Hi!

I'm going to be getting sleeved in November and like many of us here, I have concerns and fears. I think about it constantly, but know that I've exhausted all options to try and lose and maintain but I have failed miserably. PCOS doesn't help this one bit.

I wanted to hear from some of you who have had the surgery over a year ago. Since this surgery is fairly new comparied to Bypass or the band, long term effects really aren't well known. I'd like to hear how folks are doing 2, 3, 5, 10+ years out. Any complications? Anything come up that you didn't expect? Since this is so permanent, and 85% of your stomach is gone, that is quite scary to me. How does your body react? Does something happen years down the road? For example, I know now that folks are finding a lot of problems with the band and many doctors aren't doing it anymore. So things like that. Just looking I guess for affirmation that this is the right decision and long term, I will be ok!

Thanks so much!

Karen

@JamesHRN wow, that is great to hear that your friends are doing so well! It's inspiring and does put some fears at ease, thanks!!

@peacequeen, thanks for our comments,I see you had a leak a few days after, is that the complication you are referring to? How did you know you had a leak?

I had a leak early on and a stricture later on. With the leak, I had a high fever, left shoulder and arm pain, stomach pain and some nausea..the fever is what sent me off to the ER where they found the leak after a CT scan. With the stricture, I was having a hard time keeping food and liquids down and I always felt as though I had something stuck in my throat. They performed an EGD and ballooned the area,,no problems since. I had a wonderful surgeon that stayed on top of everything and I followed his direction and everything and turned out well. I've just paid close attention to my body and didn't ignore any sign out of the norm.

I am 20 months post-op and had no complications and don't regret a thing. I wear a size 6 and reached my goal at 11 months post-op. I decided early on that I was not going to test my sleeve by seeing how much I could eat. I eat the same amount now as I did at 10 months post-op, about 3 oz of dense Protein or one cup of something like cherries or strawberries. I rarely eat white carbs or Desserts, I just lost my taste for them.

BTW, the sleeve was used as part one of a two-stage procedure called a duodenal switch, for morbidly obese people who had to lose weight before the second procedure could safely be performed. It's different than an RNY bypass, much more malabsorption and a tricky surgery to perform.

How much more are u able to eat 3 years out? Do u still feel the restriction?

Yes ... If I follow the "rules" about 5 oz of Protein and a bite of veggies and carbs. Popcorn and other junk food, MUCH more. Still not per-surgery amounts, but A LOT! (think small movie popcorn)

My surgeon reminded me that this surgery has been performed for ulcers and cancer for over 40 years. That helped.

Oh wow, I didn't realize this kind of surgery was used for other treament options. I guess it makes sense for cancer, but it never dawned on me for ulcers too. That does make me feel better too.

@Foxbins, you stated " It's different than an RNY bypass, much more malabsorption and a tricky surgery to perform."...Not sure if you meant the sleevel or the RNY was more difficult to perform?? I always thought he RNY was worse?

My mother in law had to have about 75% of her stomach removed about 25 years ago due to bleeding ulcers and she is doing fine.

I am 14 months post op and I feel great! I can eat more than at first but not NEARLY as much as pre op. For example before surgery: 4 piece Cane's chicken strip dinner, french fries, cole slaw, texas toast, sweet tea ( at least 2 glasses) and dessert.

after surgery: 3-4 bites of chicken strip

now: 1 chicken strip, 4-5 french fries and maybe a bite of texas toast. I feel normal in my amounts that I eat now.

I'm almost 13 months out from surgery. My surgeon told me at my 1-year follow up appointment that he thinks that the sleeve is going to become the new gold standard for WLS, and certainly will likely replace the lap band. He also indicated that at a recent seminar, they indicated that sleeve patients may continue to lose weight 2-3 years post-op, where with bypass patients the bulk of the weight loss tends to be within the first year.

As far as food tolerance, I still have restriction but would otherwise never know that I had 85% of my stomach removed. I have no intolerance to most foods (I don't eat a lot of fried foods, but those bothered me early post-op - they probably still would). I've tried to go off my PPI (reflux) medication and my reflux came back with a vengeance, so I'd say that is the only negative side effect I've had at all (no reflux issues pre-op).

My capacity is, in my opinion, perfect. I stay around 1200 calories a day, and try to get at least 60 grams of Protein. I do watch my fat and carbs, but not militantly. It's hard to stay within 1200 calories and not make good fat/carb choices anyway - so it all goes hand-in-hand. At a given meal I can usually eat between 3-4 oz of dense protein (meat/cheese), along with a small serving of veggies and a small serving of starch (sometimes). For example, I made a chicken dish with mushrooms in a white wine sauce - I ate about 4 oz of the chicken, a nice serving of mushrooms with the sauce, and about 1 oz cooked Pasta. I was pleasantly full and felt very satisfied. I could have had a small green salad and could have reduced the protein by 1/2 to 1 oz and still been OK (I exceeded my protein targets for that day). I was out of lettuce though.

No, the sleeve part isn't the really tricky part, though there are two staple firings where the surgeon really has to be careful, one at the top by the esophagus and one at the bottom by the duodenum. The second half of the duodenal switch, where the surgeon works with the intestines, takes quite a bit of skill and experience. That's what I was referring to as "the tricky part."

BTW, I read a study not too long ago where a lot of experienced sleeve surgeons were asked about how many sleeves needed to be done before a surgeon could be considered proficient and the average number they gave was 30. I thought that was pretty interesting.