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Starting My Revision Journey



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Hello everyone my name is David, I'm 34 and live in the Philly burbs. I had joined this website years ago when I was researching surgery, but I never wound up using the forums. I had the Realize Band placed 4 years ago back on 8/24/2010 & I started at 379 lbs and I ended up losing 100 lbs the first year. The past 3 years my weight has yo-yo'd up and down a bit, but for the most part I've stayed in the 280 - 290 lbs range. While I'm very happy to have maintained around a 90 lbs weight loss, I still have at least 100 lbs more to go so I'm thinking of revising to the VSG.

When I was first looking into bariatric surgery the surgeon of course was recommending the DS or the RNY for me because of the amount of weight that I needed to lose. For years and years I've suffered with tons of GI/stomach issues, including Rapid Gastric Emptying/Gastric Dumping, so the idea of getting my insides rerouted and changed was not appealing to me (and it still isn't, actually). Since I already was suffering from dumping before any type of bariatric surgery, I most certainly did not want to have bypass surgery in which one of the side effects could be dumping syndrome. So I decided on the band at that point, and it also is why I'm not considering a revision to one of the bypass surgeries now either.

As of right now I've been maintaining around a 40% loss of excess body weight which my surgeon says is a good result for the band. I currently have around 9 cc's in my band, so there isn't too much more that can be added. A majority of the time I have little to no restriction with my band, while sometimes I eat just a few bites and food gets stuck. The inconsistency of the restriction is driving me crazy. I just went and spoke to my surgeon this past week and I discussed revision to VSG and what I need to do to start the process. Pending insurance approval from Keystone Health Plant East for the revision, I am hoping to have the band taken out and be revised to the VSG sometime in December or January. The surgeon tells me that he will most likely do it as one surgery, but he of course will not know for sure until he goes in and removes the band to decide if it can be done at the same time.

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, and I look forward to reading about everyones weight loss journey.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • bellaamey

      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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