Search the Community

Dr. Coirin is not only a bariatric surgeon but also a trauma surgeon. He is one of the most talented dr in the area. He has done over 8000 procedures so he has a lot of experience. His staff is wonderful and caring as is he. He works with you and communicates with you to make sure you are successful but also is very real with you. Why go to someone with less experience when you can work with the best.

I signed up in August of 2014 to have surgery. My first informational meeting was 9/14 after an initial consult with a bariatric nurse, I had to have 6 months worth of visits with a dietician. My last dietary appointment is on March 31st. YAY! I had an hour long consult with surgeon, 2 appointments (long appointments with a psychologist). I've had an endoscopy (yesterday), got the all clear to go ahead for surgery from the surgeon. After my last dietary appt., I have 2 more appointments to fulfil. A pre-op with a nurse who will tell me all I have to do before surgery, and another appt. with a nurse prac. who will go over all the things I do when I get home from hospital. I guess THEN I will get scheduled. Finally. It's been a long long journey.

I was part of the anthem BCBS bariatric case management. Mine was a free service that provides a nurse to call and check on you monthly. As a nurse practitioner I thought it would be pointless. But actually it was kinda nice. Just another person wishing me well and saying encouraging things when I got off track. It's weird they are asking months later but it may be to cover their butts if they were supposed to follow up sooner. I was almost kind of sad when my nurse told me she wouldn't be calling anymore after 8 months.

So today I went saw my bariatrics nut , she said I've lost 53 pounds in 6 weeks. I thought I was doing great. She was concerned. She ask what I was eating I told her I eat about 3 spoonfuls at a time. I am at about 600 calories per day. She said to bump it up to 1000 cals per day. Also gave an ekg to make sure ticker working good. I am jog 3 miles everymorning and hitting gym after work. I thought I was doing great . But she says if I work out hard I need to feed my body better. Makes sense , she said eat smart not small. I was sleeved on 4/20 and have lost 123 since Nov . 68 pre-op

I start mine on Tuesday. It'll be a 14 day clear sugar free liquid diet and I'm only allowed one bariatric approve approved protein bar a day. Surgery April 10th

As many of you know, I often speak at bariatric support groups in New York and New Jersey. One thing that never fails to amaze me, is how many people are surprised at the body changes after bariatric surgery. Many people had no idea that the skin may remain after weight loss and that needing (wanting) plastic surgery is extremely common. Patients are much more educated now about PS after weight loss - through support groups that sponsor plastic surgeons, through websites like this one, and in speaking with their bariatric surgeons. There is always room for improvement - especially on the "pre-op" side, so that you know that the weight loss may not always be the end of your journey. I am interested to hear your thoughts about the way in which you were educated about plastic surgery (or not educated), and whether this occurred before or after your band procedure. This will help me be able to better educate people about this subject.

I was informed when I went for the psychological evaluation prior to my wls surgery when the psycologist asked how I would feel about it. I have been overweight my whole life and now, 35 pounds down, am already seeing that my skin is not going to bounce back, so I'm all for it!! I also found out, via my bariatric surgeon, that he can and is helping document the rashes and painful shoulders in an effort to help get insurance to approve it. Further, he said he usually plans to be in the OR when I have ps to replace the port with a low rise port and move the port to where he can get to it for fills. He is super supportive and a strong advocate of after care and support group!!

Don't be depressed! You can't judge everyone's result by one bad one. Armlifts, when done correctly, can give excellent results with very high patient satisfaction rates. It is true that sometimes people get bad scars, but this is true with any surgery (there are some bad surgeons, and some people are "bad healers"). When done correctly, arm lifts can give a natural appearing arm, without the "med flaps." A well placed scar is only visible whent he arm is raised. It will not be visible from the front, back, or side. If you are interested in an armlift, my advice is to search out a well qualified plastic surgeon, experienced in post bariatric body contouring. Don't be discouraged because you saw one bad result. Best of luck to you

There is one in Austin at St. David's. Not too far from Round Rock. There is also a group that meets at the TGI Fridays somewhere north. I live Downtown so far north is out of the question in rush hour. You can join: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CenTexBandsters/ They have info on the TGI Fridays mtg. Let me know if you have questions~ St. David’s LapBand Support Group 2006 Meeting Schedule St. David’s Medical Center 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Monthly on 4th Thursday (*Denotes variance of schedule) June 22 – Success Habits: Vitamins and supplements July 27 – Coping With Head Hunger August 24 – Plastic Surgery Options –Conference Hall September 28 – Getting Back on Track October 26 – Pants Across Austin Celebration! – Conference Hall *November 16 – ‘Tis the Season: Dealing with Emotional Eating *December 21 – Holiday Party and Clothing Exchange – St. David’s Bariatric Center All meetings to be held in the Private Dining Room (located inside of St. David’s Cafeteria) unless otherwise noted above.

Getting banded has been really great so far. My surgery went without a hitch and I was out of bed and rarring to go almost immediately following. Its early days, but I remain hopefully optimistic that this will work out in ways that all the other diets that I have tried have not. I consider myself a professional inexpert dieter --if its out there I have tried it. Low carb, no carb, nutri whatever, ww, fasting, diet pepsi and cigarettes, opti, medi, HMR, slimfast, diet pills (Rx and OTC) added to the mix to keep my appetite in check. My best and longest successful dieting foray was from the winter of 2000 through the summer of 2003. With boatloads of Water, a low carb diet, and as much exercise as I could stand -- I managed to lose about 90 lbs (this left me still needing to lose about 50 or 60 lbs to achieve a healthy weight by American standards and certainly by my standard). However, the long plateau worked to undermine my dedication and the weight began creeping back at a pretty steady clip. I never again got to my high of 292, but at my first weigh in with the lap band surgeon I was about 268 or so. It was a tough decision for me to make. For a variety of reasons I wasn't interested in a bypass....and it killed me that essentially I am paying someone to restrict my food intake. But the yo-yo dieting had really defeated me. I have been forturnate in that I am a relatively healthy fat person -- but I knew that time was working against me and the older I got -- the less likely that that trend would continue. So it was with alot of baggage that I started shopping around for a bariatric doctor to explore the lap band. The whole insurance thing was/is a hassle. They cover, but I couldn't find an in network provider (in NYC or NJ), just out of network with a threatened 70% coverage amount. I haven't seen any bills yet. I will certainly provide updates as that situation unfolds. Post surgically I have "officially" lost 14 lbs.... this is a little sketchy in my opinion. They weighed me at the hospital the day of .. and I was a whopping 274. I think working the day before from home, planted in front of my computer all day with no food after 3pm and no liquid (because I can be overzealous in following pre-surgery instructions) had me retaining major water. If I go by my last weigh in at the doctor the week before my surgery my weight loss as of 12-19-2007 is closer to 4 lbs. Post surgically, I was bullied by my doctor to lose about 10 lbs. Surprisingly, I have found that I am not at all interested in monitoring my weight other than whatever I am forced to do when I go to the doctor. I mean why torture myself? That's why I decided to get the surgery, right? This should not be interpreted as not monitoring my intake.... I have. Although I didn't do so good with the whole crushing pills until 1 month after surgery. Yuck! I just couldn't. I have tried my best to limit my intake, eat three times a day with no snacking and don't eat and drink at the same sitting. The last has proven to be the toughest thing. Also, it has put me in jeopardy of not taking in enough water -- I am trying but if you can't drink during, or up to 30 minutes before or after, and can't gulp it down like medicine.... I am reduced to totting around a bottle and taking sips all damn day. It has proven to be my greatest challenge so far. :faint: But generally speaking -- its so far so good and I am hopeful that I will have lost another couple of pounds when next I see my doctor 1-15-2008. And if I haven't... that's alright. The average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year is like 5 lbs, right? If I managed to dodge that bullet -- its all good. Later,

I had my first appt June 4th. I live about 3 hours from the Bariatric center of Kansas city. The way it worked there is you submit your health history and insurance information and attend the seminar then once they had all my paperwork they assigned me a case manager. The case manager arranged for all my required appts in one day it was a long day lol. This was how that day went. At 8am I checked in for my pysch evaluation which involved filling out about 5 pages of bubble questions that took about 40 mins then I saw the psych Dr (his office works in conjunction with their office) I met with him for about 40 mins answered his questions and he reviewed my forms and by the end of the session he said I was clear on the psych portion. After that I had to attend a class from 10:30 to 1pm it is a patient education and guideline session they go over in detail the type of surgery what to expect information regarding preop diet vitamins protein shakes guidelines on what to eat at each phase of recovery and more. The class is a requirement for everyone at our clinic and is extremely informative and I learned a whole lot. Then my next appt was after 1 I had weight and height done then they gave me an ekg. After that was done I went to a room and waited for the dietian appt where we went over the diet portion of the program. After that appt around 2 I saw the surgeon. He asked a bunch of questions and said he thought my choice for the RNY was the most appropriate for me and said I had to have an EGD to look at my stomach and test for h pylori which he has all patients do. When that appt was over I met with my case manager who gave me an order for the EGD to be done by a local gastroentologist and we went over the checklist provided and they also gave me the consent and request for my actual medical records from my primary care physician. Then I was finally done I had all my appointments completed in one day. I was able to get my EGD done the week after and my Dr faxed my medical records to the clinic. I then paid my program fee and now all I have to do is have the surgeon review my medical records and make sure I had the previous failed diet documented then we submit to insurance. It seems almost to easy lol but it has been a realitivly painless process so far.

Pinterest had great bariatric recipes and the web site theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com has lots of recipes. She had RNY but the recipes are same for sleevers. Best of luck. Chili is my go to food and I am 7 weeks out!

@LadyReyvenet let us know what you find works for you. I start my liquid diet this Sunday and it is with Bariatrics Advantage as well. Good luck!

Didn't your doc explain this to you? It's one of the main things that bariatric patients should knowif he did. I don't remember. O............K.......

Hey all. Not sure if you all remember me, I was the girl that might have the problem with insurance. Turns out they said they'd cover til the end of the month so my surgery was covered. My follow-up appt wont be covered do to the switch to my new insurance, but they said they'll back date it... so yeah!! March 20th was the D-day... so I'm officially 5 days post op!! Anyhow... they said I did great. My liver was enlarged and fatty... big surprised. I was in recovery FOREVER waiting on a room but it was worth the wait... had an AMAZING recovery nurse and the room was HUGE... felt like I was in a hotel. Lol. New furniture and all. (they just opened their own bariatric wing this year at hopkins). The over night nurse was wonderful and she had a trainee with her who was just as great. They were RIGHT on top of it, if I need ANYTHING. I was nausated for a good day afterwards... plenty of anti-nausea medication!!! The gas pain didnt start til I was post-op two days but is finally gone. I'm getting liquids down more now. Easier. How do people get enough Protein in at this stage? I'll put some in my carnation instant Breakfast. I plan to add it to things when I'm doing puree starting Friday. :thumbup: My left side is starting to really bother me at times. Like out of the blue I'll get a pain from around my port. Can't WAIT for that to be over. :tongue: I am sooo tired of yogurt, pudding, chicken broth, and crystal light I could scream. I can not wait to just have some mashed potatoes, bananas, heck even some baby food looks yummy at this point. I just just cant wait to be able to choose alittle more of what I can eat!!

High blood pressure - gone. Type 2 diabetes - gone. Cholesterol - normal. sleep apnea - gone. Back and knee pain - gone. Weight loss - 120+ lbs. (actually 126 at today's weight). Waist size - Pre-op: 48" - 50". Post-op (11 months): 36" 95% of Prescription meds - gone. Dealing with the psychological aspect - it starts with "finding your why". I found mine. Health - Obesity is a progressive, degenerative disease that is the second leading cause of premature, preventable death in the U.S. The links between obesity and heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and a dozen other serious diseases are well documented and virtually undeniable. Options - Diet and exercise as a treatment for folks with a BMI of 30 or greater is a myth. It is a statistical virtual impossibility with a failure rate approaching 100%. And science is just now beginning to understand why - http://www.drsharma....or-obesity.html . For more information - "Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments - Diets Are Not the Answer" - http://motivatedandf...s_dont_work.pdf . Bariatric surgery is the single most effective weight loss option known to medical science - by a very wide margin. The September 19, 2012 Journal of the American Medical Association reported the results of a study done with 1,156 surgery participants 18 - 72 years old, along with two control groups totalling more than 700 participants. One key aspect of their findings: "At 2 years, 99 percent of surgical patients had maintained more than 10 percent weight loss from baseline and 94 percent had maintained more than 20 percent weight loss. At 6 years, 96 percent of surgical patients had maintained more than 10 percent weight loss from baseline and 76 percent had maintained more than 20 percent weight loss". Read more at: http://medicalxpress...higher.html#jCp Quality of life - The ability to go into any store, anywhere, anytime knowing that there will be endless options for the new you. The ability to walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. The ability to play with your children (and grandchildren) for more than five minutes. The ability to take a long walk in the woods with your black lab and actually enjoy every delicious, pain free moment of it. The thrill of looking in the mirror every day and thinking that you look pretty damned amazing. The knowledge that you almost certainly will live a longer, happier, more fulfilling life. The ability to comfortably sit in a restaurant booth. Or an airline seat. The almost limitless energy that you had long since forgotten. Just plain feeling good about yourself for the first time in a long time. Living your life free of the "obesity stigma" - that only those of us who have been there can really understand. The absolute elation of knowing that you did it. That it's sustainable. And that you are finally in control. Complications - zero. Would I do it again? - If I had it to do all over again there is one thing, and only one thing, that I would change. I'd do it twenty years earlier!

Since surgery I've lost a noticeable amount of weight and if someone asks, I will tell them that I had bariatric surgery. Most people don't know what gastric sleeve surgery is and I don't go into depth with them on it unless it's someone who is asking more questions about it. Those people are also the ones who would generally benefit from the surgery too so I try to be as open and honest with them because it might end up saving their life someday. I don't know if I ever would have been able to have this surgery if it hadn't of been for 3-5 people close to me that had already had the same or similar procedure done. Their openness and honesty made it easier for me to make the decision and know that I was doing the right thing. I hope to pay it forward to others as a way of giving back. As for the haters, I haven't said anything about the surgery. I just sit back with my tiny meal, get full off of a few bites and let them try to figure out what's going on. Most of those types made fun of me before surgery so I don't care to mention it to them and they don't have the guts to ask me about it so I just let them wonder . . . and watch me get smaller each day.

I don't know about their bariatric program, but I used to work there and had both of my children there. What a great place! I'm sure you're in good hands. Best wishes to you!!

I have logged into this website at first on my laptop and just used to connect through fb link. Now when I use my iphone app I cannot get logged in bc I don't have a user name/password. I tried to register using my info but it says that my email is already in use as is my name. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

Thanks for sharing! The only Vitamin B12 I am taking is in my bariatric multivitamin... which lately I keep forgetting to take! I wasn't too concerned until I looked up high bilirubin with high vitamin b12... and together they indicate possible cancer and so of course it is a bit concerning. Of course, Cancer isn't the only cause... but just scary possibility. If others have a high b12 after surgery, I am less concerned though will continue monitoring and talk to the doc when I see him. I think I will keep my Dec appointment unless he calls me in because of labs... and then I will drop off a copy of my labs at my PCP office and SHE will probably call me and we can talk. I thought this might all be surgery/rapid weight loss related, but the web search had me worried. B12 is water soluble, so normally you just pee the extra out. Trying to up my fluids to see if it will help.

It's a new chapter in my life as I pack up all the things my Ex gave me over the years, I put it in a box and put it away. I woke up not sad for the first time I woke up rejuvenated! That I will find somebody who will want the same desires as me. For now I start the most important task: Taking care of myself! Seeing the Bariatric Surgeon is the first step this coming Wednesday. Then taking the rest from there. I need to rebuild myself inner to outer. This is my Time to Shine. Lisa

At this point, try to forget about work for at least a week. You may feel much better next week and the week after. Don’t assume how you feel now will be how you feel in two weeks. Since you were asking for more time at the outset before knowing how you would feel, it may be a self fulfilling prophesy. If you get to the date when you have to return to work and can’t do it, talk to your Bariatric team in person. Don’t hold back your emotions. Mental Health is just as important as physical health.

This is a great read for members interested in upcoming Bariatric procedures. The Lyon New Bariatric Tech and Expert meeting highlighted some of the hot topics regarding "state of the art" and very recent minimally invasive weight loss procedures. Here are some highlights from the meeting: Part 1 Part 2 Page 3

I've been looking for bariatric cookbooks that are cheap but good. I found this one today ... "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery: Over 140 Delicious Low-Fat High-Protein Recipes to Enjoy in the Weeks, Months and Years After Surgery" Have any of you tried it before?

Strawberry, My heart goes out to you! It sounds like you could use some help. A few things come to mind.. Have your tired a Bariatric support group. If you’re feeling alone, you should be able to find people who are experiencing similar feelings. This is an unprofessional read on the situation, but it seems like an anti-depressant would really be helpful. Hang in there! You aren’t alone!