Oregon Rose

We often eat at the home of friends. Since my VSG I have been taking much smaller portions and spreading them around the plate so it looks like the plate has food on it. I eat slowly and stop when I am full. No one seems to notice how much food I am eating or not eating. Isn't that amazing?

One summer in my early teens, I came home famished. Some meat was simmering on the stove. I was so hungry, I started eating it without asking if I could. It turned out to be some very cheap horse meat that my mother bought for the dog. My brother made fun of me for years over eating the dog's horse meat. So...I can truly say I have eaten dog food!

Dear Joon- I'm glad you are having surgery. You said money was not the only consideration. So, I am wondering why your are having surgery in Mexico? I decided to have VSG surgery after reading a ton of medical journals on Bypass, Band, VSG, et. (I am a biochemist - medicine is a related field.) Once I decided that I wanted VSG, I immediately called LapSF and asked if they took out of state patients. Jossart & Cirangle of San Francisco are two of the pioneers of this surgery and are highly respected internationally. I had read their published research results (which included complication rates.) Jossart & Cirangle have VSG complication rates at the lower end of those published in the medical journals. You will not find anyone better or more experienced to do your surgery anywhere in the world. Mexican surgeons never have any complications. This is because they have a culture of telling people what they want to hear No respectable medical journal would believe a doctor who said he never had any complications. Why should anyone else? I traveled to San Francisco to have my surgery because of Dr. Jossart's reputation and experience. My total cost for the surgery and 1 year follow-up care from the doctor and dietician was $17,300. This is not as cheap as surgery in Mexico, but what kind of follow-up care are you going to get from Mexico? $17,300 is less than half of what the cost would have been here in Oregon. In addition, the surgeons in Oregon have much less experience with VSG. California Pacific Medical Center in SF is first rate. The nursing staff was very attentive. The place was very clean and sanitary. The staff was on top of everything. I understand that serious financial constraints compel some people to go to Mexico for surgery. But, if that isn't the issue, why would you choose to go to a country where the sanitation is terrible and corruption is rampant? Why not have THE BEST surgeon and the best care available anywhere in the world? Money doesn't grow on trees. But...this is irreversible and major surgery. Best wishes,

Bob- Congradulations! You deserve an I-Touch! Here are some of my successes: Lost 2.5 sizes in clothes (its difficult being between sizes isn't it?) No longer need lipitor to control my cholesterol No longer need TriCor to control my triglycerides No longer need one of my two blood pressure meds (still need the other one, but I am confident that with additional weight loss that will be unnecessary soon as well.) My knees have been hurting less Best wishes and keep up the good work!

Norma- So sorry about the knee. Know that you will lose weight with or without serious exercise. You could start doing upper body exercises/weight lifting while you are waiting for your knee to heal. But don't get discouraged. Just having had the surgery, you will be starting to shrink. Best wishes,

Does the price you are being quoted for surgery in Houston include everything: the surgeon, anesthesiologist, hospital stay, operating room, and pathologist? If so, the price is quite good. If not... I paid $17,500 (included everything except airfare and hotel) for surgery in San Francisco. My surgeon was one of the pioneers in this procedure and has enormous experience. The price for the surgery in Portland (where the surgeons have only been doing VSG for about a year) is $35,000. Hotels in SF are really cheap now because of the recession. The surgeons at Lap. Assoc. of San Francisco arranged for special rates with all of the other providers to bring the cost down. I believe the surgeon also charged a reduced rate. This made it much more affordable. Best wishes,

You are worth it! And tell your husband that you need to lose weight for your health! Its not about looks, its about getting your health back. Best wishes,

Dear Wishing Hope- I'm curious why they don't want you on Weight Watchers. You will have to ask and let us know. There is nothing wrong with WW if it works for you. A lot of insurance companies want 6 months to a year of documented weight loss being attempted immediately before surgery. Perhaps they prefer you to be on their program so they can make more money? Some surgeons may want to see you try to lose weight under their program so they know that you are really serious about conforming to the dietary necessities after surgery. Could it be related to this? Also, you have to be above a certain BMI for you insurance to approve surgery. Maybe they don't want you losing weight before the surgery? At the end of the day, very few insurance companies will pay for VSG. After 6 months in the "documented weight loss attempt program," I found out I had wasted my time. I did a lot of research and decided that VSG was much better than Band or Bypass. My insurance company would pay for the Band or the Bypass. But why get a second best operation? This left me self-pay. Self-pay patients do not have to wait. Find out right off the bat if your insurance company will pay for VSG before you waste a lot of time. Also, find out what their reasons are for diet matters. Wishing you all the best. Keep us posted.

Dear Andre- Its really important to do some walking everyday. Even if its just around your house. You can do some laps up and down your hall. In the hospital they had me up to walk 4 or 5 times during the day. This is to prevent blood clots from forming. The risk of blood clots is greatest during the 1st month after surgery. My Protein drink of choice is Syntrax Nectar: Fuzzy Navel and Capuccino flavors. I buy it from vitacost.com. I don't know if it is available in South Africa. If you are not lactose intolerant Syntrax Matrix is also a good choice. It is important to get in about 70 grams of protein every day while you are losing weight. This is because the body will draw on both muscle tissue and fat to make up your calorie deficit. In order to get it to burn more fat and less muscle is the following: 1. High protein intake - 70 grams/day 2. Weight lifting/strengthening exercises - do this to the point of muscle fatigue. Rest one day. Then repeat the next. If you do weight lifting everyday, it will actually break down your muscles. The one day rest is needed to increase/maintain your muscles. I do lower body strengthening exercises (abs on down) one day. The next day while the lower body is resting, I do upper body. When I exercise the abs, I don't do crunches. I lift feet with knees bent, lift straight legs, put legs up on wall and lift off the wall. This way you are not compressing the area of surgery. Doing the lower body exercises is quite a challenge because I have a lot of pain in my knee. But - there are different ways to exercise each muscle and I have found ways! I too slept about 20 hours/day the first week after surgery. I was very weak for about a month. My stamina is much better now. I will be 8 weeks out tomorrow. Be sure to consume only Protein drinks for 2-3 weeks. You wouldn't want to risk a leak. solid food can cause the staple line to rupture. After that, I had pureed chicken Soup, non-fat no sugar yoghurt, scrambled egg, and cottage cheese for several weeks. I could only eat 1/4C before I was full. If you eat too much (this is easy to do if you eat too quickly,) you will vomit. So now my routine is three small meals (now I can eat about 1/3C) and 2 protein drinks per day. This gets me up to about 500 calories, 70 grams of protein. I do count my calories, protein, carbohydrates, and Water. As soon as you aren't counting (or at least estimating - which you have to do if you eat away from home) your calories, you will surely consume more than you intended. Stay away from carbohydrates as much as possible. These break down in your stomach really fast and absort really well. They don't give you the same feeling of fullness that a protein meal does. Be sure to take your Vitamins regularly for the rest of your life. Be sure to get at least 64 oz of water/fluid each day. (I wasn't able to drink more than about 40 oz of Fluid during the first week, but after that 64 oz was no problem.) I did feel some nausea for a long time after surgery. It wasn't too bad. Diarrhea is also very common during the first month after surgery. Give yourself about a month. You will be feeling a lot better. Congratulations on your surgery and hope you are feeling better soon.

Dear ThinOneDay- Your doctor sounds incompetent. Doesn't she know all of the adverse health consequences and premature mortality statistics attached to obesity. This isn't about looks (as your doctor implied.) You need a brand new doctor! I have a lot of knee pain. Although osteoarthritis is inherited, being overweight causes it to accelerate. My knee surgeon told me he wouldn't do knee surgery until I lost weight. How are you supposed to lose weight when you can't exercise or hardly even walk without being in terrible pain? When it hurts to walk, the quality of life is very limited. I looked very presentable when I was heavier. I will look very presentable when I am thinner. This isn't about looks. I decided to have the surgery because I am tired of living with pain everyday. I am tired of not being able to walk anywhere because the pain is too great. I am tired of all the things I can't do because of my pain. My plan is to get the weight off and have knee replacement surgery. Then I will have my health back. I will be able to live life almost unrestricted. (You can't jog or do any kind of high impact dancing or aerobics after knee replacement. You can do non high impact dancing, aerobics, hiking, etc.) Here's to getting our health and our lives back! :001_wub:

You have the right to choose your surgeon. You also have the right to choose a different primary care physician. Your PCP should support you in your health needs. Perhaps instead of being afraid of your PCP, you should think about the fact that you are the customer and your PCP is either going to provide you with the health care service you need or you will find another. Even if you have company provided health care, you are the one paying the doctor. That health care if a part of you wages. In another vain, I'm quite sure that many physicians grossly inflate the number of VSGs they have done. VSG has only been around about 9 years. In those 9 years, how many self-pay patients are there? About 2%! To be sure, the earliest pioneers of this procedure have done slightly more than 700 VSGs. None of the Mexican surgeons were pioneers of this procedure. Don't believe everything you hear. To get your business, some people will tell you what you want to hear. Some cultures are more inclined to do this than others. If you do the math, most surgeons probably do no more than 12 surgeries per week at most. 12 x 50 weeks per year x 2% self-pay VSGs gives you 12 VSGs per year. The remaining surgeries are Bypass or Band. This surgery has only become popular in the last 3 years. I'm sure some Mexican surgeons (because of price) get a disproportionate share of VSGs because most insurance companies do not want to pay for this surgery. My surgeon (one of the early pioneers) arranged for reduced surgeon, hospital, anesthesiologist, and pathology fees for self-pay patients. This made having surgery in the U.S. much more affordable. Dr. Aceves does seem to have a very good reputation and has done surgery on many of the people on this web site. Best wishes to you,

Hi SuzKelly- I really feel for you. I felt like I had to jump through hoops, and I felt jerked around when I was trying to qualify for my wonderful insurance benefits. I had to go through a six months documented weight loss program. During the time I was trying to qualify for the 'benefits," I did a lot of reading on the various bariatric procedures available. Of the procedures available, my insurance company would only cover the Band, Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass, and an outdated technique that no self-respecting surgeon would do anymore. So around the sixth month and 17 pounds of weight loss, I decided that VSG was the best procedure out there, and my best chance for losing the weight and KEEPING IT OFF! People with he Band and Gastric Bypass still have all of their stomachs. Their bodies can produce lots of ghrelin which makes one very hungry. With VSG most of the stomach is removed. Even if our bodies compensate by producing more ghrelin in the remaining stomach, I don't think it will be able to produce enough to make us as hungry and the Band and Bypass people get after a year or so. So, I decided to self-pay. Fortunately, we have very little debt. Since you have a lot of debt, it seems you best choice is to try to fight the insurance company. Try to document as many co-morbidities as you can and get started on your six month documented weight loss attempt. Some insurance companies are starting to cover VSG, but not most. You might find out by posting a query on this web site which insurance companies have paid for VSG. Naming the other insurance companies that are covering this procedure might aid your argument with your insurance company. Best wishes for success with your insurance company!

Hi AJW- That's fantastic. Keep up the good work! Best wishes,

Congratulations Shanda! Glad to hear things are going to well for you! Thanks for the post on the Protein drink. I think I will try that too. By the way, I really like Bari Wise Pineapple-Orange (aka Health Wise Pineapple-Orange.) I ordered it from dietdirect.com also. Best of everything,

Weight plateaus have a lot to do with water weight. Water weight can vary by as much as 10 pounds. So if you aren't losing weight, but are eating a low number of calories and exercising, you are probably losing fat but retaining more water.

Hey, many of you on this thread are really close to your surgery date. Here's wishing all of you the very best surgery and a quick recovery. Let us know how you are doing!

Wow, Mac that's really interesting about the acid reflux making you more hungry. Remind me again in a year when I'm thinner and think I can go off of nexium.

Hi Shanda- Be sure to give yourself some time. I'm almost one month out, and I still don't feel anywhere back to 'normal." The first two weeks I felt out of sorts because of the drastic dietary changes, but I seem to have adjusted to the new diet and feel just fine. I'm still feeling fatigued (but it gets better day by day.) I am much more lactose intolerant than before. I was doing better for about 5 days. Then I forgot and drank some Premier Protein. I had two days of running back and forth to the bathroom. My two lowest incisions are still sensitive so I don't want anything tight around my waist. I'm sleeping more. I still feel a little nauseated if I drink a little too much Water at a time. Its just going to take time. BUT, I'M REALLY HAPPY WITH MY WEIGHT LOSS!!! And that's why I had the surgery. I want my health back, and I'm taking it back! Best wishes,

Hi Shanda- Congratulations on your surgery. I think people generally tend to be more grouchy when they aren't feeling well (such as after surgery.) Then there is the whole female hormone :crying:thing which men will never understand. You remember how your clotting times got whacked out before surgery while you were pre-dieting? Then you had shots to correct it. Now you've had anesthesia, surgery, other medications for pain, etc. In addition, you are not consuming the same number of calories as you did before. Your carbohydrate, fat, and Protein intake has all been altered. All of that has got to have an effect on your female hormones. Give your body some time to adjust to the shock its been through. All of this will pass. My very best,

I bought two cotton jersey long night gowns with sleeves because I was afraid of elastic around my waist after surgery. Boy was I glad I did. My lowest incision near my waist hurt the worst and is still very tender. I also brought a dress and slip. I wore it home from the hospital, to my post-op doctor's appointment, and on my flight home. There is no way I would have wanted elastic anywhere near my waist. Be sure to wear below the waist panties. If you don't have a dress, just buy something cheap or wear supper, super lose pants. The bra was never an issue for me.

Hi Texas T- I was also a self-pay because my insurance company wouldn't pay for the VSG. Like you I was worried that if I had a complication, it could be devastating financially. However, my surgeon was very experienced, and I was fine. If your surgeon has substantial experience doing VSG, I think the chances of complications are very, very low.

If you think British food is bland, you should try the food in New Zealand. I thought English, Irish, and Scottish food was bland, but the kiwis give new meaning to the word! Beautiful, beautiful scenery, though.

The elliptical cross trainer is a lot easier on the joints than running.

Counting calories is no fun, but it works. Some of us got heavy in the first place because we had slow metabloic rates. Others because they ate and drank things loaded with calories. If we really want to lose the weight and keep it off, we need to be either counting calories or approximating our calories every day. Also, the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn. I am one of those with a slow metabolic rate. At a BMI of 25, I will only burn 1294 calories. Therefore, I already know I will need to limit my calories. The sleeve should help with portion size. But lets face it, if someone is going to load up on high calorie foods, they are either not going to lose weight or not going to keep it off. The sleeve isn't going to do everything for us. It is only going to help us. In addition to watching the calorie content of our food, maybe we need to limit the portion size as well. Everyone is different, but I think a little fear can be a good thing. My doctor said "Weight is gained 50 calories at a time." I think this is really an important fact to remember. Best wishes,

Shanda- Woo Hoo!!! :cursing: By now you are a sleeved woman. I am SO HAPPY for you. How are you feeling?