mit_tens
decisions............decisions
Sep 08, 2010
After seeing that many patients having problems with the band, I decided to try on my own *again* to diet and exercise.I vanished off of OH for about a year and then returned when I had yet failed another diet :(
Then by total accident I ended up on the DS board which I thought might be the answer to my prayers. I learned a lot about it and asked a lot of questions. Googled probably every thing to do with DS imaginable....heh heh. I thought I was set in my mind to have this surgery. I called Dr Ungson (MX) and he seems so wonderful, as does his PC Luz. I completed the paperwork and was ready to submit my blood work when I started having second thoughts.
I was becoming more curious about the VSG *sleeve* and wanted to know more about this relatively new procedure. The VSG has been done for many years as a first part of the DS for people with SMO, but not really as a stand alone surgery. The DS is to risky of a surgery for someone with an extreme BMI and so they do the sleeve procedure to help them lose weight and then proceed with the switch part of the DS.
Well upon doing more research, and of course asking more questions I started to like the idea of the "sleeve"! To be honest I was scared of the malabsorption of the DS. I know people said it's a good thing to have but it truly scared me to have my intestines messed with. I think that cutting my stomach into a tiny lil banana shape was scary enough. :D
I began asking around about Foreign surgeons as my insurance excludes any and all things to do with WLS. I got many replies about Dr Aceves in Mexicali MX. I have googled him, emailed his patients, called his coordinator Nina and just about bugged anyone I could to get the info on this surgeon. I have tried looking for negative comments on him (not that I wanted to see it) but ya know you can't go in this with a blind eye....................and yet nothing negative on his man, Nada, zilch, squat! To put it lightly I was impressed. No leaks to date and incision infection is very low. Although I know infections can happen as I have gotten one from a gallbladder surgery here in my hometown, not fun.
So that's where I stand for the moment. My surgery is scheduled for Sept 27 and I am so happy and scared! My mom is going with me and I have to admit that I am surprised that she is. She is very conservative in her thinking so I was shocked that she was so supportive of me going to a Foreign country where you can't even drink the water! Vacation is one thing, but MAJOR SURGERY is a whole different story. I am so happy that she is so supportive, as is my husband, sister and close friends. I am so ready for this I can taste it, just not much of it ;)
Next post will be about my surgery post op and I can't wait to report!
God bless and Godspeed!
Changes
Jul 29, 2010
I am a 37 year old wife to a great man and mom to two boys (my stepson 11 and son 5). I live in Connecticut and have a pretty good life that I can't complain about........however I will LOL! I am SICK OF BEING FAT! I wasn't always over weight. I was always a normal weight (never above 135) all throughout High school. I never had to think about what I put in my mouth and never worried about gaining. Well that all changed after I graduated from school. Slowly but surely I would gain 10-15 pounds a year. When I enrolled into hairdressing school a year after I graduated HS I had put on almost 15 pounds. I was now at 150, and at 5'3" it was noticeable. I did the slim-fast diet to take it off and it did.........but just as quick as I took it off I put it back on :( plus some!
Well the following year I gained another 15 and I stayed there for years and years at 165. I got fed up with it after a while, I felt unhealthy and unattractive so I did crash diet after crash diet only to gain it back...plus....plus....plus!
Then in 2002 I had my gallbladder removed and it seems after that the weight gain was faster and steadier then before.......I got married in 2003 had our son in 2004 and here I am now at 244 pounds. The only success I had with dieting was with Weight Watcher but it came off sooooooooo slowly I could cry. It took me nearly 9 months of doing WW to lose a whopping 13 pounds!!! And then of course I gained it back and then some.
So here I am on this forum. I started out looking at OH back in July of 09 when I was
considering the lap band procedure, under a different user name. I went to a seminar held for possible lapbanders and RNYrs. I went with a surgeon I liked name Dr. Pohl (Providence RI) and had my first consultation. I had my blood work done and just needed a few more tests to be done and then I could make my second appointment and schedule my surgery date. I was a self payer and Dr. seemed to fit my budget.
However I just wasn't sold on the idea of having to get fills (needles through my tummy) just grossed me out, and the fact that I could no longer eat bread.....well that seemed just plain cruel....lol!
I put the idea of WLS to rest thinking it's just not for me and I could diet yet again, and the diet failed, and a year passed. And I remembered OH and thought maybe I'll log back on (forgot my user-name and PW......so then I created Mittens, lol) and I found DS. I read some posts from the forum users and it seemed interesting. I then wanted to know everything I could about DS......so I did alot of research and I have decided that DS is the route I want to take. I know that its work and I know that it comes with a lot of responsibility but it seems the most livable and closest to real life with WLS as you can get. I am so excited to be moving ahead with some sort of plan! :D
God bless and Godspeed!
