JamieLogical

I chose VSG. I didn't choose RNY because: I didn't like the additional potential for leaks associated with RNY. The more they disconnect and reconnect, the more chances there are for leaks. I REALLY didn't like the idea of the bypassed part of my stomach still just sitting inside me. What if I got ulcers or had other issues with that old stomach? Not being able to reach it with a normal endoscopy scared me. I wanted to eventually be able to eat whatever I wanted, just in smaller quantities. This was especially important for me in a social context, being able to eat at a party without having to bring my own special food or eat ahead of time. I didn't choose Lapband because: I was self-pay and wouldn't be able to necessarily afford regular follow-up for fills and adjustments. The idea of erosion TERRIFIED me. I couldn't see how I could possibly keep that thing inside me for the rest of my life. I'm only 35, so I couldn't see how that could realistically be inside me for another 60 years or whatever. I was a little worried about the port "poking out" once I lost weight. I'd seen some pictures where you could clearly see the port protruding out, underneath the skin, like an extra bone.

Die? Probably not. Get sick? Maybe. You will definitely want to have regular bloodwork done to see if you are developing any deficiencies. Why does your husband think you won't take your vitamins in the first place?

@@whit340 Does she have a variety of Soups to choose from? When I was on full liquids, I went to the grocery store and bought pretty much every single kind of creamed Soup there was. I strained out the solid bits, but having a wide variety of flavors did help a lot. I got pretty addicted to cream of shrimp and one of the progresso enchilada flavors.

I was told to start "brisk walking" right away and not move on to more intense exercise until 2 months post op. Just walking all the time was pretty boring... glad I can mix it up now!

What about drinkable yogurt? I was allowed to have that on my full liquid phase. When is she scheduled to move into purees?

Lucia also checked in on me via email during my pre-op diet. You may want to go ahead and contact her and tell her about your concerns and see what she has to say about it.

Credit cards do work just fine in the pharmacies. I didn't need mine for my VSG trip, but I did use one on a previous trip with no issues. I hate carrying cash too, but I just took out about $200 and stashed it in all different places so it wasn't like ALL just in my wallet. That way if I lost any single bag, I'd still have some left. I ended up spending almost NONE of it. I think I used a little for tips and I used some on a bottle of vitamin water. That was it!

I never had any vomiting either. Being able to eat is a good thing! As long as you are having no ill effects from it. I was on a slower schedule than you progressing from liquid to pureed/soft to solids, but I never had any trouble with any of the transitions and even moved from liquid to soft a couple of days ahead of time. Not everyone has trouble handling foods. Just listen to your body.

@@mkw10 Lucia gave me two target weights for my surgery. She said at a minimum, I needed to lose 13, but wanted me to aim for 25. I ended up losing 16.

My dream is to be able to ride all of the roller coasters at Dollywood this spring. I went with my husband and parents last spring and my husband skipped half the coasters because I couldn't fit in the seats and he didn't want to ride alone. We're going back with my parents and my sister's entire family in April and I am going to ride every coaster twice with my husband to make up for last year!

I wasn't hungry for a while after my surgery too. Definitely make a schedule for eating/drinking and stick to it. I was working hard to drink 1 ounce of water every 15 minutes, so 4 oz. in an hour. Use a container that actually shows you the ounces so you know you are drinking enough and keep your eye on the clock. As for protein, it's tough in the first couple of weeks. If you are already allowed cottage cheese, that's a good thing. Drinkable yogurt is also good. You won't be able to handle much at a time, so like with water, be sure to just eat on a schedule. I tried to eat every two hours in those early weeks.

My surgeon prescribed 40mg of omeprazole (Prilosec) for the first two months post-op and then recommended that if I had any continued issues with acid reflux, I continue just taking the over-the-counter dosage of 20mg daily. That's what I've been doing and it's kept the reflux at bay. When I tried going off of it completely at the two month mark, I was definitely having reflux issues pretty much right away, so I quickly went out and bought the over-the-counter version and have been taking it since. As for the poster who mentioned vomiting a lot, I have not done that at all. I had a little dry heaving the first day post-op, but nothing since. Everyone reacts differently.When I eat too much or too fast, I just get very uncomfortably full feeling (like I'm going to burst) and I burp. I burped a lot more in the beginning, not so much now. In the beginning I would say that a lot of the burping was "productive burping" in that I could feel/taste my food coming back up into my throat, but not like vomiting. There were no spasms and heaving like with vomiting. And, like I said, I don't have that problem nearly as much 19 weeks post-op. When I overeat now, it's just the feeling like I'm going to burst thing. And I am better about not overeating in the first place now, though still not 100%.

Wow! You look great! Definitely an inspiration to people like me who still have a ways to go. How are you feeling?

It's like a broken record at this point in the thread, but I have "successfully" lost weight MANY times over the years... hundreds of pounds at this point. I never had any doubt in my ability to lose weight. I have a very obsessive personality, so when I would get into "weight loss mode", I could be incredibly hard core about tracking everything I ate and exercising every day. But the problem with "dieting" is that you have this idea that you are eventually "done". You get to your goal weight or a weight you're pretty happy with and you think "okay, I'm done now". But as soon as you do that, you stop tracking the food and the exercise slows down or gets to the point where you aren't doing it at all anymore. And you start "rewarding" all of your hard work with a "well earned" pizza or dinner out. And a few months later, you are right back where you started! Even when I get to my goal weight his time, I can never be "done". The sleeve is permanent. It will always be there, restricting my intake and reminding me of the sacrifices I made to finally be healthy.

I'm in Rochester as well. I'm not aware of any specific groups in the area, though. I've been relying on these forums for information and support.

I was weighed the day of my surgery and I have two start weights, like others have mentioned. I was 260 when I started planning for my surgery and 236 the day of my surgery. Yesterday I officially entered Onederland!

My nutritionist said 30 days post-op, but to be sure to include cream to help tone it down a little. I'm back up to 3 cups a day now! Shame on me!

My regular doctor ordered blood work for me at 2 and 4 months out (just a full panel like you'd have for you physical). Both came back excellent, so now she doesn't want to see me again until 8 months out. As for an endoscopy, I haven't had any need for one, but if there were any concerns, I'm sure my doctor would order one or refer me to a specialist who would order one.

I'm only 19 weeks out, so my answers might be different in a year or more, but here goes: 1) Absolutely! My weight loss has been slow (compared to many on this site), but it has been steady and consistent, with no signs of slowing or stopping. I won't lie, it has been a real adjustment. The first several weeks were challenging with so many restrictions on what I could eat and so much discomfort. But that's already a distant memory. Now I feel "normal" 95% of the time and I've really adapted to my new way of eating. 2) The restriction is REAL. I mean, we all go into this surgery because of the restriction, but once you really experience it for yourself, it's pretty mindblowing. When I sit down to eat dinner with my husband now and can only eat like 1/6th of what I ate before the surgery, it is CRAZY to think of how much I used to eat. It was pretty evident around the holidays as well. Where I used to be able to pack away Cookies and pie and ice cream and all sorts of things, I can only take a few bites now and I'm done. I did still get to eat some of those things over the holidays, but the amount that I ate was drastically different. And, like I said, we all go into this surgery for this exact reason, but when it's really real, it can be a bit shocking still.

Well, it's been slow going for me, but I finally, officially reached Onederland today! I am 19 weeks post-op. My starting weight was 260. My surgery weight was 236. And as of today, I am 198! Others might be disappointed by the slow loss, but I am very content with it. For one thing, I'm not having to replace clothes as often. For another, since my weight loss hasn't been drastic, I haven't had people asking me questions about what I'm doing to lose weight. And finally, I hurt my hip in November and haven't gotten back to exercising since then. I plan to start back at that today, so I suspect the weight will come off a little more quickly once exercise is back in the mix. Anyway, I just wanted to share my happy news! I really feel like it's all down hill from here. I only have 18 pounds to go to 180, which is a weight I was really happy at a few years ago. And I only have 33 pounds to go until the goal weight OCC set for me. I have 43 pounds to go for a "healthy BMI", but I honestly don't feel any urgency at all to get that low.

I am just over 4 months out and how much I can eat really seems to depend on what I'm eating and how fast I eat it. I still make myself miserable by eating too quickly sometimes. It doesn't make me throw up or anything, I just feel a lot of discomfort for a good hour after I overdo it. Let's see if I can come up with a few examples of how much I can eat.... We went out to dinner the other night and I ordered a "cup" of chili as my meal. It was pretty standard chili with ground beef, kidney Beans, and some veggies in it and some melted cheddar cheese on top. I was able to eat about 2/3 of that over the course of the entire time were were there. I went out for lunch with my sister this past Friday and we ordered a buffalo chicken tenders meal to share. I ate maybe 1.5 tenders and an apple slice (we got apple slices as one of our sides). I don't usually eat much fruit, but it seemed better than eating any more of those fried, greasy tenders! On New Year's Eve I was able to eat 6 Turkey Lit'l Smokies with BBQ sauce. I can eat about 2-3 oz. of chicken breast with some sort of sauce on it. The thing you really need to wrap your head around is how little carbs you will eat. My surgeon doesn't have me on any kind of strict carb restriction, but the nutritionist wants me to get 85-100 grams of Protein per day. Eating that much protein, there's just no ROOM for carbs. I can technically eat Cookies, or chips, or chocolate, or ice cream, but if I do that, then I won't meat my protein requirements for the day. And while I'm not nearly as obsessed with my surgery now as I was when I was researching and everything before I actually had it, I'm still very dedicated to meeting my protein and supplement requirements every day. I want to b healthy! I got the sleeve because I didn't want to have to completely give up the foods that I love (like with RNY), but the truth is, I have cut WAY back on sweets and carbs anyway. Yes I can still eat and digest them properly, but I don't have room for them in my diet anymore. They are very rare treats now.

I brought Syntrax Nectar protein packets with me and just bought a bottle of water at the airport to mix it into. I also brought a collapsible rubber funnel, since it's kind of hard to pour those big packets into the little spout of a water bottle.

I've been kind of "out of touch" with the forums for a couple of months now. I had my surgery with Ariel Ortiz on Sept.1 and it went great. I know it's almost impossible to believe with where you are right now, but life gets back to normal or, at least, a new normal. That's why I haven't been around so much. Prior to my surgery and while I was recovering, all I could think and talk about 24/7 was my surgery. I LIVED on these forums. Now that I'm over 4 months out, I just live life.. no more constant obsession. My eating is definitely VERY different from what it was before and it was a little frustrating over the Holidays to not be able to eat what everyone else was eating. But I was able to eat some goodies (just not in very large quantities!). I had cookies (usually just part of one, which I would share with my husband). I had ice cream, but only about a tablespoon. I shared some pumpkin cheesecake with my husband. On New Year's I had my little smokies w/ BBQ sauce, but they were turkey and I could only eat six of them. But I would say that 95% of the time I feel "normal" and I've just gotten used to eating protein first and very small quantities of everything. I guess my point is, I remember being where you are now and worrying that I would never feel normal again. I want to reassure you that you will find your new normal and be perfectly content with it in a few months!

I'm sorry for taking so long to reply to this. I was out of town on vacation and not checking the forums regularly. I used Dr. Carmina Cardenas for my plastics in 2011 and I LOVE her. I will definitely be returning to her for more plastics, if necessary, after I reach my goal. When I had plastics done in 2011, I had lost 90 pounds, I had a tummy tuck, breast lift with implants, all-over liposuction, and fat grafting to my butt. Unfortunately, I regained 80 of the 90 pounds I lost, so if you look at my gallery pics, you'll see my amazing boobs and how flat my stomach still is, but the lipo went to waste. I suspect that when I get to my goal weight, I am going to need to do something about my thighs, as I am likely going to have a lot of excess skin on both inner and outer thighs.

Who's "he"? Your surgeon or your daughters' primary care physician(s)? If you mean your daughters' PCP, is he just going to stop seeing them altogether if they have surgery in Mexico? That seems pretty extreme!