former_vbg

I'm from the KC area (30 minutes south actually) and have what I guess they call a "ranchette". I was just down there for surgery on the 22nd. I actually got to see some nice outer areas of Dallas (Frisco and some other smaller towns). I really liked it a lot, but the only thing that seemed a bit of a challenge aside from being soooo hot is sparse pastures which must also mean it is tough to get good hay. I feel brome and also alfalfa. p.s. I'm with you. I can't imagine not letting my retirees enjoy a peaceful retirement. I tell my old boys their only job now is to stay as healthy as they can. LOL For the most part they are holding up their end. One is a PB Arabian, 25 yrs old and another is a unregistered (rescue) Arabian that I believe is in his late 20's. I can't figure out how to post pictures here for some reason. When I click on inserting picture it keeps trying to make me pull it from an internet link. If you figure it out, let me know.

I would love to see pics of your horses!!! Samantha, how did you come about rescuing that guy? There is a guy I met once that does commercial flying and does regular shipments over to Europe of Belgians. He said he can carry up to 100 at a time. I'm sure you can imagine why they are making the trip. Makes me sick. Lovely Lo, that's great you keep the older guys around. It's expensive when they get older but I can't imagine shipping them down the road just because they don't have a useful job. I have 2 older ones myself. What part of the country do you guys live in?

Well, this groups isn't very active- but thought I would post that I was finally able to get my sleeve done. It was quite a long journey as I was revised from a VBG by Dr. Sifers 13 yrs ago who has since died in 2005 under a whole spew of lawsuits and medical malpractice suits. Nobody in KC wanted to touch me because they were afraid of what they would find. They wouldn't tell me that to my face, but after enough attempts locally I could take a hint. I had surgery with Dr. Stewart out of Denton, TX and while I think he is a skilled surgeon- his bedside manner could use a HUGE improvement. He also had me staying in a doctor owned surgical facility down there and I was NOT impressed on so many levels. The admin staff were all great but can't say the same for their hospital staff- with the exception of the pre-op nurses and anesthesiologist. The nurses didn't wear gloves most of the time even when drawing blood, would take forever to give me pain med when it was well past the time for me to have it and the list goes on. He operates out of another hospital and although I don't ever expect to be back there for surgery, I would stay at the other hospital he operates out of (Baylor). Half the time when you call his office you get the answering machine during business hours even on days he doesn't have patient visits. You will have a really hard time getting answers to questions on anything regarding your surgery without waiting several days. So, his business practices are a bit to be desired but I'm grateful I haven't had any complications so far. I'm only 11 days out and lost 27# which is great but it is slowing down considerably now which I expected. I go back to work July 11th and my PCP will be doing most if not all of my post-op / follow up care.

If your posting already, you must have come through the surgery quite well. Congrats. Do you know what size bougie your doc used on you for your revision?

When I was going through the original approval process in early May, I learned from someone in their pre-cert department that their turn around time goes up quite a bit once summer hits because more people are on vacation, changing work schedules, etc... and so what normally takes them 3 to 5 days can take 2 weeks or longer this time of year unfortunately. Not saying that will always be the case, but just thought that might help. I was approved within 3 days when I was first submitted- then had to change docs 2 weeks before surgery as I found out he was engaged with insurance fraud and then the new doc submitted and it took them almost 5 days but i attribute that to the ignorance of the woman doing the pre-certs for that docs office. She wanted to argue how I hadn't met Aetna's requirements and I told her I obviously had because I was already approved- just with a different doctor. These people don't know everything. You have to be your OWN advocate and babysit everything unfortunately.

So according to my docs plan on day 8 we can start mushies- basically anything that can easily be "mushed" by a fork. I have no complaints that I am never hungry mind you. I have eaten some Soup (chicken noodle), cottage cheese, apple sauce, Jello, think sliced cheese and its all stayed down and I'm really only eating probably 2 bites at a time and then it feels sort of stuck there for some time. They are small bites, chewed and eaten slowly. It took me 30 minutes just to eat one of those pre-packaged containers of applesauce today. I'm able to drink more and more fluids each day- mostly crystal lite or sugar free kool-aid (yummy!!!) I can't handle the Protein shakes, they just don't agree with me. I'm not freaking out about this- but it seems like I've read others who have had similar experiences and I couldn't remember how long it took for it to go away. I know I need to eat if for no other reason to get some protein in- but at the same time I don't want to force things and risk the healing of my stomach. Does anyone have any advice/ thoughts to share?

Awesome! What type of competition does your husband do? You said game, so I'm assuming rodeo or reining events? I used to run barrels, poles and keyhole when I was younger and then got addicted to showing Arabians.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I can't stand Protein shakes too and I'm tired of buying something only to hate that too. I can't consume enough "food" items to make it worthwhile to add non-flavored protein to it. I have a pretty active lifestyle and so I'm not all that worried about loosing muscle mass. I have a small hobby farm that I take care of on my own and maintenance and animal needs don't stop just because I had surgery. I have it set up where I'm able to stay within my weight restrictions for the next few weeks- so that isn't an issue. I'm curious if the weight loss on your ticker is from the start of your surgery or if any of that is pre-op. I'm just wondering if basically having to stay on mostly liquids for 5 weeks was the major contributor to that. I've lost 27# in 10 days and although I have no complaints it seems excessively high to me. Again, no complaints- just wondering. Never mind- I just noticed your HW in your signature- sorry, should have ready more carefully- I just zoomed in on your weight loss on the ticker. Still awesome results though! Thanks for your post.

When did you have surgery? Not knowing where you are at in your process makes answering your question a little difficult- but some suggestions might be to try and use a crock pot for the meats you are trying to eat to get them as soft as possible. In the meantime, have you tried eating other soft foods like cottage cheese, applesauce, Jello, tuna or Soups? Just remember the first 6 mths to a year are really important in your weight loss journey. From everything I have read from other people's experiences that their weight loss does slow down even with proper eating at that point.

I just saw your post and when I saw your docs name, it seemed familiar as one I had read about before. I don't want to scare you but you should see this posting. You may have already had your surgery, but I believe in being informed as much as possible. http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/adwinters12345/

Thank you for sharing those CPT codes. You are quite right about the reps just basically reading from scripts or what they can dig up on their intranet. I so very far away from this point, but I have saved those CPT codes and will be calling next week just out of curiosity. Thanks again for sharing!

I competed at the Arabian U.S. Nationals last year and won a Top Ten award. I basically starved myself for months leading up to the competition just to look sort of normal last year. I got down to 190# but as soon as the competition was over, the pounds came rolling right back like I knew they would. I couldn't sustain the way I lost the weight. I hope to compete again this Fall at Nationals, but will have to see. I tried to post a picture of me at Nationals last year and when I click on the icon for inserting an image it wants me to grab it from a URL and not my PC. Anyone tell me how to direct it to look at my PC to upload a picture? For anyone who has gotten away from riding for whatever reasons, I hope you are able to find your way back to riding when you are able. It is just the most amazing thing ever to be one with your horse. I grew up riding and showing, so I guess its in my blood.

I am 10 days out from surgery and so I know it will be quite some time before my new tummy can handle salad- but I was just curious to hear from others who enjoy salad when they were able to re-introduce that into their diet.

Good to hear. The NUT at my docs office said to wait at least 3 months. I'll wait it out and then just test the waters in a few months.

Here is one of the articles I came across that I found. http://www.laparoscopyhospital.com/Laparoscopic_Sleeve%20Gastrectomy_%28LSG%29_In_Morbid_Obesity.html Look for a PM coming soon.

I considered him as a surgeon. I even talked to him on the phone unexpectedly because he answered the phone on a mid Friday afternoon which shocked me. He was more than willing to spend some time to talk to me, and like you I had found lots of great information about him as a surgeon. He was really pushing me to consider the DS though and I was not interested in that. That wasn't really the deal breaker so much as me being in Missouri, and he has a program fee of $4,000 right off the bat. So between the travel costs (flight, hotel, car rental, etc, etc) and his program fee he was out of reach for me. If you don't mind paying a program fee like that and are close enough to his office, then go for it.

Like some others have already said, he is no longer family. It might be weeks or longer before you can reschedule your surgery. Unless you are getting TREMENDOUS family pressure to be there, go forward with your surgery.

Well, what the others said is true- HOWEVER...... I do feel you have a right to have a concern. I have had several conversations with people on this issue. I did a GREAT deal of research on all of the procedures out there and when I settled on the sleeve, then I deep dived into the sleeve. Because the sleeve is relatively new for the purposes it is being used for now, there isn't a ton of data out there, however, I did find white papers and some other research that did support the fact that the those who had a higher bougie were more likely to regain their weight. Yes, the difference is only in the measurement of MM's, however as times goes on after your surgery, your stomach will adjust and the difference of the adjustments of the smaller and the larger bougie's was exponentially according to the size of the bougie. Now, this is just my personal opinion. Just because a surgeon uses a larger size bougie doesn't mean they aren't qualified/ experienced/ good, etc. However, I do believe that sometimes docs get into a routine and if they think what they are doing works, then why change. To some degree I support that, except that if they aren't routinely looking for the ongoing stats collected on this, they are only doing their "looking" through a very narrow window. One of the criteria I used when selecting a surgeon WAS the size of the bougie he used. It was extremely important to me because of what I just said. That isn't to say that a person who has a larger bougie used can't or won't be able to maintain the weight loss- it's just that the stats show the odds are higher for regain. I think I have a post or two with links to some of that data. I can try to dig them up if you are interested. If you aren't comfortable with the size bougie he is using and you can't convince him to use a smaller size, then find another doctor. This is YOUR life. He / She doesn't have to live with the choice- only you do. Do what you think is best for you. I don't always take everything a Dr. says as golden. They are human and are not immune to judgement mistakes or errors, just anyone else. A side note- my doc used a size 30 bougie. My limit was a size 32.

Ditto. I was only approved for a one night stay, but stayed 2 nights due to the fact that I was I had not passed gas or had a stool yet. That was enough for them to put in a diagnosis code to support the stay. They were possibly not even going to release me the next day because I wasn't drinking enough fluids. I was so ready to leave though. I did not like Forest Park, their staff was VERY inconsistent with care. But, you might also see if you can come back for the leak test too. Especially if you feel like leaving after the first day.

Personally the first few days after the hospital were spent mostly sleeping and resting as others have said. That being said, having someone to check on you would be nice- even if they called 1 or 2x a day. I had lots of pain from the gas and the pain meds didn't really help that much. So having someone there all day probably isn't necessary, but having someone check in on you would be a good idea.

Ditto to what others have said. My doc was 8 hours away. I did ALL of my pre-op tests locally. That included the EGD, blood work, gall bladder ultrasound, psych eval, NUT, and I think that was all I needed because I don't have any health issues besides being overweight. They still drew blood the day before surgery but that wasn't a big deal except that nobody seemed to know how to find a vein which was nerve wracking. You will be fine. Just be sure to communicate with your doc on what he needs/ wants done. Often they will want tests beyond what the insurance requires depending on your situation.

Thank you so much for posting your experience. I had surgery 2 days after you and I still have left shoulder pain. It seemed to get better the day I was discharged, but then the next evening it started to flare up again, waking me up at night as well. The pain med they gave me would usually only last an hour and then the pain would come right back. I have been able to sleep on my back, but sometimes the pain was so bad I couldn't sleep. When I asked my doc, he dismissed it mostly as gas pain but said it could possibly be a blood clot- but since I wasn't exhibiting any other signs that accompany a blood clot he didn't think it was that. My surgery was down in Dallas and have been home day #2 now and the shoulder pain is still there but mostly a dull throb. I have a check up w/my PCP next Thursday, but will keep your post in mind if this pain gets worse. I do get tired easily, but have written that off to just the recovery process. Please do keep us posted on your recovery. I will be interested!

Unrelated to this post, but have to ask you what is AGB?

Just came across a posting about some people who had to have their RNY's reversed due to severe health issues from the surgery. http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/complications/4400639/2-5-years-since-I-had-my-RNY-REVERSED/

At the end of the day this is an individual choice, but as his spouse you should take the extra step like you already have in trying to show him the pitfalls of the GB. The only other thing I can suggest is to try and get him to visit the www.obesityhelp.com website. Here is the link that is a forum that talks about complications- but it covers all surgeries. The thing that you or your husband might notice is very few people show up in there with issues from the Sleeve. Can't say the same thing about the GB. I wish you luck. http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/complications/