Hmmmm, I seem to break easily these days.

Good luck in your group!  I wish I was in Florida right now.  It is a whole 3 degrees out there! lol

An early analysis of a study done at the Mayo Clinic was presented by ASMBS president, John Backer, MD at the Endocrine Society in June 2009 which found that those who had bariatric surgery were nearly 4 times as likely to sustain a fracture after surgery than the general population. They were not sure if the fractures were due to vitamin deficiencies prior to surgery, malabsorbtion issues after surgery or possibly because people's bodies shapes and centers of balance had changed substantially. The following excerpt points to the need to get sufficient supplimentation of calicium and vitamin D regardless of your surgery type.

"Before and after gastric bypass, patients are routinely told to take at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily, and usually 800 milligrams of D, but that may not be enough," Baker said.

Monitoring patients closely is crucial, he said. "No matter which surgery [of several bariatric surgery options] they have had done, they need to be monitored for calcium, vitamin D levels and parathyroid hormones long term," he said. Parathyroid hormones help increase calcium levels in the blood.

To see the article, please click here.

Tiffany, the scars are almost unnoticeable - not that I'll ever be in a bikini; too much loose skin and not enough $$ for plastic surgery! (I wear spandex garments from Lipo in a Box and, with my clothes on, I look like I've had plastics; I highly recommend them!!)

My nails were in pretty good shape (I attribute that to all the vitamins), but now I get them "done"; it's one of my perks! My hair stayed in good shape, although like most, I did have some hair loss. i have pretty thick hair, so it really wasn't noticeable - except on the shower floor!

Good luck with everything! To post a private message, just click on "contact" at the bottom of the message!

Yours,
Nancy

Hi, Rocky!

Hmmm, it's been a few years, and I can't quite remember how much we actually wound up paying; seems like it was right around 16K for everything. Dr. Brown uses St. Thomas Moore Hospital in Canon City, where I stayed two nights and had the most excellent nursing care I have ever received!

Dr. Brown is a stellar surgeon and his office staff is wonderful. The only thing I found lacking was his follow-up care (at the time, his office did not have a nutritionist; I understand they do now). I use a lot of the advice on supplements and after-care from the clos.net website. I have my primary care doc look after my blood-work (which has been excellent, by the way!)

I lost weight pretty steadily and without too much effort the first few months til I got to my goal, then maintained. I do "dump" like many RNY patients, but I can avoid that by staying away from sugar - still hard for me! Too many white/refined carbs= wicked, room-clearing gas (hey, you asked for the gritty details!) My weight has now bounced back up by about 10 lbs, and I do have to really pay attention to what I eat to keep it from going up any higher. (I'm okay with the 10 lbs, BTW, as I think my face looked older at my lowest weight....)

You can find Dr. Brown's website at http://www.coloradochoicebariatrics.com/

Hope this helps! Give me a holler if you are ever down in the Colo. Springs area; maybe we can meet up!

Yours,
Nancy