Advice: Pros & Cons For Someone Considering Vsg

[OldManDave 1]

Short & sweet, I am 45, male 100# overweight, 6ft tall and have struggled mightily trying to loose/maintain loss. I am a large, muscular ex-athlete that once upon a time, stayed in good shape through weight-lifting and bicycling. However, when I hit my late-20s/early-30s, I started to add a bit as I slowed down and then, from 1999~2001, I became a steroid-dependent asthmatic and BALLOONED from 225~230# to ~330# during the 1st 2 years of medical school. Ever since, my weight has remained pretty stable - damnit - and "lifestyle"/lack of time have precluded me from engaging in any meaningful/sustained exercise program. I developed severe OSA & hypertension - surgery on my nose improved my OSA sufficiently to no longer need the CPAP in 2006. However, I still snore like a freight train and my weight keeps me massively fatigued preventing me from engaging in the activities that I used to love and excel at.

To be perfectly honest, I am terrified of having surgery for weight loss. I did a surgical internship and got to take care of many wonderful success stories. However, I also took care of a few patients - open reu-en-y's - who had disastrous outcomes. I am a practicing anesthesiologist & all too aware of the additional risks that we large people pose interoperatively. I am currently at a point in life where my fear of surgery is being surmounted by my fear of becoming one of the people who I care for: morbidly obese, HTN, cardiac disease, diabetes with severe OSA and osteoarthritis - all in a Catch 22 precluding restoration of their health. Despite my largesse, I am still pretty healthy.

I have two wonderful daughters - ages 8 & 4 - who I want to not only be around to walk down the aisle one day; but with whom I want to do the things - ACTIVE things - they deserve from their father. My wonderful wife is very very very supportive, patient and understanding. I need to do this for her as well...so I can grow old and care for her as she committed to doing for me. Of equal import, I need to do this for me. My self-esteems has suffered and, I suspect, there has been some degree of professional impact - hard to educate patients about health, diet & exercise when you look like the Hindenburg!

Please, if you would be so kind, provide for me your perspectives on VSG. What are the 'pros vs. cons'? What scared you? How did you cope? What do you know now that you wish you knew before? How different is "life", before vs. after? How has the VSG impacted your ability to eat? food selection?

Thanks in advance for your time. I sincerely appreciate it!

D W Kelley

"OldManDave"

[kemo46 82]

Hey oldmandave, your story sounded a lot like mine did. Please go to my blog www.kemo46.blogspot.com and read it from the beginning. My health issue I developed was Diabetes. Being educated in the medical field, you know what, not if, will happen if you do not do something.

I can eat any kind of food, just 4 oz of it. I do not have any malabsorbtion issues and my blood work is fantastic. My Cholesterol is 136, my A1C Test is 5.5 and my daily blood sugar is normal. I take no medication of any kind. I hate that the medical world says once a diabetic, always a diabetic because my blood numbers have been perfect since surgery and I have not had to take any medication. It is a combination of the surgery, weight loss, exercise and of course a nutritional diet. I eat healthy and exercise almost every day.

As far as how my life has changed, well if you can imagine, I lost what is equivalent to a small person ( 100 lbs.) in less than 7 months, I am 16 lbs. from my goal weight. It has changed my life in every way, all for the better. The only con I can think of is I am cold natured now and my wife and I have thermostat wars in the house. The only other regret is is wished I would have done this surgery years ago, I am 47 and feel that I wasted a few years of my life not doing it sooner.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. Good luck.

[Bedhead 158]

Great thread! I'm still preop, so I can't give any advice but I will certainly be subscribing to this thread to get advice!

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Hey, This surgery is one of the best things that has happened. I would make this choice again. Of course, it is still a struggle, I've only had my sleeve since Oct 4, 2011, but I have lost alot of weight and cloths size and now All my cloths are way too big. Eating has been restricted, it is a huge adjustment, and when I watch my family eat, I think "wow, I use to eat that much, what a waste, no wonder I had such a weight problem." At an orientation the doc stated. "in 45 minutes, you will only eat 1/2 a sanwhich." Well at the surgeon's office, they tell me to take l bite of food every 10 minutes, and that is something I can't do. So I divided 10 minutes by 45 minutes and came up with 4.5 bites. That works perfect for me. I drink Protein shakes to get my Protein. I try to think protein, protein, protein. It works out pretty good. I feel great and I'm looking great too. This is awesome........

Keep your head high and just do it. You are a doctor and you know if your medical issues (if you have any) put you at risk. I was diabetic, but that has cleared up as well as my high cholesterol. My LDL is 102 and I'm working on improving that. I eat less than a 1,000 calorie a day which is great.

Best wishes

[Indymom 132]

I always swore I would never have weight loss surgery. I work in health insurance and had also seen first-hand evidence of people who had catastrophic problems with RNY surgery. I've also known a number of people who had RNY and gained back a large portion of their weight. I scoffed at the idea of "needing" surgery for weight loss and kept telling myself I would lose it as soon as I got the willpower to put down the fork and get my a$@ to the gym.

In October 2010 my mom had lap band surgery, and I was encouraged by her early weight loss and decided to look into surgery myself. I originally was set on lap band as I knew I didn't want RNY. When I went to the consultation at my surgeon's office and then met briefly with him one-on-one following the presentation, we determined banding wasn't a good option for me because of my ulcerative colitis. He talked to me at length about the sleeve and although I had gone into the consult insistent upon not being cut, once I talked with him about the procedure and then did a LOT of research on my own (this site, along with OH, was a godsend) - I decided it was honestly a great option for me.

I had my surgery in August and have lost 60 lbs in 4 1/2 months. My surgery was a breeze, recovery was very manageable and other than a few laparascopic scars on my belly, I would swear I never had surgery (until I try to eat more than 4 oz at a time!!). Other than a brief bout of illness due to my colitis over the past month, I've had more energy and feel better than I have in years. I'm thrilled with the outcome of this decision.