James Marusek

Congratulation on your weight loss.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery and I do not even remember what I took. It was very minimal. I think the most important thing was my wife. The hospital I was in allowed your spouse to be there overnight. She helped me get around when I did my walking every couple hours. I will recommend that when you check into the hospital make sure that they put a trapeze bar on the bed. This will help you get in and out of the bed.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. Generally I did not experience much of a problem with loose skin. The only exception was in my face. I developed these paper thin fine wrinkles that you see on people that are 100 years old. I am 67 years old so I expect some wrinkles but this was carrying it to another level. My wife suggested a product called Bio-Oil available at Walmart and CVS among other places. I tried it and the wrinkles went away. I did not experience any hair loss although several report problems in this area. I have been using a product called Juvenon Cellular Health Supplement for the past 10 years; long before this surgery. This is available for purchase over the internet. One of the side effects that I noticed was that it stopped me from going bald and also restored some of my natural color to my hair. The product contains Biotin but the main ingredients are acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) and alpha lipoic acid (ALA). It is used to restore the mitochondria. Oxygen is very destructive to human cells and the mitochondria is primarily responsible for transporting oxygen. As we age the mitrochondria tend to become leakers and this leakage is responsible for many of the adverse health conditions that we face.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. I put my experiences in a short article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

As you lose weight, the chemicals and hormones that were stored in your fat cells are being released into your body. These will pass through your kidneys and are expelled in your urine. But they can generate a flush of hormones during the weight loss phase. They should simmer down once you transition into maintenance. It is important to meet your daily Fluid requirements, because it take fluids to flush these hormones from your system. Also you might want to drink filtered Water instead of tap water during this phase.

If it was me, I would tell her. Perhaps she would join you in exercising. And your eating habits changed perhaps she would like to be part of that too. I would even take her along to some Bariatric Surgery Support Group meetings.

I parked my car at the border crossing. But that was over 30 years ago and I did not park it overnight. It was safe back then but I do not know about now.

After surgery, I found that I could no longer swallow medium to large size pills, so I used pill splitters and pill crushers. The Citrical's (calcium) were the worse. I had to crush them and put them in a glass of Crystal Light. And then drink it. But the Calcium did not dissolve well in Water, so I had to fill the glass a couple more times with Crystal Light and gulp it down. Generally I did not have a problem with the Flintstone chewable. They went down easy.

From what I heard from those that underwent plastic surgery, the pain levels they experience from plastic surgery was greater than the pain levels from RNY gastric bypass surgery.

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. It is common to do a little experimentation after surgery. That is how we learn. Some people can tolerate anything after surgery while others have problems and can tolerate very little. Weight loss is achieved during the short weight loss phase through meal volume control. The two operative words here are short and volume. So if you want to maximize your weight loss during this phase, you need to adhere to the program guidelines. I slid into the maintenance phase at 7 months. At 40 pounds down at the end of 8 weeks, it sounds like a success. One thing to do now at this stage is to assess your protein intake. Your protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). Since your meal volume is beginning to increase, that also means that the amount of protein from meals is increasing, especially if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. Therefore you could be able to reduce your reliance on supplements and the calories they contain. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass, and I have blood work done once per year. I understand at the end of 5 years, the surgeon will discontinue this and turn it over to my primary care physician. I do not recall if I had any blood work accelerated during the first year or not. If so, there may have been blood work drawn at the 6 month appointment.

Prior to surgery, I never really, really looked at myself. Or if I did look in a mirror, I only saw myself straight on. Therefore I did not see the amount of weight I was gaining. Since I was the photographer in the family, I rarely appeared in photographs. So it was really important that I took a good before photograph so that I could witness the changes that took place after surgery. This is my before photograph compared with my six month post-op photo.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, the three most important requirements are meeting your daily Protein, fluids and Vitamins requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, weight loss is achieved through meal volume control. Initially that is 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal. Over the next year and a half that increased to 1 cup per meal. So the focus should be on protein, fluids and vitamins. It appears that you are having difficulties with these. There are many possible causes. The two main ones are strictures and ulcers. Here is an article that describes both. http://bariatric.stopobesityforlife.com/obesity-surgery/correcting-obesity/bariatric-surgery-risks/ulcers-or-strictures/

It may be that your medical issues are causing your continued weight loss and that if those issues are treated or corrected all will fall into place. This article describes my approach to the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf I am almost your height. We had surgery at almost the same time. I dropped down to near 140 but then decided that the best weight to maintain was 150 (the high side of normal after reviewing the mortality tables). So that is where I am now. It wasn't hard for me to gain some weight back. Sugar was my kryptonite. The holiday season was upon me and I partook of a few Cookies, candies and cakes and then I was 150. But sugar is my addiction and I had to go cold turkey after the holidays and that was easier said than done. So I am not sure that would be the approach to use in your case especially because I don't know what other conditions you are battling.

It sounds like you are on the way. You might pick up a pill crusher and a pill splitter if you do not currently have one. After surgery your taste buds may change. So be prepared to experiment until you find a Protein shake that you can tolerate. Sometimes you can get your hands on sample packs or go to GNC and pick up some singles. Protein daily requirement is important. They gave me a small plastic spoon at the hospital. But after a few months I went out and purchased a small metal spoon. Even at 3 years post-op, I still use it all the time. In many states, they have centers of excellence for bariatric surgery. These are like the full meal deal. They cover all the bases. It is more than just surgery. You should also eventually go through almost a full day of training. To begin with they schedule almost a full day of pre-op testing. It is only in the areas that the surgeon has some concern after the pre-op tests that they progress to more specialized testing such as EKGs, Ct Scans, pulmonologist for sleep apnea. I would also recommend that you start attending Bariatric Surgery Support Group meetings. Generally these are held once per month and are free.

It's a pity that you cannot even Celebrate Bastille Day anymore. "At least 30 dead, 100 injured after truck [intentionally] drives into Bastille Day crowd in Nice [France]". http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/07/14/at-least-30-dead-100-injured-after-truck-drives-into-bastille-day-crowd-in-nice.html This was after he fired shots into the crowd.

Here is another article about the dangers of Pokemon Go. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/07/14/death-by-pokemon-public-safety-fears-mount-as-pokemon-go-craze-continues.html

I would probably discourage you from having the band. Many doctors are phasing out lap-band surgery because of problems. You will probably have 3 choices: RNY, Sleeve and Duodenal Switch. If you have severe acid reflux (GERD), generally the sleeve is not recommended because it can make that condition worse. Listen to the advise of the surgeon and the rationale of why he recommended that type of surgery.

But remember situational awareness. Caution, be aware of your surroundings. In their enthusiasm, some people are walking out into the middle of a busy street with their eyes glued to Pokemon app on their smartphone. In Saint Louis, some teenagers/young men were robbing individuals by setting them up by planting a Pokemon node to lure individuals to a spot where they could rob them. I thought I read that the game had a maximum speed limit to prevent individuals from trying to play while they were driving. Well apparently in Syracuse, New York, someone did just that and ran into a tree. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/14/driver-collides-with-tree-while-playing-pokemon-go.html So remember "Be safe, Walk happy"!

Congratulations.

Generally my weight will fluctuate a pound or two during the day. As a result I always weight myself first thing in the morning before breakfast and butt naked. Clothes can easily add 5 pounds to my weight. After surgery, I found that my weight fluctuated too much. It was a bad scale. I could stand on it two times in a row and get variations, sometimes as much as 5 pound variations. So I threw that scale away and found a better one. I found one that was repeatable, one that was accurate to 0.2 pounds increments, and one that also had a large visible reading so that I did not have to bend down to see the numbers. The brand I selected was "beurer Model BF66". I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Oh, one other thing, you might check the batteries in your current scale before you throw it out. Sometimes when the batteries get weak, just before they die, scales can give erroneous readings.

Since there are several types of surgeries, which one does he/she recommend for you and why.

Vitamin tablet vs. Liquid Vitamins Sometimes it is hard to determine how much is hype or a marketing ploy. Here is a good discussion on this controversy. http://www.allstarhealth.com/blog/products-and-ingredients/tablets-capsules-liquids-powders-chewables/

It sound like a real problem. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/AboutArrhythmia/Bradycardia-Slow-Heart-Rate_UCM_302016_Article.jsp#.V4annVdgr8s I wish you a good outcome.

I transitioned from the weight loss phase into the maintenance phase quite naturally. The weight loss just tapered off at around 7 months. Your goal weight is just an artificial number. I think my surgeon and I agreed at a goal weight of 190 pounds. But in the end I dropped to near 140. So I wouldn't advise to try and stop it. Just let it run its course. This is the approach that I used in the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. Mini-gastric bypass is a different type of surgery. But there are similarities between the two.