Maralinga

Hello everyone, I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I've been lurking on the boards for 6 months now. I'm male, 46 years old, BMI 44. I've had a heart attack and bypass surgery, sleep apnea and a history of DVT's and PE's. I want to thank all the folks who have contributed here. I have found this site to be a treasure of information and I feel very well prepared for my WLS thanks to you. I completed my 6 month medically supervised weight loss program earlier this month and my insurance was just submitted to Premera Blue Cross. I'm having gastric bypass and my surgeon Jeffery Hunter at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. I've spend a lot of time researching WLS and I feel like I know what's ahead of me. Right now I'm feeling a weird mix of excitement and nervousness. Tony

I'm am very excited. I also a little nervous about making changes to the way I eat for the rest of my life, but I just remind myself of the health consequences of not having WLS and I know I've made the right choice. The six month medically supervised weight loss program was great. It is run by the bariatric surgery center of excellence at my hospital. It really gave me an opportunity to learn and practice all the new behaviors I'll need after the surgery (protein first, chewing my food, eating slowly, regular exercise etc). Tony

My insurance was approved today and my surgery scheduled for June 24! I'm really excited to get this journey underway.

How many times during the day do you need to take Vitamins after DS surgery? I haven't decided which surgery to get yet (between VSG and DS). I'll have no problems being compliant taking vitamins once per day in the morning. However, I am concerned that I'll have to take vitamins multiple times during the day if I get DS. I have a very busy life and I'm not certain I would remember to take them throughout the day. It seems to me from the reading the DS forum that some people are taking vitamins throughout the day. Any help is appreciated. Tony

Thanks for all your advice everyone. This was very helpful. I'm going to start taking calcium 3 x day now to try and get in the habit, no matter what surgery I choose.

I've had DVT's and PE's. I haven't had my surgery yet but I've had other surgeries. Like Sophie said, they switch me from coumadin tabs to lovenox shots just before the surgery then switch back to coumadin tabs after the surgery. As long as they monitor your INR just before and after the surgery I dont think its a big issue for you. I had a home INR testing machine (because i have trouble staying in therapeutic range) so its easy for me to keep tabs on my INR,

Pdxman, I agree we are not here to attack other members. I did look at the links. One of them is a you tube video - that's not research that proves WLS causes cancer. Another link is to a post by member - again that's not research to proves WLS causes caner. The first link does link to a powerpoint that does include real research. I looked up some of the studies on pubmed and I couldn't find one study that was designed to prove of disprove whether banding/sleeve causes cancer and I couldn't find one study that concluded WLS causes cancer. Harringm - I'm sorry I shouldn't have said you made it up. I just don't think the research you linked to proves what you say it does.

Harringm, I think you are making that up. Typically these studies are might indicate a correlation between X and Y but they dont prove X causes Y. People who have WLS might have another condition (such as obesity) they increases their risk for cancer. If you know these studies can you quote from there where the researchers conclude " " ? I am sorry you had a bad outcome with your surgery but I that doesn't justify misrepresenting research. I encourage you to share your experiences with this community. If those experiences include reading the research for yourself, you would do the community a great service by quoting for us what the researchers actually concluded in the studies you mentioned. Since I haven't had surgery yet, I would love to be be proven wrong. Harringm said: "All i'm saying is studies are now revealing that the surgies for BAND & SLEEVE are proven to have caused an increase in esophageal cancer."

I use the fenugeek seeds in Indian recipes as part of the masala. I haven't tried using the leaves.