2 1/2 year update

Hi Everyone ,

I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy performed in March 2007.  After surviving the meltdown of upper and deeper levels of body fat, I finally slimmed down to 215 # from a start of 355 # the day of my surgery.  It was a rough year of recovery as my pouch slowly stretched from 1/2 oz to perhaps the four to five ounces it is today.

I suffered long bouts of diarrhea thereafter until a neuromuscular massage therapist suggested I go to the local health food store and get some lacto-baccillus powder/drink/capsules to get the natural fauna of my GI tract back in order.  It was a life send.  I have only suffered one bout of diarrhea since beginning the regimen two weeks ago.

I was scheduled for the first of perhaps three to four plastic surgeries for June 5 this year, but have since cancelled.  My take is that (a) I do not heal as fast as I used to, (b) the primary surgery taught me a lot about pain... something of which I did not want to repeat, (c) the surgeries offer painful recovery times and most importantly, (d) there would always be ugly scars left across my abdomen and on my inner thighs if I proceeded with the surgery andd finally -- (e) I needed to take responsibility for my actions.  Seeing that it took my body quite a while to get HUGE so that I figured it would take my body awhile to reabsorb the excess skin.  The process, while slow, has already begun.  My "belly" is starting to go down and my legs don'y jiggle as much as they used to.

I walk daily and now that summer time approaches, I will be swimming on a daily basis.  I also decided that I wanted to try SCUBA diving, which is such a beautiful and peaceful experience and it burns about 800 calories an hour when you dive.  Great workout, exhilirating times and it gives me a chance to explore the majority of the planet which resides underwater.

I am happy, more well-adjusted and satisfied that this is where I am supposed to be in my life.  I still love food, but after sucking down just a few ounces of protein, I am usually full.  I am still learning how to eat slowly, understand that some of the old foods I used to like I can no longer eat, but know that I can eat just about anything I want... it's just I cannot eat a lot of ANYTHING before I get full -- satisfied, actually.  I subsist on two cups of food or less a day and am not hungry or ravished.  Two cups satisfies me and I wonder why more people don't try it (the two-cup a day food allotment, not necessarily the surgery.

My diabetes, while once a defining condition in my life has been removed to the backstage area.  I am down to one pill (Metformin) twice a day and I usually test my blood only once a week.  Have been hitting between 102 and 112 consecutively now for the past few months each time I check my sugars.  So diet, exercise and one oral med controls what was one of the most devastating diseases I personally have encountred. 

Did surgery "cure" my diabetes?  Of course not.  We are years away from a cure and take backstage to those with whom a cure is vital -- those with Type I.  Did surgery help my diabetes?  Of course it did, but as long as I was on insulin, I was unsteady, had difficulty controlling my sugars and suffered from hypoglycemia all too often.  I have not had a reoccurence of hypoglycemia since I was permanently taken off insulin.

My life 2.5 years post-op is looking up.  Whereas before surgery, walking up a flight of stairs induced labored breathing, I can now walk for miles without restraint.  I guess the most positive experience to come out of the VSG surgery was that during recovery, I was forced to not only look at, but deal with the emotions that led me to obesity and heart problems before I had my stomach greatly reduced in size.  Now, since I could no longer use food as a comfort item, I actively worked on that which caused me emotional distress and I can say that I am a much better person today.

I stand 6'5" tall, my weight hovers between 210 and 215 (something of which it never did before).  I stop eating before that uncomfortable "full" feeling occurs and I am getting better at recognizing when my body says "that's all, folks!"  I have saved my size 52" waist jeans as a reminder of how fat I was.  I now wear a size 36" waist -- something and somewhere I haven't been since junior high school.  I tried on my old Navy uniform -- the Cracker Jack blues -- and it is way too big for me.  Perhaps I can have it taken in before the next Marine Corps birthday so I will look good in it once again.

I feel fantastic and look forward to 25 years of healthy eating and good health.  Unless I get hit by a bus, I look forward for my son to get educated, marry and produce some grandchildren for me... a supposition I never really believed when I was obese.

Anyone seeking the decision to remove most of one's stomach should think long and hard about it.  It is the most drastic form of WLS in my humble opinion, but a wise one if you know how easy it is to become fat again.  If you pu**** your stomach will increase in size and obesity is right around the corner from there.  I maintain the dietary standards set forth by my doctor, whom I fired because we didn't get along.  Had I taken the LAP band approach, I could easily avoid having the band remain tight to reduce the intake of food.  For many of the people I know who went the quick'n'easy route, they lost weight, then returned to their regular eating methods and refused to get the sterile saline to tighten up their bands, thus getting fat again.

Am I glad I did it?  A begrudgingly affirmative response on that.  Was I warned of all the medical complications prior to or even after surgery -- a resounding NO, but like most things I have done in life, OJT (on the job training) taught me that if you let your daily intake of at least 64 ounces of fluid a day, you WILL develop kidney stones.  They are excrutiatingly painful, and thank God my stone was only about 2mm in size, but it hurt for quite a while before it finally passed.  As a result, I try to consume 80-100 ounces of fluid a day -- mainly water, to flush the toxins from my system.

I saw a hypnotherapist to help identify and reduce the replication of bad behaviors.  I see a specialized massage therapist who helps me work out the kinks to my new body.  When I look in the mirror, I am beginning to see who I really am and I like it.

Thanks for letting me share.

Ciao,

Tall_n_Skinny

I'm glad I changed my mind about plastic surgery.  The "belly" that I have is comprised of excess skin that encompassed my old girth of a 52-54" waistline

Wow you are definitly successful at this and I can only hope that  can be as sucessful as you.  thanks for the update it is allways nice to hear about those more than 2 years out.

Great post!! Thankyou! 

Thanks for the posgt, it is so good to hear from folks further out there.

I am waiting on the plastics.  I was ready, then started thinking about the pain and scars, I will wait at least another 6 months to a year before I decide.

Congratulations

Congrats

Thanks for this post... I'm only 2.5 months out and really understand your point about complications. Thanks for the reminder about fluids - its so easy to slip. I'm not sure what you mean by "meltdown of upper and deeper levels of body fat"? can you explain a little more?

And really a 1/2oz sleeve? this seems excessive.. but I guess you from the rest of you post that you have "discussed" this with the surgeon.

Anyway thanks again, and good luck.

Hey there,

Whaat I meant by "meltdown of upper and deeper levels of body fat," I meant that given enough protein, you will burn a proportionate amount of fat.  The fists to begin cooking off is the outer layers of fat we have put on over the years.  For example, the firstt hing I noticed was that my hat size shrank almost three sizes as I lost weight from my head on down.  After my body devoured the excessive layers of fat I'd put on, the fire (aka heat generated) began working on the deep layers of fat that protect our organs and insulate us from the cold... sort of helps with the homeostatic functions of the body.  At 150 grms or protein a day, I burned this fat off as well.  There were weeks during the summer that I just couldn't stand going outside because my internal temperature felt like I inside a coal fired furnace.  I felt sick all the time and the constant bout of diarrhea kind of drained me.  I drank almos****er all the time to help flush the toxins from my body.

In so far as a 1/2 ounce pouch, I had read the outdated presurgical and post-surgical manual by the doctor's office.  It explicitly stated that I would be left with a four-to-six ounce patch.  I was very angry when I found that the pouch had been made in a half-inch installment, one of the reasons why I fired him in the first place.  Since we have the same doctor,  would suggest that you think out your questions before you go to the follow-up.  I mean he's an excellent surgeon, but that's all I can say about him.

Actually, according to the surgeon's pre- and post-op materials, I thought I was going to get a 4 ounce pouch.  HE decided (unilaterally) that it only should be 1/2 ounce ouch because I was so "morbidly obese."  I was, but I was NOT the biggest person ever given a VSG.  I reported him to the Medical Board, but like cops and firefighters, they found no fault with his decision on making it small because I had lost so much weight.

In so far as the "meltdown of upper and deeper levels of boday fat," I meant just that.  Everyone, from the time they're born comes with a layer of fat that protects us from the cold.  Given that I was placed on a diet of 150 gms of protein a day, not more than 40 grms of carbos and not more than 30 gms of fat, all crammed into an 800 calorie a day diet, it creates quite the burn.

In other posts I've read about post-op patients Feeling Nauseous All the Time (FNAT).  It's causd by the body heating it internal furnace and actually cooking off the fat.  There is a ratio of so many grams of protein to the number of ounces/pounds of fat burned up.  I lost 100 pounds in six months.  The small pouch finally "grew" to about four to five ounces over time.  I lost over 160 pounds and am still dropping.

Once your body burns up the unsightly fat, it turns to the stuff we were born with.  I cooked most ALL of my fat off and as a result, I get cold quite easily where it never bothered me before.  I lost enough weight to try SCUBA diving, not knowing at first thaat one hour of SCUBA equals a burn of 800 calories.  After feeling held down to the earth by my weight and the excess force of gravity, SCUBA diving gives me that peaceful, easy feeling of weightlessness and ability to move with grace and agility.  The downside is that I can only get down less than 2 cups of food per day, as my stomach gets full rather quickly.

I lost seven pounds last week without trying.

I hope that clears it up for you.  If not, ask your doctor.  He should have filled you in on this stuff prior to surgery and ought to be available to answer your questions afterward as well.  Oops, I forgot, these guys are surgeons.  Talk to your PC or Internal Medicine specialist -- you know, the ones with good people skills and a great bedside manner, skills of which surgeons are universally known to lack.

Ciao,

Tall_n_Skinny

Ciao!

Tall_n_Skinny

I see you are making **** up again. You weren't given a 1/2 oz. pouch. That's impossible given the size and shape of the stomach and the fact that we retain the normal openings at both ends.

However, immediately after your surgery, your stomach is swollen and so it's hard to eat more than 1/2 oz. As the swelling goes down, you can eat more.

Most of the stuff you say about fat burning is misinformed as well. It doesn't make you nauseous all the time, for example. Also, most WLS go through a period of feeling extremely cold whether they are eating 50 g, 70 g, 100 g or whatever of protein a day. It's not the protein, it's the fat loss.

Not to mention, 150 g. of protein, 40 g of carbs and 30 g of fat is 1030 calories a day, not 800.