_Kate_ 2,224 Posted June 3, 2015 Hello,I'm Kate from south of England and I am due to have a gastric sleeve on the 23 July 2015. I am on holiday right now, so thought this would be a good time to read, read and read some more. I researched a few places which did sleeves and decided to go with the Bariatric Group and will be having my procedure in Poole, Dorset. I am married with 4 boys, aged 53 and have been overweight since I was 32 and my thyroid not only stopped working but my body ate it, thinking it was a foreign object. For the past 3+ years I have had a fight with the NHS for private prescriptions for Natural thyroid rather then synthetic stuff. My GP (ex I might add) was very annoyed I knew more than her and finally I managed to get Natural Thyroid. This has really helped and in 2013 I lost 85llbs but since Oct 2013 to now I have put it all back on. Lose weight, put back on, lose weight put back on has been the story of my 30's 40's and 50's and I need it to stop.Anyway just thought I would stop by and say hello, hopefully get to know you all and get support/offer support!Kate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swampdoggie 477 Posted June 3, 2015 @ hi Kate, welcome! I've actually been on this site since 2007 but only active since December 2014. I really enjoy it, have gotten a lot of great ideas and counsel, some laughs and I feel a lot of affect tion for a goodly number of the folks who participate. The exchanges bring home to me how human we all are, with our struggles and joys,our sames and differents. I rarely go a day without checking in. I'm 50, married forever with a 28 yo and a 16 yo. From the Midwest cornfields but live near wash DC now. Had a band, revised to sleeve in January and LOVE it. I love to camp and travel. Have been to 16 countries and 48 states (missing Mississippi and new Hampshire oddly). That's about the size of it. :-D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Kate_ 2,224 Posted June 3, 2015 You are doing really well @ Swampdoggie ! 70llbs is amazing :-) What are the differences you feel between the band and the sleeve ? Kate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swampdoggie 477 Posted June 3, 2015 thank you! I can't wait to be in Onederland :> With the band, I would be as hungry as ever, eat, get stuck, barf, and then be hungry again. I barfed a LOT (and usually at business dinners, ugh!). I never learned how to work with it. Never was able to gauge how much to eat and the physics of it is just plain wrong. The sleeve feels like what I hoped the band would be like - less hunger, less able to eat big amounts even when hungry, and have built enough good habits to be mostly on the right track re "good" and "bad" foods. I have an unrelated illness for which I take a lot of meds and it throws me off sometimes - nausea, vomiting, other gastro issues (so to speak) and sometimes I can't tell if its the sleeve acting up or the other meds. It also means I cant exercise the way I should, or would like to. But overall this has been a relatively easy journey so far for me (though I have a ways to go yet). I have no regrets, no complaints. In general, just I feel SO MUCH better, and more "normal". I was telling my mom recently that this is how "normal" people must feel in their relationship with food (my family are all regular size - I'm the crazy outlier). I mean, I can WALK AWAY from donuts, booze, chips, etc. They just don't have the pull they used to. THANK GOD!! Best of luck on your journey too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
