Roseib

Had self pay Sand Antonio 2 years ago for 14,500 for doctor, hospital and one year follow up. Pysch assessment was I think $120. Then I had to have cardio clearance due to swelling in leg that cost an additional $1500. Most people won't need the cardio clearance. My surgeon is excellent. However as others have said, there are those who charge less who are also good. I imagine you will find costs lower in southeast or south than in northeast where cost of living is generally higher. However I've never done a regional comparison.

Had self pay Sand Antonio 2 years ago for 14,500 for doctor, hospital and one year follow up. Pysch assessment was I think $120. Then I had to have cardio clearance due to swelling in leg that cost an additional $1500. Most people won't need the cardio clearance. My surgeon is excellent. However as others have said there are those who charge less who are also good. I imagine you will find costs lower I'm southeast or south than in northeast where cost of living is generally higher. However I've never done s regional compzrison

Agree with Lil Diva and thsnks fir 12 steps remimder. I used to go to OA. A few times I went to this one big AA meeting where a number of people had years and years of abstinence. There was a table loaded with sugary white flour snacks and the cigarette smoke was over whelming. The recovery from alcohol was powerful in that room but got the impression that some folks had substitute addictions. In fact some OA members with multiple addictions said it was hard to go to AA because there was always sugared food there. Btw, the best book I ever read on addiction is entitled Addiction and Grace by Gerald May. It is probably not currently in print but would be available used. Very compatible with 12 step philosophy.

I got a pretty bracelet after surgery and after I had lost a bunch of weight I was talking in class one day and gestured with my hand and the bracelet was flung across the room. If you have a lot to lose, remember your wrists will get smaller when you think about future size or buy one that can be sized

P.S. I think they often assist each other. Doesn't mean anything negative. Dr Cavazos has done many, many vsg and other WLS surgeries as has Dr Gonzalez. Sounded like you might be wondering about that. Sorry you had a scary experience! In my experience Dr Cavazos explained everything clearly and timely, so not sure what was going on with your situation.

I should add don't ever compare yourself to anyone else as we all lose differently. You will get there.

Sorry I didn't see this. I had a five week stall my second month and into third month. Wow was that diacouraging. I lost 143 by end of year. But every month I stalled for two or three weeks and then lost several pounds quickly. Everyone loses differently. Some people apparently never stall - and then there are the rest of us. Hope you are doing well now. OA has a good saying: progress not perfection

I had Dr Cavazos do my surgery when I was 62. I had no complications from surgery or during recovery. He is a well respected baratric surgeon who was highly recommended to me by another surgeon. He saw me briefly before surgery but I didn't see him again until the morning of discharge. He came by the second morning and gave instructions for me but I didn't see him. He is a very caring gentle man and excellent surgeon. I had surgery at Foundation surgical hospital. I think that is where they do the self pay surgeries. The room and care was excellent there. I do not know anything about Dr Gonzales but probably someone on this board has had surgery by him. At support group his patients appear to think highly of him.

128 pounds is fantastic! I've stalled for six months coming up on my two year anniversary - from grazing! I thought i'd have lost another 25-30 pounds by now. But I've kept off what I lost so to me I don't feel like a failure. I'm just making myself get back on track with following the food program and back to gym 5x week so I can lose that last 55 pounds I want to lose. I think giving oneself positive feedback is always more helpful (to me anyway) than beating oneselfself up for not being perfect. I was never very successful over the long haul at Overeaters Anonymous but I always have found that expression they often use helpful - "progress not perfection"

I haven't even heard of it. Is it a documentary?

Wow! That's terrific! That has to be extremely motivating! Congratulations for the results of your hard "work".

Unfortunately, every surgery has risks. Data show that risks associated with the sleeve are the lowest of the 3 bariatric surgeries. That is why I chose it. I did really well. No problems. Like others I figured I had more risks being so obese. But I picked the sleeve to minimize risk. It will be interesting to know if this woman had comorbidities. So sad.

Congratulations! Hitting that 100 mark is so amazing. At least it was to me.

I've been so busy, I've hardly been checking sleevetalk. I'm maintaining when I need to be losing. My workload has been so heavy for several months, I've only been working out once a week --luckily having a trainer gets me in the gym minimally. Things should ease up in three weeks and then I'll be back at the gym 5 days a week. At least I'm not gaining. Before surgery, with a year like I've had (I'm in education, so I date a "year" from August), I would have easily gained 40 pounds -- if not more. Looks like lots of folks are doing great! Way to go!

I seem to be angry now. Mostly angry that I couldn't afford weight loss surgery until last June at age 62. Now that I've lost a lot of weight and the loose skin thing is getting bad and I think about how much worse it is going tp be I feel even angrier. Up to now I've focused on the positives - and there are many - but the anger is getting more frequent. The well is dry. No money for plastic surgery. Every extra bit I have now goes toward retirement. A psychologist friend thinks I probably have some aging issues mixed in with the weight stuff which is probably true. I'm going to try to find s psychologist to see who has bariatric experience. I'm not impressed with the psychologists who work with my surgeon. Just wondering if anyone else has gone through sm angry stage?

So sorry about the stricture. Hope this surgery goes well and you move on according to schedule. How stressful for you. Best wishes.

Hi, I still have some way to go, but I started at 385 with severe osteo arthritis at age 62. Ugh, the pain. I still have severe osteoarthritis and may still need knee replacement but the pain is a lot better and getting up and walking etc. a lot easier. I slept in my recliner at first because it made getting up so much easier with a painful stomach; the knees weren't bothering me so much after surgery--all the pain medication I suppose. Hope all the hematology test shows no problems for you!

I drove myself there and friends later picked up my car. Hospital and surgeon insisted someone drive me home and be with me the first night, due to the pain medication and also I suppose possibility of problems that first night at home. Glad you could work it out. I think it is good to have someone there. I had sudden diarrhea and it was a mess. No way I could have cleaned it up either. I learned the warning signal after that. Just a problem for about 3 days, though,

No, even though I was supermorbidly obese and a more radical surgery probably would have resulted in quicker weight loss. Because of my age (62 at time of surgery) and increased risk of complications, I decided to go with the sleeve because it has the lowest risk of complications. No, I won't do the DS. This is it for me. I have to make it work, even though it will probably take another year to get where I want to be.

Tried to edit but got that stupid Lily Slim thing. I've lost almost 30 more pounds since month 12, but that was summer and fall. Need to get back to protein first, then veggies and cut the whole grain. Exercise more. Work has consumed me since January but it should let up a bit in a couple of weeks.

I lost 143 pounds in a year. But I started high. I still have 60 pounds to lose. Going slowly because I added healthy carbs back in and went through a two month period where I grazed. Luckily haven't gained, but haven't lost for while either. I have lost more since 1

Yes, stalls so frustrating. I had my first 3 week stall beginning at week 5. Then I had one every month. I'd stall for weeks, then lose several pounds very quickly. Someone asked my surgeon at a support meeting about stalls and all he said was yes they are frustrating and it's not clear why they happen when we eat so little food early on, but they do. Just stick with it.

Yes to what MeginNOLA said. I live in San Antonio and heat and humidity much easier to bear. I used to hate the weather here. It is not bad now. I get cold easily though.

I Downloaded the Android app but no reply button.. how does tnat work?