Rootman

I HAVE insurance and was morbidly obese, pre-diabetic and high blood pressure. I was in the emergency room twice in 2010 and had to walk with a cane for a while due to leg weakness. I also had to have physical therapy for nerve problems. EVERYTHING hinged on my great weight. If I lost weight all my problems would ease up. I could apply for insurance, wait it out and jump through hopps for 6-10 months OR I could go to Mexico and do self pay and have it done in less than 30 days. I don't know if I could of made it waiting another 6-10 months, I was certainly FEELING like I was going to die. Getting up and going potty made me short of breath. I was emoitionally, if not physically DYING. I went, had it done and lost over 100 pounds before I even would of gotten a surgery date had I waited on insurance. I was lucky, I had the money.

I was MX self pay and the only person I told was my wife. She didn't have a passport and getting it required us to get both certified copies of her birth certificate AND our marriage license. She also has, um, "issues" with hipanics, as in she is frightened of them. So I left her at home and went on the journey myself. I did OK but it would of been nice to have someone to carry my bag on the way back. I purposley did not tell anyone else becasue I didn't want to get a lecture or stupid remarks - like I did when I fessed up afterwards. You'll more than likely meet up with someone down there, I did. We hung around together for a few days and kept each other company.

I experienced the same thing and it literally took months to clear up and at 14 months isn't entirely gone either. I got (still get somewhat) a frothy spit. It was, as you say, real bad at first and I was constantly hocking up loogies. Perhaps carry a cup with a cap on it like people who chew tobacco do? I still get a lot of buubles in my spit for some reason too. I chase them around my mouth with my tongue. Weird, eh? It sounds like you are really in a tough place as you certainly aren't doing it on purpose.

I'd advise to at least wait till you're out of the recovery room Seriously, whenever you're ready and as Karen points out take it easy and be sure not to put too much pressure on yourself. Perhaps lady on top?

I agree with Helen above. Nothing is forbiden, my tastes and appetite are just changed. I basically eat WHAT I want. I have read that you SHOULD steer clear of cellery and coconut becasue of the Fiber that may ball up in the small sleeve space, and others have chimed in and said they eat it regularly - so who knows. Out of all the choices the only thing I choose NOT to eat much of is bread, becasue it's so filling and high cal and as a carb burns up fast and provides little in the long term. I'd rather get some longer lasting Protein. Being about 14 months out I am surprised at how much I CAN eat, I thought I'd SUFFER forever eating just spoonfuls of a stuff for a meal. I don't do ANY protein shots or diet shakes any more. I eat a regular SENSIBLE portion now, and what is a SENSIBLE portion and what is typically served are two entirly different things. At a restaurant I share an entree with the wife and sometimes even after eating a portion each we can get 1 or 2 MORE meals out of ONE entree - portions are THAT out of control. No wonder we're a bunch of lard a$$es. It works for me and thousands of others. But you make your OWN choice because you HAVE to have the drive and desire to make a change in order for it to work. let someone talk you in to it and you may just be heading for failure. Keep investigating and asking questions and make up your own mind. I was one of those who went to Mexico for surgery. I even have insurance and elected to NOT be forced to jump through hoops and wiat them out for approval. I had the money so made the appointment and did the deed in less than a month start to finish. Again, it works for me. IANAL, IANAD,

Are you on a PPI like Nexium? It may be ACID that's making you feel hungry. While it's true that a majority of the portion of stomach cut away reduces the amount of acid production, what's left may still over run the small sleeve space and make you feel "hungry" or cause GERD. Ask you doc about it next time.

Yeah me too, but it's kinda creepy when other GUYS check you out - NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT YA'KNOW.

There is someone bound to be out there that has had a sleeve that long as that's about the timeframe that the sleeve was starting to be used. However, FINDING someone that's had it that's active on the forum is going to be a pickle. They were few and far between way back then and the proceedure started out using a much larger boughie (resulting in a larger sleeve size), so apples won't be the same apples in the comparison. HOWEVER, there are scads of people who have had their stomachs removed entirely or greatly reduced in size due to health issues like ulcers or cancer, and they are all doing fine. Do a search on Google about stomach removal. I remember reading about several families who have ALL had their stomachs removed due to a double genetic whammy left them all almost certainly to get a rare stomach cacer. One family I think was here in the USA, anohter was like in Romania or a Slavik country. They were getting on fine decades after the surgery. I also seem to remember soldiers from the US civil war getting stomach wounds and having their stomachs removed. If they could survive the primative surgery and live to tell about it something must be working right. I personally am 1+ years out and despite a few bouts of kidney stones becasue of dehydration I have had no real ill effects from the surgery. I wish you the best in your searches for the answers!

Take a look at your tongue also, it's probably covered in slimy fuzz too! Get a tongue scraper and use it once or twice a day with a mouthwash rinse afterward. It lets up - in a few months! So stick with it, this too shall pass.

I swim 1 hour 5 days a week. I manage 120 lengths of a 25 yars swimming pool in 1 hour.

Same as most of the above, I didn't want a piece of plastic floating around in my abdoman and I didn't want the ongoing maintenance. And the VSG BEING permanant is precisly what attracted me to it. I knew with all the diet failures I've had in the past that I would eihter cheat my weight back on or gain it back when the thing had to be removed - and it WILL have to be removed eventually, eihter becasue of device failure, damage ot the staomach or complications (or at least stay in till death, not necessarily becasue of the band that is). Plenty of people have lived long, full lives without an entire stomach due to other issues (cancer or injusry), so living with a SMALL one is no big issue. I'm over a year out and eat plenty and am satisfied by what I eat. I feel better, look better and have better health than my ENTIRE adult life pre-op.

Happened to me too - although I was jusy getting down on my knees to do something and found I lacked the strength to get back up. I had to crawl over to a desk, open a drawer and crawl up the side to get back upright. It was just another low point that prompted me to get this surgery.

Like anything it is dependant on many things like the rateyou typically heal at, meds you might take, etc. But typically the scar is fully formed at like 6 months, certainly by a year out.

For me "the sleeve" is the embodiment of the hope that I will FINALLY be free of the life threatening obesity driven lifestyle. To make it an object just makes it more personal and gives me a focal point to use to be a more heathy weight. I've been a slave to food and overewight, obese, morbidly obese and finally nearly super obese most all my adult life, so my sleeve is also my buddy, my pal and coming along with me on this fantastic journey. He hasn't let me down yet!

That there were 2 maybe 3 skinny people inside of me just screamin' to get out. Now I'm down to 1 1/4!

Better in the trash than on the hips

So, downing a big cup of this and immediatly going on a road trip are not recommended?

Pretty cool! I remember when I passed my wife weight in loss - there is no way I could picture having her hop on my back and carry her around all day - how did we do it when it was fat of the same weight we carried? Now I've lost 170 pounds. I could not lift 170 pounds let alone carry it around. I mean, yikes! that's the weight of a full grown adult! Man, simply amazing!

Here's a more technical question. How is it that the inside surfaces of the stomach accross the staple line fuse without being ablated to expose blood vessels and raw tissue? I would thing that just the 2 surfaces of the stomach would not bond together and seal / scar over without be roughed up first. Like any other tissue the surfaces won't normally bond together - or else we'd be a sticky mess with adhesions all over the place.

Ahh, the wiles of a beautiful woman, enough to make a man trip and fall! Great pics - and a killer smile. If only I were younger, and single, and in Texas . . . :smile1:

It is a common misunderstanding though that this is a DEDUCTION from your GROSS INCOME - NOT a tax refund. This means as DebiC pointed out you meet the criteria. You will not GET BACK the deduction, you simply will not pay taxes on the income spent out of pocket above and beyond the 7.5% requirement. I've actually seen a few instances on this board of people touting they will get a refund on the amount. Nope, just reduced taxes - which will bring you more of a refund if you are due one.

Well "dumping" is hard to define. YES as mentioned technically "real" dumping is only for bypass patients who lack the valve to keep raw food out of the intestines, but anyone with a sleeve and indeed ANYONE AT ALL can have very similar results from food being passed too quickly from the stomach to the intestines. The gut reacts the same way by spasming, cramping and you may pass it all out very quickly. Almost everyone has this at one time or another and it's commonly attributed to food poisoning when it's actually just a bad reaction to a food or quantity of food. Its like trying to define what a COLD is as opposed to the true FLU (that is real influenza - NOT gastroenteritis or the "stomach flu") . Many symptoms overlap so we all lump it together as the COLD or FLU. So we all can "dump" but the REASON is a little different. Like bypass patients when we over run the capacity of the sleeve - or even for no reason at all - we "dump" insufficiently processed food into the gut an LOOK OUIT! PAIN and suffering, vomiting and loose bowels can ocour.

Congrats! I'm just about a month ahead of you - it's amazing how the time flies!

It ain't no picnic for the guys either. As Diva pointed out, less mass with the hormones being released in the fat means MORE hormones per volume. As the OP stated it's bad enough for us guys walking around "like a guy" without this being added on top too. I've had to take testosterone replacement for a few years and I'm now taking 1/4 the amount I started out with - with HIGHER results. High T also makes you aggressive. I was the Incredible Hulk for a while - HULK SMASH!

As stated already - CALL THE DOC ASAP. If they can't see you right away PLEASE GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. YOu can get very sick very fast if you get dehydrated. Please take car of yourself!