Questions you might have about Sleeve WLS

 Hi Everyone,  I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT THIS OUT TO READ if you don’t want to read it all at one time.  

1.  First thing is to start asking people on the board you are on all kinds of questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don’t rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still wouldn’t be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very proud of you for looking into this. Don’t give any more days of your life being overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is your answer.

 

2. How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. (a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or anything else. (b) NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or medications—thank goodness this person didn’t have any. (b) The lab did NOT label tubes of blood with the person’s name on it—very dangerous. (c) Day after surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day 2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said this person wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose. My choice after 6 months of research was Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. What I can tell you in my opinion is that he is the very best you will ever find to do your surgery. I can only speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice for a surgeon.

 

3. Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too. Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue. Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit card or debit card vs ca**** is much easier to use. Take small amounts of cash for tips—I took $45.00 in 1’s for tip money for various things. If you go to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer& cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave all jewelry at home.  If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need it removed to see your nail beds during surgery.

 

4. The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have to do. You do 10 days of nothing but clear liquids to start with—that means you have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the protein they want you to have the 1^st 10 days—I couldn’t find anything I liked that was clear during the 1^st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz each day, and I don’t think I could ever get that much water drank—just do the best you can. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days. You can now have some creamy soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a protein drink that you like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at Costco. When looking for a protein drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier has 30 grams of protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too. I know there are a lot of other protein drinks out there that people like. When it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask others what kind of Protein drinks they liked and where they get them. The last 10 days are mushy foods. So this is a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what will work as mushy foods for you.

 

5. Starting the 2^nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food. Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid. From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don’t eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn’t like a lot might taste good and something that you used to love don’t taste that great anymore. Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion. http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/  It really is good to write down and track everything you put in your mouth to start with—that is how you know that you have not had more than 800 calories per day.

 

6. I want you to understand weight loss surgery is just a tool. The fat doesn’t not just melt off of you—they is NO miracle cure. Now you have to put a lot of effort into eating healthy and starting to exercise. Everyone has some kind of exercise that works for them. I love walking and try to walk about 5 days a week.

 

7. For many of us we started to lose some of our hair 3 or 4 months after having WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo’s or take Biotin. It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now.  I already had thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the hair loss to lose 105 pounds.

 

8. Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from constipation. You need to have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each morning with MIRALAX. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my breakfast. 3 years later I still have this for breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me.

 

9. You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don’t panic the weight loss will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing.

 

10. Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to convince us of—We call these “Head Games" and they really are tough times to work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat?

 

11. You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that.  You will notice how fast people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating. That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a bottle of water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food.

 

12. When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who have already done this. We are here to help and support you.

 

13. Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have new clothes.

 

14. Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a Clinic. One clue that it is a clinic is if they send you to a hotel room to recover—that is why they cost less, this is also dangerous too. YOU are worth the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this.

  Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery. For many of this, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate is high.  Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient.     You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow the money for this surgery just look at this as “body payment." It will be the best money you have ever borrowed.   Please PRINT this out to read later. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery almost 3 years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was 63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this.        

Hi Suzanne! You are so amazing to take the time to write all this out. All such good, sound information. I can vouch for 1 thru 4, which is where I am now... and I'm taking it all in as to what to expect in the months to come! :)  Thanks for all the encouragement you've given me, and continue to give to those who need it. 

Hey Helen,

Wow you are on your way for the ride of your life.  The weight will just keep falling off you these first few months--enjoy it.  It is amazing that you never really feel hungry.  We just think we need to eat.  But as time goes on you will have to remind yourself to eat.  I NO longer live to eat.  I now eat to live a normal happy healthy life.

I enjoy helping other accomplish their dreams.  I had some amazing group people who would prop me up along my journey and even before I made up my mind to have WLS--like I said I talked myself in and out of out of having and then what kind to have.  So remember I am always here to just talk with or ask questions.  I am a world of information most of the time.

We are off to take one of our Street Rods to a Show and Shine this weekend--we are going about 60 miles South of where we live for the weekend.  That is what we do for fun on the weekends during the Spring, Summer and early Fall.  We have 3 Street Rods and have a great time going different places with them. We are taking out 1957 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop this time.

Enjoy your weekend, and stay in touch.  I love hearing from you and your progress. 

Hugs,
Suzanne

Why don't you correctly name the title of your post.  You are talking about YOUR experience with YOUR type of WLS.  A lot of what you say does not apply to ALL types of surgery.

And you might want to point out to your readers that there ARE four types of surgery to research.

Thanks!

~Becky

Hi,

Thanks for you point of view.  I guess I felt I could only speak about the kind of surgery that I know the most about.  And for so many that is the type of surgery that so many people are having at this time.

You are more than welcome to put something together yourself and post about your type of surgery to help educate others.

Take care,

Thank you so much for taking your time to put this together.  I have printed two copies, one for work and one for home as a reminder.  Thanks again.

Rea

Hi,

I am so glad that you found this to be helpful.  I wish you lucky in your journey.  It is a life changing event, and you will NEVER have a regret.

If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to contact me.  You are such a beautiful lady. 

Hugs,
Suzanne

Suzanne, I am not having this type of surgery, but it is very similar to my food
sheet from the doctor, so I can really use some of these pointers. Thank you
so much for taking the time, and also for caring about your fellow OH's to write
all of this down. It is very much appreciated by me, and I am sure others. BTW
you look great.
Crissie

Hi Crissie,

Well, congratulations on going to have WLS.  You will be very successful with it.  This is going to change your life and all for the better.  I am always around if you have any questions or fears at ALL, I am here for you.  You will have a lot of feelings and and emotions before you have surgery--that is really normal.  Remember this is ALL about you and NO one else.  Not everyone will understand or agree with your choice.  That is OK  too you do not need their approval. 

Hugs to you,
Suzanne