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Update I was sleeved on March 26th. Since then I've lost 76lbs and feeling great with no complications

I had a DS last week with Dr Wilhelmy as well. So far, so good. It's a real hospital, but it is not a U.S. Hospital. Dr Wilhelmy doesn't have a bad accent, but I think he may have a limited vocabulary in English (Dr. Campos acted as a translator during the pre-Surgery consult, though Dr Wilhelmy came by himself for the daily checkups post-op). No serious complications so far.

In your shoes, what I would really want to know is just how malabsorptive he made it, as that influences both how you supplement in the future, and how you need to eat to lose the weight, as both will likely be somewhat different than with the mainstream procedures like the RNY or DS. The old purely malabsorptive procedures like the JIB worked fairly well, but had a lot of nutritional complications which is why they were abandoned. The RNY went the other way being primarily restrictive and works well with only moderate nutritional consequences from its mild malabsorption, but weight maintenance is only so-so. The BPD/DS hits something of a sweet spot in being moderately malabsorptive with a similar level of nutritional quirks and a more moderate restriction. The old Scopinaro was more malabsorptive and had more problems than the typical DS (that usually had about a 50cm common channel, compared to 100+ for the BPD/DS). One of the general rules-of-thumb that we discussed in the DS world is that with the DS, the sleeve (restriction) gets the weight off, while the switch (the malabsorption) keeps it off. The implication of all of this (from an amateur/non doctor perspective) is that if there is enough malabsorption to effectively take the weight off by itself (a la the old JIB or Scopinaro) then there can be excessive nutritional problems, or if the malabsorption is moderate enough to not cause significant nutritional problems, the weight loss may be marginal. I would assume (hope) that this is the case with what your surgeon did, and that you will have to work harder at the loss part of the equation, but will have typical DS/distal RNY nutritional quirks to work around. This is something that you really need to understand in working with your surgeon in the coming follow up visits. Good luck!

I love, love, love Dr. DesCoteaux. (no really :confused_smile:). He has done 2 surgeries for me (emergency ileostomy and the lapband). He also got stuck with me being in hosptial for 2 weeks in the fall after I had some complications, so I feel I know him as well as I could know a surgeon. He has always treated me with the utmost dignity and respect and is really encouraging (in a quiet way). He spends the time you need, and even if he is in a rush, he never projects that. I am sure he doesn't remember everything he is told, but I always feel very important to him. He is the most unsurgeony surgeon I have ever met (and I have had lots of surgery). He has a very gentle touch - others write how they want to be "numbed" before a fill and I have to say, I don't even feel it when he does one for me, and last time my port had flipped so he had to work to find it!!! I have also met with Dr. Church once for a second consult before surgery and I really liked him. I am not sure how involved he will continue to be in terms of follow-up, since I had the impression he is not as invested in the program as Dr. DesCoteaux and Dr. Mitchell. I have never actually read anywhere that he does private fills. I have never met Dr. Mitchell, from what I have read people either really like him or really don't. I don't know anything about Dr. Debru. The rumors I have been hearing is that Dr. Mitchell is trying to open a private lap band clinic in Calgary that would be associated with one the TO clinics. If it happens and you were banded in TO by that clinic, your fills would be covered here as well. I think it was Dr. Coburn, but I am not sure. There is also a family doc in Calgary that does fills for one of the TO clinics, but his name escapes me. What I have read about him has been positive. You might want to search historically on this forum, because it would have been here that I read about him.

I'm scheduled for May 11th and my daughter will be 5 months old. I am planning on breastfeeding through it. To complicate matters I am going to Mexico to do the surgery so I'll be gone for 6 days without her. I'm planning on pumping and dumping (since there is no way to freeze it and carry it with me on the plane) but my husband has a supply at home to feed her while I am gone. I expect my success depends heavily on my Fluid intake and how my body responds to just pumping and no suckling. I know there are different hormones involved between those two means of getting breast milk I'm hoping my body will be too preoccupied with the stress of surgery to bother with the hormones Everything I read says your success depends on fluid intake more than calories (think 3rd world countries and their calorie consumption!) As BIG girls we have plenty of calories to share even while shedding weight. However, if our Water isn't sufficient then the body just can't produce the milk. So, watch the water! Even if I have to stay up all night to get it in I'll be sipping water... I don't think of it being selfish since I am already a ticking time bomb. Even if I have to stop breastfeeding she got 5 months AND I'll be alive long enough to see her children, God willing, but if I die it won't be because of weight related issues!! Right now I think my life expectancy is only about 20 years if I continue on the path I am. My body just can't hold up to my metabolic issues and my overeating.

It's a common thread I see running around this forum.. people asking why they didn't do this years ago. I'm even young and I'm finding myself asking the same thing. Though I'm only 25.. I wish I would have done it at 18 or 20.. admittedly, maybe I wasn't ready then.. maybe I still needed time.. especially because part of my story is finding out at 24 that I had bipolar II without the usual "standard" symptoms of women docs normally see in their 20's so I was very hard to diagnose and went through a period of about three years where I alienated everyone but my very closest friends because I was so hard to be around -- with a low of winding up needing to be admitted to a psych ward to get it all figured out. I definitely learned who my friends were (and who, surprisingly, weren't...) I am also social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and depression.. so I spent the last year and a half in counseling trying to get my mental self to match the well-put together self I present to the world thanks to years of being on stage growing up. I learned to show myself as put together - graduating magna cum laude and being responsible even if I was falling apart inside. So I needed to deal with all of that first before I felt ready to confront my weight. But finally I was ready. It started about 1 year ago. I had been feeling bad about my weight for a while. I was overweight during my childhood. My grandmothers both grew up during the Great Depression.. so for them.. giving me food was the same as giving me love.. especially high calorie foods. For them eating wasn't about hunger.. it was about enjoyment and thankfulness to have food to eat. (One was thin, one was overweight). But from them I learned to love all the wrong types of food and to love them in gigantic portions.. My stomach was already way stretched by the time I was 7 or 8. I remember weighing 85 pounds in 2nd grade because we did a math thing where we all weighed in front of the class. There was only one student, a boy, who weighed more.. during school I dealt with a lot, I mean a LOT of bullying because I was mature and just different - I'd rather read a book or write a story than go out for recess and I was reading Romeo and Juliet while they were reading Junie B Jones (For the Record I like her too even though she's a huge spoiled brat). Basically I had a generation gap with my peers since my parents were born in the late forties and early fifties and their parents were much younger.. so I was already -extremely- bullied. I didn't make my first non-internet friends until college.. and those were some of the people I found out weren't true blue friends when I went through my emotional break down a couple of years ago... So yeah.. and it didn't help that I was overweight.. that was just something else to give them to make fun of me about. As it turned out.. even though I wasn't doing even as good as I am now in therapy one year ago.. I was doing better than I had been in years and that gave me time and energy to turn my thoughts to the weight I'd been unhappy to be carrying around for years. Before college it bothered me.. but I didn't think about it a lot.. it was in early college when I hit 200 and started having trouble finding clothes that would fit me in your typical stores both like Macy's but also stores that people my age like - Aeropostale, Am. Eagle etc.. that I started to have a personal crisis about my weight and be super unhappy with it. Shopping became my least favorite thing because it was an exercise in taking whatever would fit rather than whatever I liked. And by a year ago I had started to notice I couldn't do or keep up with the same types of activities most people my age do. I love showing my dog Riff in conformation and was learning that I couldn't keep up with her jogging on our down and back (jogging beside the dog so the judge can see his or her movement properly) and that getting on my knees to present her not only hurt but was nearly impossible. I started to be even more unhappy because I couldn't do the hobbies I loved that people my age are doing. And in the meantime for the past 5-10 years I'd been trying every diet known to man.. I didn't feel like any of them were sustainable for a life time because I was unhappy with them. And rather than yo-yoing I just didn't lose. Didn't matter how well I stuck to a diet, I'd find myself losing maybe 5 pounds in 7 or 8 months of hard work.. and finally I gave up.. I was near the point of accepting I was just going to be overweight forever and that was how it was going to be. I knew my issues - I don't eat for emotional reasons, I don't eat when I'm not hungry.. but my stomach was super stretched from years of eating too much and I like big portions and the wrong kinds of things. I could go and polish off a huge plate of food enough for three meals and feel "Just about right" and I didn't have the self control to starve while I waited on my stomach to shrink naturally.. I just couldn't do it. I had heard things about gastric bypass that made me say no way never.. things like "You'll never be able to have any sugar again." or "You'll never be able to have fried foods again." While I'm happy to make lifestyle changes, things like "Never again" aren't something I'm capable of. So I ruled out surgery for a long while. Finally, a year ago I looked into it again and read about gastric sleeve for the first time.. and it was a fit.. not as serious as gastric bypass.. less prone to things like dumping syndrome.. and all about moderation rather than "never agains" more healthy choices.. less bad ones.. but I didn't have to promise I was never eating Pasta or never having a fried chicken leg again - which was something I knew I couldn't agree to. There was less risk of serious complications and it was a plan I thought I could actually live with and be happy and it went right to the root of my issue - shrink my stomach so I can get used to a normal portion size again without having to starve. Something I haven't had since I was 6-7 years old. Within two days of researching I was ready to commit. But of course getting my medicaid to pay for the surgery wasn't as easy as deciding I wanted it - even though I looked over the qualifications and knew I met them - I still had a lot of hoops to jump through. In October I started my 6 month phys supervised diet which only convinced my doctor and I that I needed the surgery even more. I ate 1500 calories a day and walked my dog most days for 30+ minutes (which was a significant step down from what I had been eating and step up from my sedentary lifestyle) and lost only 11 pounds in all that time. And part of it came back! Getting cleared psychologically was a battle too. They wanted a psychiatrist who didn't know me to evaluate me even though my own had already sent a letter of approval.. and the psychiatrist who I did see didn't really want to clear someone who was bipolar.. it was a battle, but finally I got cleared. That by itself took over two months and delayed my surgery which should have been in March 2016. I also had to have blood work, a number of physician check ups by my program's docs and so on. But finally all the hard work paid off.. on the first submission to insurance, I was approved within a week! How excited was I! And my surgery was set for May 31st 2016. However, the roller coaster wasn't over.. I had little contact with my bariatric program from the get go... they share a department, nurses, etc with general surgery.. so calling to talk to someone there is always a nightmare.. it's a 30 minute wait to get a human on the phone, calling to talk to a nurse means a 5 hour or more wait for a call back.. and it also means a very unpersonalized approach.. they're so busy and have so many people through their program that they want everyone to be a cookie cutter mold and don't want to offer people any individualized advice because "others in the program might want the same advice." Well number one - others in the program shouldn't know what -I- discuss with my doctors so how could they want it and number two healthcare isn't supposed to be about squeezing people into a mold and making the exact same treatment work for everyone... so I began to be unhappy with my program from early on.. especially when their psychiatrist and my psychiatrist got into a fight over the phone about whether I was going to get cleared. Their psychiatrist had met me only once and knew nothing about my case history while my own psychiatrist has been working with me for about a year and half.. who do you think was more qualified to say if I was stable or not? But aparently their program couldn't understand that.. However.. I was stuck.. Medicaid wanted me in state and this program was the closest to me and already an hour and a half away.. the only other options were double or triple that commute time (Chicago). So I just kinda had to stick with it.. I've gone on to be further disappointed by them at numerous occasions - namely when my surgeon said that Water aerobics is a joke of an exercise program and only for people who can't do anything else and that I couldn't hit my weight loss goal of 130 pounds doing water exercise of any kind (there's a thread floating around about that). Clearly he's never taken a hard core water exercise class or he would know that is so not true. I took my first one Friday and I was sweating in the water! Finally I did get to have my surgery though! Before surgery I had an 800 calorie diet for two weeks focusing on Protein and lean meats and veggies and reasonable on carbs. It wasn't too hard of a diet to follow beyond getting hungry because my stomach was huge. Surgery day came but I was excited rather than nervous. especially because all of us May 31st sleevers from the forum (there was about 10 of us) made a facebook group so we could keep in touch and that really helps to have other people who are exactly where I'm at in the recovery stage. I didn't have much trouble recovering from surgery. I never had any gas pain and even though I was in pain in general the first three days they gave me lots of morphine and kept me very comfortable. While my program as a whole is somewhat disappointing - I do have to say that the nurses who took care of me in the hospital couldn't have been better. They helped me walk. They helped me get up to go to the bathroom and helped me adjust positions in bed since I needed help doing all that for the first 2-3 days. I brought my laptop to the hospital with me and spent time here on the forums and doing other stuff I like -- even played some Sims. My recovery was uncomplicated and three days later I was able to go home. My internal swelling went down fast and by a week out I was so sick of liquids that I couldn't help but try a little puree and it worked just fine to help supplement and keep me from going nuts. One thing that's been very helpful to me is Fairlife Milk. it's heightened protein milk with 13 grams of protein for a cup. I drink it straight and also add it to my Soups. It helps a lot in getting in my 64 oz of liquid and my 60 grams of protein. I've been using an app called Plant Nanny which lets you grow plants based on how much Fluid you consume then you can plant them in your garden and harvest their seeds to get more diverse plants.. it makes drinking at least slightly more fun. I also wear a fitbit flex and it's synced with My Fitness Pal. I log my calories on MFP and my exercise syncs there from my fitbit automatically and tells me if I've earned extra calories from exercise (though I rarely use those). I was never given a calorie goal to shoot for but I set a goal of 800 for myself based on the pre-opp diet and what I can eat and get in 60 grams of protein without feeling too stuffed/ too deprived. I'm on my own for a lot of it because I've only met with the NUT once for 30 minutes pre-opp about 2 months and I won't see her again until in July so... I just read and do the best I can. So yeah I'm 3 full weeks out from surgery on Tuesday and also down 20 pounds since May 18th (the start of my pre-opp liver diet). I faced the three week stall at about week 2 instead of three and I was down to a new low for the first time in a week today so I'm hoping that it's broken and I'll have a bit of smooth sailing for a while from here. So.. that's my story so far. I don't know if people post in these to update but.. every once in a while I'll post back and let you guys know how I'm doing.

Did he just not do any stomach reduction at all, or did he make a pouch type structure like a traditional RNY gastric bypass? If he made a pouch, even a larger one, and connected it well downstream to provide DS-like malabsorption, that would be what is known as a distal RNY, which is rarely done, but is a cousin to the traditional RNY which is primarily a restrictive procedure with a minimal amount of malabsorption added. Another possibility is that he did a DS type of intestinal routing but with a large stomach pouch similar to an RNY, and this would be a Scopinaro procedure, which was a precursor to the standard or traditional BPD DS and was rarely done in the US. Another possibility from your description is something like the old jejunolileal bypass which was a purely malabsorptive procedure done in the 60's and 70's that kept the stomach intact along with the duodenum and some portion of the small intestine but bypassed the majority of it, reconnecting things down near the colon. It was abandoned owing to a lot of complications though he may have done some less malabsorbing variation. It was mostly replaced with the now traditional RNY gastric bypass. I'm sorry that you didn't get what you were expecting, but you should be able to make this work. It is important, however, that you get a clear understanding of what exactly he did (get a copy of the surgical report for your records) so that you, and any doctor who may need to work on you in the future for whatever reason, has a good understanding of how your insides now work.

Hi Eva and welcome. I think we all had some level of anxiety before banding. The recovery time varies from person to person. I went back to work to a fairly physical job in just under a week. Others have been off for only 2 or 3 days. For me, day to day life with my family is not much different. I cook all the same things, I just eat much less of it. The incidence of erosion is quite small. Remember that you will hear more of the complications on this site than you will of the people just doing alright with their bands. The best thing to do is just read everything you can here and ask lots of questions. You won't find a more supportive bunch anywhere.

well the good thing is if there are complications, it will surely make the news.

I was scheduled for one night with my RNY. I had no surgery complications, but could not keep liquids down so spent an extra night. Felt great the following day! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Yes thank you so much for that. I'm flying out Monday (tomorrow) and I'm going alone so I'm very nervous about complications. Reading your story made me feel better. I am having my surgery Tuesday the 18th and I will definitely post details also. I cannot tell you how helpful these stories are to people like me. They help so much in making my decision.

Hi, I used Dr David Kim in Colleyville, TX. He also has a office in Frisco. Not sure where you are located. He did my inverted sleeve 3 years ago and he is a great doctor. His staff has been extremely helpful to me as well. I haven't had any complications at all other than having to have my gallbladder out. The after surgery support has been incredible. Kim Bariatrics has monthly support groups, fitness events, yearly patient Christmas party, 5k/10ks, along with many other get togethers. If it wasn't for the after surgery support I would have not been successful. If you have insurance with a bariatric exclusion there is a Making Bariatrics Affordable discount program for $4900 if you have a hiatal hernia. Do you have insurance? He also works with travelers as well. You may give them a call to get more details.

I am new to this web site - a friend recommended it when she heard I was getting the gastric lapband. Well, that time has come and I will be admitted to the hospital here in Italy (we are military stationed over here) on Wednesday. I am at 5'6" and 252lbs and I have a goal to lose 100 lbs in a year. If you have gone through the process allready, please tell me what to expect. I have the added complication of being a Mom with 5 kids from ages 12 to 7 months, and the 7 month old I am still breastfeeding. Should be a fun adventure!

Have you considered getting the gastric sleeve? Especially since you are self pay. Don't forget that with the band, you will have to pay for fills until you get to your "sweet" spot. You will also need to have follow up EGDs yearly to check for erosions, etc. Lastly, contrary to what some say, the band isn't always "reversable". I spent nearly $40,000.00 after I had the band dealing with the problems that the band caused (this is not including the original surgery which my insurance paid for). I am not trying to scare you but just think about it. The sleeve is the same thing as a partial gastrectomy, which they have been doing for years for other issues such as cancer, severe ulcers, etc. It is considered "experimental" for weight loss because of the "newness" of doing it for weight loss. Kind of like when they use a medication for one thing and then a few years later find out that it helps other diseases than just those that it was approved for. There are many people who I know that have had "partial gastrectomies" for years. The only problem they have is that they are "skinny". Once you get the sleeve, you are done. No going back and paying for "fills". No having multiple surgeries to correct adhesions and other issues caused by the band. No paying for yearly EGDs. No worrying about finding another surgeon to take care of you and do the fills if you move away or your surgeon decides to "retire" or close his practice. I could go on and on but I won't. As I said, I'm not trying to scare you or piss on your parade so to speak. Just giving you something to think about. This is especially true since you are self pay. Just trying to let you know that there is a cheaper, safer way to achieve weight loss through surgery. Just go to verticlesleevetalk.com and obesityhelp.com to the revision sections/complications section and read, read, read, read before you have your surgery.

ISABELLE290, Dr. Huacuz in TJ did my surgery. While I was there another nurse had surgery at the same time. She had complications due to a hernia repair. She was sick vomiting all night and tore her sutures holding the band and damaging her hernia repair. Dr. huacuz did her surgery over again the next day and repaired the hernia as well as placed a new band and did not charge her a cent. If you want to know more, please email me a private message and I will be as honest about my experience as I possibly can.

Well - first Dr. Miguel Alessandrini is a wonderful Family Phyisician -my surgeon was Dr. Corrbiou sp? - he too was excellent and competent - I was unable to have my band placed laproscopically so boy oh boy was I shocked to wake up with all the pain in my abd. 27 sutures on the outside and I WILL HAVE A SCAR - Plastic surgery was not their forte!! They told me my liver was very enlarged and prevented them from doing laproscopic - I was in surgery for 4.5 hours. The Nurses were nice - Olga has a little attitude - and is rather crass - she did not like having to help me out of bed or getting me water or broth - the other nurses were angels - Dr. Miguel Alesandrini stayed with me all night of my surgery and the next night as well - I had lost a lot of blood and it was very scary. I was intubated after the third try and two of my teeth were chipped. I woke up from anesthesia in mouth pain as well. They did send a dentist over to fix my teeth - but since home the area has chipped off. I was in hospital for Tuesday surgery done left Friday am to go home - Dr. Carlos is very unorganized - my sister and friend went with me to have this procedure - after the second night at Hotel Lucerna they were told they had to leave - Dr. Carlos "forgot" to make arrangements for the extra days we had planned on a month in advance and I reminded him of a week prior to surgery. After 2 hours of getting that sorted out they let my sister and friend stay at the Lucerna. Friday am the day we were to go home - Dr. Carlos came by at 9:00am he was going to get my sister and friend at hotel and drop them off - go to the States pick up another patient and drop her off then take up back to airport - our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:00p.m. By 11:30 Dr. Carlos had not called nor could he be reached so we had to demand that a taxi pick us up and take us to the airport - Olga informed us that it would be $60 - I said ABSOLUTELY NOT - so the decision was made that the clinic would pay for taxi but it would drop us off at the border we had to walk thru customs out the back door up a huge hill to a parking lot behind McDonald's WITH ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE - there was a lot - by the time we got up the hill - I thought I was going to pass out with pain!!! We get to airport - just in time we no longer got to our termial and the plane started boarding!!! BOY was I mad. I would not do business with Dr. Carlos again. So far though no complications with the band. I am having to follow up on the enflamed liver and my md here ran a liver function test and my enzymes are elevated - so next week we do a ultrasound - and possibly a biospy. I was not charged extra for anything - the tooth problem I understand perfectly - I have had experience with intubating and it is hard especially when you are afraid someone is crashing. So that is nothing - the call bell they gave me was one of those $20 door bell thingys and they laid it on the nightstand - and left my rail up - I could not get help - that was inexcusable. The surgeons and md were excellent though. I have requested my medical records so that I can take them with me to my appt. with the liver specialist and Dr. Carlos said he would send ASAP. So we'll see. As far as recommending anyone - I liked my acutal doctors - it was the travel arrangements I have problems with. OH yeah and Olga. We didn't mesh. I wish you the best and DO RESEARCH!!! The clinic is not as nice as the pictures - it was clean though!!

It depends on the doctor. I experienced the dark side. I was banded in TJ, and when I started having serious complications the medical group I used was anything but helpful. (And that's putting it nicely.) From there, I attempted getting in w/ an American doctor and was unable to because I didn't have medical records from Mexico. (They told me my medical records had already been destroyed - this is less than a month after my surgery) So...just make sure you do TONS of research on the doctors. Talk to patients that have and haven't had complications. There are tons of posts on this site alone about complaints or praises from docs across the borders. And most importantly, set up your follow up care w/ an American physician before your surgery. Let them know exactly what your plans are, and what information they'll need from the Mexican surgeon.

I have been treated for depression for several years now and there are times when you really feel dreadful. After the surgery we put up the meds for a few weeks. The surgeon said its quite common after surgery to have a spike in depression due to hormones and body trauma. I am 3 months out now and I have had a few bad days due to some complications more than anything. I'm OK now seeing a psychologist as part of my plan and reduced meds back now. Even though you probably feel like crap it will pass and is treatable. As the weight comes off there will be more positives to celebrate! Take care x Sent from my CPH1607 using BariatricPal mobile app

First, there are complications with anything. Do you ladies have Hlth insurance? I do but the sleeve isn't covered. If there are any complications, I will get seen by my PCP and go from there.

I am Sept 10th. I am on the mushie food. Sick of refried Beans, but only have a few more days before real food. I have had no complications either. Only problem is constipation, taking stool softeners and Miralax. Not working. Only brown Water. TMI, sorry. Otherwise, its all good.

hello - this is my first post. I did some research on Lap Sleeve Gastrectomy and discovered many patients need a second surgery. I am 5'4 and 373 pounds (eek). Am I correct that the VSG is the same as the Lap Sleeve? Is it normal for a patient to need 2 surgeries? My BMI is 64. "The VSG is a reasonable solution to this problem. It can usually be done laparoscopically even in patients weighing over 500 pounds. The stomach restriction that occurs allows these patients to lose more than 100 pounds. This dramatic weight loss allows significant improvement in health and resolution of associated medical problems such as diabetes and sleep apnea, and therefore effectively ?downstages? a patient to a lower risk group. Once the patients BMI is lower (35-40) they can return to the operating room for the ?second stage? of the procedure, which can either be the Duodenal Switch, Roux?en-Y gastric bypass or even a Lap-Band?. Current, but limited, data for this ?two stage? approach indicate adequate weight loss and fewer complications" I definiteky do not want to have 2 surgeries. Thus, what are some other alternatives? Is a second surgery always needed with the lap VSG?

That's one of my concerns as well. I do have health insurance through my job however WLS is excluded and so are any related procedures and or complications. One of my main concerns is problems with my gallbladder. If in a few months I do have a problem with my gallbladder and I disclose that I have had WLS will they not pay for it because they think it's related to the Vsg? Or will I be able to justify that anyone at anytime can have gallbladder issues?

So - my Dr's office offers 1 year complication ins for their self-pay patients. Great right! So I move forward with all of my appointments and had my consultation with my surgeon and really like him. Today I was setting up some of my final appointments and the girl from the office says, "I see you are scheduled to have your surgery with Dr.K but I have to tell you that he can not provide the complication insurance. Id you want that, you have to have your surgery with Dr. M." SO NOW YOU TELL ME!!! They are both great docs but I would have loved to have my consult with the doc who is actually DOING my surgery. Geesh! So, if your office offers this, make sure you are paired up with the doc that can provide it.

Okay so, I thought I was doing really well. I was even discharged the day after surgery. I'm lucky enough to say I don't have any of the major medical complications that are associated with obesity. Here I am post op day 4 and I'm having a terrible time getting enough Water, nevermind Protein and "full liquids." The foods that process the easiest are those that have the least to offer - sugar free pudding and Jello...and a very small amount of light Greek yogurt. I have a lot of nausea, almost constant, and the gas pains are better but still NEARLY constant. I have no energy because I'm taking in so little and terrible headaches. On the plus side I'm sleeping better and for longer periods of time and I'm down to 2-4 pain pills a day. I'm so not a sit around and do nothing type person; having so much soreness and feeling so blah, I'm just feeling stuck. Because I've been having such a hard time getting some type of protein, my husband suggested I try a little Peanut Butter. I mixed 2 tbsps of peanut butter with 4oz of fat-free milk and blended it in my food processor. That was 9 grams of sugar (supposed to keep it under 10) and 11.5 grams of protein. It wasn't bad and it settled pretty well. I had a little cramping but nothing I'm not already experiencing. I'm handling my Calcium chews, multi-vitamin, and Pepcid well...and I'm grateful for that! My potassium crushed in applesauce (or yogurt or pudding) isn't going well. Not only does it taste terribly BUT I get a lot of cramping and gas pains shortly after. My husband is picking up some light vanilla Greek yogurts and some peaches (packed in water) now for me to try blending to get more protein. Ladies...any suggestions or tips for these early stages? Thanks so much!

I would not be surprised if Joffe decided to retire, when I was banded 5 years ago he was already in his 50's so he is not a young man and he has kids, and family and a complete golf obsession. I know the clinic staff haven't been told why he is leaving or at least nothing they can say since three of them are friends of mine and have been for a while. I have an appt booked with Yau on Monday and I know I will be asking him about my aftercare since I was banded before TLBC was a blink in anyones eye and Joffe once upon a time was my primary surgeon and in the past I have had serious complications so my follow up care in the future is a huge concern of mine. I hope his health is great and he just decided that we are too high maintenance for him he runs what is basically two practices that are both full time jobs. He still does general surgery and is an emerg oncall surgeon for Scarborough Grace along with his banding practice. I know banding patients take huge amounts of time (less now that he isn't doing fills anymore) and our follow up goes on forever, at 5 years out I am still getting the occasional fill and de-fill so multiply that by the 2000+ patients they have banded and that is a ton of work for both the surgeons. But people should keep in mind that their contracts if they are TLBC are not with Joffe or Yau but with TLBC. And as long as TLBC exists they should be ok with fills, de-fills and any possible complications.