NtvTxn

I hate to hear this. My question about the pizza was just trying to get an idea of how much you COULD eat, had you chosen to, prior to surgery. Wondering if you are feeling any restriction or feeling any different. For me, now....I can go eat Mexican food and eat one enchilada and a TB of refried beans and about the same amount of rice. Prior to surgery, I could eat the entire entrée. Two enchiladas and all the beans and rice, not to mention, my husband and I would go through at least one and sometimes work on a 2nd basket of chips. Now I will 'pick' at a corn tortilla and salsa, rather than chips. To me it seems like a LOT of food until I look at what other people are eating and remember THAT use to be me!!! Talk to your doctor and dietitian.

Remember, just because we can, doesn't mean we should!!! A couple of questions; Do you experience hunger? How much pizza could you eat prior to surgery? I could split a large pizza with my husband. Now, at three years out, I can eat two pieces of a 12" pizza mushroom pizza, MAYBE. I might have to leave the second piece of crust. Make it a habit to under eat your sleeve! If you aren't hungry, it will not be difficult.

I was self pay and the cost included up to two nights in the hospital, I only stayed one. I CHOSE to stay one. Like you, I had surgery at 7 AM on a Friday and I stayed until about 4PM on Saturday afternoon. I felt good enough to leave. I rested better at home and I had NO concerns, or else I would have stayed another night. I had been able to use the bathroom, sip broth and water and passed the leak test. I had a one week check up at Dr. Davidson's office, he took part of the staples out and then I had another follow up at 2 weeks. That is when he took out the rest of them. I hope this helps!!!

Thanks for the information! What all is on it? Would you get it again?

I love veggies and fruits, but they don't play a big part in my diet now days. Typically for dinner I'll eat 2.5 - 3 oz of protein; red meat, chicken or my new favorite, grilled Cod or Haddock! Along with that I like to eat 1% cottage cheese, an eighth of a cup and then about that same amount of whatever veggie I've prepared. Some times we'll have two veggies. I was told to treat fruits as a 'treat' and I do. I'll usually eat something once or maybe twice a week. A small banana or apple, sometimes I go a few weeks and don't have any fruit, but that isn't abnormal, I did the same thing prior to surgery.

Actually I said I do not know if it makes a difference or not, but a 32 is what I wanted. If it does make a difference then I will have no regrets five years from now. Erring on the side of caution. I did say that Dr. Davidson's nurse thought it made a difference, she has a 36 Fr Bougie. That is her opinion, basically hearsay with me just repeating it.

Yes, of course we still have to work at it. This is not a magic bullet. We still have to make choices. If we choose fried food, ice cream and Twinkies (are they for sale again?) over eggs, broiled Cod or a lean cut of beef, then we can surely 'eat around our sleeve'. Someone else said something about worrying about once again, failing. I really don't "worry" about failing but weight gain does cross my mind and I am MINDFUL that just because I've lost all the weight I wanted to plus 5 lbs and just because I've been maintaining for almost 2.5 years....that does NOT guarantee that I cannot gain weight. I NEVER want to forget that failure is possible if I choose poorly time and time again.

As Doctor Phil would say "How's this working for you? Kick that boy's a$$ to the curb" 'Nuff said.

This surgery is the most exciting thing I've ever done for ME. It's been a wild ride but I've loved every single minute since I woke up in recovery!!! I had NO health issues, I'm not sure what difference that made with recovery, but I had no problems. I took pain meds only at night after I left the hospital, and only took them for ten days total. From the get go, I logged my food on line and weighed or measured my food when I'm at home. I still do this, it is habit, my normal. My new life.....and to me, it's fun. Get a disposable camera, have someone take a picture of you the night before surgery, then on your surgery 'date' every month for the first year. After the one year anniversary picture, take the camera and have it developed. Laying the pictures out, side by side and SEEING the transformation will take your breath away!!!! The most exciting thing for me is when I could see my collar bone!!!! I love to shop for clothes now, I can walk in and find cute, cute clothes, it is sooooo fun to shop now!!! Good luck!

It did matter to me, a lot. I knew I wanted a 32, after reading threads on this forum and after talking to professionals for six months. I was self pay and wanted to get more bang for my buck. The difference in a 32 and a 36 may be miniscule, but we all know, size DOES matter!! There were too many doctor's here in Dallas, 'Center of Excellence' doctors, so I had several choices. My doctor's nurse had this surgery 7 yrs before I did, that would now be 10 years ago. Really a new procedure for weight loss back then. Her's is a 36, and SHE said that from her years in working with bariatric patients, the patients with a 32 seem to be the most successful. Not too small but small enough. She wished hers was a 32 and had even considered a re-do. Whether or not it's a big deal, I'm not sure, but to ME it was.

I am from TX but was living in Wisconsin when I decided to have surgery. I knew I wanted to come 'home' to have surgery. I went to my PCP 'up there' to let her know my plans and see what she had to say. She gave me two thumbs up and her only advice was 'Find a Center of Excellence physician'. So that is where I started. I narrowed it down to two doctors here in Dallas and ended up going with the one that had been doing it longer. It didn't hurt that he'd been voted a 'Top Doc' in D Magazine by his peers for seventeen years. He did the 'size' (32 French Bougie) I was hoping for.....all in all, I found the perfect doctor for ME. I'd use him again.

I decided that since it had been almost 30 years since I'd had a tetanus shot, due to how much I dislike needles, I don't think doing the fills would be fun! I don't know what happened to my friend, all I know is six weeks later she was back in having it removed. She wanted the sleeve, but her insurance wouldn't cover it and she didn't want RNY.

This post made me giggle, your band was fine until things went south it reminded me of the following story! Recently there were a group of people talking outside a PetSmart, they were having an adoption thing going on. Anyway, someone must have mentioned Pit Bulls and another person said, "Pit Bulls are perfectly fine dogs, until they aren't" LoL

Same with RNY or DS, theirs is the best choice - sadly, they are wrong!!! LOL I honestly believe sleeve surgery will eventually become the "GOLD STANDARD" for WLS BTW - I do not WANT my stomach back. I didn't want something I could 'reverse'. How crazy is that??!!! I have two friends with a band. One had it removed six weeks later because of some pretty serious problems. The other, lost 60 lbs, never reached goal, never below 200 lbs, and then started re-gaining. Only between 15 - 20 lbs, but still. Oh, the worst thing is she never lost her appetite, she was starving by the time she was discharged from the hospital, that first day!!

I like him, I was hoping HE would be the one who ran this time, but alas, maybe he'll give it a try next time. It may not have been a medical professional at all. It could be a friend of a friend or a family member who let it slip or 'outted' him. Of course he'd have to tell eventually, when he starts losing vast amounts of weight, people assume you've had WLS or you are sick.

Good luck!!!! You're going to be THRILLED with your new life. It's a wild ride, enjoy every single minute of it!!!!

You're in Allen?!! You are right next door. I was at the Kroger on McDermott and Alma just yesterday. I'm in NE Plano. If you aren't attending a support group, there's several of us in THIS area that are attending two or three! It's fun and it's fun to make friends there! I went to a new one last week, Presbyterian on West Parker - I'm not sure if it's Plano, Frisco but it was a really good group! Good luck - it won't be long now!!!

Forced portion control - it is what I needed. I am almost 3 years post-op and have been maintaining for about 2.5 years. I reached goal FAST, I lost 23 lbs prior to surgery for a total of 83. Never one second of 'buyers remorse'. I love my sleeve. I still don't get hungry, I have what I call my "NEW" hunger, it's more of an empty feeling. I can eat or I can ignore it if I need or want to. No hunger or my 'new hunger' makes resisting when I should, much, much easier. The doctor was sure to tell us at the seminar, this is not a diet, it's a new way of life. It is. I treated it as a diet until I reached goal. Since then, nothing is off limits other than carbonated drinks, regular OR sugar free. That was his only 'NEVER'. I can live with that. There are things I CHOOSE not to eat or not often, but I share a piece of Starbucks pumpkin bread with my husband, every weekend, almost without fail. Every so often, I will eat a few fries or chips, and when I say a few, I mean five or six French fries or Fritos. I'll eat something fried, but seldom and not much. Three or four fried pickles, ONE time in the past three years. Things like that just aren't worth it to me!! Like I said, it is much easier to make wiser choices when you aren't experiencing real hunger! I promise, you will NOT regret having surgery. Find a support group, start attending BEFORE, you'll have real live people there and you can pick their brains!!! Good luck!!!

I went for a one week, two week, three month, six month and one year follow ups. After that, we are suppose to go annually, I missed my two year, but I want to go see him in the next few months for my three year. It IS good for them to see those of us further out so stats can be kept etc.

I frequently go to the mall, Dillard's is my favorite store.....and just try on clothes. I call it window shopping. I try on cute clothes, just because I can. For all of my life, I either couldn't fit into "CUTE" clothes or didn't have the money to shop often, so I didn't. I also tended to get baggier stuff, because I was 'fat'. Looking back, I was NOT fat, just not comfortable with my size. Later on down the road, I'd have given my right arm to be 'that size' again!!! I highly recommend going shopping, just to play!!!

Congratulations on your weight loss. Hey, I am almost 3 years out and some times it still doesn't look like 'me' to me!!! I will still have my husband point out someone when we're out, someone who is my size NOW. It is easier to see the real size when it's somebody else. It is weird, all these head games. I still tend to grab a size to large because loose is how I was so use to wearing my clothes. My jeans are a size 4, some times a 6, depending on the brand. My shirts, a M and dresses are a 6. Those numbers "feel" foreign, surely someone else's??!!!! I thought I'd be happy in a 12, but it happened so quickly, I knew I could go lower. Not only did I get to Dr. Davidson's goal, I ended up setting MY personal goal for 5 lbs less, so I'd have a "pad". Don't under estimate what you can do, it is truly amazing! I am 15 lbs less at age 53, than I was at age 19 when I got married.

Just for the heck of it, I wanted to see if I could still lose. I CAN!!! I maintain at about 1300 calories a day, so I backed it up to 1200 per day and upped my protein to between 75 and 105 grams per day. I dropped four pounds in 2.5 weeks. When I was losing, prior to goal, I started out at about 350 calories, right after surgery and never went over 800 calories when I reached goal. You can do it.....I did not and do not "exercise", I am going to go get some ankle weights to wear around the house and I have a weighted ball that I toss around every so often, but that's it. I have made lifestyle changes. It has been easy to do that since I experience no real hunger. Try upping your protein, lowering you calories a little and if you like to exercise, that is NOT a bad thing!!! Good luck!

"ONLY" 15 lbs in a month??!!! You're kidding, right? OMG, that is fantastic. Chances are it will be much less than that from now on! Be thrilled with each and every pound you lose. Unlike 'before' - will this new tummy you have, every pound lost is lost forever. You didn't wake up fat one day, it happened over time, for me it happened over the course of 30 years, with me losing and re-gaining. On three different occasions I lost 50 lbs, only to put it back on, plus a few to boot!!! Do a happy dance, it's great progress.

You weren't given a guide??!!!! Were you told clear liquids this first week? Broth, sugar free Jell-O, popsicles!!!

I'm not sure why anyone would choose it. I initially thought it is what I would do, but after a little research, I knew I would not and went with the sleeve. My physician and some of the other doctor's here in Dallas are not doing it, or doing it much less because of the problems and high failure rate. He can always go for a revision if he wants to. Maybe we should all send him a note. Congratulate him and then mention what we've done in case he has problems.