Oviedo Duchess

Absolutely YES! I have so much more energy. My life is so much better. If I'd known then what I know now! But I am going to hit my next 50 years running!

phew, this topic was reassuring. I started noticing my hair loss at about 5 months out and at 7 months out, starting seeing Donald Trump when I look in the mirror. Glad to hear it won't last forever...wearing wigs in the Florida heat w/b no fun. I know my protein intake is higher than my target and increasing iron always scares the crap out of me - no wait, increasing iron has the opposite effect of scaring crap out of me, if you know what I mean. Sorry Massindex but my mama always said grass doesn't grow on a busy street so maybe it's just cuz we think too much!

Congrats on the easy recovery. I'm 6 months out and down 92 lbs and loving it! I too had a super easy recovery. I actually felt guilty when talking to other patients who had WLS done at the same time-pretty even split between sleeve, band and bypass. There was 6 of us in the hospital at the same time and we were all from the same doc. When we had the in-hospital exercise brief, some of them couldn't even make it to the session cause they were feeling so horrible. Some of us have kept in touch and I'm thanking my lucky stars for my recovery. One woman had the lap band and apparently the adjusting mechanism was defective so she had to have a second surgery 3 months later. I've always had a high pain tolerance so maybe that's part of the answer. Don't worry about your good fortune - enjoy it!

Hi. Just signed up and e-mail from Alex said to tell my story to get started. So here goes. I had a VSG performed by Dr. Keith Kim at Celebration Florida Hospital on 29 July. Surgery went well and I didn't suffer any nausea other than from the pain meds. But the post surgery recovery time at home was definitely more hard core than I'd anticipated. I think the surgery group downplays the significance of the surgery but there's no denying - it's major abdominal surgery. I've had my gall bladder removed (old school style 20 years ago) and a c-section. And while I was much younger for both of those, the rebound on the VSG was nearly as bad as those prior experiences. The path to surgery took 8 months. Between arranging financing (I was self pay), and pre-clearances - both cardio and pulmonary - it seemed like it was never going to happen. In total, the surgery cost me about 19K but I figure where is my better investment - a new car or a new me. I won. So I'm 10 days out and pretty much back to normal. It's definitely taking time to get the hang of the eating/protein/vitamin/sip routine but I keep reminding myself to be patient. My first birth took 9 months....only makes sense that my rebirth take a while as well. And to be honest, I'm making this post because I want to learn how to put up one of those cool weight loss count down graphics!! Gastric Sleevely Yours

Woot woot! I think I got the ticker conquered! The links provided by sleevevangelist was the trick! Gotta admit, I was stunned there were even replies to my post...logged off for a few and you all had replied!! I think I've found family! I think the Mexico option takes incredible courage. I can't imagine having to go thru all this new mental stuff and have to deal with an unfamiliar location. Kudos to all of you who had the 'coajones' (about the only spanish i speak) to start your new adventure in a foreign land.