hey all, i've been lurking on the board a ton here the last few days! trying to get lots of info so that i can be educated when i go in to talk to my doc. here's a little bit of info. about me. i am 29, 5ft, 218 pounds. i am a military spouse stationed overseas (currently in turkey, soon heading to england) mother of 4 kiddos (ages 13, 8, 4 1/2, and 2 1/2) i've been heavy pretty much my whole life, with a few thin months in between!

here's a few questions floating around my brain:

1. how is the surgery pain comparable to a c-section (if any of you have had the experience)?

2. how soon after can you excersize (more than just walking, like weight training, cardio, etc)?

3. for those of you who paid out of pocket, about how much did you pay? (if that's not too personal to ask)

i know that i had some more, but this is all i can think of right now, thanks in advance for the info. i'm really greatful that i found out about this, because i was seriously considering the band! also, any extra info or tips that you want to share would be awesome.

I never had a c-section so I can't compare it, but for me there was relatively little pain. The first few days it was pretty uncomfortable to go from lying down to sitting up, and sitting to standing, partly because of the pulling at the main incision (a little sharper pain, maybe 5/10 on the pain scale and decreasing by a point daily), and partly because of abdominal soreness (which I've likened to doing a thousand situps and then having someone whale on you with a baseball bat LOL... maybe 4/10 and decreasing daily). By about day 6, all of that was gone.

My surgeon basically told me that as far as exercise goes, whatever I was comfortable with. That could be because he knows I work in physical therapy and have a pretty good idea what's OK and what's not, at what point... me may give more detailed instructions to other patients.

His self-pay price is $11,200. That includes a $200 initial consultation fee (my insurance covered that), $5,000 for him, $5,500 for the hospital (the one that he's got the deal with--he works from three others also) and $500 for anesthesia. That includes pre-admission testing and two years of follow-up care.

You're doing the right thing, research research research and ask ask ask!! I think it's fair to say that most of us could talk about this all day, every day. :blushing:

His self-pay price is $11,200. That includes a $200 initial consultation fee (my insurance covered that), $5,000 for him, $5,500 for the hospital (the one that he's got the deal with--he works from three others also) and $500 for anesthesia. That includes pre-admission testing and two years of follow-up care.

Wow! You got a great deal for local. I traveled to Vegas through Medical Tourism and paid just under $11K + pre-labs.

VSG vs. C-section is night vs. day. I was super painful after my c-section. The worse part of the pain post a laproscopic procedure is the CO2 gas they fill your abdomen with has to be released. So, gas bubbles can be trapped in your abdomen or other parts of your body which is more painful that any incisional pain I dealt with.

As for the working, my instructions were nothing strenuous for 6 weeks. You do not want to stress anything internally because you can get incisional hernia, or Fluid pockets/hematomas at the incision sites, and that just slows down healing.

I had my revision from band to sleeve at a MTF here in Florida. The self-pay cost here for just the sleeve is around $15,000, in Texas the sleeve runs 10k-15K, Mexico between 8-9k with a phenomenal surgeon(Dr. Aceves), and that gets you 3 days in the hospital.

If Tricare Prime would not have covered my revision, my happy hiney would have traveled to Dallas to see Dr. Nick Nicholson, or Dr. Aceves in Mexico.

#1 piece of advice is do not advance your post-op diet early

#2 would be to follow the rules, don't stress, trust your surgeon, and be positive.

#3 Be your own personal health advocate, do not settle for something you do not want, trust your intuition, and believe in yourself

#4 When selecting a surgeon, make sure they have performed over 300 sleeves. That they keep you overnight (at a bare minimum). The reason for 300+ sleeves is that technique is perfected with practice, don't be someone's guinea pig, and complications decrease with having this many sleeves under their belt. Leaks stats should be less than or = to 1%. Ask for patient testimonies, and ensure you ask what boughie size is used to measure your sleeve size during surgery.

If you have any other questions, feel free to post away, and we'll try to help out as much as possible.

thank you for all your answers! this board is super helpful

Hi Leelee

I'm also considering the VSG and have done some research into prices here in Spain and also Belgium, Czech and back in the UK.

Prices in the UK were between 9950 and 10.5k pounds sterling.

Belgium and Czech came in about the same at 8k and 8.2k euros.

Here in Spain so far I've had a quote for 14k euros.

Hope this helps your finance question.....

)

well, i think i found two hospitals here in turkey that specialize in bariatric surgery, and they specifically have the vertical sleeve listed as one of the surgeries they perform, so i am waiting on some information on that. i'll look into the price first, and then see if i even want to ask questions. i'll let you guys know once i find out more.

hey all, i've been lurking on the board a ton here the last few days! trying to get lots of info so that i can be educated when i go in to talk to my doc. here's a little bit of info. about me. i am 29, 5ft, 218 pounds. i am a military spouse stationed overseas (currently in turkey, soon heading to england) mother of 4 kiddos (ages 13, 8, 4 1/2, and 2 1/2) i've been heavy pretty much my whole life, with a few thin months in between!

here's a few questions floating around my brain:

1. how is the surgery pain comparable to a c-section (if any of you have had the experience)?

2. how soon after can you excersize (more than just walking, like weight training, cardio, etc)?

3. for those of you who paid out of pocket, about how much did you pay? (if that's not too personal to ask)

i know that i had some more, but this is all i can think of right now, thanks in advance for the info. i'm really greatful that i found out about this, because i was seriously considering the band! also, any extra info or tips that you want to share would be awesome.

Girl! The C/section is not something to compare this surgery to (and I've had 2) it's more like compared to a gallbladder surgery, bit amount of discomfort, but you can handle it without any problems (some of us can i should say) I was up and about the same day of surgery going about my business walking 8 lenghts of the hallway without complications, took pain med at night only, mostly to help me sleep (i'm a bad sleeper) Exercise other then walking was cleared for me after 6 weeks. . .that was ok for me, cause i hate exercise anyhow. . .every place is way different, I'm here in San Antonio Texas and paid $15,500 out of pocket. . . included surgeon, anesthesia, 3 day hospital stay in a prestine private hospital, all after care for 1 year, dietician, psych, so not too bad for stay on US soil with a doctor about 5 miles from my house whenever i need them huh?. . . got a great loan rate of 3.7% . . . so grabbed at that really fast. . . good luck with your journey!:confused1:

another question i just thought of. about how long does the surgery take? it's great to hear that about the pain level. that makes me nervous, but honestly, i healed very quickly from my csection, so hopefully if i'm able to get the surgery, i'll follow suit. i just get nervous in general, and the only time i've ever been put to sleep for a surgery was the first time i had a csection (13 years ago), the second time (2 1/2 years ago) i was awake.

Once they get in there, it's about 20 minutes.... about 40 minutes from the first incision to the last stitch.

I had my sleeve done here on base. Definitely check to see if the AF (I assume you guys are air force due to your locations) doc in Turkey or England does them. If he does, then you won't pay anything as tricare prime will cover it.

This surgery was nothing compared to a csection. My doc sent me home with a pain ball intact. It was wonderful and numbed my whole abdomen. Due to this, I was up and walking in the ICU pretty much as soon as I woke up. Having that pain ball was like night and day with this surgery vs my lapband removal and placement. Same premiss and same types of incisions. Recovery is really pretty easy. My doc cleared me for exercise, but not too strenuous at 2 weeks post op. I am going to opt for only walking for the time being. I developed an abscess after my band removal (it eroded and he had to close the big hole that it caused in my stomach too) and that still hurts if I try to work my abs to much. I personally wouldn't be comfortable (just the thought of tearing, not pain) to do abs until about 4 weeks post op.

40 minutes?? wow, that's quick!

i did a little bit of research and found two places in turkey that do them. the prices are between $8300 and $8600. so i e:mailed both places and asked some of the questions that i've seen on here. also, i'm still looking into a hospital that's closer (the other two are about an hours flight away) but then i'm dealing with having to find someone to watch my kiddos, and things like that. sooooo... that's where i'm at. i did call tricare to see if they cover it, but they don't. and they don't offer the surgery at the hospital on base here or in england as far as i can tell. again though, that's still something i'm in the process of researching. *whew* all this research is making me nervous *lol*