Just got sleeved Thurs. morning, Aug 9th 2012. My hospital/*** was at Kaiser West L.A. My surgeon is Dr. Um. I started with the Kaiser 12-week program, "Options" dedicated to providing the patient with Bariatric alternatives including diet and surgery info. I'm 5'10" with a muscular build. I started at 269 lbs. and lost 26 lbs..... (Their recommendation to help shrink the fatty liver prior to surgery.) I didn't consider myself as morbidly obese, but I had been diagnosed with Diabetes 2 one year earlier. I had noticed some neuropathy in the front pad of my right foot, and frequent night-time urination told me I might be Diabetic. That was about 6 months prior to diagnosis, so, approx. 1 and a half years of Diabetes before surgery.... So on surgery day I was down to 243.2 lbs. I don't really care about any big weight loss, just want to get off the Diabetes meds. I lost 83 lbs. in 4 months about 13 years ago on phen-fen. I loved it but now there's confusion about the drug and weight doctors push other less effective drugs on you..... The operation and over-might stay were so painful that I thought I'd made a mistake. Today I feel slightly better, enough to think I'll be thankful for this down the road... I'm off the meds, (Two 5 mg glipizides per day....One 850 metformin per day....and One 20mg simvastatin for cholesterol...) since Wed. night before the operation. I haven't checked my blood sugar as I ran out of test strips last week. The new ones should be here Monday. I'm not worried though. I haven't eaten solid food since Wed. night. The cramping is the worst, followed by the acid reflux. The actual holes from the oper. are surprisingly okay, but I have interior stomach soreness when getting up or lying down. Gotta move slow..... I researched "Surgery for Diabetes" and I know that the Gastric by-pass is the best chance for Diabetes remission at over 90% but I switched to the sleeve (47%) before the op. I just couldn't get on board with the severity of the by-pass. The cost of supplements due to mal-absorption and the even more rigid lifestyle change needed were too much for me. My surgeon thinks that my age and relative newness to the disease should be enough to knock it down. I also know that there are new drugs in developement all the time, and I could still do the by-pass later if I had to....That's it...Time will tell! Bob
