MariMelO

UPDATE!!! - I had surgery on 4/29 Friday and have lost 8.8 lbs so far!!! Re learning "hunger" has been a true challenge but one that must be overcome. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the staff, procedure or OCC facility! I have become a LOVER of hot herbal teas as they make me feel all better especially great to start my mornings! Talk to everyone soon!! P.s. if you are reading this post trying to decide what to do....take my advice....close your eyes....think about all you have suffered, struggled with weightloss, up, down, up down! If you feel yourself starting to sweat and tense up.....now think of all the effort you have put in already and you get mad, frustrated and discouraged.....now think, imagine allow yourself to DREAM, that you can own a tool that is YOUR OWN STOMACH! That with your commitment will TAKE you to the promise land of health....go ahead contact OCC, you'll be glad you did.

Hey Everyone my day is FRIDAY!!! I am excited...

Keep us posted !!! We all need to re-train the brain! Anyone willing to share tips for success?

WOW!! I want to give you a HUGE cyber hug! Congrats honey. Don't fret a bit, I did the research as I do not have any babies yet and didn't want to give up that chance in the future as my being overweight has been one of my preg. barriers. Just as Bella says keep to the 500 cal extra and exercise (my bff is currently preggo and doing this video..Summer Sanders' Prenatal Workout she says its wonderful) and you should be great! Seeing that you have gone through the tough part and you are a tough cookie I know you will be great.

Deysi - WOW what a success story! Would you mind posting (maybe in a new thread) Tips for Post-op Success? I would love to hear what a "day in the life" was for you during the different stages: 1. Immediately post-up liquid phase 2. Smooshy phase etc... I think this would help EVERYONE learn good habits for success! Congrats and GREAT JOB on all your hard work.

Great JOB OLIVIA!!! you are an inspiration and your tracking EVERYTHING will make you a success! I have downloaded an app on my Droid phone so I can keep my calories in check after surgery.

Papaya Enzyme - supposedly better/faster than Gas x (anyone try it before?)

Anyone want to add to this list? Things I have heard that are useful 1. Gas X strips - helps with gas pain 2. Thermos - to carry warm soup on plane home 3. Packet soup powder (no noodles) to put inside 2. 4. Comfy clothes (elastic waistband) 5. I'm sure laptop or books help as TV might be limited 6. Plastic Baby spoon (someone told me this really helped not to eat too fast. 7. Take advantage of wheel chair option in airport (might as well get first class treatment) 8. A great blender for home (some people swae by the Magic Bullet)

Here are quotes from Dr. Watkins on the Verticlesleevetalk board. "After speaking with bariatric surgeons around the country I have learned about several reports of perforation due to gastric necrosis in patients that had plication surgery. These patients have presented within the first few days of surgery and complained of severe abdominal pain. To my knowledge, there are no reports of this presenting beyond the first few days after surgery. What is unclear is why this occurs in some patients and not others. The issue appears to involve impaired blood circulation in the crowded stomach tissue that has been folded in on itself. The cardia portion of the stomach (the upper part) seems to be susceptible to this. Since plication is a new procedure, at this stage it is important to know about this as a potential complication. I will continue to post updates on this forum as we learn new information." " You should know that one of the perforations due to gastric necrosis happened to one of my patients. I have since contacted many bariatric surgeons to inform them of this and in doing so learned that there have been several other cases in other clinics as well, some of whom had their surgery outside the U.S. As soon as I learned this I posted the information on this forum as well as our plication patient's private message board. Will I continue to recommend plication surgery? The short answer is not right now. Regarding full length plication as a primary operation I think we need more information on why some patients are developing gastric necrosis and some are not. We've had many successful plication patients with excellent weight loss. Certainly perforation is a known potential complication of stapled sleeve gastrectomy as well, but considering that relatively small numbers of plications are being performed around the world, a few perforations is too high of an incidence for me especially given the magnitude of the complication. When a perforation occurs in a plication, this stomach has to be removed, the end result of which is essentially a stapled sleeve gastrectomy. One of the things that attracted me to the plication is that it seemed like it would avoid the possibility of perforation since there were no staple lines. These perforations are occuring through a different mechanism - compromised blood flow to the stomach. In speaking with many bariatric surgeons in the U.S. we would not have anticipated this based on our knowledge of the stomach's blood supply. We do not think this is an arterial problem (inflow of blood) - it seems to be a problem of venous congestion or impairment of venous drainage in the crowded stomach. In simple terms, if the venous blood can't flow out of the tissue, this ultimately impairs the arterial inflow of blood from coming into the tissues. The end result is necrosis of the tissue which can perforate. This is the best theory we have currently on why this has occurred. It is possible that a much looser plication or a single row plication instead of two rows might prevent this from occurring but would likely also reduce average weight loss success. An early study in a small number of patients at the Cleveland Clinic showed that anterior plication (only plicating the front part of the stomach) had disappointing weight loss results and they subsequently abandoned the technique. It is likely that tighter plications have better weight loss but higher risk for perforation and a looser plication might reduce the chance for perforation but also reduce weight loss success. We have not had the experience that necrosis shows up later in the post-operative course. If you currently have a plication consult or surgery scheduled I would recommend that you discuss this with your surgeon. If I learn additional important information I will post it on this forum."

Hey Sheree! I have been bad and have not started pre-op! As I have a pretty stressfull job as a tax accountant and its tax season, I was going to start almost at the end of season. Your birthday is 2 days after mine (april 16th!) what a lovely gift isnt it!!!

My hubby has family in packwood WA, we're going there for some RR after I get back to eating.

I tell everyone! That is just the person I am. The hardest was my hubby after that hurdle, I shout it from the rooftop if I can. I think that's my way of not being able to back out...lol!

I just have to say....Y'all are all AWESOME. That is all.

April 29th HERE!!!!! I am so excited, freaked, anxious, etc....

I have been working long days but decided I needed to get my PLICATOR fix! Congrats honey!!! So happy for your success, you are fearless! Continue to share your story.

Olivia - Congrats on the surgery! Hope you are feeling well!