Stacy160’s Posts
Thanks for your replies, everyone! I have Notifications turned on, but didn't get a single one letting me know anyone had replied until Dawnie's this morning. Anyhooo...
So I ended up doing some research on Semaglutide (one of the newer medications being used for diabetes and obesity treatment). After reading and reading, and looking at SO many patient reviews and experiences (particularly post-VSG people), I decided to go for it. It's amazing how the tiniest little injection works so well... for me, I started feeling the effects immediately. The day I did my first injection, I could only eat maybe a cup of chicken Caesar salad that night (usually I can put down a lot of salad) .... just filled up SO fast. Food noise is gone, appetite is gone -- I literally feel like I did in the first months after my surgery--able to eat anything, I just don't want to. I'm not constantly thinking about what's next. Not going through my head what's available at home to snack on after dinner, and whether or not I need to stop at Dollar General for junk food on the way home. It's amazing.
My thinking is this: My sleeve is still there, it still works great IF I eat what I'm supposed to. Using this to help re-train my thoughts and habits to get where I need to be is showing me that; it's teaching me again to watch for my full signs (hiccups), stop when I'm full (and full does NOT mean stuffed where you can't eat another bite), and not take a break for a few minutes and start again. Between this, and knowing what I know now about sugar addiction, and what my danger situations are, I think is going to keep me from gaining it back again in the end.
Anyway....that's where I am now. Oh, I lost 15 lbs the first month and have been hovering there the last 3 days, but we all know how that goes! :D Thanks again everyone!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Hi Dawnie! I actually remember you from back then...not specifics, but your name at least! Posting a separate update below. :)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Hi there, Skylark! So I'm not going that route, but I have found what I think is my key to success...updating below! :)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Hello Dr. Alvarez!
I'm looking at your website currently. Do you do sleeve revisions? By that I mean a re-sleeve...re-tightening, whatever the terminology is. I'm soooo very much considering this. :)
Hi all! Boy, everything's changed since the last time I visited here...and that's been oh, 6-ish years? At least. Still looking for familiar names. We used to keep this board hopping constantly!
Anyhooooo...Long story shortish, I maintained my weight loss for a couple of years, and slowly let the sugar monster back in--not even being aware at the time that there WAS such a thing and that it 100% my biggest issue. Lots has been learned since then! I've been up and sort of down, up and sort of down....here I am again at 220 (172 was my maintenance weight). And right back to the pre-op days, I have tried E-VER-Y-THING to bring my post-sleeve self back again and just...well, you know how it goes.
Currently, I'm giving serious thought into looking into a revision. Do they even re-sleeve? I don't want to DS or a RNY. Just my sleeve tightened back up. I started checking around this morning and my surgeon has retired. 
I'm in Michigan, and my surgeon was Mark Pleatman. I was also self-pay, and the total cost was a little over $12,000, if I remember right. I know it's a longshot, but did anyone else have Pleatman, find a good replacement, and have a revision? OR, self-pay for a re-sleeve anywhere? I'm wondering about cost as much as anything. I know insurance won't cover it.
TIA! :)
HEY, LAUR!!!
Am I right in thinking that we had our surgery the same day?? (should have looked before I hit the Reply button :D )
But yeeeaaaahh... here we are 8+ years out. I did great maintaining for a year and a half, and then the sugar grabbed me again. Wish I'd known about sugar addiction then, before I gained better than half my weight back. So I'd gone from a high of 258 down to 172 where I maintained, and up as high as 226 last August when after learning and reading about sugar addiction, so many things made sense and I suddenly felt empowered again. I had a setback from October to January while my dad was in and out of the hospital, but have been doing great again and I'm down to 191...so 35 of that regain GONE.
You know what it takes, and you know what to do! But would strongly suggest you research sugar addiction to see if you recognize it in yourself...once you know what it does, what to watch out for in yourself, it makes it much easier to just stay away from the junk in the first place and not let that "just one bite" turn into a full-blown weekend binge. Proteins, fats, low-starch veggies....you can do this!!
And, great seeing you again! Congrats on your son!!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
That is AMAZING progress in only three months!! You're not even gonna need plastics, looks like...wow!!
ps...bikinis cover less, you're good. :D
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Diane!! There it is, thanks so much!!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Hey all... awhile back, there was a VSG Veterans forum. I can't find it listed anywhere now. Is anyone aware of it being shut down, or am I just not seeing it?
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
You're doing great, keep up the good work!! :)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
:O
You look wonderful!!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
As you're seeing...SO MANY PEOPLE find out they have a hiatal hernia going into surgery. I'm one of them also. I suspected, but my surgeon found and fixed a large one while he was in there.
It seems to be that people who have them and who had heartburn and reflux problems before surgery get rid of them. Speaking for myself, for several years I was taking double-doses of medication before bed, just in order to sleep without waking up choking on stomach acid. That went away immediately after my surgery whi*****luded that quick (like 10 minute quick, I have it on video) hernia repair. 8 years later...still not a problem.
I would absolutely get a second opinion. It sounds like your surgeon doesn't have a lot of experience with VSG, prefers doing RNY, and isn't very informed.
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Chances are, at 450-500 lbs, your mother's cousin would have been at risk with any type of surgery... I'd imagine she had to have had several health problems that made her high-risk. At that weight, she probably also had a more complicated, higher-risk surgery to begin with, like gastric bypass or ...omg, it's been so long since I've been here, I forgot what the other one's called! Anyway, do your research and be prepared to show her why the risks of VSG are so much less, especially with a younger person without a bunch of comorbidities. And good luck!
(fwiw, when we got my sons's surgery done, he insisted that we wait til after the fact to tell my parents--his grandparents--to avoid the inevitable freak-out from my mother. It worked, she understood that he didn't want her worrying, his results have been incredible, and she was fully supportive when she didn't have to worry about it ahead of time.)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
At three weeks out, my go-tos were these two things:
1/4 cup ricotta cheese (you don't like...maybe mashed cauliflower instead?) on a plate with garlic salt sprinkled on it, with a little spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese on that, microwaved til melty;
and,
1/4 cup of refried beans, with a little taco sauce on them, and shredded cheddar cheese on that, microwaved til melty.
Amazing how STUFFED you feel on that teeny bit of food!! :D
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
You're doing great!! At 7 1/2 years out, I still have the "eyes-bigger-than-stomach" syndrome, where I put more on my plate than I can eat. Not always, but a LOT. :D
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Get back on it NOW...do not let your old habits take over, don't think that because it did in the first months, your sleeve will do the work for you. Trust me--complacency is your enemy and it sneaks up on you and flips the switch to your "old" self before you're even aware of it. Take control back now!!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Syntrax Nectar all the way. It mixes perfectly, and the fruity ones that mix with water especially. No texture, no graininess.
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
From the first cut to incisions closed, mine was less than an hour, with a hiatal hernia repair. Home the next day, out shopping on day 4, back to work day 11 instead of 15 because I was bored.
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
7 1/2 years for me, and I'm checking in for some motivation and inspiration. Not quite ready to post about myself and my current status/goals -- again -- but it's good to see some other old-timers still hanging out here, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the discussions, sharing some long-term knowledge, and getting excited with the pre-op and new sleevers! :)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
I'll skip the numbers, but at 5 1/2 years out, I'm 2 pants sizes up from my smallest. My son's being sleeved this Thursday the 6th, and I've ordered enough protein that my plan is to go through the entire process again with him, beginning with clear liquids on Wednesday. Don't know if I'll be able to stay super-strict during the liquid phase (that's much easier when you've got tons of swelling in there!) but I'm gonna try! I'd suggest you start back at the beginning and maybe move through your post-op food phases a few days to a week at a time....we've still got our sleeves, we DO have restriction with dense proteins, and we can do this!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Awesome! I'm 5 1/2 years out and my 26-year old son is scheduled to be sleeved next Thursday, so it's cool that yours was the first post I read tonight. Hoping to get him here tomorrow and see how some of the guys are doing. You're doing great!
Do a little research on Dessicated Thyroid products vs. chemical thyroid treatments (Synthroid, etc). A GREAT many people find success using those vs. the pharmacutical stuff.
And good luck, I know that's frustrating!!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Nikke2003 and Chrissy are right. for some reason, the scales just loooooves to hover around the 200 mark and tease you for a few days...a few ounces under, a few ounces over, etc., etc., etc. It did it with my initial weight loss, and it did it again a couple of weeks ago during my current regain loss. Just HANG IN THERE and smile back at the scale, knowing you're about to show that b**ch who's boss. :D
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Definitely both, for me. I'd eat to capacity, and then as soon as I wasn't feeling stuffed anymore I'd be looking for something else to munch on. I was never hungry, because I never let myself get that empty. Sweet tooth, oh boy....
....and as I've learned in the last couple of years, a total sugar addict. I don't think I'd have been any better off with RNY though. My aunt's had WLS twice (the first was the old "stomach stapling" so you know how that turned out... the second was RnY) and both times, she's gained every bit of the weight back. She occasionally dumps on things like ice cream, but still grazes constantly on sugary crap that she has no business having.
No matter what surgery you have, you HAVE to understand that other than the first couple of months, you still have to do the work yourself.... the physical alteration just makes it so much more possible for you to do it. :)
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
Holy Crap, you've been blessed with good skin!!! Awesome!
HW 258 SW 246.4 CW 166.8 GW 160
(reflects loss from all-time high weight in November 2009)
