Tenshi

How about the January Jumpstarts?! I'm so happy to see so many month buddies!

I, too, am now facing a journey of 200-pounds to lose. My "ideal" is probably 170, but just under that would be glorious. I'm scheduled to be sleeved in January, and I can't WAIT. I feel like I can finally look forward to a new year without being bound for disappointment. Welcome to the journey!

I am being sleeved on January 23, 2012, so my resolution is going to be that this is the LAST TIME I resolve to lose weight in a new year! I have had the same resolution(s) for the past 20-years and I am SO.OVER.IT. 2012 is gonna be my year. Finally!

I've gained weight since my initial weigh-in... and have been having trouble being motivated to "diet" before my liquid diet begins in January. I, too, have been shoving whatever I can find into my mouth lately. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one!

I've been completely open with family, friends, and coworkers (most of whom I consider friends anyway)... and everyone has been very supportive and enthusiastic about my future after surgery. The only people who've expressed any negativity at all about the surgery are my parents... and that's more out of worry than anything else, I think. I'm not letting it get me down, regardless.

Oh, my... the list could go on and on... I have a lot of similar things on my list and would add... Fitting into knee-high boots. Wearing skirts/dresses without the burning fire of chub rub! Ow! Fitting into arena seats without having bruises on my hips for the next two weeks. Not being embarrassed to the point of apologizing for my size every time I take a bus and don't get a seat to myself. Learning new things - SCUBA, maybe a martial art?, training to be a runner/run a 5K Oh, there's so much more....

I will be in this boat come February next year! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread for ideas.

This is a fabulous post of success. I think I'm going to stalk you a little and read some of your previous blogs... for inspiration!

This is a FANTASTIC resource. I have just started investigating/fighting with my insurance company over the BMI 50 requirement, and will definitely be forwarding this on.

My insurance company is haggling right now because my initial weight in February (my first appointment) had me at a BMI of 49... and they say the sleeve is approved for 50 or higher. The thing is, I have gained weight and now have a BMI over 50, so they are really trying to push for the sleeve approval for me. Just a couple of pounds at my initial weigh-in should not be damning me to RNY (which they would approve with no problem... wtf?!?!?!)!!!

islandmom, I'm scheduled for January 23rd, too!! Nice to find a comrade in surgical arms! I just got my date yesterday.

I have gained during my pre-op weight and once I got past all the hurdles and got green lights from everyone, it really didn't seem to matter what I weighed in at when I went to see the doctors and the surgeon.

That's amazing. I was just given my surgery date today, and have come back to this site for inspiration and relief for my nerves. Your story serves as both!

I had my initial visit with the weight loss clinic in February. Since then, I've been going through the motions for surgery, but hadn't really been committed to the idea. I was under the impression that my clinic (Geisinger, Danville, PA) only offered the RNY and the band, neither of which felt like they suited my needs or desires, but I thought "Well, as a last resort, I guess I'll pick one..." Since my heart wasn't really into the idea, I screwed around, gained weight, got yellow lighted by the dietician, and saw it as just one more obstacle in my lifelong path for freedom from fat. When I went to surgery class, I learned that Geisinger does offer the VSG - they simply do not have enough data or experience to back it up in a PR kind of way, so they keep it a little hush-hush. When I learned about VSG being a real option, I was inspired. THIS is a surgery I can get behind. The pluses far outweigh the minuses and I feel committed and ready. I went for my psych appointment a couple of weeks ago... and was once again yellow-lighted. I'm too honest, I guess. No, all of my binge issues are not under control, yet. Yes, I have family problems to deal with which inhibit my current weight loss efforts. However, my family supports my decision to have surgery AND I feel that a lack of a physical cue to stop is a big problem in my bingeing... and the VSG can help me with that. I have my second meeting with a dietician (a different one) on Thursday, and I'm afraid that I won't have shown enough downward progress since the previous weigh-in to be put through with a green light. I have been up and down in between, but I've been very "good" and focused since I've been thinking about the VSG. If I wind up with another yellow light - more delays, more copays, more two-hour trips to the hospital at $4/gallon - I'm afraid that it will defeat me. I don't want to be defeated, I don't want to give up, but this is turning out to be such a huge hassle/runaround, not to mention a very pricey venture on top of everything else. (How exactly does one afford organic produce when most of the paycheck is going toward gas and copays?!) Has anyone else had this much trouble getting through their program? I have a (much smaller) friend in Australia who started looking into WLS options around the same time as I did, and she's had her band in place for well over a month. Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair.

I got a yellow light from nutrition the first time I went in to see them, then a green the second time (I asked for a competent dietitian the second time... the first one and I have history from waaaaay back and I did not want to continue to work with her!). The psychologist gave me a yellow light twice and then a green after a follow-up phone interview. I was told by other post-op folks that it's because I simply wasn't telling them what they 'wanted to hear.' Well, ok, so my going to see a therapist bi-weekly and showing these skills and improvements in the way I handle the day-to-day of having emotional eating issues and being completely truthful about that.... isn't what they wanted to hear. The truth has always gotten me in trouble! I should have known! Sigh.

I KNOW that success with surgery is in the follow-up and keeping in touch with the surgical and nutritional team and everything, but I have not had surgery yet and feel like I've been getting the runaround since February and just handing out co-pay after co-pay with nothing to show for it! Finally, FINALLY, last week, the doctor called and asked me a few questions so she could write the letter to the insurance company. I am anxiously awaiting the result of the letter to insurance... I'm also sort of avoiding yet another (pointless?) follow-up before the approval comes back, because I am just so sick of shelling out $30 every time I go into the office, step on the scale, get scolded for not losing 'enough' pre-op, and leaving. I can figure that out on my own! /rant Am I crazy for wanting this to push through before the holidays? So that I have a valid excuse not to gorge over the season?

Your progress, in particular, is very inspirational for me as somone who will be starting at a higher weight! Thanks for sharing.

I, too, am very sick of all the appointments (and co-pays! ugh!)... and my trip is almost 2-hours each way... AND I don't have a date set yet. Sigh!

Congrats! I so look forward to being at this point some day.

Thanks for the encouragement, SK! It is reassuring to know that not everyone just saves up some cash and slips down to Mexico for this surgery. The red tape can be really, REALLY frustrating and I am trying not to let it get me down. I expect I may be yellow-lighted by the nutritionist AGAIN tomorrow, even though I feel like I've been doing well, I just haven't lost anything. I'm going to print out my food logs and take them along and hope that they serve as evidence of how I've been trying. I have already been told that my insurance coverage is one of the ones that has been routinely approving the sleeve as an option, so at least that's something positive! I just hope that I manage to get it in during this coverage year, so that my deductible doesn't reset. Is that terrible?

The other options have SO many drawbacks vs. the sleeve, the idea of having part of my stomach actually removed never really bothered me. I'm with Foxbins... what has my tummy ever done for me except help perpetuate this weight problem!? I am at the end of the pre-op journey, but have been yellow-lighted by both the psychologist and the nutritionist, so I have to wait just a little longer to see if this is really going to happen. I am 100% behind the sleeve, though, because RNY and band have sooooo many drawbacks, and as stated above, most people seem so very happy (and successful!) with the sleeve option.