NotSoLittleMermaid

Yes, I hated BA shakes too.. SO GLAD I didn't order a lot of them! There are many messages about shakes, many people try samples from the Vita Lady. (Look in the regular VSG section of this forum) I don't tolerate Splenda or sucralose that well (it creates a sickinly sweet taste in my mouth that will last 1-2 hours or so after or drinking.) Qivana’s METABOLIQ is made with Steveia and tastes the best! 251.609.5408 is a local distrubuter or you can find someone in your area who does Qivana. I vote these for best taste, although the calorie/protien ratio (I think it is like 200 cal/15 grams of protien) is not as good as the following VHT shakes: But I did find I like these shakes BEST FOR ON THE GO.. VHT Extreme smoothie vanilla Cream, chocolate or strawberry. Cheapest place to get them http://www.vitacost.com/productResults.aspx?ss=1&previousText=vita&Ntk=products&Ntt=extreme%20smoothie Your doctor may also let you use greek yogurt blended or cottage cheese.. I like Fage at Publix.. it has 120 calories & 20 grams of protien for a cup! Also some doctors will let you get protien Soups.

You look amazing! The people who are telling you to eat etc. are just jealous! I would to have people tell me to eat! ; ) bottom line....you have arrived!

Hope it goes great for you! Soon you'll be on your way to a healthier weight!

Hi it would seem that you and I are one of the few people with stomach polyps. I have tried doing a ton of research but didn't get far. Mine were discovered when I was in the OR for my gastric sleeve plication surgery and it was aborted due to my unexpected polyps. I was only on PPI acid reducers for a month in my entire life and some polyps were as big as 2 cm. I can't really believe I would get them that quick from the PPI meds. At any rate, they came back non-cancerous as fundic and I have no polyps in my colon. I have been tested for gastric, liver & pancreatic levels, gastic emptying, gall bladder tests/ultrasounds and there is nothing wrong. I feel like I am starving hungry, even after I eat like an hour later. When I was on PPI acid reducers this pain lessened so I think it is acid. But I also have a small pain sometimes on the right, even when I don't eat or drink. Do you still have your polyps in the stomach? Did you ever find out what caused them? Are you still on PPIs? Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

Congratulations!

no but I think about her often. I hope she is healing.

Thanks! My sisters do this and they seem to have less spider veins than I do. I want to try it. Thanks for posting!

Hi, this forum has GREAT Plication info.. Just read all the topics under the " TOTAL GASTRIC VERTICAL PLICATION SLEEVE SURGERY " .. By the way, Dr. Watkins and his team ROCKS. I have never felt more cared for and all the staff take a personal interest in you. DR W and his staff LISTEN patiently and THROUGHLY answer questions. They have never rushed me along or cut me off. I have never felt like I was just another patient or they are only in it for the money. THEY REALLY CARE. My husband was really impressed. They are in it for the long haul with you and I feell like we are all friends. Ok, although I was NOT able to have my GPS surgery w/Dr. W a couple weeks ago (he found polyps) I am REALLY HOPING TO. From my research this surgery IS NOTHING LIKE THE BAND. I've determined I SURELY DO NOT WANT THE BAND for EXACTLY the reasons you mentioned: food getting stuck, being limited to what will fit through the small hole, slming. Oh, and I guess you are not supposed to drink while eating. From research I've done, GPS patients can each ANYTHING in small portions (usually 1/2 to 1 cup) they want, once on solids. That mean YES to VEGGIES/CHICKEN ANYTHING. Occaisonally it seems someone might have a hard time with something in the beginning, but for me, I am not willing to give up veggies, bread, Pasta for the band - I do NOT want to get stuck. They all seem to stay full and not get very hungry. So you have a small stomach, each smaller portions, because the stomach can fill up and be tight with food, ghreline (hunger hormone) is diminished and seems to help curb appetite - it seems to be the same effect that VSG patience have. If you overeat, you could have extreme pain and/or vomit. Early on, some patients may possibly slime, but usually from what I've read that is only early on and usually happens when stiched too tight or maybe overeating early on- IT IS VERY RARE with this surgery. Sliming was something FOR SURE I didn't want to have for the rest of my life, so the band was out for me. That is what appealed to me about this Plication surgery.. From what I know, you CAN drink while eating with GPS, but it may cause you to get hungry quicker because the food gets flushed through. I really hope my tests come out fine and I can have GPS surgery! I think YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT! I have been PM'd many different people and other than missing big portions OCCASIONALLY at one sitting, they HAVE NO REGRETS. It's always appealed to me because you can eat anything, just in smalller portions and have a reduced appetite, stay full longer - and keep the rest of your stomach. Most people try to focus on protien first for health and weight loss and than have other things in small amounts.

Check out Dr. Watkins. He is awesome, experienced, skilled, kind and very caring! You can do a search in this forum.

Kacee, who did you have your surgery with? Also are you taking any acid reducing pills? I found a profound difference in what I thought was hunger.

Thanks Joanie, and Amen!

Thanks so much for posting KenE! Dr. Watkins and his staff are SO caring and through! Surgerical Facility and office was new look & state of the art. Nursing staff were so caring, explianed everthing and even gave me a heated gown that had hot blown through it! I am so bummed I couldn't have the surgery today! Once he got down into my stomach with camera, he found polyps that I am not supposed to have. So now I have to have them bi-oped and wait a few months to see if they change! It is KILLING ME that I can't have now! Short of getting on my knees, I've asked Dr. Watkins at-least 5 different ways if there is anyway to have it this week or beginning of the week. But I will have to wait. He said that it polyps are common for someone taking Prevacid drugs for years, but not for me who just started. It could be my hormones secreting a high Gaston level or it could be cancer. I am not worried just on a level of disappointment of for not getting Plicated, 0-10 I am a 20! Good news though, so far it was all a breeze. General anesthesia was so easy, no pain or burning for me.. I walked to OR, got up on the bed, laid down and didn't even have time to pray! The next thing they were waking me up and I was asking about the polyps and I was very coherent. The worse thing was the IV in the hand at the beginning, but she only stuck me once and an having it in was only uncomfortable at best. It is no big deal and it won't be any sweat next time. Dr.Watkins just called my husband to see how I am doing even though I only had an endoscope. He is the BEST caring doctor and was patient answering all our questions. Although I am so disappointed, I appreciate & respect Dr.Watkins professionalism & care, looking out for what's best for me, vs. folding, sowing and not being so throuough. When I CAN have it, he is definitely worth coming up here for - you will LOVE him and his staff! They are there to help answer questions, they are very knowlegable and empathic (alot of them have had weight loss surgery). They are definately in it to make you sucessfull at weightloss, happy and friends for live!

This is the first time I've ever heard of this happening with Plication surgery. All of them have risks (band can cause scar tissue, slip, etc, Sleeve can have leaks from staples, and of course the Gastric Bypass I think has the highest risk.) This is really baffling, and I wonder very much what caused her complication. We pray for them and hope to hear some good news soon. Please keep us updated.

Hi CKnorte, it is just a droid app called Barcode Scanner that works with the calorie counter propgram on my Samsung Galaxy, called "Fascation" through Verizion. Tmobile and other companies have the same phone, but it seems like each one runs different programs. My phone allows me to dictate words to search, works for calorie counter to. "Swipe" is a super cool FAST way to type. Hope that helps!

Yep, you read right. I wanted to pass on what's really helped me on my Pre-Op and will probably continue to help. My phone is able to scan calories/protien/fat in (via barcode on most items) and add to my Calorie Counter App or program - so I have a REALLY EASY food DIARY. Now there is a no brainer way of calculating your Calories, Protien, Carbs, Sugar, etc. You can also add your own food/drinks etc. It even worked to scan my Gummy Vites and Water! My regular cell phone died, so I took the opporunity to get one that runs Droid or Google based applications, but I am sure that it will work with Iphone/Ipods and there are plently of other good Calorie counting & barcode scanning programs out there. I think these programs were both free or less than $2. The Calorie Counter syncs with FatSecret.com so I have a backup of my Food Diary. Pretty cool way to utilize techology to loose weight! Ok, so maybe I just prefer to consume items WITH scannable barcodes.. (it will probably even work on fruit/veggies too!) I just found it has REALLY helped me budget my calories better! Hopefully it will help you too! It is amazing how it all adds up.. but this is the quickest, easiest way I've seen to keep track. Great suggestions everyone! Keep up the good work!

Yep, you read right. I wanted to pass on what's really helped me on my Pre-Op and will probably continue to help. My phone is able to scan calories/protien/fat in (via barcode on most items) and add to my Calorie Counter App or program - so I have a REALLY EASY food DIARY. Now there is a no brainer way of calculating your Calories, Protien, Carbs, Sugar, etc. You can also add your own food/drinks etc. It even worked to scan my Gummy Vites and Water! My regular cell phone died, so I took the opporunity to get one that runs Droid or Google based applications, but I am sure that it will work with Iphone/Ipods and there are plently of other good Calorie counting & barcode scanning programs out there. I think these programs were both free or less than $2. The Calorie Counter syncs with FatSecret.com so I have a backup of my Food Diary. Pretty cool way to utilize techology to loose weight! Ok, so maybe I just prefer to consume items WITH scannable barcodes.. (it will probably even work on fruit/veggies too!) I just found it has REALLY helped me budget my calories better! Hopefully it will help you too!

We pray for her safe and speedy recovery soon.

Please give us an update as soon as you are able. We are worried! I hope you can figure out what the problem is and fix it and get some rest.

Thanks for the advice. I also found liquid protein at Pro-Stat 101 Predigested Liquid Protein (30 oz. Bottle) from Diet Direct

I am also looking for suggestions. I need to stay under 800 calories a day and drink liquid protein. Not a big fan of sickly sweet shakes all the time. Looking for protein soups or something I could add to soup. Any brands anyone likes or dislikes?

Yea! Way to go! Only a few more weeks for me till I have my surgery! Keep up the great work!

Oh, and I am NOT getting the lapband, I am getting the Gastric Plication Sleeve.

My doctor is doing it at the same time. Dr. Watkins, What is your opinion on the viability of the stomach after the plication surgery. I was informed that eventually the stomach would adhere to itself and really could not be taken down after a month or two. I ask this as a Barretts esophagus patient that would need the use of my stomach should my Barretts progress to esophageal cancer. Excellent question. The stomach will always be viable after plication. Since it is just folded in on itself and there is no cutting or stapling, there really is no issue with its viability. Reversing it would involve cutting the stitches and the subsequent bit of scar tissue around the stitches and you would be left with your normal stomach. We know this can be taken down even after many years because we've been doing this for many years when we take down plicated stomach after Nissen fundoplication (a stomach plication operation for severe reflux - heartburn) or after Lap Band surgery (the stomach is plicated over the band). Barretts esophagus, for anyone who hasn't heard about it, is when the esophageal lining changes due to chronic reflux (heartburn, GERD). The esopagus (swallowing tube) is made to handle neutral pH Fluid such as spit and mucous and food. It really doesn't want to see gastric acid or bile. In the case of bad heartburn, the lower esophagus gets exposed to so much acid and bile that it gets irritated and chronically inflammed and has to change its cells to protect itself. These cells look more like stomach lining cells than esophageal lining cells and this is what they call Barrett's esophagus. Dr. Barrett is the physician who discovered this interesting protective mechanism by morphology in the wonderfully designed human body. The problem with Barrett's is that it can form pre-cancerous cells over time and these can progress to cancer. This is why it is a good idea to have an endoscopy (stomach scope, EGD - esophagogastroduodenoscopy) if you suffer from severe heartburn to rule out Barrett's. If biopsies show Barrett's with low grade dysplasia (pre-cancerous change) you need to have more frequent endoscopy to monitor for progression. If you have high grade dysplasia or frank cancer cells this is when esophageal resection (cut the affected area out) is recommended. Moderate grade dysplasia is either more closely watched with frequent endoscopy or treated surgically. The good news is that if the heartburn is treated surgically, in some cases the Barrett's will resolve (go away, cured). I have seen this many times in my own practice. Treatment typically involves addressing the associated hiatal hernia. Hiatal hernia is when the hiatus - the opening in the diaphragm (breathing muscle) - is too large and there is no "valve" to prevent acid and bile from backing up into the esophagus. With that operation, the esophagus is mobilized to ensure that an intra-abdominal portion of the esophagus is below the diaphgram. This is what we call an intact anti-reflux mechanism. After doing laparoscopic weight loss surgery for 8+ years, I have learned that essentially 100% of patients have a hiatal hernia or at best a weak hiatus that needs repair. This is easy to do because it simply involves mobilizing the esophagus to achieve an intra-abdominal portion and stitching the hiatus until it is the appropriate size. This is very important to do in any stomach-reduction surgery because if you give a patient a smaller stomach without an intact anti-reflux mechanism, this creates more severe heartburn and frustrated patients and less successful weight loss. I feel very strongly about creating an intact anti-reflux mechanism with each weight loss operation and I know this is important from personal experience. Many surgeons don't do this - they don't believe in it - to the detriment of their patients. All of this to say, by fixing your hiatus, you may very well achieve resolution of your Barrett's esophagus. Even if the worse should happen and it progresses, you could still have an esophageal resection with gastric reconnection to re-establish continuity with no problem even after plication. Brad Watkins MD LapBandTalk Click to visit the largest Lap-Band community online!

I never have either! You look too skinny to need surgery! Great pic!