Just in case I missed anyone...thanks for your encouragement.
Hi there,
I can only tell you of my journey. You have to make the decision. I am a former lap bander, now sleever. I had my lap band in July 2008 and struggled for four years before I finally decided I definitely wanted it out!! I had quite a few issues over the years and if for some reason something got "stuck" the agonizing pain I felt (like you might be having a heart attack, or someone had a belt just under your breasts and was pulling tighter and tighter) was awful. You didn't have to overeat to feel this, just if you might not have chewed something well, or in one instance I ate a 1 piece of turkey bacon and it got stuck and was in agony for most of the day. That is all I had to eat that day. I couldn't get it up and it wouldn't go down. That's the other thing, a lot of vomiting, mostly self induced because I couldn't stand that feeling. I am only 23 days into having my sleeve done and I'm so grateful. I feel human again. Not like I have this foreign syfy thing in my body. My intestines are still in tact, my stomach is just smaller. Much smaller........it's a little hard getting over the "head" thing of thinking you are hungry, when you really aren't and feeling like you haven't had enough. Because we are so used to eating such large meals, it's hard to fathom that 1/4 cup of food is going to fill you up. But it does!! I'm very happy I made the change. My band had slipped anyway, so I would have needed surgery to fix it. I just could not do that. I felt like "why would I want to redo something that has been making me feel so miserable". Don't get the wrong idea, I did lose about 40 lbs. , but because I was having such a problem and had to go totally unrestricted and gained about 20 lbs. back. Now I've lost the 20 lbs. plus in just 23 days. So far, I love my sleeve. And in all fairness, I should tell you that my original surgeon was unable to place my band "optimally" due to adhesions, but failed to let anyone know that. So my chances for success were doomed from the beginning. Whew!!! That's a lot of info. Probably won't help you a bit in making your decision. All I can say is so far so good!!!
Yay for the thanks button, time for chat once and for all.
In the grey bar attached to the bottom of every post but your own posts.
Thanks to all who welcomed me to this site. I am learning to navigate it. The support is amazing. 11 days till I get sleeved. So excited!
I don't have the Thanks button! How do I get one?
Thank you for this great site, and the "Thanks" button - it is a wonderful tool! I am ending my 7th week after gastric sleeve surgery, and live in NYC (where oddly enough I haven't found too many others). I'm so grateful to meet people who are going through the same journey as I am. It really helps alot!!
This is a great site. I had my surgery the day after you. Tomorrow is 7 weeks for me too. I live in NE California. I haven't found anyone nearby either, but my surgery center has a FB page for it's patients. I live over an hour to the center, so I haven't made any of the events, but they have walks and seminars that are free to their patients. The are starting to offer the seminars over the internet, but I haven't tried it yet. This forum really has worked well. Other than the dizziness, I have (knock on wood) not had any problems.
It's nice to chat with you. I'll send you a friend request so we can keep in touch.
thanks
Bookmarks