Jeff Loughridge

I started at 430, was 397 at surgery. I still have a ways to go but if you follow your doctor, nutritionist, and body you will lose the weight. Don't worry about individual transgressions, you are human and will make mistakes and bad choices. Learn from them and don't dwell on them; they will not keep you from your goal as long as you don't repeat them. Don't be discouraged if you don't lose at the rate you expected either. After reading many things, I was expecting to lose around 20-30 pounds per month initially considering my starting weight. I averaged 15 lbs per month for the first 6 months or so and am now at about 10 lbs per month. Be patient, eat right, exercise, and the weight will all come off with time. It is basic laws of biology and physics at work, and you are not so special that they don't apply to you! ;>)

I was sleeved by Dr. Halmi and Dr. Nain on Oct. 26 last year. I had no problems at all, except one related to anesthesia that caused me to stay one extra day. I was sleeved on a Tuesday, sent home Friday, and felt so good I went back to work for a few hours the next Tuesday. I seriously can't speak highly enough of the staff at Bluepoint; you could not be in better hands.

I find it to be self enforcing. You can beat it if you want, but in my case even that is self enforcing and I love it. I loved sugar; cake, icing, the corner pieces with two sides of icing, ice cream; as well as fast food. Since surgery I just don't tolerate sugars well. I don't like the way it makes me feel so I have no desire for it. I can still eat a piece of cake, but now it is a small piece from the middle, and that one piece is more than enough. Overall, the portions I am comfortable with now are miniscule compared to pre-surgery. When I fall back and take an old size portion, my sleeve is there to say I've had enough before I cross the line. This was the best decision I have ever made.

Absolutely go and have a good day with your daughter. I too would suggest starting with a bite and see how it sits. Before my sleeve I was s huge sugar addict. I LOVED cake, particularly the corner pieces since they had so much more icing. After 3.5 months being off sugar entirely, I find when I do partake I can only tolerate a very small piece, and I cannot take all of the icing that is on it. I don't get sick or anything, I just get a queazy, unsettled feeling in my stomach. I love this sleeve.

I was sleeved on Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010. I took one week off with an option for additional days up to another week if I needed it. By the folowing Tuesday, one week after surgery, I was going stir crazy at home. I was fortunate and had no issues recovering; no nausea, no pain, nothing. I went back to work doing half days on Wed. Nov. 3. By that Friday I was back to full days.

I think the whole sleep study requirement is a scam. I fought having one, knowing I did NOT have OSA. The pulmonologist I saw argued with me, told me I didn't realize I had it, and was in danger of falling asleep at the wheel. Oh, really? I told him I drive 35,000 miles per year, including 18 hour drives to the Keys and have no problems. He balked. I told him I have no symptoms, other than snoring and he insisted I just didn't realize it. Ultimately, he gave me a pre-printed form with all of the symptoms of OSA listed, as if I had them and told me I needed the sleep study. I again told him I didn't have any of the symptoms listed, except snoring, and I was not going to have the study. He stood up, said, "Well then cancel your surgery because I'm not giving you clearance without the sleep study," and he WALKED OUT on me. My father always told me the most important thing a doctor can do to treat a patient is to get their history. This crackpot completely disregarded my history. I left, called my primary care physician and asked who they would suggest I see. I made an appt, saw the second pulmonologist, and he completely agreed with me. He agreed there is no justification to require a sleep study on someone undergoing surgery to eliminate the underlying cause of any potential OSA, other than it is good for business. He said if post-op SA occurs, use empirical CPAP at a 6 or 7 and see if it helps. I got my clearance and had surgery. I specified before hand that I did not want the pulmonologist who walked out on me to treat me in any way post-op. As I'm coming out of anesthesia, who is there but that son of a bitch. The first thing he says to me is why did I walk out on him. I had enough presence of mind to repl, "I didn't. You walked out on me!." He said I stopped breathing post-op, something not unusual given the quantity of anesthetics used. He put me in IMCU with a CPAP machine which I refused to use. My nurse, an absolute angel, told me the next morning that I had no apnea events all night, not a single one...and I was being monitored. The morning of post-op day 1 I was moved to the general surgery wing. While my wife and kids were visiting me, his partner came in and spent 15 minutes arguing with me, telling me how irresponsibkle both I and the pulmonologist I got the clearance from were. He didn't examine me at all, just argued. That son of a bitch sent me a bill fot that visit. It isn't getting paid. Both my wife and I again told the hospital staff I did not want to ne treated by either of them. Day 2 post op I went into Atrial Fib at about 5AM and was moved to ICU temporarily. While there, Who shows up there but the original SOB. He proceeds to tell me I am in ICU and have Atrial Fib because I have sleep apnea. This time I talked to the nursing supervisor and said he was fired. I would call the police if I saw him again. It was as if he was hovering waiting to blame every anomaly on OSA. The fact of the matter is OSA is responsible for Atrial Fib about 3% of the time. General Sleep Apnea, such as that common after deep anesthesia but with no relation to OSA is responsible about 27% of the time. I live in fear that this crackpot pulmonologist is going to show up at my front door and tell me my yard has crabgrass and my dog has worms because I have undiagnosed OSA. I still have his pre-printed referral form with fraudulent symptoms as justification for a sleep study. I am fiing a complaint against him with the state licensing board and hospital administration, as well as notifying my insurance and providing them with his referral form. As a point of interest, my father was a physician but is now retired and 92 years old. In 1960 he and 3 other physicians sold their private practices and started staffing the Alexandria Hospital Emergency Room full time. Their idea became known as "The Alexandria Plan" and slowly spread across the country. One of his group, Dr. Jim Mills was also a founder and first president of ACEP, the American College of Emergency Physicians. I have been very fortunate being around and knowing physicians all my life and absorbed quite a bit of knowledge. I also know BS when I see it and these sleep studies are BS for someone getting WLS.

Yes. It was really a non-event. I was discharged Friday Oct 29 and was going stir crazy by Wednesday, so I went back to work for a few hours a day just to get out of the house. My entire experience has been 100% wonderful. I have had no further AFib, needed no pain meds when I came home, and have had no nausea of any kind. My only frustration is this plateau I've been on for the last 3 weeks. I started swimming laps again last week to try and jump start my metabolism but it is what it is and I know I'll start losing again soon.

I have had PAC's for about 13 years, but no other problems. 5 years ago I had a Thallium stress test and passed with flying colors. Early in the morning (5AM) on my second day post-op I went into Atrial Fib. I was supposed to go home that day, AND it was my 51st birthday. Instead, I went to ICU for about 12 hours until the meds converted my rhythm back to normal sinus. I spent that night in IMCU and was discharged in the morning of day 3. With no history of arrythmias, my cardiologist thinks it was due to the surgery, anesthesia, or general stress on my body. I stayed on Rythmol for a month and am now only taking one med for blood pressure, although my cardiologist prescribed that. Were it not for the Atrial Fib, I would be off everything. If the hospital and surgeons you are using are thorough, I wouldn't worry. I was wired to an EKG transmitter and monitored continuously. I had just come back from a walk around the floor when they came in to verify my A Fib.

Buy a pill crusher. You will need it for any meds you continue to take. You may come home on fewer than you went in on, though. Crush them and sprinkle them on a snack size container of applesauce or sugar free pudding. You will need adult chewable Vitamins, as well as any supplements you will be taking such as Calcium. As for the 3 day liquid diet, every doctor has their own protocol. Mine requires a two week diet on Optifast for most. I actually lost quite a bit on it.