New to VSG, Old to WLS

[wannabehealthy 0]

Hello, my name is Kathy and I'm new to this website, I'm very glad to have found it, as there seems to be not much info out there on the gastric sleeve procedure. Here's my story:

I have been struggling with my weight for 20 years, ever since I had my first child. I was a normal weight child and teen (in fact I was underweight as a child and heavily encouraged to eat, eat, eat). I was an active teen, ran on cross country until I injured my knee- that knee still bugs me to this day. I became pregnant at 19, as well as homeless-my parents kicked me out. I lived in a shelter until I gave birth, then was allowed to move back home for 5 months. I then lived in government housing for 5 years while I struggled on welfare and went to college on grants and got my nursing degree. It was a hard 5-6 years and we ate a lot of cheap meals (macaroni, spaghetti and fast food). During that time, I became 100 pounds overweight. I went on and off several diets, my Dad even paid for me to go on this diet where I ate no fat and was given diet pills and Vitamin B shots twice a week. My family was horrified at my obesity and let me know regularly. I tried so hard to please them, knowing that I had let them down with the whole pregnancy thing. I lost all the weight on that "medically supervised" diet, only to have emergency surgery for severe gallstones. My surgeon was an inexperienced medi-cal doctor, and I suffered many complications, staying in the hospital for 9 days and barely even being able to move when I got home (my teenage sister had to come and stay with me for a week, as my baby was only 2 years old at the time). Over the next few years, I gained all that weight back, despite being put on several more diets by my family such as Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and more medically supervised diets. I also tried weight watchers, which is a really sensible diet, but once again failed after several attempts. I yo-yo'd up and down until finally in 2002, I had was able to afford to cash pay for the lap-band. I too was enticed by the "reversibility" of it (although now I have no idea what the logic is behind that), and that it was less risky than the bypass as far as death rates. By this time, I was married for a few years and had a 1 year old as well as my 12 year old. So, I went for it, got the surgery and had problems with the band for the next 7 years. I really tried to make it work. I had 4 subsequent surgeries related to the band. I threw up almost daily. I was unable to hold a fill at all, my stomach would swell up. I would have to rush back to the doctor to get my fill out after throwing up my own saliva. I had many tests- several upper GI's, 2 EGD's (where they put you out and put the hose down your throat with a camera attached) Sometimes I was able to hold a very small fill of 0.5cc's for a while. My band was very irritable. I could not drink or eat anything until about 11am everyday. Around my menstrual times, my stomach tissue would swell and I'd be on liquids for days. Going out to eat in any public place was a nightmare. food would often get stuck after the first bite and I'd spend the rest of the time vomiting in the bathroom. My port had to be replaced at one point, then it got infected and had to be removed. I was left with a large hole in my abdomen which had to heal from the inside out for 4 months. Then I had a new port placed and it eventually flipped, leaving it totally unadjustable. After 7 years of this rollercoaster, I finally decided that I would have the band removed and convert to the bypass (I still had not heard about the sleeve). I awoke from that surgery (6 months ago) and was told "sorry". Apparently, when they went to remove my band, the buckle part had molded itself into my stomach muscle and they had to literally "chip" it away, leaving my stomach too damaged to convert to bypass. They said my stomach looked like the surface of swiss cheese. This was a very hard surgery to recover from-I had 2 open wounds, a large hematoma developed between my stomach and liver, I had to rush to ER and get an MRI, I was in retractable pain- it was VERY painful for weeks! And, I left the hospital with no WLS, and I thought, no hope. At my post-op appointments, my doc told me that I would be the perfect candidate for the gastric sleeve, as that was the "damaged" part of my stomach anyways that they would be removing. Since then, I have been researching and even met 1 person who had it done and she had no bad things to say about it. I was very concerned about the vomiting-as I had this almost daily with the band-and she hasn't had any. Since having the band removed, I have not vomited once. I could never recommend the band to anyone. I belonged to a "bandster" local group and saw 5 of them have to have theirs removed for a variety of reasons, such as slippage, erosion and inability to even use the band as a tool, because they were unable to get a fill (like me).

So, I will be again seeing my doc for another post-op in Jan. (my last wound just healed a few weeks ago from my june surgery!), and she will start the insurance process for getting approval for VSG, she thinks it will go through, as they have just gotten the insurance coding for this procedure last month, plus I am not a candidate for bypass. I am currently about 90lbs overweight and was just diagnosed with diabetes this year. I hope it gets approved. I am worried though, as I have had a total of 6 abdominal surgeries (1 open and 5 lap-all related to the band). I wonder if all this scar tissue will be a problem- although they did do some scar tissue take down when they removed my band. All I have wanted through this entire journey is to be healthy, to be there for my husband and kids, someday see my grandkids, and to feel like a normal person. I am not bitter about the band, there was a reason I went through all of that, even if that is not clear to me yet. It's just part of my story. If you took the time to read my story, I thank you with all my heart! I hope to make some new "sleeve" friends here, get support, and be of support to anyone who needs it.

Kathy

Edited December 23, 2009 by wannabehealthy

[deedee 5]

Wow, that's all I can think to say right now. You seem to have one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I have met in real life or online. I'm glad you found us and hope that your doctor is able to get you scheduled when safe...I think if your insurance covers wls, you shouldn't have a problem getting VSG due to your scarring making bypass impossible, and your diabetes comorbidity. Please keep us posted and ask any questions that come to mind.

[stoongal 10]

Kathy,

You poor girl!

You have had a heart-wrenching time of things - and I just want to cry thinking about it. How brave you were to go through all this! Hopefully the sleeve will be your final go-round with weightloss surgery! Most of us here are very fervent about the sleeve, we found the surgery fairly easy to recover from, and all of us will be happy to support you in your journey.

Your doctor will check out your abdomen, as there may be 5 (in my case anyway) small incisions - including a drainage one. They usually heal within weeks though and end up being minimal little scars down the road.

Wishing you all the best luck in the world with this one, you sure deserve it!

Donna

[Tiffykins 673]

Kathy, hi and welcome to VST. I hated life with my band, and I only had it for 8 months. I hope you get good news in January.

The sleeve is amazing, and it's so much different than the band. I had complications post-op in June with the revision, and I know they are physically and mentally draining.

Please keep us posted on your progress, and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

[thinasiwant 0]

Thanks for sharing your story....you've been thru alot. Hopeful for better times ahead

[carolyn24seven 11]

Welcome to the VST board. God I hope we can make your journey easier than your last one. I opted not to do the band when I was researching WLS about 4 years ago. For all the things that happened to you. I am sooooo sorry you had to go thru all that. This sleeve is so darn simple when you think about it. I am having such great sucess with it. I have already had my gall bladder out from the weight loss in 2004. So, I have NO pain and it is easy now eating well and OMG I love my life. I am down 42 lbs since surgery and I have a ton of energy. Loving my sleeve more each day. It takes over when I slip up. (eating) I sure hope you get approved for this and can become a sleeve sister on the loosers bench. We welcome you with open arms. (flapping a bit still, but, not for long as I am exercizing them like crazy) (((((((((hugs)))))))))

[Lee 19]

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for taking the time to share your story. I can only imagine how frustrated you must be. While I'm new here, I've been around long enough to know that the group here is incredibly kind and caring. You've definitely come to the right place.

[wannabehealthy 0]

Wow, thanks for all the replies and to all who read my story. It's been so long and as I started writing, it just all flowed out with ease. I needed to get it off my chest, I've never told my story to anyone except my husband, who has lived it with me. I guess it looks worse on paper than I thought!! I'm really ok, I made it through each time hoping that this would be the last surgery, and this last time was the most disappointing I think, waking up with the doctor saying "sorry". But, we must just dust ourselves off and move forward, what else can we do? On days that I feel great, I forget about all the medical junk and just enjoy the bliss.

Deedee-thank your for saying that I have a positive attitude, it doesn't feel that way sometimes. I have total faith in my doctor, she has seen my insides 3 times now and knows her way around! (I left my first doctor, he told me my port wasn't infected and I ran around with an open tunneling wound in my abdomen for 7 months before finding another doctor who knew what they were doing!)

Donna- it's so good to hear how happy you are with the sleeve, it gives me hope. I really appreciate your empathy. It touches my heart to know that people really care.:drool5:

Tiffykins, I only wish I would have gotten my band out sooner, 7 years was WAY to long to suffer. I just kept wanting to make it work. I know almost for certain that I will have some complication with the operation for the sleeve, I am a poor healer, but I know it will all be worth it!

Thinasiwant- thank you for your comments, I look forward to better times, that is for sure!

Carolyn-I can't wait to "love my life" as you do! Actually, I do (except for the obesity part). I have 2 great kids and a husband who loves me- poor thing, he's had to endure all of this with me! He's a keeper! :cursing: I also cannot wait to have more energy! I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and have started taking thyroid replacement, so that should help with the energy thing too.

Lee-I always had faith that the band would eventually work right, so my only frustration now is the time that I wasted trying to make it work. Hopefully, in a few short months, I will have a new tool that will actually work, the sleeve, and the end of my saga will come and my new life will finally start! I cannot wait to participate in activities with my family instead of sitting in a chair on the sidelines.

Thank you so much again, I look forward to growing my new friendships and being of support to others!

Kathy

:seeya:

[carolyn24seven 11]

WannaBe: You are THE most positive person. I predict one year from now you will be our next "Tiffykins". Grins and giggles!

[thinoneday 445]

Hello, my name is Kathy and I'm new to this website, I'm very glad to have found it, as there seems to be not much info out there on the gastric sleeve procedure. Here's my story:

I have been struggling with my weight for 20 years, ever since I had my first child. I was a normal weight child and teen (in fact I was underweight as a child and heavily encouraged to eat, eat, eat). I was an active teen, ran on cross country until I injured my knee- that knee still bugs me to this day. I became pregnant at 19, as well as homeless-my parents kicked me out. I lived in a shelter until I gave birth, then was allowed to move back home for 5 months. I then lived in government housing for 5 years while I struggled on welfare and went to college on grants and got my nursing degree. It was a hard 5-6 years and we ate a lot of cheap meals (macaroni, spaghetti and fast food). During that time, I became 100 pounds overweight. I went on and off several diets, my Dad even paid for me to go on this diet where I ate no fat and was given diet pills and Vitamin B shots twice a week. My family was horrified at my obesity and let me know regularly. I tried so hard to please them, knowing that I had let them down with the whole pregnancy thing. I lost all the weight on that "medically supervised" diet, only to have emergency surgery for severe gallstones. My surgeon was an inexperienced medi-cal doctor, and I suffered many complications, staying in the hospital for 9 days and barely even being able to move when I got home (my teenage sister had to come and stay with me for a week, as my baby was only 2 years old at the time). Over the next few years, I gained all that weight back, despite being put on several more diets by my family such as Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and more medically supervised diets. I also tried weight watchers, which is a really sensible diet, but once again failed after several attempts. I yo-yo'd up and down until finally in 2002, I had was able to afford to cash pay for the lap-band. I too was enticed by the "reversibility" of it (although now I have no idea what the logic is behind that), and that it was less risky than the bypass as far as death rates. By this time, I was married for a few years and had a 1 year old as well as my 12 year old. So, I went for it, got the surgery and had problems with the band for the next 7 years. I really tried to make it work. I had 4 subsequent surgeries related to the band. I threw up almost daily. I was unable to hold a fill at all, my stomach would swell up. I would have to rush back to the doctor to get my fill out after throwing up my own saliva. I had many tests- several upper GI's, 2 EGD's (where they put you out and put the hose down your throat with a camera attached) Sometimes I was able to hold a very small fill of 0.5cc's for a while. My band was very irritable. I could not drink or eat anything until about 11am everyday. Around my menstrual times, my stomach tissue would swell and I'd be on liquids for days. Going out to eat in any public place was a nightmare. food would often get stuck after the first bite and I'd spend the rest of the time vomiting in the bathroom. My port had to be replaced at one point, then it got infected and had to be removed. I was left with a large hole in my abdomen which had to heal from the inside out for 4 months. Then I had a new port placed and it eventually flipped, leaving it totally unadjustable. After 7 years of this rollercoaster, I finally decided that I would have the band removed and convert to the bypass (I still had not heard about the sleeve). I awoke from that surgery (6 months ago) and was told "sorry". Apparently, when they went to remove my band, the buckle part had molded itself into my stomach muscle and they had to literally "chip" it away, leaving my stomach too damaged to convert to bypass. They said my stomach looked like the surface of swiss cheese. This was a very hard surgery to recover from-I had 2 open wounds, a large hematoma developed between my stomach and liver, I had to rush to ER and get an MRI, I was in retractable pain- it was VERY painful for weeks! And, I left the hospital with no WLS, and I thought, no hope. At my post-op appointments, my doc told me that I would be the perfect candidate for the gastric sleeve, as that was the "damaged" part of my stomach anyways that they would be removing. Since then, I have been researching and even met 1 person who had it done and she had no bad things to say about it. I was very concerned about the vomiting-as I had this almost daily with the band-and she hasn't had any. Since having the band removed, I have not vomited once. I could never recommend the band to anyone. I belonged to a "bandster" local group and saw 5 of them have to have theirs removed for a variety of reasons, such as slippage, erosion and inability to even use the band as a tool, because they were unable to get a fill (like me).

So, I will be again seeing my doc for another post-op in Jan. (my last wound just healed a few weeks ago from my june surgery!), and she will start the insurance process for getting approval for VSG, she thinks it will go through, as they have just gotten the insurance coding for this procedure last month, plus I am not a candidate for bypass. I am currently about 90lbs overweight and was just diagnosed with diabetes this year. I hope it gets approved. I am worried though, as I have had a total of 6 abdominal surgeries (1 open and 5 lap-all related to the band). I wonder if all this scar tissue will be a problem- although they did do some scar tissue take down when they removed my band. All I have wanted through this entire journey is to be healthy, to be there for my husband and kids, someday see my grandkids, and to feel like a normal person. I am not bitter about the band, there was a reason I went through all of that, even if that is not clear to me yet. It's just part of my story. If you took the time to read my story, I thank you with all my heart! I hope to make some new "sleeve" friends here, get support, and be of support to anyone who needs it.

Kathy :cursing:

Wow, you've been through it haven't you! hopefully this will be your last wls and you'll be happier . . . did you lose weight with the other procedures? How much. . .

[thinoneday 445]

Kathy,

You poor girl!

You have had a heart-wrenching time of things - and I just want to cry thinking about it. How brave you were to go through all this! Hopefully the sleeve will be your final go-round with weightloss surgery! Most of us here are very fervent about the sleeve, we found the surgery fairly easy to recover from, and all of us will be happy to support you in your journey.

Your doctor will check out your abdomen, as there may be 5 (in my case anyway) small incisions - including a drainage one. They usually heal within weeks though and end up being minimal little scars down the road.

Wishing you all the best luck in the world with this one, you sure deserve it!

Donna

Hi Donna, this has nothing to do with WLS, I just want to tell you that as a child growing up I lived in a town called Churchbridge, Saskatchewan. . . it's near Yorkton. . . we lived there for about 5 years then moved to Winnipeg. . where i lived til 1995 then moved over here to SA. . . just felt like sharing my story . . . :cursing:

[wannabehealthy 0]

Wow, you've been through it haven't you! hopefully this will be your last wls and you'll be happier . . . did you lose weight with the other procedures? How much. . .

Dear thinoneday,

I lost about 60% of my weight in the first 6 months after lap-band surgery. This is because I could not eat. I lived on Protein drinks (shakes were too thick) like ensure. My band was too tight right after surgery (without any adjustments). After I lost some weight, I think my first fill was around 1 year out. It's strange, all the foods I was told to eat- Protein, veggies & fruit, were all the foods that would not go down, no matter how chewed up they were. The only protein I could eat was crispy bacon-so I ate that for many years. I lived in constant fear of what they call "PBing". I carried ziploc baggies with me at all times, so I could throw-up into them. This was very embarrassing. I knew many bandsters who also carried ziploc baggies. I can't tell you how many times I'd be PBing- while driving- and my kids had to see all that. So sad. The band was unpredictable, I would think that lunch went down ok, then 1/2 hour later it would come back up. So many stories to tell- 7 years worth!

But to get back to your question: I think I was able to maintain that 60% weight loss because when I would gain some back, say 10-15 lbs, my band would cinch tight and I would throw up every morsel for about a week. Then it would loosen a bit again. It was a cycle like that. I did gain super easy whenever my port was removed, or my band had to be competely empty due to excessive vomiting and in the last year, I gained almost all of it back, due to having the band removed and stress of course. It feels good to finally be able to eat the things that are good for me. I really enjoy an apple now. I don't know the damage it did to my body to live on such a weird diet for so many years. One good thing, I am used to not drinking when eating, as I could never combine the two with the band, so that will not be an adjustment for me when I get the VSG. I also learned to always try to get protein in first, then veggie, fruit, and last starch, and sweets only sparingly. I did learn a lot from my struggles with the band. I've rambled on here, but hopefully anwered your question.

Kathy

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

The difference between living with the sleeve and the band is like night and day. I love being able to eat anything I want and never worrying about anything. I feel like I eat really nommally, but just in very small portions.

[Barbara278 9]

Wannabe, Welcome. You have been through the ringer and still have a positive attitude. I admire you. This board is a great safe place to be. Any question you have, someone will answer. This WL board is the best around! I look forward to hearing more of your journey with the sleeve. Best of luck to you, and thanks for sharing your story.

[shutterbug 1]

Wow so glad to meet you and welcome you to this board. I have only been here for a couple of months but the people here are so warm and friendly and I believe truly care for one another. I hope you get approved and find this the end to your long journey with WLS... so far for me the sleeve is GREAT! :thumbup: Good luck to you!

~Chandra/shutterbug