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Going from sleeve to bypass this Thursday!

I finally met with the surgeon after getting all of my preop stuff done and got a date for surgery. It's only a little over a week away. I have to go to preop meeting on Wednesday to get all info on what I need to do before and after surgery. But he gave me a packet and I'm only on clear liquid for 24 hours after surgery. Then for 3 weeks it is liquid and mushy foods as tolerated. 3 oz of Protein at each meal 3 times a day and a Protein Shake. He wants 90g of protein a day. I'm going to take a month off of work so that I can get used to everything I need to do. Also looking forward to being home for the birth of my 1st grandchild who is due on 11/21/11. Also, he said I am only in the hospital for 24 hours and no drain. No preop diet as of yet anyways, just asked to not gain any weight before surgery. I am nervous and really excited to finally have a chance at not just losing weight but keeping it off. Any advise or tips for my upcoming journey are appreciated. Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Can it be? Ok so here is my story... 6 months ago i thought about having the gastric sleeve, i walk in to the doctors office for the first time just to ask if the surgery is right for me, my doctor said i should get it and i was very happy but the doctor surprised me and asked if i can have the surgery next day because someone had cancelled due to family issues. So i did it, started thinking about sleeve on the 5th of november 2012 went to the doctor on the 6th of november 2012 at 5 pm and had surgery scheduled for the next morning at 7 am the 7th of nov. Now, six months and 78 pounds later (5 pounds to goal) i started thinking about tummy tuck last week after i tried on a bikini. My tummy is not too bad but its not flat and never will be. I went to the doctor's office two days ago and he agreed on the tummy tuck and said he will call me for and tell me when i can have it done. He called me this morning and asked me if i can have it this coming thursday because someone has cancelled... Well i couldn't believe it at first, i am scared but i heard myself telling him yes!! I still cant believe that in two days i will have my tummy tucked and ill be almost at goal. I consider myself very lucky to not to have to wait for too long... I just cant wait till thursday is here and over with. IN case i didn't make it out for some reason, I want to thank all of you for your support and wish you the best in luck and i hope you get as perfect as you have always envisioned yourself! You are all beautiful/handsome and i admire your dedication to doing what is best for you. And here is my happy dance!!

My surgeon commented that the sleeve surgery now is like the boob jobs in the '80's!! Everyone seems to be getting the sleeve but for many of us gastric bypass is the way to go!

I am also a very, very happy Ballantyne person. Dr Capella only does the bypass. He feels the lap-band is not effective and will not do it. I would suggest you go to one of his seminars. He does a great seminar and is very convincing.

I've had no problem. My daughter bought me a book called Eating well after Weight Loss Surgery. It was written by a chef that also happened to have LapBand. The recipes are yummy. She has recommendations for each recipe as to when you can start it and guidelines about how much to purée and so forth. I made a turkey burger in which after grilling I cut in half and then puréed with a Greek yogurt sauce. The next day took the other half and puréed with BBQ sauce! It was very satisfying! Most recipes are broken down into LapBand, bypass and sleeve then broken down to week 1, 2, 3, 4...

I had LASIK done in November 2001 when I was 46. I love it and wish I had it done sooner. The next year, both of my twins, who were 22 at the time, had it done, and my husband, who is my age. None of us have had any complications at all. My husband and I had our eyes corrected for monovision, which means one eye is corrected for far vision and the other for near vision. I couldn't adjust (though I was told that 95% of people do adjust -- they do this with contacts, too) so they corrected the second eye for far vision, free of charge, about three months after my initial surgery. I'm 52 now and still don't have to wear reading glasses even though I was in bifocals before the surgery. My husband has to wear reading glasses now and then because he had them correct his near vision to about three feet away since he plays trumpet in several bands and wanted to be able to see the music on the stand. He doesn't want to hold a book three feet away when he reads, though, so that's why he needs the reading glasses. I understand that there is now an operation to correct for both near and far-sightedness. My son is a Marine and he said he will be able to get LASIK done in a few months paid for by his medical benefits. It must be pretty mainstream if the military will pay for it! Our fourth child never needed glasses -- can't figure that one out!

well, people have died from tonsillectomies and wisdom tooth extraction, but then...how many people are we talking about? Your chances of dying are higher than THAT, but the mortality rate is 0.3% of dying from gastric bypass, and lower for the sleeve (I can't remember the rate for the sleeve, other than it's lower). So you have at least a 99.7% chance of NOT dying, which I'd say are excellent odds. I think a lot of people - esp oldsters like me - remember the old intestinal bypasses and other weight-reducing surgeries they did 30+ years ago, and yes, those WERE risky. But the surgeries they do now are very different - and they're really no more risky than having your gall bladder out. They're safer than hip replacement surgeries, which are done every day. just do your research. I was very surprised when I did - my perceptions of weight loss surgery were proven wrong, and I'm so glad I had it done.

Hi all - I am two weeks out from surgery. I felt great after surgery for a couple of days until I developed a hernia from pushing my 70 pound lab off my lap! Regardless, I have absolutely no sense of fullness. Not even any of the "subtle" ones. I have experimented with some mushy foods (chicken, carrots) and those didn't make me feel full despite eating half a cup of them. Also nothing I've eaten makes me sick - although I haven't had too wide a variety. I am super scared I will have to rely solely on my "willpower" to continue losing weight after the first few weeks. I have lost all the Fluid weight I gained in both surgeries (bypass and hernia) and 10 more. If I don't have any full sensation and no dumping syndrome, I'm not sure this will end up working very well for me. Has anyone else had this? Did it resolve? I am very worried about this! Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App

How are you doing for pain now? I hope you're recovering ok and getting some relief from the pain. Is bypass still an option you're considering?

One of the individuals in our bariatric surgery group meetings went from a lapland to bypass and lost about that much weight. His band started to eat through his stomach so he had to have it removed. He was pleased with the RNY surgery results.

I finished my last NUT appt today and hopefully the office will submit paperwork this or next week. Waiting for the call to schedule surgery now.. I am so ready!! On the positive I got the go ahead to have the sleeve vs the bypass. Hooray! Nurse says EGD came back okay and so now I just wait for BCBS approval. Depending on when they get the paperwork together and send it off, I should hopefully have an answer in a week or two! I did let the surgery coordinator know that I am looking for the last weeks of October for the surgery date because of work schedule. She said that should be absolutely doable:) I am almost there guys!!

I’ve been taking things in stride as best I can but am rather miffed at doctors and events today so I am just going to rant even though I need to be trying to sleep. Prior to my gastric bypass surgery and gallbladder removal My gastroenterologist insisted I have a colonoscopy due to the fact that previous ct scan had shown severe narrowing of my colon and a recent ct showed possible colitis. But the colonoscopy had to wait until after my surgery. I went through three days of clear liquids and hellish prep trying to swallow the required liquids. While the nurse was great I was literally the last patient and they were already starting to close down the facility before my procedure started. I had an unusually hard time waking up from the sedation and just wanted to close my eyes but they were in a hurry to get me out, I was barely awake and told to get dressed and get in the car to go even though I was stumbling and could hardly walk. I didn’t get answers from the colonoscopy. I don’t know if endometriosis can be confused for colitis. But why would a ct scan show something but not a colonoscopy. It showed melanosis in the colon usually caused by chronic laxative use which I refuse to use laxatives on a regular basis so rarely take it. Also diverticulosis of the sigmoid colon which has been there some years now and the last doctor just said well you have to wait until you end up in the Er with an emergency to even do anything. Like ok. But no biopsy was taken of the darkened spots of my colon. And no explanation of my symptoms. My bariatric surgeon said My gastroenterologist could do the endoscopy since he is closer to where I live, and he got all my information and everything. I had previously had a balloon dilation of a very narrow stricture. They saw the stricture during this procedure (so I guess the previous dilation didn’t do anything) but my endoscopy report reads: “ge junction with mucosal tear from hiccup during dilation” I didn’t speak to the doctor, I wasn’t alert enough. He made it out like nothing to my mom. They didn’t take any biopsy from either tests. And I have a mucosal tear but not what to do about all the pain? Im just tired and frustrated. I can only manage so much when I don’t have clear answers. I have to have another procedure this time a surgery in two weeks to do with the endometriosis. Not even sure the doctor will be able to find where it is since it can be anywhere and the main reason is my ovary has to come out. All my long rambling, sorry. Has anyone had a tear happen during a balloon dilation? From what I see dilation isn’t a cure just a treatment or temporary fix. I know you don’t want the stoma too big but too small is not good either. I’ve been having spasms in my left side, crushing chest pain, nausea and difficulty with purée and other symptoms. I’m the end I just shut up and deal with it. Im not regretting RNY because with my nonexistent metabolism I would not have lost nearly 63lbs. And I knew it would take its toll on my chronic illness but so much at once has me exhausted. end of rant.

I was revised from sleeve to bypass 3 weeks ago and I have had 3 episodes of severe heartburn. Is anyone else still getting heart burn after bypass?

this happens to about 30% of sleeve patients - that's why they recommend bypass to people who had GERD prior to surgery. And people who've never had GERD before surgery can also develop it, unfortunately. Sorry this has happened to you. The suggestions lizonaplane made (above) are good ones. Hopefully some of them will work for you!!

I've been sleeved for over a month now and am growing more and more frustrated with my Primary Care Physician. It's obvious to me that he has NO IDEA what VSG is, in fact he always assumes either that I had Gastric Bypass or that all symptoms and problems are the same. For example, I've been having spikes in my blood glucose levels (not a diabetic but I have a meter and have been testing regularly because I knew something wasn't right). My doc tried to tell me it was "dumping syndrome" and I had to argue with him just to get some simple tests done. Frustrating. Does anyone else feel like they need to educate their doc or did you all just find a new primary care doc that knows about VSG? p.s. he also would not give me a prescription for a PPI.

Those of you that have had gastric bypass have you had a lot of problems with dumping syndrome? I'm real leary about that too. I'll be having my surgery in February. Sent from my LGMS550 using BariatricPal mobile app

I also have Aetna and I live in MA. My surgeon's office sent the request in 3 weeks ago and I am still waiting. I want the band and not the bypass but I fear that Aetna will not cover it. How long ago did you request it?

I AM ALSO SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 13TH AND IT CANT COME SOON ENOUGH! HOWS EVERYONE FEELING?:tt2:

Hi Cheryl, I know exactly where you're coming from. It's unfortunate, but many US Dr.'s don't know that much about the Band as of yet, and don't realize it's true potential. Of course some people will lose more slowly than others, but I truly believe that if you eat right and exercise hard you will lose weight quickly with this Band. If you read through this board and look at people's tickers, you will see very solid evidence of this. Gastric bypass is almost a no-brainer -- the weight comes off lightening-fast and with almost no effort on the part of the patient BUT, it also has obvious drawbacks (which I won't really get into because that's not what this discussion is about). I love my Lap Band because, unlike Gastric Bypass, the Band forces me to do my part (i.e., eat right and exercise), and I really believe this is healthier in the long run. I think a lot of Doctors favor the gastric bypass because it is almost a sure-fire method for losing a lot weight quickly, and it doesn't rely so much on the compliance of the patient. This is not true with the Band. If you don't do your part, you won't be very successful in the long run, because it's pretty easy to figure out ways to "eat around" the Band if you are determined to do so. If you want to go with the Band, I have a few suggestions for you, 1) Find a Dr. who is 100% completely on board with this procedure and has a lot of experience with it. Band placement is important!!!! If the Dr. doesn't know what they're doing and doesn't place the Band properly, the Band will not work for you, and in fact, can cause serious problems. 2) Work with a Dr. who does the fills under flouro. I will never understand why 100% of Doctors don't do this. When you do a fill under fluoro, it completely takes the guesswork out of the whole thing. The Dr. is able to see exactly what he or she is doing and they are also able to see the Band and confirm that everything is okay, every single time you have a fill. Best of luck to you! And hope to see you in "Bandland" soon

Is there anyone on here or anyone that knows anyone who is still diabetic after rny? I take a truckload of meds for diabetes and am praying to resolve this problem when I have my surgery on Dec. 20th. Thanks Teresa

I would say no, the sleeve can not be done again. You can however have a revision to the gastric bypass. The problem is finding a dr to do it. My surgeon will only do revisions because of medical reasons. (Gerd) he will not do a revision if the patient didn't follow the program.

I hope to have a November surgery date - have been working with MidState Medical Center in Meriden; great support and wonderful team of Dr's nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists all in one place. Dr. Benbrahim is Doctor - you can call them or go to a seminar in November - 203 694-5435

Hello everyone, my surgery date is December 5. I feel worried because I have a plan trip on Dec 11-13. My surgery date was supposed to be early November but it was pushed to December. The doctor said it's ok to travel just don't carry anything heavy. I'm taking a 1% of risk. Well hopefully I get well soon. Good luck to y'all ????

My friend had hers in November and today she posted she's 100lbs lighter! I pray to God I do as well as she did. I look forward to her your results. Sent from my DROID RAZR using LapBandTalk