Gastric Bypass
 

My mom and Meme (grandmother) are both in the process of getting gastric bypass. Not because of their obesity, but because they are both diabetics who are now starting to lose feeling in their extremities, having kidney damage, and all the other fun things that go along with diabetes. There's research that shows that gastric bypass slows/stops the progression of diabetes afterward, and it also provides a very controlled lifestyle with regards to eating/drinking so that's good for the diabetes even if it doesn't go away. (No I can't link to that information, it's what I've heard from my mom/meme/the doctors as I go through this whole process along with them.)

The fact that this process can take up to a year where they have weekly sessions about the surgery and lifestyle after surgery and risks that go along with it, along with several doctor visits a month, and have had to go through therapy sessions to make sure they don't have "food issues" instead of an actual problem is enough for me to agree that this is a course that they have to take.

My meme is going in for surgery on the 9th, monday morning. I just was hoping for some good vibes from the cellar, to help her (and me) as she goes through it. My mom isn't due until july...at which point I'll probably be asking you again.

Thanks for being such wonderful people, and giving me a place to share my worries.

I think it was "20/20" or one of those news shows that did a story on this. Most of the people who had diabetes before the procedure no longer had it afterwards. In some case, it was only a few days before it was completely cured.

I'm considering a lap-band procedure, myself. Same issues, less advanced.

ETA, best wishes to your mother and grandmother!

I'm sending good vibes your way.

I don't know a lot about gastric bypass surgery, but I know enough to know that it's a significant procedure. It sounds like it's necessary in this instance, and it's for the best that they are going through with it. Hopefully, in a year or two, they will be really happy with the improvements it has given them.

Good Cellar vibes heading your way to you and your family folks!

Good vibes being sent your way....

I saw something like that too... no longer diabetic by the time they were released from the hospital. Good luck to your family Razz.

all the best to you and yours, Razz!

they discussed it in 'Super Size Me'

Good luck to your family Razz.

For me, I don't think gastric bypass is a good idea, even if I would be considered a good candidate for it.

Being forced not to eat and learning not to have an adversarial relationship with food are two different things.

I can almost understand how Type II diabetics might benefit because of the more rigid control of food intake and increased frequency of eating, but really don't get how that might apply to Type I.

We used to talk about the procedure with one of the docs at work. He said there were problems with the procedure of folks who had it just up and dying a couple of years post surgery.

Too freaking scary for me.

I'm the kind of person that tries to put off necessary surgery ... I won't be standing in line for anything elective.

Good luck to you family Razz.
If it's part of a well supported and ongoing procedure I'm sure the benefits will far outweigh the detriments.

Obviously with all the advice they have been given, your Mum and Nan know what to expect and how their eating patterns will also change afterwards. As long as they are aware of these and accept them, you will probably find that this time next year they are feeling better than they have for over a decade.

Any operation necessitating general anaesthetic is not without risk, but this is now well established surgery and the risk is obviously deemed far less than the risk of allowing their current situation to continue.

Personally, I'd like to try a gastric balloon rather than a band, but I don't think either would work well for me. So I'm just doing it the old fashioned way :( Then again, I'm only 36, I don't have diabetes and I'm not yet in a condition where I can't exercise, so I know this is the best thing for me.

You and they will be in my thoughts. Keep us updated.

Both of them have done every diet/exercise program in the history of ever (well, maybe not tapeworms) and have failed. Both have done every diabetic food plan/group/whatever, and failed. They can't keep their sugars under control...their bodies just don't work right, and they're beginning to lose control of important stuff because of it (my mom is facing kidney failure, her eyes are starting to worsen very quickly, and she's losing feeling in her feet.) I was very worried about them taking this route at the beginning, but having gone through some of the meetings/doctor appointments, and having read the info and research that my mom went through, I think it's the best choice for her long-term. It will be very hard, but since she's already beginning to live and eat the way she will have to after the surgery is done (keep in mind, she's not having hers until july) I think she'll be able to do this successfully, it's not an "elective" surgery for them.

PS I'm not trying to pick on/shame anyone who's commented...just trying to clarify our situation, because I know I was the most skeptical of anyone when they started discussing this idea. It is a dangerous surgery that is usually only mentioned for dire situations on the news and stuff.

And thank you all for your well wishes

My sister had the lap band procedure a little over a year ago. So far, she's lost over 100Lbs and she gets around a lot easier. She has about 80Lbs to go to get to her suggested weight but the changes are great. Other than the fact that the loose skin makes her look like a Shar Pei in a bathing suit.

so they'll need nursing at the same time? Does this all fall on you, or will there be others about to help?

There's plenty of others around, the tough part will be my useless stepdad really being the only one around 24/7 for my mom. I might move back in for a while, we'll see how it goes.

good luck to all of you!

Selene had gastic bypass (Roux en Y is the exact procedural name) three and a half years ago. She is a poster child for the success of the procedure. She went from 370 lbs to 165 lbs in less than a year. Her chronic high blood pressure disappeared within a month of the surgery. She never had diabetic issues, but her life improved in every possible way after the surgery.

Make sure they pick a surgeon with impeccable references from past patients, and that they follow the rules and learn the lifestyle changes. It is a well-developed and studied procedure at this point, very safe and effective.

Best of luck to everyone.

Wow Pat, I would have never guessed that of her. Its great to hear she is doing so well.

good luck to your nan and mum Razz. Try not to worry too much, although I know it's hard. Sounds like they've both made a great decision, and it must have taken some courage for them to face up to it.

I know you'll be a great support to them, and any time you need an ear, you know I'm around.

Best of wishes to you all. xox

After surgery support is the key.

Today was my Meme's surgery! Got up at (stayed up till) 4am and drove to the far away hospital to check her in, waited forever for the surgery and she is now sleeping and recovering nicely. Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone.

That's good news Razz. I hope it all continues in the same vein. :)

Oh! I didn't see this thread earlier so I didn't ask about your grandmother, Razz. I am glad to hear the surgery went well.

Get well wishes to your grandma, Razz. I hope her recovery and adjustment goes smoothly.

It's good to hear your mom and grandma had lots of preparation and advice for what life will be like post-op. In high school, I worked in the kitchens at a hospital that performed a large number of gastric bypasses. We regularly got phone calls from patients that went something like:
"This is all I get to eat?!"
"...Yes."
"But I'm going to starve!"
"No. You're not. That's the whole reason you're here."
I felt bad for them, but it seems like there should've been someone there to remind them that they'd only be able to eat small rations.

Good luck to your grandma and mom Razz!

How's your Meme doing, Razz? Still great, I hope. :)

She's recovering very quickly, actually. They went in lapro?...lastro?...uh...they went in the little incision instead of having to cut her open all the way, so as far as externally, there isn't a lot of surface area to heal/get infected, which is good. She already has been out for short times with my grandfather helping her. (She bought new shoes already :lol: )

When's your mom's surgery, Razz?

Not till July, I think...later in the summer for sure. My aunt and I are going to rent a room at the inn next to the hospital for that one, so we can sleep during the day while she's in surgery, and we don't have to sit in the waiting room half-dead all day.

Lapro as in Laproscopically.

That's great to hear. I hope her other medical problems are getting better.

Yes, that.

Really pleased to hear about your Nan, Razz. And at least she can prepare your Mum for it.

Keep us up to date on how she gets on.

It's been a month...and she's lost 30 lbs so far...

She looks soooo good, unfortunately her clothes are just HANGING off her, but she can't buy any new ones just yet! More to go...too quickly to spend the money, lol. She's off all of her diabetes medications, NO PILLS AT ALL woohooo

wow, that's great!

Update:
My meme is doing well, she's hit her first plateau and is in good spirits. It is so cute to watch the changes in her, you can see VISIBLY the mental changes taking place because of her new appearance. While she's been round shaped for probably more than half of her life, now she's got an hourglass figure. Before she wore only solid colored tops and plain cotton, now she's wearing cute button down shirts with embroidery, or a little bit of sparkle on her jeans. She's painting her nails and wearing all the beautiful jewelery she owns daily, rather than just when it's a "special occasion" it's an amazing transformation, and I'm so happy that she is happy.

My mom goes in tomorrow at 5:45 am for her surgery. Good thoughts/vibes/feelings/prayers are welcome. :)

My prayers are with her and you.

Best thoughts to you and your Mum.

I've just read about an alternative to a gastric band, which is gastric band hypnosis.
Sadly, the only place I know that does it is in Fuengirola (Spain). That would be okay if it was a one-off, but you have to attend 4 sessions. The final session is the "operation" where they hypnotise you in a pseudo surgical setting. They pump in a clinical smell and have sounds of surgical instruments etc in the background.

Apparently your body reacts the same as if you have actually had the surgery. Safer, and only £800. Knowing me, my canny brain wouldn't believe it though, making it £800 loss rather than the 100lbs I want to shift.

Well, I hope it works out.

However, the thought of surgery made necessary because of a lifelong lack of discipline just horrifies me. It indicates that you have been a failure in a rather important part of your life: diet and exercise.

I mean guys and girls, here are the rules (not exactly made up by me): correct diet, which is not that difficult, and exercise regularly. None of this is rocket science, just self control.

If it gets to the point where you need surgery, it is because you have failed to follow some simple rules.

But the excuses for not exercising are all over the place, which is why we need lots of physical ed in the schools. I once suggested to my secretary that she take up running, since there was a dressing room at the office, and she said "But I would get sweaty and my makeup would run."

Anyway, I am 73 years old, and I have a bad back which keeps me from running, so I do the exercise bike and the elliptical trainer. I also work out on the machines, and can do some serious leg work in spite of nerve damage in my right leg, which causes a slight limp. I miss riding a real bike, but I still have the scars from falling when I was 55, and I am worried that at my age that same accident could cause much worse damage.

This is not about me, but I said that just to indicate that exercise and proper diet are not out of the question at just about any age.

Don't let this sort of thing happen to you.

Most people fail at something in their lives Joelnwil.
Relationships, parenting, addictive substances, financial control, living in a clean and tidy environment, making/ keeping friends etc etc.

For those that are "succeeding" it seems simple. Simple rules. Discipline. "What's wrong with you that you can't do it?" etc etc. Issues with over-eating are usually emotionally based. If you haven't experienced it then it's hard to know just what the difficulty is. All I can say is if someone is willing to take the risks of going under the knife, they have acknowledged their problem and are willing to suffer for it. And I admire them for that. They are taking away a source of comfort for themselves in the name of staying healthy and living longer. That is not an easy option.

Razz, I hope she is recovering well. Now stop reading and skip to the next post :)



I'm sure Razz appreciates your good wishes and will pass your advice on to her diabetic mother as she recovers from the anaesthetic. :rolleyes:

And you're damn lucky your secretary didn't sue you for harassment.

I'm sorry that your personal area of failure appears to be empathy towards other human beings, when all you need to do to not come off like an asshole are follow one simple rule. Ask yourself, is my self-absorped pre-prepared rant/advice going to help the OP in this case?

Clearly you experienced an epic fail here. I'll walk you through it for next time: In this case the OP is looking for emotional support as two close family members with diabetes undergo surgery. In what way is a rant about what failures her (diabetic) loved ones are appropriate here? hmmm? No, you're right, it isn't. It might be good advice, but go peddle it in a thread called "How to avoid Obesity the Joel Way". You might want to add having diabetes to the list of things not to do, too.

What if you paid in pennies?

Razz, I hope your mother is recovering well. Best wishes to your family!


...And, for monnie:
:notworthy

So she must be out of recovery by now. How's she doing Razz? I guess she'll be on chicken soup for a few days? (I'm not really sure how these things actually work, but I think I heard somewhere that the diet afterwards is supposed to be high in liquid?)

Anyway, here's to hoping your mum has as much success as your gran. :)

I'll 2nd that. Very few people WANT to be overwight. And whatever reason they have for NOT eating well and/or dieting, whether it's physical limitations or mental, it's a valid limitation.
It's easy to say all you need is discipline or motivation and drive when you HAVE it, but don't assume that just because YOU do that everyone does.
Placing everyone into your definitions of what they should be is a sure sign of narrow-mindedness and fuzzy logic.

Thanks for the kind words, and also for making me laugh. Thanks for the prayers, they helped. All of your posts in this thread were wonderfully helpful and supportive, and I appreciate your thoughts and time. You rock, thank you.

My mom is 2 days out of surgery and home now, She is down to 10 units of her diabetes medication from a shot at each meal and 100 units at night. Hopefully at the next doctor's appointment she has, they will tell her that she will no longer needs it. (Sidenote: She said that the surgeon came to see her after, and he told her that during surgery, her blood sugar would spike really high, and then crash again, and repeat, and she really scared him. He said he hadn't realized that her blood was so uncontrollable. She laughed and said "well that's why I got the surgery.")

She is a little sore (obviously) but she's doing well and is only taking aspirin, she is not using the uberpainkillers that they gave her, unless she needs to (which she hasn't yet). She's happy, and lost 1 pound so far.



That said, joelguy, you should really read a thread before you contribute to it. My family has a type of diabetes that cannot be controlled by diet OR exercise no matter how much "disipline", "motivation", or "magic beans" you try to shake at it. Thanks for the advice though, I guess. (Cause we totally never thought of eating right or exercising before we considered the dangerous surgery and hacking out bits of organs.) :)

Right, I forgot this part.

She was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks pre-surgery and I believe it's also 2 weeks post-surgery. Right now she's on clear liquids only, although she's thinking of trying a bit of broth tonight.

I'm glad to hear that both your grandmother and mother are doing great. :)

Do you got some of them magic beans though?

Hey Razz - How are the two lovely ladies doing?

I have PCOS, and insulin resistant diabetes type II. After 6 years of gaining weight REGARDLESS of what I ate, exercised, or anything, I was gaining a net of about 10 pounds per year. I finally pushed my GP into letting me see an Endocrinologist.

We discussed all the issues, and she said that the Metformin is the first drug of choice because it is one of the few diabetes/PCOS drugs that help insulin uptake and don't make you uptake fat. (Fat loves to absorb estrogen, and estrogen is a fat magnet...it's a vicious cycle.)

So. If that didn't work, she said, I could go on Byetta. That's the twice daily injection, but it has a lot more side effects.

The last resort was bypass. She didn't go into details, but she said that the bypass actually changed the way the body metabolizes, and that has everything to do with the way it processes sugar/carbs.

If my current treatment doesn't work, I'm looking at the bypass, and I'm at once terrified and filled with hope.

Keep us updated, Razz! Prayers to you and yours.

I had Lapro RNY Gastric Bypass this past December - and I'm glad that I did. It's still a daily struggle - but knowing that I made the choice to do something that will make me healthy helps me get through the day to day grind.

So far, I've lost nearly 60 pounds (depending on the scale, more, or less). I'm down to sizes I haven't worn since I graduated from college, and haven't taken a single med for my Type II diabetes since.

There are great resources out there for folks who are looking into the surgery - or have had it. (obesityhelp.com is one that immediately comes to mind). There is much positive feedback and support there - and folks who pipe up with the 'its their own fault they're like that' are immediately educated on what reality is.

Razz - your family has my support - and if you, or anyone else who wants information on the procedure has any questions, please ask. I'll answer.

Selene had the same surgery, Dags. Been almost four years now, and it has totally changed *both* of our lives.

It's made lots of changes to mine to date - unfortunately, I got a kick in the ass from the doctor today I wasn't quite expecting, but am channelling that into a more positive path. (Or annoying my husband, not quite sure which...)

Hey so, an update from the very distant future. Just in case anyone stumbles across this thread and wants info from life post surgery.

Both my mom and Meme recovered from the surgery well and have consistently maintained their weight losses at a healthy level. My Meme has been medication free for her diabetes ever since the surgery and has had her quality of life increase by leaps and bounds. She's incredibly active and does lots of volunteer work with different organizations including meals on wheels and has thrown herself into her artwork.

My mom stayed off her diabetes meds until about two years ago when she had to start taking pills again (but still no shots!) She's got a more accurate diagnosis now which is that she has some kind of crazy hybrid Type 1/Type 2 diabetes which is basically just a jerk and is really hard to control even with a proper diet, exercise, and meds so she's just really careful logging everything and she's got a dog who wakes her up if her sugar drops too low.

The doctors and hospitals around here are extremely strict with preparing their patients before they will allow it to be done, so if this is something you or a family member is considering I highly recommend visiting a therapist, joining a support group, and seriously researching all of the benefits/complications that go along with it as both of my family members were required to. It's not the easiest life post surgery, but for these two it was definitely worth it. :)

El Sic may have something new to add here as well.

Long post incoming...

I am now a year post-surgery...did I ever mention I was having the surgery here? I don't know if I did. Anyhoo...

So at the beginning of 2015, I was at my highest weight ever (450 lbs/205 kg), and just a hot mess. I was genuinely worried I would die sooner rather than later. So I was approved for gastric bypass in January, but my insurance company required that I do a 3-month diet before having surgery. In addition, I had to do counseling and go full liquid for 2 weeks before surgery. On June 29, I went under the knife and was at the home the next day...at 410 lbs/186 kg. Recovery was fairly uneventful, and I went back to work 2 weeks later.

It was a real trial and error as far as food. I followed the guidelines pretty well, but tried to jump the gun a couple times...and learned the hard way by vomiting like a motherfucker. I exercised and ate well and was down 160 lbs by January.

Then I started developing some complications, mainly with digesting meat. Then I was also on the road a lot. The only thing I could comfortable tolerate for some time was carbs, which of course is no good when you have this kind of surgery. The issue was that the opening from my stomach to my intestine had started scarring over and was restricting my food intake. After 3 stretches, I was back to eating meat again about a month ago, and now that I'm off the road, the weight is starting to come off again. Just had my yearly followup last week and the doctors are pleased.

Before surgery, I was taking diabetes medicine, cholesterol medicine (I didn't have high cholesterol, but my doctors thought it good given my weight and my long-term heart condition), and some other meds. Right after surgery, I was only taking my heart pill, my anti-anxiety med and Zyrtec. Unfortunately, when I started having the stomach issues, I had to start up on Prilosec AND Pepcid AND Carafate to reduce acid in my new stomach. I'm off the carafate now, and will hopefully be able to drop the other acid blockers next year.

I would do the surgery again in a heartbeat, despite all the complications of the last 6 months (mainly throwing up after eating...oooh, that's fun!). I'm down 3-4 sizes and have more energy than I have in a long time. And I look much better. I will have to have another surgery, probably next year, to remove all the excess fat. Looking forward to that...seriously.

Of course, here's the thing...when you have a food addiction as I do, the surgery is a helper...your stomach will reject what it doesn't want. BUT...you have to learn to deal with the things that led you down that path in the first place. I can't point to any specific psychological or physical issues that necessarily led me down the path. I mean, I've always been fat and food was a source of comfort. It also led in part to two bankruptcies...and it wasn't even good food that much. Just the worst shit!

Ultimately, I'd like to be at 220/100...but if I'm stalled at 280/127, I'm good.

I'm glad you're doing well so far! It can be a hard life post-surgery. My mom's local hospital required almost a year's worth of pre-op group meetings and psychological evals before you were fully cleared for the surgrey to help prepare patients for the mental as well as the physical after effects. Both my mom and Meme struggled with throwing up due to certain foods for a long time and my mom had a similar issue with meat for quite a while, so I'm sorry you're struggling there like she was. Thankfully as frustrating as it was for her she would just attempt to broaden her food horizons every so often with things that had made her sick before and has gotten to a more or less back to normal place with food (though with better portion control and such.)

I can remember that first year of recovery really well. Every time a family member took a flight we stole all of the surrounding sick bags as gifts to my mom and Meme, they're the best for when you're out and about and your tiny stomach disagrees with a choice you've made! ;)

Love that!


Sic - I was looking at a couple pics of you from when we met and a recent one. I was actually thinking of doing a side by side but couldn't fine an old one... Oh well. you look fantastic. Serious props to you, brother.

The first is from the day we adopted Tango, 2 years ago. The second is from 2 weeks ago.