Please help others understand how your life has changed following your weight loss surgery by participating in this short survey being conducted by nurse researchers at Case Western Reserve University. It will take about 10-15 minutes of your time and could make a big difference in helping nurses, doctors, counselors, and future WLS patients understand what it really is like for you! If your surgery was 2 or more years ago, please click on the link below or paste the address into your www address box to find out more about this research and to start the survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=483822414073 Thank-you! Deb Nurse Researcher Fellow WLS patient

Hi.. I am pre-op, but in Georgia BCBS paid for the RYN and I paid for the Fobi part. It is considered "experimental" here so it was not covered by the insurance.

Hi there... I will be having the Fobi RYN on 8/8/06. I did research it and Dr. M.A.L. Fobi, who invented the pouch. I am 29 years old. Sure, I am a bit older than your daughter, but presumably I have another 50+ years to live. I do not want to stretch my pouch back out, eat more, and ultimately gain weight...thus the Fobi pouch. See, over time you will stretch your stomach out and eat more. Some can even stretch their stomachs out to the size of the natural stomach. Who wants that? Heck, who wants to be fat again? The Fobi pouch consists of 2 silicone rings. One is placed around the new pouch to keep in small. The other is placed where the new stomach attaches to the intestines. This keeps this area open and not close up with swelling or scar tissues as with regular RNY (open or lap). I believe that all doc's using the Fobi method was trained my dr. Fobi himself. The operation is RNY+Fobi. I am not sure if they are all open or not. My surgeon does open, so I will have an 1.5-2.5 in*****ision, depending on where my organs are located. The weight loss should be the same as with a regular RNY. I am a corrections officer, so I expect to be out a month abd return to work on light duty buntil cleared by my doc. My co-worker had the regular RNY (open) same surgeon w/o the Fobi. She returned to work in 2 weeks and was on light duty for 6. It just depends on your body. Walking, quit smoking (if you do), and increase water intake and recovery should not be long. I expect to stay in the hospital 3-4 days. If you can get AFLAC, that will pay for hospitalization and sickness. Most people loose 60-100# in their first 4-6 months.... I hope I could be of some help to you.

As I embark upon this journey, one of the things that I keep thinking about is "what in the devil will I wear??" I know, it sounds silly, even idiotic, but working where I do, myh appearance is somewhat important and I don't want to look like a slob as I lose weight. There are so many different sizes on this board, why not do a clothing swap? I can send you my 18/20/22's and someone else can send me their 14/16's. This way we can get that "wearing new clothes that fit and I'm happy" feeling and not have to spend an arm and a leg doing it. Of course, there will be some that abuse this, but those of us with our heart in the right place can make this work. I've created a group at http://wlsclothingswap.proboards39.com/ for both men AND women. I have created groupings of clothing sizes (write me if you can think of others!) and I figure we can just put each other in touch with the right people to get some clothes! I think we should either pay for the postage ourselves or send packages C.O.D. You can work it out with whoever you are working with. What do you think??

Hi Veronica, I saw your post on the fobi pouch board. I had teh lap rny w/ fobi pouch on 11/18/05. My start weight was 255.5 and I am 5'3. I now weigh 171. I want to get down to 140, but am very happy with the progress so far. Good luck with your surgery & please let me know if you have any questions. R. Sperry