James Marusek

One individual in our Bariatric Support Group Meeting had a revision because his band began to erode into his stomach. He had to have it removed. This condition is very dangerous. When it was gone he gained a significant amount of weight back. He had a RNY. Because of the scarring his pouch was a little smaller than most patients. This limited his food intake a little. He lost a lot of weight and was very pleased with the results. He said he would do it (the revision) again in a minute.

Throughout my life when profound events happen, my eyes seem to become recalibrated. When my wife became pregnant, whenever we went shopping, we would see every pregnant lady in the store. When we had a newborn baby, our sights locked onto every baby we came across. They just stood out among the crowd. Now that I have lost a lot of weight, my wife and I automatically notice every overweight person that crosses our path. Does anyone else notice this? It sort of brings home the point that there is an obesity epidemic in our society.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you come home from the hospital.

This is really a personal decision which only you can make. Some people tell almost no one others tell everyone. I am the latter. What I found was that in general most people support the decision while others are curious about the procedure. The only negative comments came from my mother. I think the reason why hers were negative is that she is old and relies on me for help and anything that might threaten this help was perceived as a threat. So I can understand this and as a result do not take offense to her comments. I have attended a number of Bariatric Surgery Support Group Meetings. One of the interesting things of note is that many who attend these meeting are nurses. So individuals from the medical community who choose this WLS are practicing what they preach. It's a good sign.

The typical symptoms are a disproportionately large lower half and column-like legs, which are often tender and bruise easily. For example, the top half of your body may be a size 8, but the bottom half may be a size 16. As the condition progresses, fat continues to build up, and your lower body grows heavier. Over time, expanding fat cells block the vessels of your lymphatic system, which normally helps balance body Fluid levels and protect against infection. This blockage prevents the proper drainage of lymph fluid, leading to a buildup of fluid called lymphedema. If not treated, lymphedema can lead to problems such as infections, delayed wound healing, development of scar-like tissue called fibrosis, and loss of function in the legs.

Inbal Golomb and colleagues from Bellinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel. examined data from 443 patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) between 2006 and 2013; the surgery on all the patients was performed by the same team of surgeons. Compared to initial levels, the researchers found that one year after surgery, patients had complete remission of type 2 diabetes (51 percent), hypertension (46 percent), hypercholesterolemia (40 percent), and hypertriglyceridemia (72 percent). However, by 5 years following surgery, these remission rates were 20, 46, 26, and 72 percent respectively. Many of the patients with type 2 diabetes (65 percent at one year and 56 percent by 5 years post surgery) were able to stop using medications for the disease. Similarly, the effect of LSG on body weight waned over time. Initially, the average body weight was 262 lb; at 1, 3 and 5 years post surgery it was 180, 185 and 196 lb respectively. http://acsh.org/2015/08/not-all-types-of-bariatric-surgery-are-equally-effective-long-term/

I found that soft foods such as chili and Soups went down much easier than hard foods such as steaks. I have included a couple recipes in the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf In the beginning most of your daily Protein comes from protein supplements. It is imperative that you find a Protein shake that you can tolerate. So experimentation is a must here. Later as you derive more and more protein from your meals, you can decrease your dependency on Protein shakes. Also soon you should be able to tolerate another form of protein supplements called Protein Bars. I use Quest protein bars especially when I am on the go.

After surgery my taste buds changed. I loved to drink ice Water before surgery. But after surgery it tasted like strong chlorine. I found that flavored water worked for me (Crystal Light). Experiment until you find something that you can tolerate.

I have not heard of this. It seems at my hospital, they are into research studies. I volunteered to be one of their subjects.

Your Protein requirement is the combination of the protein you obtain from meals combined with the protein from protein supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). Since you are at 12 weeks post-op, your meal volume allotment if you are concentrating on high protein meals can contribute substantially to meeting your protein requirement. As such, it allows you the option of reducing the number of protein shakes you need to drink each day and also the calories these Protein drinks contain. For me, my weight loss leveled off. I dropped off a Protein shake and my weight loss picked up again.

Congratulations. Way to go!

For some reason when I tried to post my photo, I couldn't get it to load properly. Probably because my computer was too old. My before and after photo is posted here. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Operation.jpg This was 6 months post-op. Since that time I lost another 15 pounds.

Several individuals who had RNY surgery had issues with hypoglycemia after surgery. It affected both those who had diabetes before surgery and those that did not. I don't know about sleeve patients. Usually once someone has an issue with hypoglycemia where their blood sugar get so low that they faint, then they take the appropriate steps to manage it when they feel another episode coming on. These are a few of the steps you might follow: Take 3 or 4 glucose tablets 1 serving of glucose gel—the amount equal to 15 grams of carbohydrate 1/2 cup, or 4 ounces, of any fruit juice 1 cup, or 8 ounces, of milk 5 or 6 pieces of hard candy 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey This condition can also be caused by those who were diabetic prior to surgery and taking diabetic medicine. And then after surgery when their blood sugar level normalized failed to reduce or eliminate their blood sugar medicine. Since your surgery date was October 2013, I suspect that is not your case.

I am sorry to hear about all your problems with your lap band. One individual in our bariatric support group had a lap band to RNY revision. His band began eroding into his stomach. So it had to go. When they did a RNY, his pouch was slightly smaller than most RNY patients because of the scarring. It meant he had to eat a little less than most. He lost a lot of weight and was very pleased with his revision.

In my case, it took about a year from consultation until surgery. But most of the delay was caused by my insurance. Some insurance policies have a 2 tier requirement for approval. For example my policy reads: Surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric surgery) is covered only if: - eligible enrollee is 18 or over - clinical records support a body mass index of 40 or greater (or 35-40 when there is at least one co-morbidity related to obesity). So in your case with a BMI of 43.9 you would qualify for the surgery even without a medical condition (co-morbidity) if you had my insurance policy. If you are paying for the surgery out of pocket, it will cut down on most of the delays. Generally after your initial consultation with the surgeon, these are the following steps: Visit with the psychologist Half day of pre-op tests Half day of bariatric surgery classes Second round of pre-op tests with specialist in the field if any problems uncovered in the first round of pre-op testing. Pre-op diet and then surgery. My pre-op diet was very short, only a couple days. But some doctors require a week or two. If you are trying to prepare for gastric bypass surgery, I would recommend the following: Begin a walking regime of 30 minutes per day. It will significantly help with the recovery process. Give up caffeine and carbonated beverages. If you use caffeine, you may suffer withdrawal syndrome (severe headaches/body aches) that might last a week because of the addition.

Well if it is a one-time thing, probably not to worry.

Good luck on your surgery. After the operations try and walk as much as possible (once every 2 hours) to get the kinks out. The popsicles will taste good.

Good news. Good luck on your surgery. Here are some suggestions: Take an unflattering before photograph of yourself. Later when the weight is off, take an after photo. You and everyone you show it to will be astonished. Thirty minutes of walking everyday. This will help the recovery process immensely. If you drink caffeinated drinks, cut that out now. I gave up my 6 Coke a day habit cold-turkey. I suffered through a week of withdrawal syndrome (very bad headaches). It is better to get that over with now, than compound it with the effects of surgery.

First off, I would recommend you use Protein bars. I like Quest. (They don't melt.) They are my go-to protein supplement when I travel. I usually order these by the box over the internet. Although your NUT says use these sparingly, this 5-day trip is probably an exception. Protein is more important than doing without. I agree with you that the meals offered by your coach are probably not in your best interest. At 2 months post-op RNY, your meal volume is still relatively small. So long as you can get your protein in through supplements, food is secondary. Even an apple might do as a meal. Next, when I eat out, the easiest foods are chili (such as at Wendy's), crunchy tacos (at Taco Bell) and many Soups. Generally when I am on a trip or eating out, I tend to lose weight.

I had the surgery primarily because of medical issues. All these problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure have been building up over the years and now my body was starting to break down. The surgery threw all these conditions into remission. Just like that! Within days! So I was overjoyed. The added benefits were I lost 115 pounds and kept it off. I had more stamina (the ability to perform physical labor). And I could once again go to a normal department store and buy the latest fashions. I guess I am not a ball of emotions. Probably quite the opposite! I let logic rule!

When I eat a meal just before bedtime, I find that the digestive system does't work well. The meal sits heavy in my stomach and I wake up wanting to vomit. Apparently vertical is better than horizontal. So I get up in the middle of the night and read my emails or watch TV for a couple hours until the feeling goes away. Anyways I try and make it a point to not eat immediately before bedtime. I have to give it a couple hours to settle.

Generally they want to know if there are any underlying psychological issues behind your weight gain and whether you have the fortitude to stay with the program.

I guess there are all types of hunger. Before surgery, I was constantly hungry. When I sat down to eat, I was already focused on what was I going to eat for my next meal. You might say hunger was constantly gnawing at my bones. After surgery, my hunger completely disappeared. It wasn't hard to lose weight when there was no hunger. Some people talk about "head hunger". This is an imaginary hunger. It resides in dreamland. You remember how good something tasted before surgery and then crave the taste. Over the past few years, I had a few bouts of head hunger. Normally I give in to it and once I eat whatever I was hungry for, I noticed that it no longer tasted good anymore. I am 29 months post-op RNY and my former hunger has not returned. In a sense, I pre-opted it. After I reached the maintenance phase I began to include fats back into my diet because fats take away hunger. At least that works for me. I don't think the gurgling sounds are hunger.

Congratulations on your overall weight loss. It is impressive.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you get on the other side.