Feffers

Hi everyone- I've been lurking as a "visitor" for some time now and finally decided to join up today. I'm pre-op and started my research on various WLS about 2 years ago. Initially I was considering the LB like so many others... it sounded perfect! and completely reversable- woohoo. But the more I read about it, the more it scared me! And then the thought of constant fills and a foreign object inside me.... no thnx. I have a close friend who got banded in Jan and she has had some success but tons of problems and regularly vomits after meals... She also tends to eat pretty terrible stuff because "it stays down"... I can't imagine that lifestyle. I came across the VSG forum on LapBandTalk and eventually found my way over here... VSG sounded like a good match for me and I found a local surgeon I was happy with about a year ago and made plans for surgery. I'm a self pay, so things were moving quickly when I found out I was pregnant! It came as a complete shock for DH and I but we were thrilled! Surgery had to wait till after the baby. Not long after finding out I was pregnant, we found out we were having twins! LOL. Now my twin girls are 5 mo old (see avatar) and I've been back in communication with the local surgeon to get things moving on my VSG. I go for my pre-op consultation Sept 10th and will schedule my surgery then. I'm excited/nervous! I look forward to reading more about everyone's journey and will update with my own as things get rolling!

Hi My twins are almost 7 mo old and still BF. I was sleeved last week (10/7) and have had supply issues ever since. My doc doesn't require the preop diet so I nursed up until the surgery. Because of the anesthesia you can not nurse till the drugs leave your system. I had to pump and dump for the first 2 days after surgery. That was the worst. The pump just doesn't drain as well as two hungry babies. LOL Since then I've had to drink almost constantly to keep my own hydration up, let alone nurse. Thankfully I had a month worth of frozen breastmilk saved up and the girls have mostly been getting bottles. Today is the first day that it hasn't hurt my incision when they nurse... my girls refuse the football hold and will only nurse one at a time while held across my tummy.... picky babies... Honestly I would wait till your baby is older if breastfeeding is really important to you, at least closer to weaning age. It's been hell trying to get my supply back up after only a week but I know if I need to stop tomorrow that they got 6 months of breastmilk and will do just fine on formula.

Hi ya'll I'm doing fantastic! Bright and early wednesday morning, DH and I dropped our twins off at a family member's house so he could join me at the hospital while I was in surgery. On the way back to the interstate we were stopped at a busy intersection when a HUGE black pickup ran the red light and plowed 3 other cars into our tiny little Prius. The first car accident I was ever in just had to happen on the way to a hospital... ironic. Thankfully everyone was ok and ours was the only car that was drivable following the accident. I called the hospital on the way there to tell them I was going to be late and explain the situation. Everyone was fantastic and my surgery was pushed back to the 3rd and final surgery for the day. When we finally arrived, the doctors checked me over to make sure I was ok from the car accident and then got me prepped for surgery. Dr Bellanger stopped by before surgery to chat with me and my husband which was nice. That's pretty much all I remember up until waking up in recovery. I just kept asking "are you done yet?" and the nurse would tell me the surgery was over. I must have asked 3 or 4 times.. it just didn't seem possible that it was over already. I was in a lot of pain as I began to wake up and my face itched like crazy from the anesthesia. Once the pain was under control (yay morphine), I felt fine. Very sore and gassy but no nausea. I was able to start sucking on ice chips which was great since I had awful cottonmouth. Dr Bellanger came to check on me again and was pleased that I could keep down some broth and Jello. DH came back up to the hospital that evening with my twins and I was able to snuggle them one at a time while we watched a little TV (Glee- I love this show!). I ended up sleeping most of the evening and barely noticed the nurses coming in every few hours to check vitals. Thursday Dr. Bellanger came to check on me again and we talked about followup and what to look for at home if I had any problems. I was discharged around 11am. So far recovery has been very easy. lots of sipping but I'm getting in all my Fluid AND my Protein. I find it a lot easier to get my fluids in if I stay on top of my pain management, every 5 hrs I take the pain meds to keep any serious pain at bay. As of today my pain is nearly gone and is mostly just some discomfort. I stopped the pain meds and only plan to take them tonight to help me sleep. I've read a lot of people's experiences comparing the VSG pain to a Csection pain, but to me- the VSG was so much easier. I'm really happy I went through with the VSG. Dr Bellanger has been fantastic and St Elizabeth's was excellent. Thanks everyone for your support! I'll update more when the scale starts to move. :001_tt2:

My surgery is in the morning! ...must try to sleep....

Quick update! I have a date! Oct. 7th. :sad0:

Hi everyone- I've been searching past threads and reading posts on LBT trying to find posts about talking to loved ones about WLS. How did you all approach the topic with family? Spouse? Friends? Did you keep it a secret? (sorry if this is a bit rambling) Surprisingly my parents are completely supportive and even offered to help with the cost since I'll be a self-pay and my mom has volunteered to babysit the twins in my house while I recover (although her reason for that is pretty selfish... she loves to spoil my girls):001_wub: I'm still having a hard time talking with DH about it. His responses are pretty limited when I do try to talk to him... "You don't need it" DH comes from a very overweight family and while he is normal sized, he doesn't see obesity as an issue even though he has family members dying from heart problems and diabetes complications. :wink0: "So and so had it, and look at how miserable she is" (referring to lap-band friend) "You could die/have complications"- this is pretty much his trump card... As a newly wed with newborn twins and a wonderful life... this pretty much scares the crap out of me. I know logically the chances of complications are low but it is surgery and shouldn't be taken lightly. "You lost weight on Atkins, just do that again..." while true, I know my past diet attempts have all failed and I don't want to yo-yo for the rest of my life. Did anyone have similar issues when talking to a spouse? I would really like his support in going forward with this, so any suggestions are appreciated. I feel like there is a huge social stigma attached to WLS and it's been really difficult to talk about, I'm thankful to have found this forum. :redface1:

Hi and Welcome That's awesome that you don't have to reschedule! I also started with researching the lapband... On lapbandtalk I think I got to page 50 of 75+ pages in the Complications subforum before I just stopped reading... I wanted to read the bad stuff, not just the omgsquee-i-lost-all-the-weight posts. I also didn't like the way people on LBT were quick to jump on others that said their bands gave them problems... they made it seem like it was always "your fault" and couldn't possibly be their beloved bands. :001_wub: I've read way too much to believe that's the case for all the problems. Well grats and goodluck! I look forward to reading more about your journey! Hopefully my own surgery won't be far behind.

Hi xbander! I'm sorry I don't have any answer or comments for you, just wanted to say Hi and Welcome. :wink0: I'm pre-op for the sleeve and pretty nervous also. I have several banded friends, 2 of which are absolutely miserable with it, they've had tons of complications and problems and pretty much convinced me to look into other WLS options. I think there are a couple folks here that have had band to sleeve revisions, hopefully they can help you out.

Wow guys, thank you for the warm welcome! PennyS- I'll be seeing Dr. Bellanger. I've met 2 of his former VSG patients and they had glowing reviews about their surgery experience.