Hi everyone,

This is going to be a long post, so apologies ahead of time!

I'm new to VST and thought I'd introduce myself and tell a bit about how I've wound up here. I'm a 39yo (very soon to be 40!) married female, who is an American expat in Australia. I've been here nearly 10 years now.

I'm a bandit who will be revising to the VSG. I got my band May 2008, in Perth, although lived remotely at the time. I really wanted to have the RNY but as I was desperate to get pregnant, I didn't want to "waste" 2 years, so I opted for the band. (it goes without saying that I am still childless and largely out of time now :-(, sad but nothing to be done about it but move on I guess). I didn't know about the sleeve. I think it might not have even been around at that time? Not sure. The surgeon didn't discuss any other options, pretty much just said "yeah sure we can band you". There was no pre-op counseling, no meeting with a dietician or a psychologist, nothing. Having read so many tales of having to jmp through hoop after flaming hoop, I thought, "wow this is great!" Of course that said, there was also no follow up care either, except for when I needed adjustments. I had the Internet for support. And of course my husband, who really wasn't all that keen on the idea but went along with it. That was pretty much it. Adjustments were a nightmare to organize. It was a 5+ hour drive one way to Karratha, or a 2 hour flight to Perth to get adjustments, so not only was it inconvenient, I also had to arrange time off work, plus it cost a fortune in travel. Until I learned the new GP could (begrudgingky) do adjustments. More convenient, but also belittling GP who apparently didn't mind letting all and sundry know what you were there for. Shed just announce it loudly so that everyone could hear (very tiny office & surgery).

Anyway, I started at 131kg (by my scales, they didnt even weigh me before i went into surgery) and got down to 111kg, for about a minute. Then went zooming back up to 114. Stayed there for weeks, despite following my doctors advice to e letter. The only solution ever offered to help break the stall was "more fill,". It got to the point that I was so restricted often couldn't even get milk down. I would fluctuate between 114-116kg, and constantly told that I simply wasn't complying and that if i would just put as much effort into the weight loss as I did making excuses and lying to myself (word for word from that horrible GP, who took over for fills/removals and stats monitoring after the implant), that I'd have already been halfway to goal. I thought that was a little harsh considering that at that stage I was working my a** off. Not to mention that at that time I hadn't yet learned to eat around the band. She refused to look at my food diary, preferring to just make baseless assumptions about the fat woman sitting across from her (me). If she'd have looked she have seen that yes, I tested the waters and made mistakes, tried to learn from them, but mostly I was extremely compliant.

As I said, my band fills got to the stage that even hot peppermint tea would sometimes not go through, nor would ice Water. So you can imagine how painful it was to eat solids and they'd get stuck. chicken, steak, pork, lamb, tuna, any kind of bread, fruit (especially those with skins or membranes), salad veggies (lettuce became an utter nightmare)....all items that would consistently get stuck or rise and fall in my esophagus. dairy products that wouldnt go through made me bring up these great huge globs of slime (honestly, it looks like a mucous plug! Gross!) when you cant get anything to go through, after a while, you get hungry! And being unable to get anything healthy down added to my frustration as well as well as the hunger. I was crazy with hunger some days. True hunger, stomach aching hunger, not just head hunger. Eventually I just got to the point that I let myself eat whatever I felt like, since it almost always all came back up anyway.

Never a huge socialiser to begin with, I began to decline social invitations because invariably I'd wind up spending so much time in the ladies room that people would get put off by it. It was embarrassing and hard to explain. People just can't wrap their heads around it. The human auto response to issues, is to just stop doing whatever is causing the issue. Well, you can't just stop eating. Eventually the invitations just stopped. Partly blessing, partly lonely.

In Dec 2011 I relocated back to Melbourne, and as such, I'd like to try to make some friends and get a social life back. Since a lot of social activities involve/revolve around food, and I wasn't getting anywhere with weight loss, I went to a doctor who agreed to take out half my fill. ahh, the relief! Oh, the weight gain! I'm back up to 120kg. :-(

So 22 June, me and the husband are heading to our farm, and I'm talking about going back to Weight Watchers. AGAIN. I'm pretty sure I've trial tested every version they've run since 1981 (first formal diet, thanks mom! Not). My husband, my dear, sweet, long suffering husband says "Babe, why don't you just go and have the gastric bypass? Just end this battle so you can stop dieting and we enjoy our life together without you having to constantly be stressed.".

Wha??? At first I was gobsmacked. Nearly offended. I mean, this is the guy who wasn't so keen on me getting the band. Then I realized what a gift he was giving me. (He didnt really know what bypass involves, that its not the easy way out he thought it would be). I thought about it for 2 weeks before I told him I was going to do it. But I didn't want the RNY anymore. Id been researching a different bypass, the Duodenal Switch. I know a few people with the RNY and they have all had problems with the anastamosis growing over, things getting stuck in the stoma, staple line leakage, and dumping syndrome just to name a few. DS doesn't have those issues, except for staple leakage if you're non-compliant in the first 3 months. Then I believe it just heals into a well formed scar? I'm not sure.

Anyway, I started ringing around to Melbourne surgeons to find someone that did the DS. I found ONE. Dr Stephen Blaemy. Had my consult with him 19 July. Nice guy, a little more patronizing than Id like, but having always been a fat person I've grown accustomed to people being patronizing. He openly admitted that he'd not done a DS in the last 5 years, but that he would still do it. Some caveats first though. If I ended up with DS, it would be the last of a 3 stage process. First, lapriscopically removing my band. 10 weeks later, lapriscopically doing the VSG. One year from then, the DS, if it is necessary. He doesn't think it will be necessary.

Naturally I was a little disheartened. I'd hoped to have the DS by end of October this year.....had envisioned Christmas photos with me actually IN them (I generally break my neck to get away from a camera).

I must be honest here folks........I have a LOT of reservations and doubts about the effectiveness of the sleeve. I wasn't able to make the band (a solely restrictive process) work, and I don't have much faith that I will be able to make the sleeve (also a restrictive process) work either. I fully admit that I threw in the towel out of frustration and, well, hunger! I am really afraid that the same thing will happen with the sleeve.

Although this time, I have access to more tools like:

clean, nice smelling gyms (rather than a hole-of-a-building-gym stinking of BO so bad you can TASTE it)

Therapists and nutrtionists that specialize in disordered eating

Face to face support groups

Safe places to walk and exercise (rather than the rocky, craggy snake and fly infested remote towns of the Pilbara) (the Pilbara is beautiful, just you must exercise extreme caution when leaving the confines of established areas :-D )

Complementary therapies like acupuncture, massage, and oddly enough, beauty treatments. I believe the Cancer Counsels Look better, feel better campaign can apply to even those of us not suffering cancer. If you look better, you feel better.

Plus, it's good to just be back in "civilization"!

So......dr Blamey gave me some info on the sleeve, told me to talk it over with the husband, and get back to him if I wanted to proceed. I did, and called the next day. Spoke with his secretary (who is a little lacking in friendliness....maybe she was having a bad week) and organized to have the band out 14 August 2012. If he's true to his word, and doesn't have a holiday planned, I should behaving the sleeve done around 22 October 2012.

I am also really afraid that once I've got the band out, I'm going to lose my collective mind and have a stress binge, and balloon back up to 131 or higher. My plan is to go back to Weight Watchers (I do think it's a sensible approach) for the time being, then switch to Optifast for 2 weeks prior to sleeve surgery, and then go for the gold with the sleeve, following his advice.

And I'm going to make the best of a less than ideal (in my mind) situation. If next year I havent been unsuccessful I can revise again to the DS.

And that's my story in a (large) nutshell!

Cheers!

Hi Kristi! Welcome to the forums!

I've read so many posts about lapband to sleeve conversions in this forum, and most stories talked about erosion and slippage. I've never had a lapband so I dont really know about these - but they did sound very painful. So I'm really glad you didnt have to go through all that with the band!!

I started at 125kgs and I'm only 5ft. I was a bit skeptical about sleeve at first too. My surgeon said that a restrictive procedure like sleeve requires more commitment to diet and lifestyle change than GB. I didnt think I was ready for that. But I couldnt imagine getting a GB and living my entire life on meds. So I researched sleeve and spoke to my surgeon's other patients who have been sleeved - they encouraged me to do this.

I have to say - getting sleeved is the best thing I've done! I lost 5 kgs in my 1 month pre-op diet. I was 119kgs during surgery on Jan 11, 2012. After 6 months, I now weigh 85 kgs. I've lost 34 kgs in 6 months after surgery (39kgs including pre-op). I couldnt have done this without sleeve and it has also given me the confidence that I can make lifestyle changes and maintain them.

Yes, sleeve is only a tool - and it works only as well as we work it. But I dont find that too hard to work! Yes, I had to make healthy choices about food and yes, I need to work out regularly. But it doesnt mean that I cant indulge in my fav food every now and then. The restriction makes sure that I dont over indulge - so I feel that I've got the best of both worlds!!!

In terms of workout - I just do some cardio for 1.5 hrs for 5 days a week. I do some weight training 2 days a week but not regularly and I'm hoping to increase the frequency of weight training.

Whatever your decision, I know you'll be a great success!! All the best!!

I too used Optifast VLCD for my pre-op diet (twice a day - morning and night). I still use it as a Protein supplement post-op.

After surgery, I find it too filling, so I use a 3/4th of a sachet at night. With a reduced fat PB, it tastes soooo good.

Hi! I'm an American expat in Melbourne 8 years now.

What a process to get you here! I saw Mr. Adam Skidmore in beaumaris. I 'think' he removes bands and does sleeves at the same time. I see him tomorrow and can ask..

The sleeve is different to any other tool you have ever had! You can do this!

Pm me if you want to chat with a local

Hi VJSlim,

Thanks for your kind words!

Yes I was lucky that I've not had any slips or erosion (nne known anyway...) but I have had one heck of a time with stuckage, for lack of a better word, and that is painful enough. My husband thought I was exaggerating about things getting stuck or just not going through. until the night I was having a 1/4 Greek yoghurt (stevia powder to knock the sour a little though). I was eating with a baby spoon (the one my mom fed me with, it's metal, and not even as big as the end of my thumb), and 4 spoons in, I was up and running to the bathroom. Hes hot on my heels saying, 'there is no way that tiny amount is a problem! I have to see this.....'. To this day he regrets that because i proceeded to gag and retch for about 10 minutes until what resembled a jellyfish came up. The look on his face! Looking back it's hilarious, but at the time I wanted to just die, of embarassment and also because I was so sick of going through it. And that was a couple week after my first fill. I had 5, or maybe 6 more fills after that, unbelievably!

So that is one part I'm looking forward to with the sleeve, how different the restriction feels.

I've been reading lots of posts on here and the more I read the better I feel about getting the sleeve. Less doubts and reservations about it now.

Cheers!

That is awful! I'm so sorry you had to deal with those problems with the band.

I think you'll do great with sleeve! You really deserve this chance to lose weight without damaging your health! I pray that everything goes well and you have a great success with weight loss!

Hi! I'm an American expat in Melbourne 8 years now.

What a process to get you here! I saw Mr. Adam Skidmore in beaumaris. I 'think' he removes bands and does sleeves at the same time. I see him tomorrow and can ask..

The sleeve is different to any other tool you have ever had! You can do this!

Pm me if you want to chat with a local

Hey petite! Always good to see another yank around! Lol. What part of the States do you hail from? Im a Kentucky girl myself. I miss home a lot, family and friends the most, and cold Christmas's! Im very slowly getting used to hot Christmas, but it just feels so unnatural to me. Im in the Christmas spirit NOW! It will be gone, melted away, by December! Lol Have you met many other American expats? I've met very few, but a LOT of Canadians. They get super upset when people refer to them as Americans! Lol. I find it amusing; I'm not bothered in the least when people refer to me as Canadian. Sometimes I don't even bother to correct them. Depends on the situation. **shrugs**

I would certainly appreciate if you would let me know about Adam Skidmore being able to do the band removal and sleeve in one go. For one, it will save me from having to undergo a second surgery; general anesthesia has it's own considerable risks, as does the surgery itself. second I wouldn't have to take another round of time off from work.....with the economy the way it is, no job is safe. No point in giving them redundancy ammo! And last but not least, I'd like to just get on with it. The sooner I can become a sleever, the sooner I can start working the sleeve! I'd like to be out of the soft and mushy before Christmas, only so the family doesn't ask a lot of questions. They don't know, and I don't want them to know. yet. If ever. My in laws are vehemently against any weight loss aid outside of calories in, calories out the traditional way. My issues have never made any sense to them, despite explaining it a 1000 times. To them it's just a matter of mind over matter, just press on, pain is good for you it lets you know you're alive!, pull up your socks......... all that jazz. They have made many a meal out of my lap band escapades, believe me!

I haven't quite worked out how to PM on here.....still finding all the bits and pieces. I will soon as i work it out.

Cheers!

Hey petite! Always good to see another yank around! Lol. What part of the States do you hail from? Im a Kentucky girl myself. I miss home a lot' date=' family and friends the most, and cold Christmas's! Im very slowly getting used to hot Christmas, but it just feels so unnatural to me. Im in the Christmas spirit NOW! It will be gone, melted away, by December! Lol Have you met many other American expats? I've met very few, but a LOT of Canadians. They get super upset when people refer to them as Americans! Lol. I find it amusing; I'm not bothered in the least when people refer to me as Canadian. Sometimes I don't even bother to correct them. Depends on the situation. **shrugs**

I would certainly appreciate if you would let me know about Adam Skidmore being able to do the band removal and sleeve in one go. For one, it will save me from having to undergo a second surgery; general anesthesia has it's own considerable risks, as does the surgery itself. second I wouldn't have to take another round of time off from work.....with the economy the way it is, no job is safe. No point in giving them redundancy ammo! And last but not least, I'd like to just get on with it. The sooner I can become a sleever, the sooner I can start working the sleeve! I'd like to be out of the soft and mushy before Christmas, only so the family doesn't ask a lot of questions. They don't know, and I don't want them to know. yet. If ever. My in laws are vehemently against any weight loss aid outside of calories in, calories out the traditional way. My issues have never made any sense to them, despite explaining it a 1000 times. To them it's just a matter of mind over matter, just press on, pain is good for you it lets you know you're alive!, pull up your socks......... all that jazz. They have made many a meal out of my lap band escapades, believe me!

I haven't quite worked out how to PM on here.....still finding all the bits and pieces. I will soon as i work it out.

Cheers![/quote']

My in laws will not know had they been here to help with our toddler twins over the last few weeks after my gallbladder out and hernia repairs, they may have sussed something out, but alas-- they have not.

My accent is frequently mistaken for a proper yank or a Canadian but I hale from the big ole country of TEXAS! Lol Houston to be specific!

We had planned a Christmas in July celebration this year that has been postponed due to my sleeve June 26! Not ready for holiday eating!

Due to presenting to ER today for infection in seroma surrounding hernia repair-- I will see Adam tomorrow... So will enquire! xx

I think if u click my pic you can message? I will message u and see...

Came back to say.. Memories of Kentucky as a child from the backseat.. Green hills and horses! x

Hi there. I have had the lap band before. I did really well with it, lost over 150 pounds in a little over a year. well, with the weight loss, all of a sudden I was in super fertile mode and my husband and I got pregnant twice, and unfortunately lost both pregnancies. I had terrible morning sickness that lastest even after my second miscarriage. Because of that, my band slipped. Actually the bottom portion of my stomach was sucked through the top of my band and flipped over like a mushroom cap.

Well, That was 2 years ago and I was just sleeved on July 2nd. I've already had some ups and downs after surgery. The pre-op diet was really rough for me. I lost 19 pounds before surgery and almost another 20 since. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled. However, I am super tired all the time and have no energy to even go walk. It's been the last 3 or 4 days mostly.

Something you should know though. when the lap band is removed, you should be prepared for scaring. It made my sleeve surgery a little more difficult for my surgeons. That is probably why they would like to wait between surgeries for you. It's safer. I understand the want to have it done quickly so you can keep up with the weight loss, but your body needs time to heal. Again, trust me I understand how you feel. I have been there.

Right now I"m having a hard time because things hurt when it hits my new stomach. I"m wondering if I will ever be able to eat a single bite with out it hurting or taking a drink without it hurting when it hits my stomach.

My advice, just don't rush it. Let your body heal like it needs too. Putting your body under that much stress causes more complications. It's Major surgery. Just remember that! Best of luck to you! I'll keep you in my prayers!