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I’m one week out from surgery and my husband and best friend are making menhavwbsecond thoughts. They have no idea they both agree. My husband says I’ve had enough surgeries during my lifetime from car accidents and complications post car accident. I’ve also have a history of sepsis (infection) every time I get opens up for surgery. He know what I went through with all that.ni think he’s just afraid of what could happen or me not pulling through this time ans my friend said likewise. I really and and nee this surgery but now I feel like I’m second guessing myself. My initial plan was to have the sleev but the doctor takes me into duodenal switch because it’s less likely for weight gain. I agreed but also has second thoughts about that particular lad surgery just because of all the additional nutrients you malabsorption va the other surgeries. In my head I was also think duodenal would allow me to lose weight faster than the sleeve. Then again i don’t want to loose too much I don’t want to be looking too skinny from excessive weight lost from duodenal (CW 232 GW 150-160). Although not reversible the sleeve is less invasive and not switching around parts. Then again I’ve had a gastric ballon (obera ballon) and maybe lost 10 pound at most so that was also my reasoning for wanting duodenal switch more aggressive than sleeve as to me the obera balloonMimics restriction just like sleeve but it’s temporary. As you can see I’m a week out from surgery and all over the place. HELP!!! Has anyone that is slightly obese or obese who has extremely hard time losing weight even with diet or excercise had success from the sleeve? How fast did you lose weight?

LMAO! VSG 10/11/17 HW = 360 SW = 292 CW = 225.2 GW = 220 (6'5")

Deb- 2 scoops of Isopure Zero Carb Protein powder in a glass of Water, with a flavored sugar free syrup=50 grams of protein. 10 gram shakes aren't going to do it--get some heavy duty whey isolate (25 grams per scoop). Good luck! Donna

10 day liquid diet for me. starts 11/8 and surgery on the 18th.

I'm so sorry Mary, but I'm sitting here laughing my hiney off right now. That is hilarious that your husband would say that! On a sober note......I am happy that you're getting this taken care of right away. I too had my gall bladder removed back when I was 19 (11 years ago) and was sick with it for a year. It was horrible HORRIBLE pain, and I was so happy to get it taken care of. Best of luck to you, and tell your husband to start thinking with the right head. LOL

Regarding your comment "with the band I can eat"... post op you will be on a liquid diet for however long your doctor says, and you MUST NOT cheat on that diet. That diet is so that your band can heal properly in place so that you avoid slippage in the future. You wont even be able to have the lettuce and the vegetables you've already been having. I don't mean to lecture, but it's only been 10 days, and I know at least my post op liquid diet was 3 weeks (between clears and fulls). Then mushies.

So many times in the past, I have tried to diet. I have always failed. I do everything I'm supposed to, follow all the rules, and nothing. Maybe I'll lose 5 lbs, I think once I lost 10. But that's it. Well, I got my pre-op bloodwork done, and when I went into my surgeon's office to meet with the nurse practitioner, she said my thyroid levels were off. So now I am wondering if my doctor ever checked them before. Every time I would go in to see him, I would get a lecture about losing weight. If he never checked my thyroid, and I have been suffering and struggling with my weight all this time, I will be pissed. If I could have been taking a pill that could have helped (I know fixing my hypothyroidism won't magically make me lose, but it will make me lose when I am trying). Every time I would go on a diet and nothing would happen, I would get so frustrated and quit. And then feel like a failure. And even my husband made me feel like a failure, because he would always say well you must be doing it wrong because you aren't losing. Even though he would be eating the same things and he would lose weight. All that suffering, and it could have been prevented with one blood test!!!!! :confused::cuss::cuss::cuss::thumbup::cuss::tt2::cuss::cuss:

Disclaimer: I've never been a person who paid much attention to other people's opinion of me or my actions. I did tell a few people of my decision prior to banding and now tell anyone who asks. The prebanding reactions were mixed but the post banding reactions have all been positive (as in I'm proud of you for taking decisive action). I think most people (unless they've been living under a rock for the past 5 years) realize that weight loss success rates are somewhere between 1-10% without medical intervention. The ones who had negative reactions were mostly due to the fact they didn't understand the lap band procedure is not the gastric bypass procedure. Once I explained the difference, there were even some with less than 40 lbs to lose who were wondering if they could do it because they haven't been able to take the weight off on their own. I have been banded just shy of 6 months now and by some standards, am a slow loser. I'm OK with it but the first 3 months were really tough and I had my doubts. What I know now is that everyone loses at their own pace and not to compare myself to others who lose faster. If I had the chance to go back and reconsider, I would do it all over again.

I thought this article was very interesting: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/08/08/gastric_bypass/ My big fat obnoxious former self I'm glad I don't weigh 571 pounds anymore. But I miss my big-girl righteousness and bravado. By Rebecca Golden Aug. 8, 2006 | The best thing about weighing 571 pounds is eating whatever you want. You don't worry about gaining five pounds. You know that it won't make a difference. You know that starving yourself and losing five pounds won't make a difference, either. The futility of the situation creates its own inertia. At 571 pounds, I thought nothing of drinking all the cherry Coke I wanted. I ate triple cheeseburgers and Dutch apple pie and quiche Lorraine. Weighing 571 pounds should have meant that I had diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease at the very least. I had none of the above. I drove a car. I worked. I never became permanently fused to a plaid sofa. Burly firemen never had to remove a picture window from my house so they could haul me away to the hospital. Still, I longed to do ordinary things. I missed having the ability to get up off the floor unassisted, to sit in booths at restaurants and to ride in Japanese cars. I missed other things, too. I missed having a job that took full advantage of my various skills and talents. I found it difficult to convince newspaper editors that a 500-pound woman could cover whatever came up in the course of a day. I missed having a boyfriend. I found myself at the age of 33 trapped in my mother's house, disabled and alone much of the time. I had no idea I weighed 571 pounds; household scales don't go above 350. I found out my weight one day at the pulmonologist's office. His very efficient electronic scale spelled it out for me, the number writ large in neon green lights. That sort of a number comes as a huge shock. You try to deny its significance. If you're me, you leave the doctor's office, head directly to Wendy's, and buy a Classic Triple, large fries and a cherry Coke. You eat this meal in your car, and you cry like a little girl. I'd had wakeup calls before. Five years ago, I weighed 525 pounds, and managed to slide into denial about this fact. I did nothing about my weight. But something about this new number, 571 pounds, disturbed me profoundly. It may have been the proximity of the number to 600. I had told myself in the past that 525 pounds was barely 500 pounds at all -- really fairly close to the 400s. But 571 pounds? I finished my cheeseburger and started researching gastric bypass surgery. I stopped eating fast food and drinking soda pop and made an appointment with a surgeon. I joined the Y and stuffed myself into the world's ugliest bathing suit -- a backless, braless "swim dress" with matching underpants -- so I could do Water aerobics and swim laps. My Russian surgeon required me to keep a journal of everything I ate, to eat six times a day and to take Vitamins. I learned that after surgery I would need to do these things for the rest of my life. I developed a taste for Protein bars and grilled chicken. My doctor had no idea of the irony-fraught historical ramifications of my operation: He was as a descendant of Cossacks disemboweling the granddaughter of Russian Jews. Still, when the day of surgery arrived, I let some people cut me open and rearrange my guts. I woke up and saw the scar for the first time. An eight-inch line of steel staples divided my torso. I walked the hospital halls, putting in 10 circuits a day, 10 times past the nurses station where my caretakers snacked on Doritos and sugar Cookies. I admired the knitted Christmas stockings and construction paper decorations lining the corridor, but I made them take the candy cane off the door to my room. Now, seven months later, I can clasp my hands behind my back when I stretch after aerobics. I can ride in a Hyundai Elantra. I can sit with my knees together. I can cross my ankles. I've even taken to man shopping on the Internet. We postops take extraordinary pleasure in the suddenly ordinary. Wiping your ass? That is a red-letter day for some of us. These are victories, sure, but also the sort of clichés that abound in the world of gastric bypass. Everyone takes the same "after" picture: They squeeze into one leg of an old pair of fat jeans and mug for the camera. It is my effort not to become a weight loss surgery cliché that is my deepest struggle apart from my continuing love of food. One of the only good things about weighing nearly 600 pounds is the sense of uniqueness it bestows. People had no trouble remembering me. I was a rare, elusive creature. But, day by day, as I dwindle down, I become more and more ordinary. Weight used to define me, even manufacturing my personality. My whole persona, the boisterous, obnoxious fat girl, lent me an aura of toughness. As the weight comes off, I find myself changing inwardly, becoming more feminine and more delicate in ways that both delight and terrify me. When walking down the street makes you an object of pity and disgust at worst, and unfettered curiosity at best, you need a certain amount of righteous hostility. But the battle armor doesn't fit anymore, so I go out into the world without its reassuring heaviness. I have lost some of my dense outer layer of crankiness. These days, I'm a bit more open, a bit more hopeful in my presentation. And yet, I despise the idea of losing my big-girl righteousness as I lose the weight. People like to tell prospective bypass patients they'll become a whole new person. This never appealed to me. I never hated myself. I hated some aspects of my body (breasts should point up, e.g.) but never the inner person. But like it or not, that person has changed. Losing 180 pounds will do that to a girl. As I move forward in a drastically altered body, the inner fat girl diminishes. Much as my body troubled me, I can't help feeling nostalgic about that girl. I hardly think about Cherry Coke and fast food anymore. But that girl's scrappiness and general bad attitude saved my life a thousand times. I'm going to miss her.

Seems like each adjustment has a learning curve.....Congratulations on being problem free for so long. You might end up needing a small unfill, but I believe when you learn what this fill will let you eat/not eat you will be fine. I had a fill the other day that is different from all prior fills and I am taking it slow as long as I can get liquids down and pee 3-4 times a day. It seems like it is at this point that I will lose the 10 pounds I keep losing and regaining. You might want to do liquids for a couple of days and let any swelling settle down. Best wishes, Mimi

Dr. Aceves has his patients on 10 days of clear, then 10 days of full liquids. That should be where you are now. You can have Soup that you put in a blender to get rid of all the chunks.I blended tomato soup and cottage cheese to get more Protein. You can also have the egg flower soup from the chinese places, and of course any kind of Protein Drink you can stand. There are also drinkable yogurts. Hope that helps!

:confused:I think that my band has slipped but I am not sure. Can anyone let me know what they felt? Does it mean that I need another surgery? I was banded in Jan '09 and I have been doing fine, I have thrown up maybe 10 times in the whole 9 months I have had my band, but since I starting working out 2 1/2 weeks ago, I can't eat anything and sometimes I can't even drink my protein shake without feeling like something is stuck. I called my dr. but he seems to be busy cause I can't talk to him and the only open appt is for the 12th of this month. What should I do? Please help!! :smile:

..more on this comment.. i have a 10 cc band and i have about four ccs of fill.

My doctor will not do both at the same time. This pain is nothing compared to bad gall bladder attackes TRUST ME. I had mine out at 19 after loosing a hundred pounds. Mine was done as a open surgery so I have about a 5 inch scar; which by the way is much more noticeabe than my port scar.

Would anyone be interested in forming a clothes exchange club? I was considering starting a website on my own, but I don't think I can do it without spending a few hundred dollars a year. I've been looking at this company: http://hosting.ipslink.com/community.html This company provides a photo gallery with its community--something you can't get with the free message board. If anyone knows of any other companies with better products, feel free to share. Anyway, I think there's probably enough people interested in this that if we had a $10-$15 club dues each year, it would pay for the board with the photo gallery and hosting. Then all exchanges would be free, except for any shipping between the parties involved. What do you guys think? I am willing to give my time and effort, but I would really like some help. Plus, I don't know anything about setting up a club, so if you are a former board member of any kind, please help. Everyone's input and ideas would be appreciated.

I was sleeved on 2/19. I'm still on liquids but having an extremely hard time getting them in due to the "slimes". No matter what I drink it happens. I haven't taken in protein because the sliming mixed with the shakes consistency makes me dry heave like crazy. At this point I don't know what to do.

I was at a 40 bmi when I got a surgery date, lost 10 pounds in the two week pre-op diet bringing me to about a 35 bmi. I've lost another 14 pounds since surgery four weeks ago, so I'm creeping closer to a healthy bmi. Total I want to lose is 75 pounds, and so far so good. I understand it might not be so fast, but slow and steady wins the race-this is absolutely a marathon and not a sprint!!! I also have PCOS so this is an important lifetime support for me to control something I otherwise can't. Very happy with my decision and looking forward to finishing the next two weeks and getting back to Orange Theory for a more intense workout! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

New to this site! Had surgery 5/12/14. Feel pretty great. Woke up feeling good much better than I thought I would:) been getting all 70g of protein in lost 10 pounds! Over all feel amazing! Today was a lil sore which is unusual. Had to take a pain pill today which is a first since I left hospital. Thinking I may have just walked too much. At least I hope:) see dr. Tomorrow for my first visit!

Hi numby2017, I am just a bit ahead of you at 5 weeks today. At 10 days I was able to get alot of liquids, Soup and yogurt in. I thought the surgery was a fail. Now on soft food, I feel a pressure, that's when I know to stop or the food will come up. I rarely can eat more than a couple ounces of food and liquids are even going down slowly now. Surgery was a complete success, although, I have wicked head hunger. Good luck! Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App

I just started my liquid diet a few days ago. My cousin said she will follow my diet for 10 weeks to lose weight. More power to her! I wouldn't have the motivation to do this if it wasn't not for surgery. Sent from my SM-G900P using the BariatricPal App

I had the lap band on 10/27. Like you, I have been very emotional. I think in some strange way, I'm mourning the role food played in my life. I haven't cried, but I've been irritable at times. I know it will get better!!

I am 7 weeks post op and I got my first fill 1 week ago 3cc). I ate 10 wings and a small salad today I am full but I thought I would not be able to eat as much. I am really concerned because I am not sure if this band works or maybe I have stretched it out (if that's possible). I am currently 260lbs and I started at 280lbs. I have not once had an incident of sliming or PB like I hear others talk about. I can eat anything (bread, chicken, shrimp, steak, etc) I have no restrictions. Is this normal?

Well, I did it, no fast food, no going out to eat, plenty of cravings and plenty of time yelling at myself that I didn't need to go out to eat or grab some candy on the way home from school. Saturday: I was so tight after the hurling on Friday that this day wasn't so hard. Breakfast: coffee drink: 180 calories Lunch: Sour cream and chive baked potato: 280 calories Dinner: BBQ chicken breast, rice mix, very small salad: no calories (since I had a horrible PB that I didn't know was coming. After only a few bites of chicken and a few bites of rice and 1 bite of salad I was full, I stopped and sat for 30 minutes while all of this tried to get down. I thought I was doing good until I had to cough from a scratchy throat. That was no fun cough. I pbed into my hands and ran to the bathroom. Let's just say I had some cleaning to do once I was done!! So gross!!) Snack: 100 calorie pack cookies: 100 calories Sunday: Still tight, so trying to be careful Breakfast: 100 calories pack of cookies: 100 calories (although I made m husband eggs with pico and cheese and toast with butter and apple butter, that was tough, I think I had a bite of his toast!) Lunch: 1/2 apple and 1/2 string cheese (I can't believe I made myself a healthy snack for lunch!!) Dinner: Venison chili. Dollup of sour cream and sprinkle of cheese. I probably got about 10 tiny bites down before full. Then had 1/4 cup of vanilla ice cream with Tablespoon of caramel sauce-bad, thank god it was mostly freezer burned so I didn't get much down. Snack: handfull of pecans-so bad, but oh so good After all of this at least I kept everything down today and no pains or anything. Best part I have lost 2 more pounds. I am only 7 pounds away from Onederland!! It has been so hard taking this one day at a time attitude. Trying not to diet, just not to eat everything in front of me and keeping myself outside of the restaurants so I don't eat the crazy-bad things there. I work 12 hours today, but brought lo cal snacks because days like these I tend to indulge. I think as long as I can get a workout in tonight once I'm home I will do fine today. We will see tomorrow!!! TODAY IS THE DAY!

I started this journey on 6/4/09 and I just found out I got approved on 9/11!! I am due to talk to the office and schedule surgery this week. My question is, how quickly were you able to get your surgery done after approval. I have a wedding to attend on 10/24 so I would like to have surgery on 10/1 or 10/2. I am just wondering if that is too much to hope for. Thanks for the help!:tongue2: