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I had surgery in Mexico. In theory, I follow up online or by phone but I'm not good at that and it is just as easy to use my local doctor. My primary doctor is the one I see at 10 days post surgery and every 3 months to run vitamin levels and labs. That's all I need. My Mexico doctor and nutritionist sent home the post-op diet and I just follow it and email or call with questions. Plus there is loads of info online to help. I don't know why I would need to follow up with a bariatric doc here in the states unless there was a complication my primary doc couldn't handle. Hopefully, that won't happen!

I struggled with this a lot. I had considered getting sleeved a couple years before I did and told a few people I was considering it. I was surprised at their responses, especially my parents. For one, most people had a pretty negative view of it—even a doctor friend of mine. But it was clear most people were not well-read on the topic and were prone to all of the common misconceptions. At first my parents sounded like they would be supportive but them wrote to me in unison telling me that I shouldn’t do the surgery. My dad had been successful at losing a bunch of weight and controlling his diabetes a few years back but has since gained most of it back. Their thought was that if I needed to have a lifestyle change after surgery to maintain why not just do the lifestyle change and forego surgery. They also thought that if it was something I had to be secretive about (because I had asked them not to mention it to my siblings) then it must not be right. Well, this discouraged me and I decided not to do the surgery but try to lose weight on my own. And, as you can imagine, I did not succeed. My diabetes got a lot worse and I started daily injections. I also developed sleep apnea and needed to sleep with a CPAP machine. The trajectory of my health was not good and I came back to the idea of bariatric surgery. I thought that I would not ask my parents their thoughts but just tell them my decision and ask for their support. My thought was that I had to tell them because they are my parents. But I struggled a lot thinking about how they would respond and doubted that they would keep it from my siblings, who, if they knew, would tell the world. I actually talked to my primary physician about it and she supported me and suggested that since I’m an adult (46) my parents don’t even have to know. So I wrote to my parents a desperate message telling them the extent of my health problems and that I needed to do something. I asked for their prayers. I already decided to get sleeved but didn’t know if I should tell them. I decided that if they replied and changed their tune about surgery and brought it up to say they’d support me if that is what I decided (since we had discussed it before) then I’d tell them. But otherwise, I would take that as a sign that I should not tell them. They just said they’d pray for me, so I decided I wouldn’t tell them. I also decided that I couldn’t tell people in my workplace because of gossip—telling one would be the same as telling everyone. So, in the end, the only people in the world who know, besides the doctors and nurses who performed the procedure and my other physicians, is my wife. I didn’t even tell my young kids. I was afraid people might guess I had had the surgery if I suddenly lost a lot of weight—especially the few people I had previously told I had been considering it the first time around. So about 3 months before surgery I posted on Facebook a pic of me on my bike and that it was time for me to reset my diet and lifestyle and lose weight. I did start exercising then and would regularly post pictures and updates so that people would get accustomed to the fact that I was exercising and working hard, which would leave little room for suspicion about the cause of my weight loss. This worked really well and I did indeed lose 38 lbs pre-op through diet and exercise, which, to this day, convinces me that I did do this and can take credit for it. I took a 2-week vacation and got the surgery on the third day of the vacation. This gave me time to recover so that I’d be in good shape by the time people saw me again. I had told a couple people that I was going to take my vacation to ramp up my weight-loss efforts and alter my diet. I lost a quick 10-15 lbs immediately after the surgery and when I went back to work a couple people noticed. I went to my explanation: “I had been losing weight since August but no one could tell but me; then when I get to a certain threshold everyone starts noticing and thinks it happened overnight, but truthfully, ive been losing weight over the past 3 months!” I’ve lost 34 lbs since surgery and am much thinner than before. But I’ve continued to run races (5K, 10K and half-marathons) and post about it online. People have said some very encouraging things to me but I’ve been a little surprised that I haven’t gotten more comments about my weight loss. Maybe because I’m a guy—might be different for a girl. Not one person has asked me if I got bariatric surgery, or have seemed to be “fishing” for that either. I’m sure some people think I’m just being prideful by posting so many selfies and race results, but I decided that would be both understandable and effective for keeping the secret about surgery. So far all has gone well—I don’t regret the surgery or keeping it a secret. I also don’t feel like I’ve lied about portraying myself as having done it all on my own when really surgery did it for me because I lost more pre-op than I have post-op, and I have still had to maintain all that discipline since surgery as well. I can eat a lot more than I thought I would be able to, and so it is still my self-discipline that is keeping food out of my mouth, not just the sleeve.

So I don't understand. I am in the appeal process but uhc does cover bariatric surgery on my plan and they paid for all my preop labs, sleep study, pft, and consults, but have denied the actual surgery. I am left with thousands of oop costs( my ded is 800 and then coins). I don't understand how they would pay preop services but not the surgery? Any tips on the appeal process with them? Thanks

Have you heard of the Baritastic app? It’s like MFP But meant for bariatric patients!!

Hi Neil, I did have the VSG on 4/28/2017, and Dr. Castro was my surgeon. He is with DFW Bariatric Institute (formally Kim Bariatric Institute. It was very frustrating be a patient during their transition, but only insurance/paperwork wise. My surgery was awesome. Dr. Castro took very good care of me and I recovered very quickly. I have lost 103 lbs, and I'm only 7 lbs from my goal weight! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Hey I’m having surgery at the Mexico Bariatric Center on April 25th the day after you! Congrats!! [emoji4]

I found a great group in Houston, Texas. UT Physicians rock! They do all their sleeve procedures at Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center which is a Bariatric Center of Excellence.:cool0:

I have bc/bs federal. My paperwork was submitted as outpatient. When I found out about this, I called the dr's office and was told bc/bs will not approve sleeve surgery for inpatient???? The dr's office told me they submit the request as outpatient and then after the surgery is done, they request approval for two nights stay. I was told it will be just fine, don't worry. That just didn't sound right so I called bc/bs and was told they approve the procedure based on what the dr says is medically necessary. If the approval is stated as outpatient, you are responsible for 15%. If the dr requests two nights for observation after the surgery, you are still responsible for 15% of the entire cost. So, if the surgery costs $50,000, I would owe $7,500 instead of just $250! Has anyone ever had this problem with the dr's office saying this is an outpatient only surgery for bc/bs and that is how they must submit the request? Does anyone know if it takes more paperwork to submit the request as inpatient? I am now really concerned that since the dr's office submitted the request as outpatient and it was approved, bc/bs will deny the inpatient request, if the dr's office resubmits. I sent an email to the director of the bariatric center and am waiting for a reply.

Ask for an EGD to stretch the scarred tissue a bit for an opening--they did this for a friend of mine for GERD. Then, after healing, maybe your revision with VSG would work. good luck! Thank you all for the well-wishes; this board is such a blessing! I'm so sore today; they spent an hour inside me cutting out adhesions and scar tissue so I guess I should expect to be sore. Tiffykins and I share the same surgeon, Dr Michel; I trust his decision, he said that I may still have quite a bit of restriction due to the very narrow scarring (picture an hour glass). It is that narrow scarring that didn't leave enough tissue to create a sleeve; I'm praying that it will eventually stretch just enough to get a sleeve in there. It was the perfect set-up for an RNY with the pouch on top all they would have to do is cut off the narrow scarring, hook up the intestines then Voila! another nutritional deficiency case walking out the door. It sounds like Swizzly lives in a place of good values and common sense; I wish all bariatric surgeons would ban the band! And I can say my quality of life is much improved without the horrible GERD!! I will still be scanning this board looking for people who are trying to decide whether to get the band or sleeve, you can bet I'll be chiming-in with my opinion. Whether you all know it or not, you are my friends that I turn to for a pick-me-up; I know I can always count on being inspired by someone or something said on here so Thank You! I hope to be telling an inspirational story of my own someday (soon I hope).

I believe what you are referring to here is converting the sleeve to DS or RNY. Though both of these are possible I don't believe we are anywhere near the point of taking that extreme of measures. I'm really thinking the best course of action here is to hit the reset button, start with the pouch test and then progress through the phases some renewed dedication is in order here.

P.S. people used to throw this statistic around on these boards all the time, and i have no idea if it has any hardcore medical research behind it, but common belief was that about 30% of RNY'ers dump. It's less common in sleevers, but they can dump, too. I don't know how accurate that statistic is, but just from what I've been able to tell from hanging out on various bariatric boards for the last six or seven years, that wouldn't surprise me. It seems more people DON'T dump than do.

Premier Protein Strawberry (tastes like strawberry Quik) and Bariatric Advantage orange cream flavor.

Perhaps consider creating an advertisement for this and pass it along through the Bariatric center you went through Good Luck ♥️

My first tip: Do NOT watch videos of this surgery on YouTube. My second tip: While watching videos of this surgery on YouTube, I found one by a doctor in California who was giving a presentation to other docs on this. He said that almost all of his bariatric patients are deficient in certain vitamins/minerals that are essential to healing, and most docs don't think to check for this. I had never heard of the things people were deficient in, so I don't think you'd find them in normal Vitamins. He puts them on a product called Pro Care prior to the surgery to boost their nutritional readiness. I found it online, and there are several products, including one for surgery prep. When I have my knees replaced this summer I plan to go on this for a few weeks prior. Please let us know how your surgery goes!

I too am near your area and I had my surgery with Doctor Hollis (baychoice bariatrics) at memorial hermann - no complications yet and went home the next day! Of course I am just two weeks out but they have a great staff. I lost 36 so far including 1 week pre-op (they rushed it because my gallbladder was at 0% and I needed it removed) Good luck with your journey!!

I began having smoothies about two weeks post op using either a plain yogurt (Greek, Icelandic, or Bulgarian) that is high in Protein and low in carbs or plain kefir as the base. I most often use frozen fruit rather than fresh for the convenience, and my favorites are raspberries (high in fiber), nectarines, and the mixed berries from Trader Joe's. If I'm adding spinach or kale I also use it frozen. Del Monte has a fresh peach cup that is no sugar added, and only has 12 carbs. If I'm going to a regular grocery store vs. Trader Joe's or Ralph's I'll stock up on them for smoothies. Trader Joe's also has frozen sweet potato cubes that are delicious in smoothies, and lower in carbs than some fruit. I make those with Fairlife milk. A bariatric surgeon named Dr. Matthew Wiener has a video on YouTube about the "set point smoothies" he advocates.

My surgery was in May 2012, starting weight 255. Lost my excess weight in about 8 months, and had plastics shortly thereafter to remove excess skin. By summer of 2013 life was GOOD. I was biking 40-60 miles 5 days per week, and weighed between 130-135. I am 5'6". About 1 year ago my weight started going down. Nothing I ate seemed to have an impact and eventually I had to virtually quit exercising. I see bariatrics, a nutritionist, gastroenterology, and endocrinolgy - plus see a counselor. Overall my life is going great, but my health has been terrible! I have finally gained a few lbs recently and am up to 110. Maybe things are starting to turn around! I would love to hear from anyone else who has experienced similar issues.

I take the chewable ones from Bariatric Advantage. In fact they are near me and I went there today to taste a couple different flavors cuz I dIdn't like the flavor I bought at the dr. Office. I take the chewable multi vitamin, chewable iron, sublingual b12, and got the chewble gel Vitamin D today for the first time.

Live in DC and had surgery at Sibley Hospital March 11. Down fifty pounds so far, but it's not easy! I had gastric bypass surgery. Glad to trade emails and be supportive if I can. Wrote a blog for guys on bariatric surgery on Word Press tha might be helpful to men.

so sorry about the nurse. That sucks. She was very unprofessional. I'm 12 days post op and I'm angry at a nurse from the hospital. I had an IV infiltration. (the IV fluids were dripping directly into my arm instead of my vein. the needle punctured the vein.) MY arm was horribly swollen and bruised and excrutiatingly sore. This gruff old nurse comes it and wants to take my blood pressure in my forearm. I told her it was swollen and sore, and she says, "Well, I can't very well put it around the other arm can I, the new IV is placed there." Well, crap, I'm in a bariatric hospital unit, why did they not have large pressure cuffs that would fit around my UPPER arm??? I was so put off. Then she grabs my arm and does it anyway. I almost screamed with pain. It was horrible.

Brian - Go onto www.surgicallyslim.com Mount Sinai's bariatric weight loss group, NYC The VSG is recommended as an excellent surgery for patients that are in the danger zone- you can read about why there. I have massive heart damage and I am having a sleeve Sept. 8, so if you want tune back in and I will let you know what happened.

well, a couple weeks ago, i went in and had an unfill. they took 2 ccs out of my band. while i was in the waiting room, i was only drinking water and was having really annoying heartburn (not normal for me) but after the unfill, it was instantly gone. since then, it's like i don't even have a band - which is very frustrating! i've gained about 5 lbs but i think some of that is fluids and most of it is probably because my metabolism slowed due to my very small intake of food for a couple months. so frustrating! i'm going for an upper gi this week to check the placement of the band. they're thinking it was just way too tight but of course, have to make sure there isn't any slippage or other problems. i'm hoping for the best, as i've had ZERO problems since the unfill. i think i remember my surgeon telling me they do something like stitch something (part of the stomach?) over the band to reduce the chance of slipping. but i could be mistaken! unfortunately, dr. sprunger is no longer with scottsdale bariatric since scottsdale healthcare took over the practice. so i can't ask him... but dr. blackstone is still there and she is great bariatric surgeon, highly regarded here. (i would've had her do my surgery but she was booked farther out and i wanted it done asap after i was approved.) anyway, yeah. no pb-ing/vomiting since the unfill. no heartburn or reflux either. but also, more of an appetite and the ability to easily eat much more. luckily, i'm not a binge eater but i have tended to graze, and with no restriction from the band... :smile2:

This thread was just what I needed I was begining to think that BGH (Buffalo General Hospital) was the only choice in Buffalo. I just got off the phone with a friend that had a bypass done with Dr. Caruana and she could not speak for Dr Vilianco but said the staff there was amazing. Unfortunately they close at noon on Friday so I will have to wait till Monday to call them. I was extremely put off by BGHs lack of compassion, I understand being backed up but I was basically thrust into voicemail twice to leave a name and address to mail a application package to when I called for information. I had to call a different number and get a different person to get though and get permission to pick up a package. I went in person and they had to make sloppy photocopies of the forms while I waited ten minutes. They did not even put that package in the mail till a full week after I had called, it took 10 days to receive from the time I left the voice mail and in reading the cover letter they warn "don't call us we will call you" and it takes "two to six months for a first appointment". No thank you, I will find a practice that is more interested in my business than that. If they are that "backed up" they should be hiring additional staff. I look forward to calling and meeting with a the staff at Synergy Bariatrics.

Thought I'd give a little update after my first set of appointments at the bariatric center. During my first set of appointments I had an EKG and a ton of blood work - 9 vials worth. I also took home an ApneaLink to capture one night's breathing and oxygen levels. I didn't have any reason to believe I have sleep apnea, but lo and behold, I got a call after they reviewed the ApneaLink data and now I need to have a full sleep study. About 25 years ago I was diagnosed with colitis. I would have occasional flair ups that would send me to the emergency room, but I haven't had an episode in about 17 years. However, my bariatrician was concerned about it, especially since I am opting for the gastric bypass. He said if they did the bypass and then ended up with Chron's Disease or ulcerative colitis, it would be catastrophic. Hearing the doctor say catastrophic kind of freaked me out a bit. Anyway, it looks like I will also end up having to have a colonoscopy and likely an upper GI series. If they do find something, it sounds like they would still be able to do the sleeve so I'm thankful that. Next set of appointments are 7/24, wonder what they'll come up with this time?