plasticbee

If you've still got your gallbladder you may want to get that looked at, it sounds similar to the pain I had when I needed mine out.

I had Dr. Deveney as well. He's extremely nice, and I found him to be very straightforward and no nonsense during my process. I have actually had a very good rapport with everyone on the team at OHSU and I'm extremely happy with their care. I hope everything went well for you, as I see your surgery was yesterday! Keep us posted!

I just got my huge (HEAVY) box of shakes last week. I got the Premier Protein chocolate/vanilla combo. I have to say they are amazingly good, and either a combination of them+time made me get off a short stall I was on. I also was approved for the scar cream -- I'm not really sure what it "does" (I mean, scar help obviously) but hey it's not going to hurt to put it on, right? Anyone been using it for a longer period of time have had any good results with it? They also sent me a sample of chewable Vitamins as I wasn't approved for them. They are pretty good -- the brand is Optisource (Citrus flavor) and is made by NestleHealthScience. No idea if these are readily available for purchase, but I know a lot of people often look for Vitamin alternatives, so I figured I'd mention. I wish I had know about this earlier in my process, I probably wouldn't have bought that Ninja blender (though it IS pretty amazing, I just find myself not using it as much now that I have the Premier Shakes and shakes from BariatricChoice.com)

I've never had the Quest. I think my gym has them so I'll have to try one. I like the Pure Protein (High Protein, it says on the package, I guess there is a lower count one?) bars. I've found them at Albertson's (PNW grocery) so far. Tried LUNABar and was very sad. That's all I've tried so far though Good luck on your bar search.

You can change the amount, it took me a while to find out how to do it too -- just select the amount and put the actual amount you ate. I also find its better to err on the side of more than less just for my calorie count now (but not something you need to worry about right away anyway). I haven't used any of the other food counter apps, but I have a few other ones I use. I have a Fitbit Aria scale, and track weight there. It syncs with www.trendweight.com (which also syncs with some other scales Withings, I think and I don't recall what else) and projects data and weight loss trends. I have a Fitbit Force -- but this has just been recalled due to skin irritation issues -- and because I have a small irritated spot, I've discontinued use of that tracker in the meantime. However, I will say that having a tracker similar to a Fitbit is EXTREMELY awesome. There are lots on the market right now. YMMV on how much data you like to have though, as I know not everyone likes the amount of data and stats I do. Good luck on your journey!

Since I know some of us have Fitbit Force, I thought this might be a good idea to let everyone know that Fitbit has voluntarily stopped selling and has issued a recall of the Fitbit Force due to the skin sensitivity issues some users have been reporting. This link has a bit more detail of the recall http://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/21/fitbit-force-recall/ And here's the link for the refund/return of your Fitbit Force. http://fitbit.expertproductinquiry.com/Force.aspx To note: You only get a refund. They are working on a different version of the Force, but its not available for purchase yet.

Thanks for keeping us updated on this. I'm curious to know how it all works out for your daughter in the end. I think everyone's brought up good points, and I know that if I had had access to the technology and the surgery when I was 13 I would have jumped at the chance. Thank you and good luck on your daughter's journey.

I too have a FitBit Force. I preferred it over the Flex, mostly because of the clock feature because my thought was -- if I am going to wear something on my wrist, it might as well have a watch feature. I originally had a Flex, and used it for a few days (Christmas Present) but found the tapping for sleep monitoring not as intuitive and easy to "start" as it is with the Force. I also like that I can see my progress directly on the Force as well, whereas on the Flex you only have those dots. I also recently purchased the Aria to sync with my Fitbit and its absolutely fantastic. If you have smartphone, I highly recommend getting some apps for your Fitbit. I use MyFitnessPal to track food simply because the database is bigger than Fitbit's, and since the programs sync, its not a big deal. I also like that MFP has a widget that I can keep on my phone screen that keeps track of calories, as well as the barcode scanner which has come in handy a few times. I prefer to track my Water through Fitbit's app, though just because it seems simpler to me. Fitbit does not currently have a widget like MFP so it was a no brainer for me to continue using MFP with the sync. I also recommend getting DriveBit (or something similar) which is a widget/app you can place on your phone and Start/Stop when you are driving (flying, etc) since occasionally Fitbit will calculate that as your actual movement. I have an Android phone, and use the DashClock app, and someone made a DashClock Fitbit extension that shows your percentage on the screen when the phone is idling -- I found that pretty nice to see at a glance as well. Also, I posted this on its own -- but if you have the Aria scale, I highly recommend www.trendweight.com which you can sync with the Aria scale and it will trend track your weight loss, and project a time towards your goal weight based on your actual weight loss. I like a lot of data, so I understand that this won't be for everyone. That said, I recommend the Aria scale highly. It was a bit pricey, but the information it gives me and the fact that I can do so much, like track my trend with weight loss is really worth the pricetag to me. For anyone concerned about the Fitbit not securing correctly, it DOES get easier with use. MIne took about a week for the snaps to go into place without a struggle. You still DO need to be careful as it is just a snap and can come off if hit the right way to pull it (I occasionally do this in my sleep when I roll over, but I sleep light and wake up and adjust it before falling back asleep), I also highly recommend getting an app or program to remind you about the low battery on the FitBit. I have one that emails me when mine is getting low, and have found that fairly useful as well.

10/1 HW/SW:352.8 CW: 300.9 GW: 140 I worry sometimes that I'm not losing fast enough even though I know people lose at different rates. It's like head hunger but about weight

I discovered an app today called TrendWeight that syncs up with a Fitbit Aria scale. I like data and tracking progression, so it's interesting to me to see what it projects every day there is a change in my weight. I know some of you guys enjoy data and stats too! Attached mine as an example of the kind of data you see. Have a lovely day!

Just to give another point of view, I had my gallbladder out in 2010 -- and it was worse pain than the VSG I just had on 10/1/13 in terms of soreness. The recovery time for the gallbladder was shorter, though. As an example, with the gallbladder surgery I could absolutely NOT get in and out of bed or lay down in bed (comfortably) for about a week, and I slept on a chair but with VSG I was able to get in and out of bed without an issue. Good luck with your surgery! Having the gallbladder out now will be a blessing later on, I hear.

Sleeved 10/1/13 at 352.8 and down to 303 as of this morning. I was just prescribed phentermine as well so hopefully that should help with more loss.

I haven't received any contact from them regarding my request. Looks like everyone else is getting pretty timely contact from them though.

Awesome. Looking forward to hearing from them then.

I'm in Portland, done at OHSU on 10/1/13. OHSU has support groups monthly. They have a mailing list you can get email reminders about them but this has been hit or miss for me lately. I know I have been able to find the group dates via the mychart website. Good luck!

I have Medco, and I just submitted. I'll let you guys know if it works. (Since I haven't see anyone mention Medco for prescription coverage)

Hi! I was sleeved on 10/1, and I'm completely new here! I was banded in 2005 in St. Louis. Banding wasn't my initial thought, but the RNY scared me a lot, so my doctor talked me into the band. While I did lose some weight initially (and then it helped keep the weight stable) it was not a good fit at all for many reasons both personal and physical. Mainly, though physically, the band ended up causing me a lot of pain in the port site. When I moved to Oregon in 2011, my now-husband insisted that I see someone about this issue that I'd been just "dealing" with for several years. I saw the wonderful doctors at OHSU and while they could find nothing inherently wrong with the band (no slipping, not too tight) we tried to work with it for a while but the pain was still there and the weight loss was still minimal. So, we removed the band in Feb '13 with an eye to do a sleeve revision. My doctor prefers to let the site heal up before doing a sleeve. I don't feel this is a bad choice, but I did gain some weight back in between the band removal and the sleeve, alas. Anyway, I just wanted to check in and say hi! I'm looking forward to getting down some pounds with you all.

Thank you. I really do feel better, I think I was just putting myself into a terrible worryspiral about it. Stupid worryspiral.

Since November 10th (there about) I've been at the same weight. Although my dietitian says we can't really call it a stall because I still see some changes in how things fit or the general feeling of my body itself, it certainly hasn't moved. I feel like I've been doing good with food -- although I won't lie and say the holidays were not a challenge, because they were and I ate things that I maybe shouldn't have and did find myself eating "just one more bite" sometimes when I normally wouldn't have. I can try to tell myself that I did much better than I would have normally in the past before surgery/therapy but it still makes me feel terrible. And I've got that terrible awful feeling of thinking "Oh god, maybe I stretched my pouch out and I'm screwed." The problem is, I don't know how to TELL if I did that. Even if I did, would it really take a few times of eating a little more than I should in 2 months? (It certainly wasn't an everyday thing). I'm going to the gym pretty regularly, and I'm trying to force myself back into smaller smaller portions (and trying to get back into doing more Protein shakes, but OMG its so hard to give up real food, even if it is just a half cup a tuna). I guess I just need to vent about it, but I am seriously concerned. I want this to work, this is for me. Super frustrated. Thanks for listening!

Thanks for the words everyone. And yes, I do see a therapist weekly. Its helped a lot, but its long process of course.

Yes, I definitely do still feel restriction when I have denser Proteins. Sets my mind a bit more at ease to think of that (which I hadn't before).

I got a gym membership a few weeks after my surgery, so I could walk despite whatever the Portland weather threw at me (read: rain). Despite my best intentions I have been in and out of still not feeling "GREAT" so I've only gone a few times. BUT! The other day another St. Louis expat who I knew tangentially on facebook and I started talking, and since she just moved here in October we decided we'd work out together. I'm super stoked about this. Accountabilly-buddy is go. Now if I can just get myself to stop comparing my weight loss to other amazing stories of weight loss and feeling inadequate about that (I know that's something I shouldn't do, but I think its human nature to do it) I'll feel ever better. Except for the blister I got on my heel from walking 2 miles in semi-loose shoes because I didn't tie them tight enough. I don't feel better about that. That one's all my bad.

Knock on wood, six weeks out I haven't had any issue with hair loss and have bleached/dyed and now just recently redyed my hair after giving it a rest from the bleach. YMMV depending on how your hair is going after the surgery anyway. I will say my hair is very dry lately, but I can't be sure if thats the bleaching process I did or something else -- time will tell on that one.

I started using Palmer's last night, recommended for stretch marks. So we'll see. It smells nice at least.