joatsaint

I've not heard of anyone who didn't have the EDG. But every surgeon is different. To be sure, I'd call his office. I wouldn't want my surgery delayed because of an oversight on his staff's part.

For me, it's the little things. Being able to step into my car, rather than sit down backwards and drag my legs in. And being able to get up off the floor WITHOUT having to make sure there's a chair, stool, prop nearby that I can use for assistance. AND I FORGOT ABOUT RESTAURANT BOOTHS!!! The greatest threat ever to overweight people. Booths are only 2nd to Wicker furniture on the fear scale for the overweight. :-P

Hey autumn, thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe I was lucky or too paranoid to take a chance on eating something that might upset Frankensleeve post-op. "Well I can unfortunately answer the first question. I had my sleeve December 15th and I have one time experienced what can only be dumping syndrome. Started with some cramping then before I knew it I had chest pain, nausea, light headedness and horrible pain. Lasted about 2 hours and then passed. Guess my sleeve did not like the pork my RN told me to try So no more pork and no more pain! Glad it only happened the one time so far!"

I don't have the answers to all, but I'll answer what I can. 1) Do you get dumping syndrome with the sleeve? In theory no, but some people claim to have had it. I never have experienced dumping. Dumping syndrome is the movement of food too fast from the stomach to the intestines. The pyloric valve, located between the stomach and small intestine regulates the movement of food and is still in place after being sleeved. It is bypassed in Gastric Bypass surgery, so dumping is something GB patients have to be aware of. 2) Does the sleeve make osteoporosis worse? Can't answer that one. 3) What do you take for chronic pain (like arthritis or back pain) that works? For a month or so post-op, I was told to take Tylenol for pain and to avoid NSAID based pain relievers. I've never had any problems taking any kind of over the counter pain reliever - aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, Excedrin, Tylenol. I do not take any prescription pain meds. 4) Do you suffer from Vitamin or mineral deficiency or poor nutrition from stomach being smaller? It's possible, if I were to eat unhealthy foods, but I take a Multivitamin supplement as well. I had to make a conscious decision to make good food choices post-op, not only to lose the weight, but to develop good eating habits once my sleeve had healed and I could hold more food. I started eating the diet my doc recommended right after surgery. At first, I could only hold 1/2 cup of food per meal, so I had to make the right food choices. At 6 months, I could hold a little more, and at 1 year, I could hold even more at each meal. That's why it's important to get into the habit of good eating habits. Eventually my sleeve healed and I could tolerate ANY food. It was up to me to make the right choices. And I can honestly say, everything I went through was worth it. VSG gave me a 2nd chance on life. I only regret waiting till I hit rock bottom before realizing I needed the help of VSG surgery to lose the weight. Control what you can, cope with what you can't, and concentrate on what really counts in your life. Know what matters and never give up on it.

I researched spiral slicers, but I haven't bought one yet. But if I were to choose one, it would be this one: http://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-A4982799-Tri-Blade/dp/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423620907&sr=8-3&keywords=spiral+slicer With over 4000 reviews, it's hard to fake the ratings.

Hang in there. Like everyone said, it gets better and better every day. I still remember the feeling right after surgery. It felt like an alien was trying to burst out of my chest. And I was hitting that morphine drip button like I was a contestant on the Price's Right! It will get better and it will all be worth it. I promise.

rhayla, Contrats on getting back on track. I try to handle the setbacks the way a dog handles them. Just kick some sand on that sh*t and move on! One of my mentors said, Success is not sudden or overnight. Success comes through doing the things you need to do daily, through the difficult times and the easy times. When he's feeling bad, he grinds on, when he's feeling good, he grinds on. That steady grind adds up over time and leads to success. Keep up the good work. "Thank you all - for listening, and for not hating on me. I've done much better today, and Ive got my food plan for tomorrow, so I'll be on track. I've got my lunch for tomorrow all ready to go in the morning, and I'm looking forward to getting on the treadmill in the morning. It's a lovely eye-opener!"

To give my answer... first you must know that I am a very cynical person when it comes to the diet industry. But my answer to your question is, "because if you do it on your own, no one makes any money off you." Or the doctors and dieticians have seen too many people take dieting to an extreme case, resulting in death or health problems and feel that a medically supervised diet is the only way to properly monitor such a low calorie diet. My 3rd answer is, eating 500 - 700 calories a day is only going to last a few months at most. As your sleeve heals, it's capacity will increase. At 6 months, I was probably back up to 1200+ calories a day. At 1 year, I was up to around 1500+ calories a day. At 2 years, I hover around 2000 calories a day.

You're looking great! I only wish my flabbalanche looked as good.

I was given the choice of having a catheter or making the hike from the OR waiting room to the bathroom down the hall. I hitched up my gown and drug the IV bottle down to the restroom.

My doc told me to start walking 1 hr a day, from the 1st day out of the hospital. I had my surgery on a cold wet wintry December and had to pace from room to room to get in my exercise. Of course I didn't get in a whole hour of walking per day, but I did what I could till I got back to work 2 weeks later. Then I started walking the interior perimeter of my office when on breaks or at lunch.

Here ya go. One boot to the head coming right up! :-) But, seriously, I find that the more sugar/high glycemic carbohydrates I eat, the more I crave them. It's tough to give them up. My little brain lights up with pleasure like a Christmas tree when I eat a donut or ice cream. I try my best to fill up on a dense Protein like chicken/beef/pork, then, if I still have to have the carb, I can get by with just a few bites, instead of eating the whole thing. No matter what happened yesterday, no matter what mistakes you feel you made, no matter what setbacks may have been dealt to you, no matter what obstacles you struggled with, today is a new day to start fresh, to return to your adventure, to do what matters, to change what needs changing, to improve upon old habits, and to get better.

I've tried a few kinds of Atkins bars, but I really try to get my nutrition from real food. I only use Atkins bars or any Protein bar when I'm not able to eat my normal foods and need a little something to keep me going. I have to keep Protein Bars out of the house. I'm lazy and if I have them around, I'll skip cooking and just munch on them instead. If you want to try some free Atkins bars, here's the link to it. They only ask for your email and mailing address. http://community.atkins.com/AtkinsDownloadableRegistration.aspx

My hunger pangs feel like a stabbing sensation in my sleeve. Nothing unbearable, just a bit uncomfortable. That's the only real way I know I'm hungry. I still get head hunger on occasion, but that is a totally different feeling and I can easily tell it from real hunger.

I guess I should have been more specific on the "videos" thing. :-) I was referring to discussions on video, not a live reenactment or hidden video footage... somethings even Frankensleeve can't stomach! :-P Get it, "sleeve"... "stomach"?.... Sometimes I crack myself up!!! :-)

I know someone out there must know the answer to this question about life, the universe, and everything! Why are "grocery hauls" so popular on Youtube????? Please... someone answer this. I just don't "get it". Why would anyone want to know what I'm buying at Costco/Walmart/Sams Club/Amazon?????? Why would you want a video tour of my refrigerator???? Or is knowing the answer to this question one of those, "if I told you, we'd have to kill you!" type answers?

Same deal as with Quest, but this time you only get 1 bar or 1 Protein shake. The pictures show a choice of a chocolate Peanut Butter bar or the Premier Protein chocolate shake. The page really doesn't tell you the flavor you will actually get. I'm assuming you'll get the flavor in the picture. As usual, they need your email add. and an address to deliver your goodie. After I filled in the info and clicked on the picture of the bar, a red circle was in the background behind the picture of the Protein Bar. Then I clicked the "Next" button, but nothing happened. I guess I'll have to wait for the confirmation email to be sure my free bar is on the way. https://www.premierproteinpromos.com/ShareGoodEnergyGiveaway/#entry

Just wanted to say I was never under the impression you were overfeeding a dog. If a dog is loose in the neighborhood, he's eating anything and everything he runs across. I've found that when it comes to food, all a dog wants is MORE! Please take my posts the way they were meant to be read, as comic relief. :-)

Anyone know if insurance approves the Sleeve for dogs? We may have our first Vertical Sleeve dog if you keep getting all this free food and sharing it with him. We could call him.... Frankenshepard.

Are you referring to videos or forum threads? I don't find them gross. It's a normal body function and for some reason we are embarrassed to talk about it. I guess I'm just weird, I'm interested in knowing how and why the body works - even the yucky parts. I am partial to the Zombie threads myself. Do Zombies poop?

If I had all that in front of me, I'd only be able to eat about 3/4 of the burger and take a sip or 2 of the shake and I'd be uncomfortably full. I can eat ANY of it - shake, burger, and fries - there's just not enough room in Frankensleeve for ALL of it. So I'd have to decide how much of each food I wanted before starting to eat.

I never asked my surgeon about bougie size, pre-surgery. I didn't know there were different sizes. But you might want to ask your surgeon if you can talk with some of his patients. Or show up extra early for an appointment and talk to anyone who shows up in the waiting area.

Usually, I try to fill up on Protein to train my brain to association sweet cravings with eating protein instead. But, My goto low carb sweet is sugar free Jell-O mixed with cream cheese. Recipe is very simple. 1 small box of strawberry sugar free Jell-O. 4oz of cream cheese. Mix the Jell-O according to directions and blend in the cream cheese until it is completely mixed and there are not little particles of cream cheese floating around. I usually use 2 cups of warm Water in the Jell-O rather than 1 cup cold + 1 cup hot. It makes the cream cheese easier to mix in. Put in icebox and let it set up. Serve with some Land O Lakes or Redi Whip whipped topping. Both brands only have 1 carb per serving.

Thanks for sharing your success, very inspiring.

This is a new adventure for you and you'll have to experiment (carefully) to discover what's right for you. During my 1st 2 weeks post-op, I could not eat but a tablespoon full of liquid before Frankensleeve started growling. On week 3 I was able to eat about 3/4 can of cream of mushroom Soup per day. So the main focus for me was staying hydrated. I placed that before anything else. I don't know how much I was drinking. I just sipped sipped sipped all day long. As long as I felt okay, I wasn't worried. And eating? I figured I had so many calories stored in my fat that I could survive a Zombie Apocalypse... as long as I didn't have to run from the zombies! Hang in there, you can do it. Don't be hard on yourself. Learn. Breathe. Relax. Be positive. Learn to do what is right for you. Then make the Right Decisions.