I have really been going back and forth as whether to post here or not. I guess I am sort of a "forum person" in my hobbies and areas of interest, but I have to be honest, I have avoided posting on this site or even looking at it for a couple of reasons. I found this site only a few days before my surgery but when I found it I found more negativity and frightened people then I found inspiration. Actually, I have gone here and gotten the (bleep) scared out of me by a few posters, every time I see their posts I get knots in my stomach. The main poster that does that to me has a screen name that starts with the letter "i". Everybody is terrified of leaks and all the negatives of this surgery and I just haven't been able to relate to many of the topics. Below I will share some of the basics of my journey so far.

First off, I am a 35 year old male who is 6 feet 3 inches tall. I wasn't fat my whole life, I actually weighed 218 when I was 19 years old. That was pretty close to a "perfect" weight for me. I got into a business where the guys I worked with partied, ate, and drank to excess. Over the years I ballooned to 445 lbs which is where I have been for the past 2-3 years. In 2010 I was considering the lap band but chickened out. I was back on in 2011 but chickened out again. In 2012 I HAD to make a decision because I was put on Metformin for borderline diabetes and Lisinopril for borderline blood pressure as well. That was it. I started again with the nutritionist appointments and made an appt. to see my surgeon who is located downtown Chicago a few miles from my house. My first appt. with him was in early October 2012 and he suggested a VSG instead of the lap band because of the large amount of weight I wanted to lose. I left thinking about it and did the rest of my pre op requirements such as upper GI, psyche, EKG, etc. I saw my surgeon again on November 14th, 2012 and we decided on the VSG (which I really didn't know a lot about). We set surgery for December 21st, 2012.

Because I am a big fella, my surgeon put me on a 28 day pre op liquid only diet (to shrink my liver and loosen my skin) which I started on November 23rd, 2012 (the day after Thanksgiving). The first few days were tough but I have very strong will power and stuck to it, following the requirements to the letter. I didn't cheat even once. Again, not even once. After about 12 days it was smooth sailing and I just plugged away and kept up the exercise plan that I had been doing for over a year which was just walking 1.5 miles, three times per week at my local YMCA. I didn't weigh myself even once the entire plan and weighed myself the morning of surgery. To my astonishment I lost a staggering 49 lbs!!!!I I couldn't even believe it, to be honest with you I began to sob like a little girl! I went from 445 to 396. I was just so shocked. My surgeon told me that I broke his practice record which was previously 45 lbs for a pre op diet. Again, I LOST 49 LBS IN 28 DAYS!!!

On the morning of December 21st, 2012 I was ready for surgery at a major hospital downtown Chicago. I arrived, valet parked, checked in, and was laying on the table prepped for surgery within 1 hour just waiting for the anesthesiologist. I was in surgery about an hour and a half later and the surgery took 2 1/2 hours. I am going to cut the details of my hospital stay down so readers aren't sitting here all day reading. Any questions just ask me. I wanted to leave the hospital the next evening but my surgeon said that he wouldn't allow me to break two records and that I should stay another night. Quick recap, I was checked into my room after surgery at 6pm Friday night and was discharged from the hospital at 11am Sunday morning, less then 48 hours after entering my room.

Upon arriving home I checked my weight, expecting to have lost a few lbs, and actually gained back 2 lbs due to all the fluids that were pumped into me. I was back up to 398. My recovery went ok I think, I was in a lot of pain along my largest incision which is about 3+ inches wide. I was on Tramadol which sucks. It took me 9 days to finish the 25 pills that I was prescribed since I was skipping doses. I was home on Sunday morning and by Wednesday morning I was off to the YMCA where I walked only one lap around the track. I limped around and talked to my friends there before going home. I was back at the YMCA on Friday and actually walked 5 laps (a half mile). I finally weighed myself on Friday, one week after surgery, and I was down from 398 to 391. I weighed myself again on Sunday afternoon and I lost another 4 lbs from Friday to Sunday, 9 lbs in 9 days, ending up at 387 lbs, 58 lbs down in 38 days.

So that's basically that. It's been over 10 days now since surgery and I am feeling like a million bucks. Here are the "scary" parts. I am using the term scary because after reading this site I would have thought I was going to die from this surgery. I HAVE NOT been nauseous even for one second since surgery. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOT thrown up, or even gagged for that matter, not even once. I AM ABLE to drink 60ozs of Fluid per day. I just started puree on Saturday, 8 days out, and it's been perfect. I had 4 ozs of low fat cottage cheese (which I LOVE) today as well as only one Protein shake, a bowl of tomato Soup, and plenty of Water. I AM NOT hungry, EVER. I just eat to live, that's it. Today I feel the best that I have felt since surgery. Every day gets better. My goal is to lose 220 lbs, 100 in three months from the start of my pre op diet on November 23rd. I WILL do it.

I know I left out a bunch so fire away (or ask any questions that you want).

Hey Frank great story!

I hear you re plateau. I am only 2 weeks post op, and have lost over 20 pounds in those 2 weeks. However the horror when the scale went up yesterday.

Many reasons:

1) Water - systems need to recalibrate - as a large guy I know how water can swing wildly

2) Eating too little actually can continue to slow metabolism - funny how eating a bit more can stoke the furnace

keep up the fantastic work

Just a quick update:

So if you read above, last Sunday I thought I had hit a stall having lost only one pound in an entire week. Well, I had decided NOT to weigh myself everyday anymore and only do it on Sundays. Well, after 6 days I couldn't wait anymore and to my amazement I got on the scale this morning and lost 6 pound in the six days that have passed since last Sunday!!! I DID however turn it up this week with more activity (I ate the exact same) and am now at 362, or 83 total lbs lost!!! I have also officially lost over 10 points in my BMI, having gone from 55 to 45, all of this in 2 months and 9 days!

Life is GREAT!

Show off!!

That's great frank I love hearing about your success !!

Thanks Laura!

Actually I met a REAL show off this week. I was telling a friend of mine (finally, I have been quiet about the surgery) that I had weight loss surgery. He asks me "did you have the band or the sleeve?" I'm like, how do you know about the exact surgeries? He tells me that his cousin got the sleeve. So long story short, he connects me with his cousin and we talked for over two hours. He was the first actual person (not one online) that I have ever met who had the sleeve. He got sleeved in June 2011 and has lost an astonishing 200 lbs in a year and a half, having gone from 365 to 165, and he's only 5' 5" tall. We became Facebook friends and when I saw his photos I was absolutely amazed. The transformation was shocking. Because of his smashing success, he even spoke at his doctors confrence about VSG surgery.

One thing that I DID learn from him that amazed me is the level of involvement and follow up by his surgeons. They did an AMAZING job getting him ready for surgery, including making him stop smoking 6 months before the operation, and the aftercare has been wonderful. My surgeons did absolutely NOTHING before and after. Thank God I am doing amazing on my own, and don't need any help. What if I had problems? It just amazes me that I had my surgery done at a world class university hospital downtown Chicago, and they basically have NO real program for VSG patients. I even told my surgeon that and he didn't seem to happy with the criticisim..

So glad you found someone to talk to! It helps a lot.. I met two other girls at the hospital the day of my surgery and its nice to have someone to check in with!! My surgeon also has monthly support groups. I've yet to go to one, but lately I've been thinking it might be a good idea to go

Hi there, you are having great success, that's awesome.

I'm curious, you keep mentioning your hospital, but not by name, and I'm almost positive we had our procedure at the same hospital. (To my knowledge there is only one world class university hospital located in downtown Chicago.).

Anyway, the follow up care by the surgical team (nurse practitioners, dieticians) has been awesome for me. After surgery, I got 2 visits from not only the surgeon and his residents but also the anesthesiologist came by as well. Since surgery, I've done the recommended visits with the NP and the NUT...but I never expected to see the surgeon unless a problem came up. But I asked about the visits after surgery and they were clearly outlined. The program before surgery was pretty extensive as well, so I'm surprised to see you say you didn't do any pre-work.

I just wanted to put that out there in case anyone else comes across your story and may have doubts about the hospital, surgeons, the learning process beforehand, or the after care. I have been extremely happy with the program from start to now (almost 5 months post op).

BKMama, you have a private message.

I actually wanted to keep my experience private, but I think people should know. However, I am NOT going to mention the hospital. I still want to talk to BKMama privately though.

My surgeon was a VERY nice guy and obviously knows what he is doing since I am alive and well, but the programs before and after sucked. He basically had me visit the NUT 6 times before the surgery strictly to get an insurance approval. He even said so. I had to do the usual tests including psyche, EKG, upper GI, physical by my PCP, etc, but all of those were to make sure I was healthy and for insurance approval. There was NO support groups before or after and there was NO mandatory or even reccomended visit to the NUT after surgery. I was told it was optional when I called a month after surgery. There were no excercise consultants, NOTHING. It was surgery and have a nice day. I didn't even see my surgeon after the surgery until one month later. He said my next follow up visit would be in three months just to weigh me and see if I was ok!!!!

Again, I have had NO problems and I am amazingly positive and doing mentally great, but what if i wasn't? It would really suck if this was all I had to work with.

Usually if your are doing well such as yourself then you are doing what you need without additional support. If by chance you weren't then you would contact the physicians office and they do have resources and groups to offer. Everyone is different and some do exceptionally well just like you have been sharing with us... Some need the guidance and support after and they are given the resources to be or hope to be a success story like you

NO lessisme, they DO NOT have any groups because I asked if they did. NOTHING. I wanted to join a support group just so I could talk with other sleevers and they couldn't even recommend one! What I explained above is ALL they have. Period.

***They DO have shrinks if you need them though....I have not.

Thanks for the message, Frank. We did two different hospitals so we are all good. :-) Yours isn't technically downtown

Keep up the fabulous work!!

BTW, I totally get keeping specifics private. Doesn't bother me at all...

NO lessisme' date=' they DO NOT have any groups because I asked if they did. NOTHING. I wanted to join a support group just so I could talk with other sleevers and they couldn't even recommend one! What I explained above is ALL they have. Period.

***They DO have shrinks if you need them though....I have not.[/quote']

Well that isn't good.

That's why I said USUALLY cause you said you got NADA

What was their reasoning behind no support from the bariatric office or the hospital???

Thanks for the Encouraging words! Keep them coming:-)

Great post Frank! I'm only 4 days out (surgery 1/29) and am so ready to be back at work and the gym. But I'm being patient. Lol! Thanks for posting your story...with all the negative stories on here I had a total meltdown the night before my surgery. It's nice to hear the positives! Keep up the good work!

PS--Chicago is my favorite city to travel to! It's amazing. I had a friend that lived on State and Superior for several years and it was a blast!