. Fat takes up more room, muscle is lean and that's why we lose inches, but the scale doesn't move. Your body is going through a lot of adjustments, and is trying to figure out what the heck you've done to it. Also, muscles need Water to repair. So, while we're losing weight, working out, building that lean muscle mass, your body will retain water so the muscles can repair themselves. All the numbers will work out in the end. Just keep doing what you're doing, and don't rely solely on the scale to determine your success.

Yep, one thing at a time. I'm doing my face first. Botox and wrinkle filler is first. Then baby, then I'm considering have the 360 abdominoplasty with a lower body lift, along with breast implants. If I don't do the 360, I'll just have a regular tummy tuck and some lipo done on my inner thighs for a little body contouring. Luckily, my insurance will cover about 2/3 of the costs so I'll just have to pay the surgeon his cut for the additional nip tucking. But, it'll be so worth it. I would estimate that I have good 2-3lbs of skin on my abdomen with my little baby fat roll that I can't get rid of to save my life.

I was a solid 40/42D-DD depending on the bra, and for a fat chick, I had nice boobs. Now, they are just little bags of skin and some breast tissue. Literally there is no fat in there anymore. I am getting breast implants in the future probably next year for my 35th bday. I didn't think it would bother me, but I'm finding that I really hate having to roll my boobs up into my bra. Wearing low cut shirts is a little challenging because I have to make sure the boobs look decent. I'm now a tiny 32/34 a to b cup. I don't mean to be a downer, but it's my reality. I'm completely flat chested now, and the best mental picture I can give you is ** take a Water balloon, and fill it up at the kitchen sink, when the bottom of the balloon fills up with water and just hangs down** Yeah that's what my boobs look like.

My husband was deployed during my recovery so I wasn't getting any action for several months. But, I can tell you that now that I've lost my boobs, I am more self-conscious now than I was pre-op. My husband loves me regardless, but I hate looking down and seeing my ribs poking up higher than my boobs. For the rest of my body, I could care less. I definitely don't care about the little excess skin, and scars. My sex drive is way higher, my stamine/endurance is 150% improved, and sex is so much more fun as a skinny chick. I'd never experienced sex as a skinny girl so it was an adjustment. Overall, I have had zero major issues adjusting to my new body.