Yesterday's EGD findings

Yesterday I had an EGD to investigate the cause of my gastric bleed. Here's what the doctor found:

> signs of duodenitis (inflammation in the duodenum) - could be caused by h. pylori and/or surgical trauma

> a polyp in the antrum (lower part) of my sleeve

> a ring in the lower third of my esophagus - an artifact from the stricture I had dilated in May

Dr. N. biopsied all 3 areas, but told me he didn't find anything bad. He said the polyp could be causing the gastric bleed, but I was too addled by anesthesia to ask him if the bleed could be severe enough to cause anemia. I also forgot to ask him if he removed the polyp (he's always done that in the past with colon polyps, so the answer is probably yes). He gave me a print-out of photos taken of each area, including one that shows part of the scar from my sleeve surgery. That's pretty cool because the scar looks nice and neat and well-healed.

I go back in 2 weeks to see his NP to discuss the biopsy results. In the meantime I'm relieved I don't have any ulcers or space aliens in my upper GI tract.

Jean

Jean,

Good to hear you are doing well, I hope things work out great for you with your Sleeve, when I had my recent EGD they gave me those nice color photos too, that showed some inflammation, but I am slowly healing, but I still need to have my hernia repaired, if I can find a bariactic surgeon to do it...lo.... Do you find that you have more or less restriction with your Sleeve than the band?

For the first few weeks, when everything in there was super swollen, I could eat maybe a few tablespoons at a time, depending on the consistency of the food. For another few weeks, I could eat about 1/4 cup at a time, then 1/3 cup, and now I'm up to about 1/2 cup at a time (which is the amount my dietitian wants me to eat 6 times a day). Overall, I'd say it's about the same restriction level as I had with my band optimally filled, but with the sleeve you don't have to wait for fills to add up. It is what it is. The foods that were a challenge for me as a bandster are still a challenge with my sleeve - bread, pasta, rice, anything stodgy like that generally isn't worth the struggle. Eating animal protein still requires very careful eating. Also, the time of day doesn't seem to matter much now, whereas with my band, I was always tighter in the morning.

Jean, thanks for honestly sharing your experience with the Sleeve, it seems as though you got pretty good restriction which is steady. I would think the Sleeve would be more natural since it's not filled with Saline and the ebb flow of restriction would be a bit more consistent than with the band.

Interesting you mention that you still have trouble with protein, but again you are still early out and that may change a bit. Hopefully your dumping will eventually go away when your Sleeve matures, but the good thing is that you can stay on track with your weight loss more easily.

I don't know that I'd use the word "natural", but it's certainly more consistent. I don't think my band was ever as temperamental as some other bandsters have had to live with, but it's nice not having to wonder if eating lunch at work or going out to dinner with friends who may not know I've had WLS is going to be a fiasco or not.

I'm getting better at preventing dumping, but it still makes me cross that I can't eat much fruit. I've been experimenting (carefully) a bit with that. Whoever thought I'd miss eating mango even more than I miss eating birthday cake?

I sure can't complain about the weight loss...22 pounds so far.

I'm glad you don't have space aliens in there.

Me too!

Especially with Halloween creeping up on us...
 

22 pounds. I want a sleeve!  And yes I am pouting.

But glad to hear that things are looking pretty good.