Yes! 

 

For the first couple of months I thought I was gonna die!  I would read all these posts on OH from people who were drinking a gallon of water a day and zipping around the track and I barely wanted to get out of bed and force down a protein shake lol.  

 

I did not have any complications, but I just felt tired and depressed.  I was mad at myself for getting so fat that I had to do this (the wls) to myself.

 

And besides that I was in pain, couldn't eat what I wanted to,  had to figure out how to sleep comfortably, was terrified something was gonna come unstitched inside (lol).   And dang, if I was that miserable, why wasn't I skinny already?  :-) 

 

 I was very blessed to have OH members Izzy, Curvy Barbie, and Ginger to call on.  They would literally call me 3x a day to ask how much fluid I had got down.  I think if I had not done what I was supposed to, they would have broken down my door and force fed me. 

 

Izzy and Barbie had their DS with Dr. Houston a month before mine, so the things I was experiencing was fresh on their mind.  I don't think I would have made it without them.

 

When  I had my wls 4 yrs ago the GA forum was very active.  We had a close knit group of ladies. We got together every month for outings, and if you posted on the forum, you would receive a ton of replies quickly.  I wish the newbies today had that too.

 

You really need to find a good wls buddy. If you cant find one on OH, try facebook or the pro-boards.  This is very hard to do alone!

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

One thing to meditate on, is that you will wake up one day and you will feel normal again. In fact, you will feel better than normal because you will be thinner and healthier than you've been in a long time.  And one day you will treat yourself to a new outfit and will realize you have shrunk down to the skinny section of the store.  You will tell yourself all this misery you are going through right now was so worth it!  I promise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                       

Welcome to GA!

 

You are not going to find any support groups or surgeons in Jasper County. Plan on driving closer to Atlanta which will be 45min-1hr from you at a minimum.

The only surgeon that I know of that will take on another surgeon's patient is Dr. Steinburg.

 

I would suggest looking at your insurance list of approved surgeons and just go down the list and call all of them and explain your situation.   Your surgeon may also be able to point you in the right direction and put in a good word for you. The wls community is pretty close knit. Many of the surgeons know of each other.

What type of wls are you having and where and what surgeon? Also what insurance?

Moving to jasper county from upstate New York in March. Looking for a weekly/biweekly support group as well as recommendations for a surgeon. My surgery is this Wednesday the 16th and ill need someone for follow up care.

Thank you for your reply. I was successful with losing 89 lbs within 1.5 years. Then I started having issues. I have regained 20 lbs. I still had 30 lbs to goal but now I'm at 50 more plus to lose. Not even sure if I will qualify with a 33 BMI but the band just isn't working. Again thanks for the information you provided.

I have no experience with revisions, but I would suggest having a consult with a surgeon who does all 4 surgeries. That way, you can get a good recommendation of what will work for you.  You don't want to pick the wrong procedure twice.

You should be honest with yourself about whether you can follow a strict diet for the rest of your life and exercise if you are having a restriction only procedure.

If not, consider a wls that has built in tools to aid in your losing and keeping on track:

DS- extreme malabsorption, removal of portion of tummy that produces grelin,

 

or

RNY- dumping, and slight malabsorption.

 

It will be much harder to lose with a revision, because you may not have that initial massive quick loss.

 

Do some research on the revision board too.

 

 

Dr. Smith (great reputation)  in Marietta and Dr Maynard (only does open procedures - less than perfect reputation) both do  all 4 surgeries. Even of you do not choose one of them as your surgeon, he will be knowledgeable about all 4 and can point you in the right direction.