I have just finished reading a couple of posts regarding how much they are able to eat at certain stages post op. Both of the people that posted talked about the size of their sleeves......one was a 32 and one was a 34fr. I had never heard of a sleeve size before and I do not think that it was anything that my doctor discussed with me. I am wondering if he creates the same size for all of his patients and if so what that size might be. I have sent my surgical coordinator an email regarding my sleeve and see if she could speak to Dr Garcia to find out what is the size my sleeve. I will be waiting to hear as this now has me very intrigued.

How many out there know the size of their sleeves? Did you surgeon talk to you about this before your surgery?

I asked my surgeon at a follow-up appointment what size bougie he used. I believe he said 38fr. I meant to look up what that meant and then promptly forgot.

I asked before my surgery. Mine used a size 34 and he told me post that he was able to do a nice, tight staple line. Even if they use a size xx, it doesn't necessarily mean they were able to sew it tight up against it. It is merely a guide.

I asked my surgeon also before surgery and he used a 34 on me. He doesn't do that size on everyone. He makes the determination based on your teeth and the size of your airway. I asked him what teeth had to do with it and he said that some patients had teeth in bad shape and would not be able to chew their food as well and he gave those patients a bigger size to make sure the food didn't get stuck and that there was room fir the food to breakdown further in the stomach if it needed to. I had never heard that one before!

My surgeon's office all the doc's elected to use a 34 bougie.

wow, all I know was he planned on removing 85%. My friend who was with me about fell off her chair when she heard that!

My doctor said he uses a 34 bougie but he sews over the staple line so it's like a 32.

I was told Dr. kelly uses a 36f and sews over.. But whatever it is it works great . I have good restriction , but never have anything get stuck or have to throw up after eating..

I'm good!!

Julie

Dr. Kim uses an endoscope so he can visualize the inner part of the incision, and he also uses it in place of a bougie for guiding and sizing. The nurse says it's equivalent to a 34fr bougie. The only reason I asked her about it, is that I'd heard about it on this website.

My doc uses a 40 and I believe that is standard for Kaiser. We talked about it before hand. He sew over the staple line. As others have mentioned, your tummy size depends on how they place the tool, how close to the tool they staple, if they oversew, etc. I believe taller people have longer tummies too.

I have great restriction and I'm very happy with my tool. I am 8 months out so I'm guessing my tummy is at its final size. I can comfortably eat 3 oz. of firm Protein, and a tiny bit of vegetables and starch at a meal. I am easily getting my required protein and calories without eating extra meals or having Protein shakes.

I've seen this discussed a lot, so you can probably search the forum for bougie and find a lot of topics. There was one that showed what each bougie size looks like compared to pens. There is not much difference in them, so it's easy to see that surgical technique also plays a role.

I remember reading that when people first started getting the VSG a much larger bougie 48-60 was used and that people did not get sufficient restriction with that size.

Lynda

Lynda.....thanks for your post. I will go back and look for older posts on this subject. I am still waiting to hear from my surgeon as to the size that they use and if they over sew the staples.

Sleeve size

I had a long talk with a bariatric surgeon about this topic. He replied that it really is not that simple. The surgeon that uses a 36 may sew tightly to the edge and the surgeon that uses a 32 may sew loosely. The 32 may end up larger than the 36 for that reason. I am a physician so the conversation in the context of a lecture at a Medical convention. The question of what size bougie he/she uses is the first question and how snufly does he sew/staple is the next.