Hi VSG family!!!

I thought that I would post a thread for all members that had or is considering the TGVP procedure. I thought it would be a great idea for us to share our thoughts and experiences. I know of only one person so far. If you all know of any others please tell them to respond. Thanks VSG family!! :scared0:

Hey Amy,

All is good, I can drink and even gulp....I don't have a problem with it. I find that cold or warm I can take good size sips now, at first I did slow small sips, but by the 3rd week I forgot I had the surgery. The only thing that is different for me is that I get super full after about 3/4-1 cup of food. But I eat everything I want. I keep count of my calories on livestrong.com/myplate.

Check out my blog, on my week 4 post, I posted some pictures, before and after so you can see where the incisions are. They are going to even out to skin color soon, I can already see them less....

Good luck and ask away....

AWESOME! Thank you SO MUCH Cknorte! That is GREAT NEWS! and Thanks, I will check out the pictures!

Hello, QUESTION FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS HAD PLICATION... how does liquids go down for you and what stage are you at? Wondering if they go straight through (like can you drink a cup of coffee in 5 minutes if it isn't to hot?)

Is there such a thing as "guzzling" down a drink or will it be slow sipping from here on out?

Thanks for all your feedback and replies. My goal is to make a decision and schedule surgery for Sept/Oct.

Trying to think of everything else to ask. Anyone want to get me any more info on the day/life of a plication (GPS) patient? Looking for good & bad info.. We know it isn't really "bad" necessarily, just something to consider in the grand scheme of things.

Also, ladies, does any incensions show if you were a low cut top or is it all along the bra line? I live in a vacation area, and just need to prepare myself..

Hi Amy. I hesitated to respond because I don't think I'm the norm. I can take large gulps of drinks now that I couldn't before. I don't think I can down a cup of coffee in five minutes, but I don't think I ever have been able to do that.:thumbup: The other day, I was coming home from a store where I bought a 16 oz fusion drink and had drunk about 12 ounces by the time I got home, about 15 minutes. (note to self: If you change your mind about the flavor, make sure you pick up the sugar free. I thought it taste too good to be true).

A day in my life is no different than it ever was, except I have to plan ahead a little. I'm not on "regular food" yet, so if I get hungry I can't just run through a drive through like I used to. I am hungry about every two hours, but from what I"ve heard, that should get better. I have stopped at McDonald's once with my husband and I had yogurt, and I found out that a small smoothie there is made with yogurt and has only 210 calories and 2 gm of Protein. I did do that once.

You can't see the incisions unless you go topless.:confused1:

Hi Dr. Watkins. Thanks for making things so clear and for actually responding.

I had a question posed to me today by a doctor, and he asked me won't the two sides that have been invaginated eventually stick together, making the surgery irreversible? Any comments on that? Thanks!!

Indeed the sutures (stitches) we use are third generation synthetic silk sutures (Ethibond) and they do create a reaction which is stronger than the stitch alone which is a good thing. They are reversible, however, because you can separate them surgically. We know this because we do it all the time with band revisions. We use the same suture the same way with band surgery and we have the luxury of knowing what these look like many years later and we know that we can reverse them because we do it all the time during band revisions.

The simple answer is that it is indeed reversible. The more complex answer is that it would take a surgery to reverse it and it would be a process to separate each suture and the reaction around it.

I think it is also important to note that patients who have weight loss surgery do not want it reversed! The reality is that it is quite the opposite - patients would never consider having it reversed. It is comforting, though, to know that if you ever wanted or needed your entire stomach, it is still there and still functioning normally - it's just smaller so that you can lose weight without feeling deprived or starved.

Brad Watkins MD

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I am going to get my physical today so I can move ahead to call tomorrow and set a surgery date!!

Indeed the sutures (stitches) we use are third generation synthetic silk sutures (Ethibond) and they do create a reaction which is stronger than the stitch alone which is a good thing. They are reversible, however, because you can separate them surgically. We know this because we do it all the time with band revisions. We use the same suture the same way with band surgery and we have the luxury of knowing what these look like many years later and we know that we can reverse them because we do it all the time during band revisions.

The simple answer is that it is indeed reversible. The more complex answer is that it would take a surgery to reverse it and it would be a process to separate each suture and the reaction around it.

I think it is also important to note that patients who have weight loss surgery do not want it reversed! The reality is that it is quite the opposite - patients would never consider having it reversed. It is comforting, though, to know that if you ever wanted or needed your entire stomach, it is still there and still functioning normally - it's just smaller so that you can lose weight without feeling deprived or starved.

Brad Watkins MD

Thank you, Dr. Watkins

I am going to get my physical today so I can move ahead to call tomorrow and set a surgery date!!

Good for you!

I just had my plication on tues. the 17th. How long does the bloated feeling last and is there any thing to help reduce it?

Hi Everyone:

Official 1 month post plication weigh in results are...."drum roll please..." 20 lbs 6 ozs!!! This week I was down 4 lbs 6 ozs. It hasn't been the easiest as I've been sick for 3 weeks with kidney stones, and kidney infection this past week resulting in 2 hospital stays, but I think I am finally over that hurdle! (Nothing at all to do with my surgery!) I am now feeling really good, and eating & drinking normally. I am able to comfortably eat about 3/4 cup of food. I still want to drink with my meals, but that is an old habit I am trying to resist.

To all of you researching the gastric sleeve plication procedure...don't hesitate for a minute! I am thrilled so far with my results. What other procedure can you say that you can eat pretty much anything you desire, as long as you stop when you feel full? You are healed in less than a month, and the results speak for themselves. No other diet in the world can help you shed 5 lbs per week without starving yourself. We are NOT starving, and we eat when we feel hungry.

Looking forward to everyones results this week....Let's go girls!!!

Penny

I am 6 weeks post op on the plication and I am finally feeling back to normal the past week. I was having lots of nausea after eating no matter what I ate. That has now all but been eliminated. I have lost about 30 lb and my frustration now is I guess I expected the weight to just fall off. I went one week gaining 3 lbs and the next week not losing at all. I have chosen not to go weigh in for two weeks so not to get depressed but the truth of the matter is I need to focus on me and not just the weight. I have started to exercise the past two weeks and hope with doing this that I will start to lose some. You have to remember that your calories will be cut to about 1200 a day and that your body will eventually adjust but understand our brains are very complex and at first it will think its starving and it will hord the calories causing an increase possibly but eventually that will balance out. As far as drinking I can not gulp my drinks any more it does take me all day to get about 70 ounces of Fluid down. I think this differs for everyone. I will tell you even though I have had some struggles along the way I would do this over a million times. I am very happy now it's trying to figure out what works for me.

Hope this helps.

Becca

I am serously considering plication surgery. Can someone tell me what your diet progression was after surgery. How long were you on liquids? When were you able to move back onto solids? Thank you for your help in advance, I just want to educate myself the best I can before making such a big decision.

Hello,

I am about to have my lapband removed from Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala in TJ, Mexico. He is the original MD who performed the procedure in 2008 when I was at 190 lbs. My reasons for having it removed are: My father just passed away, grief issues and my port is very sensitive, therfore fills are painful, so I am gving up for now until I am in a more emotionally stable mindset to do weight loss.

My questions to all of you out there are:

1. Has anyone converted from the Lapband to the Gastric sleeve plication ? If so, can you give me a detailed report of the sequence of the steps you took to do this ?

ex: What was the removal like ? How long were you bloated and swollen ? How did your stomach recover ? How long did you wait to invade into your body "again" and have the gastric sleeve plication inserted ?

2. No one is mentioning "EMOTIONS" on these websites! How does one deal with the years of "emotional eating" without support groups or counseling ? How is that working for all of you ?

3. So, with the Sleeve, does one need fills ?

Bless all of you brave souls and thank you, please send all comments. The more the better..Thank you! Gracie! Merci! saraslimmerin2011ihope.

Hello,

I am about to have my lapband removed from Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala in TJ, Mexico. He is the original MD who performed the procedure in 2008 when I was at 190 lbs. My reasons for having it removed are: My father just passed away, grief issues and my port is very sensitive, therfore fills are painful, so I am gving up for now until I am in a more emotionally stable mindset to do weight loss.

My questions to all of you out there are:

1. Has anyone converted from the Lapband to the Gastric sleeve plication ? If so, can you give me a detailed report of the sequence of the steps you took to do this ?

ex: What was the removal like ? How long were you bloated and swollen ? How did your stomach recover ? How long did you wait to invade into your body "again" and have the gastric sleeve plication inserted ?

2. No one is mentioning "EMOTIONS" on these websites! How does one deal with the years of "emotional eating" without support groups or counseling ? How is that working for all of you ?

3. So, with the Sleeve, does one need fills ?

Bless all of you brave souls and thank you, please send all comments. The more the better..Thank you! Gracie! Merci! saraslimmerin2011ihope.

Hi,

I replying not because I can answer your questions but because of the question regarding emotions. I had gastric plication done from the beginning 7 weeks ago. I have lost about 35 lbs but I have been fighting the emotion thing from the beginning. I guess in my mind, I thought the weight would melt off. Don't get me wrong I am pleased with the loss but I guess, for me I just thought it would be a little easier. I mean I cut my calories in half if not by more....I am not drinking pop, hardly go out to eat and when I do I get the child's menu and now I'm working out 3 days a week and still I only lose a pound to two pounds a week. One week I gained 3 lbs and the next didn't lose any. There is no doubt this is a mind game and over coming this is harder than I thought. Emotions definitly play a part in my everyday life and I don't know how to over come the fact that food is no longer my best friend. I have good days and bad and I have never regreted my surgery. This is the side that when asked if I was ready pre-surgery.....I could have ever expected this. I don't know if this makes sense but losing weight is just not exercise and diet but it is also working out who I am and focusing on picking up better habits and not relying on food to get me through.

I have read many individuals who have gone from banded to plication and have had success. I wish you all the best in your choices that you make and hope that you find what it is that you need.

Becca

We have now done plication on four patients that previously had gastric bands. They mostly like the fact that the fullness is abdominal and not high in the chest and that you don't need band adjustments and there is no port. They like that they will never require an urgent unfill from getting too tight.

We also know that the plication, like any other procedure, is best to think of as a tool for weight loss and works best in conjuction with making good food choices and adding some type of calorie burning to the mix.

Regarding emotional eating, this is a complex subject and even skinny people have emotional eating and there are literally hundreds of books written on this subject, but the best book on emotional eating I have seen so far is Dr. Gould's book, "Shrink Yourself". Dr. Gould is a psychiatrist who has worked with weight loss patients for nearly 30 years in California. I learned a lot by reading his book. Basically, he helps us identify possible things in our past that might be creating "phantom hunger". It is a pretty intense book and not everyone likes it but I haven't found anything that does a better job of really understanding the kind of emotional eating that interferes with successful weight loss. It is also easier to read than many books on this subject.

Brad Watkins MD