I would like to hear from other women who have had gastric by-pass surgery and their successes or failures.

I had the sleeve procedure done two years ago today. I was 70 at the time and Medicare paid for everything. I was 291#’s when I started this journey and now I am 203#’s. During these 2 years I was diagnosed with bile duct cancer which at the time needed to shrink before surgery could be attempted. I was given a 30% chance of survival. That was in July of 2017. I did some limited chemo along with non-subscribed Vitamin C infusions. After 6 weeks I had increased the Vitamin C dose to 20g 3 times a week. I transferred my care from the University of Iowa Hospital to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, AZ. because we are snowbirds. I had my CT scan in AZ to see what the tumor had done and low and behold it shrunk by 30%. I attribute that to the Vitamin C. My oncology surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor and do some reworking of the area between my liver and pancreas and small intestines. I did not require the whippel procedure. By January 17, 2018 I was cancer free. I have a follow up CT scan every 3 months and remain cancer free. I have a 60% chance of the tumor NOT coming back. I also attribute my weight loss for my ability to recover from this life-changing diagnosis.

..I had the gastric sleeve done 2 ½ yrs ago. I lost 110 lbs. This was wonderful and horrible. It was great being able to buy smaller clothes and most important being heathier. I no longer needed my high blood pressure pills nor medication for stress incontinence. My world I had to socialize with wasn't that supportive dispite me preparing my family, friends, and associates @ my church. Some folks said I look great while others said I looked to small and don't loss no more weight (I still 60 lbs more to loss to be "normal" with a much more acceptable BMI). My love life is nill to none and I really miss my husband affection. When I was close to 400 lbs it was great. Its easy for some to say ignore the negative responses folks says but when its someone very close or significant in your life it hard to ignore. I purposely regain weight to see if my love life would improve but it didn't. I. Oh well:-(. I'm happy and I'm not. Plus the chronic back pain I had worsened. OMGoodness. Can't win for losing. I can't exercise lik the medical community wants me to cuz the pain is intense

Hi Karen,

Thank you for your question and congratulations on your weight loss. One of the things you will have to maintain is a healthy lifestyle or you may gain the weight back. I found some websites for you that may be able to help with maintaining a healthy diet from Gicare.com
http://www.gicare.com/Diets/Gastric-Bypass.aspx

Are you maintaining an exercise program? This is also very important. There is a large loss of weight in the beginning of the process but you must continue your progress which will need a little help on your end.

Remember that since you are four years post-surgery, you will have to keep a maintenance program so that you will not return to your previous weight. Here is a story that was posted from a Registered Nurse that explained how she started to gain weight back after her surgery. http://obesitysurgery-info.com/rn-speaks-about-rny.htm.

Tell us more. What are you eating and how much? Are you exercising or what is your physical activity level?