Lisalu

Well I called my local friends/acquaintances who had the surgery (a mother and daughter team, one had the sleeve and the other the bypass). I told them about the meeting. They suggested I try again, that every meeting is different. I decided to quit being so snarky, lower my expectations and get what I can out of it. The same group had a clothing swap last weekend. I went and got some nice size L blouses. They fit! Still will try OA though.

I'm 3 weeks post surgery. At first I recovered EXTREMELY well. I went back to work on day 7. Now suddenly, I'm completely wiped out. I just began teaching again this week and I'm sure that is part of it. I pulled a muscle in my back/hip doing something (walking my friend's dog?). I feel almost as tired as during the first trimester of pregnancy. Also my fibro has been acting up like never before. Anyone have similar experiences. Suggestions? Thanks

I think (hope) I found a solution for myself. I've decided to weigh myself only once a month. Let's see if I can stick to it, but it should be easier since there isn't a scale in my house. I believe I got the one-a-month thing from a friend in OA. I tend to be obsessive and if I bought a scale, I'd probably be weighing myself 5 times a day(at least). The other thing is, weighing myself isn't going to change my behavior, just my mood. I mean I couldn't be eating LESS if I tried. I drink about 3 Protein drinks a day to get my protein in and about 1/4 c of tuna salad or cottage cheese for lunch. Tha's probably 600 calories a day. I'm exercising as much as I can right now with my level of fatigue. That's it, that's all I can do; so I guess I just have let my body lose the weight on it's own timeline. It's been 6 days since my last weigh-in and I feel better already. Clothes are looser and I'm not obessed with the numbers. My next weigh-in is August 1. Anyone care to join me in a weigh-no-more-than-once-a-month club? I'd love the solidarity. Maybe we can free ourselves from the tyranny of the scale.

This board rocks! Now granted, I'm an emotional sort, but I got tears in my eyes reading your responses. Delawaregal and Catbert6, I'm sorry you have to deal with auto-immune/chronic crud too, but thanks for sharing your experience. It's nice to know I'm not alone. Everybody else, thanks for the chin-up. Of course I'm afraid that this fatigue will last forever (did I forget to mention that I have an anxiety disorder with obessive features?) so it's nice to hear that others have gone through it and it will pass. I feel better already. I'm an outgoing person, so I usually can find support from my friends. This is different because I only know two people locally who have had bariatric surgery and I don't know them well. My friends are well-meaning, but they don't know what to expect and they worry about me. So instead of being able to say, "Oh yeah, Im went through that, it'll go away;" they say things like, "I'm really worried about you; you haven't felt like yourself since the surgery. Don't you think you should be eating more? I think you need to see your doctor." Not helpful at all. This board is a life saver. Thanks everyone.

I had my surgery in another state so I need to do follow up here with my PCP. How often do you'll get blood work done? What do I need besides a CBC? Thanks

Thank you, that helps a lot.

Really, Sumthingwong, this isn't a fix it all, it's only a tool? I never knew. I thought the weight (not "wait" BTW) would just evaporate immediately after surgery. Sheesh, dude, lighten up.

I'd just like to say: I love you all. I was thinking I hadn't lost enough either and I feel so much better to know I'm the only one. My surgery was June 30 and by last Sunday (18 days), I had lost 11 pounds. I did lose about 20 lbs pre-op, but still. I'm just staying the course. I'm a shorty (62") and had a bmi of 34 before surgery. Maybe it would be better to think of weight loss in terms of % of excess weight lost. My goal weight is 125, so I've already lost 18% of my excess weight since surgery. That sounds SOO much better than 11 pounds. I keep telling myself that my body cannot keep up this weight on so few calories, so I will lose it eventually. It's just hard when you hear of people losing 55 pounds in 2 months. Stay the course ladies, we'll get there.

God bless, y'all; you say everything I'm thinking. Lillita, I'm a day behind you (June 30) and I've lost about the same amount since surgery. I don't have a scale, thank goodness. I went to the gym today and weighed in at 174. I subtracted a pound for my lightweight dress and that puts me exactly 10 lbs lighter than my pre-op weight. I had hoped it would be faster. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and live my life. I'm going to trust that it will come off eventually and try not to obsess about it.

I could sleep on my tummy less than a week out. I either didn't have a lot of swelling or I'm insensitive to pain.

Different doctor's opinions? My doc would have me doing 2 weeks clears with a few Protein drinks. I looked up the Cornell diet and decided they had a good reputation and I wouldn't be in trouble with some Soup (purreed) and a soft boiled egg. My surgeon was GREAT but his dietician a bit of a ditz. I TRIED to work with her on a long term diet that will work for me, but she wasn't into thinking critically. My doc is out of town (I mean, I traveled from home to have surgery), so I'm going to find a dietician here to work with. So far the Cornell plan looks like the most doable of all the plans, so I'd like to use that as a starting place.

Hi, I just wrote a reply to your post about cheating. Did you have surgery with Broussard and Walton in OKC? I did on 6/30/10. That puts you a week ahead of me. Their post-op diet is no fun at all. I'm going with the Cornell plan (I found it online). I live in Tucson, so I'll have to find a dietician to work with me here. Lisalu

I'm probably going to get scolded for this post, but I must speak my mind. OK, I have cheated. I was on day 7 post-op and flying home. I could take no more than 3oz liquid w/ me and forgot Protein powder. I had about 2 TBS cream Soup. I have had some creamed soup and an egg since (I'm 10 days post op). A word about cheating: I didn't do it willy-nilly. I checked every post-op diet I could find posted online. Programs vary WIDELY on their post-op diets. Some allow creamed Soups during the first week, others just clears. My program wants me on clears and Protein drinks for 2 weeks. But to be honest, post-op diets seem somewhat arbitrary. Sure there are general rules: keep hydrated, don't eat anything that's not mushed, but the specifics and the length of each stage seems different everywhere. I'm one of those people who is unlucky enough to still have hunger and protein drinks only weren't cutting it. A word about commitment: I lost over 10 percent of my body weight (25 lbs) in the 3 months before surgery. I think I am committed to this process. That said, I don't know how successful I'll be; yes I'm going to try my hardest but it isn't all up to me. We all know, that part of what made us obese was genetic and part psychological. Researchers think at least 70% of obesity is genetic. Now look at this surgery. It works for most people, some more than others. Who am I to say that a person who only loses 50% of their body weight isn't committed? Maybe there is more to obesity than ghrelin and stomach size. Maybe there are metabolic factors or other hormones we don't know about. I'm just not so willing to judge people on not being committed to their tool. About leaks: I have yet to find any literature that suggests that eating mushies too soon, causes leaks. The Cornell plan has people eating mushies at day 5 (I think). If there is data linking advancing the diet to leaks, please please let me know. I have looked online and haven't found any references to it. That's my $.02 Lisalu

Hey Deedee, I struggled with fertility issues too. I finally had 2 term pregnancies and they both followed HSG tests. If you have a mini obstruction, the HSG seems to clear it out. Ok, that was totally unscientific. The HSG does seem to boost fertility for a couple months but they don't know why. It might be clearing an obstruction or it might be something else. If you have a serious obstruction, is IVF an option? Sending good, unobtructed vibes your way, Lisalu

Sorry for my lousy nettiquite--I should be introducing myself, etc, but I'm just going to vent. I was sleeved on June 30, 2010. I am just about a week out and not a happy camper. Some of it is the sleeve, some my work but I'm just freaking out today. Here's my litany: 1. I started feeling hunger 2 days post-op. Now it wasn't the same, intense hunger as before but it was a gnawing pain in my gut and rumblies. Maybe it's acid but the doc did proscribe protonix and I am taking it. 2. I ate my first soft food today. My doctor wanted me on Clear liquids for 2 weeks but I couldn't do it. So I feel guilty about that. 3. I ate about 3-4 T of brocccoli Soup at lunch and a 1/2 oz cheese at dinner and I'm freaked out that I can eat that much 6 days out. I probably could've eaten more cheese comfortably, but decided to quit 4. I'm terrified that I might have spent all this $$ out of pocket and I could fail 5. I had my surgery out of town (flew back today) and don't have a support group yet in town 6. And a lot of work stuff. I applied for 2 new jobs at my work these past two months and I didn't get either of them. So I'm feeling like a general loser on top of it all. Yikes, that was a lot. Thanks for listening. Lisalu

You guys rock!! I'm teary-eyed reading your responses. I'm feeling better today; a good night's sleep gives a lot of perspective. I'm getting in touch with my local support group asap. Thanks, again.

June 30th Oklahoma City with Dr. Broussard. Nervous.

Hello Doctor, I'm evaluating a potential surgeon in the US. I have checked for # of vsgs performed (over 300), # years experience, professional affiliations and anything else I could think of. Are there other criteria I should be looking for? This surgeon seems less expensive than others. Should this be a red flag? Thanks for any guidance on this matter. It is a tough and important choice. Lisa

Ouroborous: Yes I agree, but where do I get that data? Sure I can ask the surgeon, but how can I be confident of their answer? Wouldn't a potentially unscrupulous surgeon be inclined to give me a favorable report? Is there any place I can get this info besides from the surgeon?

I hope someone answers your questions soon. I too am a worrier and have wondered the same thing.

Hi Doctor, I'm considering getting sleeved but am a little freaked out by the increase in gastric cancer in those with partial gastrectomies due to peptic ulcers. I understand that the peptic ulcer surgeries were different than VGS (different parts of the stomach), but gastric cancer is not an acceptable risk to me. So my question is: has anyone looked at the research and separated out the confounding risk factors such as smoking, heliobacter infection, etc? I'm trying to get the best read on this I can. Thanks, Lisa

I'm afraid I didn't express myself well in the original email. What I am concerned about Is a POSSIBLE risk of stomach cancer. I apologize in advance for this being a long post. No, there is no literature out there connecting vsg with gastric cancer. Vsg is too new for us to know any possible long term effects. I was scanning the medical literature to see if there were other studies that might give us clues about the long term sequelae of vsg. What I did find was complicated and hard to generalize from. Before routine treatment of ulcers with antibiotics, doctors sometimes removed all or part of the stomach. 25 years or so after this stomach ulcer surgery, there was some increase in gastric cancer. This is NOT to say that vsg will cause cancer, but it is something to look at. We don't know why these former ulcer patients got more caner. It might be because they had ulcers which is a known gastric cancer risk factor. It might be because they smoked more (they did, according to one study.) it might have been because they ate a diet of bacon and hot dogs. It might be due to their previous stomach surgery. Even if their stomach surgery had some effect on the development of cancer, that doesn't necessarily mean vsg would have the same effect. It turns out that they removed a different part (the lower half) of the stomach in the ulcer patients. It all comes down to me being a bit nervous about having a new surgery. I'm considering this surgery so I can remain healthy for my son. It would stink if I were making things worse. I do tend to worryabout cancer because my mom died of lymphoma.

Hi Sweetpea, yep, we've got to get this forum going. I'm just at the beginning of my journey research VGS. Happy Easter Monday, Lisa

New here, hi. I'm interested in this discussion. Gastric cancer is especially nasty (low survival rate). A confounding factor is that different parts of the stomach seem to be removed in ulcer gastrectomies. Anybody find any data of the relative risks of obesity, heliobacter, etc? My mom died of cancer (not gastric) so it freaks me out. Any info appreciated.