Just Found Out My Surgeon Used A 50 Bougie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A 50?  I know mine will be a 36 and my doctor did say that the larger the bougie the less chance of complications.  Are you 100% sure the person who told you it was a 50 knew what he/she was talking about?  I wonder if they meant 40?  From what you've said it doesn't sound like the doctor or nurses are all that "with it" so if I were you I'd call again and ask them to send it to you in writing.

That being said, if you are a 50, and it's 1/2 ounce larger, you should be fine as long as  you stop eating when your satisfied (not full, but satisfied) so  you don't stretch your sleeve.  My doctor said that studies show 3 years down the road our sleeve size stretches, so in a few years I'll probably be larger than a 50.

So sorry to hear about your shock when finding this out.  I hate not being fully informed ahead of time.  Still, I think you're going to be  just fine.  Hugs!

our clinic in edmonton if i am not mistaken only uses the 50 bougie... didn't know anything about them before surgery... sure hope that it continues to be successful... sure happy so far..good luck to you...tammy

I spoke face to face with my surgeon today, and yes, he knows what he's talking about. :-)

To answer an earlier question...yes, I signed a surgical consent form.  On that form I agreed that if there were complications that would not allow successful RNY that the surgeon could perform VSG.  That's when I found out it was even an option.  Sooo...yes, I signed a consent for VSG, but, no, I had no consultation specific to VSG.  This was probably due to the fact that I was so well informed and my centre is so busy.

I didn't schedule my surgery by email, lol.  I emailed my surgeon to ask if I could change from RNY to VSG.  I know it sounds ridiculous, trust me, I lived it. Sigh...

Take a deep breath.  As someone else said this is a tool and remember your stomach has gone from being the size of a football to being the size of a highlighter.  Big difference there.  I am almost 7 months out and can eat about 4 ounces of solid protein.  If I eat garbage I can eat more than that and it slows or stops my weight loss.  I used to eat huge meals also.  We could go to resturant and I would have the bread...a salad...my entree with veggies and sometimes still want just a little more.  The other night we ate out at a steak place and my meal consisted of 1 roll (ok not good but it was only one) about 3 ounces of a ribeye steak...2 or 3 bites of a sweet potato and a bite of green beans.  There was simply no way I could have eaten more.  My doctor does not use a tiny bougie because he feels there are fewer complications with a larger one.  I eat more than a lot of folks on here but as long as I eat properly I lose weight and so will you.  You say you switched surgeries to the VSG...if it was from the RNY you would have had to worry about your stoma stretching and the loss of malabsorbtion.  If you had chosen the lapband--well that is another story all together and it most likely would have been more of a struggle.  Follow your surgeons plan and you will be fine.  Yes I can eat a bunch of snack size candy bars if I chose and I did over halloween but most days I eat my protein first and that is what has gotten me over 70 lbs lost.  Hang in there.

First... Sounds like everything is going good with you..... Congrats!

There is no reason you can't make this work. Any WLS is just mechanics..... Success comes from the patient. 32...45...60 there are success/failure stories with every size.

It will be VERY important for you to eat fixed amounts of food. When you get a little further on when everything is healed your portion size should be smaller than the capacity of your sleeve.
Eating till your full means your putting pressure on the insides of your stomach. The larger bougie size will tend to be a little more susceptible to stretching. Eating till your full all the time will stretch your sleeve.
Eating till your satisfied with a fixed amount of food (mine is about 3 oz. by Volume not weight still to this day) is not hard to get used to. 
Mikey and the rest have gave you good info!

frisco

Thanks Frisco.  I now realize my error and today have begun to measure everything before I eat it.  I'm sticking to only 3oz at a time and I'm gong back to basics.  Protein powder, broth, chicken breast, cottage cheese, eggs, light cream cheese...that's it for a few days. :-)  I still feel no real stomach hunger, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get back on track.

You will do great! Don't get caught up in the sizes because a lot depends on how snug the doctor cuts along the bougie and also whether he or she oversews, etc.  I had a 44 and have tons of restriction ans have lost 30lbs in 5 weeks.  Eat until you feel satisfied like others have said.  You will do great!

I also had no pain, no gas, could get in all my water and my protein and my doctor uses a 32.

Do not give yourself this reason to not do well.  Your sleeve will not be your babysitter girlie.  The TRUTH is, it is not the size of the bougie..its the motion of the ocean.. wait..that's penis size..

Oh yea.. Its not the size of bougie - its the QUALITY of the things you put in there, and whether or not those foods trigger your junkie gene. 

And too..because you CAN eat a lot does not mean you NEED to eat a lot.  Learning how much it takes to be SATISFIED is way different and much better than learning how much it takes to GET FULL.

Learning about yourself, your triggers, and whatnot is going to take you far.  Be sweet.  You are going to be okiedoke!

I understand your fears.  After reading about all of the people having a 32f, I kind of freaked about having a 40f.  That said, I was able to get in my 64 oz of fluids starting on day 5 post-op.  I never had any complications.  Today at 8+ months out, I can eat 4 oz of hamburger meat or 5 oz of fish and I'm full.

I have thought along the way that I was losing much slower than others, even with mega hours of weekly exercise, but I also take into account that I'm 60, not 30 and have recently been diagnosed with a wonky thyroid.  Slow doesn't matter, getting to goal and maintaining does.  I always say we'll check in 5 years from now and see how we're all doing.  That in the end will determine how much difference there is between a 32 and 50 bougie.

In the end it's what we do with our sleeve, not the size of it.  Most of us can cram in carbs but will that get us the success that we want?  Probably not.  I think that we get from our Sleeve what we put into it.

Good luck and think positive because we all need to feel good about what we're working with.

A couple things: first, you say you can eat a whole cup of food. What kinds of foods are you eating? I'm assuming you don't mean you can eat a full cup of, say, chicken or other dense protein.

Net, ,even if you feel like you can eat a cup of food, STOP. Your stomach is NOT yest fully healed at only 2 weeks out, and for many, it takes longer than that to recover that "full" sensation because some nerves were severed during the surgery. You need to measure your food and not eat more than recommended until your body is healed enough to start sending you those full signals.

I'm pretty surprised youre on "eat anything you want" at only 2 weeks out and might suggest you slow your progression even if your surgeon didn't instruct you to. I think being on liquids and then mushies and soft foods for a few weeks helps a lot of us to ease into the idea of solid foods in the sleeve, and it allows the stomach more time to heal since solid foods are harder to digest.