WASaBubbleButt

Well, if something *really* horrible happened I couldn't do anything about it anyway. ;o) I'm sort of a black and white kind of person. It is what it is. I knew my risk for surgery was far less than my risk being obese. Look at it this way, you have done your research, you have covered all your bases, you are going to the best of the best for surgeons, he has a track record like nobody else. The man is a skilled and gifted surgeon, he's also a really decent human being. What more can you do? You could go to the bottom feeders of Tijuana, you could go for cheap instead of skill, you could just go to the cheapest of them all and hope for the best. You aren't doing that. You are going to the best surgeon around, you are going to be in a hospital, you have done your research, you know the procedure type, you know what you want. What more can you do?

That is a great idea, excellent. Keep researching, learn everything you can. Absorb all the info, know everything. That way you can be as prepared as possible for when you do get your surgery! Welcome to the forum, we are happy to have you here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats on your new life!

I have to admit I have never even heard of it! ;o) Did you try it?

There really is a special bond when you have surgery together. I still keep in touch with my sleeve sister. My sleeve brother was beyond weird, I have to admit I do not keep in touch with him. Nobody does. (blech) But Patti is great. I'll have to invite her here!

Are you unable to eat solid Proteins in enough quantity to get your daily grams in? Or do you just prefer liquid proteins? Elisabeth has a favorite, Soy Slender. I use it to mix with chocolate EAS, that's about 30gms right there. I prefer whey Gourmet Chocolate Peanut Butter, I love the stuff. You can mix it with Water and it's still thick and creamy. Or you can mix it with milk or Soy Slender. I get it at: Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore! It's made by PVL... good stuff!

I was JUST thinking that! Fair is fair! I'd at least tell your mother you are going to do the same. Let her fret over it. It might make you feel better. HA! I agree with Elisabeth, the heck with them. Your Mom had NO right to discuss this with them, if she felt the need she should have talked to you first. That was very wrong on her part. I would have a heart to heart with her about keeping private info private. I'd make it clear nothing private will be discussed with her again until she can show you that she is trustworthy enough to confide in her in the distant future.

Ohhhh no! I think I know you from OH. I'm so sorry! There is a higher chance of leaks with revisions. I'm trying to remember, didn't you have a band, then a slip, then surgery to correct the slip and then the sleeve? I'm so very sorry you have to go through this. :ohmy:( Who was your surgeon? I think I know what state you are in so I'm afraid to ask. :o/ Just hang out here with us, we'll get you through this!

Congrats to you! That's great! You'll love the doctor, staff, hospital, everything about it. And being sleeved ROCKS! I am sorry that ins isn't being more cooperative though!

A clear protein is nectar, Isopuke, or unjury. That's about it.

When it comes to WLS and insurance you have to make a fuss and throw fits until you get answers. It is going to take some time for ins to approve it, rarely do they do anything fast! Did they give you a time frame? Most ins usually takes about a month but a couple of people have posted that they were approved in a a couple of days. But really, that's unusual. You can call the MD office as well as the ins co.

I doubt it was the question that embarrassed him but teasing you about it embarrassed him. He is sooooo shy.

Weird dreams must not go away with time because I had a whopper of a dream about a week ago. I went to Dr. Aceves and asked him to remove an ovary. Just one, no clue why just that I wanted him to remove an ovary. I woke up to discover he did gastric bypass on me. I was NOT a happy camper! ;o) I kept pointing to my stomach and telling him to put it BACK! He kept telling me it was better for me. I woke up in a cold sweat and REALLY ANGRY until I realized it was a dream! HAHA

2000IU to 5000IU is ideal for Vit D. I'd start with 2000IU and test to see if that is enough.

He embarrasses easily, doesn't he? ;o)))

I completely agree! People claim (and believe) their metabolism is dead. The only people with a dead metabolism are dead people. You can increase your metabolism with exercise, very true. Totally agree. Regain usually starts at about 3-5 years. They also do not malabsorb to the same degree as immediately post op.

Congrats on your date! You will love the sleeve, it's a great surgery and seems to be the easiest tool to work with. There is a great deal to learn but hopefully we have provided the information for you right here! Good job on your research in WLS types. The sleeve is far better than banding, you made a good choice.

I wasn't referring to PPIs and calcium but sleeves and calcium. Any sleeved person is going to produce less acid and therefore they should be taking Ca Citrate.

How does the quality of medical care compare from public vs. private? Is public still high quality?

:thumbup: Are you serious? Are they this ignorant about the world around them?

It does not need to add up to 100%. There are other variables such as someone losing a band to a slip. That may not be considered a failure for the purposes of the study. They may be taking only the people who keep their band for an extended period of time. We also do not know what they consider a success.

According to PMs I have from Dr. Watkins he does indeed say that he will do fills on Mexican banded patients. He *then* went on to explain that he charges $1,000.00 for a fill on a Mexican banded patient because someone needs to punish them for going to MX. Not much of a plus in my mind. More of a putz.

I know of a few doctors in your state that do fills on people they did not operate on but I don't know of anyone that will fill a non-FDA approved band. (

I don't really know what his stats are. Each time people have talked to their office they get conflicting information. One person claims he's never had a leak. I know that isn't true because his patients have posted about their leaks. Not that they are blaming the doctor for it, I don't know if they knew why they got a leak. But other times you call the office and they say US people have had 2 leaks. If you don't push and ask about his Mexican patients then they don't offer the info that others from Mexico have had a couple of leaks. I don't care for Joya. It's not that he's not a good surgeon, he's okay. It's that his business ethics are about as bad as they come. He is not a very honest business person. I want a doctor who has good business ethics AND is a skilled/experienced surgeon. Joya just isn't someone who meets my criteria but that doesn't mean others have the same criteria, they do not and there is nothing wrong with that. I also do not like the way he pushes bypass. One person went there for a sleeve and mentioned that she was afraid of a leak. He pushed her to get bypass saying that if you get a leak with a sleeve it takes months to resolve. If you get a leak with bypass it is resolved in 4-5 days. That's a load! A leak is a leak. You cannot oversew a bypass staple line but you can with a sleeve staple line. So your risks for bypass leaks could be greater for that reason alone but there are more staple lines with bypass so the risk is greater for that reason. But he makes more money with bypass. Surgeons need to be honest about everything including procedures, stats, complications, the works. We all know leaks are not always the fault of the doctor, so why lie about it? One guy (not Joya) had a sleeve death. Instead of coming clean and saying he had a sleeve leak/death he claims the complications were really from a hiatal heria repair. That is a complete lie! The family suing this doctor isn't suing for a screw up on the hernia repair, they are suing because the patient died of a leak that was not resolved in time. The doctor should have had this guy in ICU, he did not. The person died. Would he have lived if he was in ICU? No way of knowing. But if it was so bad he died, shouldn't he have been in ICU? Bottom line, this guy doesn't want people knowing he had a sleeve death so he tells people it was really from the hiatal hernia repair. This is why I wanted a doctor with ethics as well as skill. Otherwise you really do not know if you are getting the truth or not.