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But I think I can because I was an original member here. I was the third person in this forum way back on November 26th in the surgery date thread.

I just got my 2nd fill today. I had the first at 4 weeks, this one was 2 weeks later and the next one will be in a month. I lost 9.5 lbs between the first fill and today. My doctor told me, as i'm sitting in the office, that we wouldn't have to do a fill today. We could wait a month. Whatever, I said "i'm here let's do it!" so he has me drink water while he's filling it and he says "normally i can't get a full cc in on a 2nd fill but then normally my patients don't loose 9.5lbs in two weeks" and low and behold he got in just over a cc. I think i'm sitting at just over 5 cc now. i'll make my appointment tomorrow for my november fill!

I was just wondering do you have to go to the seminar that your potential surgeon is having or can you go to other seminars to count for your surgery. I am asking because my potential surgeon doesn't have one till Nov 25 but other surgeons have some in the beginning of November.

Hello all. I am having surgery on November 9th, and I was wondering what did you pack in your bag for that day. I just don't want to go overboard lol Thank you in advance ????

Hi everyone! I just started a NEW Youtube Channel for Bariatric Beauty and Fashion Tips and Tricks. I'm a professional makeup artist with 17 years experience in the industry and also a Gastric Bypass 10 year post op! Let me know if you're interested in other videos!!

Hi, I just wanted to share my story with you, all my life I have struggled with my weight. 11 months ago I had my gastric bypass done & it's the best decision I have ever made I have lost 144Ib so far & feel so healthy & happy [emoji4] SW - 364Ib CW - 220Ib Here's a picture of my progress so far

@@MBM1Forever I live in southern California. Did the 12 weeks options class, called then right after n was like I'm done with everything! Had to lose weight, bring my blood sugar down under 8, and lower my blood pressure. Then they referred me, my consult was going to be November 28 unless there was a cancellation, the surgery ppl called me at the end of the day the Friday before my consult and said there was a cancellation, so my consult was on oct. 28..then the Dr told me there was a cancellation in his books n November 4th was it. It came so fast! I think it was meant to be, because if it wasn't that, then it would have been in December.

Hello all. my name is morgan (obviously). I'm 29 years old. Diabetic, PCOS, high blood pressure.. Everything fun of course. I have Kaiser and did the 12weeks Options class over the summer and ended at the end of September. Last Tuesday, October 28th I had my consult appt with my surgeon, and he surprisingly had a cancellation and was able to fit me in on November 4th. Talk about nerveracking . soo quick. I started at 256 at the beginning of my options classes, did Protein shakes for a week to drop weight and ended up being 242 by the end of the classes. I made my appt for last Tuesday on the previous Friday and wanted to make sure I was still 242 a because if he saw in gained weight, I'm sure he wouldn't have been okay with soing the surgery. I ends up being exactly 242 on my consult say, and then 239/240 on my surgery day. I went into the hospital at 8:30, surgery WS at 10:40am and I was in recovery by 12. I was so out of it I slept most of the day/night. I stopped taking any morphine because it made me so drowsy by 5. I barely used any which everyone was impressed with. I toughened it out for sure. I woke up at 4 this morning and decided to walk around like they want you to do. Did a few laps around the floor then rested a bit until my mom got there. Did some more laps. My doctor came and checked on me at around 830/9 and said I looked fantastic but he didn't want to send me home with my blood sugars so high. They were @ 188 when I came in, 330 (the highest it has ever been) at 10pm on Tuesday night then 303 at 130 am on Wednesday, after they pumped me full of insulin to lower. The surgeon then decided the only way I'd be able to leave was to get my sugars down, they then changed my IV to saline (the one had glucose in it), by noon it was 165 and by 1 the Dr came in and was pleased and had me discharged. All in all, my blood sugar gone down as well as my blood pressure, its in the normal zone. It boggles my mind. Ice tried so hard using diet exercise and medication and still no real change. I'm so happy I went through with this. I never realized how much I use my stomach muscles though. I'm in a bit of pain. Getting in and out of bed is no pleasant time, same with coughing (due to the tube down my throat) or even laughing. Tmi. But i have been super gassy since the surgery and am wondering if thats where most of my pain and discomfort is coming from. But I'm happy though I was only at the hospital for a little over 24 hrs, esp when I thought I'd at least be sleeping there for another day at least. My mom had lapband then removed it, waited a year and got the sleeve. She told me not to be surprised about gaining weight while in the hospital due to all the liquids and what not. Luckily, as soon as I got home, I peed and then weighed myself. Super surprised that I still weigh 239. So here is to my new journey, of hopefully no longer being diabetic, having hypertension, no longer having PCOS, hopefully being able to have children! And living a much longer and fulfilling life. Good luck to everyone that is starting this journey and people that continue on. Morgan

Well, I am about 18 months out and have lost less than you. It sounds like you are doing the right things....how would bypass be better or different? Maybe your calories are too low if you are working out? I don't know what to suggest....hope you figure things out!

Did you have the sleeve or bypass?

I was banded in 2004, removed in 2012 from complications that nearly killed me. Gained all the weight back. Sleeved in November, the easiest surgery I have done. Love it!

Wondering if anyone can chime in on a conversion from sleeve to either bypass or plication? Currently awaiting insurance approval for either one but wanted to know experiences some of you may have had with either one. My situation is that my sleeve pouch has dilated and also been getting GERD so my surgeon suggested plication or just getting bypass which he says will ultimately fix the problem but is all contingent on getting insurance approval.

Interesting, I have seen tons of people converting into bypass to resolve GERD that's not manageable by medications. I never heard of picliation though....I don't understand how it can resolve your GERD?

I have been completing my requirements prior to surgery since the end of August, which includes 6 monthly visits of medically supervised weight loss with my surgeon's nurse/bariatric coordinator. My last visit with her is at the beginning of March. After that, assuming all of my other requirements have been met they will put in for approval (which is expected very fast with my particular insurance). I have done a lot of research since even before August about what surgery was right for me and I was convinced it was the sleeve. Liz (the bariatric coordinator) was very honest with me yesterday and said she thought I might not have very good success with the sleeve because I have been struggling to lose weight and definitely have a fondness for sweets. She also said that when she attends the surgeon's office's monthly support group sessions she is kind of jealous that the patients who had RNY seem to have a much greater degree of "control" in their eating. I can certainly use more control in my eating! So now I am seriously questioning my decision and and starting to re-think my plan. I need to decide before 1/31, as I have my appointment with the dietician who will give me a binder full of info and the info varies a bit depending on the type of surgery I choose. I realize that RNY has been around much longer than the sleeve and that the sleeve was originally intended to just be the first step in duodenal switch surgeries for 500+ lb. patients. However, the re-routing of the intestine freaks me out quite a bit and I am afraid of nutritional deficiencies caused by the malabsorptive aspect of the RNY surgery. I'm thinking I should just go with my "gut" and get sleeved, but just wondered if anyone here regretted getting the VSG and wished they had gotten a bypass instead. Any comments would be appreciated!

My sister had the bypass. She does get dumping but it doesn't stop her from eating sweets. I guess the same way WLS won't help anyone long term if your not committed to a Lifestyle Change. You'll just find ways around it by ignoring the bad side effects of eating sugary and greasy foods. No matter what I say to my sister about how she shouldn't be eating certain things she tell me to mind my business. Please don't let that be your only reason for wanting RNY. There always a way around things.

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.

So I am approved for surgery and am scheduled for November 19th. I am beyond ready to start this new chapter in my life. My husband says why don't you have it in December that way you can have a last Thanksgiving meal with the family. I thought about and then said eating they way I do has gotten me to the point I am at now. I think I have had enough actual Thanksgiving meals and just be thankful for this new journey and life ahead of me!

I am speaking from my personal experience and would recommend the bypass. I got my sleeve 8 years ago and have had GERD since (was not an issue prior). It has progressively gotten worse and I now have a hiatal hernia as well. My doctor is considering a revision to bypass to address the issue. I also have issues with vitamin and protein deficiencies. I have been on Prevacid for the entire 8 years since my surgery. I realize everyone is different but research some of the risks of GERD after sleeve. It is not fun.

I went with the bypass because I had GERD, and I didn't want it to get worse with the sleeve. A bonus was that the GERD actually went away after my bypass. It's strange not to carry TUMS in my purse anymore! If you have GERD, definitely get the bypass. If not, then it just comes down to your personal choice. Watch the youtube videos, do your research, and see if your surgeon leans one way or the other. Good luck!!

Hi everyone, I had lap band surgery in 2010 and went from 330 lbs to about 215 in 2016, however, I started having some problems with the band where I could barely eat or drink anything and kept loosing weight rapidly. Went to the doctor and they did an upright xray with contrast and you could see that everything was stuck in the esophagus. The doctor said the band had to come out. Obviously I didn't want that and begged them to remove all fluid from the band and wait another week but that did not help. It turned out that there was a lot of scar tissue from the band around where it was installed. The doctor wanted to do a conversion during the band removal but the insurance did not approve since I was 'too skinny' and did not qualify. I asked the hospital if I could pay the difference between removal and doing the sleeve since they already had me there and all the staff, etc. but was told it was not possible and it would be $24,000 which I could not afford. After the removal I gained all the weight back and now I am between 320-325 lbs again. I had been with two employers since then but like most of them they specifically exclude bariatric surgery nowadays. Now I am with a new employer and they will apparently pay for it. [sorry for the long background story] I am consider whether to get a sleeve or bypass. After doing a lot of research I think a sleeve would be better since it is less intrusive and the stomach function pretty much remains intact and you don't have to take medication for the rest of your life. What do you all suggest?

Oh sorry I'm going in for the gastric bypass Roux-en-Y

I have an occasional little piece of dark chocolate - NOT SF. I'm not a bypass patient so I can do a bit of sugar on occasion. I will choose SF where it doesn't make a taste difference. Gelatin, puddings and flavored syrups are SF.

Sleeve patients loose weight at a slower rate than RNY gastric bypass patients. They also seem to experience a plateau more often. [Although a 6 month plateau seems extreme.] I am 28 months post-op RNY and lost most of my weight during the first 6 or 7 months and then leveled off. A sleeve patient might expect to lose weight over the entire first year or even more. I would look closely at how you are meeting the program requirements and see where you might be falling short. Weight loss is generally achieved through portion control and the avoidance of grazing.

I’ve finished the six months of nut classes and just received my insurance approval this week. I got serious cold feet when the office tried to schedule me for rny in mid November. I’ve spent eight months on this exploration which is life changing in so many ways. Seems the positives are 100-1 but it’s still scary to me. My neighbor had it ten years ago and is a totally different person. I’ve really watched him over the last year and that’s where I want to be but the short term seems like it’s the hardest.

Dave, don't limit yourself to only two choices. There are a few other gastric choices too, most especially the "vertical sleeve gastrectomy." Think of it as something between the band and gastric bypass. With the sleeve, the surgeon removes the stretchy part of your stomach, leaving you with a stomach that is shaped something like a banana. You are forced to eat smaller meals, and you'll lose weight as a result. The advantages: There are no fills required, you can eat whatever you want (in smaller quantities), and your intestinal tract stays complete. If you have a large amount of weight to lose, it may be a good choice for you, especially if you're self-pay. Dave