WASaBubbleButt

Question for you... do you get any flack from OA due to WLS? I considered going to OA once but I was warned not to tell I had WLS. Turns out, it's not for me anyway. I prefer chemical treatment. ;o) But it has me curious.

GREAT post! I agree with everything you have written except for one part, the slip. Slips are when the stomach slides up through the band. Your banded stomach is kind of "tick" looking. You know what a tick looks like after it's done feeding? (I know, gross example but I'm not coming up with anything better.) It has a little head and a big body. Your banded stomach is similar, a little stomach on top of a big stomach. When you have a slip your lower stomach slides up through the band and your stomach looks more like an hourglass. The pouch is too big. If it is just enlarged usually an unfil and liquids for a few weeks does the trick. If it is really big it flops over to one side of the band. Then nothing will pass through the stoma. Some people can eat more when they have a slip, well.. the upper stomach is bigger so they can eat more. Some can't eat a thing, that's when the upper stomach flops over to one side of the band.

No excuse, you should not have been eating solid foods after surgery. When you have a band place it is not the sutures that hold the band in place long term, it's the adhesions your body forms over the band. THAT is what holds the band in place long term. When you drink Clear Liquids your stomach does not have to work hard to mix the liquid with stomach acid and push it through your stomach. When you drink full liquids it has to work just a little. When you eat solids, as you did, your stomach would look a bit spastic if you were able to watch it. All those little strands of adhesions trying to form break each time you eat food. Remember, it is the adhesions that hold your band in place long term. Scarring (adhesions) never grow in the same place with the same quality twice. Bottom line is this, cheat on the post op diet today and you risk a slip 6-12 months down the road. There is no reason to be cheating this early out. There is no reason to be testing anything this early out. There is no reason to justify food right now. Also, if you do eat too much bread (for example) and you vomit you stand a pretty fair chance of a slip. Every newbie wonders if they slipped from 0-3 months. Then from 4-6 months they question if they eroded. You ARE on a diet, you are on the post op diet. Banding, sleeves, bypass, DS... we are ALL on diets. Losing weight is not easy even with WLS. It's hard and you have to work for it especially the closer you get to goal. Do you understand the whole concept of fills and getting restriction? You aren't supposed to feel much restriction until they start giving you restriction in the way of fills. No, not all slips experience pain. Many have no clue. Some have reflux, some can eat a great deal, some can't get food or Water down, some have no symptoms and no idea. Please don't do this again, you are just risking losing your band at a later time.

Your stomach produces Intrinsic Factor. With a smaller stomach you might not produce enough to absorb B12. In less than 1% of sleeved people we do not absorb enough B12 due to IF. If that happens, go to your local grocery store and purchase SL B12. Problem fixed. This is diagnosed through labs.

Hmmm, I had not thought of that before! Good point!

This kind of attitude is why I trust you with personal issues and value you as a friend.

Heh... I wondered the same thing but I couldn't tell. I suspect he did, or he wasn't getting very far. You know guys, once they are on their way there is nothing in life that will stop them. ;o)

Oh my goodness you are not crazy at all. You are posting with many people that had a band, had it removed, and opted for a sleeve. I've had both, band and sleeve. I've been sleeved just shy of a year now. The two do not compare. A sleeve is like a band that actually works and without all the complications, puking, slips, erosion, stoma spewing, the works. You have a right to a life. Life being fat is not a life, it is existing. Your self esteem is poor, self image is poor, you hide and don't live life like you have a right to. I have a list of how to research a Mexican sleeve surgeon. I have no clue if you are interested in MX or not but it does give you a start to researching sleeve surgeons anywhere. US or MX. If you want it just let me know. Getting WLS is a little eerie because you don't know what to ask and what to look for. This might give you some insight as to what to look for. I still want to send it to a few sleeve surgeons for their input in case I am missing something but I haven't done that yet thus, I haven't posted it yet. As long as you know it is a work in progress that's good. It tells you about sleeve leaks, leak tests, FACS, etc. Just get the surgery. Sleeves are great. ETA... I know a person on another board that is an insurance expert! If your ins covers WLS but not sleeves, she might be able to help you get it covered under ins anyway. Not a promise of course, but it's worth a try as most ins does not cover sleeves. She does not charge for her time, it's her thing. It's what she does. I'm great at showing people how to research their surgeon. Another friend is great at helping people with credit to get loans, Vicki is good with showing people how to get ins to cover if at all possible. We have to stick together here, right? ;o)

Hey you... I haven't seen you in a long time. Have you been gone for a bit or am I just missing your posts?

You kinda did, here is what you wrote: Notice, you didn't say some or a few, you wrote people with a lot of higher education turn atheist. Are you under the assumption that it requires common sense to believe in the impossible such as talking snakes, virgin births, a little bitty ark that holds 30,000,000 species (x2) and food for a year, etc.? Are you really serious? I think you and I have very different thoughts on what common sense is. Trippy, so it was just a general slam to atheists. Thank you for clearing that up. I'm quite sure your God is pleased with your behaviors. I agree with you. While I can't say most atheists I know were raised RC, many were and I think RC does tend to produce quite a few atheists. But then, so does reading the bible.

Titanium is the good stuff. ;o)

I loved it when he looked up through the sunroof and saw that he had an audience. I thought that was priceless. ;o)

As far as I know all doctors use titanium, don't they Elisabeth? I want to say that UHC does cover the sleeve but I can't find the stupid link. I can find Aetna and Cigna but not UHC. I'm about 60% sure they do. If I can find the link I'll post it.

My post really wasn't directed at you. It was directed at the rude one. She did not do a good job of coming up with a reason to insult atheists and I just gave her a little of her own medicine. I just turned the tables on her. I don't care what people believe. If it gives them strength, hope, alleviates fears, whatever... I think that's great. I have my own beliefs as well that are not based on fact. I believe in an afterlife, not one with a God running the show but I don't think this is all there is. I don't know what it's like, I don't claim to know details, I just think there is something after this life. But... no God. The concept sounds silly to me. But I am fully aware that others do believe and it is not silly to them. I don't like the closed minded bigot types. It gets old quickly and you clearly do not fit in that group. But I can think of a couple... a few... that do. ;o) We share the same level of respect for one of them. I don't like that feeling of my skin crawling so I have her blocked. LOL

You can try the Standard of Care approach. The Standard of Care in the US is to do the revision in one surgery when possible. There is little need to do two surgeries. The Standard of Care is also such that depending on the procedure if you have a history of MO you don't need to be a 40BMI for surgery. I had my revision with a 20.8 BMI. Granted, I was self pay but it's still the same SOC regardless of Ins or Self pay. Understand, I don't think that is going to work but you can try.

This still makes no sense. Either God knew he was going to grant this wish (thus not really granting the wish) or it is not true that God knows all before it happens. It can't be both ways.

Some things are so easy they aren't worth the effort.

I am forgetting details now but I recall reading an article about a priest who was honestly and sincerely trying to help pedophile priests. He had a location somewhere away from children and priests would go there for "treatment". This was in the 40s, I believe. The good priest finally wrote to the vatican that there was no help for these priests, there was no treatment, nothing he did changed their desires. He warned the vatican quite clearly that these men should never be in a position where they are around children. Of course, the vatican merely reassigned them to new churches denying they had knowledge that there is no treating a pedophile. Wootsie: Wow, that's pretty rude. The OP was quite clear about WHY she was starting this thread. She bloody well spelled it out for you. Was there a portion of the explanation that is difficult for you? Have you noticed that she's not debating anyone? Funny, we tend to think of *some* believers as too stupid to think for themselves so they must turn to their religious leader or bible to form their opinions. We kinda think some of you are coming up short in the "common sense" area and that is why you must rely on believing the impossible. We have strong hopes for you that someday you too, can think for yourself. Amazingly, common sense does not mean believing in talking snakes or that a butcher of a God can slaughter millions of innocents (including children) while calling it just and loving. Sure hope that answer helps you out there. Since you are unable to come up with a question actually for the pastor here and you are just taking shots at atheists, can I assume you are another one of those loving Christians I keep hearing about? I'm sure you are proud. Kewl Beans. Prove it.

The concept of no more stoma spewing is a nice one, no band/no stoma spewing. ;o) Just think of how much these band makers made off of us. We actually paid them to puke.

The Catholic church has changed. They are nicer now when they tell you that you are an ignorant dumbass that isn't capable of understanding the bible. ;o))))))) I poke fun at the church because I was born and raised Roman Catholic. I figure it gives me the right. The whole pedophile issue still has me annoyed. If you look at the history of pedophile priests and how the church responded and what it turns out they DID indeed know about pedophilia... they should all be fired from the pope down and they need to hire smart people with some ethics.

If you have a hard time with a band that does not make you an exception to the rule, that makes you one of a HUGE number of people that can't deal with banding anymore. If you were to get a sleeve and you are correct, it cannot be put back... exactly what complications do you worry about that you would need the rest of your stomach again? What specifically would you need a whole stomach for? I have to tell you, I do have one concern. If you can eat bad foods you can eat good foods. If you can eat chips, crackers, and cereal you can eat dried veggies. If you can eat ice cream you can drink a Protein shake. I get the whole concept of how hard solid Proteins and such are with a band but what my concern is, is that when you struggle with foods you reach for all the wrong choices. You are eating around your band. If you can eat around a band you can eat around a sleeve. Have you considered malabsorption at all?

I agree that banding is "safer" than bypass but bands and bypass are not the only surgery types out there. The sleeve is safer than either bands or bypass long term.

I hear he has also increased what he requires for a deposit. So many people choose a doctor, pay the deposit and THEN do serious research. He raised his deposit from $500 to $1,000 so people will feel locked into going to him as they can't usually afford to lose $1K. ALL THE MORE REASON TO PAY SURGERY DEPOSITS WITH A CREDIT CARD! At least you can fight to get it back. Better yet, don't pay deposits until the last minute.

With the economy the way it is, the inability to get a job, the cost of the surgery, and most of all the cost of the aftercare for a band... I'd wait. Besides, if you are both looking for jobs how will you feel if the next job one of you gets has WLS benefits? You spent all that money for something that insurance may cover. You get the surgery AND an income.

Diet pills are never effective and you'll find that you'll just regain it anyway. Water pills... as soon as you drink a glass of water it's right back. It's fat that needs to be burned. It all comes down to the same thing, calories in/calories out. Cut out ALL white carbs (not all carbs, all WHITE carbs) and exercise. That's how it works.