gatorman

Glad to see so many new sleevers here in Florida and especially here in Jacksonville! I'm also really excited to see so many people are doing well after having their sleeves done. Great news on my front. . . I've officially lost over 100 pounds! I am now at 101 pounds down! I am so excited. I only have about 40 to 50 more to go and I am at my goal weight! Keep up the good work everyone. Before you know it you will be at your goal weight too!

I was a self pay patient, which could have been part of the reason for the shorter stay, but honestly I felt fine and they had already done all of the testing to check for leaks, I'm not sure they could have been able to keep me around for 2 nights. I might have just snuck out on my own.

Wishes, I was in the hospital for probably 26 hours total and if they would have let me go earlier I would have. Truly within an hour of going off the pain pump I was just itching to go home and get in my own bed and see my kids. I had surgery on Friday and by Sunday night I had good energy and was ready to go back to work on Monday, although I didn't make it back to work until Tuesday.

I was sleeved on April 14th at St. Luke's. They were great a St. Luke's and I didn't have any problem there at all. Post-op expect to be on a pain pump for a while. Get up walking as soon as you can, and enjoy the pump! LOL. I quit using pain medication all together when they took me off the pump. I really didn't have many problems post-op but I did get a little down about day 2 or 3 wondering if I did the right thing. That quickly passed though as I started to eat more. Getting used to changing the way you eat was hard for me and I got sick a lot they first couple of weeks, but since you had a band you will probably do better at recognizing the signs quicker than I did. By two months out I feel I had everything down pat and know the signs of when enough is enough. I've pretty much quit carbs all together (every once and a while I might have a bite of bread) and focus on eating my Proteins. Truly this is the best thing I've ever done and I suggest it to anyone who has ever struggled with obesity!

Welcome Eddie! I am sure you will end up being successful and thinking the sleeve is the best thing you've ever done, I know I do! Dr. Webb did my follow up in the hospital and he was great. Longer-Life, I love Dr. Depari and Dr. Webb. I obviously know Dr. Depari better since he did my surgery and followups but they are both great. Having the sleeve has certainly changed my life. Yesterday, I saw my primary care Dr for the first time since the surgery. He was shocked at how much weight I've lost as well as the fact that my BP dropped as much as it has.

Hello fellow Florida Sleevers! I had my surgery on April 14 and have lost just over 93lbs. I live in Jacksonville, and used Dr. Depari who is affiliated with Novus Centers and Dr. Webb. This has been the best decision of my life. I have basically cut out carbs, haven't had a Diet Coke since March and am loving it all. I have become somewhat of a Life Saver Junkie though. I noticed that my breath and tastes were changing and learned it was from the fat burning off, so I do find myself wanting mints a good bit, but otherwise nothing major to report. Good luck to all who are about to have surgery, you will be in my prayers and hope you will be as successful and happy as so many others here have been!

I'm having great success. After the initial phase of learning to eat, things are going great. I've lost about 93lbs and have gone from a Size 48 waist to a Size 38 in just 4 months! I am so happy I got my sleeve and will tell anyone who struggles with their weight to look into it!

Hello everyone. I signed up for this forum about a year ago and kind of quit looking at it after my insurance refused to pay for surgery. We were able to save up some money and on April 14th I had my sleeve done! I lost 20 pounds on my pre-surgery diet and since the 14th, I've lost another 25 pounds. I will begin soft foods on Thursday, but I'm nervous, since I can barely handle anything still. I get a lot of reflux often from just a sip of Water and when I do eat applesauce or mashed potatoes right now I get a little nauseous. Is there anything I need to be doing differently?

Hang in there Stacy. You will start to feel better and I promise you will agree soon enough that this is the best thing you have ever done! I had my Sleeve on April 14th and the weight is continuing to drop!

I used Dr. Deperi from Dr. Webb's group. But Dr Webb did my followups in the hospital. Love both of them and I'm really looking forward to continued weight loss.

Thanks for the encouragement! I am currently taking prevacid and my doctor told me if I want that I can take pepcid or other chewables if I need to. I am trying to add foods slowly and I'm looking forward to continuing to make friends here.

My name is Chris and Dr. Deperi in Jacksonville, FL did my sleeve on April 14, 2011. So far so good and I would recommend Dr. Deperi or any of the other doctors who work with Novus Centers in Jacksonville.

Sorry to hear you are in such pain and so uncomfortable NiceGirl. I am sure that it will get better soon. One of the interesting things he told me yesterday is that ex-athletes normally breeze through recovery so I am hoping that will be the case with me. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

BJean, I will definitely keep everyone updated on my progress. I hope to get the okay today from my financial adviser and if I do I will start the next step. It was funny yesterday since the doctor said he would never tell a patient to do one procedure over another if he didn't medically have to, but he would always advise a Sleeve if the option was there.

Lan it is Klonopin. I took it for a while and it worked great. Now I just take Xanax and I am actually happier with it. I used to take the generic brand "Clonazepam" as well.:tongue_smilie:

Well my surgeons office, said that I can pretty much make up my own mind on which surgery I can do, so needless to say VSG here I come. I met two different VSG patients today at my surgeon's office and they both look great! I can't wait. It looks like I am about 2 months out. I hope to schedule a date within the next month!!!

I don't have any hard numbers, but I have an appointment with my doctor later today and I will let you know if he has any. I have always just heard that if you are obese and lose weight that sleep apnea will often be reversed and I am hoping mine is when I get the sleeve done.

Congrats! I hope it goes great for you.

Lan, I have fought depression & anxiety for years now and have tried pretty much everything. I've had very good results with a combination of Lexapro and Wellbutrin. Zoloft didn't really do anything for me. I hope you can find what works best for you. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the info Swift. I'm going to have my wife look at this too, so I can put her mind more at ease about all the Sleeve.

Possibly. My BMI is at 44 right now.

NiceGirl, I hope your surgery went great! I am in Jacksonville as well. I have been to a seminar at N FL Bariatics with Dr. Herrera at St. Vincent's and have an appointment with Novus Centers and Dr. Webb at Memorial tomorrow. Dr Herrera has only done 4 VSG's so I will probably use Dr. Webb. I would love to hear how Dr Koppman did.

I am in Florida and BCBS of Florida won't cover any WLS, or at least my plan won't. I was told to appeal and that I could probably get them to pay for By-pass or LB but now that I am 100% leaning toward the Sleeve I found out they won't pay for it at all. Honestly, since I had already figured I was going to have to self-pay I am not even going to try and fight it. I don't want to wait any longer to get my new life started. I have been overweight too long and I don't want to go through another 6 months of "Physician Approved" dieting. I've tried everything, adipex, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Grapefruit. . .always to yo-yo back up. Good luck and I hope you have won your appeal.

Hello Di and others. I too was really leaning toward the LB but between this site and a friend who had by-pass before VSG was available and his wife who is looking into VSG, I am almost 100% leaning toward the Sleeve. I have a consultation tomorrow with the surgeon and since I'm self-paying I hope to schedule the surgery in mid-June. Good luck to you!

Hello all, I found this site today as I was searching for info on the VSG and decided to join. I have been researching Bypass and Lap-Band surgery for a few years now and I went to a Informational Seminar a few months ago and first heard about the Sleeve. I have a friend who had Bypass a few years ago and he has been telling me how great it is, but he wishes he could have done the Sleeve instead. I had been planning on doing Lap-Band as an out-of-pocket patient in June or July and started to get more and more interested in VSG. I have now set up an appointment to meet a surgeon on Thursday to discuss the VSG and I'm close to 100% sure that I will go this route in June or July instead. I look forward to getting to know everyone better and using this Board as a support system.