dwaynemaul

Hi, My surgery experience was awesome. OCC is beyond clean, professional and they know their stuff.....they are patient focused. I weighed 211lbs on Jan 10th, 2011 at my doctor's office. Day of surgery 198.01lbs, last week weigh in was 173.5. I had been in a stall(aka plateau) for a couple of weeks floating between 174. & 177. Did a review of what I was and wasn't doing.....went back to basics...food journal, making sure I got a min of 64oz of water, upped my daily protein to closer to 80gms(was getting about 50gms). I do listen to a lot of You Tube videos for helpful hints and inspiration. I carry Papaya Enzyme chewables with me all the time, just in case I get any gas. I did have lots of post surgery gas, totally normal as during surgery CO2 is used to inflate your tummy area so the doc can see better. Now they do release it, but your body does need to release any residual.....I took Gas X strips with me, an idea I picked up from reading posts here. There are only 2 items I have not handled well. First was home made canned salmon. Being an oily fish, during cannning those oils are released, and I didn't drain it enough, not pat it dry....that made me nauseaed...Papaya Enzymes to the rescue. Also I had a steak at a not great restaurant. This restaurant used this type of meat that is a combination of all sorts of left over meat, then an exzyme is added, then it gets compressed and then they cut off a section.I had never heard of this type of meat prep..............apparently it is quite common..that gave me major gas.......those sharp stitch in left side kinda gas. Again, Papaya to the rescue. Obviously not ever going to that restaurant again and will ask every time I order a steak anywhere. Had a small rib eye at home and no problem. Now I eat whatever I want keeping in mind that it's high protein first......cold water fish and seafood have really high protein, low fat and good fats like Omegas. I have only had a couple times when I wanted candy..........H2O and a few minutes and the craving passes, so far, I'm sure those craving are there, and I will have to face them again....I know now I can make better choices.......and I know at times I will not always eat things that are the best choice. Also know it won't be the end of the world when it happens.............now I have the tools to not make it a daily habit. This prespective is a huge change for me. A few non scale victories have become more important to me than even the scale numbers(ok lets face it, ....those are great too)....things like down from a very very tight 16 jean to a very loose 12........or giving away all my 2X and 1X and XL tops...........having friends and family tell me I looked great and look and sound much happier(didn't even realize this had disappeared as my weigh sky rocketed).............I have lost my double chins, my cheek bones are back........even little thing like the cupid on my upper lip is back. Or to just be able to sit in an over stuffed chair with my bf, there's room now. My only regret is I waited for so long to do this for me. Very soon my high blood pressure meds will be history. If you want to email me, I will answer any question....ktbaillargeon@gmail.com cheers, Katie

Hi Katie,

Thanks so much for all of the info, Carolyn gave me the contact info of a gal that went through the GSP in Feb this year, and she was really nice and very helpful. I was having some sleepless nights after watching some of the stuff posted on You Tube regarding failed gastric surgeries,.... and I will admit I was a little freaked out to say the least, but none of them were patients of OCC. She said she and a lady also in for GSP hung around before and after the procedure and they both felt fine, no cramps, nausea etc. She did say she was careful to follow all the pre-op instructions and believes this really helps, she's a nurse with 23 years of hospital experience, and worked all the units at one time or another. My heartfelt thanks go out to her for being so kind to take the time to make me feel confident I'm making the right decision. A lot of very kind people with big hearts on this forum, and I thank all of you for taking the time to help me feel confident and prepared for what lies ahead. Best Regards, Dwayne

Hi, I'm new to plication, January 27th, 2011, best thing I ever did for myself. Dr Ortiz has done over 300 plication plus has over 10 years experience in WLS general . You're in good hands. If you want to communicate with someone who has had their plication much longer...suggest you ask either Lori or Caroline to pass your email address along to some of their patients who are further out, and ask them to email you. Because of patient/doc relationship, OCC can't give you their email address. But before my surgery, I ask Lori(my corrdinator) if she would send my address to a few patients asking them to contact me. This was my first excperience in how supportive and helpful fellow WLS patients are. I got emails from 3 other gals who were having their surgery and we are still in contact. You might want to try this too.

Hi and thanks for that, how was your experience and how are you feeling now, are you eating normal food again, weight loss so far?

Dwayne

Just wondering how many folks out there had the GSP surgery over a year ago and how are they feeling, and is this working for them. Anyone out there actually gain the weight back again? I'm scheduled for GSP surgery in 2 weeks and a little nervous about the whole thing. How many men out there went through this, and how's it working for you? I'm excited at the prospect of looking at a mirror and being happy with what I see. I just hope this is as good as they make it sound.

Hi Dwayne, I'm here for whatever insights and advice you may need. I'm from Calgary and can sympathize with some of you concerns - probably starting with "Am I really traveling to Tijuana for surgery".

It's not nearly as scary as it sounds. The entire staff and experience was great.

I'm on day 13 and moving towards more substantial foods. Every time I even try to overeat just a bit (one more bite) I feel it instantly. I can't imagine how anyone can cheat this procedure. Having said that, I wish I was losing weight just a bit faster. I lost ten very quickly and the last two pounds came off slow. This isn't unusual for me. I've been on very low calorie diets in the past and the weight just doesn't seem to shed. But in the past I'd get very frustrated and think "why bother dieting, I'm not losing weight" and go back to my old ways. This won't happen with plication and hopefully the pounds continue to come off.

I heard about an acquaintance who traveled to Mexico for gastric surgery and I started to look into it. It was never an option for me because it seemed to invasive and radical. After reading about lap band this seemed like a feasible solution. I probably researched for two hours every night for 6 weeks. Dr Ortiz has the best reputation and it doesn't hurt that he appeared on Oprah and The Doctors. I searched for every worse case scenario I could find. A lot of the issues people were having seemed to be because of lack of discipline. (I know that's not the case with everyone who is having post op issues) But I felt that I'm in reasonably good health and my BMI isn't as high as some so this was a safe option. And to my surprise there was a better option, plication, which doesn't have issues with slippage and fills.

I switched to Plication the day before my surgery after talking to the doctors. This seemed so sudden after my countless hours of lap band research. Thankfully I had a lap top with me and could do some research the night before surgery. As I mentioned to you earlier, there's not a ton of info on patients with the procedure but I expected results of gastric sleeve patients to be a good measure.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to help.

Hi Canuck Girl,

Thanks so much for all the info, I spoke with Dr.Ortiz yesterday,..he answered some questions I had, and I finished the call feeling much better about everything. Like many people I could loose weight quickly, but I would gain it back just as fast. I love to eat and always will, just need something to help me with the amount of food I'm putting in my tummy, this is where I'm hoping the GSP will work. In the last 3 years I have been diagnosed with TypeII Diabetes, Sleep Apnea, Hypertension, joint aches, etc. I'm looking forward to a new looking and feeling me!! I wish you all the best, take care and keep in touch.

Dwayne

I believe the surgery is fairly new and only a few surgeons in the US are doing it. There was a study in Brazil done that you can search for online.

I had the surgery ten days ago. I feel full on very small amounts of food. I'm sure if someone chooses to overeat their stomach will stretch. It's a tool, not magic.

As far as long term effects (health risks) of the surgery - it seems the least invasive of all options. No cutting of the stomach, no foreign object in my body and it's reversible.

Because I couldn't find long term weight success stories on plication, I researched/read about gastric sleeve patients and their success and/or complications. Plication has the same results (a stomach one third the size) but without the cutting. I also researched the sleeve for food/diet advice.

Like any of the surgeries, the actual procedure is only half the battle and the other half is you making it succeed.

Hi Canuck Girl,

Thanks for the insight, if it's ok I would like to keep in touch to see how it's working for you, my GSP is scheduled for Jan-24-2011. I am from Edmonton, where are you from and how did you find out about this place?

Thanks,

Dwayne

Is there anyone out there that has had GSP performed over a year ago or more, I'm curious to know what the success rate for permanant weight loss is and how much weight loss to expect on average, and general health. There seems to be little to substantiate the long term effects of the procedure. How has it changed your life or has it at all, would you do it again knowing now the results you have experienced. Is it really life changing, how strict is the diet after post surgery say 2-3 months down the road? I want to do it but need proof that it works, and that it does not cause other long term health problems.

Thanks,

Dwayne

Hi,

I'm scheduled for January to have the Gastric Sleeve Plication surgery and a little nervous after reading about the pain some of you have experienced, would it be better to stay back a few extra days before travelling home ( 5-6 hour travel ), is this an un-bearable pain, where your out of breath or like pain associated with bad travellers diarrhea? The lady I spoke to from another clinic said she experienced only mild gas pains? Do they give you anything for the gas pains you have? Just how much pain do you experience or does this depend on the individual?, anyone out there experience no or little pain?

Muchas Gracias,

Senior Dwayne