Sharonimo
Sleeve to Bypass
Some will remember me from 2011 and 2012 and some newer members won't so brief recap:
1. I was sleeved April 2012 under the NHS at a hospital in London.
2. My highest ever weight was 23 st 8 lbs (330 lbs) although by my op I had lost 3 stone and got myself down to 20 st 7 lbs.
3. I was a vociferous advocate of the sleeve *prior* to being sleeved but my own personal experience has since been disappointing.
4. My post operative life post sleeve has not been plain sailing. Two months after being sleeved I was took voluntary redundancy and chose to move from London to Devon.
5. The move to Devon did not work out and found myself moving back to London late 2012 and living in digs for a while. In fact I think since being sleeved I have moved a total of 5 times from one rented place to another and changed GP 3 times.
6. However more than all the life disruption I have suspected from quite early on that my sleeve was too big. I remember in Week 4 post sleeve when I was starting "mushy" food I tried the cottage cheese test and found I was able to consume one whole 300 g tub *easily* ....
....i did not immediately scream "help! help! my sleeve's too big" right then as I did not *generally* consume that quantity -- I was sticking to between 100 g and 200 g most of the time and I was losing weight .....so why argue?
7. I also had a barium X-ray swallow on my sleeve at 6 weeks post sleeve and thought my sleeve looked quite big ....in fact it looked like what an X ray of a 4 year old "relaxed" sleeve looks like (but I did not know that then).
8. Still i did not query it at the time because I was not absolutely sure and didn't really know what other sleeve X-rays wd look like ....(I have since done more research and now know mine was too big at even 6 weeks post op) ....but still i did not complain or query it because I was losing weight -- why query anything when it seems to be working ??? (of course my sleeve at that point was still swollen on the inside recovering from major surgery so of course I was losing weight)
9. Turns out my original surgeon is not a huge fan of sleeves -- he did try twice to persuade me to have the bypass but I refused ....I thought I knew best having read all the research blah blah ....and I wanted to be a "super slinky sleever" success ....but that was not to be ....
10. Turns out that a few other patients also referred to the Whittington like me who *wanted* a sleeve when they found out Mr Sufi is so reluctant to do sleeves on the very obese ....they went and got themselves transferred to other hospitals and got "skinny sleeves" with surgeons who do prefer the sleeve (mostly at UCLH) ....i came across a couple of them at Whittington meetings or other WLS and sleeve communities during my year post op journey.
So ......
11. The lowest weight I ever managed to achieve with my "baggy sleeve" was 15 stone 0 lbs (210 lbs / 95 Kgs) early November 2012 .....but my body wd not stay that weight -- although what I was eating did not change at all from November to December I then experienced a ten pound "bounce back" regain.
12. My body has now settled at 100 Kgs (it fluctuates from 15.10 to 15.12) within a pound or two.
13. After a year of further diet attempts trying to get back down below 15 stone I have given up -- well I have given up on the "diet yoyo" .....I feel in the same place stuck at just below 16 stone as I used to feel at 23 stone when all diet attempts returned me to 23 stone. I have "given up" the prospect of any further weight loss with my sleeve and decided to go "bypass or bust" !!!
So ...... (soz for long post !) .....
1.(a) I took opinions from another bariatric surgeon and with me being left at 100 Kgs with a BMI of 35 it is worth going thru a second surgery (I still hAve bad back issues and osteo arthritis in my knees and hips due to the weight I am carrying).
2.(a) My new surgeon's opinion of my current sleeve was that its "crap" (he didn't quite use that word -- but lots of techy words relating to my leaky valves and excess sleeve size) ....
2.(b) Remember above I said that 4 weeks post op I cd consume a 300 g pot of cottage cheese? My new "adult sleeve" capacity is between 400 g and 600 g....(in fact on a new "cottage cheese test" I think I cd actually manage 3 pots but got bored after 2)
3.(a) The new surgeon is Michael Van den Bossche and I hope to be getting a bypass with him March 2014 (got to do a bit of financial juggling first and get thru Xmas this year).
I can't alter my profile yet (am on the mobile app) -- will have to get to an internet cafe in a week or so to alter the details in my profile.
P.S. Since my journey with my sleeve has been so disappointing I have taken part in various other forums and online groups in the past year (some of them sleeve groups and some of them support groups for "revision and regain" after WLS) ... when I see newbie early post op sleevers posting "Help. I can barely manage 25 grams / 50 grams / less than 100 g" ..... I *know* my sleeve was wrong from the start. :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(
1. I was sleeved April 2012 under the NHS at a hospital in London.
2. My highest ever weight was 23 st 8 lbs (330 lbs) although by my op I had lost 3 stone and got myself down to 20 st 7 lbs.
3. I was a vociferous advocate of the sleeve *prior* to being sleeved but my own personal experience has since been disappointing.
4. My post operative life post sleeve has not been plain sailing. Two months after being sleeved I was took voluntary redundancy and chose to move from London to Devon.
5. The move to Devon did not work out and found myself moving back to London late 2012 and living in digs for a while. In fact I think since being sleeved I have moved a total of 5 times from one rented place to another and changed GP 3 times.
6. However more than all the life disruption I have suspected from quite early on that my sleeve was too big. I remember in Week 4 post sleeve when I was starting "mushy" food I tried the cottage cheese test and found I was able to consume one whole 300 g tub *easily* ....
....i did not immediately scream "help! help! my sleeve's too big" right then as I did not *generally* consume that quantity -- I was sticking to between 100 g and 200 g most of the time and I was losing weight .....so why argue?
7. I also had a barium X-ray swallow on my sleeve at 6 weeks post sleeve and thought my sleeve looked quite big ....in fact it looked like what an X ray of a 4 year old "relaxed" sleeve looks like (but I did not know that then).
8. Still i did not query it at the time because I was not absolutely sure and didn't really know what other sleeve X-rays wd look like ....(I have since done more research and now know mine was too big at even 6 weeks post op) ....but still i did not complain or query it because I was losing weight -- why query anything when it seems to be working ??? (of course my sleeve at that point was still swollen on the inside recovering from major surgery so of course I was losing weight)
9. Turns out my original surgeon is not a huge fan of sleeves -- he did try twice to persuade me to have the bypass but I refused ....I thought I knew best having read all the research blah blah ....and I wanted to be a "super slinky sleever" success ....but that was not to be ....
10. Turns out that a few other patients also referred to the Whittington like me who *wanted* a sleeve when they found out Mr Sufi is so reluctant to do sleeves on the very obese ....they went and got themselves transferred to other hospitals and got "skinny sleeves" with surgeons who do prefer the sleeve (mostly at UCLH) ....i came across a couple of them at Whittington meetings or other WLS and sleeve communities during my year post op journey.
So ......
11. The lowest weight I ever managed to achieve with my "baggy sleeve" was 15 stone 0 lbs (210 lbs / 95 Kgs) early November 2012 .....but my body wd not stay that weight -- although what I was eating did not change at all from November to December I then experienced a ten pound "bounce back" regain.
12. My body has now settled at 100 Kgs (it fluctuates from 15.10 to 15.12) within a pound or two.
13. After a year of further diet attempts trying to get back down below 15 stone I have given up -- well I have given up on the "diet yoyo" .....I feel in the same place stuck at just below 16 stone as I used to feel at 23 stone when all diet attempts returned me to 23 stone. I have "given up" the prospect of any further weight loss with my sleeve and decided to go "bypass or bust" !!!
So ...... (soz for long post !) .....
1.(a) I took opinions from another bariatric surgeon and with me being left at 100 Kgs with a BMI of 35 it is worth going thru a second surgery (I still hAve bad back issues and osteo arthritis in my knees and hips due to the weight I am carrying).
2.(a) My new surgeon's opinion of my current sleeve was that its "crap" (he didn't quite use that word -- but lots of techy words relating to my leaky valves and excess sleeve size) ....
2.(b) Remember above I said that 4 weeks post op I cd consume a 300 g pot of cottage cheese? My new "adult sleeve" capacity is between 400 g and 600 g....(in fact on a new "cottage cheese test" I think I cd actually manage 3 pots but got bored after 2)
3.(a) The new surgeon is Michael Van den Bossche and I hope to be getting a bypass with him March 2014 (got to do a bit of financial juggling first and get thru Xmas this year).
I can't alter my profile yet (am on the mobile app) -- will have to get to an internet cafe in a week or so to alter the details in my profile.
P.S. Since my journey with my sleeve has been so disappointing I have taken part in various other forums and online groups in the past year (some of them sleeve groups and some of them support groups for "revision and regain" after WLS) ... when I see newbie early post op sleevers posting "Help. I can barely manage 25 grams / 50 grams / less than 100 g" ..... I *know* my sleeve was wrong from the start. :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(
Shame you have to do this but we are here to make the very best of life & if this is what you need to do to be happy, then so be it 
