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Does anyone else here have doubts about the surgery? I have no doubt that I want to lose 80 to 100 pounds. I have already lost about 100, although gradually over about ten years. Now I am sixty, see how the extra weight affects my knees and I'm scared. I've been scheduled for surgery two times before and backed out. Why? I don't wish to offend anyone who did a RnY. My surgeon says it is the gold standard of weight loss. And I have read about many stories of folks who opted for the gastric sleeve only to go back for the RNY. If I had WLS it's going to be the RnY. I'm not afraid of the reocvery when my new stomach heals. I can handle pain and struggle. I am not at all anxious about needing to eat small portions forever, avoid sguar -- which never crosses my lips now! and hasn't for years. I don't want my large intestine to be bypassed and for my body to be subjected to malabsorption of nutrition. I don't mind taking supplements for the malabsorption. B-12, calcium, multivitamin, Vitamin D -- I've been taking these for ayear to ready for the surgery. I've been eating the pre=op diet for about a year, too, which means two protein shakes, four ounces of protein and one cup veggies so of course I've lost a lot of weight this year. And I don't care about food all that much and I care about it less now than ever. And I want to be slim, for my health, for my knees, so I live a long time. But I have Type I diabetes, so the surgery will not cure it. And my biggest problem, and I don't expect to find any sympathy here because everyone here is readying for surgery or has had it . .. but it just doesn't seem right to me to bypass my large intestine forever, to subject my body to malabsorption of nutrients for the rest of my life. It seems wrong, like playing God. So today I called my surgery case manager to cancel -- she did not return my call. I called my surgeon's scheduler to cancel and she was off today. Are these signs? I want to lose weight but I don't want to have a RnY. I suspect many who chose the gastric sleeve had similar concerns, they did not wish to permanently bypass their large intestine and the sleeve seems less invasive and leaves the basic nutritional system intact. But the Sleeve is often switched to the RnY, right? Anyone else feel as I do? I want to be slender but I don't think I can accept permanent malabsorption of nutrition.

Slim Lola, yes, a pep talk is exactly what I need. I was very excited to get my sleeve, so didn't really get nervous. This time it isn't for weight loss (I weigh 135lbs), but for bile reflux. So, the 'prize' at the end is not quite as exciting. Thank you for the pep talk! I would love to read journals of the day of surgery. I know the bypass is different than the sleeve surgery.

Hello all just had my gastric bypass surgery 4/25/163304.lbs. Im currently at 278lbs. Im excited about my journey and looking to get under 200lbs. Please feel free to share any best practices to ensure rapid weight loss. Sent from my LGLS675 using the BariatricPal App

I went for my consultation last week. Although my doctors thinks I will have better resolution with the gastric bypass I'm still opting for the sleeve. When I sat down with finance I found out Aetna has a crap load of hoops and hurdles that have to be done before they will even allow the request to be submitted for approval. Are all insurance companies like this or just Aetna?

My surgeon smiled politely and said...which surgery are you interested in...I said the sleeve..he asked me if I like sugar..I said no I love it!! That was all it took...he told me if you live sugar the sleeve isn't the option for you...I asked why because I'm a stubborn Gemini and he explained that with gastric bypass I won't have the cravings, with the sleeve if I want a milkshake then there was no repercussions of me drinking one which would essentially tell my body that it was ok for the future..leaving me personally with potentially lower weight loss than what I wanted!!

It just hit me that I have 12 more days of "normal" eating before my 2 week liquid diet and then surgery! I've been on a 1200 calorie diet since November so my eating habits have already changed drastically, but I'm feeling a bit freaked out right now! No more using food to fight boredom, make me feel better, or to celebrate with. My relationship with food will be forever changed in 12 days!! It's kind of like saying goodbye to an old (yet toxic) friendship. Anyone else sharing these same feelings?

So, I'm finally scheduled for the sleeve on April 7th! YAY! However, I'm continuing to research and I'm reading if you have acid reflex before having the sleeve it may not be a good idea to get the sleeve but rather the gastric bypass (RNY)! BOO! I'm so upset I'm sitting at the computer bawling my eyes out! Did anyone have acid reflex before the sleeve? did it get better or did it get worse? My acid reflex has been under control with Prilosec for a few years now but before Prilosec I would have terrible heartburn! I was given an upper GI where I had to drink this stuff and they would take x-rays of my esophagus. The test results had come back that I did show signs of having past heart burn problems. UGH! Wouldn't you think if it were bad enough results my doctor would tell me it wasn't a good idea for the Sleeve? Please, Can someone bring me some relief until I can get a hold of my doctor next week? Thank you, Jess xoxo

Hello sleevers! My name is karla im 29 and a mommy of 3 amazing boys i started this journey last year around this time thinking i wanted gastric bypass so started the whole.requirements needed it took me around 5 months to have everything done but the surgeons office was so unprofessional nothing was ever done with my paper work so last december finally im schedule for last appt before "surgery" and submit to insurance the office calls me 2 days before the appt to tell me the surgeon left the group and that i needed to look for another surgeon or switch to another surgeon from the bariatric group they were so insensitive un professional there was no way i was gonna stay there so i found another doctor they have been so nice and and helpful of my situation but to this day im.still waiting always abump.on the road im frustrated ,tired ,depressed and thinking is this meant to be? Should i kepp insisting on doing this? last i heard last week was that finally are submitting to insurance well see i gained all the weight that i.lost a year ago in my nut visits starting to loose again on my own but no motivation any advice? i appreciate your input thanks

I am so incredibly happy for you. I had Gastric Bypass in 2001. Most weight lost AFTER bypass (279) SW (before surgery) - 345 CW - 315. After enduring stage 4 breast cancer in 2010, I gained most of my weight back. I decided to return to my original doctor and request testing to find out if something went wrong with my original surgery. I was told everything was still in tact and I just need to start from SCRATCH! But I explained that I was able to eat a heck of a lot more. And that I would like options as to what can be done to tighten and/or revise my surgery. I believe my doctor was so eager to NOT have any "revisions" needed that he just sent me away - RUDELY! So I decided to ask around and seek a second opinion (of course - years later- because I believed there was something wrong with me). I followed his advise - but still believed something was wrong. Fast forward. I met a woman in my SAME situation and she referred me to her doctor for help. NOW, I am just waiting for an appointment. I will be researching the duodenal switch. I was never given this as an option. I am so excited for you.

Ok about Scentsy... If you look at my website it will be alot easier to explain, it's like candles but it Warmers that use a light bulb, the wax goes in the top of the warmer and melts. The wax never gets hot enough to burn anyone. We have 3 different size warmers with sooo many different styles. We have over 80 scents!! Also we have Scentsy Buddies.... They come with a Scent Pak. The scent pak looks like a little bean bag. They smell sooo good!! I have one of the scent paks doen in my purse and whenever i hand someone a catalog they say oo this smells so good. We also have Room Sprays, Scent Circles ( for your car), Travel Tins (purse etc) Fragrance Foams-- I love the fragrance foams!! They are alcohol-free foaming hand sanitizer. I have been selling Scentsy since November of 2009. If I had known about it before then I would have signed up sooner!! I have so much fun with it! It's a home party company but you do not have to get sales from home parties!! I usually only have home parties around the holiday seasons and then maybe like 1 or 2 a month on other months. You can also do Basket Parties-- thats where I get most of my sales. I take a scrapbooking bag and put a couple catalogs, order forms, and the scents and a few other things and give it to the hostess. she collects all the sales for like a week and then gives me back the basket. Now after the baske party I have sales and I havent worked all week You can also do online parties! There are just so many great ways to sell scentsy!! I really love it!!

My surgery was on November 13th. I signed up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon for February 2013. Do you think that is too ambitious?

@@gowalking, thanks for the post. Happy new year to us all. The bypass was in April, and I have had wonderful results. No, it did not take away all external problems, there is still a foot of snow outside right now, my relatives still think I am too liberal, and I still have overeating impulses! But, slowly nailing those really bad habits -- behavioral types say that after 4 months without feeding the habit, it is likely gone -- I am about to declare "too rapid eating" a thing of the past; drinking with meals is long gone; beer and soda pop are gone; too big of portions gone (thanks pouch). Am working on stronger daily exercise habits but almost 120# gone sure makes me more mobile. Looking ahead to a year from now. I would like to be close to goal weight, my eventual is goal weight at two years out. I want to enjoy healthy wonderfully tasting food, and see my BMI under 30!

I also has a similar situation happen to me. I felt the nurse practioner was pushing gastric bypass on me instead of the lap band that I wanted. I changed surgeons (after jumping through MANY hoops with insurance). I figured that this is such an emotional process to go through that I needed a team that would be behind me 100% and support me. I didn't want to second guess my decision through this process. Remember - your gut feeling is always the best aspect to trust. If you are not comfortable - go somewhere else! :thumbup:

I have to admit, I’m a little bummed and somewhat discouraged after my initial consult with the surgeon. I knew going in that they were going to give it to me straight and prepare me for the risks, but I also expected them to pump the surgery up a little – tell me I’m a great candidate; that so many people are happy after the surgery; if I exercise and eat right, I’ll have a better chance for success, and so on. Maybe I was being naïve. The nurse who first met with me was generally positive, but definitely harped upon the complications. The Doctor, however, kept hinting at the fact that he thought Gastric Bypass would be a better option for me (especially for being in my 20s and concerned about social situations). Further, he said that people with lower BMIs do better with Gastric. He did insist he wasn’t anti-band, but it sure seemed that way to me. He spoke at length about how most people only lose half of their excess body weight and that despite all of my efforts, I might not have success. I know these things are all true, but he almost made me feel as if I should expect this to happen (even though statistically it’s not very common). So – I’m wondering if this is normal. Did anyone else experience this? Do they have to cover their behinds for post-ops who don’t have the results they had hoped for? I was SO excited for this surgery and now I can’t get it out of my mind that there’s a good chance I’ll have to sacrifice a lot for a little. Maybe, without any support from home, I was just hoping for someone to tell me this was a good idea. I don’t know – maybe since the band varies so much from person-to-person (what you can eat, how many fills you need, how much you lose), they have to really try to prepare you for the worst. Any similar (or different) initial consult stories would be great appreciated!

VerticalSleeveTalk Newsletter Hey, Sleevers!Happy New Year! It’s time to leap into 2013. You might have slipped a little during the holidays, but January is a great time for a fresh start! Of course, VerticalSleeveTalk.com is here for you as you work to lose weight and get healthy. Allow the January Newsletter to motivate you to get back on board if you lost your focus in December, or to inspire you to keep up the good work if you were able to stay on track during the holidays. Here’s what we have in this newsletter. Looking Ahead to 2013! Member Spotlight: Meet Velena! New Year’s Resolutions that Work! Sleever Challenge: Make Your New Year’s Resolutions! Casting Call: Looking for VerticalSleeveTalk.com Members to be in a Book! As you get back into the swing of everyday life and your commitment to your health, we hope you continue to make VerticalSleeveTalk.com a regular part of your day. So, enjoy the newsletter and then talk about it or anything else on the forums! See you there! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder VerticalSleeveTalk.com Looking Ahead to 2013! 2012 was a phenomenal year for VerticalSleeveTalk.com. The forums grew tremendously and we came out with mobile apps for the Android, Kindle and iPod, iPad and iPhone. We have plenty more changes in store for 2013! Keep watch for even more improvements. We’ll be sure to let you know in the newsletters and on the forums, too. 2013 will be an exciting year! Thanks to you, our members, for continuing to support the community. Member Spotlight: Meet Velena! We’re delighted to start off 2013 by shining the spotlight on Velena from Madison, Alabama! She says she spent most of her adult life obese. She didn’t want to spend “second half” of her adult life obese, too, and set the goal of weighing under 200 pounds by her fiftieth birthday. She lost about 25-30 pounds through dieting, doing fitness DVDs and taking weight loss pills, but was still 30 pounds short of her weight loss goal. She wanted to lose weight to be able to enjoy life instead of being limited because of her obesity. Velena wanted to be able to ride a motorcycle and enjoy hiking with her husband; the final straw for her was on a hike when she couldn’t follow him down to the falls because of the steep stairs. She had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In addition, Velena has diabetes and needs to eat well to control it. She says she always ate healthily, but portion control was a problem. When Velena started looking into weight loss surgery two years ago, her insurance didn’t cover it. This year, she attended another seminar and found out that now her insurance would cover the sleeve. She didn’t like the idea of bypass “rearranging my plumbing,” and a friend had had a bad experience with the lap-band. Velena did like the idea of the gastric sleeve, and got her surgery in September of 2012. Her top weight was 264 pounds. Now, Velena is down to 197 pounds! She feels light on her feet and her balance is much better after losing so much weight! Velena now has her own bike to ride around the neighborhood. Some of her great moments have been buying a jacket in the Misses section, instead of the plus size section, and trying on a winter coat at costco and finding out that it was too big. Of course, stepping on the scale and seeing a number under 200 was a thrill for her! She faced some challenges along the way, such as having trouble swallowing right after surgery. She got dehydrated and had to get hooked up to an IV! Eating slowly enough and ending her meal before she’s too full are still challenges for Velena, but she’s working on them and it’s paying off. Velena uses Vertical Sleeve Talk daily to catch up with friends, get ideas and encouragement and provide support. She says the forums keep her focused on her nutrition. We’re sure that you’re keeping up with your nutrition because you even managed to lose weight during the holidays! Congratulations on your success so far! Thanks for being in the Member Spotlight, Velena! Welcome to 2013 and the second half of your adult life! The Member Spotlight Forum is the place to go to nominate another member to be in the spotlight section of the newsletter. You can also nominate yourself – everyone on the boards will be pleased to meet you! You can even send Alex Brecher a private message telling us that you want to be featured. Everyone has a great story to share. Thanks! New Year’s Resolutions that Work! What are your New Year’s resolutions? Whatever else you’re resolving to do in 2013, your resolutions almost certainly include losing weight or maintaining your goal weight. Too often, we stop following our New Year’s resolutions pretty soon and fall back into old bad habits. How can you make New Year’s resolutions that you’ll stick to so that you can meet your goals for 2013? Try out these simple tips as you make your resolutions. Make them specific. You want to get healthy and lose weight. Those are great goals, but those resolutions aren’t specific enough to be helpful. Instead, choose resolutions that will help you meet those goals. Resolutions to help you get healthy might include exercising at least three days a week and choosing olive oil instead of butter for your servings of fat on your bariatric surgery diet. To lose weight, you might resolve eat at least 80g Protein per day so you feel more full. Make them doable. Keep your resolutions realistic so you’re not setting yourself up for failure. Nobody’s perfect, and your resolutions’ success shouldn’t depend on you to be perfect. Instead of resolving to drink more Water, resolve to drink an extra 8 ounces of water in the morning at least 5 days per week. This resolution gives you some room for error just in case you forget your water a couple of times in the week. Plus, the resolution is specific, so it fits with the first tip! Make them controllable. You can’t control whether you lose a certain amount of weight within a certain amount of time. What you can control are resolutions such as sticking to your diet or exercising to burn off an extra 300 calories per day, 3 days per week. Keep these tips in mind when you’re making your own New Year’s resolutions. Solid resolutions together with your best intentions can help you make 2013 a great year for your health, weight and happiness! Sleever Challenge: Make Your New Year’s Resolutions! This is the part of the newsletter where we challenge VerticalSleeveTalk.com members to take a step forward by doing something new. The experience can help you grow and gain confidence when you do something you hadn’t even thought about before, or you find out that you can do something you hadn’t even realized that you could do. This month, we’re sticking to the theme of New Year’s resolutions. The challenge for this newsletter is to make one or more resolutions based on the advice in this newsletter. We challenge you to make your resolutions specific, doable and controllable – and we’re eager to see what you decide to do in 2013! Tell us about your resolutions in the Sleever Challenge Forum. We’d love to hear about why you chose those resolutions and how you think you’ll do on them. When you post, you get to help other members who may need ideas for their own resolutions. Of course, if you ever miss a challenge, you can always go back to the archived Newsletter Forum to check out the old ones. It’s never too late to try – or retry! – a Newsletter Challenge! Casting Call: Looking for VerticalSleeveTalk.com Members to be in a Book! Are you eager to have your gastric bypass story published in a book? This is your chance! Our first book was focused on the lap-band, and it is called “The Big Book on the Lap Band: Everything You Need to Know to Lose Weight and Live Well with the Adjustable Gastric Band.” It was inspired by our sister site, LapBandTalk.com, and we’re so pleased with its success that we’re going to add a vertical sleeve book to the series! If you want to have your story published or you have advice, tricks or recipes to share, let us know! All you have to do is contact Alex Brecher (username Alex Brecher) via VerticalSleeveTalk.com’s private messaging system. We’d love to hear from you no matter where you are in your sleeve journey, even if you’re just thinking about the surgery. Thanks! That’s it for this month’s newsletter. We invite you to head on over to the forums and get a head start on a healthy 2013. Again, Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! May 2013 be the best year so far. Take care of yourself and each other. Sincerely, Alex ============================================================== If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe by going to your Control Panel and clicking on the Newsletters tab, or clicking on the following link: {unsubscribe}

I live in Frederick County Maryland but my surgeon is in Reston/Fairfax. I just had my first meeting yesterday. I'm torn between the bypass and the sleeve.

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie here and new to the process. I have my first consult appt with the surgeon at Sinai hospital of Baltimore, dr Li. I am leaning heavily towards gastric bypass vs my other options. Just looking for some advice, a pen pal, and some insight into the process. Thanks so much

I guess my overall questions are... If you have already informed your family/employer/co-workers that you were planning on gastric bypass (which is really frightening to me...)... How did you go about doing so? Were you nervous about comments people would make? (I explained it to my boyfriend like this..."A lot of people now a days do not want to tell people what names they have picked out for their babies in fear of hearing negative comments about it" SO I guess I am just nervous that people's first instinct is to say "You don't need to go through surgery!" etc, etc. Did you feel you were explaining your decision to do so a lot? Any advice for those who broke the news to the people closest to them is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

You probably already know this, but do not take Ibuprophen or ANY other NSAIDS after gastric bypass. They cause ulcers and you can hemmorage...

Dr. Watkins doesn't now nor has he ever performed gastric bypass. He feels it's too invasive when you can lose as well with the other procedures available.

seeing the scale at over 336 pounds, not being able to walk far or wondering do they make clothes bigger than size 30..that was my deciding factor along with being able to push my new granddaughter around the block. tricare does not cover the sleeve so that was not ever on the table. i did not want the bypass as i was too scared and my dr felt i should have it because of my size and high bmi. but i stuck to my guns..then he told me of the latest thing, the plication with the band..he stressed i would have to change everything about my life..in order for it to work..for me to lose weight, id have to help the band by eating better foods, and in my allotted amounts and follow the guidelines.. i think its successful so far (lost nearly 100 pounds since last june), and i feel with all that i am that any wls is successful if you really want it and do everything you can to make it happen. its not a magic cure all but it will work

Hi December buddies! I'm getting banded dec 3rd. I'm pretty excited, start my preop diet November 26. Wishing all of you lots of success

I had my consultation with Dr. Quioco and he only does the bypass. I have been told by several different doctors that I should get the bypass vs. the lapband b/c I need to loose so much weight. Also mentioned that the lapband is temp. and the bypass is permanant and since I've been overweight my entire life that I need something permanant. Anyone been told that? :confused2:

Hi everyone! I hope you all are doing great! Hey, I had a question. I told my employer that I was having surgery (was not specific about what kind of surgery lol) but that I was having surgery May 21 (woohoo!!). I told them that I would most likely be out for a few weeks after surgery. My job offers Short Term Disability and Family Medical Leave of Absence through Hartford which I applied for just now. I know I will be approved for my leave, but I was wondering, does Hartford tell my employer explicitly that it is for Gastric Bypass surgery? Will my employer eventually be told what surgery I am going in for? I am pretty open with friends, and my family knows and is very supportive, but my job on the other hand is all about image so I fear the judgmental attitudes coming my way lol.

That is awesome! You're my hero right now! I just found out about the switch yesterday & todays my last NUT appt required for insurance...I hope to find out a little more later today. I hope I come out as smooth as you. My anxiety is kickin up like it did in the beginning over what can go wrong. I know I need to chill. I may be better off with bypass. Keep me informed on your progress will ya Mrs.glo! You will be just fine. The anxiety is natural and it will serve you well because it'll keep you focused on what to do to avoid all the things that can go wrong and should they occur you have a wealth of support and info here to help you get back on track. All the best to you sister girl I will keep in touch. You Go Girl!!!