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I was sleeved on August 5th, just now getting up the energy to get this written. Anyhow, my husband and I arrived at the hospital at 8am and I was feeling pretty good, not all that nervous, Just ready to get it done. I get admitted and set up in the pre-op room waiting for 10am to come around. My inlaws drove over that morning to be with me and with my husband while he waits and I can tell that my MIL is sooo nervous, she keeps rubbing my arm. When the nurses come in we all chit chat while they are taking vitals and hooking me up with this thing and that thing. Someone brought up the question on if I needed a blood type band, but the other nurse said no it wasn't necessary. My husband asked why and was told that my Surgeon "Never needs to do transfusions so we don't worry about it." Meh, sounds good to me, I have complete trust in my surgeon! Before i know it my surgeon is here and the anesthesiologist is here and we are headed down the hallway. I don't even remember making it to the OR. Fast forward a few hours and I'm in a small hospital room, my husband is there and he says everything went great! I remember my mouth being soooo super dry and the nurses let me swish some Water around and spit it out. I remember telling my husband to go out to lunch with my inlaws and get something to eat! Then darkness. I wake back up to several nurses in my room and my husband and lots of beeping going on, someone is trying to either get a vain to put something in me or take blood I'm not sure, I'm so tired I can hardly even keep my eyes open. Everyone is shaking me and telling me to open my eyes, wake up, stay wake but I'm so tired. I hear my husband tell me to open my eyes and now my surgeon is in the room and nurses are on both hands trying to get a vain, I don't feel anything anymore. I hear my husband say "Take Her!" and then I don't remember anything. Fast-forward to 8pm that night, I wake up in the ICU of the hospital with a very stressed out looking husband. I am hooked up to several machines at this point. My surgeon comes in to check on me and tells me what happened. My sleeve procedure went smoothly, but while organs were being moved around some blood vessels that go from between the stomach and the spleen had gotten pinched/torn but it was in a way that nothing was showing itself as a problem. I had my surgery and was in recovery for 2 hours and in my room for 1 hour without any issues at all, I was a star patient. Until, as my husband told me, the nurses came into the room to start getting me up to walk, as they lifted the head of the bed all of my vitals crashed. As they were trying to get me to get up those blood vessels that were pinched were shifted and I started bleeding out. My surgeon took me back into surgery and said it was like a mini geyser in there. He said he cauterized it 9 times to stop the bleeding. I lost a lot of blood and while I was in ICU, I received two units of blood. I was on a pain pump, morphine and I remember I kept asking the nurses for something stronger, I just couldn't breath, it felt like I had done a thousand ab crunches and I couldn't even take a breath. After giving me morphine and Vicodin through the IV they finally called in something stronger called HydroMorphin. That stuff was AMAZING! within 20 minutes I was able to take my first real breath. I had lab techs coming in every hour to take blood samples and check my platelet count, my veins were collapsing and they had to call in the big wigs, he said he was only called when no one else could get anything, and it still took in a try or two, I;m still foggy at that point. I think I fell asleep because I open my eyes and my husband is there the next day, he had to go home shortly after I arrived in ICU to feed and let out our dogs and get some sleep. I am still having labs drawn and by this point I'm still not really feeling the needles, at one point the poor tech only got out a few drops before it was over. That lab had to be redone since it was so small it had clotted. They successfully attempt to get blood out of the IV that they had been giving me blood through. It must of been ok because they didn't hook me up to anymore blood bags. Yay! It's time to start getting up! My ICU nurse starts to position the bed into a seat position and my heart goes from 98 to 160, she panics and lays me back down and starts on the phone with my surgeon who has told them to call him if I go over 110. At this point my respiration drops and more alarms are going off. the nurses come in and check my breathing and open up the air thingy behind me. Respiration goes back up, but I can still hear my heart beating in my ears. that slows down and they draw more labs! Over the course of the day and three shift changes, I was able to get up and out of bed, I walked a few short trips around the ICU and I was bubbly happy when I was cleared for my first sip of 1oz water! I over heard the ICU nurses talking about me and how crazy it was that they actually had a bariatric patient because "That NEVER happens!" My Surgeon came by and told me how i was a first for him as well, as in bleeding and having to go to the ICU. I was in his "less than 1% complication" I graduate to phase two and started on my Protein drinks, no problems at all, maybe a little gassy but not bad. At 11pm that night, (day 2 post-op) I get moved to the bariatric floor of the hospital. I text my husband the room and try to get some sleep. No luck, hourly checks have me awake most of the night. I scare the hospital staff when I try to getup to go to the bathroom, (they took the catheter out at the ICU), my heart rate jumps back up into the 160s and I suddenly have a couple of nurses in my room. Eventually they come to accept that if my heart alarm is going off then I'm out of bed. They slowly stop checking on me throughout the day. I've been up and walking the floor, I've peed tons! I've walked some more. I keep asking to have the IV lines taken out since I wasn't hooked up to them anymore. I keep getting told at 3pm. I am going to get checked out at 3pm. Thankfully 3pm shows up and I've meet with the head nurse, and the nutritionist and some other ppl and I am cleared to go. By 3:45 I am home and exhausted. I sleep on the couch and my husband tends to me sweetly. So now that I am 8 days post op here's what I have to say. I absolutely LOVE my surgeon, as my MIL said, other surgeons would have maybe tried to wait and see if my vitals leveled out but not my surgeon, he saw that there was a problem and took Immediate action! I would absolute do this surgery again even with time spent in the ICU, The staff there were amazing. Days 1-6 TOTALLY Completely SUCK Monkey Butt, but it gets better. I don't want to weigh myself until my two week check up, but I am as gitty as a school girl about it! So, pick your surgeon wisely and trust him/her completely! I did and still do!

Thank you for your post. I loved reading it. It was honest and that's what I need to hear as I await my surgery date. I have accepted the fact that there can be complications but I have trust in my surgeon and cant wait until Sept 16th when I have my surgery. I am glad to hear you are doing good and kept a positive attitude, congrats!! Please keep us posted on your progress

I can only surmise that her stats on the occurrence of a complication are off. I say this because something similar happened to me, and I could have died. I give my surgeon no credit with saving my life, because as one poster above said the surgeon is the one who caused the problem. I don't know if I'll ever know what happened in surgery but something did that caused me to lose a lot of blood. When I woke up I felt worse than I ever have in my life. I really wanted to die and stop the suffering. I think the reason I felt so bad is because of blood loss, resulting rapid pulse and very low oxygen level (below 80). My nail beds were white, no color whatsoever. For some reason, unknown and unfathomable, my doctor waited nearly 2 days before giving me a blood transfusion. I guess he was expecting miracles that would cure me overnight. Only thing I can say with certainty is this: Pick a good doctor. I thought I did, but he was an egotist and a hothead. I had a strong gut feeling not to use him. I didn't listen to my gut and I'm glad I'm here to tell you I made it through. I had brought a friend with me to be my advocate if I needed it. I needed it, but she just assumed the doctor and nurses knew what they were going. I was completely helpless and at their mercy. I swear I will never let this happen again, even if I have to pay to hire a private nurse. We don't think about how major this surgery is and that we could have a complication. In both these cases, it sounds like surgeon ineptitude. Luckily, I'm ok now - no lingering bad effects. So even tho my surgeon nearly killed me, at least he did do a good job on the procedure. I haven't had any problems or pain at all, other than gas..

Over the last several months, I have gained six pounds. You would not think that would be a big deal but my body can feel it. I wake up exhausted and I struggle through the day. This past week I have been thinking about why I can’t seem to continue my weight loss. I am happy that I have lost over 100 pounds, but I have another 50 to lose. By the early part of this year I stopped losing weight. That was a little frustrating but I kept it in perspective. I told myself that I have been very successful thus far and I should be proud of what I have accomplished. Reluctantly, I stopped trying to lose weight and have done a decent job of maintaining it. It’s been about nine months and I’ve been thinking that I need to get back to losing the last bit of weight. If I don’t, my fear is that I will let myself go and end up right back where I started. I know that losing the weight will be a dramatic change for me and will make me healthier and give me more energy. But there is a fear inside of me that is stopping me from moving forward. This is the same fear that took me up to 330 pounds and would not allow me to lose that weight for over 10 years. I lost the weight but I did not conquer the fear. The only way I was able to lose the weight was by getting surgery to have 85% of my stomach removed so that I would be physically unable to eat. When you think about it, it sounds rather barbaric. I’ve been trying to figure out what the fear is so that I can face it. It is a fear of success or is it a fear of losing pleasure or is it just an addiction? Before my surgery, I used to think I had a fear of success because I was emotionally comfortable being overweight and didn’t know how I would act or react to being “thin”. I think this is partly why I have been content at my new weight. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight; enough to make the surgery a “success”. I went from a Body Mass Index of 56% to 36.8%. While it is an impressive drop, a BMI of 36.8% is not thin. I have gone from super morbidly obese to just obese. I remain emotionally comfortable in my weight because I still consider myself fat. While a small part of me feels flattered, mostly it makes me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable when I am complimented on my weight loss or the way I look. A person giving me a compliment is a foreign concept and I often do not know how to process what they are saying. Outwardly, I smile and say “Thank you” but inside it feels as if I am holding a dead bird in my hand that I don’t know what to do with. Am I afraid of holding on to too many dead birds? The other part of the problem of course is more complicated; it is the food addiction. Food is pleasurable. The act of eating is pleasurable. I like pleasure and use it as an escape from myself and my stress. Lately, work has been very stressful and I have not been able to control myself when it comes to eating. The sad thing is, I know what I am doing and I continue to do it. The sad thing is, the food does not reduce the stress but I keep eating.

I have not had any surgery..so I don't know if I can even give my opinion, but I will anyway . I went to the seminars, read several books, and after much thought, I think the band is right for me. I do have a BMI of 44 and have over 100 lbs to lose to be at goal weight, but I hate taking pills everyday (reason why I get depo instead of the pill) so I know that I would bring about my own demise. My insurance does not cover DS, but either way DS or RNY, I feel like I'm only 26, I haven't had any kids yet and want to be around for as long as possible. No one could tell me what would happen to me after 50 or 60 and I didn't want to do anything that could potentially shortened my life (yes I know being fat that I already shorten my own life, but I don't want a surgery to reroute that). Now I know there are plenty of people who know plenty of people that have had the RNY surgery. Personally (people who were friends of mine), I knew or know 5 people who had it done, 2 are dead from complications, 1 is in/out of the hospital consistently and had gained most of her weight back, 1 lost her weight and has gained it back (but I always told her that she never had a full understanding of what she needed to do to maintain it, she was obsessed with knowing what if felt like to be skinny and couldn't handle it), and the last one is doing just fine. Even though these are only a few people, its MY world, as limited in scope as it may be, I think it would give anybody in my position a scare. So I will take my chances with this, work with it and hope for the best. If it doesn't hopefully by that time there will be another option for treatment, but only time will tell.

Most folks, on both sides, are happy with their decision and would "do it" again. Of course, each side has complications. Some are more serious complications than others. For me, it was personal. What was I willing to go through to lose weight? I look to the future and felt the worse thing that could happen, with the band, is for it to erode and have it removed. The worse thing, long term, with RNY, could be lack of nutrition and deficiencies that go with it. Afterall, did I want to trade weight loss for other health complications? Lapbanders seem to not have that problem. Of course, short term, the complication for bandsters is much less. I support all who battle to lose weight!!! Shawn

This is your decision, I am preop and have a date set for april 17, I was ready to have GB but some of my very close friends had this and after complications they passed away. I am not saying this happens to everybody but I to am one of those who did not want to have those type of issues. Again only you can make the choice I am glad I choose to wait for the band

My clinic also will cancel surgery if you don't meet your goals. Since I was low BMI (36) I was order to not gain anything. Others had to lose a certain amount to shrink their liver before surgery. If you have gained weight, it adds complications to the surgery because your liver gets in the way of removing the stomach. Chin up and do what you need to do. Best of luck to you.

I'm a belly sleeper and I'm 4 weeks out and I can't do it. I had some complications plus hernia surgery so maybe it's just me. I can get onto my sides now, but sometimes going from side to back still hurts me.

I asked my surgeon abt the clear liquid rule the day I went in for surgery because I tried the clear Isopure ready made drinks and thought I was gonna die. He said as long as I'm mixing y protein with water it was absolutely fine. I trust my surgeon a tremendous amount. He is the director of the bariatric unit at the hospital and I have not had a single complication. I couldn't imagine not having him to turn to.

Hello everyone, my name is Trina. I'm 43 and had RNY Dec 19 2011..to date I've lost 100lbs. I lost my weight slower but I had alot of complications in the beginning. Check out my story in the story section. Its been tough but worth it. Just have to stick with it, work the tool and do the work so the tool works for you. I fall off sometimes but the next day, I get back on track and I stay accountable by attending support groups and speaking at seminars..I can't tell others about how to be successful if I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do..helps me stay motivated.

It's complicated to explain. It stands for biliary pancreatic diversion with duvoal switch. Similar to a gastric bypass but more weight loss expectations and lower risk of regaining weight. Sent from my XT1565 using the BariatricPal App

I have had my band since 2009 and started having a lot of complications with it in 2012 so I am having the revision to Sleeve on 11/27/13. I have heard a lot of people say they had to have a hernia repair what is the causes of getting a hernia with the band? For the last month I have had swollen, pinching, stabbing, and pulling feeling around my port area when I move or bend a curtain way. Is this something I should be concerned about?

My NUT recommended between 800-1000 calories a day for optimal weight loss. I'm not really exercising yet due to complications but I have a feeling I'll be heading towards that 1000 calorie mark when I do start.

Definitely spend your time reading up on surgeries. Are you worried about regain? Complications? Food intolerance? I have to admit: had my doctor not suggested the surgery I ended up having, I might never have gotten the one I eventually was very happy to get. Are you a big meal-eater, a snacker, etc. This matters, too.

if you really work on eating the exact amounts you should be eating the restriction will come into play by keeping food in your pouch long enough so the signal is sent to your brain that you are full. if you are eating until you feel stuck or slime or pb'ing than you have eaten to much and in time complications can set in. try measuring your food. it should be just about 1/2 cup of food per meal. with restriction as I talked about before that half of cup of food will be enough to make you not hungry. I hope this makes sense.

I am thinking about having the VSG in Mexico. But I am wondering that if there r complication weather minor or major if anyone has had trouble finding a doctor to help them when they get back home in the US??

@@Tweety208 so sorry to hear about your struggles. I hope you get well soon. Do you mind if I ask what caused your complications?

I believe that Pizzi and Kago both made very good points in their posts. It has been my understanding that some of Somalia's problems do hinge upon tribal membership in warring clans. Each and every member of a clan is expected to view all members of a rival clan as his enemy. There was some concern up here in Toronto that these feuds had been imported and were being continued within our local Somali community. Certainly this long-standing problem with clan wars has complicated international efforts to bring peace to this country. The book you mention, Kagoscuba, sounds very interesting. You might be interested to learn that prior to the establishment of Islam a similar situation, that of constant, and very destructive, clan warfare, existed in Arabia. It was the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad and the establishment of Islam which served to unify these tribes. Islam is a religion which had a social and political dimension as well as a spiritual one at the time of its birth. It unified a collection of warring tribes, and, along with its spiritual requirements, it demanded all believers to show hospitality to travellers and to take care of the weaker members of their people. Traditionally, as the Islamic empires spread, the faithful were tolerant of those who lived under their rule and who held different religious views. These non-believers were referred to as the dhimmi and were required to pay a special tax. There was more religious tolerance and certainly a much greater intellectual life allowed under the Islamic empires than there was in Medieval Christian Europe. Now, sadly, things seem to be much changed. Tolerance and the idea of intellectual examination seem to have been largely smashed in most of the modern Islamic countries and crazed extremist thugs rule. On the other hand, Europe has long since shuffled out of those days where the notion of engaging with ideas and thought were considered to be nothing more than opting to dance with the devil. We have experienced the Enlightenment and since then the events which lead to modernism have snowballed and most of us are in favour of viewing a display of curiosity as a healthy thing. I am an atheist but I will go on record as saying that I have no big problems with Islam as such. It is a very interesting religion and it was a response, as much as anything, to the spiritual, political, moral, and emotional needs in the region at the time. It still must be a pretty good religion for it is still alive and well and picking up new adherents. (It would be interesting to know why, would it not?) I really like what Pizzi has to say for I, too, suspect that the games which were played out in Somalia with that poor well-meaning woman as a pawn were more complicated than we on this side of the Atlantic - bear in mind that our news coverage is gonna be filtered through our own biases - are likely going to hear. There are those blacker folk, Christians it seems, who occupy the southern region. There are those Somalians who are Muslim and who are racially different from their sub-Saharan brothers who occupy the south. (By the way, my opinion is that these individuals are not Arabs but Nubian folk, as are the Ethiopians and the Eritreans. Berbers, a North African group who are much more easily - physically-speaking - confused with Arabs, do not consider themselves to be Arabs, either. I believe that Pizzi is right, that there are both hidden racial and religious issues connected to this story. We have the darker sub-Saharan Christians sharing a territory with the lighter skinned and Muslim Nubians, a group which, moreover, has been accustomed to adhering to clan loyalties. White people, however well meaning, may still carry the stench of colonisation and European arrogance and insensitivity. It might have been a lot of fun for this bunch of politicos to play up to the local rabble and to see what they might be able to extort from the Europeans in order to free this poor well-meaning woman. In brief, I agree with Pizzi, you can't blame this stunt on Islam however attractive this may be; the truth is likely far more complicated and even more offensive.

After 2.5 years of trying to get a normal relationship with my mom, it has all hit the fan again. I can't even express my hurt, and true anger. I don't know if we'll ever get passed all of this, and if we do it isn't going to happen anytime soon. Why does life have to be so difficult? Why can't we just get a long? When will I learn that it will never change? Happily, I'm not seeking comfort in food. But, I am tired of allowing her to hurt me. I'm tired of trying to have a normal relationship and getting backhanded comments, and mean-spirited things said to me. I tried to talk to her about it tonight, and it turned into a huge clusterf*ck. Now, I'm stuck going to Texas without John because he can't get leave, and nowhere to really stay because I don't want to stay with her after this episode. It's so complicated, and I'm so hurt. I don't think I'll ever be able to have a normal, healthy relationship with my mom. I've already lost the relationship with my father. I just want normalcy, and will admit that I am so jealous of other girls that have great relationships with their mothers. I am so confused, and hurt. . .

So I've been thinking about the pros and cons of this surgery: Pros: Have a chance to get and stay at my goal weight. I know it'll take work on my end as well, and in the past, I've shown that I can be dedicated and consistent, but I just need something to catch me when I fall Everything that comes with being slim--I'll enjoy shopping, new hair styles, etc Possibly lowering my chances of getting obesity related illnesses Cons: i think my biggest fear is how it might affect any future kids I have. Would I be able to get the right amount of nutrients in? From what I'm reading, everything should be fine as long as I take vitamins. I'm willing to take a prenatal vitamin every day for the remainder of my child bearing years if necessary (which won't be much longer, considering I'm about to be 32). In addition, it is recommended that you wait 18 months before having a baby. Well, I'm about to be 32. In 18 months, I'll be approaching 34! The older I get, the older my eggs will be, and the more chances of complications. Also, I was hoping my son would have a brother (or sister) close to his age. Acid reflux! On my first (and only) pregnancy, I got a taste of what acid reflux was like. It was horrible! One night I was awakened to acid going up my nose! Worst. Feeling. Ever. I think I even cried one night because I was so frustrated. The question is: Am I willing to possibly experience acid reflux for the rest of my life in exchange for being slim? Honestly, I think so. I'm at the point now where I ordered pills off the internet that have foreign labeling and I have no idea what's *really* in it. I was willing to risk my life to lose weight, so I should be willing to deal with acid reflux, right? The usual surgery risks. There's a chance of dying or something going wrong during any surgery. Of course, there's a risk when I drive to the grocery store as well. Yes, this worries me, especially since I have a child now. But I honestly feel like I can't give my son my best when I feel like hiding under a rock all the time. To be continued...

Your don't feel "different" because you are really not that different. If you don't have complications, it is hard to tell from the outside that you have had anything done. You don't feel full because the liquids just flow right on through. Be glad that you don't feel that different now, stick with your post-op diet (it won't last forever event though it may feel that way), and when you start eating more solid food, that's when you will feel the difference. You are in the first few days of a lifelong journey. Enjoy the ride to the new you...Kathe

With all of the complications we hear about I would pay $25K in a heartbeat to ensure I would be taken care of for the rest of my life with my band!!!

I got my lap band on August 8th and everything has been great. I had no complications, and I had a fill on Sept. . That went well, and I started having decent restriction, when (somewhat suddenly) I started having "the signs". Well, after a positive, but cheap walmart test was tossed, my husband and I spent $40 on 4 different tests, with 6 different sticks, all of them were the same. SO, then I went to the clinic out here, and they only did a urine test as well, but same deal. So, now go to see an obgyn on monday. Here's the thing, my husband and I are THRILLED, but surprised. This would be our first, and we wanted to, but I just got my band! I just lost 40 lbs. in the last year! And, you know, I asked 3 different specialists if I should get on birth control, and they all said, "no, you won't have no chance of getting pregnant" and I figured as much since my husband and I have not been using birth control for the last 2 1/2 years. I figured this was the least likeliest time possible. Like I said, I'm estatic, a bit perturbed simply because this means I'll have to unfill for the time being, but to have a baby is way more exciting for us right now, plus that's the beauty of the band, it's ajustable. I guess my confusion is how come sao suddenly? And how come the doctors rule it out so easily? (p.s. I know I'm goona get yelled at by my surgeon, I'm dreading calling her on Monday, I sure wish I had tape recorded them all saying "no, you won't get pregnant" ! Even her nurse did! Anyone else get pregnant so fast??? The doc says I could be anywhere from 2 weeks to four, that would mean we concieved 2 weeks after the band!!!!

He has a WLS website with many devoted followers; some are even quite militant about negative remarks about him. He performs many more surgeries per day than most WLS surgeons, so for the same percentage of complications, he will have more total complications. But given that, just the number of surgeries he reportedly performs per day (even with others opening and closing) is a concern. I like the mechanic who works on my car to have a lot of experience, but I don't want him to rush the repair of my car. He did not perform my surgery, I can't speak first hand about his capability as a surgeon.