TexCntryBoy

Big boys have more to lose. Surgery date 4/24/15. Pre-op weight 502. 3 months out 7/24/15 weight 392. Weight loss in 3 months 110#s but I hate the stalls. Ultimate goal is 280 which would be 222#s. Doc says give it 2 years. I sure would like to do it faster.

Eight weeks post op - down 103 pounds. I started at 502 and had set a goal of 399 by Father's Day. I made it! First time under 400 pounds in ten years. I feel great. Mobility is much better bi can breathe now. Before I wa out of breath from just walking in from the parking lot bi should have done this a long time ago.

8 weeks and 1,day post op. Down 103#s. Made a personal goal to be below 400 by Father's Day - 399. Have a great day everybody.

I'm 8 weeks post op. Off all my blood pressure and insulin. I was taking 10 pills a day plus 2 shots (180 units of Lantus). Down 103#s from 502 to 399. A milestone for me. Best thing I've ever done in my life (except for getting right with God and marrying the love of my life). Never any pain or discomfort. Good luck to everybody.

7 weeks out. High weight prior to pre op liquid diet 502. Current weight 409 that's 93#s. Shooting for 399 by next Sunday. I know that's a stretch but That's Father's Day and it would put me on the sunny side of 400 for the first time in 10 years. Cross your fingers for me.

I like the idea of the frozen vodka. I'm OK with saying, "it's not allowed on my diet that is working so well". We can buy frozen margaritas in a bucket (without the alcohol). Who would know the difference but you? The habit that is hard for me to break is leaving food on my plate. My parents always preached "clean your plate" "think of all those children starving in China." Now, although I put much less on my plate I still tend to want to clean it. Even a bite or two is enough to cause discomfort. But I'm learning to stop.

I'll be 5 weeks post op tomorrow. Per my doctor's instructions I can eat "soft" foods now.I am eating tuna and chicken salad, scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and turkey burger patties (small bites and well chewed), avocados, refried Beans, some cheese, boiled eggs, etc. I leave for work at 5:45. A typical day consists of a Jimmy Dean Breakfast bowl with scrambled eggs, red potatoes and turkey sausage (22 grams of protein). For a mid morning snack I drink a Bolthouse Protein drink (available at my Wal Mart 16 grams of protein a little higher in sugar than I like but it tastes like choclate milk), chicken/tuna salad for lunch with some refried beans (about 20 grams of protein), another Bolthouse drink in the afternoon and for supper half a turkey burger patty along with some refried beans and avocado (about 20 grams of protein). That gives me approximately 100 grams of protein per day. I constantly sip on Water all day drinking 2 bottles (17 OZ each) plus the 2 Protein drinks (15 oz each) gives me 64 oz of liquid a day virtually painless. Finding variety is difficult but hitting the recommended limits has not been a problem. Down 80 #s since pre op diet began on 4/8/15. Hang in there. Keep communicating. Don't get frustrated. We CAN do this!

Just to make it more confusing, let me throw in one other surgeon. Dr Nirmal Jayseeling. He has an office at Forest Lane and Central Expressway. He came highly recommended to me, has performed thousands of WLS and I found he and his staff to be wonderful!! The name kind of had me worried a little bit but his West Texas drawl made this old country boy feel comfortable right away. I'm 5 week post op and can honestly say the only unpleasant parts were the liquid diet and paying the bill. There was no pain with the surgery. I was up and walking within a couple of hours, went home the next day and missed only 4 days of work. I'm down 80#s but that can be misleading because I had 220 to lose to get to my goal. I would recommend him to anybody. Check out Dallas Bariatric before you decide.

You're nicer than me. I would have to reply with something like "yes, i have lost a lot of weight. Do you want the number of my surgeon?" or "I feel so much better since my surgery. Maybe you should consider plastic surgery. It can't be fun walking around looking like a Halloween mask all the time." or something just as tacky and uncouth. LOL

Every patient is different because our starting points are different, our comorbidities are different and our ultimate goals are different. I'll be one month out on the 24th. I'm down by 77#s but I was as big as a house when I started so I would expect to lose more at first. Think back to when you started. Wouldn't you have been happy with 50#s the first month? I would have been. DON'T LET THE PA DISCOURAGE YOU! Keep the faith and keep working.

6'5" weight 4/8/15 when I started my 2 week prop diet - 502 BMI 59.52 weight 5/18/15 at 3 1/2 weeks out 425# BMI 50.27 4 weeks out today still at 425 (in a stall). My hope is to break 400 by Father's Day. Come on 399! LOL Good luck. Follow the doctor's instructions and everything will go fine.

I'm 62 and 4 weeks post op. Down 77#s but in a stall this week. Mine went super easy so far. My only regret was waiting so long to do it. The age old curse - lack of money and insurance didn't cover it. Best of luck to you!

I've been looking into the WLS options for about a year. I talked to the people at True Results, Dr Kim and Dr Nicholson. I ended up going with Dr Jayseeling (recommended by my PCP) at Forest Park Medical Center (Forest and Central Expressway). The name kind of scared me but when I finally got to meet and talk with him he is born and raised in West Texas. I had my sleeve done on 4/24/15. I could not be more pleased. No pain, no nausea, no reflux and down 77#s in 3 1/2 weeks post op. His people are great and supportive, as is he. You are treated like old friends. I would recommend him to anybody although I can't promise your experience will be as good as mine.

Janeen30 - Keep your head up. I was sleeved on 4/24/15 (so 3 1/2 weeks post op) but I have a ton more to lose than you and I've read multiple places that men lose faster than women. I'm down 77#s and just waiting for the dreaded week 3 stall to set in. I finally got to eat soft foods on Friday and it was a tremendous boost to my morale. I have knowingly or intentionally cheated one time but man it gets tempting. My wife and kids have been very supportive eating outside my presence while I was on liquids. It's glad to be accepted back in the family again. LOL Hang in there and we'll work through this together.

I've always been big - a jock. Played football and my weight never kept me from doing anything I wanted to do. At 55 I suddenly developed Type II diabetes and started taking insulin. That changed my whole life for the worse. Although the insulin kept my sugar under control I started gaining weight - a pound or two a month. Over 7 years that added up to 150 pounds. I developed diabetic ulcers on my calves which the doctors said were not caused by my sugar levels but by the Water I was retaining. My legs actually dripped water on the floor. They proceeded to wrap my legs like a race horse and they are still that way 18 months later. Slightly painful but tremendously inconvenient - to shower, change wraps, etc. Anything longer than two days and they smell. The wound doctor said the only thing I could do was try to maintain status quo until I could lose weight - a lot of weight. The surgeon said he could do a laser surgery on my legs to improve vein flow but the odds of reoccurring was tremendous if I weighed over 300#s. I became a slave to my chair, developed trouble walking and then my breathing got harder. I realized I was going to die if I didn't do something. Going on diets allowed me to lose 30 - 40#s but I always gained it back plus more. I finally decided I needed some sort of bariatric surgery. After much research I decided the sleeve was best for me. Then began a battle with insurance companies which included changing jobs so I could get coverage for the majority of the expenses. April 8th, 2015 I went in for my final pre-op consultation. I weighed 502, my lifetime maximum and had to stop and rest walking in from the parking lot. On April 10th I started the clear liquid diet. On April 24 I went in for surgery and was already down 43#s (mostly water I'm sure). One week after surgery I was down 50#s. Two weeks after surgery I'm down 66#s and feel much better. My legs are starting to dry up. My breathing is easier and I can get around a lot better. Its not the "easy pill" we all would like. I sure would like to eat a big, greasy burger about now but I can honestly say that by day 3 or 4 of the liquid diet most of the hunger was gone (except for the mental cravings). Dr. Jayseeling from Dallas was my surgeon. I had a great experience so far. No real pain, no nausea, no reflux, no vomiting which I have been led to believe is rare. I'm a school teacher and I only missed 4 school days. I get out of school the end of May. I can't wait to see how I will look and feel by the time school starts again.Right now I am losing about 1 1/2#s per day. I know that will slow down. I know there will be stalls but 66#s in a month is way better than I hoped for. Next major goal 399. Its been years since I was on the shady side of 400.

I researched it pretty heavy. I went into the the process pretty convinced that I was going to do the lap band because I wanted minimally invasive. I never seriously considered the bypass for the same reason. After research and talking to people I found out that the maintenance on the lap band is much more time consuming with all the "fills" then I found out that the lap band is slower than a sleeve. Then I began to hear horror stories about lap band failures that required a revision to a sleeve. I am now post op 3 weeks. I started at 502 two weeks before surgery. I am down 73#s already with no real pain or strain (except the clear liquid diet which got easier after 3 or 4 days).

I'm no attorney and I certainly understand your desire to have as small an out of pocket expense as possible but I think charging the operating room expense to one surgery while actually doing two borders on insurance fraud. I expect most surgeons are leery of this. They live or die by the insurance companies. I had to change jobs to get mine covered by insurance (not the ideal situation for everyone, I understand).

GOOD LUCK!

Going back for my 3 week post op tomorrow I've lost 73#s. That's exciting enough but tomorrow I get to start eating soft foods. I teach at Hillsboro.

I'm 62 and just 3 weeks post op. I started my pre op diet at 502#s and Im aleady down to 432# - 70#s in just 5 weeks. I'm worried about the dreaded 3 week stall but excited to see what its like by 6 months. No real pain or discomfort ever. Came home the day after surgery but really felt like I could have come home the same day. Never used pain meds. Planned it around a holiday and went back to work (desk job) on day 4. Off insulin and blood pressure meds since the surgery. Good luck everybody!

I had my surgery 2 2/2 weeks ago. No catheter during surgery and they told me as long as I could pee without it, I wouldn't need one. Talk about motivation. I said give me the urinal (they wanted to measure output) and get out of my way. I walked to the bathroom and gave them all I could.

Patcherac, the sleep apnea was one of the first symptoms/problems. I've been on a CPAP since 1993. Since the surgery I have been able to drop all meds but I'm still using my CPAP. Thanks for the insight and concern.