Dr. Lee Trotter was my surgeon and I am so thankful when it came for me to finally get weight loss surgery he was the one to do it. After a long battle with my insurance company and not getting approved, my husband and I were able to come up with the funds for me to have surgery. I went to Holy Family Hospital for a seminar that Dr. Trotter was doing about the WLL surgeries he performs. At that time I had not even heard of the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and he did not even have this surgery as one of the ones he offers on his slides, even though he did talk briefly about during the seminar. After the seminar he stayed after and answered a lot of questions attendees had for him. I went home after that and reseached the VSG and my first thoughts were "OMG, that is so drastic, removing a good portion of my stomach". But as my research went on after looking into the RYN (way to drastic for me) and the lapband (cost of fills would be additional and ongoing), the vsg ended up being the one for me, I am so thankful it was an option. I would recommend Dr. Trotter to anyone,. The hospital and the staff were also very nice. My cost for the surgery ended up being 17,000.00. This included 24 hours at the hospital, all surgeon costs and 12 monthly follow appointments pre-op with BIA results at each visit. Dr.Trotter also has labs done every 3 months. Results from having my VSG surgery is an endless list if victories. I no longer have diabetes, my arthritis is more tolerable, both my knees (I am bone on bone on the inner compartments) do not go out on me as much and I am able to walk a lot farther and longer these days. I have reduced my high blood presuure medicaion to half a tablet a day and hope to be off that soon too! I have more self confidence and I am trying new adventures all the time! If you are deciding to have WLL, my only suggestion is to research, research, research! For me it saved my life!

Thank you, :wave:

Renee'

Great story and ty for sharing it. I am glad you found a doctor you could trust and he obviously did a great job as did you. Keep posting and sharing your experiences. Welcome to our forum family.

Welcome to the forum. I am so glad you had such a positive surgery and fabulous results. When did you have your surgery and how much wt have you lost. Kicking DM and getting off your meds is fantastic. Keep us posted on your WL journey. Carol

Renee - Congratulations - that is absolutely fantastic -- welcome to the forum and I'm sure you'll be off that last BP medication in no time at all.

Hi Renee, and welcome, we are glad to have you join us. It sounds like you have had a wonderful experience. When did you get your sleeve?

Thank you for the warm welcome. I had my surgery 10/20/08. My highest weight was 305 late August 2008. The day of my surgery I weighed in at 292 (13 pound loss pre-op) and I am now at 201 (91 lost since surgery). I have been fighting to make it under 200 for about 3-4 weeks. It is like I am at stand still. I am going to start Water aroebics again tomorrow. I stopped about 4 months ago due to an injury (I fell at work at messed up my back, neck and from an MRI last week, found out I have a tear in my right shoulder muscle). I plan on being careful but I just need to get moving again. I have been doing physical therapy 2 times a week along with massage therapy 2 times a week and finally feeling good enough to give it another go! Take care and I look forward in reading about all of you and your experiences.

Renee' :thumbup:

Wow, Renee, you are doing great. We would love to see some before and after pictures! They are so inspiring.

Hi Susan,

I did upload some before and after (so far) photos last night. It has been an amazing journey and can not stress to anyone how wonderful it feels to "take a load off" literally. I still have about 60-70 lbs. to go, but I am over the top of the hill, someplace I have not been for a long time.

Take care, and again, thanks for the warm welcome. I look forward to using the site and getting to know other members!

I just peaked at them, Renee. Wow, girl, what a difference. You were beautiful to begin with, and you look absolutely amazing now. Thanks for sharing the pictures!

Renee, I looked at your pics. You have done great. What a difference. You have to be pleased with your WL journey. Keep up the good work. carol