Tiffykins

Congrats on your surgery Sarita ! ! ! Keep walking and rest, you'll be feeling much better in a couple of days. Keep us posted on your progress.

Mostly, through my research, I found that patients who had partial or entire gastrectomies is they did not experience any long term problems nutrtionally or physically. Many of them follow a more strict diet than we do because of the cancer, or ulcerative condition. I found some cases of patients in their 60's and 70's that had gastrectomies, not only lost weight, but found their HBP and/or cholesterol issues resolved due to the dietary changes. The risks are the same regarding leaks, blood clots, infections and etc with gastrectomies for other reasons rather than weight loss. Overall, the complication rate was higher with these patients because they had compromised immune systems, from cancer, or their stomachs were damaged due to ulcerative/polyps and so forth. For many patients, they lived long, healthy, and maintained normal weights once they recovered. I did not find mortality rates over 2% due to having the gastrectomy itself. Most patients died due to the cancer spreading to the lymph symptom or bowel.

Just one more night Hope, hang in there, I found that if I didn't keep my mind occupied I would think of food more.

Gastrectomy (Total Gastrectomy, Partial Gastrectomy, Subtotal Gastrectomy, Stomach Removal) | ThirdAge Articles This one has several links and reference pages attached as well. AMA Arch Surg -- Excerpt: COMBINED PROCEDURE OF PARTIAL GASTRECTOMY AND INFRADIAPHRAGMATIC VAGUS RESECTION, February 1951, PALUMBO et al. 62 (2): 171 http://www.ptolemy.ca/members/archives/2007/ulcer/docs/martin12005.pdf This one above is long, and very "medical", but it's informative if you can wade through all the information. Page 11 starts talking about gastrectomies. This is a forum of cancer survivors and this is just one of the entries for gastrectomies. Again, it's a lot of info to read through, but it takes time to read all of it. I'm pretty geeky when it comes to research. Plus, our old laptop died, and I lost all of my bookmarks. So, I had to google and try to find the ones that stuck out in my mind. gastrectomy | Cancer Survivors Network

It could be trapped gas. I had gas for a couple of weeks post-op. Never hesitate to call your surgeon if you are concerned. Make sure you are walking, drinking plenty of water, and that you are not running a fever.

I didn't try them until I got to regular food. I progressed my diet more slowly than some. No special circumstances or reason. I just wanted to wait because with my band, salads and I had a love/hate relationship, and I didn't want to have issues.

I've heard the same thing about slippage that once it happens, you're prone to slip again. I revised to the sleeve, and love my decision. Life is much easier with the sleeve. It didn't take me much to consider the sleeve as an option because my life with the band was miserable. I would hope your band doctor would listen, and be concerned about future slips. My 2nd surgeon told me he could just do a port revision to see if that would help, but I fought for a revision. I wanted that dreadful band out of my body, and off of my stomach. He agreed once he realized how bad the band was for my body. I would not go through another surgery to repair a band. There's plenty of patients out there who keep having surgeries to fix the bands, and to me, it's nothing shy of malpractice to temporarily fix something that is obviously very broken.

Congrats on your surgery, and continue to sip, sip, sip and walk, walk, walk. Congrats on those 7lbs ! ! !

I started eating spinach salads around the 2.5 month post-op without any consequence. I have salad 2-4 times monthly. I can eat quite a bit of salad, because it turns to mush once chewed. Some days, I try to eat the chicken first in a salad, and sometimes I "cheat" and just eat salad. I love salads as well, and was happy that I had zero issues with them.

I mourned the loss of my best friend (food) for a little bit THEN I looked in the mirror and realized my best friend was killing me. I saw the changes in my body, and knew that I had chose the right surgery. Food is now a pleasant thing for me, but I'm not always standing in front of the fridge or pantry. It's a nice change. I know for awhile I hated food, and I hated to eat because nothing tasted "right" or good. But, it was temporary, and now 6 months post-op, I'm thriving nutritionally, mentally, and emotionally. Lean on us, and we'll be your cheerleader to get you the through the tough times.

My surgeon advised that around 6-8 weeks post-op the risk of leaks decreases substantially. NOW, with that being said, some people have leaks later because: 1) They don't follow the rules, overeat, and vomit all the time. Sometimes people think it's okay to advance their post-op diet and then they advance their diet too quickly, and the staple line does NOT have time to heal. Which can and will weaken the staple line. 2) They may have a pinhole leak, and either they or their provider ignores the symptoms, or are misdiagnosed until the leak grows larger due to those symptoms. I have never heard, or read anywhere about leaks several months or years out where the leak just appeared out of nowhere. There was a VSG patient on VSG with a leak, but she had symptoms for 3 months before demanding a leak test, and was treated for a UTI, gall bladder issues, and various other ailments before she finally demanded a leak test from her surgeon. Low and behold she had a leak, and it had been there all along. She fully recovered after another surgery to repair the leak.

Hi and welcome to VST. Congrats on your upcoming surgery date. You'll love the sleeve, and the great portion control. Keep us posted on your progress, and best wishes.

We're in chat for a bit tonight ! ! ! Come join us.

www.allrecipes.com (type Venison in the search feature) I've made the chili, and smothered steak so far. I'll send you the ones I've used thus far. I always modify them for our family specific taste preferences, but they have some great base recipes. I made this one tonight, and it was DELISH ! ! ! Venison Tips and Rice - All Recipes Instead of beef flavored rice, I used Zatarain's dirty rice. I marinated the meat for 4 hours in the dry rub and marinade listed below. I used venison round steaks, with the little bit of fat trimmed and cut into strips (kind of like fajita meat). Dry rub: Tony Chacere's Creole seasoning 2 teaspoon of Cumin 2 teaspoon of Tumeric 1 tsp of ground white pepper 2 tsp of black pepper Then I added the peppers and onions, along with 2 tsp of minced garlic, and about 1/4 cup of Worchestershire sauce and about 4oz of soy sauce. I mixed all of them in a large mixing bowl, and let it all sit in the fridge for over 4 hours. I sauteed the onion/peppers, then added the meat strips covered and simmered for 30 minutes. Removed the lid, drained some of the juice, and cooked on medium heat for another 15 minutes. I served the rice under the pepper/onion/venison mixture, and it was a huge hit in our home. Caysen took tortillas and rolled them up like fajitas, he added the rice and salsa and chowed down on it. I think I needed to use more of the creole seasoning. The meat was extremely tender, not stringy, and practically melted in my mouth. This I substituted a can of mushroom Soup for the beef gravy, and didn't add the sliced mushrooms (I don't like mushrooms unless it's in the soup). Steak N Gravy - All Recipes I also made venison barbque. I am not sure what cut of meat is that I used for this one, but they looked like thick cut ribs, or riblets. They were super meat with thin bones that reminded of me of pork ribs. Add meat, and 2-3 cups of Sweet Baby Ray barbque sauce. Cook on Low for 2 -3 hours. Then, add the following mixutre. In a small bowl mix: 1 cup of Worchestershire Sauce 2 Tablespoon of Garlic powder 2 tsp of Cayenne or ground red pepper 2 tsp of coarse ground black pepper 1 tsp of sugar Dump into crock pot, and cook on HIGH for 3 hours. The meat is sweet and spicy, and super tender. I made this one as well, but served it with Mashed potatoes, and used a can of cream of celery soup and a can of cream of mushroom. Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff Meal - All Recipes Here's the yummy chili recipe I made: Slow Cooker Venison Chili for the Big Game - All Recipes I substituted the cannelli Beans with dark red kidney beans, and did NOT add the pork, I used 3lbs of ground venison (browned, drained then added to the crock pot). I cooked the chili on high for 3 hours, then dropped the temp to low for another 4-5 hours. We also like thicker/chunky chili so I used 2 cans of tomato paste, and 1/12oz can of tomato sauce and only added 1/2 cup of hot Water at midway through cooking. I added cayenne pepper as well because we like semi-spicy stuff. Hope this helps ! ! !

Tonight for dinner, we had venison steak with peppers and onions. I ate 6 strips (about 3-4 inches long), 3 or 4 of the peppers and onions, and about 1/8 of a cup of Zatarain's dirty rice. I am able eat 1/2 cup of ground meat, 1/2 of a taco with light lettuce and cheese, 1/3 of a chicken breast or a chicken leg, I can eat 1 slice of thin crust pizza, I can 1/2 cup of mac-n-cheese with ground meat mixed in it. I eat steak, typically t-bones grilled to med-well on our grill here at home. I can 2-3 slices of thin sliced deli meat with cottage cheese rolled up inside. I can eat 3/4 to 1 cup of venison chili made with ground meat. Venison is my favorite meat to eat because it's so lean, and so high in Protein. Plus, I found tons of recipes that make the meat so tender that I can eat more of it than other meats. I have absolutely zero digestion issues with meat. Cheese is the one thing that I do not consume all the time because I have found now that it is more binding than pre-op. I love cheese, but I eat it in moderation. I'm 6 months post revision from band to sleeve. I've been eating meat for 4 months. I started off with soft meats tuna, chicken salad, seasoned ground meat and boiled chicken breasts. I love beef Jerky (teriyaki flavor is my favorite and eat it once a week) as well, but I try to watch the sodium content.

I had a band, and let me just say that it being reversible is the biggest crock of poop and false advertising. I say that because yes, it can be removed, but your anatomy is forever changed, and possibly damaged by the band placement. With that off my chest, I was not concerned with losing 75% of my stomach with my revision. I read plenty of articles, journals, and even peer reviewed documents on partial gastrectomies not related to WLS. I have never missed that part of my stomach that allowed me to eat huge portions of food, and continue eating. I love that I have control on portions, and make better choices now than I even did with the band. Some days with the band, I had to eat "slider" foods because that's all that would go down, and half the time those things came up anyways. The band is NOT for life, even the manufacturers know this, and I have never found one single lapband patients with their band for 10 plus years that hasn't had some sort of horrid complication be it a slip, revised port, erosion. I think the longest I've ever found is one patient on OH that has had her band for 9 years, and last I heard she was looking into revising. The revision and complication rates for the bands is steadily climbing. Deb - I'll be more than happy to send you my contact information if you would like to chat sometime. hair loss can happen with any surgery, it happens with WLS because of the rapid weight loss. I lost about 1/2 of my hair, I had super thick, coarse hair, but the losing has slowed down significantly and I have new hair growth already coming back in. There are members here who get 100grams+ of Protein in from supplements, and they still lost their hair. So, I honestly believe it's more related to the shock our bodies endure during surgery, and rapid weight loss. I didn't start losing hair until 3.5 months post-op, and it's slowing down at the 6 month post-op mark. I have never used protein supplements like others on here. I hated them. Once I got to regular food, I am able to get my protein in from food sources. Yes, I get all 60-70 grams of protein from food sources therefore I don't need any supplements. There is only one that like, it's Optimim whey Extreme milk chocolate. We order it from bodybuilding.com and they have 16 flavor pack for $18.99. My husband uses it as a recovery protein after his strength/weight training. You can surely check out the Protein thread in the food/drink forum on here for places to order samples. My taste buds changed significantly after surgery. I couldn't tolerate anything sweet, or anything with aspartame. A lot of protein supplements have aspartame as a sweetner so that left me out of the protein loop for a long time. Also, I had to see a hematologist/oncologist before my revision in June due to a clotting disorder. My hematologist is awesome, and he was excited to share some studies that show people who have partial gastrectomies decrease their chance of getting cancer by over 50%. I found this extremely exciting because my family history is riddled with cancer on both sides. He was excited that I was doing this not only lose weight, but to gain a much healthier life. He also expressed very little concern with me losing 75% of my stomach at my age. He told me stories of several stomach cancer patients that had gastrectomies, and lived long, healthy and full lives even with their tiny tummies. Just my 2 cents.

John has been home for a couple of months, and I'm struggling emotionally. Not because of my husband, but because of my son, Caysen. It makes my heart hurt, and in turn, my stomach can't handle food very well. I'm a complete emotional mess. Caysen is acting out in school. He's defiant with me, and completely ignores my discipline. He back talks, and "huffs" every time I ask him to do anything. Last weekend, John removed everything from his room with the exception of his bed, dresser, and book case. No toys, no movies, no dvd player, nothing "fun". Caysen doesn't seem to care. He has been grounded from video games, and spending time with friends for 6 weeks now because of his grades. He just isn't turning in assignments even though I help with homework, and do everything I can to help him. I'm at my wit's end. Caysen is extremely jealous of John. It's worse than when we first moved in together, and started the blending family process. I have made contact with a counselor on base, and we're working on getting Caysen in to talk to someone. I can't do it anymore. It hurts because Caysen puts me in the middle. He says "you love daddy more" which is not true. I do all kinds of wonderful things with Caysen, I make special trips with him, I make special dinner requests for just him, I spend more time with now than I have ever been able to because John works, and wants me to stay home. It's gotten so difficult that I've turned over all disciplinary stuff to John because when I do or say anything, Caysen just blows me off. We've set up a chore/reward chart, we've set a schedule. I am just at the end of the rope. I've tied a knot and hanging with everything I have, but I am emotionally just drained. I know that us talking about having a baby has spurred some of this behavior. Caysen has been an only child for 11.5 years, and for 9 of those years, it was just me and him. He's scared, and worried, we're going to love that child more than him, and he'll be forgotten. I've suggested, and it will happen, that John and Caysen spend some time together, just for "boy time". I hope this helps because I can't keep doing this anymore. This isn't really WLS related, but it's what's going on in my life, and I needed a place to vent. Caysen has always been a wonderful, pleasant, and well-behaved, well-mannered child. These last 2 weeks, have been so hellacious, and painful. I have examples, but y'all probably are tired of hearing me whine. If you made it through all of that, thank you for listening. I just needed to vent it, and get it off my chest.

I've been thinking about you all weekend ! ! ! I can't wait to hear an update, and I just know in my heart of hearts that you're going to do fabulous ! ! ! You're in my prayers, and please let us know when you how you are feeling.

You'll lose muscle mass if you aren't consuming enough Protein, and exercising properly. I lost a considerable amount of muscle mass due to my post-op complications, and quick loss, but I can now carry, lift the same amount of weight that I could pre-op. I've missed a couple of weeks at the gym, but I'm hoping to get back this next week. Once you are released to work out, I would recommend hitting the gym, or start a strength training program. It really does help burn the fat instead of losing muscle mass.

I'm having my 6-7 month follow up in mid-January. I couldn't go for my true 6 month follow up because of the clot in my leg a couple of weeks ago. But, my surgeon wants to run a full lipid panel ( I don't know what all that entails), but I'm curious to see how my cholesterol looks. I never had high cholesterol pre-op, but I worry about it as well. I plan on adding flax seed oil or crush flax seed into my Vitamin regimen. I would like to lace my husband's food with crushed flax seed because I worry about his cholesterol all the time ! ! !

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Susan ! ! ! I'm so happy for you. Congrats on the scale moving, and the new job.

The only Protein I could ever tolerate, and believe me, I tried over 20 different brands, flavors, whey and soy products, is called Optimum Whey. You can pick it up at GNC, and if you don't like it they will take back the open container. But, we order ours from here: Bodybuilding.com - Optimum 100% Whey Protein - With Faster-Acting HYDROWHEY! On sale now! If you look on the left hand side column there is a 16 pack sample flavor pack you can order. We use the Extreme Milk chocolate. My husband uses this is as a recovery protein after he lifts weights. I no longer use any protein supplement because I get my protein from food sources. Anyways, this stuff does NOT foam, froth, or get thick when mixed with Water. My husband and I both mixed it in water in a shaker bottle. There is ZERO texture, no grittiness, and the scoops are NOT huge so you are not faced with a gross texture. There is also ZERO protein taste or smell. If I had to use a protein supplement, this is the only one I would use. The best flavor comparison I can give you is that it tastes like Swiss Miss hot cocoa.

I didn't have this pain ball that you've mentioned, but I would keep the area clean, and can you put a light dressing over it? Maybe some children's benadryl would help with the discomfort and allergic reaction?

I've been losing hair for 3 months, but I wanted to report that it has slowed down significantly. I have been using Folicure shampoo, and taking Biotin every other day. Neither of these will prevent the loss, but it will help with new growth. I have lots, and lots of little, baby hairs popping up all over the top of my head, and around my hairline so that is encouraging. I honestly lost about 1/2 of my hair. But, it's coming back, and I've accepted it.

If you choose Pompa, make sure she isn't making large sleeves anymore. I know some of her patients from obesityhelp.com were upset over have big sleeves, and not losing. There's several threads on obesityhelp.com with her complication/upset patients on there.