CodenameSpivey

Well, all is well... over the last couple days I've got all my surgery stuff straight... My old PCP in Vegas stated that she'd clear me, and then I got an email from Dr. Umbach stating that he'd clear me as well.. not sure if I still need to go to my PCP or not, but either way.. Dr. Umbach told me not to worry... I've been on my pre-op diet about 5 days now, the hunger is pretty much gone... it's still mentally there though.. I've lost a good bit of weight.. I'm supposed to be doing 2 shakes a day, but I haven't found a good shake I like yet, being diabetic I'm wary on adding fruit and outside sources, as I need to keep me shakes as low carb as possible.. so the last 5 days I've been drinking Protein shots for Breakfast and lunch, and then eating grilled chicken and broccoli for dinner... and drinking lots of Water... Dr. Umbachs office told me I couldn't do it.. that'd I'd be hunger because the shots don't fill you up, but I think I've proven that theory wrong.. I'm taking in about 500 calories or so a day.. So, we're leaving for Vegas a little earlier because of me having to go see my PCP there, so I get an extra 4 days off work! and we're leaving for Vegas on Tuesday... I have a nutrition class on Thursday at Dr. Umbachs office, and then pre-op consult on 7/5 and surgery on 7/6! Since Aetna is paying for it I'll probably be doing an overnight in the hospital, but I'm not sure yet... Today is my 28th birthday, and looking in the mirror today I almost wanted to cry because it's the last birthday I'm going to spend overweight... For the last few years I've worked towards this goal, ultimately ending up where I am... and it's almost a weight off the shoulders to know that it's almost there.. I developed a lot of bad habits the last couple years as far as eating goes, and i'm starting to break them now with the pre-op diet, and i think i'm ready.. I was scared before, and I'm still a little nervous, it is a pretty big deal.. but I'm happy... and I'm ready!

Mine were in the thousands... I think partially because I had a huge meal that night before.. big plate of spaghetti, with corn and garlic bread... I should have still been in the fasting range (was about 12 hours before), but eating a huge meal then going to bed, getting up and going to get labs drawn probably wasn't the best idea.. but I just had an e-mail with a form to take to my PCP and didn't have instructions to fast... though I should have known better... I don't know how much a big meal like that can spike triglycerides or if they spike at all... we'll see though... hoping for the best.. I had an issue yesterday with my blood sugar being too low (57) and I was at work at didn't have anything around to eat, so I ended up eating a small snack size bag of trail mix, about 240 calories... but the rest of the day, I just had a small salad for lunch, with low fat Italian - and then a broccoli and cheese snacker (40 calories) and a small serving of grilled chicken... so I should have been under 500-600 calories yesterday... with very little fat, and almost no cholesterol... today will be better as I'm lowering my insulin a tad just to avoid the spikes...

Well.. 2 days into the diet.. more like a day and half.. I'm feeling like poo have had a bad headache for the better part of 2 days... in better news my blood sugar has been excellent with this pre-op diet, no carbs = easy diabetes management... taking these cholesterol meds - zetia and crestor... I don't know how much all these is going to help in a week.. My surgeon (Dr. Umbach) didn't seem to phased by my labs, after all he deals with obese people needing assistance all the time.. he does seem concerned that my PCP won't clear, and I think now it might have something to do with liability... Dr. Umbach did send me to my PCP for this surgical clearance.. I got an EKG (which was good) but the labs had bad cholesterol and triglycerides... latest update was that he was going to talk to my PCP sometime today, or tomorrow... and as far as I know things are a still a go, it's been a pain getting a straight answer from anybody.. hopefully i'll get some good news... if not, i'm going to be mad, because there's some chili in the fridge with my name on it. I've been out walking 30 minutes or so the last 2 nights, taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator... Also taking all my Vitamins at request of Dr. Umbachs office, Calcium Citrate, B12 spray, Multivitamin, Vitamin D (it was a tad low as well) ... also taking some Omega 3/fish oil since it lowers triglycerides.. I'll probably have to stop some of these meds and whatnot next week as it'll be a week till surgery... just waiting for some news and typing hoping to see a message in my inbox, but it's late.. not happening tonight. wish me luck, it ain't over yet.

I'm going too.. I wish I had more time.. I have one week.... I have to get labs drawn again, and have them show some kind of improvement. So I'm doing all the home remedies.. starting on my pre-op diet, drinking lots of Water, exercise, fish oil, taking all my Vitamins etc... I gotta put the hammer down and make it happen... My PCP also gave me a month supply of meds for cholesterol and triglycerides.. I don't know how fast those work... but hey, it's not gonna hurt... going to bring the serious ruckus this week to do this.. full focus... I need Mr. Miyagi, I'm gonna make a playlist for my ipod, gonna have eye of the tiger, and all those songs from the 80's that you always see on movie montages...

Thanks.. I'm gonna go on a crash course on lowering triglycerides in one week, and going to hope for the best.

Well I called and talked to my surgeon.. well his assistant.. and she said my lab levels were bad.. but he wasn't surprised by them, after all he deals with obese patients on a daily basis... He told me to start my pre-op diet now, and check my levels again in a week, as long as they've shown that they've gone down a bit with my diet, he's fine with doing the surgery.... so fingers crossed.

I just spoke to my PCP again, and they advised that being of my elevated triglyceride and cholesterol levels.. that I'd be high risk while under anesthesia.. i've never heard of this.. has anybody else? My normal PCP doesn't do surgical clearance.. this is another physician that I went to soley for this reason.. I had a good EKG too as well.

Well, I just got a call from my PCP - who informed my that my triglycerides were sky high and that she would not clear me for surgery. She wants me on meds and said that we can redraw labs in 3 months and see where we stand. My cholesterol was also slightly high. From what I'm being told there's a chance my 90 day lifestyle program may expire by then, and I may have to start over from square one. My main problem is aren't these two things that getting a bariatric surgery will help resolve? I mean, triglycerides and cholesterol are both issues from poor eating habits, and poorly managed diabetes can also lead to high triglycerides.. both of which are resolved by the surgery... I don't get it. I'm no professional but it doesn't make sense to me. Any thoughts?

Well, I'm starting my pre-op diet today. 2 Protein shots/shakes daily and one leafy green/lean meat meal a day.. I feel lucky versus the people that have to do all liquids... I think what I'm going to do is rotate my meals to try to fend off hunger. So today, I'm going to have my meal at lunch, and tomorrow maybe it'll be Breakfast.. I dunno, I hear the hunger starts to subside after a couple days?? Hoping to drop a few more pounds before surgery. I leave on July 1st for Las Vegas, with my surgery on July 6th.. Stress and nervousness is still here, but I feel I'm facing it head on... and every day is getting easier. Communication with Dr. Umbach's office has been great so far. I've exchanged emails with several members of his staff and Dr. Umbach himself, it took a lot of my nervousness away when he replied back to me several times, even though he was on vacation in Fl. (or maybe he was at a conference or something.. I dunno) I'm working on keeping my blood sugar in check, it's been a little up and down lately as my meds/dosages have been changing, but now on this low/no carb preop diet, I think I should be able to manage it easier. It's going to be a long 10 days, but I'm almost there... I'm not big on the shakes, at least not yet.. Everybody tells me to add fruit to the shakes, but I wary doing that as I need to keep control of my blood sugar over the next 2 weeks. So I've drinking the protein shots, which 90% of the ones I've found have been just nasty.. however I found some protein shots that Sunkist make that have 25g of protein and only 100 calories, with only 2g from carbs, and they're not from sugar.... They actually taste decent, I drink the orange and grape ones.. they make ones that have 42g of protein in them each, but the texture of those is a thick syrup type and the 25g, is a lot less.. it's still a tad, not overall very doable.. I ordered 3 cases of them from discountsupplements.com for under $20 a case... so not too shabby... So, all in all I think I'm getting in game time mode and I just got a little while longer! Let the countdown begin!

I start my 2 week pre-op next week.. it's consisting of 2 Protein shakes a day - and then one meal with lean greens and lean meat... with additional shakes serving as Snacks. They also are having me add in some daily Vitamins too.. It's gonna be rough, but it's good preparation for life after surgery. Good Luck!

Congratulations on everything so far! We're pretty similar, I'm 6'1.. Originally about 310, now about 297 - I'm getting my sleeve 7/6/11.. and I'm hoping to get between 220-240 as well.. I know how to hospital goes, last time I was in the hospital as soon as they took my morphine button away, it was time to bounce! Good luck on everything! You'll hit your mark in no time!

Is getting an EDG a normal process for the sleeve? I've had previous stomach surgery (2 years ago) and I heard that a lot of surgeons require this which is totally understandable... should I be worried that my surgeon doesn't want me to get one or a chest xray ? I think I may get one anyways, and have it sent to him... but maybe it's different with the sleeve vs. other surgeries.. not sure.

I don't have that option for Seven Hills... I have to do it at an Aetna IOQ center or Aetna won't pay for it... I'm slowly getting used to the idea, it was more so first I figured I wouldn't get approved.. I don't know why I meet all the requirements with a BMI of 40.3, recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, mild sleep apnea.. etc... then when I hit the snag with my original surgeon and not being able to get approved to have him do it, and then really within a matter of hours going from... ok, you're not approved... to Dr. Umbach is my surgeon and you're having surgery 7/6/11 - it literally happened within a few hours... it just happened really quickly even though I've been gradually working towards for the last 4 months. Now, I'm just kind of stressing now because I got 3 weeks to go, and I know my nutritionist person, I think her name was Krystyna is on vacation until June 22nd, and I need some info on my pre-op diet.. everything I've done this far has been with my other surgeon, who wasn't having me on a pre-op diet.. just 4 days liquid prior to surgery... anywho, I'm feeling better, still a little nervous but it's starting to settle... let the countdown begin!

I just got approved from Aetna this week... My surgeon originally submitted me on May 21st, on May 23rd Aetna kicked it back saying it was missing stuff... so we had to dig up some more paperwork, after we got it it was resubmitted on 6/2 .. again .. kicked back 2 days later because Aetna was waiting on a response from my dr. on if he operated out of one of Aetna's IOQ centers... After I found out he didn't, I resubmitted with another surgeon the same day, and was certified that evening... So for me it was about 2 weeks, I don't know if it would have been quicker if everything were submitted correctly the first time... or if I had started with a surgeon that was out of a Aetna IOQ center (Aetna wouldn't pay for me to have surgery if it wasn't at an IOQ, something I did not know before starting the procesS) besides that, it was a painless process, and they have been from prompt with just about everything I have wanted to speak to them about. Good Luck!

My mom is an ICU nurse there in Vegas too at St. Rose in Henderson... she too will be accompanying me at my consult and surgery... so far the staff has been great and very accommodating... I'm sure things will be fine, and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, but it's hard not to imagine worst case scenario on things like these... My mother in law was banded in Mexico a few years ago and has no complications, and I know several other people throughout my travels that have been just fine too.... It's exciting and nerve racking both at the same time... MINI-Me.. what was the pre-op diet like? My surgeon here was going to have me do liquid diet four days before surgery.. since I won't actually get to meet Dr. Umbach until the day before the surgery, I wanna make sure I'm doing everything I need to do, especially if it will assist in the surgery going off with less complications. Also, I'll be coming back to Tulsa after the surgery (leaving 4 days later) - what type of follow up should I schedule? Should I set up a scope 6 weeks after to check the healing? or should I only worry about it if I have complications?

Thanks guys! I read through Mini Me's posts about and some other ones and I feel much better.. It's still in the back of my mind but I think I can push the positives forward!

Hello all, First post here, and just wanted to kind of rant, hopefully there's other people that have had the same worries I had. I'm 27 years old. Currently living in Tulsa, Oklahoma... A couple of years ago I had some stomach issues which ended in me having emergency open surgery in my abdomen to repair a perforated duodenum due to h. pylori... I lost a substantial amount of weight due not being allowed to eat or drink for 6 weeks, and on TPN therapy. Following my return to being allowed to eat over the course of a few months I found myself gaining all that weight back and more... I'm currently sitting at about 300lbs... Ever since then I've had trouble losing weight, I've been diagnosed type 2 diabetes since then and have a pretty brutal incisional hernia along my scar. Back in February of 2011, I went to a seminar for a local surgeon, Dr. Luis Gorospe, who I was totally confident in. I had read insurance horror stories before and I went through the process of approval not expecting to actually get approved. I went through pysch evaluations, sleep studies, a 90 day diet/lifestyle/exercise program, and then was submitted to Aetna. Aetna replied back and said that they would be unable to approve my request because Dr. Gorospe did not operate out of one of their IOQ facilities. Oklahoma isn't exactly a haven for bariatric surgeries and my options were limited due to their being few Aetna IOQs in Oklahoma and even fewer surgeons doing the sleeve. So my next approach was go back to my old hometown of Las Vegas, I've only been going from Vegas for a year, and my parents are still there... plus I work for Continental Airlines and can fly for free, so it sounded like a perfect plan. Surely enough, I picked a surgeon I was previously considering in Las Vegas the last time I lived there. Dr. Thomas Umbach who operates out of Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas, which is a Aetna IOQ. Sure enough, the same day Aetna said they wouldn't cover the surgery, I asked them about switching to Dr. Umbach, after speaking with his office, and surprisingly they said "we have no problem with that".. by the end of the day they certified me for my sleeve, and I got a surgery date of 7/6/11... I'm now kind of freaking out. I've read tons upon tons of good reviews about Dr. Umbach, but there was one bad experience I also read about from a couple years ago, and it seems to be everywhere I look. It's the only negative I've really found on him, but that on top of having a general fear of hospitals and surgery have me freaking out and reconsidering. My wife seems angry that I'd throw away the chance to get my life straight and be around for her and our children but I'm still pretty terrified. Not so much of Dr. Umbach, but just an overall fear of surgery.. Up until a couple years ago with my stomach issues, I'd never had so much as the flu, and never had to go into a hospital... while I was there I was scared of pain meds they gave me and just was 100% positive something bad was going to happen. Nothing bad happened, and things have been fine since then. I know in the back of my head this is what I need to do, that I need this to get healthy so I can be here for my wife and kids, but it still scares me and I don't know how to shake it. Is there anybody else that's been like that? I should be looking at this as a new beginning, but instead I'm fearing the absolute worst...