I had the sleeve in May 2011 and within 6 months I lost about 90 lbs. Since having the surgery, my total weight loss has been about 120 lbs. My pain was minimal and because I was not using any painkillers in the hospital, I stayed only one night not two, which is standard. I drove home and went on vacation two days later.
If you google the sleeve, you will find it has a bunch of advantages over the bypass. It’s not a malapsorptive procedure, so your body’s ability to get nutrition from the food you eat is not impaired. You can eat anything you want to, just in limited quantities.
One reason I chose the sleeve is that I know someone who had the sleeve and I saw that he could eat whatever he wanted to, and was not in any kind of distress.
With any surgery, the surgeon you choose is very important. My surgeon was a Healthgrades Bariatric Center of Excellence. I know people who used other surgeons for this surgery who did not have as much success as I had.
My Jelly friends who are on FB can see my before and after photos. If you want, I will pm you my name and you can friend me on FB and see them for yourself.