JasonSWrench

Mr. Sean: Best of luck with your surgery. I wish you a smooth surgery and speedy recovery.

Hello All! I'm glad to see that there are a few of us having this conversation. I just remet with the surgeon yesterday to discuss a lap-band revision. And I'm experiencing the same insurance issues that DeeTee mentioned. I've had my band for almost 11 years (hard to believe). Basically, my surgeon is treating me like a new patient for surgical purposes. I have to show six months of weight loss supervision, go through a bunch of tests, see the psychologist, talk to the dietician, and so on, and so on. Last time I basically started in July had had the surgery in September. I talked to the surgeon about switching to either the sleeve or the bypass. His recommendation, since I don't have diabetes, was to go with the sleeve. I'd done the research ahead of time and had come to this decision, but it was nice to at least hear the surgeon supporting my basic decision. Like Banded in AZ, I also have experienced esophageal problems, specifically esophageal dilation. Honestly, I didn't know that was even a complication. Admittedly, I had been a bad bander and hadn't had an adjustment in quite some time. The surgeon actually gave me an adjustment yesterday, which was weird, and he took out quite a bit of liquid. Apparently, food was just sitting in my esophagus and slowing getting squeezed through the band for years. I'm also the first to admit that I feel like some kind of band failure. It's like one of the docs in the practice always says, they don't have a lap-band for your brain. I learned how to eat around the band so quickly. Combine that with most of my favorite foods seem to be mushy to begin with, and it just set me up for band problems. Part of me still thinks I should give the lap-band a chance, but then it's been 11 years. My surgeons don't even perform that many lap-bands anymore because of how bad the outcomes research is now. As for those of you who have made the switch, has weight loss been "easier" with the sleeve? I'm primarily worried about long-term weight loss, stretching, and GERD. What are people's experiences? Jason

Well, this week has definitely been an interesting week for me as a whole. Monday, I had a gout flair-up, so I've had problems walking and exercising this week. I've had gout issues since I was 21, and after a decade I still hate my feet. On Tuesday, I started noticing that I was getting some acne around my scalp, which I thought was no big deal. By Wednesday the acne started to appear around my temple and around my eyebrow. Thursday night, the acne started to scab over. Ah-Ha - it's not acne. I did a quick google search for rash with scabs and found out it could be small pox. Realizing the chances of it being small pox was slim to none, I decided to go to my doctor and avoid an internet diagnosis. Luck me - I have shingles. Apparently, some people after undergoing stress (aka Bariatric surgery) will have their body release the dormant chicken pox virus back into their body in a couple of locations. Mine was released on the left side of my head. I'm now on an anti-viral regimen for 7 days. I have to take 4 pills 3x per day. Lucky me!!!!

Well, this week has definitely been an interesting week for me as a whole. Monday, I had a gout flair-up, so I've had problems walking and exercising this week. I've had gout issues since I was 21, and after a decade I still hate my feet. On Tuesday, I started noticing that I was getting some acne around my scalp, which I thought was no big deal. By Wednesday the acne started to appear around my temple and around my eyebrow. Thursday night, the acne started to scab over. Ah-Ha - it's not acne. I did a quick google search for rash with scabs and found out it could be small pox. Realizing the chances of it being small pox was slim to none, I decided to go to my doctor and avoid an internet diagnosis. Luck me - I have shingles. Apparently, some people after undergoing stress (aka Bariatric surgery) will have their body release the dormant chicken pox virus back into their body in a couple of locations. Mine was released on the left side of my head. I'm now on an anti-viral regimen for 7 days. I have to take 4 pills 3x per day. Lucky me!!!!

OK, I'm basically two weeks after my surgery. The first week was basically Water and crystal light. Last week and this was/is EAS Advantage shakes three times a day. That's what I was supposed to be doing. However, I had family here last week and I ended up having to go out to eat with them throughout the week (a personal form of hell). Not only did I not want to look at food, I didn't want to smell food, but I couldn't avoid it because I had to be a good host. I ultimately, ended up having some Soup without anything in it throughout the week (a broth here, a cream of soup there), but I did relatively ok. There were a few times that I know I accidentally ate something within one of the Soups that I shouldn't have eaten (like a pea or an onion sliver). Yesterday, I even broke down and ate a piece of hard-boiled egg. My worry is that I'm actually causing myself harm by adding these little things to my diet, which is supposed to be 3 meal-supplement shakes a day right now. Am I actually causing myself harm, or am I ok with adding a little soft food two weeks after surgery?

In the first five days after my surgery I think I consumed a total of maybe 50 calories. That's what my doc wanted me to do. Now I'm on a two week liquid diet, which totally sucks.

I had shoulder pain for almost 5 days. I was told that moving around and specifically moving your arms and shoulders does help to get rid of it faster.

Tyler: I'm also 3 days post op, and I'm right there with you. The only problem I really have right now is the gas. I've been told that is pretty normal. According to what I've read, the best thing for dealing with the gas is to fart, burp, and walk around. As for the constipation, my surgeon recommended that we take something to help if we didn't have a bowl movement by day 3 after surgery. Jason

Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm officially a bandster!!! After months of hard work, I had my surgery yesterday and I am doing dandy. A little sore, but nothing that I can manage!!! :crying:)

Well, the surgery was yesterday and I did swimmingly. The overall experience was pretty good. My anesthesiologist asked me what I did for a living and I told I'm I was a university professor, and he was like "you're pretty young to be a professor." To which I responded, "You're pretty young to be an anesthesiologist." Come to find out, we're both 32. lol As I was wheeled into the surgery room, he had some modern music playing that we both knew. Unfortunately, that music quickly turned to jazz as the surgeon actually came in (clear generational difference). After the surgery, I was doing pretty good pretty fast. I was up and walking within an hour and a half after surgery. I was just antsy and wanted to walk. I coughed a lot though - I really did not like the intubation - really scratched my throat. While my surgery was at 9AM, I didn't get to leave until around 4. The surgeon had 9 surgeries yesterday, so he was a little busy all day long and couldn't get up to the unit to discharge us. The worst part of the afternoon was going down to x-ray because of the barium. Earlier in my blog I had noted that the barium wasn't that bad tasting - I now totally have to qualify this statement. Apparently, some people are nice enough to give you flavored barium that doesn't taste like ass. Unfortunately, yesterday I received the barium that tasted like ass. The worst part was that I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth no matter how many ounces of water I drank. I finally got it out last night around 8 when I broke down and had some flavored Chrystal light. I can honestly say that my experience yesterday was overall extremely positive. The surgical team, the follow staff, and the hospital personnel were all very helpful. This weekend, I'm on a pretty strict clear liquid diet to let everything settle. Thankfully, I don't feel hungry at all. As my doctor constantly says, "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels."