SKCUNNINGHAM

I agree with you both,CowgirlJane and Day Dreamer - the way the death is classified can really skew the data. Not having the raw data to base my conclusions on is why I cited the sources for the information. I do think Mark Twain was right when he said there are three kinds of lies - Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. But I don't know a better way to give people thinking about the surgery what their potential risks are. Thanks for commenting on the post. Sharon

Years ago back in the 80's and 90's I would get esophogeal spasms. They were caused by high levels of stress (my job) and my gastric reflux made them worse. This was before the great anti reflux anti acid drugs out now, so the drugs available weren't too helpful. I did learn a relaxation technique that I would practice to stop/lessen the spasming due to stress. I would recognize the very first symptom, then start the relaxation technique. It helped reduce the pain from them significantly. Something you might want to check into.

You guys (DayDreamer and ThinOneDay) are so right! I am learning that same hard lesson that the demons I fought before the sleeve are still out there - but I have a new tool to use in fighting the good fight. I think avoiding the first bite is important for me. Yesterday at my mom's birthday party - I was sitting next to her and chatting. She finished her cake - except she had left a large glob of icing on her plate. My fingers were absolutely twitching to scoop up the glob of icing and put it into my mouth. I had to have a long, stern conversation with myself not to do that. My sensible self won the argument and I didn't eat the icing. Bad habits die hard.

Ktkx - from one control freak to another - that was the hardest part of the whole surgical experience for me - being out of control for a while. And, I planned for the worst - had my living will done, had a detailed list for my husband where all the important papers were, all account passwords, safe deposit box keys, etc. I had all my bills paid, groceries bought and the house cleaned before the surgery. That aside - my surgery was a textbook case with no complications. I had surgery late one Tuesday morning, and left the hospital 24 hours later. My insurance would have paid another night, and the doctor wasn't pushing me out the door - but I didn't feel like I needed to stay at the hospital any longer and went home to sleep off the effects of the anasthesia. Since I arrived home - I have taken one pain pill in 5 months. Yes, there was discomfort as I was healing - but nothing a heating pad and wearing an abdominal support belt didn't take care of. I have had no problems with vomiting - only two times have a had a problem eating too fast/too much and tossed something back up. I had already had my gallbladder removed 20 years ago, so that wasn't an issue with me. I did have some acid issues, but take an acid pill morning and night, and a prilosec before I go to bed. No big deal. Was it worth the risk for me? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I don't regret my decision for one minute. If you want a description of potential side effects and risks - look for my previous responses to other posters - I did research and have some links. I think I will post it in my status so it will be easy to find.

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One more comment about eating beef - I tried it once early on in the solids phase - not cooked very moist - and had major discomfort the evening I ate it, through the night, and the next day. So I didn't touch beef again for weeks - happily living on chicken, turkey, fish and seafood. Well at three months, I was anemic big time. So I had to double the iron supplements and was told to START EATING RED MEAT. So, whenever your doctor / NUT thinks is the "right" time - start eating it. It (red meat) is the easiest way to up your iron levels by eating.

Beef is harder to digest than anything else (so says my nutritionist) - so I would wait until you are easily handling other meats (chicken, fish, etc) until I tried it. For me, when I eat beef, it needs to be cooked with moisture. I prefer meat loaf or pot roast to a dry hamburger patty.

If you go to www.surgery.com, it will tell you the following (I got this from typing "deaths from sleeve gastrectomy" into my search engine) The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery lists the complication rate in vertical sleeve gastrectomy to be relatively low, even among patients considered to be at high risk. Cumulatively the overall mortality (death) from vertical sleeve gastrectomy is 0.39 percent—lower than with traditional bariatric surgeries. (last updated 11/24/2009) From an article on www.gastricbypassfacts.com, here is a extract from "How Does the Sleeve Gastrectomy Work?" The risks and complications of the sleeve gastrectomy:As with all forms of weight loss surgery, the vertical gastrectomy does carry risk and these will clearly vary from one patient to the next and must be discussed with your physician. Complications might include: Gastric leakage and fistula 1.0% Deep vein thrombosis 0.5% Non-fatal pulmonary embolus 0.5% Post-operative bleeding 0.5% Splenectomy 0.5% Acute respiratory distress 0.25% Pneumonia 0.2% Death 0.25% http://healthengine.com.au/article/sleeve-gastrectomy.html This article quotes " The mortality rate in gastric sleeve is 1:500 and it lies between the gastric band, which is the safest, and the laparoscopic gastric bypass, which carries the highest risk." So the first source says 3.9 patients out of 1000, the second source says 2.5 patients out of 1000 and the third says 2 out of 1000. So I would feel comfortable (based on these 3 sources) saying the death rate is somewhere between 2 and 4 per 1000. To contrast that - imagine 1000 people walking around that are your height and weight - with your exact health problems. How many of them would die in the next year from their health problems? From something I was reading this week on another forum - surgeons who perform 100 or more sleeves per year have lower risk rates. Hospitals that perform over 150 sleeves per year have lower risk rates. If you are considering a surgeon, ask how many procedures he/she has performed in a year, and how many he/she has performed in total. Then ask the same two questions about how many of his patients died. This will give you an idea where your surgeon is versus the norms. Also ask about the hospital you will have the surgery performed in - how many procedures do they do a year? Any surgery is scary and has risks. You can't go through life avoiding all risks. For me - the risk of dying of heart problems from NOT DOING this surgery and staying obese was much higher than the risks from the surgery. My dad dropped dead of a massive heart attack when he was my age - he was only 20 pounds overweight, and had passed a flight physical 6 weeks before his death. This surgery was the right decision for me. I wish you good luck on making your decision.

I agree with all the others that are telling you to stop drinking alcohol. Calories aside, alcohol is a system depressent (just like a pharmaceutical depressant)- and is probably the cause of your depression, or at least, makes it much worse. Also, your system is reacting to alcohol differently than prior to your sleeve surgery. For me - I tried alcohol twice since my surgery - as an experiment to see what happens. I got a buzz on <1/2 c of beer, and a buzz on 2 tablespoons of fine tequila (sipped, not done as a shot). Beleve me, prior to my surgery, I could at least have a couple of drinks (beer or spirits) before I got to the same point of feeling a buzz. So whatever alcohol did for/to you before the sleeve - it is doing it MAGNIFIED after the sleeve. If you are having trouble staying away from the alcohol - get it out of the house until you get things back under control. Good luck!

I used Dr. Nick, but used a different insurance. I know he was approved by Emprie BCBS and BCBS of New Jersey.

For all those that can not tolerate the milky, thick protein drinks try ISOPURE PLUS. They come in 8 oz bottles and are like a crystal lite type drink with protein in it. It is as thin as water or gatorade. The flavors are punch and grape frost - but neithre are a strong fruity flavor like some of the fruity protein drinks. I ordered mine directly from Amazon.com and the shipped to my house. ( I live in the middle of nowhere and didn't want to try to find them in a store) Be sure to try ISOPURE PLUS, not just ISOPURE. Those things are way too strongly flavored for my tastes.

From what I have been told by my NUT, drinking before eating is not a problem. I drink up until I am ready to eat my meal - then I move my drink away from the table. I don't drink during eating unless what I am eating is REALLY DRY - example is melba toast with chicken salad on it. I can't chew and swallow melba toast without a sip of liquid. I was told the no drinking while eating is to prevent the food from washing out of your stomach and into your intestional tract. If the food washes downstream before your stomach recongnizes it is full, your intestions will absorb the calories but you will still be hungry and want to eat more. They want us to "eat our sleeves until we are satisfied (but not overfull)". Drinking while eating makes this harder to do. And, if I forget and start drinking before the 20 to 30 minutes have passed after I have eaten - my stomach says "STOP - DON'T DO THIS!" It hurts if I drink too quickly. I do take a mouthful of liquid right after a meal, to rinse the food out of my mouth. Then I put the glass away from where I will be for the 20-30 minutes. I have a bad case of "hand to mouth disease". If there is a glass or bottle of something to drink next to my hand, I will drink of it without thinking about it. (the same way I used to eat). Good luck!

If you go to www.surgery.com, it will tell you the following (I got this from typing "deaths from sleeve gastrectomy" into my search engine) The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery lists the complication rate in vertical sleeve gastrectomy to be relatively low, even among patients considered to be at high risk. Cumulatively the overall mortality (death) from vertical sleeve gastrectomy is 0.39 percent—lower than with traditional bariatric surgeries. (last updated 11/24/2009) From an article on www.gastricbypassfacts.com, here is a extract from "How Does the Sleeve Gastrectomy Work?" The risks and complications of the sleeve gastrectomy:As with all forms of weight loss surgery, the vertical gastrectomy does carry risk and these will clearly vary from one patient to the next and must be discussed with your physician. Complications might include: Gastric leakage and fistula 1.0% Deep vein thrombosis 0.5% Non-fatal pulmonary embolus 0.5% Post-operative bleeding 0.5% Splenectomy 0.5% Acute respiratory distress 0.25% Pneumonia 0.2% Death 0.25% http://healthengine.com.au/article/sleeve-gastrectomy.html This article quotes " The mortality rate in gastric sleeve is 1:500 and it lies between the gastric band, which is the safest, and the laparoscopic gastric bypass, which carries the highest risk." So the first source says 3.9 patients out of 1000, the second source says 2.5 patients out of 1000 and the third says 2 out of 1000. So I would feel comfortable (based on these 3 sources) saying the death rate is somewhere between 2 and 4 per 1000. If you are considering a surgeon, ask how many procedures he/she has performed in a year, and how many he/she has performed in total. Then ask the same two questions about how many of his patients died, and how many had PE's. This will give you an idea where your surgeon is versus the norms. You can't go through life avoiding all risks. For me - the risk of dying of heart problems from NOT DOING this surgery and staying obese was much higher than the risks from the surgery. It was the right decision for me. I wish you good luck on making your decision.

Hang in there - it is worth persevering through the red tape. It took me from January 1 of 2010 to December 29th of 2010 to get approved. I had my surgery on February 22nd of this year. I was sold twice and laid off once last year - had 4 insurance carriers during the year and had to meet every criteria possible to get approved. But I stuck with it. And, today - just a few days shy of my fifth month anniversary - I am down 76 pounds. I have dropped from a 24w to a 14/14w, am off of all cholesterol lowering meds, 3/4 of my blood pressure meds, and my sleep apnea is gone. So it was worth every roadblock I had to navigate, every hurdle I had to climb over. I guess I didn't think about it being fair or not - it was just what was before me that I had to overcome to get what I wanted. My mom used to tell me when I was little that life wasn't fair and to not expect it to be. That served me well in this process. Best of luck to you - it is worth all the aggrivation and work.

Congratulations on your surgery date! Things to have on hand: broth, clear liquid drinks (propel Water, crystal lite, etc) and SF popsicles. Also, lip balm, GASX strips, a heating pad and a abdomen support belt. These were my absolute necessities. Good luck to you.

You are having wonderful results - revel in your accomplishments!

I have kind of a skewed perspective on the sleeve for my long term health. My family has an abismal record of heart problems - and my doctor told me that if I didn't do some about the excess (125) extra pounds I was carrying around, it was not a matter of IF I would have a heart attack, but WHEN. So, if the sleeve gives me 5 to 10 years of thin healthier living - great! If I end up with bad reflux - I can deal with it. I will have lived to retire and spend some quality relaxation time with my husband. I will have lived to watch my grandchildren grow up from the baby / toddler stage to people that might remember me. I think every day I live thinner and healthier with the sleeve is a day I might otherwise not lived to enjoy.

I did the best on Isopure PLUS - the 8 oz bottles that have 15 grams of Protein. It is like Water in consistency - not thick at all. And, it is not strongly fruity tasting like some of the others. You might try this and just use it as your Fluid instead of water. Or, mix it half and half with water and try it that way. The chicken Soup protein made me gag - although I drank regular chicken broth OK.

When I was having similar feelings I did some research, and posted on this site. From what I found out, as you are losing weight, the fat cells that are going release their stores - including their stored estrogen. So you are I had a bunch of estrogen dumped into our bloodstreams all at once. Lose a bunch of weight - get a sudden dump of estrogen. It is like being a hormonal teen or a pregnant women with raging hormones. I was varying back and forth from being weepy to being really angry. As my weight loss has slowed its rate (~3 pounds per week) the problem has lessened for me. I hope this helps. Sharon

This weekend is full of NSV's for me. Yesterday morning I was rushing around getting ready for my 8 am Zumba class - I totally FORGOT to drink my usual Breakfast Protein Drink before I went! Never in my life have I forgotten to eat. I occasionally chose to skip a meal when I was sick - but never just FORGOT. My body reminded me sharply half-way through Zumba when I got a little dizzy / faint feeling. I realized I must be HUNGRY! I sat down for a couple of songs, drank some Water then fininshed class - went home and ate breakfast. What a wierd thing to happen - FORGOT TO EAT! This morning the scale moved and I finally have a BMI of 29.9. I am NO LONGER OBESE - just OVERWEIGHT! Been a long time for this. Now to keep losing until I get to the NORMAL stage!

I keep a recyclable grocery bag behind my drivers seat and gather my empty water bottles from the car in it. Then, when I pass by my grocery store that recycles plastic bottles, I deposit them their.

Your mother is probably worried about you having complications and dying. The text below is from an answer I gave to another person on this site about chances of dying: If you go to www.surgery.com, it will tell you the following (I got this from typing "deaths from sleeve gastrectomy" into my search engine) The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery lists the complication rate in vertical sleeve gastrectomy to be relatively low, even among patients considered to be at high risk. Cumulatively the overall mortality (death) from vertical sleeve gastrectomy is 0.39 percent—lower than with traditional bariatric surgeries. (last updated 11/24/2009) From an article on www.gastricbypassfacts.com, here is a extract from "How Does the Sleeve Gastrectomy Work?" The risks and complications of the sleeve gastrectomy:As with all forms of weight loss surgery, the vertical gastrectomy does carry risk and these will clearly vary from one patient to the next and must be discussed with your physician. Complications might include: Gastric leakage and fistula 1.0% Deep vein thrombosis 0.5% Non-fatal pulmonary embolus 0.5% Post-operative bleeding 0.5% Splenectomy 0.5% Acute respiratory distress 0.25% Pneumonia 0.2% Death 0.25% http://healthengine.com.au/article/sleeve-gastrectomy.html This article quotes " The mortality rate in gastric sleeve is 1:500 and it lies between the gastric band, which is the safest, and the laparoscopic gastric bypass, which carries the highest risk." So the first source says 3.9 patients out of 1000, the second source says 2.5 patients out of 1000 and the third says 2 out of 1000. So I would feel comfortable (based on these 3 sources) saying the death rate is somewhere between 2 and 4 per 1000. If you are considering a surgeon, ask how many procedures he/she has performed in a year, and how many he/she has performed in total. Then ask the same two questions about patients that died. This will give you an idea where your surgeon is versus the norms. If you are just in the considering Sleeve / Doing Research phase of your journey - your Mom has quite a bit of time to get on board with the idea. It could take you 6-9 months to get approved and scheduled - depending on your insurance. If you are self pay - you can get it done really soon. Until I had a scheduled date of surgery and had to tell my employers I needed time off, I would not tell anyone at my office or my husband's. A good thing your husband could say to his employers when asking for time off is that his wife is having surgery to fix "plumbing problems and correct a hernia". That is enough to stop most men from asking anything else.

OK, I'm an idiot - what is the 30 30 30 rule?

I loved the Isopure PLUS and hated the regular ISOPURE. ISOPURE PLUS comes in two lightly flavored choices, grape frost and punch. Sort of like if you mixed half a tube of crystal light into a bottle of Water. I ordered a case of each from Amazon (I live in the middle of nowhere) Each 8 oz bottle has 15 grams of Protein. I also got the concentrated broth in a jar - sort of a paste consistency - tastes much better than boullion cubes. I got beef, veggie and chicken. And, I seasoned the chicken with soy sauce. I used a lot of SF popsicles, and Propel water. It is also lightly flavored. I have an assortment of crystal light tubes. Also, have a heating pad and an abdomen support belt. I wore my abdomen support 7 X 24 for 2 weeks after surgery once I got home. Made things much easier. I also have things that look like long (24") tube socks sewn closed on each end. They are filled with rice grains or buckwheat grains. You can heat them in the micro and they stay warm forever. I would tuck them next to my side where the incision was where they pulled the stomach out of (it was the sorest). I took a pair of comfortable long pajamas to the hospital, extra underwear, fuzzy socks for my (always cold) feet, slippers, body moisturizer, cuticle cream (might as well cream your cuticles if you are just laying there), antiseptic wipes, my own pillow, carmax lip balm and a favorite perfume (to improve my mood). Also, my IPOD, a couple of magazines and a pad of paper and a pen. Leave your jewelry at home. And, I wish I had had a front close soft bra (to wear under my pj top while walking the halls). Good luck.