Matt Z

You should ask for an itemized list so you can see the cost breakdown.

Congrats and good luck! Best decision I ever made!

Change. That's it. Just, Change. Get comfortable with that word, because it's the most important thing required to make WLS work. You. Must. Change.

Hey Taylor (don't worry about not taking my advise, I wont' get offended and call you out for making your own decisions.) I hit 370 sometime in 2010 and decided to do something about it. I chose the band, the sleeve wasn't fully approved yet, and the bypass scared me. The idea of it being permanent changes to my anatomy bothered me. I wanted something that could be removed at a future date. So, I went with the band. Nov 2011, I had the band installed. Surgery wasn't that big of a deal, I was kept overnight because I have sleep apnea. Pain was moderate but tolerable. After what was covered by insurance, I was out of pocket somewhere around the 5k mark. I took 2 months out of work, mainly because I had to drive to and from Boston, and travel times were minimum 1 hour, upwards of 4 hours, so I wanted to be 100% healed before doing all that driving. I followed all the instructions I was given, got my fills and adjustments as required, and ultimately lost 70 lbs within a year or so. (combined with the pre-op diet etc). I'd get stuck on things maybe once or twice a week. Leafy greens and other fibrous veggies that didn't chew down to "baby food" were uncomfortable enough where I started to avoid them. I got stuck on lean meats, etc. So I got frustrated that, the healthy foods I was supposed to be eating, caused issues thanks to the band. I gained a bit back, then fought to lose it again, this happened a few times. I never could break that 300 mark, no matter what I did. The band was easily eaten around, things I shouldn't be eating... were the things that didn't cause issues. I became depressed, I felt like a failure, the band was reported to have all these amazing benefits... and I wasn't seeing them, I stopped checking in with my surgeon unless I needed some adjustments due to illness or getting stuck badly enough where my stomach swelled up. I was still way too overweight, wasn't eating as well as I should be, I just wasn't happy with how things were not living up to the bands reported outcomes. After almost 7 years with the band, I finally dragged myself back into my surgeons office, defeated, and I confessed to my surgeon that I was a failure. Boy was I surprised when she told me that my outcomes and dealings were typical, and that it wasn't me that was the problem, it was the band. She went out to tell me that 2 of the major manufacturers have stopped making bands and replacement parts for them. We discussed our options for revision, I was set on the sleeve. My surgeon said she refuses to do band to sleeve revisions because the staple line for the sleeve runs right across the band area, and that scar tissue build up at the band site increases the chances for staple line failure. She advised that others in the same practice would do the sleeve revision, but she won't because of the added complication rates. I trust my surgeon, and I really wanted her to do the revision because she installed the band in the first place. So, I pondered for a bit and finally decided that the bypass, as scary as it sounded, was my best option. Restriction only didn't work for me with the band, why would I think that restriction only with the sleeve would be any different. I needed the malabsorption to ensure that I would lose the weight I needed to. March 2nd I started my pre-op diet, March 21st I was revised to the bypass and I'm down almost 60 lbs since March 2nd. I truly wish I went bypass from the get go. The revision surgery was not uneventful. What should have taken 2 hours, took 6+. My band, even though all scans, imaging, scoping showed nothing wrong, the band was 100% completely encapsulated in scar tissue and took my surgical team more than 3 times longer to remove. I'm not even sure what would have happened if I left it in place. Hopefully that answers some of your questions, if you have more, please feel free to shoot me a message.

^THIS^ So much... BE PICKY! Take your time too, you want to be 100% sure you'll be comfortable with the device if you do have to wear on.

Pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken (you can buy these or prep them yourself) and microwaveable steamed veggies - Dinner in less than 10 mins.

any sort of sleep aid really. They typically don't care because they NEED you to be as asleep as possible so they can track your sleep stages, REM and of course your apnea events. Which they can't do if you can't sleep.

That said, I don't really consider the shakes a to be "food" since they are liquids (and were allowed on the liquid only diet sooooo) I don't wait the 30/30 usually with shakes.

Well, it's possible that your body is working to readjust again to the new intake "style". However if it doesn't improve in the next week or so, make sure you talk to your doctors!

Don't write them off if you enjoy them. Just give yourself another week or 2 before giving them another go.

Gottcha, the groups I went through training with weren't advised to take a set amount of time to eat, at least not after the first few days, just to wait 30 before and after. I do my best to stick to this now. And I just eat my meal as slow as feels right.

Eggs are very high in sulfur (which is why they smell like farts) so it's possible the sulfur was upsetting your still healing sleeve.

How are your intakes looking? are you meeting your protein requirements? Water? Vitamins?

I stick to the 30 / 30 rule as much as possible. What's the extra number for?

That's great! Always nice to hear about a smooth recovery! Just be ready for the stall!

Apnea isn't always weight related. I know a few folks that are sub 200 that have severe apnea. Tips for the sleep study, bring something to help you sleep, you will more than likely be wired up with electrodes all over your body, face and scalp. So something to help you fall asleep while you are covered in pads, glue, wires, straps and have someone watching you on camera while you ATTEMPT to sleep... A blind fold might help as well since there are usually lights all over the room as well that might keep you awake if you have a light sensitivity.

I could go in so many directions with this comment....

Wait... who said "medical food"? Moe's is the same as Chipotle, just no e.coli or salmonella, and they have ground beef. Did you know that Barbacoa is face meat? "In the U.S., barbacoa is often prepared with parts from the heads of cattle, such as the cheeks"

Balsamic is great, check out the dressings made from yogurt, they are quite tasty! They are usually found with the health food stuff or vegan stuff in the produce section of your grocer.

Congrats!

It will, but it takes time. Fat causes hormone imbalances etc. that can cause issues with mood. But there is another part of the process that most folks don't fully understand. We can become addicted to an emotion. So, we have to undo all the addictions to the negative emotions. So, the process of losing weight, requires changes that adjusts not only the hormone balances, be we eventually start to feel better about ourselves and that will cause more changes in our emotional addiction. What should you do, start being nicer to yourself, start forgiving yourself, start being proud of yourself. It will take time. But just keep doing it, day in and day out. It is worth it. This is a short excerpt from a movie called "What the bleep do we know" The movie goes into how the emotion generates peptides and proteins that cells then create more of that 1 type of receptor when they split, so someone that is sad often, their cells will request more chemicals produced when the brain pumps out the "sad" peptides, proteins etc. It's worth a viewing.

Yeah... it won't stop for a while... I mean, until you are like the same size for a long time while. I typically just say "good" and move on.

I'm glad things are all good, But I'm still curious why you thought you had a leak to begin with.

It's the centrum. Any vitamins our bodies don't need, get flushed out in our urine.

Congrats! Glad to hear everything went well!