starsleeve

Hey everyone! Just wanting to see if anyone out there used this doctor before for your surgery and if so please share the process and time frame it took for everything!!! I was just approved through Kaiser and they are sending my Referal over! I am beyond excited right now!!!!!

i had the panny done 6 weeks ago and only used the white binder provided by the hosiptal. dont think much more then that was really needed.

Good Morning, Anyone have a pannectomy done by Dr Matsuba in Downey??? I was approved for one and its so different when you get insurance approved because they assign your surgeon to you. THere is no online website you can go to, to find the before and after picts of their work.. So i am looking for anyone who has had the proceedure done by him to give feedback. Please... Thanks again..

Soo Happy to report today is my 1 year mark!! It's been a great year with lots of happy moments a some not so happy. Overall still so happy with my decision to have the sleeve! I started at 245 and now weigh 160! I'm 5'5. The discouraging part is that I had my gal bladder removed on Feb 21st and havent lost any weight since then! Not sure why but i gotta say it has bummed me out! And at 1st i kinda gave up but then i realized that im not hurting anyone but myself so i kicked myself in the rear and got back on track! I'm still not eating 100% healthy but i'm on the right track! I work out 4 days a week. I am truely excited to begin year 2 of this life changing journey!!!

Here is mine--- day 1 and then 1 year

I am 2 weeks away from my surgaversary... and I havent lost any weight in 2 months. Normally this isnt an issue with me, I experienced a stall early on which had me stable for the same length of time but I think the difference is that at that point i knew i was still going to lose, and now so close to my year mark it scares me that I may be all done loosing... When i started my journey last year i told myself that if I hit 160 i would be fine.. well guess where the scale stopped! Yep it goes between 158-160.. and i think because i have seen that scale move downwards for about a year now its hard for me to step on it and not see movement. I am scare that I am to the point where I now must work for my weight loss. Also i know i have read several posts on here about people that feel like they can eat more during certain days of the month and that is so me! it worries me that my stomach is stretching.. i wish there was an ultrasound that i could get to confirm it was still small, it worries me when i can eat a whole slice of pizza instead of just couple bites. i am just a ball full of stress and worry right now and talking to my friends makes me feel worse so i really wanted to motivation from people here that have been through what I have and can actually give me true to life experiences to say its okay and (hopefully i will lose more) on a good note i have been faithfully working out 4 days a week, i feel great after I work out. Although my diet does need more tweeking i know that i will be back on track soon. Thanks everyone for reading and listening to me vent!!

it took forever for me to figure out i had galstones.. but my symptoms occured at random times.. not every time i ate something greasy or spicy.. when i did get them they would last anywhere from 4-10 hours. the paid sure did feel worse then labor. it felt like i had a horse sitting on my chest. the you do feel nauseated, and feel like you need to have a bowel movement but it just doesnt happen. i got chills-- and no matter what i did it didnt go away. then randomly poof the pain was gone... From what the dr told me it was because when you eat greasy, fatty or spicy foods it causes the stones to move around in there, and occasionally they will get lodged in the tube- and when that happens thats when you get the pain until the small stone passes through the tube... i ended up having my gal bladder removed and have been in heaven since... hope this helps

kristieatkinson- you have done an amazing job with the weight loss- sooo happy for you! but i totally know how you feel. I am just hoping mine may jump start again soon, if not i guess i just better mentally start being okay with there i stopped and prepare my self for the maintence stage... Thanks again everyone for responding, means alot to me.

Thank you both for taking time to respond.. and yes Cowgirljane i will try that out.. who knows i just hope this stall breaks.

This is my thought for the day! I usually weigh myself every monday! i try not to weigh in every day because I know the weight flucuated and could get frusterating, however i purchased a new scale.. a digital one and so now i have one in my house on hand when i want to weigh in... I weighed myself the day I purchased the scale (sunday) then weighed myself again on tuesday... well the scale jumped up 2 pounds.. This is the 1st time since surger (4/27/12) that I actually stepped on the scale and saw it move upwards instead of down wards. Yes i know this isnt a big deal and yes i know our weight fluctuates but for me it was just a huge shock to see the scale move up!!! I started my journey at 245 and now weigh in at 158. i am 5'5. if anyone out there is near these #'s i would love to know what weight you are at now post surgery as everyone keeps asking me what my goal weight is but i have no clue!!! what should my weight be?? what i am gearing up for? should i be okay at 158 or will that scale possibly keep going down. I know everyone is differnt i am just trying to get an idea.. photo of me day of surgery (black shirt) and 10 months post op (pink tank top)

Thank you kmwheel!!! and thanks ntvtxn- your knowledge is appreciated- i will have to look into a support group- you bring up some very valid points to consider. may i ask you where you can go to find a support group? my surgeons office is about 45 minutes from me so i cannot attend his- so maybe if i can find out local i can make time to attend them..

Thanks everyone for the advice and support. No i do not attend a support group, i use this site as my support group, it has so much knowledge for me, and with my schedule the support groups around me are hard to find. can anyone tell me how they came up with their goal weight?? is it something the doctor told you was a goal or one that you thought of yourself?? the smallest i ever was in my life (when i was 17) was 155 so for me to even think about being slimmer then that is just out of the world! but at this time weighing in at 158 i feel that there is much more weight i can loose. people tell me that i am good where i am, but they havent seen me with no shirt on lol and my belly still says i can loose more! hehe, so i am not sure what the goal weight is for me.

thank you jrabbit81-- yes i do have a myfitnesspal- but sadly dont use it.. what is your goal weight?? were you given one or did you come up with one that you would feel comfortable at??

Hi there. I am 5'5 and started out at 245. So my #'s are pretty close to urs. I always wondered what a good goal weight should be for me. I started out thinking 160 would be fine. My surgery date was 4/27/12 so today im about 10 months post op and weigh 160. At this point i dont feel skinny enough.. Lol but not sure if my body will keep loosing. So far no stall yet but who knows when that will hit. Just wanted to give u my story to maybe compare to. Good Luck.

Hey there.. So I was sleeved on 4/27/12- starting weight was 245, today I am at 179 which is a loss of 66 LBS I am beyond excited!!! i gotta say the only struggle at this point in the game is mentally being able to continue making those good decisions. I am starting to crave sweets and so far since surgery i have been doing great but its becoming a bit more difficult!! But i still have faith and strength to continue to be successfull!!! The photo to the left is taken the day of surgery ( no make up or anything on) and the picture to the right was taken on sunday (at my 6th month mark) GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!! IT's been an amazing journey this far!

Thanks everyone for the kind words!!! to answer some questions, i am 5'6 (rounding up) but based on medical records i guess i am 5'5 and 1/2... LOL I just started getting motivated to work out so i have only been working out for about a month now.. i hope to one day work out 5 days a week but right now I am only working out 3 days a week and in between those days i walk when i can. i go to the gym and do 15 minutes cardion and 45 minutes weight lifting. I try not to do too much cardio right now because i dont want to loose weight to fast and get saggy so i do minimal cardio at the gym and more weight lifting. When my kids are at soccer practice i do my walking for an hour then. again i hope to work out a ton more but i like the "baby steps" process hehe

Thank you!! it has truly been a journey- the 1st couple days/weeks were mentally hard for me because i knew i couldnt eat what i mentally wanted to, but now Its even harder because I am at the point that I can physically eat those foods and now I am working on mentally training myself to say NO! Every day is a new day and if i can use my struggles/sucess to inspire someone then it makes me feel better!

i am 5 months post op- and i would say i get the normal full feeling unless i REALLY over eat then the pain hits about an hour after.. but usually i get just a "full feeling"

I can relate also. i will be 5 months post op next friday- and am down 58 lbs so far! i have had a couple throwing up sessions myself. I am still training myself to slow down with the eating, that has been taking some getting use to. I am now at the point that i am happy that i had this surgery, the first 3 months were tough for me, as it was a huge mind game that i needed to learn but with time it gets easier and life gets so much funner as you start to loose weight and gain energy! i can also agree that since the surgery i sleep so much better! i love sleeping and before i seemed to be more of a light sleeper and when woken up i couldnt go back to sleep, well now if i am woken up I can fall right back to sleep! yaay I love reading posts like this because i love when i can releate to someone else who went through what i did and understands. good luck to everyone out there planning on having the surgery! in the long run it was a good decision on my part, and i am happy i did it!

Good Afternoon everyone, i had my sleeve done on April 27th. I started at 245 and now am down to 192 (53 lbs down) i have had two really bad "episodes" and really cannot diagnose what they are from. The first time i had one i knew i over ate, the 2nd time i had one i didnt over eat. But the feeling is a AWFUL pressure in my chest (or at least if feels like thats where it is) i have talked to people and am told its the acid, but when i have these episodes it starts mild and builds to be unbarable- then i vomit and i seem to be back to normal. I know the bypass has "dumping" but from what i know the sleeve doesnt, has anyone else ever felt this??? Also i seem to do okay with habits and maintaining a healthy lifestyle of eating, except when that time of the month hits- then i feel like i am always hungry. for the ladies on here please tell me what you do to get past this time... lastly i have not been working out since surgery- yes i know I should and i plan on getting on track to work out but for those of you that have had the surgery awhile ago can you tell me how the whole working out effects the long term results?? (besides the sagginess) thanks for any feedback you all can provide!

Thank you everyone! Yeah it seems everyone agrees its the acid. But i never thought acid could hurt sooooo bad... I did take acid reducers but have been trying to slowly stop per my surgeons req. so now i only take them if needed..

i am with you 100%- am am 4 1/2 months out and really dont know what to eat anymore either. my life originally was just chicken breast and protein drinks all day. unlike some i do have the urge to eat, i dont know why this is because i dont eat a lot but i feel at times that i should not be wanting food as i do. i eat a lot of fruit which i know have a lot of sugar but it is just so refreshing. i always look at the "the world according to eggface" blog, she does have some cool things on there. i keep trying to make my diet healthy but also as normal as possible, as i am a mother of 4 children, and really hard to always eat things that are so differn then the family! i love reading everyones advice totally helps me out also as a fellow 4 month post op sleever!

I totally can relate! Surgery on 4/27 started my stall at 3 weeks and now i am about the 7 week mark and have not lost a lb!!!!! So dissapointing but oh well....

There may already be a thread regarding this Protein powder but i couldnt find one so I was curious if anyone has tried the Click Protein Powder (Mocha) and if so have you had any information from your surgeon or NUT regarding it? I tried it for the first time today and absolutly LOVED it, but then started to review the ingrediants and saw that it has Caffeen in it and didnt see any specific mention of Protein. Has anyone else noticed this and what can you share with me? Is this one a good one to drink???

I am 7 weeks post op and have been sitting at 215 for 3 weeks now.. I totally feel your pain, it is soo stressfull not to see the scale move. I dont weigh myself everyday so when i do weigh my self weekly I guess i assume it will move, and it hasnt.. I keep hoping it will move the next week... Good luck to you